Stocks likely to continue being investors' favourite

SINGAPORE: Stocks may continue to be a favourite asset for investors next year.

Improving corporate earnings and attractive valuations are expected to drive stock prices higher.

Experts said investor sentiment may also get a lift on hopes of a recovery in the Chinese and US economies.

Equities are among the star performers in financial markets this year.

In the US, key stock indices like the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 15% and 9.3% respectively since the start of the year.

Meanwhile, the technology-laden Nasdaq rose 17.3% in the same period. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei rose 20.2%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index advanced 22.7% and Singapore's STI index gained 19.4% year to date.

Experts said this asset class may repeat its stellar performance again in 2013.

They added that a favourable macroeconomic outlook may also prompt some investors to switch out of bonds and back to investing in stocks.

"Valuations are not excessive at this juncture, liquidity is supportive of the equity markets," said Vasu Menon, vice president of wealth management in Singapore at OCBC Bank.

"Going forward, we could see some rotational money moving out of bond markets which have been favoured over the last two, three years into equity markets especially given the fact that economic growth is starting to pick up and we will see a modest recovery in the global economy in 2013."

Analysts are more upbeat of stock prospects in the North Asia region - particularly China.

They said companies there have stronger fundamentals, steady balance sheets and the stock markets have ample liquidity.

Experts added that they are positive on Chinese equities within this region, which have underperformed over the last three years - in view of a turnaround of the Chinese economy in the first half of 2013.

The Shanghai stock exchange composite index fell 1.7% year to date and the Shenzhen composite index decline 5.1% in the same period.

"The Chinese positioning is becoming more normalised from where we were before to something that is more sustainable going forward. On top of that, we've already seen the policies start to come through from the new regime, which is supportive to opening up China's market to foreign investors," said Jason Hughes, head of premium client management at IG Markets.

"We now have the stock market opened up to the institutional investors more so than before."

Among the sectors that may take the limelight next year are commodities and real estate investment trusts.

A pick up in global growth and the weaker US dollar will give commodities demand a boost , hence pushing gold prices higher.

Others expect property and financial names to lead the way like they did in 2012 - thanks to China's accommodating policies towards infrastructure and development of their own local economy.

Steve Brice, chief investment strategist at Standard Chartered Bank said: "One can make the case that REITs are overvalued and possibly, they are in a normalised environment. But we're not in a normalised environment, we have very low interest rates and that search for yield is still a very dominant theme and that should keep REITs very well supported going through at least the first half of 2013, and possibly into the second half."

Still, experts warn of looming risks such as the US fiscal cliff and the upcoming European elections that may dampen investor sentiment next year.

"Probably something more for the second half of 2013, is the risk of the fed withdrawing some of the monetary stimulus from markets," said Menon.

"If the economy of the US is growing at a faster than expected pace, and if unemployment starts falling below the 7% level then the markets will price in the possibility of the fed withdrawing the stimulus. The expectation of that alone may actually cause markets to pull back."

- CNA/xq

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Large portion of Midwest under blizzard warning

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: 156-mile stretch of freeway closed in Colorado


• 23-car pileup in Texas dust storm kills one, injures 17


• Heavy snow, high winds stretch from Colorado to Wisconsin in season's first blizzard


• Storm to crawl from Midwest to New England by Friday

(CNN) -- People traveling early for Christmas in the center of the country will be dashing through the snow and the rain and the wind.

The first major storm of the season has prompted the National Weather Service to issue a blizzard warning for a huge swath of the Midwest stretching from eastern Colorado to Wisconsin's Lake Michigan shoreline, including virtually all of Iowa. The declaration warns of snow accumulations of up to 12 inches, complemented by 25- to 35-mph winds that will occasionally gust to 45 to 50 mph.

A 156-mile stretch of Interstate Highway 70 between Denver and the Kansas state line was closed in both directions for a time Wednesday. The westbound side reopened about 7 p.m. MT, but the eastbound lanes remained closed.

