Violence

Movies Beautiful Creatures See Steven Rea's preview on H2. Opens Thursday Escape From Planet Earth Animated family feature about an alien astronaut who needs to be bailed out by his nerdy brother when he falls into a trap on another planet. A Good Day to Die Hard See Steven Rea's preview on H2. Opens Thursday Happy People: A Year in the Taiga This documentary from Werner Herzog looks at the lifestyle of indigenous people in remote Siberia. Safe Haven See Steven Rea's preview on H2. Opens Thursday Reviewed by critics Steven Rea (S.R.)

TRENTON - The New Jersey Assembly planned to act quickly on 20 gun-violence prevention bills that Democrats unveiled Friday, as 300 gun-rights advocates held a Second Amendment rally in dreary weather outside the Statehouse. The package of proposals announced by the Democratic-led Assembly would restrict ammunition sales, require firearms-safety training, and make it tougher for some to obtain gun permits. The bills also address mental-health treatment and enhanced gun safety. "Whether it's the streets of our New Jersey communities, a movie theater in Colorado, or an elementary school in Connecticut, enough is enough is enough," said Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D., Essex)

New Jerseyans' concern about gun violence has fallen slightly as the two-month anniversary of the shooting in Newtown, Conn., approaches next week, according to the latest Rutgers-Eagleton Poll. The number of respondents who were "very concerned" about the amount of gun violence in the United States fell to 69 percent from 77 percent in a similar December poll. Rutgers University's Eagleton Institute of Politics surveyed adults in New Jersey by phone from Jan. 30 to Sunday. The results of that poll, which had 796 respondents, have a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

New Jerseyans' concern about gun violence has fallen slightly as the two-month anniversary of the shooting in Newtown, Conn., approaches next week, according to the latest Rutgers-Eagleton Poll. The number of respondents who were "very concerned" about the amount of gun violence in the United States fell to 69 percent, from 77 percent in a similar December poll. Rutgers University's Eagleton Institute of Politics surveyed adults in New Jersey by phone from Jan. 30 to Feb. 3. The results of the new poll, which had 796 respondents, have a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

One after another, community members and activists walked to the microphones to speak to the panel responsible for advising Gov. Christie's "violence control" policies. Dozens of people turned out for a public hearing of the NJ SAFE Task Force on Tuesday night at Rutgers-Camden. With state police and college security standing guard, they largely agreed on the constitutionality of gun ownership, the necessity for addressing violence, and increasing mental-health resources. On whether to institute stricter gun controls - particularly limits on access to some types of weapons or high-capacity magazine rounds - there was no strong consensus.

BEIRUT - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened a donor conference for humanitarian aid for Syria on Wednesday by calling on all parties, especially the government of President Bashar al-Assad, to end the violence in the nearly two-year-old conflict that, by United Nations estimates, has left at least 60,000 dead. "The situation in Syria is catastrophic and getting worse by the day," the U.N. chief said at the conference, which is being held in Kuwait and has drawn representatives from more than 60 countries as well as several nongovernmental organizations.

CHICAGO - A 15-year-old girl who had performed in President Obama's inauguration festivities is the latest face on the ever-increasing homicide toll in the president's hometown, killed in a Chicago park as she talked with friends by a gunman who apparently was not even aiming at her. Chicago police said Hadiya Pendleton was in a park about a mile from Obama's home in a South Side neighborhood Tuesday afternoon when a man opened fire on the group....

CARLTON BRISCOE sat in the mahogany pews at the venerable Mother Bethel AME Church in Society Hill on Sunday, as he normally does. But on this particular Sunday, the Rev. Mark Tyler's sermon really hit home. The message was not about miraculous healing or overcoming improbable odds. It was about breaking the cycle of violence in the black community, a topic ignored in many churches despite what has become an epidemic. Tyler's message was part of "Gun Violence Prevention Sunday," being marked by more than 100 congregations nationwide.