SINGAPORE: Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin has said his ministry can and will do more for foreign workers.
He said this in response to various criticisms about the ministry's management of migrant worker matters.
Mr Tan said the ministry's various systems, including those dealing with employment issues for workers, can be improved, and the ministry will continue to work on them.
He also pointed out that whatever systems are in place, there will always be some employers who are irresponsible and who do not treat workers fairly.
However, most are reasonable employers, and should not be tarred with the same brush.
The same goes for workers.
In a blog post on Tuesday evening to mark International Migrants Day, Mr Tan said the ministry has reviewed its legislation and will continue to do so to ensure protection for workers.
He stressed the ministry is not pro-employer or pro-worker.
Instead, it strives to balance the employer-worker relationship while ensuring vulnerable workers are not disadvantaged.
But Mr Tan added the onus is also on employers -- those who bring in foreign workers must also be responsible for them and treat them fairly.
Employers should not simply look at the bottom-line, without caring for workers' welfare and well-being. Mr Tan added that this applies for local and migrant workers alike.
He said workers are also more productive and committed, if they are taken care of.
Mr Tan stressed it is about doing what is right and time should be taken to recognise the contributions of migrant workers in Singapore.
He pointed out that Singapore's economy and businesses will continue to tap on foreign workers to supplement specific sectors and workers who may not be as familiar with the laws and avenues for help in Singapore are vulnerable.
Mr Tan said their rights should and must be protected.
More than 90 per cent of some 3,000 work pass holders surveyed in 2011 were satisfied with working in Singapore and Mr Tan said things should be kept that way.
Apple iOS users can now do even more with Google+ on their mobile devices.
Released yesterday, version 4.1 of Google+ for iOS lets you browse, search for, and join communities. You can find communities devoted to your own interests, read posts from fellow members, and post your own comments.
You can now subscribe to any circle from your iPhone or iPad and receive notifications of updates and other items. Those of you who stage Google+ events can now indicate how many guests you've invited.
The "Find People" feature has been improved so you can more easily search for topics as well as individuals. And you can now edit your profile via your mobile device.
The Google+ app is optimized for the iPhone 5 and is compatible with the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. The app requires iOS 5.0 or higher.
NEWTOWN, Conn. With security stepped up and families still on edge in Newtown, schools are opening for the first time since last week's massacre, bringing a return of familiar routines -- at least, for some -- to a grief-stricken town as it buries 20 of its children.
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Holiday week is full of funerals for Newtown, Conn.
Two 6-year-old boys were laid to rest Monday in the first of a long, almost unbearable procession of funerals. A total of 26 people were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary in one of the worst mass shootings in U.S history.
While classes resume Tuesday for Newtown schools -- except for students at Sandy Hook -- some parents were likely to keep their children at home anyway. Local police and school officials have been discussing how and where to increase security, and state police said they will be on alert for threats and hoaxes.
Suzy DeYoung said her 15-year-old son is going back to the high school.
"I think he wants to go back," she said. "If he told me he wants to stay home, I'd let him stay home. I think going back to a routine is a good idea; at least that's what I hear from professionals."
On Monday, Newtown held the first two funerals of many the picturesque New England community of 27,000 people will face over the next few days, just as other towns are getting ready for the holidays. At least one funeral is planned for a student -- 6-year-old Jessica Rekos -- as well as several wakes, including one for teacher Victoria Soto, who has been hailed as a hero for sacrificing herself to save several students.
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Funerals begin for Conn. shooting victims
Two funeral homes filled Monday with mourners for Noah Pozner and Jack Pinto, both 6 years old. A rabbi presided at Noah's service, and in keeping with Jewish tradition, the boy was laid to rest in a simple brown wooden casket with a Star of David on it.
"I will miss your perpetual smile, the twinkle in your dark blue eyes, framed by eyelashes that would be the envy of any lady in this room," Noah's mother, Veronique Pozner, said at the service, according to remarks the family provided to The Associated Press. Both services were closed to the news media.
"Most of all, I will miss your visions of your future," she said. "You wanted to be a doctor, a soldier, a taco factory manager. It was your favorite food, and no doubt you wanted to ensure that the world kept producing tacos."
She closed by saying: "Momma loves you, little man."
Noah's twin, Arielle, who was assigned to a different classroom, survived the killing frenzy.
