Blast rocks offices of Mexican state-run oil company

By CNN Staff

updated 7:16 PM EST, Thu January 31, 2013

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Foro TV says 75 are injured; an official says a tally hasn't been released


• Some people are trapped in building's basement, the CNN affiliate says


• "There are injured and significant damage," a Pemex spokesman says


• The blast prompts an evacuation of the state oil company's offices

Mexico City (CNN) -- Workers were injured in an explosion at the administrative offices of Mexico's state-run Pemex oil company in the country's capital Thursday, state media reported.

At least 30 people were trapped in the building after the blast, CNN affiliate Foro TV reported.

Citing local authorities, Foro TV said five people were killed, and 75 people were injured. But Eduardo Sanchez, a federal official, told Milenio TV that authorities had not released a specific injury count. CNN has not independently confirmed details about casualties from the explosion.

The blast prompted an evacuation of personnel from the Pemex offices, a company spokesman told Notimex.

A large plume of smoke rose near the office tower after the explosion.

Images from the scene showed emergency rescue teams carrying people on stretchers.

It was unclear how many people were injured or what caused the explosion, Pemex spokesman Francisco Montano told Notimex.

"There are injured and significant damage," he said, according to Notimex.

CNN's Rey Rodriguez and Rene Hernandez contributed to this report.

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Atlanta school shooting: 14-year-old shot in head

ATLANTA A 14-year-old boy was wounded after being shot in the head outside a middle school Thursday afternoon and a fellow student was in custody as a suspect, authorities said. No other students were hurt.

Police swarmed Price Middle School just south of downtown Atlanta after reports of the shooting at 1:50 p.m., while a crowd of anxious parents gathered in the streets, awaiting word on their children. Students were being kept at the locked-down school some two hours after the shooting but television footage showed some of them being dismissed.

The wounded boy was taken "alert, conscious and breathing" to Grady Memorial Hospital, said Atlanta police spokesman Carlos Campos. Atlanta Public Schools said on their website that the suspect also was a student at Price.

Calls to the school district were not immediately returned.

The scene after a shooting at Price Middle School in Atlanta on Jan. 31, 2013.

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CBS Atlanta

Atlanta Fire Cpt. Marian McDaniel said the teen was shot in the back of the head and a teacher was treated at the scene for minor cuts.

Shakita Walker, whose daughter is an eighth-grader at the school, said she received a text from her that said "Ma somebody's shooting and somebody got shot." Walker, who works at another school, said she jumped in her car and was thinking "just hurry up and get there."

Walker said her daughter called to tell her that they were being kept in the gymnasium, but she said she was anxious to see her to make sure she was OK.

The fear and anxiety was palpable in the crowd, as one person yelled "Does anyone know what happened?"

Mayor Kasim Reed condemned gun violence in a statement shortly after the shooting and said counselors were already at the school to meet with students, faculty and family members.

"Gun violence in and around our schools is simply unconscionable and must end," Reed said. "Too many young people are being harmed, and too many families are suffering from unimaginable and unnecessary grief."

Outside the school, Laquanda Pittman said she still hasn't heard from her sixth-grade son. She said she heard the news of the shooting on TV and immediately came to the school.

"All types of stuff went through my head. I'm wondering whether it was my child who got shot, is my child OK, did he see what happened?" Pittman said.

She said she just wants to see her son.

"As a parent, you just think you can send your child to school and you hope they come home OK," she said.

More from CBS Atlanta:

CBS Atlanta 46

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Hagel, McCain Butt Heads at Confirmation Hearing

Facing a rocky confirmation process, Chuck Hagel today defended his record before his former Senate colleagues, including an openly impatient Sen. John McCain.

"I'm on the record on many issues, but no one individual vote, no one individual quote, no one individual statement defines me," Hagel said in his opening statement at his first confirmation hearing for secretary of defense.

"My overall worldview has never changed: that America has and must maintain the strongest military in the world, that we must lead in the international community to confront threats and challenges together," Hagel said.

