Can Cops Read Shooter's Sabotaged Computer?

Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter Adam Lanza may have tried to sabotage his own computer before going on a murderous rampage that claimed the lives of 20 children, but experienced investigators said today that law enforcement forensic experts could still recover critical evidence from the damaged drives.

Connecticut State Police Lt. Paul Vance revealed Monday that a computer crimes unit was working in conjunction with a forensics laboratory to "dissect" any evidence relevant to the case, but he declined to comment further on what type of evidence was involved and in what condition it was in. Later that day, law enforcement officials told ABC News that police recovered a badly damaged computer from Lanza's home that appeared to have been attacked by a hammer or screwdriver.

Sources said if they can still read the computer's hard drive, they hope to find critical clues that may help explain Lanza's motives in the killing.

Former FBI forensic experts told ABC News that in cases similar to this one, damage to the computer does not necessarily mean the computer files cannot be accessed.

"If he took a hammer to the outside, smashed the screen, dented the box, it's more than likely the hard drive is still intact," said Al Johnson, a retired FBI special agent who now works privately examining digital evidence and computer data. "And even if the hard drive itself is damaged, there are still steps that can be taken to recover everything."

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Brett Harrison, a former FBI computer forensics expert who now works with a D.C. consulting firm, said that authorities have a great deal of technology at their disposal to retrieve that data. How much is recovered, he said, will depend entirely on how much damage was done to the well-insulated "platters" -- discs lodged deep inside the machine -- where Lanza's every digital footstep was recorded.

It is likely, he said, that Lanza's computer has been moved to a "clean room" where, if the discs are intact, they could be removed and then carefully re-inserted in a fresh hard drive. If the calibrations are done correctly, investigators would still be able to unlock the clues on the discs.

If the discs aren't in perfect condition, Harrison said, "There is equipment they can use to read the data off a record even if a portion of it is damaged."

Johnson said it is tedious work done in a clean environment because the tolerances of the discs is so precise – even a particle of dust could destroy crucial evidence.

"We're talking about a tolerance of less than a human hair," said Johnson, who now does computer forensics for a South Carolina-based investigative firm.

Police have not said exactly what they expect to find on the computer's hard drive, but the former FBI experts said typically there could be record of visits to violent web sites, or to online stores that sell ammunition, or to email that might reveal if Lanza shared any hints of his plans with others.

"I'm not big on speculation," Harrison said, "but you're talking about potentially finding all the normal things that people do with their computer – Facebook pages, internet activity, email, you name it."

For now, the FBI is keeping mum on what kind of computer forensic help it could be offering in the case.

"At this time, in deference to the ongoing investigation being conducted by the CSP, the FBI is not releasing information regarding operational or forensic assistance provided in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting," an FBI spokesperson said.

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Experts: No link between Asperger's, violence

NEW YORK (AP) — While an official has said that the 20-year-old gunman in the Connecticut school shooting had Asperger's syndrome, experts say there is no connection between the disorder and violence.

Asperger's is a mild form of autism often characterized by social awkwardness.

"There really is no clear association between Asperger's and violent behavior," said psychologist Elizabeth Laugeson, an assistant clinical professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Little is known about Adam Lanza, identified by police as the shooter in the Friday massacre at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school. He fatally shot his mother before going to the school and killing 20 young children, six adults and himself, authorities said.

A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the unfolding investigation, said Lanza had been diagnosed with Asperger's.

High school classmates and others have described him as bright but painfully shy, anxious and a loner. Those kinds of symptoms are consistent with Asperger's, said psychologist Eric Butter of Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, who treats autism, including Asperger's, but has no knowledge of Lanza's case.

Research suggests people with autism do have a higher rate of aggressive behavior — outbursts, shoving or pushing or angry shouting — than the general population, he said.

"But we are not talking about the kind of planned and intentional type of violence we have seen at Newtown," he said in an email.

"These types of tragedies have occurred at the hands of individuals with many different types of personalities and psychological profiles," he added.

Autism is a developmental disorder that can range from mild to severe. Asperger's generally is thought of as a mild form. Both autism and Asperger's can be characterized by poor social skills, repetitive behavior or interests and problems communicating. Unlike classic autism, Asperger's does not typically involve delays in mental development or speech.

Experts say those with autism and related disorders are sometimes diagnosed with other mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder.

"I think it's far more likely that what happened may have more to do with some other kind of mental health condition like depression or anxiety rather than Asperger's," Laugeson said.

She said those with Asperger's tend to focus on rules and be very law-abiding.

"There's something more to this," she said. "We just don't know what that is yet."

After much debate, the term Asperger's is being dropped from the diagnostic manual used by the nation's psychiatrists. In changes approved earlier this month, Asperger's will be incorporated under the umbrella term "autism spectrum disorder" for all the ranges of autism.

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AP Writer Matt Apuzzo contributed to this report.

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Online:

Asperger's information: http://1.usa.gov/3tGSp5

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Clinton gets accountability report on Benghazi attacks

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)

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Australia under fire for diverting foreign aid

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

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Units selling power outside Punjab will have to pay more

PATIALA: In a setback to private power companies, Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) has decided to impose wheeling and transmission charges for electricity sold outside the state.

As per the PSERC decision, Rs 1.44 would be charged per unit of power wheeled outside of Punjab by private producers.

PSERC officials said that many private companies generating power through new and renewable sources of energy (NRSE) projects had signed agreements with PSPCL to supply power at cheaper rates.

