Firefighters ambushed by gunman while responding to house fire

Residence near shooting and fire in Webster evacuated. (Max Schulte/Rochester Democrat&Chronicle via Twitter)

A gunman set a trap and shot and killed two firefighters responding to an early morning blaze in Webster, N.Y., police officials said. Two other firefighters were in serious condition.

"It does appear that it was a trap that was set for first responders, but the cause or reasons we don't have at this time," said Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering as he described  the scene where shots were fired at West Webster firefighters when they arrived at 5:35 a.m to battle the blaze along Lake Road.

The apparent gunman was found dead in at the scene, but it’s unclear if he was killed by  a self-inflicted gunshot or if it was from a weapon from police officers who were chasing him.

Firefighters Mike Chiapperini, also a lieutenant and public information officer with the local police department and Tomasz Kaczowka,  were killed in incident, Pickering said.

Chiapperini was described by Pickering as lifelong firefighter who started with the department's explorer program and has about 20 years of experience. Kaczowka was a younger firefighter and was a 911 dispatcher, he said.

West Webster firefighters Joseph Hofsetter and Theodore Scardino were seriously injured and are at at Strong Memorial Hospital with gunshot wounds, a hospital spokeswoman said.  Scardino had had injuries to chest and lungs. Hofsetter was injured in the pelvis, the spokeswoman said at a media briefing.

Pickering said that one of the injured firefighters made his way across a bridge to get to safety. The other three had to be rescued by police when they arrived at the scene.

"These are volunteers who get up in the middle of the night to fight fires, they don't expect to be shot and killed," a tearful Pickering said at the press conference.

No more details were released on the gunman. Pickering said he was found dead at the scene with the apparent weapons used in the shootings.

The morning scene was described as chaotic as police and firefighters dealt with an immense blaze as well as gunshots,  local news station WHAM-TV  reports. The station also reports the firefighters who are involved are volunteer firefighters.

“I’m not aware of anything like this happening in Webster, obviously not a firefighter being fired upon,” Webster Fire Marshal Rob Boutillier told the Democrat & Chronicle.  Pickering described Webster as resort lakeside community that is quiet and usually peaceful.

There at least four houses that have been damaged by the fire along Lake Road, WHAM-TV reported. Firefighters had to leave the scene and stop battling the blazes while police secured the scene. They are back to fighting the fires, the station reports. They continue to battle the blaze.

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British retailers start online sales early

LONDON (Reuters) – British retailers have brought forward their Christmas clearance sales online in the hope that shoppers will log on to buy bargains and offset lackluster spending in stores.

Marks & Spencer launched its sale online at midday on Monday, it said on its website, while department store John Lewis said it would cut online prices when its stores close at 1700 GMT. Debenhams has already started its online sale.

Retailers in recent years have started sales online on Christmas Day, ahead of the clearances in stores from Boxing Day, but are increasingly launching their online offers before Christmas after delivery deadlines for the day have passed.

Hard-pressed shoppers have been leaving it later to buy presents in the hope that retailers would slash prices, the British Retail Consortium said.

It was forecasting that 5 billion pounds ($ 8.1 billion) would be spent in the shops on Saturday and Sunday combined, the last weekend before Christmas.

Richard Dodd, the BRC’s head of Media and Campaigns, said weekend trading had met expectations.

“Christmas, ultimately once all the final sums are done, will turn out to be acceptable but not exceptional,” he said.

He said the sector expected a modest increase in cash spending against a year go, but not necessarily any significant increase in real terms once inflation was stripped out.

Many British families‘ budgets are stretched, according to a survey from Markit that showed the biggest deterioration in household finances for seven months.

Analyst Howard Archer at IHS Global Insight said the weakening in household finances could not come at a worse time for retailers, and it highlighted why many people appeared to have been careful in their Christmas shopping this year.

“The suspicion has to be that consumers will be especially keen to take advantage of genuine major bargains in the sales to acquire items that they cannot otherwise afford or are reluctant to make at the moment,” he said.

“However, we suspect that people will likely to be more careful in buying – or reluctant to buy – items that they don’t really want or need in the sales.”

($ 1 = 0.6180 British pounds)

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Louise Heavens)

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Former President George H.W. Bush remains hospitalized

(Reuters) – Former President George H.W. Bush, who has been hospitalized for a month undergoing treatment for bronchitis, may not be released from a Houston hospital in time to celebrate Christmas at home as doctors had hoped.

Bush, 88, remained in stable condition and doctors were optimistic he would make a full recovery, George Kovacik, a spokesman at Methodist Hospital, said in an emailed statement on Sunday.

