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New Scientist 2012 holiday quiz

Label: World

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THIS was the year we held our breath in almost unbearable anticipation while we waited to see whether physicists at the Large Hadron Collider would finally get a clear view of the Higgs boson, so tantalisingly hinted at last December. Going a bit blue, we held on through March when one of the LHC's detectors seemed to lose sight of the thing, before exhaling in a puff of almost-resolution in July, when researchers announced that the data added up to a fairly confident pretty-much-actual-discovery of the particle.

Early indications were that it might be a weird and wonderful variety of the Higgs, prompting a collective gasp of excitement. That was followed by a synchronised sigh of mild disappointment when later data implied that it was probably the most boring possible version after all, and not a strange entity pointing the way to new dimensions and the true nature of dark matter. Prepare yourself for another puff or two as the big story moves on next year.

This respirational rollercoaster might be running a bit too slowly to supply enough oxygen to the brain of a New Scientist reader, so we have taken care to provide more frequent oohs and aahs using less momentous revelations. See how many of the following unfundamental discoveries you can distinguish from the truth-free mimics that crowd parasitically around them.

1. Which of these anatomical incongruities of the animal kingdom did we describe on 14 July?

a) A fish, found in a canal in Vietnam, that wears its genitals under its mouth
b) A frog, found in a puddle in Peru, that has no spleen
c) A lizard, found in a cave in Indonesia, that has four left feet
d) A cat, found in a tree in northern England, that has eight extra teeth

2. "A sprout by any other name would taste as foul." So wrote William Shakespeare in his diary on 25 December 1598, setting off the centuries of slightly unjust ridicule experienced by this routinely over-cooked vegetable. But which forbiddingly named veg did we report on 7 July as having more health-giving power than the sprout, its active ingredient being trialled as a treatment for prostate cancer?

a) Poison celery
b) Murder beans
c) Inconvenience potatoes
d) Death carrots

3. Scientists often like to say they are opening a new window on things. Usually that is a metaphor, but on 10 November we reported on a more literal innovation in the fenestral realm. It was:

a) A perspex peephole set in the nest of the fearsome Japanese giant hornet, to reveal its domestic habits
b) A glass porthole implanted in the abdomen of a mouse, to reveal the process of tumour metastasis
c) A crystal portal in the inner vessel of an experimental thorium reactor, to reveal its nuclear fires to the naked eye
d) A small window high on the wall of a basement office in the Princeton physics department, to reveal a small patch of sky to postgraduate students who have not been outside for seven years

4. On 10 March we described a new material for violin strings, said to produce a brilliant and complex sound richer than that of catgut. What makes up these super strings?

a) Mousegut
b) Spider silk
c) Braided carbon nanotubes
d) An alloy of yttrium and ytterbium

5. While the peril of climate change looms inexorably larger, in this festive-for-some season we might take a minute to look on the bright side. On 17 March we reported on one benefit of global warming, which might make life better for some people for a while. It was:

a) Receding Arctic sea ice will make it easier to lay undersea cables to boost internet speeds
b) Increasing temperatures mean that Greenlanders can soon start making their own wine
c) Rising sea levels could allow a string of new beach resorts to open in the impoverished country of Chad
d) More acidic seawater will add a pleasant tang to the salt water taffy sweets made in Atlantic City

6. In Alaska's Glacier Bay national park, the brown bear in the photo (above, right) is doing something never before witnessed among bearkind, as we revealed on 10 March. Is it:

a) Making a phonecall?
b) Gnawing at a piece of whalebone to dislodge a rotten tooth?
c) Scratching itself with a barnacle-covered stone tool?
d) Cracking oysters on its jaw?

7. Men have much in common with fruit flies, as we revealed on 24 March. When the sexual advances of a male fruit fly are rejected, he may respond by:

a) Whining
b) Hitting the booze
c) Jumping off a tall building
d) Hovering around the choosy female long after all hope is lost

8. While great Higgsian things were happening at the LHC, scientists puzzled over a newly urgent question: what should we call the boson? Peter Higgs wasn't the only physicist to predict its existence, and some have suggested that the particle's name should also include those other theorists or perhaps reflect some other aspect of the particle. Which of the following is a real suggestion that we reported on 24 March?

