At least one gunman attacked a suburban Connecticut elementary school Friday, killing at least two dozen people, including 18 children, law enforcement sources said.

At a televised news conference from Newtown, Conn., State Police spokesman Lt. Paul Vance refused to give an exact number pending notification of the families. Other reports place the number of dead at 27, including the children. “There were several fatalities at scene, students and staff,” Vance said. “There will be no other information until families are told.” The gunman was dead at the scene, Vance said, adding that there was no longer any danger to the public. “It’s still an evolving crime scene and it’s just hours old,” Daniel Curtin, a FBI special agent in Connecticut, said. “And it’s obviously very tragic. All we’re saying is that the FBI and our agents have a presence there to assist in any way possible. Because right now it’s a Connecticut state and local investigation at this point. But in times of trial like this we work together.” Law enforcement sources in Washington said the gunman was in his early 20s and was the father or another relative of one of the children. He had four or more weapons and was wearing a bulletproof vest.

ABC News: LIVE UPDATES: Newtown, CT School Shooting
Daily Mail: TWENTY NINE Dead, Including 22 Children At Connecticut Elementary
The Inquisitr: Ryan Lanza ID’d As Newtown School Shooting Gunman
HuffPo: Ryan Lanza Identified By Police As Gunman In Deadly Connecticut Elementary School Shooting

The Obama administration overruled recommendations from within the US Department of Homeland Security and implemented new guidelines earlier this year that allow the government to gather and analyze intelligence on every single US citizen. - Since the spring, a little-know intelligence agency outside of Washington, DC has been able to circumvent the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution and conduct dragnet surveillance of the entire country, combing massive datasets using advanced algorithms to search and seize personal info on anyone this wish, reports the Wall Street Journal this week. There’s no safeguard that says only Americans with criminal records are the ones included, and it’s not just suspected terrorists that are considered in the searches either. The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) has been provided with entire government databases and given nearly endless access to intelligence on everyone in the country, regardless of whether or not they’ve done anything that would have made them a person of interest. As long as data is “reasonably believed” to contain “terrorism information,” the agency can do as they wish. What’s more is the NCTC can retain that information for years, reviewing it whenever they’d like to take a look.

Wall Street Journal: U.S. Terrorism Agency to Tap a Vast Database of Citizens
Wall Street Journal: A Comparison of the 2008 and 2012 NCTC Guidelines
John Glaser: Unprecedented Powers for Warrantless Surveillance

Graphic footage of a police officer shooting a man eleven times outside a suburban home - killing him - has been released a day after the officer was cleared of wrongdoing. - Attorneys for Ernesto Duenez Jr., 34, showed the video, which was recorded by a camera in the cop's patrol car on June 8, 2011, at a press conference in Oakland, California on Wednesday. It shows police waiting for Duenez, who was wanted in connection with a domestic violence incident that day, to arrive at a friend's home. They swoop on the home once he arrives in a pickup truck. Duenez, a passenger in the truck, can be seen climbing across the seats and opening a door as Manteca police officer James Moody runs towards the vehicle with his gun pointed.

NYU student Josh Begley is tweeting every reported U.S. drone strike since 2002, and the feed highlights a disturbing tactic employed by the U.S. that is widely considered a war crime. Known as the "double tap," the tactic involves bombing a target multiple times in relatively quick succession, meaning that the second strike often hits first responders. A 2007 report by the Homeland Security Institute called double taps a "favorite tactic of Hamas" and the FBI considers it a tactic employed by terrorists. UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings Christof Heyns said that if there are "secondary drone strikes on rescuers who are helping (the injured) after an initial drone attack, those further attacks are a war crime." Dronestream / Dronestream Slide Show

Rauhaugite from the Fen field. Thorium is an ele-
ment of this rock. (G. Solli, Norsk Thorium)

The Norwegian government plans to conduct trial usage of the nuclear fuel thorium, considered by many to be one of the most promising future energy sources, at its existing nuclear facilities.

Business Insider reports that the Norwegian government will be conducting the trials in collaboration with the USA's Westinghouse and Norway's own Thor Energy. Despite abundant oil reserves which have made Norway one of the world's most affluent countries on a per capita GDP basis, the Scandinavian nation has always been a strong advocate of nuclear power, no doubt partially due to its extensive thorium deposits. Thorium was in fact first discovered by a Norwegian mineralogist, who named the radioactive mineral after the Norse god of thunder. Thorium is touted by many, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates, as a preferable alternative to uranium as a nuclear fuel source. Its key advantages vis-a-vis uranium include greater abundance, improved power generation, less waste, and most crucially the fact that thorium plants are considered to be impervious to meltdowns. China and India are also currently considering the inclusion of thorium-powered nuclear plants as significant components of their national energy portfolios. The Norwegian trials will make use of an existing heavy-water nuclear reactor, instead of the molten salt or pebble bed reactors which are considered to be best suited to thorium power generation.

