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Surveillance video shown at Holmes hearing

CENTENNIAL, Colo., Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Evidence presented Monday at a preliminary hearing for Colorado movie theater massacre suspect James Holmes included a surveillance video from the scene.

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The hearing for Holmes, who is charged with 166 counts of murder, attempted murder and weapons charges for the July 20 shooting that killed 12 people and injured 58 others, is being held in Centennial, Colo., The Denver Post reported.

Holmes has yet to enter a plea.

The video from the shooting scene showed employees at the Century 16 movie theater in Aurora drop to the floor and dozens of people rushing to exit the theater.

It also showed Holmes walking into the theater, wearing a long-sleeved shirt, dark pants and a dark beanie stocking cap.

Aurora Police Detective Matthew Ingui testified witnesses described Holmes as "very calm and moving with purpose" inside the theater.

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None of the four police officers who testified Monday were able to offer a motive for the massacre, CNN reported.


Oswald's apartment in Dallas to be razed

DALLAS, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- A Dallas apartment building where presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald once lived will be demolished this week, the city's senior assistant attorney said.

The derelict property at 600 Elsbeth St. was ordered bulldozed by court order in 2011, but owner Jane Bryant successfully fought off municipal demands until now, The Dallas Morning News reported Monday.

"The condition of the property was worsened" and is "an attractive nuisance to vandals and threatens harm to the public health, safety and welfare," Dallas Senior Assistant City Attorney Andrew Gilbert wrote in a letter sent Monday.

Demolition of the building, where Oswald and his wife Marina lived from November 1962 to March 1963 -- eight months before he shot and killed President John F. Kennedy and was himself gunned down by Jack Ruby -- will begin with asbestos abatement expected to take until Wednesday, the newspaper said.


Political arrests up in Cuba

HAVANA, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Political arrests in Cuba totaled more than 6,600 in 2012, up from 4,123 in 2011 and 2,074 in 2010, officials say.

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Activists say the increase in political arrests is due to the government's change in strategy for dealing with civil resistance, USA Today reported.

"The government has changed its tactics," said Elizardo Sanchez, director of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, a Havana group that tracks political arrests.

Hector Maseda, who served several years in prison for his political views, said authorities have started to arrest people and hold them in custody for shorter periods of time to give the impression of tolerance.

"The government is trying to confuse public opinion. It is trying to show that repression has lessened," said Maseda, 69, a former nuclear engineer. "But that is not happening. Repression is increasing."


Prince Charles speaks on environment

LONDON, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Prince Charles said on a British television program he feels the weight of responsibility of environmental issues.

"I don't want to be confronted by my future grandchild and [have him or her] say, 'Why didn't you do something? Clearly, now that we will have a grandchild, it makes it more obvious to try and make sure we leave them with something that isn't a total poisoned chalice," he said Monday, a reference to the child expected next summer by Prince William and the duchess of Cambridge.

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Charles made his remarks on the ITV television program "This Morning."

An outspoken campaigner on environmental matters, he was interviewed in a segment designed to inspire a new wave of volunteerism in Britain, the newspaper The Daily Telegraph said.

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