Zebrafish made to grow pre-hands instead of fins

PERHAPS the little fish embryo shown here is dancing a jig because it has just discovered that it has legs instead of fins. Fossils show that limbs evolved from fins, but a new study shows how it may have happened, live in the lab.

Fernando Casares of the Spanish National Research Council and his colleagues injected zebrafish with the hoxd13 gene from a mouse. The protein that the gene codes for controls the development of autopods, a precursor to hands, feet and paws.

Zebrafish naturally carry hoxd13 but produce less of the protein than tetrapods - all four-limbed vertebrates and birds - do. Casares and his colleagues hoped that by injecting extra copies of the gene into the zebrafish embryos, some of their cells would make more of the protein.

One full day later, all of those fish whose cells had taken up the gene began to develop autopods instead of fins. They carried on growing for four days but then died (Cell, DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2012.10.015).

"Of course, we haven't been able to grow hands," says Casares. He speculates that hundreds of millions of years ago, the ancestors of tetrapods began expressing more hoxd13 for some reason and that this could have allowed them to evolve autopods.

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Public skydiving event in S'pore may become yearly affair

SINGAPORE: Daredevils can rejoice, as there are plans for a yearly public skydiving event to be held in Singapore, subject to authorities' approval.

The first of the plunges took place on Saturday above Sentosa, where 15 thrill-seekers took the leap of faith.

It was held in conjunction with Asia Pacific's inaugural indoor skydiving world championships, which runs from 14 to 16 December at iFly Singapore in Sentosa.

"The key thing about this tandem jump is to make the sports available to the Singaporeans," said Lawrence Koh, the founder of iFly.

"Skydiving seems to be very niche in Singapore, so we can show that we can actually do skydiving here, occasionally."

Some of the skydiving participants were children.

"As a tandem passenger, as long as you're (physically) fit, you can do it," said Pierre-Francois Vilquin, the tandem skydiving instructor at iFly.

"You know, we've taken people that are over 80 years old."

The event organisers had to seek clearance from agencies like the Defence Ministry, Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and police.

A basic tandem skydiving package costs around S$1,400.

- CNA/xq

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Pearlman: I think Bobby Petrino is slime

Bobby Petrino was named head coach at Western Kentucky, months after being embroiled in scandal at University of Arkansas

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Bobby Petrino was named the new football coach at Western Kentucky this week


• Hiring came just months after he was fired from Arkansas amid scandal


• Jeff Pearlman says, sadly, this is no surprise in big-time college sports


• He says the vast majority of players are ultimately hurt by the behavior of coaches and administrators

Editor's note: Jeff Pearlman is the author of 'Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton.' He blogs at jeffpearlman.com. Follow him on Twitter.

(CNN) -- I have a dog named Norma.

She is a small beige cockapoo who barks at the mailman.

I would not trust Bobby Petrino to watch her.

Jeff Pearlman

I also would not trust Bobby Petrino to take my car in for a tire change. I would not trust Bobby Petrino to deposit my Aunt Ruth's Social Security check. I wouldn't trust him to clean my bowling ball, shop for a Christmas ham, change a twenty for two tens, tell me the time or recite the proper lyrics to Blind Melon's "No Rain."

This is not because I am a particularly untrusting person.

No, it's because I think Bobby Petrino is slime.

In case you missed the news, two days ago Western Kentucky University held a press conference to announce that Petrino, undeniably one of the nation's elite football minds, had agreed to a four-year, $850,000 per year deal to take over the Hilltoppers.

With nearly 400 giddy sports fanatics in attendance, Petrino, standing alongside Todd Stewart, the school's athletic director, spoke of honor and loyalty and love and redemption. The ensuing press release, issued by Western Kentucky's sports information department, was straight out of Disney: 101. It made Petrino sound like a cross between Vince Lombardi, Martin Luther King and Gandhi; God's gift to young men seeking to better themselves.

Petrino fired as Arkansas head football coach

What it failed to mention—and what the school desperately wants everyone to fail to mention—is that Petrino may well be the least ethically whole man in the, ahem, ethically whole-deprived world of Division I collegiate sports.

Why, it was only seven months ago that Petrino, at the time the University of Arkansas' head coach, was riding his motorcycle when he crashed along Highway 16 near Crosses, Arkansas.

When asked by school officials to explain what had happened, he failed to mention that, eh, also on the bike was Jessica Dorrell, a 26-year-old former Razorbacks volleyball player who worked as the student-athlete development coordinator for the football program. It turned out that Petrino, a married father of four, was not only having an affair with Dorrell (who was engaged at the time), but was a key voice on the board that hired her for the position when she wasn't even remotely qualified.

During an ensuing university investigation, it was determined that Petrino made a previously undisclosed $20,000 cash gift to Dorrell as a Christmas present.

Ho, ho, ho.

To his credit, Jeff Long, the school's athletic director, defied the wishes of every pigskin-blinded Razorback fan and fired Petrino. In a statement, he rightly wrote that, "all of these facts, individually and collectively, are clearly contrary to character and responsibilities of the person occupying the position of the Head Football Coach—an individual who should serve as a role model and a leader for our student-athlete."

Now, ethics and morals and character be damned, Bobby Petrino has returned, spewing off nonsense about second chances (Ever notice how garbage men and bus drivers rarely get the second chances we are all—according to fallen athletic figures—rightly afforded as Americans?) and learning from mistakes and making things right.

Western Kentucky, a school with mediocre athletics and apparently, sub-mediocre standards, has turned to a person who lied to his last employer about the nature of an accident involving the mistress he allegedly hired to a university position she was unqualified to hold. Please, if you must, take a second to read that again. And again. And again.

Bobby Petrino, holder of a Ph.D. in the Deceptive Arts (he also ditched the University of Louisville shortly after signing a long-term extension in 2007, and quit as coach of the Atlanta Falcons 13 game into his first season later that year. He informed his players via a note atop their lockers), will be the one charged with teaching the 17- and 18-year-old boys who decide to come to Bowling Green about not merely football, but life. He will be their guide. Their compass. Their role model.

Bobby Petrino and social media prove a bad mix

Sadly, in the world of Division I sports, such is far from surprising. This has been a year unlike any other; one where the virtues of greed and the color of green don't merely cloak big-time college athletics, but control them. In case you haven't noticed, we are in the midst of a dizzying, nauseating game of Conference Jump, where colleges and universities—once determined to maintain geographic rivals in order to limit student travel—have lost their collective minds.

The University of Maryland, a charter member of the ACC, is headed for the Big Ten. The Big East—formerly a power conference featuring the likes of Syracuse, Georgetown, St. John's and Connecticut—has added Boise State, San Diego State, Memphis, Houston, Southern Methodist and Navy. Idaho moved from the WAC to the Big Sky, Middle Tennessee State and Florida Atlantic went to Conference USA, the University of Denver—a member of the WAC for approximately 27 minutes—joined the Summit League. Which, to be honest, I didn't even know existed.

Rest assured, none of these moves (literally, nary a one) were conducted with the best interests of so-called student-athletes in mind. New conferences tend to offer increased payouts, increased merchandising opportunities, increased exposure and increased opportunities to build a new stadium—one with 80,000 seats, 100 luxury boxes, $20 million naming rights, $9 hot dogs and the perfect spot for ESPN to broadcast its Home Depot pregame show.

Why, within 24 hours of quarterback Johnny Manziel winning the Heisman Trophy, Texas A&M was hawking Heisman T-shirts for $24 on its website (Or, for a mere $54.98, one can purchase his No. 2 jersey).

Percentage of the dough that winds up in Manziel's pocket? Zero.

