World sends sympathies over school slaying

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WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- The international community sent condolences to the United States Saturday after the massacre of 26 children and adults at a Connecticut elementary school.

Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Valdimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noba all sent personal messages to President Obama while various foreign ministers expressed their sympathies to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

President Hu in his message from Beijing extended China's sympathies as well to the families of the victims of the Newtown shootings, China's Xinhua news agency said.

The shootings also brought out a response from members of the Sikh community in the Unites States. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said a vigil would be held Saturday night in Brookfield, Wis.

The vigil is being co-sponsored by the Sikh temple in Oak Creek where a white supremacist gunman shot six people to death in August.