TOKYO: Japan's trade deficit in November expanded 37.9 per cent on-year to $11.3 billion, a record for the month, official data showed Wednesday.
The trade shortfall came to 953.4 billion yen, marking the fifth straight month of deficit as it widened from a year-earlier deficit of 691.2 billion yen. Exports fell 4.1 per cent while imports edged up 0.8 per cent.
- AFP/fa
Jan Scheuermann can't use her limbs to feed herself, but she's pretty good at grabbing a chocolate bar with her robot arm.
She's become the first to demonstrate that people with a long history of quadriplegia can successfully manipulate a mind-controlled robot arm with seven axes of movement. Earlier experiments had shown that robot arms work with brain implants.
Scheuerman was struck by spinocerebellar degeneration in 1996. A study on the brain-computer interface (BCI) linking Scheuermann to her prosthetic was published online in this month's issue of medical journal The Lancet.
Training on the BCI allowed her to move an arm and manipulate objects for the first time in nine years, surprising researchers.
It took her less than a year to be able to seize a chocolate bar with the arm, after which she declared, "One small nibble for a woman, one giant bite for BCI." Check it out in the video below.
"This is a spectacular leap toward greater function and independence for people who are unable to move their own arms," senior investigator Andrew Schwartz of the University of Pittsburgh's Pitt School of Medicine said in a release.
"This technology, which interprets brain signals to guide a robot arm, has enormous potential that we are continuing to explore. Our study has shown us that it is technically feasible to restore ability; the participants have told us that BCI gives them hope for the future."
Scheuermann's brain was implanted with two quarter-inch square electrode grids. They have 96 tiny contact points for brain areas that control right arm and hand movement.
The electrodes pick up neurons firing to activate arm movement. Within a week of surgery, she could reach in and out, left and right, and up and down with her robot arm.
Her rapid progress has led researchers to estimate that similar robot arms could be available to far more patients in 5 to 10 years. The next step for the work will be to include feedback potential in the electrodes, so the brain can interpret sensations like grip strength from the arm.
Scheuermann will continue to test the device over the next two months.
"This is the ride of my life," she was quoted as saying. "This is the roller coaster. This is skydiving. It's just fabulous, and I'm enjoying every second of it."
NEWTOWN, Conn. -- Like a lot of people who interacted with Lanza, Dot Stansy said he was "just quiet"
Adam Lanza.
"On one side, he did something unspeakable, but on the other, that's not how I remember him," Stansy said. "I remember him as the nice kid that, you know, I sat near to in class. We'd joked, he'd laugh, that kind of thing."
Investigators probe life of mass-murderer Adam Lanza
In divorce, mom had authority over Conn. shooter
Asperger's not likely to make people violent, experts emphasize
University: Newtown gunman took college courses at 16
"We were all hanging out outside of class afterwards one night, and he walked by and we were like, 'Hey, do you want to grab a drink with us?' And he said, 'No, I can't, I'm 17.'"
Lanza was also being home-schooled at the time.
He took seven college-level courses between the summers of 2008 and 2009, receiving several As in computer classes and also one in American history. His overall GPA was 3.26.
Dot Stasny remembers meeting Adam Lanza's mother.
"[She] introduced herself, said he was sick, asked where the classroom was, and when we walked in, she was getting his assignments from the teacher," Stansy said.
Nancy Lanza's friends, told CBS News' Scott Pelley on "60 Minutes" that she told them Adam had Asperger's syndrome and taking care of him was a full-time job.
Ryan Kraft
"I mean, I know he was on he was on medication and everything, but she home-schooled him at home cause he couldn't deal with the school classes sometimes," Louise said. "So she just home-schooled Adam at home. And that that was her life."
Ryan Kraft, who babysat for the Lanza's when Adam was just about 10 years old, got a glimpse of how difficult he could be.
"I received instructions from Nancy to always supervise Adam at all times and to never turn my back on him," Kraft said.
