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School Shooting in Connecticut; One Year of Kim Jong-un in North Korea; Calling for an End to Violence in Syria
Aired December 17, 2012 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MONITA RAJPAL, CNN HOST: Hello, I'm Monita Rajpal in Hong Kong. Welcome to NEWS STREAM, where news and technology meet.
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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We can't accept events like this as routine.
RAJPAL (voice-over): The U.S. president says it is time for change as the country mourns Friday's deadly shooting at an elementary school.
Syria's vice president says the government must reach an historic agreement with rebels. (Inaudible) soon see the end of the Syrian civil war.
And he took power after the death of his father a year ago. We look at North Korea under Kim Jong-un.
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RAJPAL: Americans are waking up to the start of a new week. But for many, the nightmare of the recent tragic events in Newtown, Connecticut, are still all too fresh. Funerals begin later today for some of the young victims killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The town held a vigil on Sunday to commemorate the lives of the 26 students and teachers killed in the massacre.
U.S. President Barack Obama addressed the crowd, offering his heartfelt condolences in saying the U.S. needs to change in order to put an end to these tragedies.
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OBAMA: Surely we can do better than this.
If there's even one step we can take to save another child or another parent or another town from the grief that's visited Tucson and Aurora and Oak Creek and Newtown and communities from Columbine to Blacksburg before that, then surely we have an obligation to try.
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RAJPAL: As the community of Newtown begins to heal, questions remain as to how and why this tragedy happened. Let's get the very latest now. We go to David Ariosto, who joins us now from Newtown.
And one can only begin to imagine, David, how the community is dealing as the school week begins again this Monday morning.
DAVID ARIOSTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This community is reeling, Monita. We've been talking to residents, to neighbors about the feelings that they have toward the shooting, people that they've known.
Have to keep in mind, there are about 20 children -- there were 20 children killed, 26 in total. And so everybody in this small New England town seems to have known somebody who was directly affected by this tragedy.
Now the president spoke last night and was basically reaching out to comfort some of the families. But there was inevitably going to be that question about whether there would be a significant policy shift in this administration and whether there will be the political will within Congress to make the kind of policy changes that residents here in Newtown are talking about.
This town now joins the ranks of places like Aurora, like Tucson and even years before like Columbine. So the real question is what happens next and whether there is that political will to make it happen.
President Obama spoke last night, and this is what -- some of what he said.
OBAMA: Since I've been president, this is the fourth time we have come together to comfort a grieving community torn apart by mass shootings, fourth time we've hugged survivors, the fourth time we've consoled the families of victims.
And in between, there have been an endless series of deadly shootings across the country, almost daily reports of victims, many of them children, in small towns and in big cities all across America, victims whose -- much of the time their only fault was being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
We can't tolerate this anymore.
ARIOSTO: One of the neighbors that I spoke to of Nancy Lanza, who's -- was saying to me -- Nancy Lanza being, of course, the mother of the shooter that put down those 20 elementary school kids with rounds from three to 11 shots per victim in some cases.
But one of the neighbors that we spoke to on that street -- it was only about half a mile block -- half a mile down from her house, and she said that she was concerned about whether Newtown would sort of represent this next tragedy and this saga of several tragedies that we've seen this year, from Aurora to Tucson and et cetera.
But one of her concerns was that maybe this town, as bad as this is, as horrible and horrific as the -- a tragedy that this town has to confront, that maybe this town could be the moment that America changed and started to get serious about, gun control, about mental illness, and that this would be sort of the moment in which things started to turn around and the public would begin to force the issue in Congress and Washington and within the White House.
Monita?
RAJPAL: David, it remains, even that said, it still remains such a divisive and emotive issue in the United States. We heard the president saying there just almost daily reports of shootings in America, mostly children, who were victims.
Why is it still such a divisive issue?
ARIOSTO: You know, the 2nd Amendments here in the United States is one of the -- you know, the founding amendments, as part of the Bill of Rights.
And it's something that many people hold very dear. And while it may seem confounding, at least in certain some of these (inaudible) these cities and towns, you talk to people out in the Midwest, you talk to people up in the North, in Maine, across the country, and there is a sense of needing weapons for safety. This is sort of a Western-born country, derived West. And gun culture's very much a part of that.
This still doesn't explain, though, why you have these mass shootings and these tragedies occurring in the United States with seemingly greater frequency than really anywhere else in the world.
It's something that is going to be put forth in the public forum. Whether there's -- that is actual political will for change or whether people actually believe there should be change. And depending on who you talk to, residents here in Newtown seem almost uniformly in favor of that, at least in terms of those we've spoken to.
