Shooting renews argument over video-game violence

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the days since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., a shell-shocked nation has looked for reasons. The list of culprits include easy access to guns, a strained mental-health system and the “culture of violence” — the entertainment industry’s embrace of violence in movies, TV shows and, especially, video games.

“The violence in the entertainment culture — particularly, with the extraordinary realism to video games, movies now, et cetera — does cause vulnerable young men to be more violent,” Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said.

“There might well be some direct connection between people who have some mental instability and when they go over the edge — they transport themselves, they become part of one of those video games,” said Gov. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, where 12 people were killed in a movie theater shooting in July.

White House adviser David Axelrod tweeted, “But shouldn’t we also quit marketing murder as a game?”

And Donald Trump weighed in, tweeting, “Video game violence & glorification must be stopped — it is creating monsters!”

There have been unconfirmed media reports that 20-year-old Newtown shooter Adam Lanza enjoyed a range of video games, from the bloody “Call of Duty” series to the innocuous “Dance Dance Revolution.” But the same could be said for about 80 percent of Americans in Lanza’s age group, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Law enforcement officials haven’t made any connection between Lanza’s possible motives and his interest in games.

The video game industry has been mostly silent since Friday’s attack, in which 20 children and six adults were killed. The Entertainment Software Association, which represents game publishers in Washington, has yet to respond to politicians’ criticisms. Hal Halpin, president of the nonprofit Entertainment Consumers Association, said, “I’d simply and respectfully point to the lack of evidence to support any causal link.”

It’s unlikely that lawmakers will pursue legislation to regulate the sales of video games; such efforts were rejected again and again in a series of court cases over the last decade. Indeed, the industry seemed to have moved beyond the entire issue last year, when the Supreme Court revoked a California law criminalizing the sale of violent games to minors.

The Supreme Court decision focused on First Amendment concerns; in the majority opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that games “are as much entitled to the protection of free speech as the best of literature.” Scalia also agreed with the ESA’s argument that researchers haven’t established a link between media violence and real-life violence. “Psychological studies purporting to show a connection between exposure to violent video games and harmful effects on children do not prove that such exposure causes minors to act aggressively,” Scalia wrote.

Still, that doesn’t make games impervious to criticism, or even some soul-searching within the gaming community. At this year’s E3 — the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the industry’s largest U.S. gathering — some attendees were stunned by the intensity of violence on display. A demo for Sony’s “The Last of Us” ended with a villain taking a shotgun blast to the face. A scene from Ubisoft’s “Splinter Cell: Blacklist” showed the hero torturing an enemy. A trailer for Square Enix’s “Hitman: Absolution” showed the protagonist slaughtering a team of lingerie-clad assassins disguised as nuns.

“The ultraviolence has to stop,” designer Warren Spector told the GamesIndustry website after E3. “I do believe that we are fetishizing violence, and now in some cases actually combining it with an adolescent approach to sexuality. I just think it’s in bad taste. Ultimately I think it will cause us trouble.”

“The violence of these games can be off-putting,” Brian Crecente, news editor for the gaming website Polygon, said Monday. “The video-game industry is wrestling with the same issues as movies and TV. There’s this tension between violent games that sell really well and games like ‘Journey,’ a beautiful, artistic creation that was well received by critics but didn’t sell much.”

During November, typically the peak month for pre-holiday game releases, the two best sellers were the military shooters “Call of Duty: Black Ops II,” from Activision, and “Halo 4,” from Microsoft. But even with the dominance of the genre, Crecente said, “There has been a feeling that some of the sameness of war games is grating on people.”

Critic John Peter Grant said, “I’ve also sensed a growing degree of fatigue with ultra-violent games, but not necessarily because of the violence per se.”

The problem, Grant said, “is that violence as a mechanic gets old really fast. Games are amazing possibility spaces! And if the chief way I can interact with them is by destroying and killing? That seems like such a waste of potential.”

There are some hints of a sneaking self-awareness creeping into the gaming community. One gamer — Antwand Pearman, editor of the website GamerFitNation — has called for other players to join in a “Day of Cease-Fire for Online Shooters” this Friday, one week after the massacre.

“We are simply making a statement,” Pearman said, “that we as gamers are not going to sit back and ignore the lives that were lost.”

Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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It's a Boy for James Marsden

Mom & Babies
Celebrity Baby Blog

12/19/2012 at 01:30 PM ET

Christopher Polk/Getty; Courtesy Rose Costa

James Marsden is a father for the third time.