At Jack Pinto's Christian service, hymns rang out from inside the funeral home, where the boy lay in an open casket. Jack was among the youngest members of a youth wrestling association in Newtown, and dozens of little boys turned up at the service in gray Newtown Wrestling T-shirts.
Jack was a fan of New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz and was laid to rest in a Cruz jersey.
In the middle of town, an ever-growing memorial has become a pilgrimage site for strangers who want to pay their respect.
One man told CBS Station WCBS why he visited: "Because I'm a dad with four beautiful daughters, when I found out it broke my heart. It's hard to sleep, I don't know how to feel."
Authorities say the man who killed the two boys and their classmates, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, shot his mother, Nancy, at their home and then took her car and some of her guns to the school, where he broke in and opened fire. A Connecticut official said the mother, a gun enthusiast who practiced at shooting ranges, was found dead in her pajamas in bed, shot four times in the head with a .22-caliber rifle.
Lanza was wearing all black, with an olive-drab utility vest with lots of pockets, during the attack.
As investigators worked to figure out what drove him to lash out with such fury -- and why he singled out the school -- federal agents said he had fired guns at shooting ranges over the past several years but that there was no evidence he did so recently as practice for the rampage.
Debora Seifert, a spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said both Lanza and his mother fired at shooting ranges, and also visited ranges together.
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"We do not have any indication at this time that the shooter engaged in shooting activities in the past six months," Seifert said.
Investigators have found no letters or diaries that could explain the attack.
Whatever his motives, normalcy will be slow in revisiting Newtown.
Classes were canceled district-wide Monday, though other students in town were expected to return to class Tuesday.
Dan Capodicci, whose 10-year-old daughter attends the school at St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, said he thinks it's time for her to get back to classes.
"It's the right thing to do. You have to send your kids back. But at the same time I'm worried," he said. "We need to get back to normal."
Gina Wolfman said her daughters are going back to their seventh- and ninth-grade classrooms tomorrow. She thinks they are ready to be back with their friends.
"I think they want to be back with everyone and share," she said.
Newtown police Lt. George Sinko said whether to send children to school is a personal decision for every parent.
"I can't imagine what it must be like being a parent with a child that young, putting them on a school bus," Sinko said.
The district has made plans to send surviving Sandy Hook students to Chalk Hill, a former middle school in the neighboring town of Monroe. Sandy Hook desks that will fit the small students are being taken there, empty since town schools consolidated last year, and tradesmen are donating their services to get the school ready within a matter of days.
"These are innocent children that need to be put on the right path again," Monroe police Lt. Brian McCauley said.
With Sandy Hook Elementary still designated a crime scene, state police Lt. Paul Vance said it could be months before police turn the school back over to the district.
The shooting has put schools on edge across the country.
Anxiety ran high enough in Ridgefield, Conn., about 20 miles from Newtown, that officials ordered a lockdown at schools after a person deemed suspicious was seen at a train station.
Two schools were locked down in South Burlington, Vt., because of an unspecified threat. A high school in Windham, N.H., was briefly locked down after an administrator heard a loud bang, but a police search found nothing suspicious.
Lanza is believed to have used a Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle, a civilian version of the military's M-16. It is similar to the weapon used in a recent shopping mall shooting in Oregon and other deadly attacks around the U.S. Versions of the AR-15 were outlawed in this country under the 1994 assault weapons ban, but the law expired in 2004.
The outlines of a national debate on gun control have begun to take shape. At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney said curbing gun violence is a complex problem that will require a "comprehensive solution."
Carney did not offer specific proposals or a timeline. He said President Obama will meet with law enforcement officials and mental health professionals in coming weeks.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, flanked by shooting survivors and relatives of victims of gunfire around the country, pressed Mr. Obama and Congress to toughen gun laws and tighten enforcement after the Newtown massacre.
"If this doesn't do it," he asked, "what is going to?"
At least one senator, Virginia Democrat Mark Warner, said Monday that the attack in Newtown has led him to rethink his opposition to the ban on assault weapons.
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat who is an avid hunter and lifelong member of the National Rifle Association, said it's time to move beyond the political rhetoric and begin an honest discussion about reasonable restrictions on guns.
