US school massacre kids return to class
MONROE, Connecticut: Hundreds of US elementary school children who survived the gun

massacre of 20 of their schoolmates and six staff finally returned to class on Thursday (Friday in Manila) at a new, heavily guarded building. The late start to the academic year was a turning point for survivors from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, which has been closed since the December 14 bloodbath. Teachers did everything possible to transform the alternate building in the nearby town of Monroe into what Newtown schools superintendent Janet Robinson called “a very cheerful elementary school.” Approaches to the new Sandy Hook in Monroe were decorated with handmade signs of support, as well as balloons and ribbons in the school’s green and white colors.

Clinton ‘raring’ to be back at desk next week
WASHINGTON, D.C.: A day after being released from hospital following treatment for a blood clot, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was on Thursday (Friday in Manila) hoping to return to work next week and end her month-long absence. “She’s resting at home,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters. “Some of the senior staff who spoke to her about half an hour ago say that she’s sounding terrific, upbeat, raring to go.” The globe-trotting 65-year-old diplomat was admitted to New York Presbyterian Hospital on Sunday after a routine scan revealed the clot in a vein behind her right ear in the space between her skull and her brain. It was just the latest in a series of health scares, which have grounded the normally tireless Clinton, who in four years in office has traveled almost a million miles and visited a record-breaking 112 countries.

Turkey ex-army chief released pending trial
ISTANBUL: A former Turkish military chief has been released pending trial after authorities detained him for his alleged role in a 1997 coup that forced an Islamic-leaning government from power, local media reported on Friday. The decision came late Thursday after the retired general, Ismail Hakki Karadayi, testified before an Ankara court as part of a probe launched in 2011 that has resulted in the arrests of dozens of military officers. The ex-general was released but will be kept under judicial control, the private NTV television reported. He was also banned from traveling overseas. Karadayi was the head of the military chiefs of staff in 1997—the last time Turkey’s once all-powerful military was involved in changing the government, when it forced the Islamic-rooted premier Necmettin Erbakan to step down. The events of 1997 are popularly referred to in Turkey as a “post-modern coup” since they involved no troops and the deposed cabinet was not replaced by a military one.                                
AFP