After another spectacular exit, Petrino eyes football return

That, really, is the rub of it all; of Petrino's crabgrass-like revival; of coaches bounding from one job for another (even as players can only do so after sitting out a year); of Rutgers moving west and San Diego State moving east and athletic department officials moving on up (to a penthouse apartment in the sky); of $54.98 jerseys.

It's the athletes ultimately getting screwed.

Sure, for the 0.5% of Division I football players who wind up in the NFL, the deal is a sweet one. The other 99.5%, however, are mere pawns, sold a dizzying narrative of glory and fame and lifelong achievement, but, more often than not, left uneducated, unfulfilled and physically battered.

They are told a coach will be with them for four years—then watch as said figure takes a $2 million gig elsewhere but, hey, only because it was right for him and his family.

They are told they will receive a great education, then find themselves stuck on a six-hour flight from California to Newark, New Jersey. They are told that these will be the greatest years of their life, that the college experience is a special one, that only the highest of standards exist.

Then they meet their new coach: Bobby Petrino.

Follow @CNNOpinion on Twitter

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jeff Pearlman.

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Egyptians vote on Islamist-backed constitution

CAIRO Egyptians were voting Saturday on a proposed constitution that has polarized their nation, with President Mohammed Morsi and his Islamist supporters backing the charter, while liberals, many secular Muslims and Christians oppose it.

With the nation divided by a political crisis defined by mass protests and deadly violence, the vote has turned into a dispute over whether Egypt should move toward a religious state under Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and a radical Salafi bloc, or one that retains secular traditions and an Islamic character.

"The times of silence are over," said bank employee Essam el-Guindy as he waited to cast his ballot in Cairo's upscale Zamalek district. "I am not OK with the constitution. Morsi should not have let the country split like this."

El-Guindy was one of about 20 voters standing in a line leading men to a ballot box. A separate women's line had twice as many people. Elsewhere in the city, hundreds of voters had been queuing outside polling stations nearly two hours before the voting started at 8 a.m.

Egyptians girls show their inked fingers after casting their votes at a polling station in a referendum on a disputed constitution drafted by Islamist supporters of President Mohammed Morsi in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012.

/

AP Photo/Amr Nabil

"I read parts of the constitution and saw no reason to vote against it," said Rania Wafik as she held her newborn baby while waiting in line. "We need to move on and I just see no reason to vote against the constitution."

Morsi, whose narrow win in June made him Egypt's first freely elected president, cast his ballot at a school in the upscale Heliopolis district. He did not speak to reporters, but waved to dozens of supporters who were chanting his name outside the polling station.

In Cairo's crowded Sayedah Zeinab district, home to a revered Muslim shrine, 23-year-old engineer Mohammed Gamal said he was voting "yes" although he felt the proposed constitution needed more, not less, Islamic content.

"Islam has to be a part of everything," said Gamal, who wore the mustache-less beard that is a hallmark of hard-line Salafi Muslims. "All laws have to be in line with Shariah," he said, referring to Islamic law.

Highlighting the tension in the run-up to the vote, nearly 120,000 army troops were deployed on Saturday to protect polling stations. A radical Islamist group also said it will send its own members to defend the stations alongside the army and police.

Clashes between Morsi's supporters and opponents over the past three weeks have left at least 10 people dead and about 1,000 wounded. "No, to the constitution of blood," said the red banner headline of the independent daily Al Masry Al Youm.

Critics are questioning the charter's legitimacy after the majority of judges said they would not supervise the vote. Rights groups have also warned of opportunities for widespread fraud, and the opposition says a decision to hold the vote on two separate days to make up for the shortage of judges leaves the door open for initial results to sway voter opinion.

The shortage of judges was reflected in the chaos engulfing some polling stations, which by early afternoon had led the election commission to extend voting by two hours until 9 p.m.

In Cairo's Darb el-Ahmar, judge Mohammed Ibrahim appeared overwhelmed with the flow of voters, many of whom had to wait for close to two hours to cast their ballots. "I'm trying hard here, but responsibilities could have been better distributed," he said.

Egypt has 51 million eligible voters, of whom about 26 are supposed to cast their ballots Saturday and the rest next week. Saturday's vote is held in 10 provinces, including Cairo and the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, the country's second largest and scene of violent clashes on Friday between opponents and supporters of Morsi.

"I am definitely voting no," Habiba el-Sayed, a 49-year-old house wife who wears the Muslm veil, or hijab, said in Alexandria. "Morsi took wrong decisions and there is no stability. They (Islamists) are going around calling people infidels. How can there be stability?"

Another female voter in Alexandria, 22-year-old English teacher Yomna Hesham said she was voting `no' because the draft is "vague" and ignores women's rights.

"If we say 'yes,' we will cease to exist. Some people are saying to say 'yes' to Morsi. But he did nothing right. Why should we? They say vote 'yes' for stability. We have said `yes' before and there was no stability."

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School Shooting: Officials Seek Details on Gunman

The FBI is in at least three states interviewing relatives and friends of the elementary school gunman who killed 20 children, seven adults and himself, trying to put together a better picture of the shooter and uncover any possible explanation for the massacre, ABC News has learned.

The authorities have fanned out to New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts to interview relatives of Adam Lanza, 20, and his mother, who was one of Lanza's shooting victims.

The victims died Friday when Lanza invaded Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and sprayed staff and students with bullets, officials said. Lanza also was found dead in the school.

Lt. Paul Vance said 18 children died in the school and two more died later in a hospital.

Six adults also were slain, bringing the total to 26. Among them was the school's principal, Dawn Hochsprung, multiple sources told ABC News. Another adult victim was teacher Vicki Soto, her cousin confirmed.

In addition to the casualties at the school, Lanza's mother, Nancy Lanza, was killed in her home, federal and state sources told ABC News.

According to sources, Lanza shot his mother in the face, then left his house armed with at least two semi-automatic handguns, a Glock and a Sig Sauer, and a semi-automatic rifle. He was also wearing a bulletproof vest.

READ: Connecticut Shooter Adam Lanza: 'Obviously Not Well'

Lanza then drove to the elementary school and continued his rampage, authorities said.

Newtown Teacher Kept 1st Graders Calm During Massacre Watch Video

Newtown School Shooting: What to Tell Your Kids Watch Video

It appeared that Lanza died from what was believed to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The rifle was found in his car.

"Evil visited this community today," Gov. Dan Malloy said at a news conference Friday evening.

CLICK HERE for more photos from the scene.

In the early confusion surrounding the investigation, federal sources initially identified the suspect as Adam's older brother Ryan Lanza, 24. Identification belonging to Ryan Lanza was found at the shooting scene, federal sources told ABC News.

Ryan Lanza soon took to Facebook to say he was alive and not responsible for the shooting. He later was questioned by police.

During the rampage, first-grade teacher Kaitlin Roig, 29, locked her 14 students in a class bathroom and listened to "tons of shooting" until police came to help.

"It was horrific," Roig said. "I thought we were going to die."

She said that the terrified kids were saying, "I just want Christmas. ... I don't want to die. I just want to have Christmas."

A tearful President Obama said Friday that there was "not a parent in America who doesn't feel the overwhelming grief that I do."

The president had to pause to compose himself after saying these were "beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10."

As he continued with his statement, Obama wiped away tears from each eye. He has ordered flags flown as half staff.

It is the second worst mass shooting in U.S. history, exceeded only by the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007 when 32 were killed before the shooter turned the gun on himself. The carnage in Connecticut exceeded the 1999 Columbine High School shooting in which 13 died and 24 were injured.