Who Is Chuck Hagel? Obama's Nominee for Secretary of Defense

A Vietnam veteran and former Republican senator from Nebraska who left office in 2009, Hagel, 66, is president Obama's nominee to replace Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Despite his 12-year career in the Senate, Hagel faces opposition from many of his former Republican colleagues.

In the hearing's testiest exchange, McCain grilled Hagel on the former senator's opposition to the Iraq "surge," a stance that separated Hagel from most members of his party in 2007.

The Arizona senator championed the "surge" both as a senator and in his 2008 presidential campaign, while Hagel joined Democrats in vocally criticizing the strategy. McCain pressed Hagel at today's hearing to say whether he believes the surge was a mistake.

When Hagel declined to answer "yes" or "no," McCain told his former colleague, "I want to know if you were right or wrong. That's a direct question," repeatedly accusing Hagel of refusing to answer the question.

Obama Announces Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense Watch Video

Obama Taps Sen. Chuck Hagel for Defense Secretary Watch Video

Sen. Chuck Hagel's Defense Nomination Draws Criticism Watch Video

"You're on the wrong side of it, and your refusal to answer whether you were right or wrong on it is going to have an impact on my judgment on whether to vote for your confirmation," McCain concluded

Hagel also underwent some tough, pointed questioning from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., an ally of McCain's in the Senate. Graham pointed out Hagel's decision not to sign letters on Middle-East policy during his Senate career, at one point asking Hagel, "Do you think that the sum total of your record, all that together, that the image you've created is one of sending the worst possible signal to our enemies and friends at one of the most critical times in world history?"

Hagel said he did not.

Senate Republicans and pro-Israel groups have voiced grievances with Hagel's record, including opposition to unilateral sanctions against Iran, support for talks with Hamas, opposition to deeming Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, and a reference to Israel-backing groups as the "Jewish lobby."

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., acknowledged such concerns as he opened the committee's hearing, referencing "troubling statements [Hagel] has made about Israel and its supporters in the United States."

Hagel defended himself under questioning from multiple senators.

"When I voted against some of those unilateral sanctions on Iran, it was a different time," Hagel said, referring to votes in the early 2000s. "We were in a different place with Iran at that time. As a matter of fact, the Bush administration did not want a five-year renewal of [the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act] at that time because they weren't sure of the effectiveness of the sanctions."

Hagel said his record of public statements shows he has consistently referred to Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist groups and Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism.

"The way I approached every vote I took in the Senate was what I thought would be the most effective," Hagel said, defending his vote against labeling Iran's guard corps as a terrorist group. "What was the situation at the time, how can we do this smarter and better?"

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., the committee's top Republican, said he will oppose Hagel's nomination.

"Senator Hagel is a good man who has a record of service," Inhofe said of his former GOP colleague, while concluding, "He is the wrong person to lead the Pentagon.

Hagel was introduced at the hearing by former Sens. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., and John Warner, R-Va., two respected former members of the Armed Services Committee, both of whom lavished praise on Obama's nominee.

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BlackBerry must remember strengths

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• BlackBerry sales have slumped in the U.S. but is still strong in emerging markets


• New models launched should remember why they are popular in developing world


• In places like Brazil and South Africa, the 10 is the update to their current phone


• in Sub-Saharan Africa there is expected to be 175 million new customers in the next 3 years

Watch Jim Clancy on CNN International's "The Brief" at 4p.m. ET GMT Friday.

(CNN) -- BlackBerry's loss of market share in the U.S. is the stuff of legends. Last fall, it was estimated only about 2% of American phone users were still carrying their BlackBerry mobile with its iconic keypad.

But consider this: sub-Saharan Africa is expected to add 175 million new mobile users in just the coming 3 years. That's according to the GSMA, which represents the world's mobile operators.

"Mobile has already revolutionized African society and yet demand still continues to grow by almost 50 percent a year," said Tom Phillips, Chief Government and Regulatory Affairs Officer, GSMA.

That could be good news indeed for BlackBerry. Research in Motion, the maker of BlackBerry, estimates it holds a 70% market share in countries like South Africa.