Cheyenne Wells, in east-central Colorado, reported a 67-mph wind gust with zero visibility just after 2 p.m. MT, CNN meteorologist Sean Morris said. U.S. Highway 385 was closed for 65 miles in the Cheyenne Wells region, Colorado's Department of Transportation reported.

"Most of the storm is on its way out across the state, except for the Eastern Plains, where there are still high winds, blizzard conditions, and highway closures," the department's Facebook page said.

"Whiteout conditions are likely and travel could become impossible" Wednesday night and into Thursday, the service's Omaha, Nebraska, office warned.

Is the storm hitting you? Send images to iReport

"Far southeast Nebraska and extreme southwest Iowa could see rain or a wintry mix for several hours yet this evening, so blizzard conditions may not develop over that area until mid-evening or later," the service said.

Airlines were reporting relatively few cancellations or delays in areas affected by the storm Wednesday night, but that could change overnight.

The storm will race into western Illinois, the weather service said. Rain will quickly change over to snow as the storm advances northeast, with the heaviest snow occurring overnight.

"Snow drifts several feet deep will be possible given the strong winds," the blizzard warning states.

At least 17 people were sent to hospitals near Lubbock, Texas, after a 23-vehicle chain-reaction crash on Interstate Highway 27 north of New Deal, Texas, state safety officials told CNN. There was at least one fatality, said Clinton Thetford, emergency management coordinator of Lubbock County. A stretch of the freeway in Lubbock County remains closed indefinitely.

Wrapping around the blizzard warning on the north, south and east is a winter storm warning, which will be no picnic either. The winds won't be quite as strong, but residents should expect a strong dose of rain, sleet and snow, with a few hail-packing thunderstorms thrown in for good measure.

A winter weather advisory is in effect for the Indiana-Ohio-Michigan tri-state area, as well as central Missouri and Kansas.

The "intense cyclone" will crawl across the Great Lakes region Thursday and slog into northern New England by Friday evening, the National Weather Service predicted.

Dodging the heavy precipitation but not the high winds is an area from western Texas and eastern New Mexico through the Oklahoma Panhandle and into southwest Kansas.

Much of the Southwest and Mississippi Valley is extremely dry, and the high winds have kicked up blinding dust near Lubbock, Texas.

CNN's Carma Hassan and Joe Sutton contributed to this report.

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Senate GOP proposes much smaller Sandy aid package

WASHINGTONSenate Republicans on Wednesday proposed a $24 billion emergency aid package for Superstorm Sandy victims, less than half of what Democrats hope to pass by Christmas.

The GOP alternative bill would provide more than enough money to pay for immediate recovery efforts through the spring.

Republicans complain that the $60.4 billion Democratic bill being debated in the Senate is larded with money for projects unrelated to damage from the late October storm, which battered the Atlantic coastline from North Carolina to Maine.

The Republican version does not include $13 billion Democrats want for projects to protect against future storms, including fortification of mass transit systems in the Northeast and protecting vulnerable seaside areas by building jetties against storm surges.

49 Photos

Sandy's devastation on Staten Island

Republicans said however worthy such projects may be, they are not urgently needed and should be considered by Congress in the usual appropriations process next year, not through emergency spending.

"We want to take care of urgent needs now," said Indiana Sen. Dan Coats, ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations homeland security subcommittee, who put forward the bill. "We can look at other needs down the road when we have more time to look at them."

The GOP bill also scraps spending from the Democratic bill that is not directly related to Sandy damages, such as the $150 million for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for declared fisheries disasters in 2012 that could go to New England states, Alaska, New York and Mississippi.

The aid will help states rebuild public infrastructure like roads and tunnels and help thousands of people displaced from their homes. Sandy was the most costly natural disaster since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and one of the worst storms ever in the Northeast.

More than $2 billion in federal funds has been spent on relief efforts so far for 11 states and the District of Columbia. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief fund still has about $4.8 billion, and officials have said that is enough to pay for recovery efforts into early spring.

Earlier this month, Govs. Chris Christie, R-N.J., Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y., and Dannel Malloy, D-Conn., argued in an op-ed that "in times of crisis no region, state or single American should have to stand alone or be left to fend for themselves," pointing to the "hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses damaged or destroyed, thousands still left homeless or displaced, tens of billions of dollars in economic loss" as evidence that "It's time for Congress to stand with us."