"This is bigger than just about guns," he added. "It's about how we treat people with mental illness, how we intervene, how we get them the care they need, how we protect our schools. It's just so sad."
Six-year-old Arielle Pozner was in a classroom at Sandy Hook school when Adam Lanza burst into the school with his rifle and handguns. Her twin brother, Noah, was in a classroom down the hall.
Noah Pozner was killed by Lanza, along with 19 other children at the school, and six adults. Arielle and other students' siblings survived.
"That's going to be incredibly difficult to cope with," said Dr. Jamie Howard, a clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institute in New York. "It is not something we expect her to cope with today and be OK with tomorrow."
READ: Two Adult Survivors of Connecticut School Shooting Will be Key Witnesses
As the community of Newtown, Conn., begins to bury the young victims of the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting today, the equally young siblings of those killed will only be starting to comprehend what happened to their brothers and sisters.
"Children this young do experience depression in a diagnosable way, they do experience post-traumatic stress disorder. Just because they're young, they don't escape the potential for real suffering," said Rahil Briggs, a child psychologist and professor at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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Arielle and other survivor siblings could develop anxiety or other emotional reactions to their siblings' death, including "associative logic," where they associate their own actions with their sibling's death, Howard said.
"This is when two things happen, and (children) infer that one thing caused the other. (Arielle) may be at risk for that type of magical thinking, and that could be where survivor's guilt comes in. She may think she did something, but of course she didn't," Howard said.
CLICK HERE for photos from the shooting scene.
Children in families where one sibling has died sometimes struggle as their parents are overwhelmed by grief, Howard noted. When that death is traumatic, adults and children sometimes choose not to think about the person or the event to avoid pain.
Interested in How to Help Newtown Families?
"With traumatic grief, it's really important to talk about and think about the children that died, not to avoid talking and thinking about them because that interferes with grieving process, want their lives to be celebrated," Howard said.
Children may also have difficulty understanding why their deceased brother or sister is receiving so much, or so little, attention, according Briggs.
"I think one of the most challenging questions we can be faced with as parents is how to 'appropriately' remember a child that is gone. So much that can go wrong with that," Briggs said. "You have the child who is fortunate enough to escape, who thinks 'Why me? Why did my brother go?' But if you don't remember the sibling enough the child says 'it seems like we've forgotten my brother.'"
"They may even find themselves feeling jealous of all the attention the sibling seems to be receiving," Briggs said.
Parents and other adults in the family's support system need to be on alert, watching the child's behavior, she said. Children could show signs of withdrawing, or seeming spacy or in a daze. They could also seem jumpy or have difficulty concentrating in the wake of a traumatic event.
"For kids experiencing symptoms, and interfering with ability to go to school, they may be suffering from acute stress disorder, and there are good treatments," Howard said.
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's opposition will hold new protests on Tuesday against an Islamist-backed draft constitution that has divided the nation but which looks set to be approved in the second round of a referendum next weekend.
Islamist President Mohamed Mursi obtained a 57 percent "yes" vote for the constitution in a first round of the referendum on Saturday, state media said, less than he had hoped for.
The result is likely to embolden the opposition, which says the law is too Islamist. But they are unlikely to win this Saturday's second round, to be held in districts seen as even more sympathetic towards Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood.
Protesters broke out into cheers when the public prosecutor Mursi appointed last month announced his resignation late on Monday. Further signs of opposition emerged when a judges' club urged its members not to supervise Saturday's vote. But the call is not binding on members and balloting is expected to go ahead.
If the constitution passes next weekend, national elections can take place early next year, something many hope will help end the turmoil that has gripped Egypt since the fall of Hosni Mubarak nearly two years ago.
The main opposition coalition, the National Salvation Front, said there were widespread voting violations in the first round of the referendum and urged organizers to ensure that the second round was properly supervised.
It has called for protests across Egypt on Tuesday "to stop forgery and bring down the invalid draft constitution" and wants organizers to re-run the first round of voting.
The Ministry of Justice said it was appointing a group of judges to investigate allegations of voting irregularities around the country.
DEMONSTRATIONS
In Cairo, the Front planned to hold demonstrations at Tahrir Square, cradle of the revolution that toppled Mubarak, and outside Mursi's presidential palace, still ringed with tanks after earlier protests.