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More parents sending children for ECA during school holidays

Label: Technology

SINGAPORE: More parents are sending their children for extra-curricular activities during the school holidays.

Parents say this allows the kids to spend time in a fun and meaningful way.

Singing along to a "pizza song", these children pick up pizza-making skills from a restaurant chef.

The lyrics have been modified to help them remember the steps.

Some parents also joined in the sessions to bond with their children.

The chef says enrolment goes up by some 30 per cent during the school holidays.

And this year, he conducted five more classes to cater to the demand.

Those who prefer more active options enlisted into sports camps.

One training camp by the Singapore Table Tennis Association teaches children the basics of the game.

Through special exercises, the children - aged between seven and 10 - build up their stamina and increase their flexibility.

There are 20 to 30 children in each session.

- CNA/de

Zelizer: Six political lessons of 2012

Label: Lifestyle

2012: The year in pictures

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Julian Zelizer: 2012 was a year of bitter domestic battles, turbulence overseas

He says the weakness of GOP, renewed strength of liberalism were apparent

Zelizer says the year also highlighted the influence of new immigrants in America

Zelizer: Year ended with a tragic reminder about need to act on gun control

Editor's note: Julian Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. He is the author of "Jimmy Carter" and of the new book "Governing America."

(CNN) -- 2012 has been a tumultuous year in American politics. With the presidential election capping off the year, Americans have witnessed a series of bitter domestic battles and turbulent events overseas. As the year closes out, it is worth thinking about some of the most important lessons that politicians and voters can learn from this year as they prepare for 2013.

Here are six:

The Republican brand name is in trouble: The GOP took a drubbing in 2012. To be sure, Mitt Romney ran a problematic campaign. His inability to connect with voters and a number of embarrassing gaffes hurt the chances for Republicans to succeed.

Julian Zelizer

Just as important to the outcome was the party that Romney represented. Voters are not happy with the GOP. Public approval for the party has been extremely low. Congressional Republicans have helped to bring down the party name with their inability to compromise.

Recent polls show that if the nation goes off the fiscal cliff, the Republicans would be blamed. According to a survey by NBC and the Wall Street Journal, 65 percent of people asked for a short word or phrase to describe the GOP came up with something negative. The Republican Party was also the lowest-rated political institution.

The exit polls in November showed that the GOP is out of step with the electorate on a number of big issues, including immigration and gay marriage. If Republicans don't undertake some serious reforms and offer fresh voices, all the new messaging in the world won't help them as the competition starts for 2016.

Opinion: Madness in the air in Washington

America has grown more liberal on cultural and social issues: The election results confirmed what polls have been showing for some time. If the 1960s was a battle over conservative "traditional family values" and liberal ideals of social relations, liberals eventually won. Throughout the year, polls showed, for example, that the public was becoming more tolerant of gay marriage and civil unions. Americans support the view that gay sex should be legal by a margin of 2-1, compared to 1977 when the public was split.

In the election, same-sex marriage was approved in three states, voters in Wisconsin sent to office the first openly gay senator, and two states approved of referendums to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. Americans are accepting of social diversity, and expect that the pluralism of the electorate will be reflected by the composition of elected officials in Washington.

While there are some conservative voices who lament these changes and warn of a nation that is veering toward Sodom, a majority are more than comfortable that some of the taboos and social restrictions of earlier eras are fading and that we live in a nation which is more tolerant than ever before. These social and cultural changes will certainly raise more questions about restrictive practices and policies that remain in place while creating pressure for new kinds of leaders who are responsive to these changes.

The Middle East remains a tinderbox: In the years that followed Barack Obama's election, there was some hope that the Middle East could become a calmer region. When revolutions brought down some of the most notorious dictators in the region, many Americans cheered as the fervor for democracy seemed to be riding high.