The company's new phones, announced this week, are not the ones some of its best customers in emerging markets would like to buy. They're too expensive. But Research in Motion -- which also this week changed its company name to BlackBerry -- is pledging some of its six new models will address that.

While millions in China, Europe and the U.S. have adopted Android or iOS smartphones with a vengeance, millions more users in emerging markets are enthused about what's in store for the new BlackBerry 10. It's the update for what many of them are already using.

They live in countries like Brazil, Malaysia, Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa. They have embraced the BlackBerry for a combination of factors that all point to the different way mobile devices are used.

Unlike their counterparts in Europe and America, the mobile in their pocket is more likely to be their primary link to the internet.

BlackBerry Messenger is the connection that allows these users unlimited conversations without paying charges for SMS data. While young, brand-conscious Chinese may be willing to part with several months' salary to buy the latest iPhone, African users are looking for more practical (and cheaper) connections.

What separates developed countries from their developing counterparts at street level can be summed up in a single word: infrastructure.

Isobel Coleman, senior fellow and Director of the Civil Society, Markets and Democracy Initiative at the Council on Foreign Relations, says mobile technology has proved it can bridge the gap where infrastructure is lacking.

"It's a culture, it's an economy, it's innovation, education, healthcare, it's all of these things," says Coleman.

You can take that to the bank. For many Africans, their cell phone account is the first bank account they've ever owned.

In emerging markets, mobile phone banking is growing because of the lack of infrastructure. Fewer bank branches often mean long distances to travel and long lines once you've arrived.

Africans are expected to transfer more than $200 billion per year or 18% of the continent's GDP by 2015.

Oh, and that keyboard. No matter where you are in the world, there will always be a demand for a keyboard that clicks. The company appears to understand that as BlackBerry 10 models come with both soft keypads and the traditional BlackBerry buttons.

I asked some of my Twitter followers to weigh in on the BlackBerry 10 roll out. While some said Android or Apple's iOS were in their future plans, many others expressed continued enthusiasm for the BlackBerry.

Soji, a pianist and teacher in Nigeria tweeted back "I'm falling in love with this BB. Cheaper to own."

From Kuala Lumpur, Amir wrote "I need a physical keyboard to type while also having a touch-screen for photos etc. Security factor also important."

Hans-Eric from South Africa reinforced the sentiments of many mobile users in emerging markets: "The cost of data is simply too high without it (BlackBerry.)"

The voices from emerging markets couldn't have been clearer. What they expect from BlackBerry 10 is a stronger, longer lasting battery, durability and continued low cost connectivity.

CFR's Coleman agrees that BlackBerry (and anyone else) trying to win and hold this mobile device sector has to understand how these devices are being used and give the customers what they want.

"Cheap. Rugged. Not too many bells and whistles. Practical."

There is little doubt smartphones are changing the way people use the internet, how they bank, shop and interact socially.

But it's worth keeping in perspective that in a world where there are now an estimated 1 billion smartphones, there are 5 billion feature phone users. That's a lot of upside growth potential for BlackBerry and all the other players out there.

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S. Korea warns North against nuclear test

SEOUL: South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak held an emergency security meeting Thursday that warned North Korea of "serious consequences" if it went through with an expected nuclear test.

The meeting at the presidential Blue House included the defence minister, National Intelligence Service chief and the national security advisor.

A statement issued afterwards said Lee had insisted on a strengthened defence posture, given Pyongyang's apparent desire to take advantage of the ongoing leadership transition in the South.

Lee will be formally replaced as president by the newly elected Park Geun-Hye on February 25.

"The government urges North Korea to immediately stop all provocative statements and actions and abide by international obligations including UN Security Council resolutions," the statement said.

"If the North miscalculates and commits a provocative act again, it would face various serious consequences", it added.

North Korea has threatened to carry out its third nuclear test in response to UN sanctions imposed on Pyongyang for its long-range rocket launch in December.

It has also warned of "physical counter-measures" against the South if Seoul "directly participates" in the UN sanctions.