But doctors were being “extra cautious” with his care and no discharge date had been set, the statement said. Earlier this month, Kovacik said doctors expected Bush would be able to spend Christmas at home with his family.

“His doctors feel he should build up his energy before going home,” the statement said.

Bush, the 41st president and a Republican, took office in 1989 and served one term in the White House. The father of former President George W. Bush, he also is a former congressman, U.N. ambassador, CIA director and vice president for two terms under Ronald Reagan.

(Reporting by Kevin Gray; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Vicki Allen)

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“Hobbit” fever beats Tom Cruise at box office

(Reuters) – The big-budget “Hobbit” fantasy movie ruled movie box office charts for a second straight weekend, fending off Hollywood heavyweight Tom Cruise in new crime drama “Jack Reacher.”

“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” hauled in nearly $ 37 million from theaters in the United States and Canada, according to studio estimates of Friday-through-Sunday ticket sales. The film is the first of three movies based on the classic J.R.R. Tolkien novel about a world of dwarfs, elves and dragons in the fictitious Middle Earth.

In second place, Cruise’s “Jack Reacher” about the investigation into a sniper shooting brought in just short of $ 17 million at U.S. and Canadian theaters. Distributor Paramount Pictures postponed a premiere of the film after the fatal school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, sparked new scrutiny of violent movies.

Adult comedy “This is 40,” starring Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann as a middle-aged couple, brought in $ 12 million, finishing in third place.

“The Hobbit” was distributed by Time Warner Inc’s Warner Bros. studio. Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc, released “Jack Reacher.” Comcast Corp’s Universal Pictures distributed “This is 40.”

(Reporting By Lisa Richwine and Andrea Burzynski)

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3-day trip becomes 3-week ordeal for 2 Jamaicans

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — It was supposed to be a three-day fishing trip at most. It turned into a three-week ordeal, drifting under an intense sun for hundreds of miles in the Caribbean in a small boat with a broken motor.

The two Jamaican fishermen survived by eating raw fish they caught and drinking water from melted ice they had brought to preserve their catch. The Colombian navy finally plucked them from the sea a week ago and delivered them home Saturday after treating them for severe dehydration, malnutrition and hypothermia.

Everton Gregory, 54, and John Sobah, 58, recounted their story in a telephone interview from Jamaica, while the boat owner and the men’s employer also provided details.

The men set off from Jamaica’s southeastern coast on Nov. 20. The water was glassy, the wind was calm and their boat was laden with 14 buckets of ice, 16 gallons of water and several bags of cereal, bread and fruit.

They headed to Finger Bank, a nearby sand spit 8-miles-long (13-kilometers) that is known for its abundance of fish like wahoo, tuna and mahi mahi. The owner of the 28-foot (8-meter) boat said she usually joins them on fishing trips, but she couldn’t go that afternoon.

After spending a couple of days around Finger Bank, the two men set off for home with their catch. But the boat’s engine soon died. The water was too deep to use the anchor and the current too strong to use the oars, so the boat slowly drifted away from Jamaica.

At first, the men got by on sipping the water and eating the food they brought with them. But days turned into weeks, and they began to eat the fish they had caught and drink the melted ice that had kept it fresh.

Gregory and Sobah kept eating raw fish and used a tarp to try to collect water, but the rain clouds remained at a distance.

Back home, friends and family called police and used their own boats to search the area where the men were last seen. The two fishermen work for the Florida-based nonprofit group Food for the Poor, which chartered a plane to search along Jamaica’s coast.

Marva Espuet, the owner of the boat, said she knew she had packed it with more food and water than needed for a three-day trip, but the thought provided little relief.

“If I had gone, there would have been two boats going,” said the 52-year-old woman, a longtime friend of both fishermen.

With searches proving fruitless, Sobah’s niece grew frantic, recalled Nakhle Hado, a fishing manager for Food for the Poor who helped lead the search. She “begged me that she wanted John back for Christmas,” Hado said.

Hado said some people believed the two men would never be found, but he and others didn’t give up. “My gut was telling me that they were still alive,” he said.

Hado said he had trained Gregory and Sobah on how to survive at sea.

“In case something happens, they don’t have to think twice. They know how to react,” he said. “It’s very important, their mental state.”

Gregory and Sobah finally ran out of fresh water and went several days without drink. A healthy human being can die from dehydration anywhere from three to five days without water.

Then on Dec. 12, a Colombian navy helicopter patrolling off the coast of that South American country spotted the men near Lack of Sleep cay, more than 500 miles (800 kilometers) from where they started. It took two days for a navy vessel to reach them because of bad weather. The men were hospitalized for several days at the Colombian island of San Andres before boarding a plane back home to Jamaica.

