An active-shooter training exercise at an Indiana elementary school in January left teachers with welts, bruises and abrasions after they were shot with plastic pellets by the local sheriff’s office conducting the session.Teacher training for early years or nursery education

The incident, acknowledged in testimony this week before state lawmakers, was confirmed by two elementary school teachers in Monticello, who described an exercise in which teachers were asked by local law enforcement to kneel down against a classroom wall before being sprayed across their backs with plastic pellets without warning.

“They told us, ‘This is what happens if you just cower and do nothing,’” said one of the two teachers, both of whom asked IndyStar not to be identified out of concern for their jobs. “They shot all of us across our backs. I was hit four times.

Now, these teachers and the state’s largest teachers union want to stop this from happening in other Hoosier schools. The Indiana State Teachers Association is lobbying lawmakers to add language prohibiting teachers from being shot with any sort of ammunition to a school safety bill working its way through the Statehouse.“What we're looking for is just a simple statement in this bill that would prohibit the shooting of some type of projectile at staff in an active-shooter drill,” said Gail Zeheralis, director of government relations for the ISTA during testimony in support of House Bill 1004 before lawmakers Wednesday.

The White County sheriff said Thursday that his department has conducted similar training before but, after receiving a complaint, will no longer use the air-powered device, called an airsoft gun, with teachers.

Teachers at Meadowlawn Elementary School were supposed to be receiving what is called ALICE training, an "options-based" approach that encourages students and teachers to be proactive in their response to an active shooter and teaches tactics that include rushing a shooter in some situations.

Thousands of schools across the country, including many in Indiana, are using ALICE already. Shooting teachers with plastic pellets is not typically part of the training.“I’ve worked with teachers in other districts who have gone through ALICE, and this did not happen,” said Barbara Deardorff, an ISTA official who represents 16 school districts, including the Twin Lakes district and Meadowlawn Elementary. “This is not the normal practice.”

Deardorff said the Meadowlawn incident, which she said she learned about several weeks ago, marked the first time she’d heard of such practices being used on teachers in active-shooter training.

White County Sheriff Bill Brooks, whose department led the training in question, said it has conducted active-shooter training with schools for several years and has previously used the airsoft gun.

China's spacecraft tracking ship Yuanwang-3 is sailing to the Pacific Ocean to carry out maritime monitoring missions for the BeiDou-3 and other satellites.The ship departed Sunday from a port in east China's Jiangsu Province. It is the third voyage of the ship this year.Before the voyage, crew members completed preparation of supplies, carried out examinations and tests of the facilities and received tailored training to ensure the success of the missions.To get more chinese online news, you can visit shine news official website.

This year, the ship has spent 83 days at sea and completed three missions, including maritime monitoring of a relay satellite Tianlian II and a BeiDou-3 satellite.Yuanwang-3, China's second-generation space tracking ship, mainly undertakes maritime tracking and monitoring tasks of high-, medium-, low-orbit satellites, spacecraft and space station.

Since it was launched more than 20 years ago, the ship has made 52 voyages and completed 83 missions on the sea, including maritime tracking of the Shenzhou spacecraft, the Chang'e lunar probe and BeiDou satellites, maintaining a 100 percent success rate. The government of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on Wednesday strongly condemned rioters for their extreme violent acts in various districts across Hong Kong on Tuesday.

Such acts posed a serious threat to the safety of members of the public and seriously undermined social order, a spokesperson said in a statement, adding that the radicals warrant the society's most severe condemnation.

Many people took part in the unauthorized meetings and processions which turned out to be very dangerous riots, setting fires inside MTR stations, throwing petrol bombs, vandalizing shops and public properties, blocking thoroughfares to cause serious obstruction to fire fighting and ambulance work, and damaging the premises of the Cheung Sha Wan and Tsuen Wan government offices, the spokesperson said.

"The riots in various districts in Hong Kong on October 1 were planned and organized, leading Hong Kong to a chaotic and panic state. This reflects that the nature of the issue has already changed," the spokesperson said.