"Down with the constitution of the Brotherhood," the Front said in a statement. "Down with the constitution of tyranny."
A protester at the presidential palace, Mohamed Adel, 30, said: "I have been camping here for weeks and will continue to do so until the constitution that divided the nation, and for which people died, gets scrapped."
The build-up to the first round of voting saw clashes between supporters and opponents of Mursi in which eight people died. Recent demonstrations in Cairo have been more peaceful, although rival factions clashed on Friday in Alexandria, Egypt's second biggest city.
On Monday evening, more than 1,300 members of the General Prosecution staff gathered outside the office of Public Prosecutor Talaat Ibrahim to demand that he leave his post.
Hours later, Ibrahim announced he had resigned and the crowd cheered, "God is Great! Long live justice!" and "Long live the independence of the judiciary!" witnesses said.
The closeness of the first-round referendum vote and low turnout give Mursi scant comfort as he seeks to assemble support for difficult economic reforms to reduce the budget deficit.
He will hold a further round of national unity talks with political leaders on Tuesday, but the National Salvation Front is expected to stay away, as it has in the past.
OPPOSITION BOOST
The lack of a big majority in the plebiscite so far has complicated matters for Mursi, strengthening the fractious opposition and casting doubt on the credibility of the constitution, political analysts believe.
"This percentage ... will strengthen the hand of the National Salvation Front and the leaders of this Front have declared they are going to continue this fight to discredit the constitution," said Mustapha Kamal Al-Sayyid, a professor of political science at Cairo University.
Mursi would be likely to become more unpopular with the introduction of planned austerity measures, polarizing society further, Sayyid told Reuters.
To tackle the budget deficit, the government needs to impose tax rises and cut back fuel subsidies. Uncertainty surrounding economic reform plans has already forced the postponement of a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. The Egyptian pound has fallen to eight-year lows against the dollar.
Mursi and his backers say the constitution is needed to move Egypt's democratic transition forward. Opponents say the document is too Islamist and ignores the rights of women and of minorities, including Christians who make up 10 percent of the population.
Demonstrations erupted when Mursi awarded himself extra powers on November 22 and then fast-tracked the constitution through an assembly dominated by his Islamist allies and boycotted by many liberals.
The referendum has had to be held over two days because many of the judges needed to oversee polling staged a boycott in protest. In order to pass, the constitution must be approved by more than 50 percent of those voting.
(Additional reporting by Tamim Elyan and Edmund Blair; Writing by Giles Elgood; Editing by Michael Roddy)
SINGAPORE: The number of new private homes sold in November fell to the lowest level in 2012.
Excluding executive condominiums (ECs), 1,087 units were sold in November -- 44.2 percent less than in October.
It is also the second straight month of decline.
October saw 25.7 percent less homes moved in at 1,948 units.
Analysts attribute the decline to fewer property launches last month.
Savills' research head, Alan Cheong, said: "We had expected originally much higher numbers, believing that perhaps Echelon, Senette Residences may have been launched in November, but they didn't, so they may be pushed to December or next year.
It is always a lull period for the property market at this time of the year as more people are travelling.
Some analysts said the latest cooling measure has kept buyers on the sidelines as they assess the impact of a shorter loan tenure on the property market.
Meanwhile, more homes were sold in the city last month.
Some 209 units were sold in the core central region -- 45 percent more than in October.
But in the city fringes, sales dipped 52.9 percent to 167 units.
Knight Frank's research head, Png Poh Soon, said: "The market had a good run up over time and most people are wondering where it will be, going forward. Of course, buyers are also looking around for bargain buys. And we have observed that the resale volume has increased and prices have gone up from the retail side."
Low interest rates and volatile markets have pushed many investors to seek refuge in property.
2012 would likely be a record year for the number of new private homes sold.
Up till November, 20,879 new units have been sold, breaking the previous record when 16,292 units were sold for the entire 2010.
Looking ahead, most analysts expect the healthy market demand to continue and prices to stay firm.
Research In Motion has officially announced a BlackBerry 10 event for January 30.
The company sent the invites out today to select media outlets, inviting them to Pier 36 in New York City that day to "see [BlackBerry 10] first." RIM didn't provide any details on the event, but its tagline is, "Re-designed. Re-engineered. Re-invented."