“It feels good,” Sobah told the AP in a brief phone interview after arriving.

Gregory said he had lost hope, but Sobah tried to keep him positive that they would be rescued. “I just had that belief,” Sobah said. “I believe in the Creator.”

Yet it is Gregory who plans to keep fishing despite the ordeal because he needs the job.

Sobah said he’s done. “I’m not going to go fishing again. No way.”

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NRA’s defiant LaPierre dismisses critics of school gun plan

The NRA's Wayne LaPierre speaks at Friday's press conference. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Two days after suggesting a "good guy with a gun" be stationed at every school in the country in response to the deadly shootings in Newtown, Conn., National Rifle Association executive vice president Wayne LaPierre blasted critics of his plan.

In an interview broadcast on Sunday's "Meet The Press," LaPierre reiterated the statements he made Friday at a press conference in Washington, when he said the answer to preventing shootings like the one at Sandy Hook Elementary Sch00l is armed security in every school--in effect, protecting children with guns.

“If it’s crazy to call for putting police in and securing our schools to protect our children, then call me crazy," LaPierre said. “I think the American people think it’s crazy not to do it."

At one point during the often contentious exchange, host David Gregory held up a high-capacity magazine clip that carries 30 bullets, asking if the NRA would support a federal limit on the capacity of such clips.

"Isn't it just possible that we could reduce the carnage in a situation like Newtown?" Gregory asked.

"I don't believe that's going to make one difference," LaPierre responded.

"You're telling me that it's not a matter of common sense that if you don't have an ability to shoot off 30 rounds without reloading, that, just possibly, you could reduce the loss of life?" Gregory asked.

"I don't buy your argument for a minute," LaPierre said. "There are so many different ways to evade that, even if you had that."

“Is there no new gun regulation you would support?” an exasperated Gregory asked. LaPierre refused to answer.

At Friday's press conference, LaPierre--who did not take questions from reporters--argued that had someone at the school been armed, "innocent lives might have been spared."

"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," he said.

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Video games and shooting: Is the NRA right?

After a week of silence following the Sandy Hook school shooting that killed 20 first graders and six staff in Newtown, Conn., the National Rifle Association blamed the entertainment industry – specifically the producers of violent video games for inciting what has become a pattern of gun violence in the United States.

In describing the industry, NRA Vice President Wayne LaPierre said, “There exists in this country a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells, and sows, violence against its own people.”

Mr. LaPierre faulted the news media for failing to report on “vicious, violent video games” such as “Grand Theft Auto,” “Mortal Kombat,” and “Splatterhouse” as egregious examples. He also singled out “Kindergarten Killer,” a free, fairly obscure online game.

“How come my research department could find it and all of yours either couldn’t or didn’t want anyone to know you had found it?” he asked reporters.

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Most academic research, as well as studies by the FBI and the US Secret Service, examining the link between violent video games and incident of violence does not support the gun lobby’s charge.

For example, a 2008 report by researchers at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital funded by the US Department of Justice found that violent video games may increase bullying or physical fighting in schools, but not mass gun violence.

“It’s clear that the ‘big fears’ bandied about in the press – that violent video games make children significantly more violent in the real world; that they will engage in the illegal, immoral, sexist and violent acts they see in some of these games – are not supported by the current research, at least in such a simplistic form,” the report states.

Joan Saab, director of the visual and cultural studies program at the University of Rochester in New York, says the gaming industry should share in the blame for promoting military weaponry to young people, but adds that the popularity of such games reflect the “larger culture we live in, which is heavily militarized,” in the midst of lengthy combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ms. Saab says that the NRA’s call for armed guards in schools would make that kind of military culture more pervasive for children.

“If there are more armed guards in schools, kids are exposed to more guns. That’s when fantasy and reality aren’t blurred. When there are guns in schools, it becomes real life and the day-to-day environment becomes more dangerous than the game,” she says. In Newtown, as in Aurora, Colo. and the sites of other mass shootings, the gunman was outfitted in military-style dress.

By blaming video games for gun violence, the NRA also puts itself in a vulnerable position because, as Mother Jones reports, the company partnered with gaming producer Cave Entertainment in 2006 for “NRA Gun Club,” a PlayStation 2 game that allows users to fire over 100 different brand-name handguns.

LaPierre did not specify if Congress should move forward in regulating the gaming industry, perhaps because previous attempts were not successful.

A US Supreme Court ruling in 2011 struck down a California law that made it a crime to sell or rent what it classified as violent video games to minors. The ruling said the law, signed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) in 2005, violates First Amendment protections.