Adam Lanza's parent divorced in 2009. CBS News spoke to a mediator in that divorce, who said his parents seemed to love him and only wanted the best for him.
A computer at the Connecticut home where Newtown, Conn., school shooter Adam Lanza lived with his mother was badly damaged, perhaps smashed with a hammer, said police who hope the machine might still yield clues to the gunman's motive.
The computer's hard drive appeared to have been badly damaged with a hammer or screw driver, law enforcement authorities told ABC News, complicating efforts to exploit it for evidence.
Officials have "seized significant evidence at [Lanza's] residence," said Connecticut State Police spokesman Paul Vance, adding that the process of sifting through that much forensic evidence would be a lengthy and "painstaking process."
Authorities also told ABC News that the weapons used in Friday's rampage at Sandyhook Elementary School, which left dead 20 children and seven adults including Lanza's mother Nancy, were purchased by his mother between 2010 and 2012.
According to the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, Lanza visited shooting ranges several times in recent years, and went at least one time with his mother.
The first funeral for a child killed in the massacre was held today in Fairfield, Conn., where mourners gathered to remember the too-short life of first-grader Noah Pozner.
Authorities also revealed this morning that two adult women shot during the rampage survived and their accounts will likely be integral to the investigation.
"Investigators will, in fact, speak with them when it's medically appropriate and they will shed a great deal of light on the facts and circumstances of this tragic investigation," Connecticut State Police Lt. Paul Vance said at a news conference today.
Both survivors are women and are now home from the hospital after being shot, police said. Officials had previously mentioned just one adult survivor. The women have not been identified and police did not give details on their injuries.
READ MORE: School nurse hid from gunman.
Both adults, Vance said, were wounded in the "lower extremities," but did not indicate where in the building they were when they were injured.
Moving trucks were seen outside Sandy Hook Elementary School this morning, as school officials prepare to move furniture and supplies to a vacant school in neighboring Monroe.
Sandy Hook itself will remain a secure crime scene "indefinitely," said Vance.
Emily Friedman/ABC News, Handout
CLICK HERE for complete coverage of the tragedy at Sandy Hook.
Police say Adam Lanza, 20, forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday, spraying bullets on students and faculty. Lanza killed 20 children and six adults before turning the gun on himself.
Lanza also killed his mother Nancy Lanza at the home they shared before going to school.
"There are many, many witnesses that need to be interviewed," Vance said. "We will not stop until we have interviewed every last one of them."
Vance said the investigation could take weeks or months to complete. "It's not something done in 60 minutes like you see on T.V."
Some of the other key witnesses will be children who survived the shooting spree by playing dead, hiding in closets and bathrooms and being rescued by dedicated teachers.
"Any interviews with any children will be done with professionals...as appropriate," Vance said. "We'll handle that extremely delicately when the time arises."
CLICK HERE for a tribute to the shooting victims.
The first funerals for victims of the shooting are today, beginning with 6-year-olds Noah Pozner and Jack Pinto.
Officials said today that the Sandy Hook Elementary School, where the shooting took place, will be closed "indefinitely."
Both the school and the home where shootings took place are being held by police as crime scenes and Vance predicted authorities would spend "months" investigating the elementary school.
All Newtown schools are closed today to give residents more time to cope. Every school except for Sandy Hook is expected to re-open Tuesday.
The town of Monroe has offered to open to Sandy Hook students the Chalk Hill School, a former middle school that currently houses the town's EMS and recreational departments.
Officials in Monroe, less than 10 miles from Newtown, say the building could be ready for students by the end of the week, but have not yet set a date to resume classes.
Nearly 100 volunteers are working to ensure the building complies with fire and security regulations and are working to retorfit the school with bathroom facilities for young children.
"We're working to make the school safe and secure for students," said Monroe Police Department spokesman Lt. Brian H. McCauley.
The neighboring community's school is expected to be ready to accommodate students in the next few days, though an exact schedule has not yet been published.