Now that three days have passed since 27 people, including 20 children, were killed by one gunman in Newtown, Conn., the discussion over gun control has bubbled to the surface. After President Obama got the discussion started just hours after the massacre when he called for "meaningful action" on guns "regardless of politics," he renewed his vow to take action Sunday night when speaking to residents of of the grief-striken town. "What choice do we have?" he rhetorically asked. "We can't accept events like this as routine."
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"We are not doing enough" to prevent these massacres, Obama says
If action is taken, Congress will have a major role. Members of the legislative body escalated the debate on Sunday on the political talk shows as well as more elected officials threw their voice into the discussion, with proponents of gun control calling for a ban on assault weapons.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a fierce proponent of gun control, vowed to reintroduce legislation that would ban assault weapons on the first day the new Congress convenes in January.
"I can tell you that [the president] is going to have a bill to lead on because...I'm going to introduce [it] in the Senate and the same bill will be introduced in the House - a bill to ban assault weapons," Feinstein said. It would ban the sale and possession of the powerful weapons and limit the size of clips to a maximum of ten bullets. Feinstein was instrumental in the previous assault weapons ban of 1994, which expired in 2004.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., also called for a federal ban on assault weapons. "[N]ot to take anybody's guns away that they have now but to stop the manufacturing of these weapons," he said. "We've got to continue to hear the screams of these children and see their blood until we do something to try and prevent this from happening again."
Lieberman also called for "a national commission on mass violence." He said on "Fox News Sunday" that it shouldn't supplant any legislation but to insure that "legislative gridlock" doesn't overcome any changes that might be necessary.
While gun control advocates sounded the alarm, most prominent leaders of the Republican Party have been silent, allowing gun control advocates to fill the immediate void.
The National Rifle Association, the powerful gun lobby, is stone silent. The organization has repeatedly withheld comment and has yet to offer its condolences to the victims. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, cancelled the Republican weekly address, deferring to President Obama to lead the nation at this time. And the Sunday political shows, which are usually filled with opinionated politicians from all sides, were absent of gun rights advocates. But it wasn't for the lack of effort.
For instance, CBS News' "Face the Nation" invited numerous pro-gun members of Congress to appear on the program to discuss Newtown and guns. All declined.
"It's not just that Congress is reluctant to pass laws," Bob Schieffer, the host of "Face the Nation" said Sunday. "Members, as we found out this weekend when we tried to get guests to come on and talk about this on 'Face the Nation,' people are just reluctant to even discuss it."
And the executive producer of NBC's "Meet the Press", Betsy Fischer Martin, wrote via Twitter that her team reached out to "ALL 31 pro-gun rights [Senators] in the new Congress to invite them to share their views... NO takers."
One gun advocate, however, did accept Fox News' invitation to speak Sunday - Rep. Louis Gohmert, R-Texas - who said there should be a debate on the issue. "[T]he conversation we've go to have has got to have everybody open-minded," Gohmert said.
Twenty bright first graders with their entire lives ahead of them were gunned down on Dec. 14 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Along with the students, the lives of six school staffers, including a devoted teacher and a proud principal, were lost. Click through to see the victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Noah Pozner and his twin sister celebrated their sixth birthdays on Nov. 20. His sister, Arielle, who was in another class, survived.
Pozner's uncle Alexis Haller told The Associated Press that he was "smart as a whip," gentle but with a rambunctious streak.
Haller told the AP that Pozner called Arielle his best friend.
"They were always playing together, they loved to do things together," Haller said. When his mother, a nurse, would tell him she loved him, he would answer, "Not as much as I love you, Mom."
Funeral services Pozner are planned for Monday.
Emilie Parker, the little girl with the blond hair and bright blue eyes, would have been one of the first to comfort her classmates at Sandy Hook Elementary School, had a gunman's bullets not claimed her life, her father said.
"My daughter Emilie would be one of the first ones to be standing and giving support to all the victims because that's the kind of kid she is," her father, Robbie Parker said as he fought back tears, telling the world about his "bright, creative and loving" daughter who was one of the 20 young victims in the Newtown, Conn., shooting.
"She always had something kind to say about anybody," her father said. "We find comfort reflecting on the incredible person Emilie was and how many lives she was able to touch."
Emilie was a budding artist who carried her markers and pencils everywhere. Her grandfather recently passed away and Emilie paid tribute to him by slipping a special card she had drawn into his casket, her father said.