Friday's shooting came three days after masked gunman Jacob Roberts opened fire in a busy Oregon mall, killing two before turning the gun on himself.

The Connecticut shooting occurred at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, which includes 450 students in grades K-4. The town is located about 12 miles east of Danbury, Conn.

The massacre prompted the town of Newtown to lock down all its schools and draw SWAT teams to the school, authorities said.

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Satellite upgrade should let planes slash emissions

A CONSTELLATION of next-generation communications satellites has a surprise in store for the environment. When Iridium Communications begins launching replacement orbiters in 2015, it will do much more than upgrade its satphone services. Piggybacking on the satellites will be a set of transmitters that could revolutionise long-haul flight, save airlines billions of dollars worth of fuel and prevent millions of tonnes of carbon emissions.

For the first time, these devices, known as ADS-B transponders, will enable air traffic controllers to locate aircraft that are far out over oceans, remote deserts or the poles where there is no radar coverage. On top of the greater safety this offers airlines if a plane gets into trouble, say, it will also let controllers pack planes in closer together along optimal flight paths, which will cut carbon emissions.

The ADS-B radio transmitting system is designed to replace expensive, unreliable and low-range radar tracking. It bundles an aircraft's call sign, GPS position, speed and altitude into 112-bit digital packets, which are broadcast continually from the aircraft to the control stations.

But like today's radar, ADS-B radio packets have limited range. "If you're way out in the Pacific or over the North Pole no one's going to pick it up," says Dan Mercer of Iridium Communications. So the transponders piggybacking on the new satellites will pick up those signals and beam them back down to Earth. "For the first time, they'll have total vision of the aircraft at all times," Mercer says.

To avoid potential collisions, planes on long-haul routes out over the oceans currently have to fly quite a long way apart. And only some planes can fly in air lanes with kind tailwinds, while others have to push through less-favourable air currents. "If air traffic control can see where aircraft are precisely, they can fly them all closer together and on the most efficient routes. So they will save fuel and cut emissions," says Mercer.

A study commissioned by Iridium found that between the service's proposed start in 2017 and 2030, the technology should save airlines about $7 billion on fuel and cut carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions by 35 million tonnes. Another projection that looked at just North Atlantic flights says orbital ADS-B will save airlines $110 million in fuel and 300,000 tonnes in emissions in 2018 alone.

The system can "improve the efficiency of oceanic air traffic management by reducing aircraft separation distances and allowing greater route optimisation", says Pauline Lamb, operations director of National Air Traffic Services in Prestwick, UK. She adds that her organisation is working to fully understand the benefits it will provide.

Meanwhile, one of the world's largest air traffic management firms, Nav Canada of Ottawa, Ontario, has formed Aireon, a joint venture with Iridium. Aireon will operate and sell the transponder service to airlines and air traffic control providers. In combination with other measures - such as use of lighter carbon fibre planes and more efficient engines - Iridium's move should help aviation fight its environmental corner.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.

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Golf: Garcia shows his class at Johor Open

KUALA LUMPUR: World number 20 Sergio Garcia of Spain charged up the leaderboard to hold the second-round lead at nine-under through 12 holes at the weather-interrupted $2 million Iskandar Johor Open on Friday.

Almost three hours of play was lost to bad weather and play was suspended as darkness began falling, leaving 117 players to return at 7.30 am on Saturday to resume their round.

Opening round leader David Lipsky of the United States, who has yet to start his second round, shared the lead with Garcia after signing for a 63 in the morning.

Three-time Asian Tour Order of Merit winner Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand is six-under through 13 holes. He is among the five players who are three shots behind Garcia and Lipsky at the event, which ends the Asian Tour season.

Singapore's Lam Chih Bing returned with a four-under-par 68 and was one of only three players who managed to complete their round.

Garcia, who starred in Europe's Ryder Cup win in September, could only play three holes on the opening day. But he returned with a vengeance by snaring 10 birdies against one bogey over 33 holes.

"It was good. It has been a long day but it has been quite positive," the event's highest ranked player said in comments released by the organisers.

"I just hope I can keep going in the right direction and see what happens. Hopefully we will get lucky and can get all four rounds in."

Lipsky, who returned to complete two holes, did not manage to start his round but will head into the weekend atop the leaderboard with Garcia

Thongchai hopes to shake off fatigue when he resumes his title charge on Saturday.

"I'm happy with the way I played but I felt tired because of the suspensions. It was quite difficult to play on the course because the fairways are a bit wet. The greens are okay," he said.

"I played very solid. I think I played about 30 holes. I woke up at 5.15am and it will be the same tomorrow."

- AFP/de

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Nuke watchdog close to deal with Iran

Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said at an October press conference that Iran will not back down on its nuclear program.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: IAEA and Iran close to an agreement, nuclear watchdog chief says


• Iran calls the talks "constructive" but does not address access to Parchin


• Prof. Fereydoun Abbasi Davani is among those being slapped with sanctions


• Abbasi Davani, the head of Iran atomic agency, survived a bomb that Iran blamed on Israel

(CNN) -- The head of a U.N. nuclear watchdog group said Friday a deal with Iran over its nuclear program is likely in January, an agreement that will also allow inspectors to gain access to a military complex where Tehran is believed to be testing nuclear materials.

The news followed reports that the International Atomic Energy Agency wrapped one-day talks in Iran over its nuclear program, widely suspected by the United States and other Western nations as a front for the country's development of nuclear weapons -- a charge Iran has repeatedly denied.

"We have agreed to meet again on 16 January next year, where we expect to finalize the structured approach and start implementing it then shortly after that," IAEA chief inspector Herman Nackaerts told reporters after returning to Vienna, Austria.

Read more: CNN Fact Check: Iran and the Bomb

The talks between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were aimed at jump-starting negotiations, while allowing agency inspectors to gain access to a military complex where Tehran is suspected of testing nuclear materials.

Access to the Parchin military complex, just outside Tehran, is a key element in the negotiations.

"We have not been given access to Parchin this time. But as you know access to Parchin is part of the structured approach, and we hope as I said that we will implement that shortly," Nackaerts said.

Read more: U.N. watchdog: Iran makes significant nuclear steps

Iran's liaison to IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, characterized the talks as constructive, according to state-run news agency IRNA. The report stopped short of saying whether the talks included discussion about investigators getting access to Parchin, which was requested at a meeting in November in Vienna, Austria.

The next round of talks were scheduled for January 16, Soltanieh told IRNA. The IAEA also confirmed the talks would continue on that day.

The United States, meanwhile, slapped new sanctions on Iran on Thursday, targeting a handful of companies and individuals it says are providing materials and technology to Tehran's nuclear program.

The sanctions, announced by the U.S. State and Treasury departments, are the latest to target Iran's economy as well as its ability to develop nuclear material.

Read more: U.N. nuclear agency expresses 'serious concern' about Iran nuke activity

The sanctions were essential "given Iran's continued intransigence on its nuclear program," said Victoria Nuland, the U.S. State Department spokeswoman.

Among the targets of the latest sanctions is Prof. Fereydoun Abbasi Davani, the head of the Iran Atomic Energy Organization.

Abbasi Davani and his wife survived a car bomb two years ago that Tehran has blamed on Israel. At least four scientists associated with Iran's nuclear program have been killed since 2010.

The companies being targeted with sanctions: FaraTech, the Neda Industrial Group, Aria Nikan Marine Industry, Towled Abzar Boreshi, Iran Pouya, Terjerat Gostar and Tarh O Palayesh.