But there's still a large contingent of those who believe that weapons, particularly the ones we've seen used, like these AR-15, are their fundamental constitutional rights. It's one of these issues that is (inaudible) in the United States for years on end. And it will be one that will be continuing in the public discourse for the foreseeable future.
RAJPAL: David, thank you.
David Ariosto there in Newtown in Connecticut.
Well, all of the children killed were just 6 or 7 years old. This is Dylan Hockley. His family moved to Newtown, Connecticut, from England just two years ago. His mother described the area as a wonderful place to live with incredible neighbors and wonderful schools. Now you may have seen Victoria Soto's picture on your Facebook feed.
Many have been posting messages about the 27-year-old teacher's effort to protect her students when the shooting started. And here is Emilie Parker. Her family moved from Utah eight months ago. Her father described her as an exceptional artist with an infectious laugh. He also says he hopes the tragedy inspires people to be more compassionate and more humble.
(Inaudible) Newtown's 27,000 residents are working to prevent this senseless act of violence from happening anywhere else. Kyung Lah shows us that.
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LEONARD STROCCHIA, NEWTOWN RESIDENT: Every single kid that was slain had multiple bullet wounds.
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You can hear their frustration.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) by body armor. Shouldn't they (inaudible) --
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
LAH (voice-over): These are questions asked before, after Columbine and Virginia Tech and again this year in places like Aurora, Colorado, and Clackamas, Oregon. This time, it's these Newtown residents who knew the children and teachers killed at Sandy Hook.
CRAIG MITTLEMAN, NEWTOWN RESIDENT: We have the benefit and the misfortune of being on a national stage right now. This is a real opportunity for us to make a statement.
LAH (voice-over): If no political power in this room, just grief, grief channeled into a will to bring change.
LEE SHULL, NEWTOWN RESIDENT: I think we need to talk about what's reasonable. I don't think it's reasonable for assault weapons in any way in our society, except for military or police.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) shove it underneath the rug. We can't do that anymore.
MARY SIRECI, NEWTOWN RESIDENT: We do something now. And leave here with some proactive thing, some action.
LAH: What you're looking at is the birth of a grassroots effort from a town in pain. They've built a Facebook page, calling themselves Newtown United. They admit they don't know what they're doing, just that they have to do something.
BILL TOOMEY, NEWTOWN RESIDENT: This is a trigger point or a tipping point for us and our elected officials to actually start talking to each other in a way that's respectful and results in real change. That would be huge.
LAH (voice-over): A few miles away and a few hours later, the president seemed to acknowledge that appeal.
OBAMA: We can't tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change.
We will be told that the causes of such violence are complex, and that is true. No single law, no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society, but that can't be an excuse for inaction.
LAH (voice-over): The goal of Newtown United: to prevent another town from suffering what this one is enduring and will not go unheeded -- Kyung Lah, CNN, Newtown, Connecticut.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJPAL: Well, you heard President Obama promise to work to stop more tragedies like the one in Newtown. But he never used the phrase "gun control" in his speech, or even the word "gun." It's a tricky political issue in the United States.
The country has the highest gun ownership in the world, according to the monitoring group Small Arms Survey. Eighty-nine people out of every 100 have a firearm. And the number two country, well, that's Yemen with 55 guns for every 100.
And as David Ariosto told us, you'll hear Americans cite the 2nd Amendment of their Constitution as saying they have the right to keep and bear arms. But what that means is frequently debated. The amendment -- the amendments actually starts with reference to a well-regulated militia. And don't forget: the United States is the world's largest maker, buyer and seller of guns, with a powerful gun lobby.
We will have much more on the Sandy Hook school massacre later in the program. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta will explain what drives people to commit atrocities like the one that struck Newtown on Friday.
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RAJPAL (voice-over): We will also have the very latest from Syria, where the vice president says the civil war must end. The rebels say they will accept a unity government but (inaudible) Assad accept an end to his power?
And one year into his leadership, what change has Kim Jong-un brought to North Korea?
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).
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RAJPAL: Welcome back. You are watching NEWS STREAM.
This is a visual rundown of all the stories we're covering on the show today. Now we've been talking about the tragic school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Of course, we'll come back to that a little bit later on.
We'll also show you the devastation caused by a tropical cyclone in Fiji. But now we want to take you Syria.
The country's vice president has said both sides need to put down their weapons and reach an historic settlement to end the country's civil war.
Farouk al-Shara'a told Lebanese newspaper "Al Akhbar" that with every passing day the military and political solutions get further away. He said that new settlements must include stopping all shapes of violence and the creation of a national unity government with wide powers.