But events in 2012 threw some cold water on those hopes. The Muslim Brotherhood won control of the Egyptian government. In Syria, the government brutally cracked down on opponents, reaching the point in December where Obama's administration has started to talk about the possibility of the al-Assad regime using chemical weapons, though the severity of the threat is unclear. The battles between Palestinians and Israel raged with rockets being fired into Tel Aviv and Israelis bombing targets in Gaza.

Although national attention is focused on domestic policy, it is clear that the Middle East has the capacity to command national attention at any moment and remains as explosive as ever.

Our infrastructure needs repair: Hurricane Sandy devastated the Northeast in November, leaving millions of Americans on the East Coast without power and with damaged property. Soon after the hurricane hit, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo made an important point. The infrastructure of our cities is outdated and needs to be revamped so that it can withstand current weather patterns. Speaking of the need for levees in New York, Cuomo said: "It is something we're going to have to start thinking about ... The construction of this city did not anticipate these kinds of situations."

Regardless of whether Congress takes action on the issue of climate change, in the short term cities and suburbs must do more work to curtail the kind of damage wreaked by these storms and to mitigate the costs of recovery -- building underground power lines, increasing resources for emergency responders, building state-of-the-art water systems, and constructing effective barriers to block water from flooding.

The new immigrants are a powerful political and social force: As was the case in the turn of the twentieth century when Eastern and Southern Europeans came into this county, massive waves of immigration are remaking the social fabric of the nation. Latino-Americans, Asian-Americans and other new portions of the electorate who have been coming into the country since the reform of immigration laws in 1965 are coming to represent a bigger and bigger portion of the electorate.

Not only are their numbers growing as a voting bloc, but they are more organized and active than ever before, both on election day as well as in policy making.

Soon after the election, The New York Times reported that 600 members of United We Dream, a network of younger immigrants who don't have their papers, met for three days to plan how to lobby for a bill that would enable 11 million illegal immigrants to become legal. One of the leaders, Christina Jimenez, explained: "We have an unprecedented opportunity to engage our parents, our cousins, our abuelitos in this fight." They have both parties scrambling as Democrats are working to fulfill the promises that brought these voters to their side in November, while some Republicans are desperate to dampen the influence of hardline anti-immigration activists in their party.

We need to do something about guns. The year ended with a horrific shooting at an elementary school in Connecticut. When a 20-year-old went on a rampage apparently using guns that had been legally purchased by his mother, the world watched with horror. Several prominent conservative advocates of gun rights, including former congressman and television host Joseph Scarborough as well as Sen. Joe Manchin, made statements indicating that the time has come to impose stricter controls and regulations on the purchase of weapons. "I don't know anybody in the sporting or hunting arena that goes out with an assault file," Manchin said.

Over the next few weeks, there will certainly be a big debate about what caused this shooting. People from different perspectives will highlight different issues but making it more difficult for people to get their hands on certain kinds of weapons, while not a cure-all, can only diminish the chances of this happening again.

There are many more lessons but these six stand out. After the trauma of the past week, let's hope the new year starts off with better days.

Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion

Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Julian Zelizer.

Newtown Christmas: 'We Know They'll Feel Loved'

Label: Business

As residents prepared to observe Christmas less than two weeks after a gunman killed 20 children and six educators at an elementary school, people sharing in the town's mourning brought offerings of cards, handmade snowflakes and sympathy.

Tiny empty Christmas stockings with the victims' names on them hung from trees in the neighborhood where the children were shot. On Christmas Eve, residents said they would light luminaries outside their homes in memory of the victims.

"We know that they'll feel loved. They'll feel that somebody actually cares," said Treyvon Smalls, a 15-year-old from a few towns away who arrived at town hall with hundreds of cards and paper snowflakes collected from around the state.

At the Trinity Episcopal Church, less than 2 miles from the school, an overflow crowd of several hundred people attended Christmas Eve services. They were greeted by the sounds of a children's choir echoing throughout a sanctuary hall that had its walls decorated with green wreaths adorned with red bows.

The church program said flowers were donated in honor of Sandy Hook shooting victims, identified by name or as the "school angels" and "Sandy Hook families."