WATCH: Emilie's father speaks about his daughter
Jack's funeral is scheduled to take place Monday. Jack was a fan of New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz, who paid tribute to the 6-year-old during Sunday's game against the Atlanta Falcons.
Cruz honored Jack Sunday on his cleats, writing on them the words "Jack Pinto, My Hero."
"I also spoke to an older brother and he was distraught as well. I told him to stay strong and I was going to do whatever I can to honor him," Cruz said after the game. "He was fighting tears and could barely speak to me." Cruz said he plans to give the gloves he wore during the game to the boy's family, and spend some time with them.
The family released a statement saying, Jack was an "inspiration to all those who knew him."
"Jack loved school, reading, wrestling, skiing and football. Most of all Jack loved to play with his friends and keep up with his big brother," said his family. "He had a wide smile that would simply light up the room and while we are all uncertain as to how we will ever cope without him, we choose to remember and celebrate his life. Not dwelling on the loss but instead on the gift that we were given and will forever cherish in our hearts forever."
Like most first graders, Jesse Lewis was excited for the holiday season. The 6-year-old, who was in Victoria Soto's class, couldn't wait to go to school on Friday because they were making gingerbread houses, and his father had planned to join them.
Victoria Soto, 27, one of the adult victims, loved being a teacher, her cousin, Jim Wiltsie, told ABC News' Chris Cuomo Friday. In fact, her first-grade students' safety was such a high priority that Soto reportedly lost her life protecting them.
"The family was informed that she was trying to shield, get her children into a closet and protect them from harm, and by doing that put herself between the gunman and the children," Wiltsie said. "And that's when she was tragically shot and killed.
"I'm very proud to have known Vicki," Wiltsie added. "Her life dream was to be a teacher. And her instincts kicked in when she saw there was harm coming to her students.
"It brings peace to know that Vicki was doing what she loved, protecting the children," he said. "And in our eyes, she is a hero."
Grace Audrey McDonnell, 7
"We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support from so many people. Our daughter Grace was the love and light of our family. Words cannot adequately express our sense of loss."
As with so many, the ABC family has been touched directly by the tragedy in Sandy Hook.
One of the young victims, Catherine Hubbard, is the niece of an ABC News employee.
Here is a statement from the family: "We are greatly saddened by the loss of our beautiful daughter, Catherine Violet and our thoughts and prayers are with the other families who have been affected by this tragedy.
"We appreciate the overwhelming support from our community that we have received over the past 24 hours. "We also wish to express our gratitude for all of the emergency responders who responded to this tragic incident as well as the teachers and staff of Sandy Hook School. Our local police and fire departments and the other agencies who are working on this continuing investigation have been incredible.
"We also want to recognize outstanding work of The Connecticut State Police who have been supporting us from the very beginning of this ordeal and continue to provide unwavering support to our family.
"We have no further statement to make at this time and ask that we be afforded the opportunity to grieve with our friends and family.
"We ask that you continue to pray for us and the other families who have experienced loss in this tragedy.
"Jennifer and Matthew Hubbard"
Hochsprung became principal of Sandy Hook in recent years and by all accounts, was devoted to the students and teachers at her school.
"When we had our orientation, you could tell she loved her job," Brenda Lediski, a parent, told ABC News by phone.
Kristin Larson, a former PTA secretary, told the Boston Globe that Hochsprung was "always enthusiastic, always smiling, always game to do anything."
"When I saw her at the beginning of the school year, she was hugging everyone," Larson said.
The terrifying moment Hochsprung came into contact with the gunman were heard over the school intercom and may have saved lives.
It's not clear whether the intercom was turned on purposefully to alert the school's staff to the menace or whether the intercom was on for morning announcements.
Either way, it caught the initial moments of Adam Lanza's lethal fury and gave teachers and others life saving moments to lock their doors and try to hide their children.
Mary Sherlach, School Psychologist
Sherlach had been a school psychologist at Sandy Hook since August of 1994 and had experience working on committees devoted to school safety, according to her website.
Sherlach and her husband, Bill, had been married for 31 years and have two adult daughters.
"I truly enjoy working with the SHS staff, parents and children," she wrote. "And am always ready to assist in problem solving , intervention and prevention."