Brazilian model Rose Costa delivered a son, William Luca Costa-Marsden, on Friday, Dec. 14 in Los Angeles, PEOPLE has learned.

The 30 Rock star, who briefly dated Costa after his split from wife Lisa Linde in 2011, picked the name and is being very supportive, a source tells PEOPLE.

Marsden, 39, is already dad to daughter Mary James, 7, and son Jack Holden, 11, with Linde.

A rep for the actor could not be reached for comment.

– Sarah Michaud with reporting by Lesley Messer

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Experts: Kids are resilient in coping with trauma

WASHINGTON (AP) — They might not want to talk about the gunshots or the screams. But their toys might start getting into imaginary shootouts.

Last week's school shooting in Connecticut raises the question: What will be the psychological fallout for the children who survived?

For people of any age, regaining a sense of security after surviving violence can take a long time. They're at risk for lingering anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder.

But after the grief and fear fades, psychiatrists say most of Newtown's young survivors probably will cope without long-term emotional problems.

"Kids do tend to be highly resilient," said Dr. Matthew Biel, chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.

And one way that younger children try to make sense of trauma is through play. Youngsters may pull out action figures or stuffed animals and re-enact what they witnessed, perhaps multiple times.

"That's the way they gain mastery over a situation that's overwhelming," Biel explained, saying it becomes a concern only if the child is clearly distressed while playing.

Nor is it unusual for children to chase each other playing cops-and-robbers, but now parents might see some also pretending they're dead, added Dr. Melissa Brymer of the UCLA-Duke National Center for Child Traumatic Stress.

Among the challenges will be spotting which children are struggling enough that they may need professional help.

Newtown's tragedy is particularly heart-wrenching because of what such young children grappled with — like the six first-graders who apparently had to run past their teacher's body to escape to safety.

There's little scientific research specifically on PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, in children exposed to a burst of violence, and even less to tell if a younger child will have a harder time healing than an older one.

Overall, scientists say studies of natural disasters and wars suggest most children eventually recover from traumatic experiences while a smaller proportion develop long-term disorders such as PTSD. Brymer says in her studies of school shootings, that fraction can range from 10 percent to a quarter of survivors, depending on what they actually experienced. A broader 2007 study found 13 percent of U.S. children exposed to different types of trauma reported some symptoms of PTSD, although less than 1 percent had enough for an official diagnosis.

Violence isn't all that rare in childhood. In many parts of the world — and in inner-city neighborhoods in the U.S., too — children witness it repeatedly. They don't become inured to it, Biel said, and more exposure means a greater chance of lasting psychological harm.

In Newtown, most at risk for longer-term problems are those who saw someone killed, said Dr. Carol North of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who has researched survivors of mass shootings.

Friday's shootings were mostly in two classrooms of Sandy Hook Elementary School, which has about 450 students through fourth-grade.

But those who weren't as close to the danger may be at extra risk, too, if this wasn't their first trauma or they already had problems such as anxiety disorders that increase their vulnerability, she said.

Right after a traumatic event, it's normal to have nightmares or trouble sleeping, to stick close to loved ones, and to be nervous or moody, Biel said.

To help, parents will have to follow their child's lead. Grilling a child about a traumatic experience isn't good, he stressed. Some children will ask a lot of questions, seeking reassurance, he said. Others will be quiet, thinking about the experience and maybe drawing or writing about it, or acting it out at playtime. Younger children may regress, becoming clingy or having tantrums.

Before second grade, their brains also are at a developmental stage some refer to as magical thinking, when it's difficult to distinguish reality and fantasy. Parents may have to help them understand that a friend who died isn't in pain or lonely but also isn't coming back, Brymer said.

When problem behaviors or signs of distress continue for several weeks, Brymer says it's time for an evaluation by a counselor or pediatrician.

Besides a supportive family, what helps? North advises getting children back into routines, together with their friends, and easing them back into a school setting. Studies of survivors of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks found "the power of the support of the people who went through it with you is huge," she said.

Children as young as first-graders can benefit from cognitive-behavioral therapy, Georgetown's Biel said. They can calm themselves with breathing techniques. They also can learn to identify and label their feelings — anger, frustration, worry — and how to balance, say, a worried thought with a brave one.