Julio Cortez, File/AP Photo

U.S. Sends Christmas Wishes to Newtown, Conn. Watch Video

Season of Giving: Newtown Tragedy Inspires Country to Spread Kindness Watch Video

Gun Violence Victims, Survivors Share Thoughts After Newtown Massacre Watch Video

The service, which generally took on a celebratory tone, made only a few vague references to the shooting. Pastor Kathie Adams-Shepherd led the congregation in praying "that the joy and consolation of the wonderful counselor might enliven all who are touched by illness, danger, or grief, especially all those families affected by the shootings in Sandy Hook."

Police say the gunman, Adam Lanza, killed his mother in her bed before his Dec. 14 rampage and committed suicide as he heard officers arriving. Authorities have yet to give a theory about his motive.

While the grief is still fresh, some residents are urging political activism in the wake of the tragedy. A grassroots group called Newtown United has been meeting at the library to talk about issues ranging from gun control, to increasing mental health services to the types of memorials that could be erected for the victims. Some clergy members have said they also intend to push for change.

"We seek not to be the town of tragedy," said Rabbi Shaul Praver of Congregation Adath Israel. "But, we seek to be the town where all the great changes started."

Since the shooting, messages similar to the ones delivered Monday have arrived from around the world. People have donated toys, books, money and more. A United Way fund, one of many, has collected $3 million. People have given nearly $500,000 to a memorial scholarship fund at the University of Connecticut. On Christmas Day, police from other towns have agreed to work so Newtown officers can have the time off.

At Washington's National Cathedral, the 20 children who were killed also were remembered. Angels made of paper doilies were used to adorn the altar in the children's chapel. They'll be displayed there through Jan. 6.

In the center of Newtown's Sandy Hook section Monday, a steady stream of residents and out-of-towners snapped pictures, lit candles and dropped off children's gifts at an expansive memorial filled with stuffed animals, poems, flowers, posters and cards.

"All the families who lost those little kids, Christmas will never be the same," said Philippe Poncet, a Newtown resident originally from France. "Everybody across the world is trying to share the tragedy with our community here."

Dangerous liaisons: Fatal animal attractions

Label: World

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Putin signs helicopter, jet deals with Indian PM

Label: Technology

NEW DELHI: Visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin signed deals to sell 71 military helicopters and kits to build 42 fighter jets to India on Monday as he sought to firm up ties with a traditional ally.

The contract for Mi-17 helicopters was first signed in 2010 and India has now increased the order from 59 to 71, the ministry of external affairs said in its list of deals agreed by Putin and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

India, which is one of the world's largest arms importers as it works to upgrade its military, depends on Russian-made military equipment that accounts for 70 per cent of its arms supplies.

"Russia is a key partner in our efforts to modernise our armed forces and enhance our defence preparedness," Singh said after holding talks with Putin and signing ten deals ranging from science and technology to education.

"A number of joint design, development and production projects are underway in high-technology areas. We expressed satisfaction that these projects are progressing well," Singh said.

Also among the deals were the delivery of parts for 42 Su-30MKI fighter planes for assembly in India. The original agreement for the jets was signed last year.

The value of the two deals was not known but Russian news agencies said they were worth about US$2.9 billion.

Russia once had a virtual monopoly over India's arms market, but New Delhi has been shopping around in recent years and Putin's visit is seen in Moscow as a chance to regain lost ground.

Moscow has been worried recently by New Delhi's increasing preference for Western suppliers, especially after Boeing was chosen last month over Russia's Mil plant for a major helicopter contract.

India has been unhappy about delays to deliveries of some naval equipment, notably the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov, which is being refurbished for the Indian Navy in Russia.

Russia was originally to deliver the upgraded vessel in August 2008, but the date has now been pushed back to the end of 2013 while the price has more than doubled to US$2.3 billion.

After the meeting on Monday, Putin said the dialogue was "substantial and constructive".

"We agreed to deepen ties in the areas of military and defence sectors," he said.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund, a sovereign wealth fund, and the State Bank of India agreed to jointly invest up to US$2 billion to promote trade and economic cooperation projects.