Well, Syrian rebels have said that they are open to the idea of al- Shara'a leading an interim government, whether President Bashar al-Assad would be quite so amenable to that is not actually known. Mohammed Jamjoom joins us now live from Beirut in neighboring Lebanon.
Mohammed, what else did Mr. al- Shara'a say? And just how significant are those comments?
MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Monita, Mr. al- Shara'a said that neither side in the Syrian civil war, neither the government's forces nor the opposition rebel forces had the military wherewithal, the capability to end this battle conclusively, essentially saying that neither side now can win this war.
He also said that while this historic settlement that he's talking about has to be a Syrian-created solution, that it would call for the help of the U.N. Security Council as well as regional powers to try to effect this settlement. And he said that there needs to be some sort of national unity transitional government in place.
Now the fact that you have such a prominent, high-ranking member of the Syrian government suggesting this, that is significant, that he's saying that Bashar al-Assad's forces are going to be able to win this civil war there, that is significant. But we must talk a little bit about Farouk al- Shara'a right now.
This is a Sunni Muslim who's not considered to be amongst the inner circle of al-Assad advisers. Now he's served as foreign minister for many years; he's been vice president as well. But there have been rumors about him for months now. At one point, many people thought that he might be under house arrest in Syria.
In August there were rumors by the opposition that he had defected to Jordan. Then he resurfaced later in Damascus. So there's been a lot of speculation about what exactly his role is now in the government.
But it is significant because this is somebody who the rebels and opposition members have said in the past they might be amenable to him leading an interim government. And in fact, Ahmed Davutoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, has said in the past that they were amenable to him being in a sort of interim transitional government as well, Monita.
RAJPAL: Interestingly enough for him to say that neither side can have any sort of -- make any sort of real movement in this conflict is certainly something that no one has said before within the Syrian government, I should say.
That said, what about what's happening within Syria right now? There have been often reports about certain rebel groups or the government making certain gains in certain parts of the country. But what is the latest today?
JAMJOOM: Well, there's still a lot of talk about what's going on in and around Damascus. The rebels gaining momentum, seizing control of more territory in Damascus. That's according to the opposition figures we've been talking to the last few days.
A particular concern has been this one area in Damascus called the Yarmouk camp, which is where Palestinian refugees are.
Now yesterday, there were reports that a warplane had bombarded the area, that at least 15 people had been killed as a result of that bombardment and that for the past 72 hours or so there had been fighting going on in that camp between factions that were loyal to the al-Assad regime and to rebels who were trying to gain a foothold in that camp.
So that's been a worrying development as far as what's going on there.
We hear today from rebels and from opposition activists the fighting is still going on in that camp. But we're also hearing about fighting going on in other parts of the country. As of yesterday, the last reports were that over 130 people had been killed across the country as a result of violence. Today, we've heard that at least 16 people killed, the majority of them in and around Damascus, Monita.
RAJPAL: All right. Mohammed, thank you very much for that.
Mohammed Jamjoom reporting to us there from Beirut.
Well, if a unity government is to be formed, it won't have a leading role for this man, the ousting of Bashar al-Assad is the main goal for most Syrian rebels. Nic Robertson assesses the options for the current president if he does choose to step aside.
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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Bashar al-Assad appeared on Syrian TV at the beginning of this year, he ended months of speculation over his intentions.
BASHAR AL-ASSAD, PRESIDENT OF SYRIA: (Speaking Arabic).
ROBERTSON (voice-over): He vowed to stay and fight rebels -- terrorists as he calls them -- and has given no indication since that he's changed his mind.
Iran and Russia have stood behind him.
But that's beginning to change. Russia's backing is for the first time beginning to look shaky. The state Douma deputy speaker hinted Assad may have to rethink his future.
"The current government in Syria must fulfill its functions but time has shown that it is not up to the task," he said.
Rebels are unequivocal. No peace talks until he's gone. The U.S., Europe, his neighbors Turkey and Jordan say he must go, too.
And as the rebels increasingly make more military gains, as backing from international allies strengthens, the question is beginning to be asked: will Assad stay and fight to the end as he has said?
Or will he go?
His biographer, David Lesch, has met him many times.
DAVID LESCH, AUTHOR: There is an air of resignation about his fate that he is going to leave his office one way or another. And this may indicate to me that, instead of the regime fighting to win now, that perhaps he is fighting to improve his bargaining position.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): For now his options, go or stay, are open and there are plenty of lessons from the Arab spring.
Unlike Moammar Gadhafi, the toppled Libyan leader, Assad has no international arrest warrants limiting his travel.