The radicals challenged the national sovereignty by burning national flags in Central and Causeway Bay, the spokesperson said.The spokesperson said it was necessary for the police to use appropriate force to take disperse and arrest actions resolutely for public safety and to restore social order.

So far over 180 persons were arrested for offenses of taking part in a riot, unlawful assembly, assaulting police officer and possession of offensive weapon. In the operations, at least 25 officers were injured under rampant attack by rioters.

At about 4pm Tuesday, a large group of rioters attacked officers with iron poles, seriously threatening their lives. Having given warning but in vain, an officer fired a shot at a male attacker.The 18-year-old attacker was injured and rushed to Princess Margaret Hospital in conscious state. The current condition of the man is stable.

Lo Wai-chung, Commissioner of Police, said that the life of the police officer was under serious threat in the open fire incident and appropriate force has to be deployed in accordance with the police guidelines if police warning does not work.

Radical protesters have been repeatedly organizing unlawful activities since June and violent acts are spreading and escalating drastically. The police reiterated that no violent behavior will be tolerated and resolute action will be taken to safeguard the city's public safety and bring all lawbreakers to justice.

Remarking on students being stirred to break the law, the government spokesperson appealed to parents and teachers to advise young children and students not to participate in unauthorized public meetings and processions, and stay away from violence.

No force can ever undermine China's status, or stop the Chinese people and nation from marching forward, President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday, China's National Day.To get more china news online, you can visit shine news official website.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks in a speech delivered at a grand rally in central Beijing to celebrate the 70th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

"We gathered here today for a grand rally to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the PRC," Xi said. "At this very moment, Chinese people of all ethnic groups and all the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation at home and abroad take pride in and joyfully give our best wishes to our great motherland."

Xi remembered revolutionary forefathers and martyrs for their feats in pursuing national independence and liberation, a stronger and more prosperous country and the improvement of the people's well-being.

He extended warm National Day congratulations to Chinese people of all ethnic groups and all compatriots at home and abroad, and expressed heartfelt gratitude to friends around the world for their support for China's development.

"Seventy years ago on this day, Comrade Mao Zedong solemnly declared here to the world that the PRC was founded and the Chinese people had stood up," Xi said on Tian'anmen Rostrum.

"This great event completely reversed China's miserable fate born from poverty and weakness and being bullied and humiliated over more than 100 years since the advent of modern times," Xi said, adding that the Chinese nation has since then embarked on the path of realizing national rejuvenation.

Over the past seven decades Chinese people of all ethnic groups have made great achievements that amazed the world through concerted efforts and arduous struggle, he said.

Xi stressed the importance of upholding the Party leadership, ensuring the principal status of the people, staying on the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics and fully implementing the Party's basic theory, line and policy.

He called for efforts to constantly meet people's aspirations for a better life and make new historic achievements.

Xi stressed that the principles of "peaceful reunification" and "one country, two systems" should be upheld.

He demanded efforts to maintain lasting prosperity and stability in Hong Kong and Macao, promote the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations, unite all Chinese sons and daughters, and continue to strive for China's complete reunification.

Xi pledged that the country will stay on the path of peaceful development and pursue a mutually beneficial strategy of opening up.

"We will continue to work with people from all countries to jointly build a community with a shared future for humanity," he said.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army and the People's Armed Police Force should always preserve their nature, purpose and character as the forces of the people, resolutely safeguard China's sovereignty, security and development interests, and firmly uphold world peace, he said.

"China's yesterday has been inscribed in human history while China's today is being created in the hands of hundreds of millions of Chinese people," Xi said. "China will surely have an even brighter future."

"All Party members, armed forces and people of all ethnic groups should unite closer together, stay true to the founding mission, build on existing achievements and continue to develop our people's republic," he said, adding that continued efforts should be made to achieve the two centenary goals and national rejuvenation.