The governors, while recognizing that "our nation faces significant fiscal challenges," strive to separate the disaster-relief needs of their region from the ongoing "fiscal cliff" negotiations consuming Capitol Hill, arguing that Congress must "not allow this much-needed aid to fall in to the ideological divide."

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Obama Invokes Newtown on 'Cliff' Deal

Invoking the somber aftermath of the school massacre in Newtown, Conn., President Obama today appealed to congressional Republicans to embrace a standing "fair deal" on taxes and spending that would avert the fiscal cliff in 13 days.

"If there's one thing we should have after this week, it should be a sense of perspective about what's important," Obama said at a midday news conference.

"I would like to think that members of that [Republican] caucus would say to themselves, 'You know what? We disagree with the president on a whole bunch of things,'" he said. "'But right now what the country needs is for us to compromise.'"

House Speaker John Boehner's response: "Get serious."

Boehner announced at a 52-second news conference that the House will vote Thursday to approve a "plan B" to a broad White House deal -- and authorize simply extending current tax rates for people earning less than $1 million a year and little more.

"Then, the president will have a decision to make," the Ohio Republican said. "He can call on Senate Democrats to pass that bill or he could be responsible for the largest tax increase in American history."

Fiscal Cliff Negotiations: Trying to Make a Deal Watch Video

House Speaker John Boehner Proposes 'Plan B' on Taxes Watch Video

'Fiscal Cliff' Negotiations: Deal Might Be Within Reach Watch Video

Unless Congress acts by Dec. 31, every American will face higher income tax rates and government programs will get hit with deep automatic cuts starting in 2013.

Obama and Boehner have been inching closer to a deal on tax hikes and spending cuts to help reduce the deficit. But they have not yet had a breakthrough on a deal.

Obama's latest plan would raise $1.2 trillion in new tax revenue over 10 years, largely through higher tax rates on incomes above $400,000. He also proposes roughly $930 billion in spending cuts, including new limits on entitlement spending, such as slower annual cost-of-living increases for Social Security beneficiaries.

Boehner has agreed to $1 trillion in new tax revenue, with a tax rate hike for households earning over $1 million. He is seeking more than $1 trillion in spending cuts, with significant changes to Medicare and Social Security.

The president said today that he remains "optimistic" about reaching a broad compromise by Christmas because both sides are "pretty close," a sentiment that has been publicly shared by Boehner.

But the speaker's backup plan has, at least temporarily, stymied talks, with no reported contact between the sides since Monday.

"The speaker should return to the negotiating table with the president because if he does I firmly believe we can have an agreement before Christmas," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., a White House ally.

Schumer said Obama and Boehner are "not that far apart" in the negotiations.

"If they were to come to an agreement by Friday, they could write this stuff over the Christmas break and then we'd have to come back before the New Year and pass it," Schumer said.

Obama said he is "open to conversations" and planned to reach out to congressional leaders over the next few days to try to nudge Republicans to accept a "fair deal."

"At some point, there's got to be, I think, a recognition on the part of my Republican friends that -- you know, take the deal," he told reporters.

"They keep on finding ways to say no, as opposed to finding ways to say yes," Obama added. "At some point, you know, they've got take me out of it and think about their voters and think about what's best for the country."

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2013 Smart Guide: New maps to rein in cosmic inflation

Read more: "2013 Smart Guide: 10 ideas that will shape the year"

We're about to get a better grasp of one of the biggest ideas in the universe: inflation. The first maps of the cosmos from the European Space Agency's Planck satellite are due out in early 2013. They should help us to hone descriptions of how, after the big bang, the universe grew from smaller than a proton into a vast expanse in less than a trillionth of a trillionth of a second.

The early universe was a featureless soup of hot plasma that somehow grew into the dense galaxy clusters and cosmic voids we know today. On a large scale, regions far apart from each other should look very different, according to the laws of thermodynamics. But studies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) - the first light to be released, some 300,000 years after the big bang - show that the universe still looks virtually the same in all directions.