He still has time to do what the Tunisian leader Ben Ali did at the beginning of the Arab spring: make a run for it. He fled to Saudi Arabia. Unlikely Assad would go there.
LESCH: I cannot think of too many places that would house him. And probably the most viable option would be Iran. I don't think, knowing him personally, that would be a terribly desirous option.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak left it too late, fled to his palace at the port city of Sharm al Sheikh, still in Egypt and was arrested --
HOSNI MUBARAK, FORMER EGYPTIAN LEADER: (Speaking foreign language).
ROBERTSON (voice-over): -- ending up in court amid humiliating scenes, lying in a hospital bed.
Gadhafi called it completely wrong. He went on the run after balking, despite the advice of one aide, at cutting a deal that would allow him to flee the country. He paid with his life.
The key question for Lesch: who advises Assad now?
LESCH: He has listened a great deal to his wife over the years; she has been one of his primary advisors, as has his mother. And, again, from what I have heard, the mother is more of a stay-and-fight and we'll-make-our- way-through-this type of personality, perhaps more so than his wife. And that fits in, I think, more clearly with those in his inner circle.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): What is for sure, if he does run, he'll want to know the leader there isn't about to be toppled, too -- Nic Robertson, CNN, London.
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RAJPAL: Still ahead on NEWS STREAM, North Korea marks one year since the death of the "dear leader." We look at what we've learned about his son and successor in that time.
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RAJPAL: Incoming Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he will make reviving the economy job number one.
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RAJPAL (voice-over): Voters returned his conservative Liberal Democratic Party to power in Sunday's parliamentary election. Abe served as prime minister once before.
And the youngest leader since World War II when he took office in 2006, but he resigned a year later after series of scandals. Outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has promised to resign as leader of the Democratic Party.
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RAJPAL: Well, it's been one year since Kim Jong-un assumed control in North Korea on the death of his father, the man called the "dear leader." He joins thousands to lead Sunday's memorial for Kim Jong-Il. Paula Hancocks has more on how in the last year Kim Jong-un has set about putting his own stamp on the country, taking a different path than his father.
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PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Forced to grieve in public, Kim Jong-un mourned his father and mentor one year ago.
Thrust into the spotlight in his late 20s, he was considered by outsiders to be young and inexperienced.
Four months later, a rocket launch to mark the centenary of the birth of the founder of North Korea, Kim Il-sung, a hugely symbolic date.
Following his father's example, he ignored international criticism but the rocket failed.
A rare admission of failure to the North Korean (inaudible) followed by an even rarer speech by the leader.
The first time the world heard Kim Jong-un's voice he acknowledged his people's suffering.
KIM JONG-UN, NORTH KOREAN LEADER (through translator): Our party is determined our people will not have to tighten their belts, but will enjoy wealth and the honor of socialism.
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HANCOCKS (voice-over): Premier Jong-un quickly showed a more personable side to his father, and a willingness to interact with his people.
He introduced his wife to the world, and she accompanied him on many public engagements, unheard of during his father's reign.
JOHN DELURY, YONSEI UNIVERSITY: She's played a very surprising role in constructing this image of a looser, a more relaxed, a more open leader domestically. And one thing to watch for is is that going to translate in an international setting?
HANCOCKS (voice-over): But outside the cities, people still struggle to survive according to aid groups and brutal labor camps remain.
HANCOCKS: (Inaudible) groups here in Seoul claim that Kim Jong-un has cracked down on residents trying to escape the country, threatening to imprison or even kill three generations of the family left behind. It's a claim CNN cannot confirm.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): His (inaudible) was both solemn. Washington is bellicose and he has put his stamp on the military leadership, replacing the head of the army, Ri Yong Ho, and others.
DELURY: Certainly everyone has noticed a number of the key military figures, you know, four who walked with Kim Jong-Il's remains a year ago, have sort of disappeared from the scene or have been reshuffled.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Amid speculation of internal displeasure, Kim has a lot riding on December's rocket launch, with Pyongyang deemed a resounding success.
JASPER KIM, EWHA UNIVERSITY: Now it's a successful launch, I think it earned him a lot of patriotic points. So that will basically placate the military and so this will give him extra room to maneuver in terms of making modernization efforts, if that's his plan.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): From grieving son to triumphant leader in just one year -- Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.
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RAJPAL: Still to come here on NEWS STREAM, our coverage of the Newtown school shooting massacre continues.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At least one other teacher went out and actually tried to subdue the killer.
RAJPAL (voice-over): Dawn Hochsprung's family reflects on her life as a loving mother, wife and school principle. Our exclusive interview is next.
