AP News in Brief
Newtown plans quiet remembrances, ringing of bells to mark Sandy Hook shooting anniversary
• NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) -- Newtown is planning to mark one year since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting massacre with private memorial services and the ringing of bells for the victims.
• Connecticut's governor has asked for houses of worship around the state Saturday to ring their bells 26 times -- once for each of the 20 children and six educators gunned down inside the school on Dec. 14, 2012. Vigils were planned elsewhere in the country, and President Barack Obama and the first lady planned to observe a moment of silence at the White House.
• Newtown officials have called for privacy and asked town residents to honor the victims through acts of service and kindness. At a joint appearance during the week in Newtown, some of the victims' families urged people to find ways to give back to their own communities.
• "In this way, we hope that some small measure of good may be returned to the world," JoAnn Bacon, whose 6-year-old daughter, Charlotte, was killed at Sandy Hook.
• The town had no formal events planned for Saturday, and officials have discouraged the news media from coming to Newtown.
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Mandela's remains transferred to air base for ANC goodbye and flight to Eastern Cape funeral
• JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- On a final journey to his home village where he had wanted to spend his final days, the remains of Nelson Mandela were honored amid pomp and ceremony Saturday at an air base in South Africa's capital before being loaded onto a plane.
• Meanwhile, at the airport near Mandela's simple village of Qunu in eastern South Africa, there was a buzz of activity, with military vehicles including SUVs and armored personnel carriers driving around as anticipation built over the coming-home of South Africa's most famous figure. Soldiers in full gear, male and female, were stationed on foot on either side of the road from the airport in Mthatha as cows
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