The leaders also discussed the construction of India's largest nuclear power plant, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

First conceived in 1988, the Russian-built Kudankulam plant was expected to start operations in 2011. But protesters surrounded the compound after an earthquake and tsunami hit Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant in March 2011.

Singh said negotiations for the construction of Units 3 and 4 at Kudankulam had made good progress.

Bilateral trade has been growing steadily and is expected to reach around US$10 billion in 2012, up from US$7.5 billion in 2009, according to official figures.

"Our trade turnover has overcome the consequences of global crisis, and in 2012 we expect to reach record numbers, over US$10 billion. Our next goal is to reach US$20 billion already by 2015," Putin had said before the one-day visit.

Agreements in the pharmaceutical, chemical and cultural sectors were also signed on Monday.

The venue of the talks was switched to Singh's official residence due to violent protests in central New Delhi following the gang-rape of a student that has caused widespread public outrage.

- AFP/xq

Afghan police officer kills American contractor

Label: Lifestyle

By Masoud Popalzai, CNN

updated 7:55 AM EST, Mon December 24, 2012

Afghan policemen stand guard at the site where a female police officer shot dead a foreign civilian adviser.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NEW: The shooter was a police officer, an Interior Ministry spokesman said

On Sunday, a police commander killed five officers

Monday's incident is the first insider attack involving a female shooter

A Pentagon report says there has been an overall increase in "insider attacks"

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- A female Afghan police officer shot and killed an American contractor in the Kabul police headquarters early Monday, authorities said.

The shooting death comes a day after five policemen were killed by their commander in Jawzjan province, in the north.

The incidents add to the rising number of insider attacks by Afghan soldiers and police officers -- or attackers dressed like them.

More than 50 people have been killed in Afghanistan in similar attacks this year, which the Afghan government calls acts of terrorism.

Read more: SEAL commander's death in Afghanistan an apparent suicide, military says

Monday's incident was unusual because it was the first time that such an attack involved a female shooter, said Hagen Messer, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

Sediq Seddiqi, a spokesman for Afghan Interior Ministry, said that the suspect has been a member of the police force for two years. The woman, around 40 years old, was arrested and has been questioned, he said.

The victim was a civilian contractor for ISAF who was working as an adviser to Afghan police, said Maj. Martyn Crighton, another ISAF spokesman. A coalition official, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said the contractor was an American.

Read more: Britain's Cameron pays surprise visit to troops in Afghanistan

A biannual Pentagon report to Congress this month said there's been an overall increase in "insider attacks" on U.S. or coalition training forces.

"The rise in insider attacks has the potential to adversely affect the coalition's political landscape," according to the report. "It remains clear that the insider threat is both an enemy tactic and has a cultural component," according to the report.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for Monday's attack. But a Taliban spokesman said it carried out Sunday's attack on the five policemen.

Read more: Karzai welcomes UK troop withdrawal plan

In that incident, the police commander who killed the men was a Taliban insurgent who had infiltrated the Afghan police, said Abdul Aziz Ghairat, police chief of Jawzjan province.

The Taliban spokesman said the commander was in touch with the militant group before the attack, and is now in a safe place in their midst.

The Pentagon report said Taliban insurgents have lost some of their punch since their 2010 peak, but they remain "resilient and determined" and "will likely attempt to regain lost ground and influence" through assassinations, high-profile attacks, the use of roadside bombs and other violence.

Also Monday, an ISAF service member was killed in an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan.

Per policy, ISAF did not release the service member's name or nationality.

Read more: Landmine kills 10 girls collecting firewood

CNN's Samira Said and Neda Farshbaf contributed to this report.

Part of complete coverage on

updated 4:24 PM EST, Thu December 13, 2012

America's longest war is expected to conclude by the end of next year, when the United States plans to withdraw all its combat troops from Afghanistan.

updated 12:10 PM EST, Fri December 14, 2012

Erin Burnett speakes to a future Afghan space engineer and president. The family of Fawzia Koofi is OutFront.

