Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/222666
Thursday, December 5, 2013 – Daily News 5A WORLD BRIEFING amid public doubts over Obama's stewardship of the economy, as his overall approval ratings sink and as he seeks to move past the health care troubles that have consumed his presidency in recent months. He acknowledged his administration's ''poor execution'' in rolling out the flawed website that was supposed to be an easy portal for purchasing insurance, while blaming Republicans for a ''reckless'' shutdown of the government. 911 calls from Conn. school tragedy are released HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — As gunfire boomed over and over in the background, a janitor begged a 911 dispatcher to send help, saying, ''There's still shooting going on! Please!'' A woman breathlessly reported seeing a gunman run down a hall. And a teacher said she was holed up in her classroom with her children but hadn't yet locked the door. Recordings of 911 calls from last year's Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting were released Wednesday, and they not only paint a picture of anguish and tension inside the building, they also show Newtown dispatchers mobilizing help, reassuring callers and urging them to take cover. ''Keep everybody calm. Keep everybody down. Get everybody away from windows, OK?'' one dispatcher told the frightened teacher who reported hearing shots in the hall. The calls were made public under a court order after a lengthy effort by The Associated Press. Prosecutors had argued that releasing the recordings would only cause more anguish for the victims' families. The gunman, 20-yearold Adam Lanza, shot his way through a plate-glass window at the front of the school on Dec. 14. The office staff saw the shooter, who was wearing a hat and sunglasses, as he entered the building with a rifle and began firing down a hallway. Senior Hezbollah commander killed in Beirut BAALBEK, Lebanon (AP) — The attackers waited in an olive grove around midnight. As the Hezbollah commander pulled into the garage of his nearby apartment building, they went in after him. Five bullets were pumped into his head and neck from a silencer-equipped pistol — an assassination that reverberated across the Middle East. The killing early Wednesday of Hassan alLaqis, described as a member of the inner circle of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, was the latest in a series of recent attacks against the Iranian-backed group. Hezbollah blamed Israel, which denied involvement. However, the Shiite militant group's open support of Syrian President Bashar Assad has enraged Sunnis and left it with no shortage of enemies eager to strike at its strongholds and leadership. Dozens of people have been killed in deadly car bombings claimed by radical Sunni groups. The group's participation in the civil war in FREE ENROLLMENT HELP Covered California Affordable Care 530-840-6611 805 Walnut Street Red Bluff Corner of Walnut & Jackson Lic# 0573654 10 whales now dead in Everglades National Park Syria is highly divisive and unpopular in Lebanon, where many feel it has deviated from its raison d'etre of fighting Israel and exposed the Shiite community to retaliation. Most recently, two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the Iranian Embassy in Beirut, killing 23. An al-Qaidaaffiliated group claimed responsibility, saying it was payback for Hezbollah's support of Assad. Engineer experienced hypnotic-like 'daze' before deadly NY derailment YONKERS, N.Y. (AP) — An engineer whose speeding commuter train ran off the rails along a curve, killing four people, experienced a hypnoticlike daze and nodded at the controls before he suddenly realized something was wrong and hit the brakes, a lawyer said as a federal regulator called for the railroad to make immediate safety improvements. William Rockefeller, who was operating the Metro-North Railroad train, experienced a nod or ''a daze,'' almost like road fatigue or the phenomenon sometimes called highway hypnosis, said attorney Jeffrey Chartier, who accompanied the engineer to his interview with National Transportation Safety Board investigators Tuesday. Chartier couldn't say how long the spell lasted. What Rockefeller remembers is ''operating the train, coming to a section where the track was still clear — then, all of a sudden, feeling something was wrong,'' Chartier said. ''He felt something was not right, and Red Bluff Garden Club's Scholarship Christmas Boutique he hit the brakes.'' He called Rockefeller ''a guy with a stellar record who, I believe, did nothing wrong.'' ''You've got a good guy and an accident,'' he said. ''A terrible accident is what it is.'' Obama declares income inequality a 'defining