Read more: Inspection at Iran nuclear facility finds higher-level traces of uranium, U.N. says

The sanctions freeze the companies' assets and prohibit business dealings in or with the United States. Companies and banks that defy the U.S. sanctions could be cut off from the U.S. financial system, the State and Treasury departments said.

Iran maintains its nuclear program is for civilian energy purposes only. But the IAEA has said it cannot verify whether the intent of the program is for peaceful means.

A number of Western nations have placed economic and arms-related sanctions on Iran since November 2010 when the IAEA said Tehran was pursuing technology that could be used to build nuclear weapons.

Since then, Iran has been hit by the United States and the European Union with an oil embargo as well as sanctions targeting its banks and number of its businesses.

CNN's Saskya Vandoorne reported from London and Chelsea J. Carter from Atlanta.

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As "fiscal cliff" looms, health reform questions linger

Washington lawmakers this month are squarely focused on deficit reduction as they attempt to scramble off the so-called "fiscal cliff." All the while, however, the government is proceeding with the costly and ambitious rollout of the Affordable Care Act.

Key components of President Obama's health care law won't go into effect for about another year, but federal and state lawmakers are obligated to start building up those health care systems now. Many Republicans, however, argue the Obama administration hasn't said with certainty what the programs will ultimately cost or how they'll be governed. Democrats largely chalk up the complaints to the latest chapter in Republican-led obstruction against the Affordable Care Act, pointing to Democratic-led states that are making progress implementing the law.

The "fiscal cliff," meanwhile -- the series of tax hikes and deep spending cuts set to kick in next year -- has cast a shadow over the entire health care debate. While lawmakers spar over the details of large new health care systems, Congress could be forced in the coming weeks to make spending cuts and policy changes to programs like Medicaid.

At a congressional hearing Thursday on the subject of the health care law, Louisiana's secretary of the Health and Hospitals Department Bruce Greenstein told Congress it felt as if they were operating in a "parallel universe."

"It feels somewhat awkward to be here testifying on the implementation of one of the largest expansions of entitlement programs in nearly 50 years," he said, "at the same time as ongoing discussions about federal spending reductions to avert the 'fiscal cliff' and raising the debt ceiling take place."

In spite of those concerns, states face one deadline today: Deciding whether or not they will establish and operate their own health care exchange system -- a state-based online marketplace where consumers should be able to compare health insurance plans and purchase one. If they don't want to build or operate their own exchanges, they can hand the responsibility to the federal government or enter into a state-federal partnership.

At the same time, state leaders are deciding whether to expand Medicaid, the joint federal-state program currently open to disabled and certain low-income people. The Affordable Care Act calls for states to open up Medicaid to anyone below 138 percent of the poverty line -- the Supreme Court, however, ruled over the summer that the Medicaid expansion shouldn't be mandatory. There's no deadline for states to say whether or not they will expand Medicaid.

Through these two components -- the exchanges and the Medicaid expansion -- roughly 36 million people are predicted to obtain health insurance by 2022.

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Critics Faulted Rice's Work on Benghazi, Africa

United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice removed herself from possible consideration as secretary of state after becoming yet another player in the divide between the left and right.

Rice, who withdrew her name Thursday, has faced months of criticism over how she characterized the Sept. 11 attack on a U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. She also has come under fire for her approach to dealing with African strongmen.

Rice became a target for conservatives when she went on Sunday morning current affairs shows such as ABC News' "This Week" following the Benghazi attack and failed to characterize it as a pre-meditated act of terror. Instead, she said it was a spontaneous response to an anti-Islam film produced in the United States and cited in the region as an example of anti-Islamicism in the West.

After it became clear that Rice's assertions were untrue and elements of the Obama administration may have known that to be the case, Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham, John McCain and Kelly Ayotte said they would do whatever they could to block Rice's possible nomination to replace Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.

Susan Rice Withdraws From Consideration for Secretary of State Watch Video

GOP Senators 'Troubled' After Meeting With Ambassador Rice Watch Video

President Obama to Senator McCain: 'Go After Me' Watch Video

"This is about the role she played around four dead Americans when it seems to be that the story coming out of the administration -- and she's the point person -- is so disconnected to reality, I don't trust her," Graham said. "And the reason I don't trust her is because I think she knew better. And if she didn't know better, she shouldn't be the voice of America."

Members of the administration defended Rice. At his testimony before Congress, Gen. David Petraeus, the former CIA director, said Rice was speaking from unclassified talking points given to her by the CIA.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., reiterated what Petraeus said outside his closed-door hearing before the Senate.

"The key is that they were unclassified talking points at a very early stage. And I don't think she should be pilloried for this. She did what I would have done or anyone else would have done that was going on a weekend show," Feinstein said. "To say that she is unqualified to be secretary of state, I think, is a mistake. And the way it keeps going, it's almost as if the intent is to assassinate her character."

Minutes after she announced her withdrawal from the process, Graham tweeted, "I respect Ambassador Rice's decision."

McCain's office released a paper statement saying, "Senator McCain thanks Ambassador Rice for her service to the country and wishes her well. He will continue to seek all the facts surrounding the attack on our consulate in Benghazi that killed four brave Americans."

Over the last few weeks, criticism of Rice had grown beyond her response to Benghazi to include a closer scrutiny of her work in Africa, where she had influence over U.S. policy during the Clinton administration.

Critics of her Africa dealings were not partisan -- but included human rights workers, journalists and some Africans themselves.

Among the most serious critiques was the accusation that she actively protected Rwandan President Paul Kagame and senior members of his government from being sanctioned for funding and supporting the rebels that caused Eastern Congo's recent violence.

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World's loneliest bug turns up in Death Valley

An improbable microbe, first found living 3.3 kilometres below South Africa, has been glimpsed half a world away in California.

Candidatus Desulforudis audaxviator was found in water-filled fractures in South Africa's deep gold mines, where it lives isolated from every other life form on Earth.

Uniquely, the bacterium has evolved to do without the sun's energy, relying only on hydrogen and sulphate, which can form naturally in its subterranean home.

Until recently, biologists thought that the species was confined to South Africa's depths – although related DNA has shown up in Europe and in igneous crust below the sea floor.

Now, a project to map Earth's deep biosphere – the Census of Deep Life – has found DNA 99 per cent identical to that of D. audaxviator tens of thousands of kilometres away, in boreholes 900 metres deep near Death Valley in eastern California.

Duane Moser at the Desert Research Institute in Las Vegas, Nevada, discussed the find at the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco on 6 December. "We're reasonably sure we're looking at the same bug," he says.

Life can find a way

If so, D. audaxviator – literally, "bold traveller" – merits its name. If the bacterium came from South Africa, it probably started out at shallow depths and evolved to live in ever-greater isolation as it descended, says Moser. But then some bacteria may have made the return journey and reached the surface, perhaps through water springs. From there they may have surfed the winds before raining down on the US and begun to descend once more.

The scenario is certainly possible, says Tullis Onstott at Princeton University, who has worked extensively on the South African D. audaxviator populations.

Alternatively, the horizontal flow of water underground may allow deep microbes to colonise new regions without returning to the surface, says Jan Amend at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. The move between South Africa and the New World must have happened before the Atlantic opened between them, though.

"We're taught in school that all life needs some input from the sun," says Moser. "What we're seeing in D. audaxviator is that even where the sun hasn't shone for hundreds of millions of years – like the interior of Earth or Mars – life can find a way."

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Land parcel in Sembawang receives top bid of S$211.9m

SINGAPORE: The tender for a land parcel located at Sembawang Crescent/Sembawang Drive closed on Thursday with a top bid of $211.92 million.

The site, measuring 21,718.4 square metres, received a total of eight bids.