U.S. underestimates importance of Islam in making Afghanistan a better place. Authors say Islam establishes protection and preservation of life, and dignity for all.

updated 9:28 PM EST, Thu November 29, 2012

The number of people forced to flee their homes in Afghanistan is increasing and the conditions for the displaced are falling well below international standards, a new study by the Norwegian Refugee Council found.

updated 7:06 AM EST, Fri December 14, 2012

Panetta seems optimistic about Afghan security. Erin Burnett talks to two individuals about the reality on the ground.

updated 6:01 AM EST, Fri December 14, 2012

It has been 11 years of war in Afghanistan. Erin Burnett reports on where things stand now and what's next?

updated 3:24 PM EDT, Fri June 8, 2012

Unexploded munitions from war games in Afghanistan make a dangerous play ground for local children

updated 4:45 PM EDT, Wed May 16, 2012

When it comes to negotiating with the Taliban, it's always one step forward, two steps back.

updated 12:03 PM EST, Wed December 12, 2012

Focused, determined and dedicated: that's how friends and neighbors describe Nicolas Checque, the Navy SEAL killed during the successful rescue of an American doctor kidnapped in Afghanistan.

updated 9:08 PM EST, Thu December 13, 2012

Erin Burnett talks to the Berndt family about their loved one, Sgt. 1st Class Josh Berndt being deployed in Afghanistan.

Her story of torture by the Taliban made her the iconic face of the oppression of women in Afghanistan.

American contractor killed by Afghan policewoman

Label: Health

Updated 6:10 a.m. EST

KABUL, Afghanistan An Afghan policewoman shot and killed an American adviser outside the police headquarters in Kabul on Monday, the latest in a rising tide of insider attacks by Afghans against their foreign allies, senior Afghan officials said.

The woman, identified as Afghan police Sgt. Nargas, had entered a strategic compound in the heart of the capital and shot the adviser with a pistol as he came out of a small shop with articles he had just bought, Kabul Governor Abdul Jabar Taqwa told The Associated Press.

The woman was taken into Afghan custody shortly after the attack.

Earlier, she had asked bystanders where the governor's office was located, the governor said. As do many Afghans, the policewoman uses only one name.

A NATO command spokesman, U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Lester T. Carroll, said the woman was arrested after the incident. The slain adviser was a contractor whose identity wasn't immediately released.

The attack occurred outside the police headquarters in a walled, highly secure compound which also houses the governor's office, courts and a prison. Kabul Deputy Police Chief Mohammad Daoud Amin said an investigation was under way.

"We can confirm that a civilian police adviser was shot and killed this morning by a suspected member of the Afghan uniformed police. The suspected shooter is in Afghan custody," Carroll said.

The slaying was apparently the first "insider attack" involving a female assailant.

The killing came just hours after an Afghan policeman shot five of his colleagues at a checkpoint in northern Afghanistan late Monday. The attacker then stole his colleague's weapons and fled to join the Taliban, said deputy provincial governor in Jawzjan province, Faqir Mohammad Jawzjani.

More than 60 international allies, including troops and civilian advisers, have been killed by Afghan soldiers or police this year, and a number of other "insider attacks," as they are known, are still under investigation.

NATO forces, due to mostly withdraw from the country by 2014, have sped up efforts to train and advise Afghan military and police units before the pullout.

The surge in insider attacks is throwing doubt on the capability of the Afghan security forces to take over from international troops and has further undermined public support in NATO countries for the 11-year war. It has also stoked suspicion among some NATO units of their Afghan counterparts, although others enjoy close working relations with Afghan military and police.

As such attacks mounted this year, U.S. officials in Kabul and Washington insisted they were "isolated incidents" and withheld details. An AP investigation earlier this month showed that at least 63 coalition troops -- mostly Americans -- had been killed and more than 85 wounded in at least 46 insider attacks. That's an average of nearly one attack a week. In 2011, 21 insider attacks killed 35 coalition troops.

There have also been incidents of Taliban and other militants dressing in Afghan army and police uniforms to infiltrate NATO installations and attack foreigners.

