'Deliberation' seen in Colorado massacre
DENVER, July 22 (UPI) -- The massacre of 12 people and wounding of 58 others at a Denver-area movie theater complex wasn't a spontaneous act, police said.
Aurora Police Chief Daniel Oates said the principle suspect, 24-year-old James Holmes, had been purchasing ammunition for the shooting spree and explosives to booby-trap his apartment for almost four months.
"What we're seeing here is evidence of, I think, some calculation and deliberation," Oates said.
Holmes reportedly awaited police calmly in the back parking lot of the Century Aurora 16 complex after the shootings early Friday and told detectives his apartment was full of explosives.
Hundreds of people were at the complex, most to see midnight screenings of the latest Batman movie, "The Dark Knight Rises."
At least 26 victims of the early Friday shooting spree in the Denver suburban region of Aurora were still in five area hospitals Sunday as funeral arrangements were being made by families of the dead, CNN reported.
President Barack Obama was scheduled to visit survivors and local officials Sunday for about two hours, the White House said.
Witnesses said a man dressed all in black wearing a gas mask burst in through an emergency exit and lobbed gas canisters into the aisles before walking through with several guns, firing in all directions.
Police and FBI agents have been interrogating Holmes, but haven't indicated what an alleged motive was.
Homes is scheduled to make his first court appearance Monday.
Norway marks grim massacre anniversary
OSLO, Norway, July 22 (UPI) -- A solemn ceremony was held Sunday in Oslo by Norway's royal couple and prime minister in remembrance of a massacre of 77 people a year ago.
King Harald, Queen Sonja and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg participated in a wreath-laying ceremony to commemorate the victims of an Oslo bombing and subsequent shooting spree on a nearby island, the NRK news agency said.
The prime minister said the man behind the terror attacks of July 22, 2011 had failed, despite the death toll, CNN reported.
"The bombs and bullets were intended to change Norway. The Norwegian people responded by reasserting our values," Stoltenberg said. "The perpetrator failed to achieve what he set out to do -- the people triumphed."
The country observed a minute silence to mark the worst massacre since World War II, the reports said.
Anders Breivik is on trial on homicide and terror charges and a verdict is expected by Aug. 24.
During his trial, Breivik said he had studied al-Qaida tactics for the Oslo bombing and shooting spree on Utoya Island, where 69 people, mostly teenagers, were gunned down or fled into the ocean to drown.
Fighting in Aleppo, Damascus continues
DAMASCUS, Syria, July 22 (UPI) -- Fierce fighting erupted between rebel groups and Syrian government forces in Aleppo and Damascus amid a rising death toll, officials said Sunday.
Brig. Gen. Abdel Jabbar al-Obeidi, head of the Free Syrian Army in Aleppo, posted a video saying rebel forces intend "to liberate the city of Aleppo from the rule of the
(President Bashar) Assad thugs whose hands were blood stained by heinous crimes against our people," CNN reported.
Israeli officials again stressed the transfer of advanced weaponry or chemical weapons from Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon are unacceptable.
"We are monitoring closely what occurs there and are prepared for all developments," Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said at the outset of the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem Sunday.
"We are monitoring events in Syria ... the disintegration of Assad's family ... more than that I cannot reveal how, if or when we will respond, but the transfer of advanced weapons is unacceptable," Israel Radio quoted Defense Minister Ehud Barak saying.
Al-Obeidi urged government soldiers to defect or step aside and called on Aleppo residents to remain in their homes. He vowed to secure the city and protect all minorities and sects, CNN said. Syrian opposition officials told CNN an entire building collapsed in the Assad stronghold and most populated city in the country after it was shelled by a military tank.
The Local Coordination Committee said at least seven people died Sunday morning in clashes across the country, CNN said.
In Damascus, Assad's forces backed by helicopters launched an assault in the suburb of Barzeh and Mezzeh, the BBC said. The Local Coordination Committee of Syria said a mosque caught fire, trapping families inside, CNN said. Syria's state television, however, denied the report saying the "the situation in Damascus is very normal, and life as usual but in a limited number of neighborhoods."
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least 19,106 people have been killed in the country since March 2011.
21 injured in coal-walking exercise
SAN JOSE, Calif., July 22 (UPI) -- Medical personnel said they treated 21 people who were burned while walking across hot coals at an event in California hosted by self-help author Tony Robbins.
At least three people were burned so badly, they were sent to the hospital Thursday, the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News reported.
A crowd of more than 6,000 people had attended a motivational seminar by Robbins earlier that evening at the San Jose Convention Center. Some of the attendees walked to the park across the street after the event to take part in the coal-walking exercise.
One attendee, Kim, who didn't want her last name reported, said: "It seemed abnormal that so many got hurt."
Jonathan Correll, 25, told the Mercury News he heard wails of pain as people attempted to walk across one of the 12 lanes of coals measuring 10 feet long and 2 1/2 feet wide.
"It was people seriously hurting, like they were being tortured," he said. "First one person, then a couple minutes later another one, and there was just a line of people walking on that fire. It was just bizarre, man."
Robbins Research International issued a statement Friday saying coordinators "work with local fire and emergency personnel to ensure this event is always done in the safest way possible."
"We have been safely providing this experience for more than three decades, and always under the supervision of medical personnel."