While the families grieve, federal and state authorities are working around the clock to answer the question on so many minds: "Why?"
ABC News has learned that investigators have seized computers belonging to Adam Lanza from the home he shared with his mother. Three weapons were found at the school scene and a fourth was recovered from Lanza's car. Lanza had hundreds of rounds and used multiple high-capacity magazines when he went on the rampage, according to Connecticut State Police.
Vance said that every single electronic device, weapon and round will be thoroughly examined and investigated as well as every aspect of Lanza's life going "back to the date of birth."
ABC News has learned that both the shooter and his mother spent time at an area gun range; however it was not yet known whether they had shot there.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday received an official review of the September attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, setting the stage for testimony on an incident that prompted a political furor and sharp questions about security at U.S. diplomatic facilities overseas.
The State Department said Clinton - who is convalescing after suffering a concussion last week - received the report from the Accountability Review Board formed to probe the attack which killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.
"The ARB has completed its work. Its report has gone to the secretary this morning. She now has it," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
The committee has been meeting in private and State Department officials have declined to discuss almost all specifics of the Benghazi attack pending its reports.
The findings are expected to cover questions on whether enough attention was given to potential threats and how Washington responded to security requests from U.S. diplomats in Libya.
A determination that top State Department officials turned down those requests, as Republican congressional investigators allege, could refuel criticism of the officials - and possibly even end the careers of some of them.
Clinton had been expected to testify to Congress on December 20 on the report's results, but is under doctors' orders to remain at home this week.
Deputy Secretary William Burns and Deputy Secretary Thomas Nides will testify in her stead at Thursday's open hearings of the Senate and House foreign affairs committees, Nuland said.
Prior to that, the Accountability Review Board's two leaders - retired Ambassador Thomas Pickering and retired chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen - will testify in closed door hearings of the two committees on Wednesday, she said.
POLITICAL FALLOUT
The political uproar over the September 11 Benghazi attack has already claimed one victim.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, widely tipped as a front-runner to replace Clinton when she steps down as secretary of state early next year, last week withdrew her name from consideration, saying she wished to avoid a potentially disruptive Senate confirmation process.
Republican lawmakers had blasted Rice for televised comments she made in the aftermath of the attack in which she said preliminary information suggested the assault was the result of protests over an anti-Muslim video made in California rather than a premeditated strike.
Rice has said she was relying on talking points drawn up by U.S. intelligence officials.
Nuland said the final report could contain both classified and unclassified sections, and that only the latter would be made publicly available.
Central questions raised include why the ambassador was in such an unstable part of Libya on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and the Pentagon.
The five-person independent board usually includes retired ambassadors, a former CIA officer and a member of the private sector. It has the power to issue subpoenas, and members are required to have appropriate security clearances to review classified information.
Nuland said that Clinton - who intends to step down toward the end of January when President Barack Obama is sworn in for his second term - was "on the mend" following her concussion, which occurred when she fell as a result of dehydration due to a stomach virus.
She added that Clinton remained open to discussing the attack with lawmakers herself next month.
"She looks forward to continuing to engage with them in January and she will be open to whatever they consider appropriate in that regard," Nuland said. (Editing by Warren Strobel and Mohammad Zargham)
SYDNEY: Aid groups Tuesday attacked Australia's plans to divert hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid to help pay for asylum-seekers already in the country, saying it was a blow for the world's poor.
Foreign Minister Bob Carr said up to A$375 million ($395 million) would be spent on basic subsistence for refugees waiting to have their claims heard in Australia. It will cover food, shelter and other essential items.
"It's absolutely fair," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
"The fact is the OECD guidelines provide that if you're spending money on refugees and potential refugees on your own soil, it's to be counted as if you were spending money on refugees or potential refugees in refugee camps around the world," Carr said.
But aid agencies criticised the decision which comes as Canberra battles to stem a rising flow of asylum-seekers, with more than 16,770 boatpeople arriving in Australia so far in 2012.
The Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) called the diversion "an appalling breach of trust between the government and the Australian public", saying it would strip money from the world's poorest people.
Executive director Marc Purcell said it was also out of step with undertakings Canberra made to the world as it sought support for significant positions in global leadership.
"On the eve of Australia taking its seat on the United Nations Security Council, now is the time to show leadership," he said.
World Vision Australia also condemned the move as "more than just an accounting trick".
"We know aid saves lives -- the number of children dying each year has nearly halved over the past two decades," said chief executive Tim Costello.
"If these funds are siphoned away from health programmes, it could literally mean the difference between life and death for some of the world's most vulnerable people, including those in our own region."
Carr said Australia's aid expenditure for fiscal 2012/13 would be a record A$5.2 billion.
But he would not say from which programmes the A$375 million would be drawn during the fiscal year ending June 30.
- AFP/fa
Don't you hate waiting for the drinks cart to slowly make its way through economy class to your seat? This gadget might speed things up a bit.
SkyTender isn't quite the robot bartender that some are making it out to be, but as an automated drinks dispenser it could make flying slightly less hellish than it nearly always is.
This beverage trolley can whip up more than 30 different drinks, including soft drinks, coffee, wine, and cocktails, at the touch of a button or two.
Regular trolleys can be upgraded to SkyTenders with the installation of modular drinks cartridges that use an RFID system and a CO2 cylinder for the dispenser mechanism.
As seen in the educational vid below, SkyTender has a touch screen that rises out of the trolley. Put a cup in the dispenser, push a button on the screen, and there's your drink. A stocked trolley, which has about 8 gallons of hot and cold water on board, can prepare up to 290 drink servings.
Yes, you still need a flight attendant in the loop. Changing the drinks cartridges, keeping the batteries charged, and other maintenance tasks mean there's room for breakdowns, but perhaps no more than when conventional trolleys run out of your choice of wine.
When I told my flight attendant friend Leanne about SkyTender, she was impressed by the fact that it could save her many trips to the galley to reheat or make new pots of coffee and tea.
It also seems safer during turbulence because there are fewer things that could fly off it, she added, and fewer discarded drinks cans present an environmental benefit.
SkyTender recently took its inaugural flight on a German airline, WDL Aviation, going from Cologne to Palma, Majorca.
"Our first ever test flight was a complete success, the system operated as expected and we have generated even more interest in our innovative product, the passengers were extremely pleased with the beverage options and most importantly the quality and speed of service," SkyMax's Oliver Kloth said in a release.
What do you think? Would you be more willing to fly with a given carrier if it had automation in the aisles?
(Via Live Science)
NEWTOWN, Conn. Connecticut authorities complained Sunday that false information about the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school is being promulgated online by social media tricksters. And they warned that such misinformation is prosecutable under the law.
"Misinformation is being posted on social media. People posing as the shooter, mimicking this crime and crime scene and criminal activity, some things in a threatening manner," said Conn. State Police spokesman Paul Vance.
In addition to people pretending to be the shooter or other principals in the investigation, Vance said other posters are putting up information purported to be from the Newtown city police or the Connecticut state police. Neither of those agencies are posting information via twitter or other social media, he said.
"All info related to this case is coming from these microphones," he told reporters at a press briefing in Newtown Sunday morning.
Vance said he considered the misinformation a "violation of federal law and warrants an investigation."
"These issues are crimes, they will be examined in state and federally."
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');TOKYO (Reuters) - Conservative ex-premier Shinzo Abe will get a second chance to lead Japan after his Liberal Democratic Party surged back to power in Sunday's election, but he must move swiftly to bolster a sagging economy and manage strained ties with China to avoid the fate of his short-lived predecessors.
Abe, whose party won by a landslide just three years after a crushing defeat, is due to meet the leader of its small ally on Monday to cement their alliance and confirm economic steps to boost an economy now in its fourth recession since 2000.