Her son-in-law, Eric Schwartz, said Sherlach felt she was "doing God's work by helping children."
Lauren Rousseau worked as a substitute teacher before landing a full time position this year at Sandy Hook Elementary School. For the 30-year-old, it was a dream job.
"We will miss her terribly," Lauren's mother, Teresa Rousseau , told the Delaware County Times. "And will take comfort knowing that she had achieved that dream."
The 6-year-old was just learning the rosary and would lead the family in grace every night before dinner, the New Haven Register reported. Her favorite colors were pink and purple. She leaves behind a 3-year-old brother.
Her family released a statement describing Olivia as "creative" and a fan of craft projects and art class. She was a patient big sister to 3-year old Brayden and would lead Grace each evening at the dinner table, according to her father, Brian.
"Olivia was smart, bubbly, and unbelievably entertaining. Her physical loss will be felt every day by those who loved her most, but her sparkly spirit will live on," the statement read.
D'Avino was a behavioral therapist who had only recently started working at Sandy Hook Elementary School, according to Lissa Lovetere, a friend who is handling her funeral planned for Friday.
D'Avino's boyfriend, Anthony Cerritelli, planned to ask her to marry him on Christmas Eve, Lovetere told The Associated Press.
Police told her family that she shielded one of the students during the rampage, Lovetere told the AP.
Jessica's parents, Rich and Krista Rekos, released a statement describing their daughter's love of horses. When she turned 10, they promised, she could have a horse of her own. For Christmas, she asked Santa for new cowgirl boots and hat.
"She devoted her free time to watching horse movies, reading horse books, drawing horses, and writing stories about horses," her family said in the statement.
The family described Jessica as "a creative, beautiful little girl who loved playing with her little brothers, Travis and Shane.
"We cannot imagine our life without her. We are mourning her loss, sharing our beautiful memories we have of her, and trying to help her brother Travis understand why he can't play with his best friend," they said.
The 6-year-old, with her beaming smile, was the daughter of a jazz musician. She sang in a home video with her brother, who was also at Sandy Hook Elementary School during the massacre.
The girl's grandmother, Elba Marquez, told The Associated Press the family moved to Connecticut just two months ago, drawn from Canada, in part, by Sandy Hook's sterling reputation. The grandmother's brother, Jorge Marquez, is mayor of a Puerto Rican town.
Charlotte's parents, Joann and Joel, had lived in Newtown for four or five years, Joann's brother John Hagen, of Nisswa, Minn., told Newsday.
"She was going to go some places in this world," Hagen told the newspaper. "This little girl could light up the room for anyone."
Daniel was the youngest of three children, his family said in a statement. The family described Daniel as "fearless in the pursuit of happiness in life."
"Words really cannot express what a special boy Daniel was. Such a light. Always smiling, unfailingly polite, incredibly affectionate, fair and so thoughtful towards others, imaginative in play, both intelligent and articulate in conversation: in all, a constant source of laughter and joy," the family said.
Josephine's father, Bob, said Sunday that the family will be releasing a statement soon.
"You couldn't think of a better child," neighbor Kevin Grimes told The Associated Press.
Grimes told the AP that he was recently speaking with Chase and the little boy was telling him about winning his first mini-triathlon.
James' mother, Cindy, is a native of Sherrill, N.Y.
"It's a terrible tragedy, and we're a tight community," Mayor William Vineall told the Utica Observer-Dispatch. "Everybody will be there for them, and our thoughts and prayers are there for them," he added.
Victims of Sandy Hook Shooting
As more information and images emerge of the victims from Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in coming days, here are the names of the other students and staffers killed:
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa said that neither the forces of President Bashar al-Assad nor rebels seeking to overthrow him can win the war which is now being fought on the outskirts of Assad's powerbase in Damascus.
Sharaa, a Sunni Muslim in a power structure dominated by Assad's Alawite minority, has rarely been seen since the Syrian revolt erupted in March 2011 and is not part of the president's inner circle directing the fight against Sunni rebels.
But he is the most prominent figure to say in public that Assad will not win. He was speaking to the pro-Assad al-Akhbar paper in an interview from Damascus which is now hemmed in by rebel fighters to the south.
