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Utah town ordinance calls for guns in every home, every classroom

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A small town in Utah is responding to the recent mass shooting of 20 children in Connecticut by pushing through a resolution that calls for every home to have a gun, and the town wants to provide free concealed carry training for all elementary school teachers.

"The first recommendation was that we require, or we recommend, every household have a gun and be properly trained to use it," Spring City Councilman Neil Sorensen, who authored the resolution, told KSL on Monday.

But some residents - including the Sanpete County sheriff - were a little uncomfortable with requiring all residents to be armed so Sorensen agreed to dial back the resolution.

City officials are hoping to quickly get the ordinance onto the city books. Little resistance is expected at a public hearing next month.

Bad Guys

Boy Scouts to release sex abuse allegation files after order from California Supreme Court

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The Boy Scouts of America must release two decades of files detailing sexual abuse allegations after the California Supreme Court refused the organization's bid to keep the records confidential.

The decision came after a Santa Barbara County court ruled last year that the files must be turned over to attorneys representing a former Scout who claims a leader molested him in 2007, when he was 13. That leader later was convicted of felony child endangerment.

The former Scout's lawsuit claims the files, which date to 1991 and involve allegations from across the nation, will expose a "culture of hidden sexual abuse" that the Scouts had concealed.

The Boys Scouts of America has denied the allegations and argued that the files should remain confidential to protect the privacy of child victims and of people who were wrongly accused.

Padlock

Michael C. Gilliland, former Sunflower Farmers Market CEO, sentenced for attempted pandering

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© AP
In this undated photograph provided by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, Michael Gilliland, the founder of Sunflower Farmers Market, is shown.
The former chief executive of an upscale Colorado-based grocery chain accused in a child prostitution case in Phoenix was sentenced Tuesday to four weeks in jail for his guilty plea to misdemeanor attempted pandering.

Authorities say then-Sunflower Farmers Market CEO Michael C. Gilliland agreed to pay $100 for sex in February 2011 in a police sting in which an undercover officer posed as a 17-year-old prostitute. Prosecutors say Gilliland showed up at a Phoenix hotel to meet the undercover officer even though she told the businessman during an earlier phone conversation that she was 17.

"I sincerely regret the mistake that I made that brought me here today. I understand the damage I have caused," Gilliland said in court, adding that he has taken responsibility for his actions. The 54-year-old was ordered to start serving his sentence Tuesday afternoon.

Arrow Down

Indonesia envisions more religion in schools

Religious Education in Indonesia
© Ed Wray for the International Herald Tribune
Annisa Nurul Jannah, 11, left, says science lessons teach her ‘‘a lot.’’
Jakarta - Annisa Nurul Jannah, 11, was learning about how devices transmit heat, sound and electricity. "I like science because it teaches me a lot," the sixth grader at Petamburan 04, a school in a working-class part of Jakarta, said about her favorite subject. "I'd be sad if it was removed from school."

Millions of children in Indonesian elementary schools may no longer have separate science classes starting in June, the beginning of their next school year, if the government approves a curriculum overhaul that would merge science and social studies with other classes so more time can be devoted to religious education.

A draft of the proposal was posted online in November and December for public comment. The government is analyzing the feedback and will meet with a team of experts shortly to develop new lesson plans.

Ibnu Hamid, an Education Ministry spokesman, said feedback showed that people generally agreed with the curriculum changes but were worried that there would not be enough time to train teachers and prepare new books. The comments have not been released to the public, however, and some critics question whether they truly reflect broader opinion.

Officials who back the changes say that more religious instruction is needed because a lack of moral development has led to an increase in violence and vandalism among youths, and that could fuel social unrest and corruption in the future.

"Right now many students don't have character, tolerance for others, empathy for others," Musliar Kasim, the deputy minister of education, said in an interview in November. He proposed the changes in September.

He is part of a team of officials, academics and advisers from the office of Vice President Boediono working to streamline the curriculum in 2013.

Mr. Hamid said that the aim was to create a "balance between attitude, skills and knowledge."

Arrow Down

Turkey to build first nuclear plant on Mediterranean coast: minister

Turkey has decided to build its first nuclear power plant at a controversial location on the Mediterranean coast that had been previously dropped, Energy Minister Hilmi Guler said Tuesday.

"The place where everything is currently ready (for construction) is Akkuyu," Guler told the NTV news channel.

