Six In The Morning

Batman cinema shooting: US mourns Aurora victims

　A candlelit vigil has been held in Aurora, Colorado, as the US begins to mourn the 12 people killed by a gunman at a showing of the new Batman film, the Dark Knight Rises.

The BBC 21 July 2012
US President Barack Obama ordered flags flown at half mast. A man in a gas mask and body armour threw tear gas canisters at a midnight screening, then fired on the crowd, killing 12 and injuring 58. Suspect James Holmes, 24, was arrested outside the cinema, police said. He will appear at Arapahoe County District Court, in nearby Centennial, Colorado, on Monday at 09:30 local time (15:30 GMT). Hundreds of mourners gathered in Aurora for the vigil. Candles and flowers were left on the lawn. One letter read: "To all the innocent souls... This is for you. We will never forget. This is Aurora."

Syria strikes back at rebels in Damascus
Soldiers backed by tanks and helicopters recapture Midan district, but rebels attack other areas and border crossings.

Last Modified: 21 Jul 2012 05:42
Syrian troops and tanks on Friday drove rebels from a Damascus neighbourhood where some of the heaviest of this week's fighting in the capital left cars gutted and fighters' bodies in the streets. More than 200 people were killed in a single day, activists said on Friday, as the military struggled to regain momentum after a stunning bombing against the regime's leadership. A fourth member of President Bashar al-Assad's inner circle, national security chief General Hisham Ikhtiyar, died of wounds he suffered in Wednesday's bomb blast, which went off during a high-level security meeting in Damascus, according to government media.

West's first gene therapy gets closer to market
Rare illness treatment Glybera wins European drugs regulator's approval in 'watershed moment'

Ian Sample guardian.co.uk, Friday 20 July 2012 20.41 BST
The first gene therapy to treat a rare illness came closer to market today after the European drugs regulator recommended the medicine for approval across member states. The therapy, Glybera, is for patients with an unusual genetic disorder that means their bodies fail to make an enzyme that breaks down fat, causing the pancreas to swell. The condition affects one or two people in every million. Having rejected an application to approve the drug last year, a European Medicines Agency (EMA) committee revised its decision after assessing the treatment in a small group of patients who suffered from severe or multiple attacks of pancreatitis. The recommendation now passes to the European Commission for a formal endorsement.

'Pussy Riot' punk band left to languish in jail for Putin protest
Trial of feminists polarises Russian society. Roland Oliphant reports in Moscow

ROLAND OLIPHANT MOSCOW SATURDAY 21 JULY 2012
Three members of a feminist punk band arrested for singing a protest song in Moscow's main Orthodox church must remain in custody, a court ruled yesterday. The trio, part of a collective called Pussy Riot, were told they would be kept in detention for a further six months, until at least 12 January. The case involving Maria Alyokhina, 24, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Ekaterina Samutsevich, 29, has split Russian society.

Turkey Battles to Repatriate Antiquities
A resurgent Turkey has launched a concerted effort to get cultural artifacts back from museums around the world. Although many museums deny that their objects were illegally obtained, Ankara is playing hardball by threatening to ban loans and revoke excavation permits.

By Matthias Schulz
If one were to describe the current mood in Turkey in one word, it would be pride. Once decried as the "sick man of the Bosporus," the nation has regrouped and emerged as a powerhouse. Turkey's political importance is growing, and its economy is booming. In cultural matters, however, Turkey remains a lightweight. To right this deficiency, the government plans to build a 25,000-square-meter (270,000-square-foot) "Museum of the Civilizations" in the capital. "Ankara will proudly accommodate the museum," boasts Minister of Culture and Tourism Ertugrul Günay. "Our dream is the biggest museum in the world."

Bridging the African Union's divides
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma's success at the AU will be measured by her ability to gain consensus among heads of state, writes Liesl Louw-Vaudran.


When the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was trying to cajole the rest of Africa into accepting his grand idea of a United States of Africa, it was rumoured that he offered Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma the job of prime minister if she would back him. At the time she was South Africa’s minister of foreign affairs. A lot has changed since that summit in Accra, Ghana, in 2007 when a number of smaller African states gave in to Gaddafi’s bullying and buying of votes. Yet Dlamini-Zuma was duly elected as chairperson of the African Union Commission by a majority of heads of state at its 19th summit in Addis Ababa on July 15.