But later, some companies had started selling power to other states, adding to the crisis in power-deficit Punjab, said an official.

Under NRSE projects, Punjab has six co-generation projects, five biomass, 24 mini hydel and nine solar projects. The annual demand for power of Punjab is 40,000 million units (MUs).

"Out of total demand of 40,000 MUs, we get 3,500 MUs from NRSE projects. But if these units start selling power to other states by giving only 2% charges, it would be a great injustice with Punjab as they use our natural resources like water, paddy stubble and remains of sugar cane," said director, distribution, of PSPCL, Arun Verma, while confirming the decision.

PSPCL authorities had filed a petition with PSERC seeking permission to charge full wheeling and transmission charges for wheeling power, generated by NRSE projects, outside the state.

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Gunman's Computer Damaged, Drive Possibly Ruined

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

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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.

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Experts: No link between Asperger's, violence

NEW YORK (AP) — While an official has said that the 20-year-old gunman in the Connecticut school shooting had Asperger's syndrome, experts say there is no connection between the disorder and violence.

Asperger's is a mild form of autism often characterized by social awkwardness.

"There really is no clear association between Asperger's and violent behavior," said psychologist Elizabeth Laugeson, an assistant clinical professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Little is known about Adam Lanza, identified by police as the shooter in the Friday massacre at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school. He fatally shot his mother before going to the school and killing 20 young children, six adults and himself, authorities said.

A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the unfolding investigation, said Lanza had been diagnosed with Asperger's.

High school classmates and others have described him as bright but painfully shy, anxious and a loner. Those kinds of symptoms are consistent with Asperger's, said psychologist Eric Butter of Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, who treats autism, including Asperger's, but has no knowledge of Lanza's case.

Research suggests people with autism do have a higher rate of aggressive behavior — outbursts, shoving or pushing or angry shouting — than the general population, he said.

"But we are not talking about the kind of planned and intentional type of violence we have seen at Newtown," he said in an email.

"These types of tragedies have occurred at the hands of individuals with many different types of personalities and psychological profiles," he added.

Autism is a developmental disorder that can range from mild to severe. Asperger's generally is thought of as a mild form. Both autism and Asperger's can be characterized by poor social skills, repetitive behavior or interests and problems communicating. Unlike classic autism, Asperger's does not typically involve delays in mental development or speech.

Experts say those with autism and related disorders are sometimes diagnosed with other mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder.

"I think it's far more likely that what happened may have more to do with some other kind of mental health condition like depression or anxiety rather than Asperger's," Laugeson said.

She said those with Asperger's tend to focus on rules and be very law-abiding.

"There's something more to this," she said. "We just don't know what that is yet."

After much debate, the term Asperger's is being dropped from the diagnostic manual used by the nation's psychiatrists. In changes approved earlier this month, Asperger's will be incorporated under the umbrella term "autism spectrum disorder" for all the ranges of autism.

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AP Writer Matt Apuzzo contributed to this report.

___

Online:

Asperger's information: http://1.usa.gov/3tGSp5

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Japan's next PM Abe must deliver on economy, cope with China

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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Tokyo stocks up 1.62% after LDP win in Japan polls

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks soared 1.62 per cent at the open on Monday after Japan's conservative opposition swept to victory in national polls, with promises from its leader to press for more central bank easing.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index added 158.12 points to 9,895.68 at the start of trade, as the yen plunged in the wake of the Liberal Democratic Party's landslide win over the ruling Democratic Party of Japan.

- AFP/fa

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NRI marriage, anti-smuggling Acts to be tabled in Punjab assembly

CHANDIGARH: Short "vacation marriages" resulting from Punjab's puritan social mindset and preference of NRI grooms over the desi counterparts are set to find a permanent halt.

Two legislations -- Compulsory registration of marriage act for NRIs and Punjab prevention of human smuggling act -- will be tabled when the Punjab assembly begins on Monday. The bills will put an end to trauma that has been faced by over 12,000 women in Punjab deserted by their NRI husbands since 1998.

"This first of its own kind law would tighten the noose of grooms against fraud marriages as it would be mandatory for NRIs to register their marriage, their full details of lives abroad and their address in India," Punjab NRI and public relations minister Bikram Majithia told TOI.

The marriage bill, Punjab Compulsory Registration of Marriages Bill 2008, has taken four years after it was first passed, paving the way for registration of marriages solemnized in the state under the Anand Marriage Act, 1909.

According to a recent overseas ministry report, a copy of which is with TOI, Punjab, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh reported the highest number of complaints in the country in 2011, from Indian brides against their NRI husbands. While 101 complaints were registered against spouses from Punjab, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh reported 74 and 42 cases respectively.

According to another report by National Commission for Women (NCW), the maximum number of these complaints have been registered with grooms from Canada, US and Australia (in the same order).

The second bill on smuggling Act, would make it compulsory for travel agents to register themselves with the competent authority of Punjab government. When the Act is enforced, Punjab would be the first state in the country to put an end to illegal practices of unauthorized travel agents.

"The smuggling Act would encourage youngsters to go abroad through proper and legal channel," said Majithia.

FIRs against NRI grooms

2011: 74

2010: 85

2009: 67

2008: 72

(Under Section 498A of domestic violence)

Punjab NRIs

UK: 3,00,000

US: 2,50,000

Canada 2,78,400

Malaysia: 1,00,000

Africa: 1,00,000

UAE: 70,000

(Source: Ministry of overseas affairs)

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