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Long Island high school on lockdown

Last Updated 11:28 a.m. ET

ELMONT, N.Y. Elmont Memorial High School has been placed on lockdown after a report of a suspicious person, possibly with a weapon, in the area, CBS Station WCBS reports.

The lockdown was put into effect shortly after 8 a.m., in response to a 911 call.

No injuries have been reported.

Nassau County Police were still guarding the entrance of school more than three hours later. SWAT teams were also seen in front of the school building.

A search of the school and the area is ongoing.

Radio Station WINS reports students were kept in classrooms with locked doors and the lights turned out. Some students were turned away because they were arriving at school as the lockdown was beginning.

WINS correspondent Glenn Schuck reports police helicopters also searched the surrounding area by air.

Parents received "robo-calls" notifying them of the situation.

One parent who showed up at the school told Schuck she has been in touch with her child, who told her the students are huddled in corners of their rooms with the lights out.

Oprah Describes Intense Armstrong Interview

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Oprah Winfrey said today that disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong came well prepared for their highly anticipated interview, although he "did not come clean in the manner [she] expected."

Winfrey, who discussed the interview on "CBS This Morning" today, said, "We were mesmerized and riveted by some of his answers. I feel that he answered the questions in a way that he was ready. … He certainly had prepared himself for this moment. … He brought it. He really did."

Armstrong had apologized to staffers at the Livestrong Foundation before the Monday interview with Winfrey at a hotel in Austin, Texas, and reportedly admitted to them that he used performance-enhancing drugs throughout his storied career.

Armstrong also confessed to Winfrey to using the drugs, sources have told ABC News. Winfrey said this morning that the entire interview, for which she had prepared 112 questions, was difficult.

"I would say there were a couple of times where he was emotional," she said. "But that doesn't describe the intensity at times."

As for the cyclist's sense of remorse, Winfrey said that will be for viewers to decide.
"I would rather people make their own decisions about whether he was contrite or not," she said.

The interview will air on the OWN network for two nights, starting at 9 p.m. ET Thursday and continuing Friday.

Meanwhile, the federal government is likely to join a whistle-blower lawsuit against Armstrong, originally filed by his former cycling teammate Floyd Landis, sources told ABC News.

The government is seeking to recoup millions of dollars from Armstrong after years of his denying that he used performance-enhancing drugs, the sources said. The U.S. Postal Service, which is an independent agency of the federal government, was a longtime sponsor of Armstrong's racing career.

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The deadline for the government's potentially joining in the matter was a likely motivation for Armstrong's interview with Winfrey, sources told ABC News.

The lawsuit remains sealed in federal court.

Armstrong is now talking with authorities about possibly paying back some of the Postal Service sponsorship money, a government source told ABC News Monday.

The deadline for the department to join the case is Thursday, the same day Armstrong's much-anticipated interview with Winfrey is set to air.

Armstrong is also talking to authorities about confessing and naming names, giving up others involved in illegal doping. This could result in a reduction of his lifetime ban, according to a source, if Armstrong provides substantial and meaningful information.

As for the Winfrey interview, it was Armstrong's first since officials stripped him of his world cycling titles in response to doping allegations.

Word of Armstrong's admission comes after a Livestrong official said that Armstrong apologized Monday to the foundation's staff ahead of his interview.

The disgraced cyclist gathered with about 100 Livestrong Foundation staffers at their Austin headquarters for a meeting that included social workers who deal directly with patients as part of the group's mission to support cancer victims.

Armstrong's "sincere and heartfelt apology" generated lots of tears, spokeswoman Katherine McLane said, adding that he "took responsibility" for the trouble he has caused the foundation.

McLane declined to say whether Armstrong's comments included an admission of doping, just that the cyclist wanted the staff to hear from him in person rather than rely on second-hand accounts.

Armstrong then took questions from the staff.

Armstrong's story has never changed. In front of cameras, microphones, fans, sponsors, cancer survivors -- even under oath -- Lance Armstrong hasn't just denied ever using performance enhancing drugs, he has done so in an indignant, even threatening way.

Armstrong, 41, was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned from the sport for life by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in October 2012, after allegations that he benefited from years of systematic doping, using banned substances and receiving illicit blood transfusions.

"Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling and he deserves to be forgotten in cycling," Pat McQuaid, the president of the International Cycling Union, said at a news conference in Switzerland announcing the decision. "This is a landmark day for cycling."

Is China easing up on local media?

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A protester calls for greater media freedom outside the headquarters of Nanfang Media Group in Guangzhou on Jan. 9.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Young: Handling of Southern Weekly row demonstrated tolerant side of new leadership

Traditional, newer media can serve as tools for achieving goals in China's modernization

The fight against corruption in China is at the top of the list for incoming leader, Xi Jinping

Young: Media has also emerged as an important tool for combating other social problems

Editor's note: Doug Young teaches financial journalism at Fudan University in Shanghai and is the author of The Party Line: How the Media Dictates Public Opinion in Modern China published by John Wiley & Sons. He also writes daily on his blog, Young's China Business Blog, commenting on the latest developments in China's fast-moving corporate scene.