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MONITA RAJPAL, CNN HOST: Hello, I'm Monita Rajpal in Hong Kong. You're back watching NEWS STREAM. And these are the world headlines.
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RAJPAL (voice-over): The U.S. president has visited Newtown, Connecticut, the community devastated by the murder of 20 young children on Friday. In all, 26 people were killed when a gunman opened fire at the Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Barack Obama visited the families of the victims and attended a memorial service on Sunday. It was the fourth time in four years that he visited the scene of a mass shooting.
Syrian vice president Farouk al-Shara'a wants an historic settlement of his country's civil war. He was the country's long-time foreign minister and is calling for the creation of a national unity government. Rebel leaders say they will accept if he leaves it. The comments appear in an interview by the Lebanese newspaper, "Al Akhbar."
A funeral was being held in south India for the nurse who apparently committed suicide after taking a prank phone call from two Australian radio presenters who pretended to be Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles. The families of Jacintha Saldanha traveled from Britain to attend the service. Hundreds of people joined the in mourning.
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RAJPAL: We return now to the shooting tragedy in the U.S. state of Connecticut with so many people still searching for answers. We want to bring in our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, to help us give some perspective on the healing process for the survivors and families and what might have motivated the gunman. He joins us now live from Newtown.
Sanjay, thank you very much for being with us. There's still so many questions and right now for the families affected, there are so many stages that they're going through, grief, anger -- and how -- the fact of the matter is it's difficult for any of us to understand what they're going through. But what can a community do to help each other?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you're absolutely right, Monita, and I think we'd like easy answers to these sorts of things and be able to predict. Obviously everyone's going to be very different in terms of how they respond.
But you know, you know, being in this community, it's a small town here, Monita. You get a sense of people really do know each other. You know, walking around here, people babysat each other's kids a lot. Obviously the teachers in the schools, I think that that idea of the community as a whole somehow being that they all remind each other going through it together is therapeutic, to some extent.
There are stages of grief, as you mentioned; anger is one of them, denial, all of that, and also acceptance sort of at the end. And you even heard from some of the parents of these children talking about how their capacity to forgive came on quickly. I don't know that I could do that, frankly. I'm sure a lot of people watching wonder if they could as well.
But you heard that over and over again. And I think that that's part of the healing process. I don't -- it's very unnatural for a parent to bury their child. So I don't know that anyone ever completely gets over that. But you really can feel that healing beginning here, Monita.
RAJPAL: We often talk about the resilience of young children, that they -- some they can often bounce back sooner than adults often can. But how soon is really too soon to expect these young, young, little kids to feel safe and then actually go back to school, where it all took place?
GUPTA: Yes, you know, I think as far as, you know, going back to that school, I don't know that's -- it's going to be a tough decision, I think, for the community.
I can tell you, for example, after other tragedies -- Columbine, for example, which a lot of your viewers may remember that as well from many years ago -- that happened in April and it wasn't until August, after the summer break, that the school reopened. I think, you know, whether these students here at this school of Sandy Hook go to another school for a while, it's going to -- it's -- that's going to take time.
But I will tell you, in terms of, you know, children, they can be more resilient. But you know, this has to be acknowledged. I think there's a desire to protect children, maybe even not tell them. In today's day and age, that's just not possible. I mean, you can turn off the TV, but with all the other avenues that children have, talking to their friends, social media, they're going to learn about it.
So I think for parents, for spiritual leaders, for educators, they're going to have -- they're going to have some tough conversations ahead. And I think that -- and I've had these conversations with my own children. I think you check your own feelings as a parent first, because you want to be a source of comfort and support for your child.
And then you have the conversation. It doesn't mean you share, you know, graphic details. But it means you have an honest conversation about the -- you know, the world in which we live. I talk to my kids, Monita. I reminded them that this never happened in Daddy's school; it never happened in Mommy's school. And we were doing everything we could to make sure it didn't happen in her school.
But you know, but not denying the fact of what has transpired over the last few days.
RAJPAL: With that said, what should parents and teachers and even friends be looking out for? For instance, when we look at normal behavior at a certain time, I guess normality is questionable at the time. But are there any red flags that community leaders should be looking out for?
GUPTA: Well, you know, post-traumatic stress is something that can occur in children. We're used to thinking about it in adults, you know, and thinking about the hypervigilance and the quick reactions, hasty reactions in adults.
In children, it can be very different. They verbalize differently. They may play differently. They may play, you know, things using guns. They may regress developmentally. So all of a sudden your 6-year old may start to regress. And that could be a sign.