An earlier plan to build a nuclear reactor at Akkuyu, in the southern province of Mersin, was dropped in July 2000 amid financial difficulties and protests from environmentalists in Turkey and neighbouring Greece and Cyprus. Opponents raised safety concerns, arguing that the proposed site is only 25 kilometres (15 miles) from a seismic fault line.

The government is expected to make the tender announcement on February 21 and the winning company should start construction later this year. The plant is expected to become operational in 2013 or 2014.

Eye 2

Even New Delhi cops shocked by rapists' brutality

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Calling the Delhi gang-rape "the worst in the world", police officers are calling for urgent amendments in the archaic Indian Penal Code (IPC) to provide justice to women in distress.

Even police officers who have over the decades seen countless bodies and battered humans are unable to control their emotions as they talk about the savagery committed Dec 16 on the victim who finally died Dec 29.

"We have never seen a beastly crime like this," one officer told IANS. "Forget the details... I can tell you with authority that there has never been a rape like this anywhere in the world."

This is a rare case when most police officers surprisingly are in agreement with what protesters are demanding on the streets: death for all six rapists.

"What happened on Dec 16 was shocking," another officer added. "We too are human, we too have daughters, wives and mothers. It is impossible to tell anyone what this woman underwent in the (moving) bus."

Eye 1

Blame the victim: Asaram says rape victim should have 'begged', draws flak

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Spiritual leader Asaram Bapu was Monday reported as saying that the Delhi gang-rape victim should have called her attackers "brothers" and recited the Saraswati mantra to avert the tragedy.

This provoked both the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP to lash out at the comments as disturbing and condemnable.

Asaram Bapu reportedly said, "The victim is as guilty as her rapists", adding one hand cannot clap.

The victim should have "begged" in front of the culprits, he said.

Speaking to a gathering of followers at Tonk town, some 100 km from Jaipur, Asaram Babu said: "The five or six drunken men were not the only ones guilty. The girl was also responsible..."

Arrow Down

Shocking! Thousands of mutilated shark fins drying on Hong Kong rooftops

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© AFP/Getty Images
The residents of Hong Kong, like many in Asia, have a thing for shark fin soup. There's been efforts to educate and regulate... But despite it all, the appetite for it is still going strong, which leads to tens of millions of sharks getting mutilated and thrown back in the water to slowly die, every single year.

The photos in this slideshow were taken on the rooftops of buildings in Hong Kong (a big hub in the shark finning industry), and they show thousands and thousands of mutilated shark fins. Remember: Each one represents a dead shark that was killed just for this little piece of cartilage. I find those photos extremely sad, and if you go all the way to the last slide (you can navigate with the arrows on the top right of the images), there's a video showing the same location. Truly sickening.

Ambulance

Four killed, at least 175 injured as unpaid restaurant bill triggers rampage in India

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© AFP Photo
Indian police officials inspect a damaged vehicle at the site of clashes the previous day in Dhule district in Maharashtra state on January 7, 2013.
An argument over a restaurant bill spiraled out of control in a western Indian city, triggering violent clashes between Muslims and Hindus that killed four people. The mass brawl damaged the surrounding neighborhood and left at least 175 injured.

The four casualties of the riots were killed in police fire as officers resorted to live ammunition to bring the rival brawlers under control in the city of Dhule on Sunday night. They also used sticks, teargas and plastic bullets to bring the rioters to heal.

Over 113 police were among the injured.

Investigations are still underway into the root causes of the brawl, but police say a dispute over a restaurant bill in an establishment triggered the unrest.

The antagonistic parties in the dispute are suspected by police to be from rival Muslim and Hindu communities.

"The customer went and took 50 people from his community and assaulted the restaurant owner, and people from the owner's community also gathered and started arsoning [sic] and rioting," said special inspector general Deven Bharti to AFP. He declined to identify the parties involved in the initial incident.

Handcuffs

New York politician Seabrook sentenced to 5 years for corruption

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© Michael Appleton for The New York Times
Larry B. Seabrook, a Bronx politician, leaving Federal District Court in Manhattan on Tuesday after being sentenced to five years in prison for his conviction on corruption charges.
Larry B. Seabrook, a pillar of Bronx politics whose nearly three-decade tenure has included stints as an assemblyman, state senator and city councilman, was sentenced to five years in prison on Tuesday for his conviction on political corruption charges.

Mr. Seabrook, 61, was also ordered to pay $620,000 in restitution to the City of New York.

He was convicted in July of orchestrating a broad scheme to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars in city money to friends, relatives and a girlfriend through a network of nonprofit groups that prosecutors said he controlled.