To explain this unlikely sameness, physicists invoked inflation: since all points in the universe were once next-door neighbours, the idea is that they blew apart so quickly that they couldn't forget about each other. Data from NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), launched in 2001, bolstered a key prediction of inflation, that the universe's structure was seeded by quantum fluctuations in space-time.

Stephen Hawking recently told New Scientist that WMAP's evidence for inflation was the most exciting development in physics during his career. But a best-fit model for what drove the exponential expansion, when it began and how long it lasted, hasn't been agreed. The WMAP data also revealed some surprises, such as inexplicable patterns in the CMB. So cosmologists have been anxiously awaiting Planck's higher-resolution maps to set the record straight. The Planck team will release its first cosmological results from 15 months' worth of data in March.

In addition, the Planck results will help refine figures for how much dark energy, dark matter and normal matter make up the universe. Planck might also record the first direct signs of ripples in space-time called gravitational waves. Not bad for a probe that's already half dead - one of Planck's two detectors stopped working in January. The entire craft will be shuttered in August.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

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Nature no excuse for cheating, says Chris Wang

SINGAPORE: Is it in men's nature to cheat?

Taiwan actor Chris Wang thinks so.

"The Fierce Wife" star said he came to this conclusion after reading up on the topic and observing similar cheating behaviour among males of other animal species, during his travels as the host of an adventure programme.

However, he stressed that this doesn't make it okay for men to betray their partners.

"I think this isn't a valid excuse. You have to respect her views, know her pain and the source of her tears.

"You can't be selfish," Wang told reporters, during a recent visit to Singapore with his "Love Me Or Leave Me" co-star Tiffany Hsu, to promote the drama.

Hsu, who plays a woman that hires another to test her lover's (played by Wang) fidelity in the drama, had rather different views on the topic.

"I don't think cheating is in men's nature," said the actress, pointing out that both men and women stray because "everyone wants new experiences".

"It's just that women can stay in a stale relationship for a longer time, but men really love to have lots of interactions with different people."

Hsu believed that both parties in a relationship need to work together to create new experiences for one another, in order to make it less likely that their partner will cheat.

-CNA/ha

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Report details final minutes for ambassador, 3 others

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed in September of this year


• He was the first U.S. ambassador murdered since 1988


• Along with Stevens, three other Americans were killed

(CNN) -- They were in hiding in a place security officers called a "safe area." It was anything but.

Outside an angry crowd grew, gunfire rang out and a fire blazed.

Thick smoke blinded the three trapped men. The intruders banged on the fortified safety gate of the bunker-like villa.

A security officer handed his cell phone to Ambassador Chris Stevens. Prepare for the mob to blast open the locks of the safety gate, the officer said.

Attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya

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It was a little before 10 at night on September 11, 2012. And time was running out for Stevens.

Vivid new details of the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, were released Tuesday night by a federal committee trying to come to grips with the violence that led to the first murder of a U.S. ambassador since 1988 and the deaths of three other Americans.

The report spoke of grossly inadequate security, an issue that Stevens had complained about well before September 11.

Inquiry cites 'failures' at State Department

The brief phone call

Instead of blasting their way into the villa, the crowd retreated for some reason. But the fire still blazed.

Stevens used the cell phone to try to alert others about the attack.

Struggling to see, choked by smoke, he dialed.

He may have wanted to tell embassy officials in Tripoli that he and the small security detail at that 13-acre compound were in big trouble.

They were outmanned, outgunned. The militants had doused a large area with diesel fuel and started a hideous fire.

He may have wanted to say that he was trapped in a building they called Villa C with a security officer, and Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith.

They had to flee to the villa after intruders stormed the walled-in consulate compound armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

But in that 9:50 p.m. phone call, Stevens could only tell the U.S. deputy chief of the mission in Tripoli that they were under attack.

The call promptly dropped.

Warning signs

Though fierce and sudden, the attack may not have been surprising for some.

U.S. diplomats who worked in Libya, a country struggling to form a government after overthrowing longtime dictator Moammar Ghadafi, had repeatedly asked for more security.

