Dec. 17 Photo Brief: School violence, remains of a Soviet submarine, death anniversary of Kim Jong-Il, Micro Teatro por Dinero
School violence, remains of a Soviet submarine, death anniversary of Kim Jong-Il, the ‘Micro Teatro por Dinero’ in Madrid and more in today’s daily brief.
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- A young child points at candles as people pay their respects at a makeshift shrine to the victims of a elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, December 16, 2012. A young gunman killed 20 small children and six teachers on December 14, 2012. (Emmanuel Dunande/AFP/Getty Images)
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- A bouquet of flowers sits on the memorial fountain, in the dedicated area for the victims for the 1996 Dunblane Primary School shooting, in Dunblane cemetery, Scotland December 17, 2012. The small Scottish town still bears the scars of a school massacre that left 16 children and 1 adult dead. (David Moir/Reuters)
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- This picture taken on December 16, 2012 shows a nurse and a woman attending to a girl lying on a hospital bed after she was stabbed during a knife attack that took place on December 14 at a primary school in Guangshan county, central China’s Henan province. Internet users in China drew comparisons Saturday between violent episodes at schools in China and the U.S. a day after 22 children were stabbed at a Chinese primary school and a U.S. school shooting left 28 dead. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
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- View of an eruption at the Tungurahua volcano, from the city of Banos, early on December 17, 2012. Ecuador issued an orange alert — the second-highest warning level — for towns near the Tungurahua volcano on the eve, as its level of activity rose, civil defense officials said. (Agencia API-/AFP/Getty Images)
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- One of the chimneys of the Marsa power station is seen at sunset outside Valletta December 16, 2012. The most polluting and least efficient boilers at the Marsa power station have been shut down after an extension at another more modern power station came online. The government has admitted that it would not be in a position to completely shut down the Marsa power station before sometime in 2013, despite the fact that its operation is in breach of EU rules, according to local media. (Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters)
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- A seven-month-old malnourished child awaits medical tests at the paediatric ward of the Banadir hospital in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu December 17, 2012. (Ismail Taxta/Reuters)
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- A Tunisian man prays at the mausoleum of Mohamed Bouazizi, the young fruit and vegetable seller whose self-immolation kicked off the Arab Spring in the central town of Sidi Bouzid. Picture taken on December 17, 2012. (Fethi Belaid/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Afghan villagers pray over the bodies of girls who were killed by an explosion in Jalalabad December 17, 2012. A blast killed 10 Afghan girls, between nine and 11 years old, as they were collecting firewood in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, government officials said. (Parwiz/Reuters)
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- Palestinian children look at blood stains on the ground following a shooting attack in the northern West Bank town of Beit Rima, near Ramallah, on December 17, 2012. Israeli troops arrested four Palestinians on suspicion of shooting offences witnesses told AFP, saying they were accused of shooting at soldiers. (Abbas Momani/AFP/Getty Images)
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- A vintage steam barge is pictured on December 17, 2012 in Hamburg, northern Germany. (Male Christians/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Cubans pilgrim participate in the Saint Lazaro procession in El Rincon Church in Havana, December 16, 2012, during the Saint Lazaro pilgrimage. (Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images)
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- The detail of an instrument is seen in the remains of a Russian submarine on the seabed of the Baltic Sea, near the islnd of Oland, in this handout picture received by Reuters on December 17, 2012. The wreck of a Soviet submarine lost during World War II has been found, 71 years after it sank, the Swedish Military said on Monday. (Swedish Defence Forces/ Handout via Scanpix)
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- Baby and Nepal, two elephants who both have tuberculosis, are pictured on December 17, 2012 at the Parc de la Tete d’Or zoo in Lyon, central eastern France. This two ailing middle-aged elephants that French officials wanted to put down have been given a Christmas reprieve after an appeal to President Francois Hollande and an Internet campaign to save them. (Jeff Pachoud/AFP/Getty Images)
