NPR 2012-07-21

 Colorado police are confirming at least 12 were killed; 59 others were wounded in a mass shooting overnight in Aurora 1. Police chief Daniel Oats says 24 years old suspect James Holmes charged into the theater where movie goers gathered to watch new Batman movie, hurdled 2 a gas canister and opened fire. 

The suspect was dressed all in black. He was wearing a ballistic helmet, a tactical ballistic vest, ballistic leggings, a throat protector and a groin protector and a gas mask and black tactical gloves. 
Holmes is now in police's custody 3. Jennifer Seeger was in the theater when the gunman struck the 22 year old told NBC's Today Show she was very close to losing her life.
He had put the guns in my face and at that point I had 5 second to do something and I just jumped deeper than you know, the aisle 4, and crawled up a ball and tried to just tuck in cover at that point. He opened fire on people right behind and the gun shells were falling on my forehead.
A statement released by the suspect's family says Our hearts go out to those who were involved in this tragedy. That statement goes on to request media respect for privacy. 
Authorities meanwhile are at Holme's Aurora apartment which they say has been booby trapped. They have evacuated 5 several buildings nearby. 
The presidential candidates' campaigns have taken a significantly tone or lowered less of a tone today. President Obama cancelled events in Florida. But he first addressed a crowd in Fort Myers where he expressed condolences for the victims of Colorado tragedy.
/esamber/? Mitt 6 Romney also offered condolences to the people of Colorado today. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports that Mitt Romney schedule campaign event in New Hampshire also took on a very different tone. 
The event felt more like a memorial service than a campaign rally. There were no political slogans, no music. When Romney took the stage, people politely applauded. There was no cheering. Romney said he was not speaking not as a man running for office, but as a father and grandfather. 
Today we feel not only a sense of grief but perhaps also of helplessness. But there is something we can do. We can offer comfort to someone near us who are suffering or heavy laden 7. And we can mourn with those who mourn in Colorado. 
His remarks lasted less than 5 minutes. After speaking he stood at the exit of his lumber 8 company and shook hands with supporters as they slowly filed out. Ari Shapiro, NPR News, Bow, New Hampshire.
At a last check on Wall Street, Dow Johns Industrial Average down 126 points, or now nearly 1% at 12'817. NASDAQ Composite Index down 34 points, or more than 1% at 2932 and the S&P 500 down nearly 1%.
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Some residents of the world's most populous 9 Muslim majority nation Indonesia began fasting today to mark the holy month of Ramadan. NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from Jakarta that differences in the way the month starter calculate mean that many will not begin fasting until Saturday.
Indonesia's second largest Muslim Organization Muhammadiyah which claims 29 million followers 10 has declared that the new crescent moon marking the 9th lunar month of Islamic calendar has already appeared, marking the start of Ramadan. The religious affairs ministrate meanwhile says the new moon won't be visible until it reaches 2 degrees above the horizon, which won't happen until Saturday. Followers of both interpretations 11 are already busy, visiting the graves of their ancestors and laying in food supplies for sumptuous 12 meals after each day of fasting. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Jakarta.
Iraqi government says Syrian rebels control at least one major border crossing between the two nations. All others remaining in the hands of Syrian troops may ease some concerns now that Syria's conflict which is widely described as a civil war may be spilling into Iraq. Many Iraqis who moved to Syria recent years to escape sectarian violence in their homeland are reportedly returning to Iraq to escape the Syrian uprising. 
An FBI Dive team's helping 13 Iowa authorities search for two missing girls whose bicycles were found near a lake a week ago. Authority say the bikes belonging to 10 year old Lyric 14 Morrissey and her 8 year old cousin Elizabeth Collins were found on a path near Meyers Lake. The agents have taken a boat out and scanned the waters for any sign linked to the girls.
I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News, in Washington.