American officials, for the most part, were well-received in Libya, where many locals were grateful for the help the United States provided in overthrowing Ghadafi.

But danger remained.

There were still many Ghadafi loyalists, there was easy access to guns and the new fledgling government was having a difficult time maintaining security.

On June 1, a car bomb exploded outside a hotel in Tripoli where Stevens was staying.

The same month, Stevens had to move with his security team from the hotel because of a "credible' threat.

On June 6, a roadside bomb exploded near the U.S. compound in Benghazi, hurting no one but blasting a large hole in a wall of the compound.

The threats continued for U.S. officials and diplomats from other countries -- but security staffing remained unchanged.

The ambassador is missing

But now, there was no time to fret about woeful security.

Black smoke was filling up the safe area.

Stevens, Smith and the security officer crawled to a bathroom, hoping to open a window.

The security officer placed towels under the bathroom door and flung open the panes.

It made things worse.

The open window pulled more smoke into the bathroom, making breathing impossible.

Despite the explosions outside, they would have to flee the safe area, the officer thought. The smoke had choked out the lights. They were in total darkness.

The officer left the bathroom, crawled through a hallway, banging on the floor and yelling that the ambassador and Smith follow him.

He slipped though another window and collapsed in an enclosed patio area.

And then he noticed it.

Stevens and Smith were not there.

The officer slipped back through the window several times, even though the intruders were still shooting at him.

The smoke and heat was unbearable. He could not find either man.

He used a ladder to climb to the roof of the villa and radioed for help.

He had been in the smoky room for so long he could hardly speak. It took some time for the officers on the other end of the line to understand what he was saying.

He did not have Smith, he said. And the ambassador is missing.

The battle at the Annex

Three other security officers had barricaded themselves in another building when the siege began.

Once the first wave of attackers seemed to retreat, the officers got out of their "defensive" positions and drove an armored car to the villa. They found their colleague on the roof, vomiting, about to pass out.

The three officers crawled through the smoke inside.

They found Smith. They dragged his body out. But they were too late.

A team, from a nearby U.S. facility called the Annex, arrived and helped search for Stevens. They could not find him.

Concerned that the large crowd of militants was about to overtake the entire compound, they decided to flee back to the Annex without Stevens.

Men in the crowd began shooting, the bullets almost piercing the armored vehicle and blowing out two of its tires.

They drove on. At least two vehicles followed them.

They made it to the Annex, preparing for another fight. It was about 11:30 at night.

Just before midnight, bullets began hitting the Annex. This started a gun battle that lasted for an hour.

Hours later, another wave of attacks hit the facility with mortars, killing security officers Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.

Finding Stevens

Hours passed and no one knew where Stevens was.

About 2 a.m., the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli received a phone call.

It was from the cell phone of the security officer who had given his phone to Stevens.

The man on the line spoke Arabic, telling embassy officials that Stevens had been taken to a hospital in Benghazi.

Officials could not determine what hospital Stevens was taken to.

Some wondered if the phone call was a trick from militants who wanted to lure U.S. officers to their death.

A Libyan official was sent to Benghazi Medical Center. He said Stevens was there.

Hospital staff said six civilians brought Stevens to the emergency room about 1:15 a.m.

Even though the ambassador showed no signs of life, doctors worked to revive him for 45 minutes.

It was too late.

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UBS to pay $1.5B in fines for rate manipulation

Updated 4:30 a.m.

GENEVA Switzerland's UBS AG agreed Wednesday to pay some $1.5 billion in fines to international regulators following a probe into the rigging of a key global interest rate.

In admitting to fraud, Switzerland's largest bank became the second bank, after Britain's Barclays PLC, to settle over the rate-rigging scandal. The fine, which will be paid to authorities in the U.S., Britain and Switzerland, also comes just over a week after HSBC PLC agreed to pay nearly $2 billion for alleged money laundering.

The settlement caps a tough year for UBS and the reputation of the global banking industry. As well as being ensnared in the industry-wide investigation into alleged manipulations of the benchmark LIBOR interest rate, short for London interbank offered rate, UBS has seen its reputation suffer in a London trial into a multibillion dollar trading scandal and ongoing tax evasion probes.