One of the biggest predictors as well as red flag, Monita, is sleep. Now I don't want this to sound too simplistic, but this whole idea that with these first few days, so parents really pay attention to their children's sleep. If they're -- if the child is getting good sleep. And this applies to adults as well. But if the child is getting good sleep, it's a very powerful predictor of how they're going to cope in the long run.
So making sure they get that sleep, I think, is important. I know easier said than done for a lot of people that are watching. But that -- if you want to focus in on something, that's a good place to focus your attention.
RAJPAL: A lot has been -- a lot has been said now about -- without speculating on the shooter, that a lot has been talking about -- a lot of people have been talking about mental illness. And we know that one in five kids and young adults in the United States suffer mental illness of some form.
Are kids getting the proper treatment that they need?
GUPTA: I don't think so. And I'm saying that in part as a -- as a physician that works at a hospital in a big city. I mean, you know, the threshold to get some sort of inpatient care, for example, is imminent threat of harm to yourself or to others. It's a high threshold, is my point.
And you know, there's a lot of steps where, you know, parents, loved ones recognize that there is, you know, there's mental illness here, but even if you have good resources, even if you have insurance, which as you know, Monita, a lot of people in this country don't, but even if you have those things, it's tough to get someone mental health treatment.
You know, you don't want to, you know, put them in the criminal justice system, because then you're basically having your kid arrested; you're giving them a record. You're changing their lives.
If you simply want to get them treatment, to say that they're going to harm themselves or harm somebody else, that's the crisis point. You don't want to get -- you don't want to get to that point. And then that's a problem.
We don't have what is known as parity in this country, meaning we don't think of mental illness and physical illness the same way. And I think we should. I mean, I -- you know, I've been saying this for a long time, but sometimes it takes something like this to remind people of that.
RAJPAL: All right, Sanjay, thank you very much for your perspective and your insight into this.
Of course, still many questions continue to be asked. And hopefully, one day soon, we'll get some answers.
Sanjay Gupta there, reporting to us live from Newtown in Connecticut.
Well, Sandy Hook Elementary School principal, Dawn Hocksprung was one of the victims. She not only dedicated her life to teaching students, but she also gave it, trying to save them. Her daughter tweeted this photo on Sunday, saying Dawn would be so proud to see President Obama holding her granddaughter. Gary Tuchman has this exclusive interview with the rest of the Hocksprung family.
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GARY TUCHMAN, CNN HOST (voice-over): Principal Dawn Hocksprung was quite a bit younger than her husband, George. But when they got married 10 years ago, both for the second time, she with two daughters and he with three, George was marrying his boss.
GEORGE HOCKSPRUNG, HUSBAND OF DAWN HOCKSPRUNG: When Dawn and I met, she was the assistant principal at our school, (inaudible) school, and I was a 7th grade math teacher at that time. And I just fell in love with her.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): George made the big decision: the time had come to proposed.
HOCKSPRUNG: She turned me down five times.
TUCHMAN: She asked you to marry her, but she turned you down?
HOCKSPRUNG: Five times.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).
TUCHMAN: So what happened the sixth time?
HOCKSPRUNG: Well, the sixth time I waited till it wasn't such rough sailing.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Indeed, George had been popping the question on a sailboat they bought together.
HOCKSPRUNG: We got married on a sloop out of Mystic (ph).
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Beth (ph), Amy (ph), and Ann (ph) are George's daughters from his first marriage. Erica (ph) is Dawn's daughter from her first marriage. Her other daughter, Tina (ph), was out while we were at the house. They were a blended but very close family with 11 grandchildren.
HOCKSPRUNG: Dawn and I built this beautiful house in the Adirondacks, our dream. And the dream was a chronological dream. It was going to be Dawn's house, because I was going to die and was going to be -- I'm much older than Dawn. It was going to be Dawn's house.
And Dawn's grandchildren and all these children could use the house on the lake and it would be wonderful. We'd built rooms downstairs for kids and it was going to be Dawn's house ultimately with (inaudible) -- with all the children, all the children. And now it's me. I can't -- I don't think I can do that.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): But I want to reiterate to you, George, you have these beautiful daughters and son-in-laws (sic) and grandchildren and everyone will be here to take care of you.
Isn't that right, ladies?
HOCKSPRUNG: Well, but my job has always been to take care of other people.
TUCHMAN: It's all right if some people take care of you for a while.
HOCKSPRUNG: No one's ever taken care (inaudible).
(CROSSTALK)
TUCHMAN (voice-over): While Dawn was the principal at Sandy Hook, George still taught at the middle school where they met. In the middle of the day Friday, this is how George found out what happened.