In the wake of Sandy Hook, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller introduced a bill that calls for the National Academy of Sciences to examine the possible links between violent video games and violent incidents caused by children.

Overall, gun-based video games do not wholly represent total gaming industry sales, according to data from VGChartz, a UK-based research firm that tracks gaming sales. In 2011, for example, just seven of the top 20 best-selling games in the US involve warfare simulation. The other titles – “Just Dance 3,” “Kinect Adventures!” “New Super Mario Bros. Wii,” “Madden NFL 12,” and “Pokemon Black/White” – are designed around sports, dance, and children’s cartoon characters.

All of the games LaPierre mentions are more than 15 years old, with some dating back to the 1980s, with their popularity waning. For example, total unit sales in the US for the “Mortal Kombat” franchise dropped 70 percent in 2012, compared to the previous year total. The game debuted in 1992.

Gaming experts say that the majority of the games LaPierre cited do not portray gun violence – “Mortal Kombat” involves hand-to-hand combat, for example. They say they do not understand why he did not single out “first person shooter” games such as blockbuster franchises like the “Call of Duty” series, which is based on simulated gun action and is considered one of the most hyper-violent on the market. In fact, according to news reports, the game was also a favorite of Adam Lanza, the Newtown gunman who spent hours at home playing it.

“Some of those games [LaPierre mentions] are older than the [Newtown] shooter,” who was 20, says Christopher Grant, editor-in-chief of Polygon.com, an online site based in New York City that covers gaming news and trends. “I have no idea why he chose them. My theory is he didn’t want to pick anything too modern [such as ‘Call of Duty’ or ‘Doom’] that might overlap unfavorably with something their own members might enjoy.”

“Call of Duty” is known as a favorite of the military and is often credited for driving up recruitment. Activision Blizzard, the company behind “Call of Duty,” has donated thousands of copies to the US Navy; the company also created a non-profit foundation to help returning US military veterans.

According to the NPD Group, a global market research firm, retail gaming sales in the US plummeted 20 percent in the first eight months of 2012 compared to the same time period the previous year, a trend that follows years of declining sales. Between 2008 and 2011, total sales of industry software and hardware dropped 20.5 percent. According to the gaming industry website Gamasutra, 2012 sales are expected to be the lowest since 2006.

The sales drop is representative of major shifts in the gaming industry, which is slowly moving away from console-based games to those that are played via smartphones, digital tablets, and online through social networks.

The change has produced a new type of gamer: They are generally older, more ethnically and economically diverse, and they feed their gaming appetite in smaller bites and on-the-go, as opposed to the traditional gamer profile of a few years ago, which tended to be young males playing for hours in one sitting.

The Entertainment Software Association, an industry trade group based in Washington, reports that the average gamer today is 30 years old, the most frequent game purchaser is 35 years old, and that almost half (47 percent) of all gamers are women.

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China probes Yum Brands’ KFC over safety of chicken products

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Yum Brands Inc‘s fast-food chain KFC was supplied with chicken in China that contained excessive amounts of antibiotics, said food safety authorities investigating allegations of tainted KFC products.

The finding by the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) deals a blow to KFC’s reputation in China, where it is facing fierce competition from the likes of Taiwanese-owned fried chicken chain Dico and Japanese-style noodle chain Ajisen (China) Holdings Ltd. Yum Brands has forecast a drop in same store China sales in the fourth quarter.

Eight of the 19 batches of chicken samples Yum Brands sent to a testing laboratory in 2010 and 2011 contained overly high levels of antibiotics, the SFDA said in a statement on its Website late on Thursday.

An investigation is underway to determine whether Yum Brands had taken corrective measures at that time, and the Louisville, Kentucky-based company may face harsh penalties if the probe showed laws had been violated, the SFDA said.

Shares in Yum Brands have slumped 4 percent since December 18 when China’s state television CCTV reported that some poultry suppliers in eastern Shandong province had fed chickens with anti-viral drugs and hormones to accelerate their growth.

The SFDA is looking into the CCTV report and has not released its findings yet, but authorities in Shandong have already shut two chicken farms in eastern China, including one that supplied KFC and McDonald’s Corp, the official Shanghai Daily newspaper reported on Thursday.

Officials at Yum Brands in China could not be immediately reached for comment.

KFC’s subsidiary in China has pledged to cooperate with the authorities, while McDonald’s wrote on its official microblog that its chicken and raw materials pass through independent, third-party laboratory tests.

Shares in Yum Brands, which also owns Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, closed 1 percent lower at $ 69.49 in New York on Thursday.