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- North Korea on December 17 mourned the death one year ago of leader Kim Jong-Il, with its rocket scientists taking pride of place at a mass memorial ceremony led by his son and successor Kim Jong-Un. (Korean Central News Agency via AFP/Getty Images)
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- Supporters of President Jacob Zuma celebrate as delegates to the National Conference of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) begin voting for their leadership in Bloemfontein, December 17, 2012. Zuma is being challenged by his deputy Kgalema Motlanthe for the position of President of the party which has ruled South Africa since the country’s first democratic elections in 1994. (Mike Hutchings/Reuters)
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- An Indian soldier blows fire as he performs the mallakhamb during an Army Mela and exhibition at Khasa on December 17, 2012. The Army Mela, organized by the Vajra Corps, displayed weapons, tanks, aircraft and military equipment to students and civilian visitors of the event. (Narinder Nanu/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Participants launch sky lanterns during an event in Puebla, near Mexico City December 16, 2012. Organizers hope to break a Guinness world record by launching 16,000 lanterns, all of which were made by people with disabilities, according to local authorities. (Imelda Medina/Reuters)
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- The Soyuz TMA-07M spaceship is transported to a launch pad at the Russian leased Kazakh Baikonur cosmodrome, on December 17, 2012. The launch of the of the next expedition to the International Space Station including Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko and U.S. astronaut Tom Marshburn, is scheduled on December 19. (AFP/Getty Images)
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- Actors Fernando Sola and Rodrigo Poison play members of the Basque Separatist militant group ETA during their ‘No Abortamos’ micro theater show at the ‘Micro Teatro por Dinero’ on December 15, 2012 in Madrid, Spain. The theatre project was first presented in Nov. 2009 when fifty artists presented shows in the thirteen rooms of a former brothel, two weeks before its demolition. The initiative was such a huge success that artists have continued to perform in the project now named after the former brothel on Ballesta Street. (Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
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- Actor Fernando Gomez waits backstage to enter his ‘No Abortamos’ micro theater show at the ‘Micro Teatro por Dinero’ on December 15, 2012 in Madrid, Spain. With each show priced at four Euros, over 150,000 spectators have already attended performances at the tiny theatre in the Malasana area. (Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
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- A small group of spectators watches as actress Aixa Villagran (L) performs with Eva Higueras during their ‘Manual de orgasmos fingidos’ micro theater show at the ‘Micro Teatro por Dinero’ on December 15, 2012 in Madrid, Spain. Anyone can submit a project to be chosen to perform for a month in one of the five tiny rooms in the basement of the theatre, making it an ideal platform for young Spanish authors and actors, often unemployed, to perform. (Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
Scottish town shares agony of U.S. school tragedy
Natalie Huet | Reuters
1:22 p.m. EST, December 17, 2012
DUNBLANE, Scotland (Reuters) – Of all the messages of sympathy for the stricken U.S. community of Newtown, few carry the emotional weight of those from Dunblane, the small Scottish town that still bears the scars of Britain’s worst school massacre.
On March 13, 1996, a gunman walked into the gymnasium of a primary school in the close-knit cathedral town and shot dead 16 children and their teacher before turning the gun on himself.
Few residents want to talk about the terrible events that for years made Dunblane synonymous with tragedy, but reminders abound, made all the more poignant by the onset of Christmas.
At the far end of the cemetery on the edge of town, toys, fairies and portraits of smiling children decorate the graves of many of the victims, while small windmills spin in the winter breeze under grey skies.
A miniature Christmas tree stands next to one grave and a bunch of pink roses covered in dew drops rests on the spot where their teacher, Gwen Mayor, 45, is buried.
“The memories are flooding back. It must be hell for the parents. We said prayers for them in my church,” said Harry McEwan, 71, who has lived in the town for 30 years. “Dunblane has so much in common with what has happened in Newtown.”
The Dunblane massacre shocked the world and started a public campaign that led to Britain adopting some of the strictest gun controls in the world.
The Newtown shooting has already prompted calls for new U.S. gun restrictions, including a ban on assault weapons. President Barack Obama said things must change to prevent more killings.
In Britain, the scale of revulsion over Dunblane’s three-minute rampage led within two years to new laws that effectively banned civilians from owning handguns. Ministers also promised to improve school security.
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