News On the go: Oct. 23, 2013

Carrie Blazina

The 12-year-old who opened fire on his Nevada middle school Monday got a gun from his home, and he then used it to kill an ex-Marine teaching at the school, officials said Tuesday. The boy’s parents are cooperating with police, and officials said they could face charges. Officials are withholding the name of the Sparks Middle School seventh-grade shooter, who killed himself, out of respect for his family, but school and law-enforcement officials praised teacher Michael Landsberry for his heroic actions to stop the boy. Read the full story here.

Apple announced Tuesday it is adding a new iPad called the iPad Air to its tablet lineup and a new line of Macs. The iPad Air only weighs 1 pound as opposed to the 1.4 pounds for the previous version, and it is eight times faster than the original 2010 iPad. The iPad Air will sell for $499 starting Nov. 1, and a new iPad Mini will be available for $399 later in November.

Greek officials Tuesday ordered an emergency check of all birth records from the last six years after a Gypsy couple was arrested on suspicion of abducting a girl who was proven last week to not be their biological child, though she was listed as theirs on a birth certificate. The suspects, Eleftheria Dimopoulu and Christos Salis, have declared 14 children for welfare purposes, but eight of those are presumed not to exist, officials said. The suspects say they did not abduct the girl, and a destitute woman gave her to them to raise, and human-rights groups said the Gypsy camp was unfairly targeted in last week’s raid that found the girl. Read the full story here.

After a meeting Tuesday between Syrian opposition leaders and 11 foreign supporters, the United States and Europe pushed the opposition to attend a peace conference that aims to end Syria’s civil war. The peace conference has been postponed several times, but U.N. officials now are calling for a peace conference in Geneva to convene as soon as possible. Syrian President Bashar Assad said Monday he doubted the rebels were organized enough to convene yet.

Contact Carrie Blazina at [email protected].