Oil Price: Norway Begin Testing Thorium in Nuclear Reactors
Science Nordic: Thorium from Telemark

Failure to sign agreement at ITU conference stops governments having greater powers to control phone calls and data. - A proposed global telecoms treaty that would give national governments control of the internet has been blocked by the US and key western and African nations. They said they are "not able to sign the agreement in its current form" at the end of a International Telecoms Union (ITU) conference in Dubai. The proposals, coming after two weeks of complex negotiation, would have given individual governments greater powers to control international phone calls and data traffic, but were opposed as the conference had seemed to be drawing to a close late on Thursday. The move seems to safeguard the role of the internet as an unregulated, international service that runs on top of telecoms systems free of direct interference by national governments.

U.N. Ambassador Takes Herself Out of Consideration for Secretary of State Post. - U.N. Ambassador Susan E. Rice withdrew from consideration to be secretary of state on Thursday in anticipation of a fierce confirmation battle with Republican opponents, marking the first political defeat for President Barack Obama in preparing for his second term. Ms. Rice's announcement that she was ending her bid for the post could reverberate across two branches of government, reshaping Mr. Obama's cabinet selections and possibly changing the makeup of the U.S. Senate. Mr. Obama has yet to nominate anyone to succeed Hillary Clinton, who has said she doesn't want to stay on as the nation's top diplomat in a second term. But officials had said Ms. Rice was the leading candidate, and Mr. Obama had defended her from detractors.

The Independent: Republican attacks force Rice to withdraw as Secretary of State

Avigdor Lieberman, the powerful Israeli foreign minister, has been indicted for alleged breach of trust in a decision that could jeopardise his career and throw the Israeli political system into upheaval weeks before January elections. - Israel's attorney general decided not to file a number of more serious charges against Mr Lieberman in a fraud and money-laundering case which has lasted for more than a decade. Prosecutors suspected he illicitly received money from businessmen and laundered it through straw companies, but they apparently decided they had insufficient evidence for a conviction. Instead, a statement says he was charged with receiving official material from the investigation against him from the former Israeli ambassador to Belarus. Mr Lieberman had no immediate comment. He has previously denied any wrongdoing.

BBC: Israel Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman resigns
New York Times: Hard-Line Israeli Foreign Minister Is Stepping Down

Israeli soldiers punched two Reuters cameramen and forced them to strip in the street, before letting off a tear gas canister in front of them, leaving one of them needing hospital treatment. - Yousri Al Jamal and Ma'amoun Wazwaz said a foot patrol stopped them as they were driving to a nearby checkpoint where a Palestinian teenager had just been shot dead by an Israeli border guard. Their car was clearly marked 'TV' and they were both wearing blue flak jackets with 'Press' emblazoned on the front. The soldiers forced them to leave the vehicle and punched them, striking them with the butts of their guns. They accused them of working for an Israeli NGO, B'Tselem, which documents human rights violations in the occupied West Bank, the Reuters cameramen said. Locals say B'Tselem has given a number of Palestinians video cameras so they can film soldiers and settlers who live in this divided city. The NGO was not immediately available for comment.

After months of controversy, German lawmakers overwhelmingly approved legislation to guarantee that male circumcision remains legal in Germany. - The legislation makes it clear that parents have the right to circumcise their newborn sons if the practice follows medical rules and is carried out by a trained practitioner. Once the boy reaches the age of six months, only a doctor can perform the circumcision.

The US suffered a significant legal rebuff on Thursday after its use of "extraordinary rendition" and interrogations in CIA black jails was condemned as "torture" in a landmark ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

The ruling came in the case a German-Lebanese car salesman who was seeking compensation after being the victim of a mistaken "extraordinary rendition" in 2003 at the height of the CIA's campaign of abductions and interrogations after the September 11 attacks. It was hailed by civil rights groups as an "historic ruling" that would serve as a warning to European governments and put renewed pressure on the United States to acknowledge it had committed torture in its policy of 'rendition'. Ben Emmerson, the UN special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, described the 92-page judgment as a "key milestone" in the struggle to secure accountability for "human rights violations committed by the Bush administration." The case of Khalid El-Masri caused an international outcry in May 2004 after he was dumped by US officials on a mountain road in Albania nearly six months after being wrongly arrested by Macedonian border guards as a suspected terrorist. Mr Masri, 48, who shared a name with a wanted al-Qaeda suspect, alleged he was held incommunicado for 24 days in Macedonia before being handed over to the CIA who 'rendered' him to a secret prison in Afghanistan knows as the 'salt pit'.