challenge' WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama prodded Congress to raise wages and secure the social safety net as he issued an overarching appeal Wednesday to correct inequalities that he said make it harder for a child to escape poverty. ''That should offend all of us,'' he declared. ''We are a better country than this.'' Focusing on the pocketbook issues that Americans consistently rank as a top concern, Obama argued that the dream of upward economic mobility is breaking down and that the growing income gap is a ''defining challenge of our time.'' ''The basic bargain at the heart of our economy has frayed,'' the president said in remarks at a nonprofit community center a short drive from the White House in one of Washington's most impoverished neighborhoods. Though he offered no new initiatives, Obama blended a call for Congress to act on pending short-term economic measures with a long vision aimed at correcting a growing level of income inequality in the United States. The speech came Free Gift Wrapping for Seniors 616 Cedar St,. Red Bluff (Old Holiday Market) FRESH WEATHS, ARRANGEMENTS and more Dec. 12, 13 & 14 9:00am-6:00pm For Custom Orders Call 527-4578 or 526-4578 Monday thru Friday 8am to 4pm Until 12/20/13 (2 gift limit) Tehama Estates 750 David Ave., Red Bluff 527-9193 EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, Fla. (AP) — Wildlife workers in boats struggled Wednesday to coax nearly four dozen pilot whales out of dangerous shallow waters in Florida's Everglades National Park, hoping to spare them the fate of 10 others that already have died. Six of the whales were found dead, and four of the whales had to be euthanized Wednesday, said Blair Mase, coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's marine mammal stranding network. At least three could be seen on the beach, out of the water. The whales are stranded in a remote area near Highland Beach, the western boundary of Everglades National Park and about 20 miles east of where they normally live. It takes more than an hour to reach the spot from the nearest boat ramp and there is no cellphone service, complicating rescue efforts. ''We want to set the expectation low, because the challenges are very, very difficult,'' Mase said. Park spokeswoman Linda Friar said rescuers were trying to surround the whales, which were in roughly 3 feet of salt water about 75 feet from shore, and herd them back to sea. 45 victories in 47 fights, 41 of them with knockouts. He has successfully defended his title 11 times, most recently in September 2012, and plans to have one more bout before he retires. He still spends several hours a day training. KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Towering over his fellow protest leaders, Vitali Klitschko, the reigning world heavyweight boxing champion, has emerged as Ukraine's most popular opposition figure and has ambitions to become its next president. Thanks to his sportshero status and reputation as a pro-Western politician untainted by Ukraine's frequent corruption scandals, the 6-foot 7-inch Klitschko has surpassed jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in opinion polls. As massive anti-government protests continue to grip Ukraine, the 42year-old boxer-turnedpolitician is urging his countrymen to continue their fight to turn this exSoviet republic into a genuine Western democracy. ''This is not a revolution. It is a peaceful protest that demands justice,'' Klitschko told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday. ''The people are not defending political interests. They are defending the idea of living in a civilized country.'' Dubbed Dr. Ironfist for his prowess in the boxing ring, Klitschko has scored The man charged with killing a Transportation Security Administration officer and wounding two other agents and a civilian during a shooting rampage at Los Angeles International Airport made his first court appearance Wednesday, still showing signs of the gunshot wounds suffered when he was arrested. Paul Ciancia hadn't been seen in public since the Nov. 1 attack that created chaos at one of the nation's busiest airports and affected air travel around the country. The 23-year-old spoke in whispers and showed no emotion during the 10-minute hearing in the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, about 45 miles east of Los Angeles. He's being housed at the facility in federal custody. U.S. Magistrate Judge David Bristow asked the diminutive, slender Ciancia if he understood the charges against him. ''Yes,'' responded Ciancia, who was shackled at his hands and feet and had a bandage on his neck and bruises on the left side of his face. LAX World boxing shooting champion suspect leads makes first Ukraine's appearance RANCHO CUCAprotests MONGA, Calif. (AP) —