Finally, avoid watching TV coverage of the shooting, as children may think it's happening all over again, Biel added. He found that children who watched the 9/11 clips of planes hitting the World Trade Center thought they were seeing dozens of separate attacks.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE — Lauran Neergaard covers health and medical issues for The Associated Press in Washington.

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Scarlett Johansson: Hacker who stole nude photos 'perverted'

Actress Scarlett Johansson said she was "truly humiliated and
embarrassed" by a Florida man who hacked into celebrity email accounts
and procured naked images of her, actions she called "perverted and reprehensible."

Johansson, whose then-husband Ryan Reynolds' email was hacked, videotaped a statement that was played in U.S. District Court on
Monday as Judge S. James Otero sentenced Christopher Chaney, 35, to 10
years in prison.

Chaney, who has maintained he made no money from his actions, had
already pleaded guilty in Los Angeles federal court to nine counts of
computer hacking and wiretapping for the unauthorized access of email
accounts of 50 people in the entertainment industry.

Once Chaney got photos of the celebrities and other information, he
forwarded the material to another hacker and two celebrity websites that
made them public, according to a plea agreement.

Singer Christina Aguilera, whose email also was hacked, taped a
similar message to the court, saying, "That feeling of security can never be
given back and there is no compensation that can restore the feeling one
has from such a large invasion of privacy."

Actress Renee Olstead, the 23-year-old star of ABC Family Channel's
"The Secret Life of the American Teenager," appeared in court and
described how much the stolen naked images hurt her.

"I just really hope this doesn't happen to someone else," Olstead
said, sobbing. "You can lose everything because of the actions of a
stranger."

Olstead said she comes from a conservative family and worked for a
family network. She said she considered suicide after the photos were
released.

Chaney has admitted that from at least November 2010 to October 2011,
he hacked into the email accounts of Johansson  and others by
taking their email addresses, clicking on the "Forgot your password?"
feature and then resetting the passwords by correctly answering their
security questions using publicly available information he found by
searching the Internet.

Most victims did not check their account settings, so even after they
regained control of their email accounts, Chaney's alias address
remained in their settings, the plea agreement said. He continued to
receive copies of thousands of their incoming emails, including
attachments, for weeks or months without his victims'  knowledge.

Prosecutors said Chaney began using a proxy service to "cover his tracks" and avoid detection by authorities. Even after investigators took his home computers, they said, Chaney used another computer to hack into another victim's email account.

Though his celebrity victims might have drawn the most attention, prosecutors said Chaney stalked two non-celebrities for more than a decade.

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— Richard Winton

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World Briefing | Mideast: Chief Public Prosecutor in Egypt Quits After One Month

Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

Supporters and opponents of President Mohammed Morsi of Egypt fought outside a courthouse in Cairo on Monday.

The chief public prosecutor appointed last month by President Mohamed Morsi stepped down Monday after a demonstration by district prosecutors accusing him of political bias. The district prosecutors accused the new chief, Talaat Ibrahim Abdullah, of pressing one of their peers to file charges against a group of opposition protesters accused of receiving money to use violence. Mr. Morsi had said that appointing Mr. Abdullah as chief prosecutor was one of the main goals of the Nov. 22 presidential decree granting himself temporary power above the courts, which set off weeks of protests here.

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Survivor Winner Denise Stapley: 'I'm in a Daze'

TV Watch

By Steve Helling

12/18/2012 at 01:10 PM EST

Denise Stapley

Nate Beckett/Splash News Online

Denise Stapley shattered Survivor records by being the only player in the show's 25-season history to go to every tribal council – including the final one, where six of the eight jury members voted to award her the million dollar prize.

Moments after exiting the stage at the Survivor reunion, the 41-year-old sex therapist from Iowa told PEOPLE what she'll do with her money – and how she got her incredible arms.

Before we talk Survivor, you are shorter than I expected!
I'm 5'2". Everyone says, "You're so little." I'm one of those people who look bigger on TV.

It's probably because you're so buff. How did you get those arms?
I love to swim. It's my recreation and my exercise. I am most comfortable in the water. I loved the water challenges in the Philippines.

But there weren't many at all!
I know! What's up with that? There were weather issues so we couldn't be in the water as much as I would have liked. But you adapt.

You were on a tribe that lost repeatedly. How did you adapt to that?
Just every day, you assess where you are and what you need to do. I was never in real danger because I was aligned with Malcolm. But yes, losing all those challenges was so demoralizing. We lost the first one, and the momentum just want away. On paper, our tribe was as strong as the others, but it just didn't work out that way in actuality.