North Korea said its rocket launch was a scientific mission aimed at placing a satellite in orbit, but most of the world saw it as a disguised ballistic missile test. South Korea staged a satellite launch on Wednesday.

After North Korea's rocket launch, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution, expanding sanctions imposed on the country after its nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.

-AFP/fl

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Interstate littered with cars after North Georgia tornado

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Much of the affected region sees huge temperature extremes


• A Georgia TV news crew sees tornado form; damage is reported in Adairsville


• Nearly 20 are injured in Georgia; several are trapped for a time


• A Tennessee man dies when a tree falls on his home, emergency managers say

Is there severe weather near you? Share your photos and videos on iReport, but stay safe.

(CNN) -- Powerful winds and a tornado spawned by a 1,000-mile-long storm system pounded communities in northwest Georgia on Wednesday, overturning dozens of vehicles and trapping residents.

The tornado caused significant damage in Adairsville, Georgia.

One person died in that town and another died in Tennessee, authorities reported. At least 17 people were injured in Georgia, two critically.

The Adairsville death marks the first person killed by a U.S. tornado in 220 days, a record for most consecutive days without such a fatality, said CNN meteorologist Dave Hennen.

Severe weather 101

The storm churned eastward, prompting severe thunderstorm and flash-flood warnings in eastern Tennessee and western portions of the Carolinas. The front has led to nearly 400 reports of severe wind and 20 of tornadoes over two days, from Texas to Pennsylvania.

In the Adairsville storm, winds caused significant damage to a motel and a manufacturing plant, according to Craig Millsap, fire chief and interim emergency management director for Bartow County. The motel's guests are believed safe and workers at the Daiki plant have all been accounted for, he said.

Daiki employees hid in a kitchen and bathroom as the tornado snatched the roof off and left much of the plant in ruin. Two workers suffered minor injuries.

The driver of a commercial truck that was overturned near Adairsville said the storm "grew legs and just started accelerating." He told CNN Atlanta affiliate WGCL he was unscathed. "There is no way in the world that if you see this debris behind me I should be alive."

The National Weather Service reported major structural damage and overturned cars in downtown Adairsville, where a news crew for CNN affiliate WSB-TV witnessed a tornado form and touch down Wednesday morning.

The death came when a building collapsed, Millsap said.

10 deadliest U.S. tornadoes

Nine people in Bartow County suffered non-life threatening injuries, according to the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.

The storm caused major damage on and near Interstate 75, the Georgia Department of Transportation said. The weather service, citing emergency management officials, said about 100 cars had been overturned near Exit 306 at Adairsville.

The state transportation agency asked motorists to stay away from the area.

Officials reported up to 100 homes damaged in Calhoun and Gordon County, just north of Adairsville. Seven poultry houses were destroyed.

Georgia emergency officials reported eight injuries in Gordon County, where Calhoun is located. Two of the injuries were described as critical.

Interactive: Check your forecast

"There have been a number of entrapments and deputies, firemen and emergency personnel have all been working to free those people," said Gordon County Chief Deputy Sheriff Robert Paris. "I don't believe we have any more trapped at this time."

The tornado struck a subdivision that also was hit by storms in 2011, Paris said. "This one appears to be much, much worse. But this was almost the same path. There were some people that had to go through both of them."

Gordon County schools will be closed Thursday.

Trees and power lines were down as the result of a possible tornado in Georgia's Gilmer County, the weather service said.

KFVS: Power outages from storm

Utilities reported about 24,000 customers without power in west and north Georgia.

Gov. Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency for Bartow and Gordon counties. State officials late Wednesday afternoon said they had no reports of anyone unaccounted for, but searches of homes and businesses were continuing.

In Tennessee, a 47-year-old man died early Wednesday when high winds toppled a tree onto a roof in Nashville, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said. CNN affiliate WSMV said the victim was in a building next to a home.

Other injuries were reported in Chester, McNairy and Henderson counties, emergency management spokesman Jeremy Heidt said.