As a result of the fines, litigation, unwinding of real estate investments, restructuring and other costs, UBS said it expects to post a fourth quarter net loss of between $2.2-2.7 billion.

Nevertheless, the Zurich-based bank maintained that it "remains one of the best capitalized banks in the world."

Other banks are expected to be fined for their involvement in the LIBOR scandal. LIBOR, which is a self-policing system and relies on information that global banks submit to a British banking authority, is important because it is used to set the interest rates on trillions of dollars in contracts around the world, including mortgages and credit cards.

UBS characterized the probes as "industry-wide investigations into the setting of certain benchmark rates across a range of currencies."

The UBS penalty is more than triple the $450 million in fines imposed by American and British regulators in June on Barclays for submitting false information between 2005 and 2009 to manipulate the LIBOR rates. Those fines exposed a scandal that led to the departure of Chief Executive Bob Diamond and the announcement that Chairman Marcus Agius would step down at the end of the year.

In accepting the fines, UBS said some of its employees tried to rig the LIBOR rate in several currencies, but that its Japan unit, where much of the manipulation took place, entered a plea to one count of wire fraud in an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department.

UBS said some of its personnel had "engaged in efforts to manipulate submissions for certain benchmark rates to benefit trading positions" and that some employees had "colluded with employees at other banks and cash brokers to influence certain benchmark rates to benefit their trading positions."

UBS added that "inappropriate directions" had been submitted that were "in part motivated by a desire to avoid unfair and negative market and media perceptions during the financial crisis."

Britain's financial regulator called the misconduct by UBS "extensive and broad" with the rate-fixing carried out from UBS offices in London and Zurich.

Different desks were responsible for different rate submissions. At least 2,000 requests for inappropriate submissions were documented -- an unquantifiable number of oral requests, which by their nature would not be documented, were also made, the U.K.'s Financial Services Authority said.

"Manipulation was also discussed in internal open chat forums and group emails, and was widely known," the FSA said. "At least 45 individuals including traders, managers and senior managers were involved in, or aware of, the practice of attempting to influence submissions."

Sergio Ermotti, who was appointed CEO of UBS AG in November 2012 in the wake of a major trading scandal, said the misconduct does not reflect the bank's values or standards.

"We deeply regret this inappropriate and unethical behavior. No amount of profit is more important than the reputation of the firm, and we are committed to doing business with integrity," he said.

With more than $2.4 trillion in invested assets, UBS is one of the world's largest managers of private wealth assets. At last count, the bank had 63,745 employees in 57 countries. It has said it aims for a headcount of 54,000 in 2015.

Along with Credit Suisse, the second-largest Swiss bank, UBS is on the list of the 29 "global systemically important banks" that the Basel, Switzerland-based Bank for International Settlements, the central bank for central banks, considers too big to fail.

It's not the first time that UBS has fallen afoul of regulators. Notably, in 2009, U.S. authorities fined UBS $780 million in 2009 for helping U.S. citizens avoid paying taxes.

The U.S. government has since been pushing Switzerland to loosen its rules on banking secrecy and has been trying to shed its image as a tax haven, signing deals with the United States, Germany and Britain to provide greater assistance to foreign tax authorities seeking information on their citizens' accounts.

In April, Ermotti called Switzerland's tax disputes with the United States and some European nations "an economic war" putting thousands of jobs at risk.

And in September 2011, the bank announced more than $2 billion in losses and blamed a 32-year-old rogue trader, Kweku Adoboli, at its London office for Britain's biggest-ever fraud at a bank.

Britain's financial regulator fined UBS, saying its internal controls were inadequate to prevent Adoboli, a relatively inexperienced trader, from making vast and risky bets. Adoboli has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

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Newtown Settles In for Prayerful, Somber Christmas

Residents of Sandy Hook, Conn., gather every year under an enormous tree in the middle of town to sing carols and light the tree. The tree is lit this year, too, but the scene beneath it is starkly different.