The Khalid El-Masri case on AWIP
Jason Ditz: Human Rights Court: CIA Tortured, Sodomized German Citizen
The Guardian: CIA ‘tortured and sodomised’ terror suspect, human rights court rules

Vladimir Putin has lashed out at the US’s Magnitsky Act dubbing it “a purely political, unfriendly move.” - The President has approved the speeding up a counter list addressing American foster parents guilty of abusing Russian orphans. “We should certainly react [to the bill] appropriately,” Vladimir Putin said, welcoming the State Duma’s initiative regarding the sanctions list against US nationals. “We should make sure that our decisions are adequate, but not exorbitant,” he underlined. Earlier this month, Russian lawmakers suggested preparing a list of Americans who have violated the rights of Russian children adopted into US families. They said they will name their law after Dima Yakovlev – a two-year-old boy who died after being locked in a car by his adoptive father on a hot day in 2008. But the law might see a broader application since the draft has officially been named “Enforcement actions on people involved in violating human rights of Russian Federation citizens”. The move comes in response to a US list of sanctions, the so-called Magnitsky list, which is expected to be signed into law by the end of the week. The act imposes visa bans and asset freezes on Russian officials allegedly involved in the death of Russian anti-corruption lawyer Sergey Magnitsky and in other human rights abuses in the country. The 37-year-old died in a Moscow pre-trial detention center in November 2009. The Russian President believes that the American Magnitsky law is most likely the result of internal political wrangling in the US.

Paul Craig Roberts: Obdurate Washington
Zero Hedge: The Gulag Ameripelago: US Incarceration Surpasses Russia's

When people say first he [Assad] needs to step down. Then our question is ‘but he is not stepping down, so what are you going to do about it?’ If we were to accept that what would need to change? If he continues to be in Damascus and continues to be the leader of an important group of the Syria population, at least, and the leader of the armed forces, that logic would immediately put that strategy into an impasse, and the possibility would only be to fight it out. And this is exactly what has been happening. So our logic is that we should not put Assad’s future to the fore. We should try to find common ground politically and in terms of personalities who could be in that transitional body...Both sides seem to believe that they can get win by fighting. We are against trying to solve the conflict militarily. We are not support Assad we are supporting [a] political outcome. The problem is that Assad is there. You can say he should go as many times as you want. But as long as he shows no intention of doing so that only leaves you at a corner.

Somewhere between being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the consolidating farce of the presentation in Oslo [on Monday], recipients were plotting another freedom and democracy bringing “humanitarian intervention”, illegal regime change and the destruction of a country in order to save it. Remember Libya was “not going to be another Iraq” disaster, “lessons have been learned”? Libya’s ruined towns and social structure of course, chillingly resemble Iraq. Now, it is Syria’s turn, but Syria will “not be another Libya”, yes mistakes were made, but lessons have yet again been learned. Today’s (London) Independent cover story reports the: “plan for (the) international coalition to provide air and naval support, plus military training for the opposition”, commenting that :“Western intervention is now deemed necessary as civil war has reached ‘tipping point’ “ and of course: “Britain, France and US agree ‘no boots on the ground.’ “ This is the outcome of a secret meeting in London recently, hosted by Sir David Richards, who heads Britain’s armed forces. Participants in the scheming were: “the military chiefs of France, Turkey, Jordan, Qatar, the UAE and” (surprise) “a three star American General.” The paper records: “Strategy was discussed at length”, with other UK government Ministries “and their counterparts in allied states” also holding meetings – read plotting another overthrow of massive illegality, of a sovereign leader and government.

Syrian Free Press: Syrian Television ~ (Eng/Fra/Esp) ~ VIDEO News/Nouvelles/Noticias
SANA: Syria Denies Rumors about Army Using Scud Missiles against Terrorist Groups
SANA: A Number of Citizens, including Children and Women, Killed, in Car Bomb Explosions
Russia Today: US sending Patriot surface-to-air missiles to Turkey
Stephen Lendman: Propaganda War on Syria Rages
Julie Lévesque: Fabricating WMD “Evidence”: Israeli Covert Operation inside Syria
AWIP: Five Killed, 23 Injured in Three Terrorist Bombings Targeting Interior Ministry Building

The tiny Nordic European island country of iceland is presently experiencing one of the greatest economic comebacks of all time.

After the privatization of the banking sector completed in 200o, the economy was thrown into a tailspin when over a five year period, private bankers borrowed 120 billion dollars (10 times the size of Iceland’s economy). A huge economic bubble was created, causing house prices to double, and making a small percentage of Iceland’s population rich enough to buy up overseas investments, mansions, yachts, and private jets, while leaving an absolutely un-payable debt for all Icelanders. Iceland was facing national bankruptcy. In response to the failed banking system, in October 2008, Iceland’s revolution against this financial tyranny began, rather casually in the street, in front of the Icelandic general assembly. In the duration of five months, the main bank of Iceland was nationalized, government officials were forced to resign, the old government was liquidated, and a new government was put in its place. By March 2010, Iceland’s people voted to deny payment of the 3,500 million Euro debt created by the bankers, and about 200 high-level executives and bankers responsible for the economic crisis in the country were either arrested or were facing criminal charges.