Live chat: Newtown rebuilds after shooting

In the aftermath of Friday's Newtown school shooting, we've heard tales mostly horrifying and occasionally heroic, from surviving witnesses and mourning citizens alike, but this one lies somewhere in between, all the more unshakeable. One six-year-old Sandy Hook student played dead in her first-grade classroom, her family pastor said late Sunday, with the kind of quick thinking that ended up saving...

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Bangladesh probe: Fire sabotage, owner negligent

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A Bangladesh government committee investigating the garment factory fire that killed 112 people last month said in its findings Monday that the blaze was sabotage, probably by someone who worked there.But the panel said that no matter who set the fire, the owner of the factory also should be punished for the deaths because he neglected worker safety."If someone is responsible...

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Massachusetts fines Morgan Stanley over Facebook research

BOSTON (Reuters) – Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter for Facebook Inc’s initial public offering, will pay a $ 5 million fine to Massachusetts to settle charges that its bankers improperly influenced its research analysts when the Internet company went public.Massachusetts’ top securities regulator, William Galvin, charged that Morgan Stanley improperly helped Facebook disclose sensitive financial...

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Panettiere overcomes stage fright with 'Nashville'

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — While Hayden Panettiere is pretending to be a country music singer on TV, she's learning how to be one in real life.The 23-year-old actress plays ambitious country star Juliette Barnes on the hit ABC show "Nashville" (Wednesdays, 10 p.m. Eastern). Her character has performed on the Grand Ole Opry, dealt with the demands of a record label executive, written songs and tracked...

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Experts: No link between Asperger's, violence

NEW YORK (AP) — While an official has said that the 20-year-old gunman in the Connecticut school shooting had Asperger's syndrome, experts say there is no connection between the disorder and violence.Asperger's is a mild form of autism often characterized by social awkwardness."There really is no clear association between Asperger's and violent behavior," said psychologist Elizabeth Laugeson, an assistant...

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Why we should politicize the Newtown shooting, starting right now

By Jeff GreenfieldTwo events, each more than a century old, instruct us about how we should act in the face of what happened Friday in Newtown, Conn.On March 25, 1911, fire broke out in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in lower Manhattan. Because the owners had locked the doors and stairwells, in an effort to prevent theft and unauthorized work breaks, the garment workers were trapped in the fire;...

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Conservative LDP returns with landslide in Japan

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's conservative Liberal Democratic Party returned to power in a landslide election victory Sunday after three years in opposition, according to early returns, signaling a rightward shift in the government that could further heighten tensions with China, a key economic partner as well as rival.The victory means that the hawkish former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will get a second chance...

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'Hobbit' bests 'Rings' with $84.8 million opening

NEW YORK (AP) — Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit" led the box office with a haul of $84.8 million, a record-setting opening better than the three previous "Lord of the Rings" films.The Warner Bros. Middle Earth epic was the biggest December opening ever, surpassing Will Smith's "I Am Legend," which opened with $77.2 million in 2007, according to studio estimates Sunday. "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"...

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Experts: No link between Asperger's, violence

NEW YORK (AP) — While an official has said that the 20-year-old gunman in the Connecticut school shooting had Asperger's syndrome, experts say there is no connection between the disorder and violence.Asperger's is a mild form of autism often characterized by social awkwardness."There really is no clear association between Asperger's and violent behavior," said psychologist Elizabeth Laugeson, an assistant...

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Portraits of Conn. victims show lives at their very start, ended in gunfire

Most died at the very start of their young lives, tiny victims taken in a way not fit for anyone regardless of age. Others found their life's work in sheltering little ones, teaching them, caring for them, treating them as their own. After the gunfire ended Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the trail of loss was more than many could bear: 20 children and six adults at the school, the gunman's...

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