The National Weather Service also reported severe weather or damage Wednesday in Texas, Mississippi and Alabama. Tornadoes were confirmed in Marion County, Kentucky, and Harrison County, Indiana.

WBKO: Tractor trailer flips on I-65

Northern Florida, eastern Georgia, much of South Carolina and portions of North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland were under a tornado watch Wednesday evening.

CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said the massive storm system was 1,000 miles north to south, moving east in a belt that will eventually stretch from New York to Florida.

"If it's hot and humid where you are, then you are still in the danger zone," Myers said. "Storms can still be coming to you tonight. ... The cold air is on the back side of it."

The strong cold front causing the severe weather brought huge extremes in temperature readings. Thermometers reached the low 80s in parts of southeast Georgia and South Carolina, the 50s in Tennessee and the 30s in Illinois.

WFIE: Storms blow new roof off tri-state church

Earlier, in Alabama, the storms blew the metal roof off a building in Sheffield, CNN affiliate WHNT said. The storm also damaged a church steeple in Rogersville, the station reported.

In Kentucky, winds blew off much of the roof of the Penrod Missionary Baptist Church and damaged several homes, CNN affiliate WFIE reported.

In Nashville, the weather service listed dozens of damage reports across the region: a funnel cloud was reported early Wednesday in Jackson County, there were dozens of reports of downed trees and power lines, and law enforcement reported damage to homes and businesses.

CNN affiliate WSMV also reported the partial collapse of an office building in Mount Juliet.

"I built it myself to take an event like this. And it looks like a freight train hit it," the station quoted building owner Dewey Lineberry as saying. "It's just destroyed. It laid the building down on top of cars, it put the building on top of people. It's unbelievable."

Workers who were inside the building when the storm hit took cover under mattresses, the station said.

The storm came dangerously close to WSMV, the station reported: Workers had to move to a safe room when a buzzer in the newsroom alerted them of storm danger around 4 a.m. Wednesday, the station reported.

WKRN: Confirmed tornado

CNN iReporter Matt Davis said overnight storms damaged a historic brick structure on Fairvue Plantation in Gallatin, Tennessee.

"The plantation was a horse farm. Those (structures) have been standing there for 100 to 200 years. It was sad to see those collapsed and caved in. It's historic to the neighborhood," the high school student said.

On Tuesday, the storms raked Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, among other places, with heavy rain and high wind.

Photos: Finding art in icy weather

CNN's Ben Brumfield, Ryan Rios and Miguel Marquez contributed to this report.

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Storm system moves into Ga., blamed for 2 deaths

Updated 4:56 p.m. ET

ADAIRSVILLE, Ga. A massive storm system raked the Southeast on Wednesday, spawning tornadoes and dangerous winds that overturned cars on a Georgia interstate and demolished homes and businesses, killing at least two people.

The storm system tossed vehicles on Interstate 75 in Georgia into the air, onto their roofs and into the grassy shoulder. The highway was closed for a time, and another main thoroughfare remained closed until crews could safely remove downed trees and power lines from the road. Authorities were working to rescue people reportedly trapped in homes and buildings.

The storm decimated that city's downtown area and wiped out parts of a large manufacturing plant, killing at least one person and sending nine to hospitals, Bartow County officials said. Residents said no traces remained of some roadside produce stands — a common sight on rural Georgia's back roads.

A funnel cloud in northern Georgia on Jan. 30, 2013

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WGCL-TV

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency for Bartow and Gordon counties. Georgia Power reports there are 10,200 outages statewide. Of the 10,200, 5,600 outages are in the Adairsville Area and 3,500 in metro Atlanta, reports CBS affiliate WGCL-TV in Atlanta.

One other death was reported in Tennessee after an uprooted tree fell onto a storage shed where a man had taken shelter.

In Adairsville, the strange mix of debris in one yard showed just how dangerous the storm had been: a bathtub, table, rolls of toilet paper and lumber lay in the grass next to what appears to be a roof. Sheets of metal dangled from a large tree like ornaments.