HOCKSPRUNG: One of the kids came up with a computer and said, "Something's happening at Sandy Hook School and your wife's been killed."
TUCHMAN (voice-over): George raced out of school and into a nightmare. Like all the families of victims, they want to know more. And on this day they have learned more. Two teachers who survived told George they were having a meeting with Dawn when the shots started ringing out.
HOCKSPRUNG: Dawn put herself in jeopardy, and I have been angry about that. Angry until just now, today, when I met the two women that she told to go into shelter while she actually confronted the gunman, that she could not have -- she could have avoided that. But she didn't. I knew she wouldn't. So I'm not angry anymore. I'm not angry. I'm just not angry anymore. I'm not angry. I'm just very sad.
And they said, we're at the meeting. There were gunshots. Somebody shot the window. Somebody came in, into the -- not into the office, but into the building, the foyer of the building. Dawn told us to go hide and she and at least one other teacher went out and actually tried to subdue the killer. I don't know where that comes, Dawn was 5'2".
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Everyone here is so proud, no one more so than Erica, who said her mom was always there for her daughters.
ERICA LAFFERTY, DAUGHTER OF DAWN HOCKSPRUNG: Every game she was there; every practice she was there. All of my sister's cheerleading stuff, she was there, every day (inaudible). She was doing homework on the bleachers. But she was there. And she was my rock. My rock.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): And now she is a hero, too.
TUCHMAN: (Inaudible) ask you this, what would you say to your mom right now?
LAFFERTY: Come back. Come back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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RAJPAL: Welcome back. You are watching NEWS STREAM. We have shown you North Korea's first year under Kim Jong-un. Later, we'll talk about using wireless devices on planes. But now we want to take you to sport and the incredible feats of Barcelona's Lionel Messi.
He won the scorer's showdown at the weekend and strengthened Barcelona's claims to another Spanish title. We want to join Alex Thomas in London for more on that.
Hello, Alex.
ALEX THOMAS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hi, again, Monita.
Barcelona has increased its lead in Spain's La Liga to 9 points after Lionel Messi got the better of Falcao in a clash of the leading scorers with Atletico Madrid emerging as Barca's closest title rivals.
This was a top-of-the-table clash and Messi hit the back of the net twice in a 4-1 victory for the Catalan team. It takes his record tally for the year to 90. Falcao scored his side's only goal and now has 26 in all competitions this season.
So Barcelona guaranteed to be top of Spain's premier league at Christmas. And Atletico will go into 2013 as their nearest challengers after Real Madrid's draw at home to Espanyol. Messi has scored 90 goals in 2012 and still has one more game to increase that record even further. Barcelona take on Real Valladolid next Saturday.
England's cricketers have made history winning their first Test series in India for almost three decades. Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell scored centuries as England reached 352 in their second innings on the final day at the fourth test. That was enough to secure a draw and a 2-1 series victory. The last time that happened was back in 1984.
Although Captain Alastair Cook didn't score many runs in the final match, he was named Man of the Series for his exploits in the earlier games. It means England consolidate their second place in the world rankings.
Much of the sporting world has been paying tribute to the victims of last week's school shooting tragedy in Connecticut in the United States. There was a moment's silence before every NFL game and there was a mark of respect for some of the weekend's fixtures in the NBA, too.
Giants' wide receiver Victor Cruz wrote the name of Jack Pinto on his boots. The 6-year old was a huge fan of the player and may even be buried in a replica Cruz kit.
VICTOR CRUZ, NY GIANTS WIDE RECEIVER: I was very emotional, obviously when a family's facing that much tragedy, you want to, you know, you want to be someone that inspires them, someone that can put a smile on their face at a time where, you know, it's tough to do that.
THOMAS: That's all for now. And later we'll have more in "WORLD SPORT" in just over three hours' time.
RAJPAL: All right, Alex. Thank you very much for that.
You know, they say the sky's the limit and that's certainly been the case when it comes to wi-fi in airplanes. We'll tell you why more and more people are now able to get online onboard.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RAJPAL: Let's get you the very latest now on the weather conditions. Tom Sater joins us now from the World Weather Center, and Tom, a cyclone has slammed into Fiji.
(AUDIO GAP)
RAJPAL: All right. We do apologize. We apparently can't hear Mr. Sater. We'll try and get him up a little bit later on.
But for now, until recently -- oh, I've been told we can hear him now.
Tom, can you hear me?
TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, my apologies, Monita. Let's go right to the situation.