The tree looms over hundreds of teddy bears and toys, but they are for children who will never receive them. The ornaments are adorned with names and jarringly recent birth dates.

Wreaths with pine cones and white ribbons hang near the tree, one each for a life lost. A small statue of an angel child sleeps among a sea of candles.

A steady flow of well-wishers, young and old, tearfully comes to cry, pray, light candles, leave gifts and share hugs and stories.

CLICK HERE for complete coverage of the massacre at Sandy Hook.

The Christmas season is a normally joyful time for this tight-knit village, but in the wake of a shooting rampage, holiday decorations have given way this year to memorial signs. And instead of cars with Christmas trees on top, there are media vans with satellites.

Connie Koch has lived in Newtown for nine years. She lives directly behind Sandy Hook Elementary School, where Adam Lanza, 20, killed 20 children and six adults before turning the gun on himself. Earlier that Friday morning, he had also killed his mother at home.

President Obama on Newtown Shooting: 'We Must Change' Watch Video

Koch said the shocked town, which includes the Village of Sandy Hook, is experiencing a notably different Christmas this year.

"It's more somber, much more time spent in prayer for our victims' families and our friends that have lost loved ones," she said as she stood near the base of the tree.

CLICK HERE for a tribute to the shooting victims.

Her family has been touched by the tragedy is multiple ways.

"My daughter, she lost her child that she babysat for for six years," she said, holding back tears. "And for her friend who lost her mother. And for my dear friend who lost one of her friends in the school, one of the aides.

"It's hard. And there will be much prayer on Christmas morning for these people, for our community."

Koch said her community always rallies in the face of tragedy, but the term "hits close to home" resonates this time more than ever before. She says the only way to make it through is one day at a time.

"It's all you can do, one hour at a time," Koch said. "For me, I don't even want to wake up in the morning because I don't want to have to face it again. You feel like it's still just a dream and with the funerals starting, it's becoming more real. It's becoming more final."

Another Newtown parent, Adam Zuckerman, stood by the makeshift memorial with a roll of red heart stickers with the words, "In Our" above a drawing of the Sandy Hook Elementary School welcome sign. He was selling the stickers to collect money for a Sandy Hook victims' fund.

"It's a lot," he said of the events of the past few days. "We don't know how it's going to affect our community, but I feel very strongly that I needed to do something to keep it positive, to keep this community positive."

Zuckerman's 20-year-old stepdaughter came home from college for winter break the night before the shooting. As a high school student, she worked in one of the town's popular toy stores.

"She knew a lot of the kids," he said of his daughter. "Their parents brought them in over the years. We have other friends who have lost family here and good friends who are dear friends with the principal of the school. … It's pretty rough."

Read More..

2013 Smart Guide: Revolutionary human stem cell trial

Read more: "2013 Smart Guide: 10 ideas that will shape the year"

If all goes to plan, 2013 should see the first human trial of "rewound" cells. These are produced by turning adult cells back to a stem cell state and then coaxing them into becoming another type of cell. It will mark a milestone in our ability to generate new tissue - and maybe whole organs - from people's own cells.

In 2006, Shinya Yamanaka reverted skin cells to an embryonic state. He called these cells induced pluripotent stem cells. iPSCs can grow into any tissue in the body by exposure to natural growth factors.

The long-term goal of the pioneering trial of iPSC-derived cells is to provide blood platelets to people undergoing cancer therapy, who need platelet transfusions to repair damaged tissues and prevent uncontrolled bleeding. Initially, however, platelets grown from iPSC will be given to healthy volunteers. Researchers in charge of the proposed trial, planned by Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) of Marlborough, Massachusetts, want to ensure that the cells are well tolerated before moving on to people with cancer and other blood-related conditions.

Some studies of iPSCs have suggested that they may have a higher risk of becoming cancerous. "Since platelets don't have nuclei they can't form tumours, which makes them ideal for the first iPSC clinical trial," says Robert Lanza, chief medical officer at ACT.

Volunteers will be given platelets made from pre-existing stocks of iPSCs, but if the trial goes well, Lanza says they will create platelets from cancer patients' own cells.

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