Shanghai, China (CNN) -- China's traditional iron-handed approach to the media has taken a surprise turn of tolerance with Beijing's soft handling of a recent dispute with local reporters, in what could well become a more open attitude toward the media under the incoming administration of presumed new President Xi Jinping.

The new openness is being driven in large part by pragmatism, as the government realizes that both traditional and newer media can serve as powerful tools for achieving many of its goals in the country's modernization.

The recent conflict between reporters at the progressive Southern Weekly and local propaganda officials over a censorship incident left many guessing how the government would respond to the first clash of its kind in China for more than 20 years. The result was a surprisingly mild approach, including mediation by a high-level government official and a vague promise for less censorship in the future.

Read: Censorship protest a test for China

The unusually tolerant tack could well reflect a new attitude by Xi and other incoming leaders set to take control of China for the next decade, all of whom have come to realize the media can serve many important functions beyond its traditional role as a propaganda machine.

At the top of Xi's list is the fight against corruption, a problem he has mentioned frequently since taking the helm of the Communist Party last year. The party has tried to tackle the problem for years using its own internal investigations, but progress was slow until recently due to protection many officials received through their own sprawling networks of internal relationships, known locally as guanxi.

Read: Corruption as China's top priority

All that began to change in the last two years with the rapid rise of social media, most notably the Twitter-like microblogs known as Weibo that are now a pervasive part of the Chinese Internet landscape and count hundreds of millions of ordinary Chinese among their users. Those social media have become an important weapon for exposing corruption, allowing thousands of ordinary citizens to pool their resources and build cases against officials they suspect of using their influence for personal gain.

This increasingly sophisticated machine was on prominent display last year in a case involving Yang Dacai, a local official in northwestern Shaanxi province who infuriated the online community by smiling at the site of a horrific accident scene. Netizens quickly turned their outrage into an online investigation, and uncovered photos of him wearing several luxury watches he could hardly afford on his government salary. As a result, the government ultimately opened an investigation into the matter and Yang was sacked from his posts.

In addition to its role in battling corruption, the media has also emerged as an important tool for combating and addressing many of the other social problems that China is facing in its rapid modernization. Barely a week goes by without a report on the latest national food safety scandal or case of illegal pollution in both traditional and social media, with such reports often followed by government investigations.

Beijing leaders have also discovered that the media can also be an important vehicle for improving communication between the government and general public -- something that was a low priority in previous eras when officials only cared about pleasing their higher-up party bosses.

Following a Beijing directive in late 2011, most local government agencies and other organizations have all established microblog accounts, which they use to keep the public informed about their latest activities and seek feedback on upcoming plans. Such input has become a valuable way to temper traditional public mistrust toward the government, which historically didn't make much effort to include the public in any of its internal discussions.

Lastly, the government has also discovered that media, especially social media, can be an effective tool in gauging public opinion on everything from broader national topics like inflation down to very local issues like land redevelopment. Such feedback was difficult to get in the past due to interference by local officials, who tried to filter out or downplay anything with negative overtones and play things up to their own advantage. As a result, central government officials often received incomplete pictures of what was happening in their own country.

With all of these valuable roles to play, the media has become an increasingly important part of Beijing's strategy in executing many of its top priorities.

The government also realizes that a certain degree of openness is critical to letting the media perform many of those roles, which may explain its relatively tolerant approach in the recent Southern Weekly conflict. Such tolerance is likely to continue under Xi's administration, helping to shift more power towards a field of increasingly emboldened reporters at both traditional and new media and away from their traditional propaganda masters.

Follow @CNNOpinion on Twitter.

Join us at Facebook/CNNOpinion.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Doug Young.

Temporary sheltered linkways to be provided at Marina Bay

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SINGAPORE: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will be providing temporary sheltered pedestrian linkways along the roads between Marina Bay Financial Centre and Marina Bay Station.

Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew said this in response to Mr Gan Thiam Poh's parliamentary question on whether the transport ministry will provide a sheltered or underground pedestrian walkway.

Mr Lui addded that the Urban Redevelopment Authority plans to build an extensive underground pedestrian network (UPN).

This is to link the developments in Marina Bay to the nearby MRT stations, including Marina Bay Station.

- CNA/xq

NFL serves up barn burners

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Photos: NFL Divisional Playoffs

India rape suspect actually a minor, lawyer says

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NEW DELHI One of the five men charged with gang-raping and killing a woman is a minor, his lawyer said Monday as he demanded an age-determination test in what could be a tactic to delay the case from being tried in a fast-track court.