You mentioned your alliance with Malcolm, but he was very angry at you when you voted him off.
I made a move. You have to make moves in this game, and I made one to get rid of my biggest threat. Malcolm is great and we are friends, but if you don't make moves in Survivor, you go home.

How are things between you and Malcolm now?
Just fine, they really are. We will always be friends.

(Malcolm later told PEOPLE, "She's my jungle mama. If I couldn't win, I wanted her to win. I love her and we will always be close. Always.")

So you recognized Lisa Whelchel right away, correct?
Yes, I did. They didn't show it but I was the one who told Jonathan Penner who she was.

And what was it like competing against her?
You know, she was wonderful – just a nice, great woman. It's easy to say this because I won, but I really appreciated everyone out there.

Even Abi?
Even Abi. I meant what I said in tribal council. I stand behind the things that I said. But sure, I could have phrased things better.

So what were your strengths in the game?
I can listen to people very well. Pay attention to what they're saying, and react to them. I'm physically fit, and I was able to work hard around the camp. I also tried to adapt to each situation.

How sure were you that you were going to win?
I had a good idea that I might, but you don't want to assume. So I just felt cautiously optimistic.

What will you do with the $1 million prize?
I will relax a little bit, take a deep breath and go from there. I'm in a daze right now. My daughter is nine, so I'll set up college funds and all that. And I will always be thankful for Survivor for this incredible gift of the adventure ... and, of course, the million dollars!

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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.

__

AP Writer Matt Apuzzo contributed to this report.

___

Online:

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

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Man kills grandmother with barbeque fork, police say

Police are trying to determine a motive after a 22-year-old man allegedly killed his grandmother Sunday using a barbecue fork.

Los Angeles Police Department Lt. Paul Vernon called the incident in Mission Hills "especially sad and tragic."

The suspect, identified as Joe Calderon, was raised by his
grandparents and stabbed his grandmother at their Mission Hills home
Sunday morning, police said.

Investigators believe Calderon fought with his grandparents Saturday
night and, after his grandfather went to work Sunday, again argued with
his grandmother, Vernon said. This time, the suspect allegedly began
beating his grandmother, who called her daughter for help.

When the daughter arrived at the home in the 11100 block of Rincon
Avenue, Calderon "confronted her" outside the home "with a long metal
stick," Vernon said. She went around the corner and called police about 9
a.m.

Responding officers detained Calderon, whom Vernon said had blood on his hands.

The grandmother was found dead in the kitchen, Vernon said. Her name
has not been released, though authorities described her as a woman in
her 70s. It was unclear what relationship her daughter is to the suspect.

Vernon said investigators found several possible weapons at the
scene, including the barbecue fork that "appeared to have blood on the
prongs." Forensic tests will be conducted to determine if the utensil
was in fact the murder weapon, he added.

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More rain, snow coming to Southern California

Fashion Island shooting: 'Luck was on our side,' police say

— Andrew Blankstein and Kate Mather

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In Spain, Having a Job No Longer Guarantees a Paycheck

Working but Waiting:
The Times’s Suzanne Daley reports on struggling Spanish workers who have avoided losing their jobs but often face weeks or months without paychecks.

VALENCIA, Spain — Over the past two years, Ana María Molina Cuevas, 36, has worked five shifts a week in a ceramics factory on the outskirts of this city, hand-rolling paint onto tiles. But at the end of the month, she often went unpaid.

Still, she kept showing up, trying to keep her frustration under control. If she quit, she reasoned, she might never get her money. And besides, where was she going to find another job? Last month, she was down to about $130 in her bank account with a mortgage payment due.

“On the days you get paid,” she said at home with her disabled husband and young daughter, “it is like the sun has risen three times. It is a day of joy.”

Mrs. Molina, who is owed about $13,000 by the factory, is hardly alone. Being paid for the work you do is no longer something that can be counted on in Spain, as this country struggles through its fourth year of an economic crisis.

With the regional and municipal governments deeply in debt, even workers like bus drivers and health care attendants, dependent on government financing for their salaries, are not always paid.

But few workers in this situation believe they have any choice but to stick it out, and none wanted to name their employers, to protect both the companies and their jobs. They try to manage their lives with occasional checks and partial payments on random dates — never sure whether they will get what they are owed in the end. Spain’s unemployment rate is the highest in the euro zone at more than 25 percent, and despite the government’s labor reforms, the rate has continued to rise month after month.