"The sky was swirling," said Theresa Chitwood, who owns the Adairsville Travel Plaza. She said she went outside to move her car because she thought it was going to hail. Instead, the passing storm decimated a building behind the travel plaza and ripped the roof off of a nearby bank.

"It sounded like a freight train coming through," she said. "It looks like a bomb hit it."

17 Photos

Massive storm system hits the South

Powerful winds ripped through the entire region, with gusts powerful enough to topple tractor-trailers in several places.

Conditions remained ripe for tornadoes into Wednesday afternoon, and authorities were still investigating several sites to determine if damage was caused by twisters. Since Tuesday, the system had caused damage across a swath from Missouri to Georgia.

In recent days, people in the South and Midwest had enjoyed unseasonably balmy temperatures in the 60s and 70s. A system pulling warm weather from the Gulf of Mexico was colliding with a cold front moving in from the west, creating volatility.

One person was reported injured by lightning in Arkansas during the storm's eastward trek. Two people suffered minor injuries when a mobile home was blown off its foundation in Kentucky. Only one minor injury was reported in Mississippi, where officials praised residents for heeding warnings and being prepared.

In Tennessee, officials confirmed that a tornado with peak wind speeds of 115 mph touched down in Mount Juliet. No serious injuries were reported there, though the path of damage was about 150 yards wide, including homes, a warehouse and an automotive business.

At a shopping center in Mount Juliet, large sheets of metal littered the parking lot, light poles were knocked down and bits of fiberglass insulation were stuck in the trees.

One wall of a Dollar General convenience store collapsed, and the roof was torn off. Mark Fulks Jr. runs Mark's Automotive with his father in a building attached to the Dollar General. The garage door was blown off his shop and sitting on one of the cars inside, and Fulks said several of the cars they were working on had their windshields blown out.

A nearby office building and a distribution center for The Tennessean newspaper also had severe damage. Rick Martin, who bags the newspapers and helps his wife deliver them, was shocked when he saw what was left of the distribution center.

The metal frame of the building still stood, but its cinderblock walls had crumbled, and papers and plastic bags littered the trees.

"We feel real lucky," he said on Wednesday morning as looked at the damage. "I would have hated to be in here when this happened."

The nation has had its longest break between tornado fatalities since detailed tornado records began being kept in 1950, according to the Storm Prediction Center and National Climatic Data Center. The last one was June 24, when a person was killed in a home in Highlands County, Fla. That was 220 days ago as of Tuesday.

The last day with multiple fatalities was June 4, when three people were killed in a mobile home in Scott County, Mo.

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Giffords to Senate: 'Americans Are Counting on You'

Former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, whose congressional career was ended by a bullet wound to her head, opened a Senate hearing on gun violence today by telling the panel, "Speaking is difficult, but I need to say something important."

In a determined and forceful voice, she told the Senators to be "courageous" because "Americans are counting on you."

Giffords sat alongside her astronaut husband Mark Kelly as she delivered her emotional statement just over a minute long imploring Congress to act on gun policy.

"This is an important conversation for our children, for our communities, for Democrats, and Republicans," the former Arizona congresswoman said. "Speaking is difficult but I need to say something important: Violence is a big problem too many children are dying. Too many children. We must do something. It will be hard, but the time is now. You must act. Be bold, be courageous, Americans are counting on you. Thank you," Giffords said before being helped out of the hearing room.

Giffords was shot by a gunman in her Arizona district two years ago, and was a last-minute addition to the hearing about the nation's gun laws as lawmakers grapple with how to curb gun violence in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., tragedy that left 20 children and seven adults dead late last year.

Today's hearing is a showdown on guns, featuring two powerful but conflicting forces in the gun control movement. Giffords' husband also testified, as did Wayne LaPierre, the fiery executive vice president and CEO of the National Rifle Association.

Mark Kelly on Gun Control: 'This Time Must Be Different' Watch Video

Mark Kelly Makes Case Against High-Capacity Gun Magazines Watch Video

Kelly's opening remarks before the Senate Judiciary Committee today emphasized that he and his wife are both gun owners and he has said that he recently bought a new hunting rifle. But he said they are also dedicated to minimizing gun violence because of their personal tragedy.