In a statement, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) said the top bid came from boutique developer JBE Holdings, while the second highest bid of S$210.1 million was handed in by FCL Place Pte. Ltd. and Hytech Builders.

Meanwhile, two joint bidders submitted the third highest tender price of S$208.5 million. They were Master Contract Services Pte Ltd & Keong Hong Construction and Peak Square Pte. Ltd. & Low Keng Huat (Singapore) Limited.

The lowest bid of S$184 million came from Mezzo Development.

The site can be developed into an executive condominium housing with around 650 units. It has a maximum gross floor area of 60,811.52 square metres and gross plot ratio of 2.8. The lease term is 99 years.

HDB said the decision on the tender award will be announced at a later date after the bids have been evaluated.

- CNA/de

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Court: Prank call nurse found hanging by co-workers

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The nurse's body was formally identified by her husband, the inquest hears


• Australia's media watchdog opens an investigation into the prank call by 2Day FM


• Court: Jacintha Saldanha was found by co-workers hanging from a scarf


• The nurse left three notes, two of them at the scene, a police officer says

London (CNN) -- A nurse who took a prank call from an Australian radio station apparently hanged herself using a scarf, but her reasons for pursuing that tragic course remain unclear.

Jacintha Saldanha was found last Friday by work colleagues hanging from a wardrobe door at her hospital living quarters, a coroner's court in London heard Thursday.

The nurse, who was married with two teenaged children, left three notes, two at the scene and a third with her belongings, Westminster Coroner's Court heard.

The content of the notes was not disclosed.

Read more: Who was Jacintha Saldanha?

There were also "some injuries to her wrist," Detective Chief Inspector James Harman said.

The nurse put through the prank call December 4 to a nurse on the ward where Prince William's wife, Catherine, was being treated for acute morning sickness.

Some details of her condition were given to the radio DJs, who impersonated Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth II.

The details around the circumstances of Saldanha's death emerged as an inquest -- a proceeding usually held in Britain when a death is sudden, unexplained or violent -- was opened.

The coroner's court was told that Saldanha's body was formally identified Tuesday by her husband, Benedict Barboza.

Police are looking at e-mails and telephone records, Harman said, and will speak to Saldanha's friends and co-workers about what could have led to her death.

Opinion: Prank call pitted 'the great' against the powerless

At this time there are no suspicious circumstances, he said.

Police will also be in touch with Australian police to find out what would be the best way of gathering evidence, Harman said. This could involve either going to Australia or collecting evidence remotely.

Saldanha, whose tragic death triggered wide public anger against the radio station involved, Sydney-based 2Day FM, was represented at the coroner's court by co-workers from the hospital.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority, the country's media watchdog, on Thursday opened a formal investigation into 2Day FM's broadcast of the prank call.

"The ACMA will be examining whether the licensee has complied with its broadcasting obligations," said chairman Chris Chapman.

The station's owner, media network Southern Cross Austereo, pledged Tuesday to donate at least 500,000 Australian dollars (US$524,000) to a fund for the nurse's family.

It lifted a moratorium on advertising Thursday, with all profits to the end of the year to go to the fund.

The 46-year-old nurse, who moved to the UK from India a decade ago, had worked at King Edward VII's Hospital, where Catherine was being treated, for the past four years

The coroner adjourned the inquest until a provisional date of March 26.

Radio personalities apologize for prank call

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Etan Patz suspect: He was alive when I left him

NEW YORK Pedro Hernandez told New York City Detectives that, when he left Etan Patz's body in a doorway, he believed the little boy was still alive.

The 1979 disappearance of the six year old became the most symbolic kidnapping case since the murder of the Lindberg baby, stirring the movement that put missing children on milk cartons and billboards.

The stunning revelation and other new details come in documents filed with the court just after Hernandez entered a not guilty plea to the very crimes he confessed to last May in a marathon session with police. In that session, he detailed the killing of the boy, during questioning and again on video.

According to the new documents, Hernandez was picked up at his home at 7 a.m. on May 23 and taken to the Camden County (N.J.) Prosecutor's Office. It was two days before the 33rd anniversary of the Patz disappearance.

Play Video

Confession flips Etan Patz murder case upside down

According to court documents filed by Hernandez's lawyer Wednesday, Hernandez had been questioned for eight hours when he told police, "He was at work that morning, that he saw the boy at the bus stop, asked him if he would like a soda, led him to the basement of the bodega where he was employed, and for no apparent reason immediately choked the boy until the boy went limp. The defendant said he then placed the boy in a plastic bag, placed the bag in a cardboard box, and tossed the boy's book bag behind a freezer in the basement. He then carried the box to the entranceway of a basement approximately one-and-a-half blocks away, where he placed the box on the ground just inside the open entranceway. According to the video-recorded statement by Mr. Hernandez, when he left the box, Etan Patz was still alive."

Later, Hernandez told prosecutors he believed his actions may have led to the boy's death.

Police said after his arrest, Hernandez took them to the location where he believed he'd left the body and told them he went back the next day to check on the box, but it was gone.

Hernandez's lawyers say his confession is false and part of more than 20 years of delusional behavior. His lawyer has supplied the district attorney with medical records documenting Hernandez's psychiatric history and an expert's opinion on false confessions.

The new details of Hernandez's statements to police and prosecutors give some indications of questions that may be raised at trial. Questions such as, when police searched the basements in the blocks around the boy's home, why was the book bag behind the freezer not discovered? Why did no witness remember seeing a man carrying a box big enough to contain the body of a 50 pound boy? And why, in the massive dragnet on the streets of the Manhattan neighborhood of SoHo that began the night of Patz's disappearance was the box with his body not found?

26 Photos

Decades later, new developments in Etan Patz case

For each question, there are possible explanations. Police might not have looked behind the freezer. A stock boy carrying a large box might not have struck passersby as unusual. The private carting company that served the streets where Hernandez says he left the box may have picked it up before the boy was reported missing.

In a motion to dismiss the indictment against Hernandez, his lawyer, Harvey Fishbein, argues that Hernandez's confession alone is unreliable because of his long psychiatric history. The document also states, "In the six months since Hernandez's arrest, the NYPD (New York Police Department) and the New York County District Attorney's Office have conducted an intensive investigation attempting to corroborate Mr. Hernandez's statements. However, I am told by the District Attorney's Office they have found nothing."

Play Video

Sister of Etan Patz murder suspect reported confession in 1980s

Hernandez emerged suddenly as a suspect last May when a family member reported to New York police that Hernandez had made statements over the years saying that "he had done a bad thing" and that "he had killed a child in New York."

In May of 1979, Hernandez worked as a stock boy in a small grocery store located just a block from the Patz's SoHo loft and on the same corner the six year old was to board a school bus.

For years before Hernandez's confession, another man, Jose Ramos was the prime suspect in the kidnapping. Ramos, who has a long history of arrests for sexually abusing young boys, had been the boyfriend of a woman who had been hired to walk Etan to school during a strike by school bus drivers. The day Patz vanished was the first time his parents had yielded to the boy's requests to walk the one block to the bus stop by himself. Young Etan was excited that day over his new independence, and because he had a dollar to buy a soda.

Reached at his office late Wednesday, Fishbein wouldn't not comment beyond what was contained in the motion to the court.

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McAfee Returns to US, Admits Playing 'Crazy Card'

John McAfee's month-long international run from police through two Central American nations ended with a flight to Miami, where the businessman who says he abandoned his fortune admitted to playing the "crazy card."

As a gaggle of media waited near several exit doors at the airport Wednesday night, federal authorities whisked the founder of McAfee anti-virus software off the plane and into a van.