China has been trying to stamp out health violations that have dogged the country’s food sector amid reports of fake cooking oil, tainted milk and even exploding watermelons. In 2008, milk laced with the industrial chemical melamine killed at least six children and sickened nearly 300,000.

(Reporting by Samuel Shen and Kazunori Takada; Editing by Ryan Woo)

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‘Walking Dead’ Showrunner Glen Mazzara Leaving

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) – Glen Mazzara, who led AMC‘s “The Walking Dead” to ratings highs after the exit of Frank Darabont, is leaving the show.

The announcement came with the unsurprising news of a fourth-season pickup for the series. It continues AMC’s rocky record with its showrunners, but the network said the decision was mutual.

While AMC has clashed with showrunners before over money, a person familiar with the situation told TheWrap that this time the issue is “100 percent not about money or contracts.”

Rather, it is about a difference of opinion over where the show should go in the fourth season and beyond. It involves AMC, Mazzara and the show’s writers and producers, who include Robert Kirkman, creator of the comics that provide the basis of the series.

Kirkman might be the fans’ choice to take over as showrunner, given that most of its characters were born on his pages. But he also has a busy career writing comics and novels.

In a statement, Kirkman said he believes Mazzara and AMC came to the decision “in the best interest of the future of the show.”

In an interview with TheWrap in October, Mazzara said he would love to remain with the show until the end, “if AMC and the fans would have me.”

“I would love to be the guy shutting the lights off,” he said at the time.

It didn’t work out that way, even though Mazzara has made “The Walking Dead” this season’s top-rated drama — even beating network shows. It also has a legitimate shot at ending the season as TV’s top scripted show overall.

“Both parties acknowledge that there is a difference of opinion about where the show should go moving forward, and conclude that it is best to part ways,” AMC said in a statement.

AMC also said the decision is “amicable” and that Mazzara will remain showrunner for the remainder of the third season, which resumes airing in February. The episodes have already been filmed, and Mazzara will oversee postproduction.

He is also looking for his next project.

“My time as showrunner on ‘The Walking Dead’ has been an amazing experience, but after I finish season 3, it’s time to move on,” said Mazzara. “I have told the stories I wanted to tell and connected with our fans on a level that I never imagined. It doesn’t get much better than that. Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this journey.”

Mazzara took over the show after Darabont parted ways with it after its first season. Darabont was just one of several showrunners to have issues with AMC.

Jason Horwitch left “Rubicon” during its lone season. The third season of “Hell on Wheels” was briefly put on hold last month when showrunner John Shiban left.

“Mad Men” creator Matthew Weiner nearly walked from the show during a contract dispute last year. And “Breaking Bad” briefly looked into leaving AMC before creator Vince Gilligan’s contract was renewed.

Kirkman’s full statement included his thanks to Mazzara and the show’s fans.

“I am in full support of both AMC and Glen Mazzara in the decision they have come to and believe the parties came to this decision in the best interest of the future of the show,” Kirkman said. “I thank Glen for his hard work and appreciate his many contributions to ‘The Walking Dead’ and look forward to working with him as we complete post production on Season 3. I am also excited to begin work on another spectacular season of this show that I know means so much to so many people. This show has always been the result of a wide range of extremely talented men and women working tirelessly to produce their best work collectively. I believe the future is bright for ‘The Walking Dead.’ Thank you to the fans for your continued support.”

Executive producer Gale Anne Hurd also expressed her thanks.

“I am appreciative and grateful to Glen for his hard work on ‘The Walking Dead,’” she wrote. “I am supportive of AMC and Glen’s decision and know that the series is in great hands with one of the most talented and dedicated casts and crews in the business. I look forward to the show’s continued success.”

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Final day of funerals for Newtown shooting victims

The final three victims of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School will be laid to rest today, ending a somber week of funerals.

A mass will take place today at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church for Josephine Gay, who had celebrated her 7th birthday on Dec. 11.

Friends and family have been asked to wear Josephine's favorite color, purple, in her honor.

PHOTOS: Victims of Sandy Hook Massacre

A homegoing celebration will take place at The First Cathedral in Bloomfield, Conn., for Ana Marquez-Greene. The 6-year-old with a beaming voice sang in a home video with her brother, who was also at Sandy Hook Elementary School during the massacre, and seemed destined to take after her father, a jazz musician.

Emilie Parker, the budding artist who carried her markers and pencils everywhere, will be laid to rest in Ogden, Utah today.

The 6-year-old would have been would 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 last Saturday.

"She always had something kind to say about anybody," Parker said. "We find comfort reflecting on the incredible person Emilie was and how many lives she was able to touch."

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