This is as serious as it gets. When we talk about the tropical cyclone season, this is the first of the season. Samoa right now, devastated with more rainfall than we had with Bopha. In fact, for the most part, we have lost communication with the islands of Wallis and Futuna. We do believe that, of course, that the eye of the center moved right over.
And now as the amounts of rainfall are approaching 250, the main island of Viti Levu and around Nandi, we hear the airport, the international airport is packed with passengers. It's about almost 3 o'clock in the morning now. And as the center of the eye moved over areas of around Apia -- this is in Samoa -- all power is out in Samoa right now.
And you cannot get around because of the downed trees and power lines. But the eye moved right along the coast. There are a number of communities that live in this coastal region. Right now the center of the eye is now moving away from the shoreline, but we continue as the system spins clockwise to have more rainfall and to still have some very strong and damaging winds.
When you look at Fiji itself the north island, they expect this could be just as bad. In 1972, when Cyclone Bebe moved into the area. But we're concerned about the entire coastline. We had earlier pictures from the other side of Viti Levu, away from the storm center. And I'll show you a picture there in a moment. But the coastal communities here and some of the smaller islands may have been submerged.
This is a picture that came out long before the storm system moved along the coastline. The outer eye wall band making its way along the coast devastating what most of the western coast of Fiji. This is from Suva, the capital, long before the system moved in. It's the only picture we were able to receive from them before power may have been lost.
The system is moving so slow right now, Monita, if you were an avid runner, you could keep pace with this system. We're going to watch it as it continues to move away from Fiji. We'll be watching for pictures and more information as it comes in. But this is, as mentioned, as serious as it gets. Back to you.
RAJPAL: All right.
Tom, thank you very much for that.
Well, until recently, the one place where you could never get online was in flight. But that is changing as more and more airlines offer wi-fi. Rosie Tomkins explains how it works.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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ROSIE TOMKINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Today's world is one of constant communication. Until recently, the final frontier of that connectivity was up in the air, not perhaps, though, for much longer. I'm boarding a Norwegian Air flight from London to Oslo, the first and only airline offering high-speed wi-fi in Europe free of charge.
TOMKINS: I'm just tweeting that I'm on board to see how quickly it goes through. (Inaudible) go. There it is. That was pretty quick.
TOMKINS (voice-over): Norwegian claims that almost half of its passengers use the service. A stroll down the aisle of our flight does seem to reflect that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it works really well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very efficient, very effective for (inaudible) my business.
TOMKINS (voice-over): Wi-fi in flight is not new. Boeing tried and failed to launch it 10 years ago. Industry players say that now is the moment for the service to really take off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we started, it was just as iPhones were coming in. So, there was also this convergence of technology, which has really driven our growth.
TOMKINS (voice-over): Norwegian uses a satellite-based system provided by industry leader Row 44.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Generally speaking, the gear itself cost a couple hundred thousand dollars minimum. And then there's installation costs.
TOMKINS: You can just about make out there a box sitting on the roof of the plane. That's the main piece of equipment that enables the aircraft to carry wi-fi. It's about the size of a few large suitcases and it works just like any satellite dish.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you're looking at is our aeronautical antenna, and it has the ability to orient itself and basically point to the individual satellites in order to communicate the signal.
TOMKINS (voice-over): An alternative to these satellite systems are those which transmit to cell towers on the ground. Faster and much cheaper to install, but limited to flights inland and not over sea.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Satellite technology today is not as cost-effective as our underground (ph) network, but it has the advantage of covering everywhere over -- including over the ocean.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm about to send an email. Bam. Just about a shame to (inaudible) antlers of a gazelle.
What did you do, play another game of solitaire on your little computer phone? How very 2008 for you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the same reason they want it at the home or the office or at a Starbucks or anywhere else, it's a part of our lives now. And so it's a one-way street. You have to be connected.
TOMKINS (voice-over): The question is, would you pay for it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, as long as it's not overly expensive, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Between $5 and$10, something like that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I probably wouldn't pay for it. It's just a luxury, that. And (inaudible) use it it's not (inaudible).
TOMKINS (voice-over): There are no doubts those among us it will not be celebrating, relishing peace and quiet in flight, the one place you can still say, I can't be reached for a few hours; I'll email you when I land. Like it or not, though, all signs point to the fact that pretty soon the final frontier of connect will be no longer -- Rosie Tomkins, CNN, at 35,000 feet somewhere between London and Oslo.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJPAL: And I'm Monita Rajpal in Hong Kong. That is NEWS STREAM for this Monday. But the news continues at CNN. "WORLD BUSINESS TODAY" is next.
END