"They said, 'Mr. McAfee, please step forward,'" McAfee, 67, later told ABC News exclusively overnight at a Miami Beach hotel. "I was met by a dozen or maybe fewer officers. I said, 'Am I arrested?' They said, 'No, sir, I am here to help you.' That felt the best of all."

He eventually snuck out of the airport in a cab and headed to South Beach. After walking down famed Ocean Drive to the bewilderment of tourists and eating sushi, his first meal in three days, he sat down with ABC News and admitted to playing the "crazy card" and says he is broke.

"I have nothing now," McAfee said. He claims he left everything behind in Belize, including $20 million in investments and about 15 properties. "I've got a pair of clothes and shoes, my friend dropped off some cash."

Just hours earlier, the self-made millionaire was deported by Guatemalan police who forced him aboard his U.S.-bound flight away from the home and the two women he said he loves. After he arrived on South Beach, he said, a mysterious "Canadian friend" ordered another man he'd never met to drop off a wad of fresh $5 bills that McAfee later displayed to ABC News, pulling them from his coat pocket.

He says he left his fortune, including a beachfront compound, behind after his neighbor Greg Faull was found shot to death in Belize on Nov. 10.

John McAfee Arrested in Guatemala Overnight Watch Video

Software Founder Breaks Silence: McAfee Speaks on Murder Allegations Watch Video

Belize officials said he isn't a suspect, but when they asked to question him, McAfee disguised himself and ran.

After three weeks ducking authorities in Belize, by hiding in attics, in the jungle and in dingy hotels, he turned up in Guatemala Dec. 3.

Barely a day later he was detained for entering the country illegally. As Guatemala officials grappled with how to handle his request for asylum and the Belize government's demand for his deportation, McAfee fell ill. The mysterious illness, described by his attorney alternately as a heart ailment or a nervous breakdown, led to a scene with reporters chasing his ambulance down the narrow streets of Guatemala City and right into the emergency room, where McAfee appeared unresponsive.

He now says it was all a ruse:
"It was a deception but who did it hurt? I look pretty healthy, don't I?"

He says he faked the illness in order to buy some time for a judge to hear his case and stay his deportation to Belize, a government he believes wants him dead. When asked whether he believes Belize officials where inept, he didn't mince words.

"I was on the run with a 20-year-old girl for three and a half weeks inside their borders and everyone was looking for me, and they did not catch me," he said. "I escaped, was captured and they tried to send me back. Now I'm sitting in Miami. There had to be some ineptness."

The man who many believe only wants attention answered critics who called his month-long odyssey and blog posts a publicity stunt by simply saying, "What's a better story, millionaire mad man on the run. You [the media] saved my ass. Because you paid attention to the story. As long as you are reporting, it is hard to whack somebody that the world is watching."

He denies any involvement in his neighbor's death but adds that he is not particularly concerned about clearing his name. He is focused on getting his 20-year-old and 17-year-old girlfriends out of Belize and says he has no idea what he'll do next, where he'll live or how he'll support himself.

Click Here for the Blotter Homepage.

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Artificial muscle for soft robots can bend in sunlight

Douglas Heaven, reporter

Robots aren't known for being light on their feet, but a new artificial muscle that can be powered by a sunbeam could change that. Researchers have developed a photoresponsive actuator - a gel-like material that bends when it is exposed to light.

Akira Harada at Osaka University in Japan and colleagues have developed a prototype that works in water. When hit with UV light at a wavelength of 365 nanometres it expands, bending and increasing in mass by taking on water. Visible light at a wavelength of 430 nm restores the muscle to its previous form. "The gel absorbs water like an expanding and contracting sponge," says Harada.

The muscles work via the interaction of two chemical compounds in the gel - azobendrine and cyclodextrin - which react differently under different light. The direction in which the gel bends can then be controlled by shining UV and visible light from various angles.

Light-activated muscles are likely to be most applicable in soft robots, which are built from materials such as gel or rubber and lack a skeletal frame. Existing examples tend to move pneumatically, but the need for an umbilical air hose keeps them tethered. Soft robots are also currently limited by their inability to carry heavy loads such as a battery.

By using light as an external power source, soft robots could be given a much greater range. Even sunlight could be used, says Harada.

Journal reference: Nature Communications, doi.org/jzr

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PM to "carefully consider" whether to call by-election

SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said he will carefully consider whether to call a by-election in Punggol East and, if so, when.

This follows the resignation of Michael Palmer as MP for the area.

In a statement to the media on Wednesday, Mr Lee also assured Singaporeans that he will make his decision based on what he said, "is best for the constituents of Punggol East and the country."

Mr Lee pointed out that Singapore is currently focused on several national issues.

He cited the 'Our Singapore Conversation', which he said is making good progress.

Mr Lee added the White Paper on Population will be debated in Parliament in January.

Separately, the government is also preparing for Budget 2013.

Mr Lee said his first priority is to ensure that the residents of Punggol East continue to be well taken care of.

"We have appointed Mr Teo Ser Luck to oversee Punggol East constituency, and Mr Zainal Sapari to chair the Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council. DPM Teo Chee Hean, who himself is in Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, will also take a personal interest in the welfare of Punggol East residents," said Mr Lee.

The Constitution does not require the prime minister to call a by-election within any fixed time frame.

The Workers' Party (WP) and the Singapore People's Party (SPP) have urged the prime minister to call a by-election as soon as possible.

And speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a Meet-the-People Session on Wednesday, WP chief Low Thia Khiang said he was surprised by Mr Palmer's resignation, which he said was unexpected.

Mr Low also said it was not fair to draw a comparison between Mr Palmer's situation and that of former WP MP Yaw Shin Leong, who was sacked by the party due to personal indiscretions.

Mr Low said his party is ready to contest in the event a by-election in the Punggol East ward is held.

"It's premature at this point to speculate who will be the candidate. Anyway we don't know whether the prime minister is going to call a by-election at all. We'll let you know the moment by-election is announced. We'll decide who to field," he added.

Mr Low also said that in the selection of political candidates, no process was foolproof.

- CNA/ir

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Shopper: We 'felt like sitting ducks'

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: The gunman was believed to be in his early 20s, a sheriff's official says


• The victims and the deceased gunman have not been identified


• One woman says she saw a rifle-wielding man wearing a hockey mask inside Macy's


• "Kids were crying. Parents were crying, too," a mall employee says

Follow continuing local coverage on CNN affiliates KPTV, KATU, KGW and KOIN.

(CNN) -- The masked gunman worked his way across the mall, terrifying holiday shoppers who had no clue where he'd fire next.

Entire swaths of Clackamas Town Center turned silent, except for the blasts from the man's rifle and the ensuing screams. Even the mall's Santa dropped to the ground.

"I thought I was going to die," mall employee David Moran said. "The gunshots were so loud, it was very scary. ... Kids were crying. Parents were crying, too."

Kira Rowland was holding her 6-month-old baby in Macy's when the shots rang out.

Gunman opens fire in Oregon mall

HIDE CAPTION

"I threw my baby into the stroller and just started running because everybody was screaming and everybody just started to run," she said.

Inside Clackamas Town Center Mall

Witnesses say at least 20 shots were fired Tuesday inside the mall, about 11 miles southeast of Portland, Oregon.

By the end of the rampage, three people lay dead, including the gunman from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. One young woman remains hospitalized, Clackamas County Undersheriff Matt Ellington said Wednesday morning.

Authorities have not identified the victims, pending notification of relatives. Investigators have tentatively identified the shooter, believed to be in his early 20s, but are not releasing his name until they get confirmation.