The victory by the LDP, which had ruled Japan for most of the past 50 years before it was ousted in 2009, will usher in a government pledged to a tough stance in a territorial row with China, a pro-nuclear energy policy despite the 2011 Fukushima disaster and a potentially risky recipe for hyper-easy monetary policy and big fiscal spending to boost growth.
Projections by TV broadcasters showed that the LDP had won at least 294 seats in the 480-member lower house, while its ally the New Komeito party took 31 seats.
That gives them a two-thirds majority needed to overrule parliament's upper house in most matters. Since 2007, successive governments have been hamstrung by a "twisted parliament" where ruling coalitions lacked control over the upper house, which could block most legislation.
While investors have already pushed the yen lower and share prices higher in anticipation of an LDP victory and Abe's economic stimulus, the "super majority" drove the yen to a 20-month low against the U.S. dollar as far as 84.48.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei opened up 1.6 pct on Monday, hitting a high of more than eight months.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) was crushed. It was forecast to win 57 seats -- less than a fifth of its showing in 2009, when it swept to power promising to pay more heed to consumers than companies and pry control of policies from bureaucrats.
But voters felt the DPJ failed to live up to those pledges and the party was hit by defections before the vote due to Noda's unpopular plan to raise the sales tax to curb public debt, which is already more than twice the size of the economy.
"This was an overwhelming rejection of the DPJ," said Gerry Curtis, a professor at New York's Columbia University. That sentiment was echoed in Japanese media.
"In a word, rather than a huge victory for the LDP, this election was a massive defeat for the Democrats," the Nikkei business daily said in an editorial.
Analyst Bruce Klingner of the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington agreed, but said it "also reflects an embrace of conservative views" after strained relations with Japan's neighbors in recent years.
"Chinese assertiveness and North Korean provocations nudged the public from its usual post-war complacency toward a new desire to stand up for Japanese sovereignty," he said.
However, that did not mean the Japanese were embracing a return to militarism, added Klingner, a former CIA analyst.
LOW TURNOUT
Abe, expected to be voted in by parliament on December 26, will also have to prove he has learned from the mistakes of his first administration, plagued by scandals and charges of incompetence.
Voter distaste for both major parties has spawned a clutch of new parties, including the Japan Restoration Party founded by popular Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, which took 54 seats according to media projections.
Media estimates also showed turnout at around 59 percent, which could match the previous post-war low.
LDP leader Abe, 58, who quit as premier in 2007 citing ill health, has been talking tough in a row with China over uninhabited isles in the East China Sea, although some experts say he may temper his hard line with pragmatism once in office.
The soft-spoken grandson of a prime minister, who will become Japan's seventh premier in six years, Abe also wants to loosen the limits of a 1947 pacifist constitution on the military so Japan can play a bigger global security role.
President Barack Obama congratulated Abe and underlined U.S. interest in working with the longstanding American ally.
"The U.S-Japan Alliance serves as the cornerstone of peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific and I look forward to working closely with the next government and the people of Japan," he said in a statement.
Abe, who visited China first during his first term, said he would start off this time by going to Washington.
The LDP, which promoted nuclear energy during its decades-long reign, is expected to be friendly to power utilities, although deep public concerns remain over safety.
Abe has called for "unlimited" monetary easing and big spending on public works to rescue the economy. Such policies, a centerpiece of the LDP's platform for decades, have been criticized by many as wasteful pork-barrel politics.
Jiji news agency said previous LDP Prime Minister Taro Aso, 72, could be tapped as finance minister and deputy premier. He launched massive economic stimulus packages to fight the impact of the 2008-2009 global financial crisis but was dogged by policy flipflops and gaffes.
Many economists say that prescription for "Abenomics" could create temporary growth that would allow the government to proceed with a planned initial sales tax rise in 2014 to help curb public debt.
But it looks unlikely to cure deeper ills or bring sustainable growth to Japan's ageing society, and risks triggering a market backlash if investors decide Japan has lost control of its finances.
(Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Paul Tait)
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