"We are simply two reasonable Americans who realize we have a problem with gun violence, and we need Congress to act," Kelly said. "Our rights are paramount, but our responsibilities are serious and as a nation we are not taking responsibility for the gun rights our founding fathers conferred upon us."

Kelly said that a top priority should be to close the loophole that says people who buy weapons at gun shows are not required to undergo background checks.

"Closing the gun show loophole and requiring private sellers to require a background check for they transfer a gun…I can't think of something that would make our country safer than doing just that," he told the panel.

Giffords and Kelly recently launched Americans for Responsible Solutions, an organization promoting the implementation of universal background checks and limits on high capacity magazines.

"Overwhelmingly, you told us that universal background checks and limiting access to high capacity magazines were top priorities, and I'll make sure to address each of those ideas in my opening remarks," Kelly wrote in an email to supporters Tuesday. Kelly asked the group's allies to sign a petition calling on Congress to pass legislation on both issues.

LaPierre laid out the NRA's opposition to universal background checks and urged legislators not to "blame" legal gun owners by enacting new gun control laws.

"Law-abiding gun owners will not accept blame for the acts of violence of deranged criminals. Nor do we believe the government should dictate what we can lawfully own and use to protect our families," LaPierre said."And when it comes to background checks, let's be honest – background checks will never be 'universal' – because criminals will never submit to them."

"If you want to stop crime, interdict violent criminals incarcerate them and get them off the streets," LaPierre said.

He repeated an NRA proposal to place armed security guards in every school in America, arguing that "it's time to throw an immediate blanket of security around our children."

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Is the U.S. getting Egypt wrong again?

Egyptian riot police stand guard as people protest against Egypt's President Mohamed Morsy in Cairo on December 29, 2012.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• National protests against Morsy set for second anniversary of Egypt's revolution


• Cynthia Schneider: U.S. out of step, underestimates the anti-Morsy sentiment


• She says proponents of secular democracy think the U.S. backs Muslim Brotherhood


• She says massive protests will show U.S. needs to align itself with the popular will

Editor's note: Cynthia Schneider is a professor in the practice of diplomacy at Georgetown University; dean at the School of Diplomacy, Dubrovnik International University; and a senior nonresident fellow at Brookings Institution. She is also a former U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands.

(CNN) -- Protests planned around Egypt -- particularly in Cairo's Tahrir Square -- on the second anniversary of the January 25 revolution are expected to be an explosion of dissent, revealing the deep divisions in the country between President Mohamed Morsy and the Egyptian people.

Opposition to Morsy's authoritarianism is broader than the world recognizes. In making accommodations for Morsy's government, the United States is -- once again -- out of step with the Egyptian people.

Cynthia P. Schneider

Egyptians may not know exactly what they want, but they know what they don't want. Although an effective political opposition has yet to coalesce, Egyptians from all sectors of society are united in their refusal to accept another repressive regime.

Egypt is on a collision course. An ever growing, if periodically discouraged, portion of the population opposes the government and Morsy's Muslim Brotherhood, and supports the revolution's goals of social and economic justice, accountable government, and basic freedoms, including freedom of expression and protection of minorities. Yet the government is moving in exactly the opposite direction, with its authoritarian control over political, social, and religious life.

The government's investigation of the wildly popular "Egyptian Jon Stewart" Bassem Youssef -- charged with insulting Morsy and undermining his command -- and the forced "retirement" of respected journalist Hani Shukrallah, editor of state-owned Al-Ahram's English-language website, are just two very public examples of the vice tightening on freedom of expression.

In fact, the Arab Network for Human Rights says about 24 lawsuits for insulting Morsy have been filed against journalists and activists since his election in June.

The regime is trying to put the revolution genie back in the bottle. But it is clamping down on a population that has discovered its voice. In opposition to this repression, Egyptians at all levels are increasingly engaged in politics.