The gunman wore a hockey mask and jogged through Macy's wielding a rifle, a woman told CNN affiliate KOIN.

As some panicked customers bolted for the exits, others ducked under store counters or hid behind racks of clothing.

Erin Quackenbush-Baker was in a more vulnerable position -- in the middle of the mall, at a kiosk with her grandmother and three young children.

"My 5-year-old was covering her ears and crying. I was frantic to find a place to run, and I looked back (at) my son in my stroller and glass is falling over us," she said. "The shots were getting closer, and it sounded like he was getting closer."

"I felt like sitting ducks, where we were."

Timeline: Worst mass shootings in U.S.

During a brief halt in the gunfire, a man in black fleece helped rush the family into a nearby Sephora store. That's where Quackenbush-Baker and her children hid for an hour, "waiting to see if we were going to be shot or not."

As word spread that the shooter was moving from store to store, customers at Sears burst into tears, Christina Fisher told KOIN.

"We were told to stand in a group by the top of the escalators and stay away from the windows out of the aisle. ... We stood there for probably a good 20 minutes," she said. "All of the sudden, somebody came through with a radio, yelling, 'Get down!' "

As the melee unfolded, some customers watched television news reports about the shooting from inside the Sears entertainment center, Tylor Pedersen told affiliate KGW.

Antonio Charro spotted a wounded woman near a cell phone store and tried to help, but to no avail.

"She had apparently been shot in the chest, and I couldn't get her turned over to help her," said Charro, who had been shopping at the mall with his daughters. "There was no one around. She wasn't breathing."

Authorities are poring through surveillance footage from the mall to try to determine what exactly happened.

Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts said about 10,000 people were in the mall at the time.

No law enforcement officers fired any shots when they arrived, sheriff's Sgt. Adam Phillips said.

The 1.4 million-square-foot mall will remain closed Wednesday as investigators look for clues about the attack. But the motive might never be known.

Rowland said she's grateful she got distracted while shopping and didn't venture further into the mall.

"I think if I hadn't stopped to smell that perfume, that maybe me and my baby wouldn't be here today."

CNN's Cristy Lenz, Chandler Friedman, Michael Martinez, Tom Watkins and AnneClaire Stapleton contributed to this report.

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Motive unclear in Oregon mall shooting that left three dead

PORTLAND, Ore. A masked gunman wearing camouflage opened fire Tuesday in a busy Portland mall, leaving the gunman and two others dead and one person injured, and forcing the mall's Santa Claus and hundreds of Christmas shoppers and employees to flee or hide among store displays.

Austin Patty, 20, who works at Macy's, said he saw a man in a white mask carrying a rifle and wearing a bulletproof vest. He heard the gunman say, "I am the shooter," as if announcing himself. A series of rapid-fire shots in short succession followed as Christmas music played. Patty said he ducked to the ground and then ran.

His Macy's co-worker, Pam Moore, told The Associated Press the gunman was short, with dark hair. Witnesses said he started firing just outside Macy's in the food court of Clackamas Town Center.

Play Video

Cell phone video: Ore. mall evacuated after shooting

Brance Wilson, the mall Santa, said he heard gunshots and dove for the floor. By the time he looked up, seconds later, everyone around him had cleared out. Merchandise was scattered in some stores as he made his way to the door.

"Santa will be back," Wilson said. "It's not going to keep Santa away from the mall."

Workers and shoppers rushed out of the mall and into stores'backrooms for safety as teams of police officers came inside to find the shooter. Authorities went store-to-store to confirm that there was only one shooter and to escort hiding shoppers outside.

Police said they have tentatively identified the gunman but would not release his name or give any information on a possible motive. They said he apparently killed himself, adding that they did not fire any shots.

Officials said a female teenager was also shot and was in serious condition at a Portland hospital.

"We have a young lady in the hospital fighting for her life right now," Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts at a news conference late Tuesday.

Earlier, Roberts told reporters, "There was about 10,000 people at the mall, so there were a huge amount of people running in different directions, and it was chaos for a lot of citizens."

Witnesses reported hearing multiple gunshots, anywhere from 15 to 20, or even more.

"At first no one really knew what was going down," Mario, a kiosk worker inside the mall, told CBS affiliate KOIN in Portland. "We heard six shots at first, and then people scattered like crazy, everybody left."

Clackamas County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Adam Phillips said the victims were shot in an "open area" of the mall.

Clackamas Town Center is one of the Portland area's biggest and busiest malls, with 185 stores and a 20-screen movie theater. It would remain closed at least through Wednesday, Roberts said.

Shaun Wik, 20, from Fairview, said he was Christmas shopping with his girlfriend and opened a fortune cookie at the food court. Inside was written: "Live for today. Remember yesterday. Think of tomorrow."

As he read it, he heard three shots. He heard a man he believes was the gunman shout, "Get down!" but Wik and his girlfriend ran. He heard seven or eight more shots. He didn't turn around.

"If I had looked back, I might not be standing here," Wik said. "I might have been one of the ones who got hit."

Holli Bautista, 28, said she was shopping at Macy's for a Christmas dress for her daughter when she heard pops that sounded like firecrackers.

"I heard people running and screaming and saying `Get out, there's somebody shooting,"' she told the AP.

She said hundreds of shoppers and mall employees started running, and she and dozens of other people were trying to escape through a department store exit.

Tiffany Turgetto and her husband were leaving Macy's through the first floor when they heard gunshots coming from the second floor of the mall. They were able to quickly leave through a Barnes & Noble bookstore before the police arrived and locked down the mall.

"I had left my phone at home. I was telling people to call 911. Surprisingly, people are around me, no one was calling 911. I think people were in shock."

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Mall Gunman Wanted to Kill 'Total Strangers'

The masked gunman who opened fire in the crowded Clackamas Town Center mall in suburban Portland, Ore., killing two and seriously injuring a third before killing himself, was trying to "kill as many people as possible."

The shooter, wearing a white hockey mask, black clothing and a bullet proof vest, tore through the mall just before 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, entering through a Macy's store and heading to the food court and public areas spraying bullets, according to witness reports.

Police have identified the gunman, but have not released his name, Sheriff Craig Roberts told "Good Morning America."

"We have been able to identify the shooter over this last night," Roberts said. "I believe, at least from the information that's been provided to me at this point in time, it really was a killing of total strangers. To my knowledge at this point in time he was really trying, I think, to kill as many people as possible."

Police have not released the names of the shooter's victims. Clackamas County Sheriff's Department Lt. James Rhodes said authorities are in the process of notifying victims' families.

The injured victim, identified by hospital officials as Kristina Shevchenko, has been taken to a hospital, according to Roberts.

PHOTOS: Oregon Mall Shooting

Craig Mitchelldyer/Getty Images

Oregon Mall Shooting: 'Killing of Total Strangers' Watch Video

Oregon Mall Shooting: Woman on Macy's Employee's Heroism Watch Video

Oregon Mall Shooting: At Least 3 People Dead Watch Video

Nadia Telguz, who said she was a friend of Shevchenko, told ABC News affiliate KATU-TV in Portland that the woman was expected to recover.

"My friend's sister got shot," Teleguz told KATU. "She's on her way to (Oregon Health and Science University Hospital). They're saying she got shot in her side and so it's not life-threatening, so she'll be OK."

Witnesses from the shooting rampage said that a young man who appeared to be a teenager, ran through the upper level of Macy's to the mall food court, firing multiple shots, one right after the other, with what is believed to be a black, semi-automatic rifle.