In February, two U.S. soldiers,- Lt. Col. John D. Loftis and Maj. Robert J. Marchanti, died from wounds received during an attack by an Afghan policeman at the Interior Ministry in Kabul. The incident forced NATO to temporarily pull out their advisers from a number of ministries and police units and revise procedures in dealing with Afghan counterparts.

The latest known insider attack took place Nov. 11 when a British soldier, Capt. Walter Reid Barrie, was killed by an Afghan army soldier during a football match between British and Afghan soldiers in the restive southern province of Helmand.

More than 50 Afghan members of the government's security forces also have died this year in attacks by their own colleagues. Taliban militants claim such attacks reflect a growing popular opposition to both foreign military presence and the Kabul government.

In Sunday's attack, Jawzjani, the provincial official, said the attacker was an Afghan policeman manning a checkpoint in Dirzab District who turned his weapon on five colleagues before fleeing to the militant Islamist group.

Newtown Inspires Country to Spread Kindness

Label: Business

While the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School have no doubt left the nation shaken, they have also inspired an outpouring of acts of kindness from across the nation and around the world.

The central hub of many of these is on display in the U.S. Post Office in Newtown, Conn., a community shaken by the killing of 20 children and six school staff members by 20-year-old Adam Lanza, who also killed his mother and shot himself.

Mountains of mail and packages are flowing in from all over the world. Some are simply addressed to "Newtown" or specific families who lost people in the shootings. They're coming with return addresses ranging from Idaho to Virginia Beach and far beyond.

"I think I saw Brazil, Australia, (one addressed to) 'Anybody in Newtown who needs a hug.' It is just amazing," said a postal employee in Newtown.

In the town hall, donated toys are piling up just in time for Christmas.

Kindness is even flowing from victims of other tragedies like Hurricane Sandy, who sent hundreds of teddy bears to hand out to children in the community.

"We've had so much help, we wanted to pay it forward and try to help somebody else," one woman said.

Now, Newtown is hoping people everywhere "pay it forward" in their own communities, with the memory of those lost in the shootings serving as inspiration.

It's a concept that seems to be spreading across America.

Gun Violence Victims, Survivors Share Thoughts After Newtown Massacre Watch Video

Newtown Shooting: Moment of Silence in Connecticut Watch Video

In Michigan, a secret Santa of sorts paid off everyone's layaway items at a store there.

Reports are streaming in on Twitter from around the nation of others receiving coffees or meals paid for anonymously by others.

In New Jersey, Kristen Albright told ABC News she found an anonymous card in her shopping cart at Target, where she had gone to buy ingredients for holiday cookies.

She looked down, and found a gift card to Target inserted into a greeting card that asked her to pay it forward to others, in honor of Newtown shooting victim Catherine Hubbard.

"It really made me stop. I was frozen. It made me think about that little girl," Albright said.

Inspired, she did what the card asked, and gave it to a bank teller at the other end of a deposit she was making. Albright says her 11-year-old son Jackson has begun randomly giving now too.

"It really made me think of the bigger picture and family and friends, and extending that kindness to strangers as well," Albright said.

Stacey Jones of Surprise, Arizona wrote ABC to say she too has been inspired.

"I went to Target, purchased two gift cards, put them in seperate envelopes along with the message and handed them to strangers as I exited the store and entered the parking lot," Jones said. :It really felt good to do a small kind deed for someone."

Nicole Reyes of Boston had never heard of the growing movement of kindness when she found a ziplock bag tucked underneath her windshield on her way to work this morning. Inside, she found a Christmas lollipop with a note on a Christmas card that said it was, "In memory of Emily Parker, 6." And urged her to "Pay it forward!"

"I took a minute to remind myself of how amazing it is that a community, and entire nation can come together in the wake of such tragedy," Reyes said. "I ran into my house to show my mother the note. After reading it she immediately started crying. It was a special moment for her and I."

If you would like to share other stories related to this or anything else you can do so by tweeting this correspondent @greenblattmark.

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