“Before the crisis, a worker might let one month go by, and then move on to another job,” said José Francisco Perez, a lawyer who represents unpaid workers in the Valencia area. “Now that just isn’t an option. People now have nowhere to go, and they are scared. They are afraid even to complain.”

No one is keeping track of workers like Mrs. Molina. But one indication of their number can be seen in the courts, which have become jammed with people trying to get back pay from a government insurance fund, aimed at giving workers something when a company does not pay them.

In Valencia, Spain’s third-largest city, the unemployment rate is 28.1 percent and the courts are so overwhelmed that processing claims, which used to take three to six months, now takes three to four years.

Since the start of the crisis in 2008, the insurance fund has paid nearly a million workers nationally back pay or severance. In 2007, it paid 70,000 workers. It is on track to pay more than 250,000 this year, and experts say the figures would be much higher if not for the logjam in the courts.

Often the unpaid workers, like Mrs. Molina, whose company is now in bankruptcy proceedings, hope their labor will keep a struggling operation afloat over the long run. Unemployment benefits last only two years, they point out, and they wonder what they would do after that. But in the meantime, they cannot even claim unemployment benefits. And no amount of budgeting can cover no payment at all.

Beatriz Morales García, 31, said she could not remember the last time she went shopping for herself. A few years ago, she and her husband, Daniel Chiva, 34, thought that they had settled into a comfortable life, he as a bus driver and she as a therapist in a rehabilitation center for people with mental disabilities. His job is financed by the City of Valencia, and hers by the regional government of Valencia.

They never expected any big money. But it seemed reasonable to expect a reliable salary, to take on a mortgage and think about children. In the past year, however, both of them have had trouble being paid. She is owed 6,000 euros, nearly $8,000. They have cut back on everything they can think of. They have given up their landline and their Internet connection. They no long park their car in a garage or pay for extra health insurance coverage. Mr. Chiva even forgoes the coffee he used to drink in a cafe before his night shifts. Still, the anxiety is constant.

“There are nights when we cannot sleep,” he said. “Moments when you talk out loud to yourself in the street. It has been terrible, terrible.”

Mrs. Morales said it was particularly hard to watch other mothers in the park with their children while she must leave her own toddler to go to work, unsure she will ever get paid.

“We are working eight hours, and we’re suffering more than people who are not working,” she said.

The couple’s pay has been so irregular that they are having a hard time even keeping track of how much they are owed, because small payments show up sporadically in their account.

Rachel Chaundler contributed reporting.

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Hilary Duff: I May Be 'One and Done' with My Son Luca

Mom & Babies
Celebrity Baby Blog

12/17/2012 at 01:00 PM ET

Steve Granitz/WireImage

This Christmas will mark the first as a family of three for Hilary Duff and she couldn’t be more excited to celebrate — Luca Cruz, lopsided tree and all.

“He’s into everything. I’m running around the house just trying to keep up with him. He’s so fast!” Duff, 25, tells Access Hollywood Live.

“He loves the Christmas tree. Obviously we have a funny looking Christmas tree [because] all the ornaments are at the top.”

Continuing with tradition, the trio — Duff, husband Mike Comrie and their 9-month-old son — will spend the holidays in Newport Beach, Calif. and take part in his family’s festivities.

“It’s nine kids going crazy, basically wrapping paper flying in the air, toys everywhere and mayhem,” she says. “We’re really looking forward to that  — we get to bring a baby this year! — so it’s really exciting.”

In addition to cherishing time with her son, animal advocate Duff recently contributed to A Letter to My Dog: Notes to Our Best Friends. And with her pack of pooches a big part of the household, the new mom and Comrie made it their priority to prep them for baby boy’s arrival last March.

“We kicked the dogs out of the bed a month before Luca came so they didn’t blame the baby for why they couldn’t sleep in the bed any more,” she explains.

“We gave them a blanket … that Luca’s smell had been on in the hospital — and it worked. Mike brought Luca in, I came and gave the blanket to the dogs and loved on them … They’ve been fine with him.”

Having just regained her pre-baby body, Duff admits adding another baby to the mix isn’t in the couple’s immediate future.

“Mike and I are literally obsessed with Luca. We’re like, ‘He’s perfect. We should just be one and done,’” she shares. ”But I think once your baby starts getting older you miss that phase and you go in for round two. Maybe when [Luca's] two or three?”

– Anya Leon

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