The five charged in last month's attack of the 23-year-old student in a moving bus in New Delhi would face a possible death penalty if convicted. A sixth suspect says he is 17 years old, and if he is tried in a juvenile court he would face a maximum sentence of three years in a reform facility.

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Gang-rape sparks rage in India

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Indian prosecutors to push for death penalty in gang rape case

The rape of the woman, and the brutal beating that led to severe organ failure, has set off an impassioned debate about what India needs to do to prevent such tragedies. Protesters and politicians have called for tougher rape laws, police reforms and a transformation in the way the country treats women.

The five men charged with various crimes in the incident live in a slum in New Delhi, and were riding in an off-duty bus that picked up the woman and a male companion late in the evening of Dec. 16 in a posh part of the capital. Both were beaten severely and thrown off the bus. The woman died two weeks later of the injuries in a Singapore hospital.

Manohar Lal Sharma, the lawyer for one of the five charged men, Mukesh Singh, said at a court hearing Monday that his client is under 18, and that police documents indicating Singh is 26 had been "manipulated."

"If you could just see his face, he is only a child," Sharma told The Associated Press.

The hearing has been closed to the media under a gag order placed by the magistrate. The defendants have been brought to the court with their faces masked, and authorities have not released photos of the accused.

Sharma said Singh had added several years to his age to get a driver's license. He said he asked the court to order a medical test to determine his client's age, but that the court did not indicate whether it would meet his request.

The case was expected to be shifted to the fast-track court Monday to avoid the delays that plague most trials in India. But the court addressed only procedural matters and paper work at the hearing, and the case was not handed over.

The next hearing was scheduled for Thursday, but it was not clear whether the case would be handed over then to the fast-track court, which was created this month to deal with crimes against women.

Last week, Sharma made a series of inflammatory and often-contradictory statements, saying that police had beaten the five charged suspects and placed other prisoners into their cells to threaten them with knives.

Indian policemen stand with six men, faces covered in black, accused in the gang-rape of a bus passenger in Punjab state, India, Jan. 13, 2013.

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AP

Monday's hearing had been set for last week but was rescheduled when it turned out that the official list of charges was not completely legible.

On Sunday, police said they had arrested six suspects in another gang rape of a bus passenger in India.

Police officer Raj Jeet Singh said a 29-year-old woman was the only passenger on a bus as she was traveling to her village in northern Punjab state on Friday night. The driver took her to a desolate location, he said. There, the driver and the conductor took her to a building where they were joined by five friends and took turns raping her throughout the night, Singh said.

The driver dropped the woman off at her village early Saturday, he said, adding that police arrested six suspects on Saturday and were searching for another.

Also on Saturday, police arrested a 32-year-old man for allegedly raping and killing a 9-year-old girl two weeks ago in Ahmednagar district in western India, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

Newtown Parents Launch Anti-Violence Initiative

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On the one-month anniversary of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the parents of Anna Marquez Greene, one of the 20 children killed during the attack, are aiming to start a national dialogue through the non-profit group Sandy Hook Promise.

Appearing on "Good Morning America" today, Jimmy Greene and Nelba Marquez-Greene spoke of their grief for their little girl, and honored her memory.

"She was kind, she was loving, she was smart -- and she was also a fashionista -- she loved those gaudy flowers. I'm wearing it for her today," Nelba Marquez-Greene said, referring to her flower headwear. "We're hoping that through Sandy Hook Promise, we can bring awareness to issues, and start a conversation based on love and respect."

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The non-profit, which was formed in the days following the December 14 shooting under the original name Newtown United, asks people to sign a pledge to "encourage and support common sense solutions that make my community and our country safer from similar acts of violence."

Tom Bittman, co-founder of Sandy Hook Promise, said the group aims to get past the polarization that the shooting has caused in the national debate.

"We need to approach it differently," Bittman said on "GMA." "We need a national conversation on the things that need to change, so that this doesn't happen again. We think it's holistic, we don't think it's one piece of legislation and one change. We think it's going to be a number of things."

Greene said that he agrees that a multi-faceted approach is ideal.

"I don't think it's wise to focus on one thing," he said. "Obviously we need to make our schools, our streets, our malls, our public places safer. Obviously there needs to be a better discussion on mental health, and access to it."

Speaking of her daughter -- who caught the nation's attention in a video where she sang "Come Thou Almighty King" while her 9-year-old brother Isaiah played the piano -- Marquez-Greene said that she wants her work now to be a tribute to her little girl.

"[She was] passionate, she was abut loving God and loving people, and I hope that that can be the legacy that we leave," she said. "That love wins, and that love will prevail in this."

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Long Island high school on lockdown

Oprah Describes Intense Armstrong Interview

Is China easing up on local media?

Temporary sheltered linkways to be provided at Marina Bay

NFL serves up barn burners

India rape suspect actually a minor, lawyer says

Gang-rape sparks rage in India

Indian prosecutors to push for death penalty in gang rape case

Newtown Parents Launch Anti-Violence Initiative

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