By 4:40 p.m., police reported finding a group of people hiding in a storeroom. In a surreal moment, even the mall Santa was seen running for his life.

"I didn't know where the gunman was, so I decided to kind of eased my way out," said the mall Santa, who the AP identified as 68-year-old Brance Wilson.

More than 10,000 shoppers were at the mall during the day, according to police. Roberts said that officers responded to the scene of the shooting within minutes, and four SWAT teams swept the 1.4 million-square-foot building searching for the shooter. He was eventually found dead, an apparent suicide.

"I can confirm the shooter is dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound," Rhodes said. "By all accounts there were no rounds fired by law enforcement today in the mall."

Roberts said more than 100 law enforcement officers responded to the shooting, and the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are working with local agencies to trace the shooter's weapon.

Cell phone video shot at the scene shows the chaos soon after the shooting. When police arrived they were met head on by terrified shoppers, children and employees streaming out. Customers, even a little girl, were being lead out with their hands up.

"I think a variety of things happened that I think this could have been much, much worse," Roberts told "GMA." "And to give you some ideas, we got the call at 3:29, we had someone on scene within a minute, 30 seconds.

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Injured Navy serviceman expected to be in ICU for a few days: CGH

SINGAPORE: Changi General Hospital (CGH) said on Tuesday that Navy serviceman ME2 Jason Chee Weng Fai is still in critical condition and is expected to be in the Intensive Care Unit for a few days.

The hospital says Mr Chee has undergone surgery and is in the process of recovery.

The Weapon Systems Supervisor was injured on Monday when he got caught between a motorised winch and a rope on the Landing Ship Tank RSS Endeavour.

The serviceman was checking on a berthing rope that was being tightened when the incident happened.

The Singapore Armed Forces has said that it is investigating the cause of the incident.

- CNA/jc

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Obama 'willing to compromise a little' on fiscal cliff

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: President Obama reiterates his call for the wealthy to pay more taxes


• Obama, House Speaker John Boehner have three weeks to reach a deal


• Automatic tax hikes and spending cuts are set to take effect on January 1


• The two sides are talking to each other, but revealing little

Washington (CNN) -- It's crunch time for avoiding the fiscal cliff as President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner and their aides hold private talks on issues that will impact every American.

Three weeks remain to cut a deal before the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts of the fiscal cliff go into effect on January 1.

Obama and Boehner met face-to-face on Sunday for the first time since November 16. It also was their first one-on-one meeting in more than a year, when talks broke down on a comprehensive agreement to reduce the nation's chronic federal deficits and debt.

In a rare display of bipartisan concurrence, both sides issued identical statements after the meeting that said no details would be forthcoming. Staff on both sides also have been talking, but few details were available.

How will the 'fiscal cliff' affect you?

"I'm willing to compromise a little bit," Obama said Monday in a campaign-style speech to a Michigan diesel engine plant. However, he continued to insist on higher tax rates on the wealthiest Americans, saying "that's a principle I'm not going to compromise on."

Boehner's spokesman, meanwhile, said the latest Republican offer -- which rejects Obama's call for rates to rise on the highest tax brackets -- remained the GOP position.

The outline for a deal has become clear in recent weeks. Both sides agree that more revenue from taxes should be part of the equation, with Obama seeking $1.6 trillion and Republicans offering $800 billion.

However, Boehner's side wants additional revenue to come from tax reform, such as eliminating some deductions and loopholes, while Obama demands the higher tax rates on income over $250,000 for families as part of the equation.

Boehner and Republicans also seek savings from entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid totaling another $800 billion or so, while Obama has proposed $400 billion in reduced entitlement costs. Social Security would not be included.

Another sticky issue -- whether the need to raise the federal debt ceiling early next year should be part of the discussion -- also appears unresolved. Obama says absolutely not, while Boehner says that any increase in the federal borrowing limit must be offset by spending cuts.

It remains unclear if a deal will happen before the end of the year or if the negotiations will carry over into 2013, after the fiscal cliff takes effect.

Read more: Americans already making big decisions over cliff

While economists warn that going over the fiscal cliff could lead to recession, the administration has signaled it can delay some of the effects to allow time to work out an agreement.

Without action now, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates that middle-class families would pay about $2,000 a year more in taxes. Even with a deal, revisions in the tax code and other changes would mean everyone pays a bit more starting next year.

All signs point toward a two-step approach sought by the newly re-elected Obama.

An initial agreement reached now would extend current tax rates for most people while letting rates return to higher levels of the Clinton era on the two highest income brackets.

Republicans oppose any tax rate hike, so a possible compromise would increase the income threshold for the higher rates to kick in above the $250,000 figure sought by Obama.

Such an agreement would put off the main worry of the fiscal cliff -- expiration of Bush-era tax cuts that would result in higher rates for everyone.

Obama and Democrats say they would then be ready to negotiate significant savings from entitlement programs, while Republicans say they need to first see commitment on entitlement reforms before accepting any higher tax rates.

"The Republican offer made last week remains the Republican offer, and we continue to wait for the president to identify the spending cuts he's willing to make as part of the 'balanced' approach he promised the American people," said Boehner spokesman Michael Steel.

Meanwhile, White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters that Republicans have failed to fully explain their proposal to increase revenue by $800 billion.

"The president is the only party to put forward a plan with specificity on both the spending and revenue side," Carney said, describing the Republican plan so far as "unnamed closures in loopholes and unnamed caps in deductions."

To move forward, he continued, "Republicans have to recognize that we cannot afford, the public does not support, and it is economically a bad idea to extend tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires and those making over $250,000."

Pressure for some kind of agreement now increases daily.

Some in Congress warn that the legislative process will need two weeks to work through potentially complex measures from any proposed deal, meaning a de facto deadline of Friday may exist for negotiators.

At the same time, voices from inside and outside the process say something must happen now.

On Sunday, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde echoed numerous economic experts in predicting a sharp drop in confidence and "zero" U.S. economic growth if there's no agreement.

The tax issue was a main November election campaign topic, with Obama saying the wealthiest Americans must pay more and Republicans opposing any tax rate increase.

Four polls in the past two weeks, including a new one released Monday, show that more Americans support Obama's proposal.

From my home to the House: How to fix the fiscal cliff

The Senate has passed a measure that holds down tax rates on income below $250,000 for families, as sought by Obama, while letting rates go up to 1990s levels for higher earners.

Obama and Democrats say House passage of that proposal would clear the way for a broader deal. However, House Republicans refuse to bring it up for a vote amid cracks in the GOP facade against a rate hike.

Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee said Sunday that he would support raising taxes on the top 2% of income earners, arguing that it will better position Republicans to negotiate for larger spending cuts to Social Security and Medicare despite opposition from many Democrats.

"A lot of people are putting forth a theory, and I actually think it has merit, where you go ahead and give the president ... the rate increase on the top 2%, and all of a sudden the shift goes back to entitlements," Corker said on "Fox News Sunday."

Fellow Republican Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine also have said they could vote for such a limited tax hike.

On the House side, Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma reiterated Sunday that he could go along with higher rates on the wealthy.

"You have to do something, and doing something requires the cooperation of the Senate, which the Democrats run, and the signature of the president," he said on CNN's "State of the Union."

Meanwhile, conservative colleague Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee refused to budge from GOP orthodoxy against higher tax rates.

Even though Obama won re-election and Democrats increased their Senate majority while narrowing the Republican majority in the House, she insisted that the November vote showed that voters "clearly said we don't want our taxes to go up."

Opinion: Congress' fiscal moment of truth

CNN's Jessica Yellin and Greg Botelho contributed to this report.

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