A Cairo cab driver -- ever the measure of popular sentiment -- recently debated the failings of the Constitution with a passenger. After reaching the destination, the driver leapt out, grabbed a dogeared copy of the Constitution he kept in the front seat, and pointed to a passage to prove his point to his passenger.

The December demonstrations against President Morsy and the Muslim Brotherhood-backed Constitution, which attracted an even broader segment of the population than those who stood in Tahrir Square in 2011, revealed the broadening chasm between the regime and the people in Egypt.

Assembled outside the Presidential Palace were old and young, veiled and unveiled, rich and poor. Whether they arrived in chauffeur-driven cars or whether they marched from Cairo's outlying shantytowns, the hundreds of thousands joined together in their refusal to accept a state that squashed the dreams of the revolution and dictated political, social, and religious behavior.

Many call the second wave of the revolution in the fall of 2012 the "Mothers' Revolution." Parents and grandparents went into the streets to protest the divided loyalties in their families between the Islamists (Brotherhood or Salafis) and those supporting a democratic, secular Egypt. In Egypt, secular means freedom from state control of religion, not nonreligious.

The clash between these two visions of Egypt -- secular with freedom and social justice, or a religious state run by the Brotherhood with its version of Sharia law -- played out inside families and on the streets.

Soldiers protecting the Presidential Palace during the December demonstrations were moved to tears when an Egyptian woman, referring to Morsy, shouted at them, "Why are you protecting this man who is pitting Egyptians against each other?"

Mohamed El Gindy, a successful businessman who opposes Morsy and spent much of December camping in Tahrir with the young revolutionaries, has experienced this division within families firsthand. A relative who had joined the Salafis informed him that the extreme Islamist group had put El Gindy at No. 5 on its "hit list," which is widely believed by Egyptians to exist. The relative was unapologetic until El Gindy told him that he might as well put El Gindy's mother on the list, too, since the octogenarian also had joined the street protests.

Egypt and its families may be divided, but on one subject, all are united -- in the belief that the United States is supporting the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated government.

Visible in the throngs at the December demonstrations were signs opposing Qatar and the United States -- yes, the U.S. and Qatar were lumped together as supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood regime.

"This is such a historic opportunity to restore the image of the U.S., but instead it is putting itself in the same position as Qatar. ... And this from President Obama -- so disappointing," Riham Bahi, a professor at American University in Cairo, said, reflecting views heard repeatedly last December in Egypt.

Opposition leader and blogger Bassem Sabry was even more blunt: "With the Constitution in play, you are subsidizing an Islamist state." Sabry said he was always pro-U.S. "until the revolution."

In addition, the Pentagon plans to proceed with the delivery of 20 F-16 jets to Egypt, a step that looks to Egyptians like a vote of confidence in Morsy. Unchanged since the revolution, U.S. aid policy toward Egypt still makes the military alliance its priority.

Two years after the Egyptian Revolution, the U.S. government finds itself again backing an authoritarian regime against the popular will. As January 25 approaches, with massive protests planned against Morsy's government, this is a precarious position for both the U.S. and Egypt.

In his second term, Obama should adopt a more agile and informed policy toward Egypt, one that matches the words often heard from the White House -- "The United States always has stood with the Egyptian people" -- with action.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Cynthia Schneider.

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Australia to go to the polls on September 14

SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Wednesday said the nation would go to the polls on September 14, announcing the date early to give "shape and order" to the year.

Australians usually know only weeks before when an election will be held, but the Labor leader, whose minority government holds power by only a narrow margin, surprised pundits by giving close to nine months' notice.

"I do so not to start the nation's longest election campaign, quite the opposite," Gillard told the National Press Club in Canberra during a speech setting out the priorities for Labor in the year ahead.

"It should be clear to all which are the days of governing, and which are the days of campaigning."

Gillard, who is tipped to lose the election to conservative opposition leader Tony Abbott, said announcing the date of the polls would give individuals, businesses and investors the ability to plan ahead.

"It gives shape and order to the year, and enables it to be one not of fevered campaigning, but of cool and reasoned deliberation," she said.

Parliament will be dissolved on August 12.

- AFP/ck

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