Assad's forces have used jets and artillery to try to dislodge the fighters from around Damascus but the violence has crept into the heart of the capital and rebels announced on Sunday a new offensive in the central province of Hama.
Sharaa said the situation in Syria, where more than 40,000 people have been killed, was deteriorating and a "historic settlement" was needed to end the conflict, involving regional powers and the U.N. Security Council and the formation of a national unity government "with broad powers".
"With every passing day the political and military solutions are becoming more distant. We should be in a position defending the existence of Syria. We are not in a battle for an individual or a regime," Sharaa was quoted as saying.
"The opposition cannot decisively settle the battle and what the security forces and army units are doing will not achieve a decisive settlement," he told the paper, adding that the insurgents fighting to topple Syria's leadership could plunge it into "anarchy and an unending spiral of violence".
Sources close to the Syrian government say Sharaa had pushed for dialogue with the opposition and objected to the military response to an uprising that began peacefully.
In Damascus, residents said on Monday the army had told people to evacuate the Palestinian district of Yarmouk, suggesting an all-out military offensive on the southern district was imminent.
The centre of the city, largely insulated from the violence for 21 months, is now full of army and vigilante checkpoints and shakes to the sound of regular shelling, residents say.
Queues for bread form at bakeries hours before dawn, as people seek out dwindling supplies, power cuts are increasing and fears are growing that Damascus could descend into chaos.
In a veiled criticism of the crackdown, Sharaa said there was a difference between the state's duty to provide security to its citizens, and "pursuing a security solution to the crisis."
He said even Assad could not be certain where events in Syria were leading, but that anyone who met him would hear that "this is a long struggle...and he does not hide his desire to settle matters militarily to reach a final solution."
CHANGE INEVITABLE
"We realize today that change is inevitable," Sharaa said, but "none of the peaceful or armed opposition groups with their known foreign links can call themselves the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people".
"Likewise the current leadership...cannot achieve change alone after two years of crisis without new partners who contribute to preserving (Syria's) national fabric, territorial unity and regional sovereignty".
Rebels have now brought the war to the capital, without yet delivering a fatal blow to the government. But nor has Assad found the military muscle to oust his opponents from the city.
In Paris, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius of France, one of the powers most insistent that Assad has lost his legitimacy, said: "I think the end is nearing for Bashar al-Assad."
On the ground, rebels said they were launching an operation to seize the central province of Hama to try to link northern rural areas of Syria under their control to the center.
Qassem Saadeddine, a member of the newly established rebel military command, said fighters had been ordered to surround and attack checkpoints across the province. He said forces loyal to Assad had been given 48 hours to surrender or be killed.
"When we liberate the countryside of Hama province ... then we will have the area between Aleppo and Hama liberated and open for us," he told Reuters.
The city of Hama in the province of the same name has a special resonance for anti-Assad activists. In 1982 Hafez al-Assad, father of the current ruler, crushed an uprising in the city, killing up to 30,000 civilians.
In Damascus, activists said fighter jets bombed the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp on Sunday, killing at least 25 people sheltering in a mosque.
The attack was part of a month-old campaign by Assad's forces to eject rebels from positions they are establishing around the capital's perimeter. Yarmouk, to the south, falls within an arc of territory running from the east of Damascus to the southwest from where rebels hope to storm the government's main redoubt.
MOSQUE HIT
Opposition activists said the deaths in Yarmouk, to which refugees have fled from fighting in nearby suburbs, resulted from a rocket fired from a warplane hitting the mosque.
Footage showed bodies and body parts scattered on the stairs of what appeared to be the mosque.
The latest battlefield accounts could not be independently verified due to tight restrictions on media access to Syria.
Syria is home to more than 500,000 Palestinian refugees, most living in Yarmouk, and both Assad's government and the rebels have enlisted and armed Palestinians as the uprising, which began as a peaceful street movement 21 months ago, has mushroomed into a civil war.
After Sunday's air raid, clashes flared between Palestinians from the pro-Assad Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) and rebels including other Palestinian fighters and some PFLP-GC fighters were killed.
In the latest of a string of military installations to fall to the rebels, the army's infantry college north of Aleppo was captured on Saturday after five days of fighting, a rebel commander with the powerful Islamist Tawheed Brigade said.
(Additional reporting by Dominic Evans; Editing by Samia Nakhoul and Anna Willard)
