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4B Daily News– Wednesday, July 25, 2012 WORLD BRIEFING Families turn from suspect's court hearing to victim goodbyes CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — Their first look at a dazed- looking James Holmes with wildly dyed red hair stunned and angered some of the people he is accused of shooting and the kin of those killed that night in a Colorado movie theater. ''A coward,'' said Tom largely insulated from the unrest that has ravaged much of the rest of the country during the 16-month conflict. But this month, rebels from surrounding areas have pushed into both, bringing street battles to previously calm urban neigh- borhoods. Teves, whose son, Alex, was one of 12 people Holmes is accused of killing. Tom Teves stared at Holmes throughout the former graduate student's first court appearance on Monday. ''Somebody had to be in the courtroom to say, 'You know what? You went in with ballistic protection and guns, and you shot a 6-year-old,''' he said. Another 58 people were wounded when authorities say Holmes opened fire at a mid- night showing of ''The Dark Knight Rises'' in Aurora. Seven remained in critical condition Tuesday. ''He doesn't look surprised at any of it, but he seemed amazed at what was happen- ing,'' said Robert Blache, who watched video of Holmes with his injured daughter Christina, who was shot in both legs. ''I'm pretty sure he's not sane.'' Son of ex-Syrian defense minister confirms defection BEIRUT (AP) — Fighter jets unleashed sonic booms and helicopter gunships strafed rebels as they pressed their fight Tuesday into new neighbor- hoods in Aleppo, Syria's largest city. Farther south, ground troops combed Damascus after the nearly complete rout of the largest rebel assault yet on the capital. Nonpartisan budget office says Obama's health law still reduces deficit WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's health care overhaul will shrink rather than increase the nation's huge federal deficits over the next decade, Congress' nonpar- tisan budget scorekeepers said Tuesday, supporting Obama's contention in a major election- year dispute with Republicans. About 3 million fewer unin- sured people will gain health coverage because of last month's Supreme Court ruling granting states more leeway, and that will cut the federal costs by $84 billion, the Con- gressional Budget Office said in the biggest changes from earlier estimates. that ''Obamacare'' will actually raise deficits — by ''trillions,'' according to presidential candi- date Mitt Romney. But that's not so, the budget office said. The office gave no updated estimate for total deficit reduc- tions from the law, approved by Congress and signed by Obama in 2010. But it did estimate that Republican legislation to repeal the overhaul — passed recently by the House — would itself boost the deficit by $109 billion from 2013 to 2022. ''Repealing the (health care Republicans have insisted After a series of setbacks, President Bashar Assad's forces are solidifying their grip on Aleppo and Damascus, know- ing that their fall would almost certainly spell the regime's end. The regime appears to be law) will lead to an increase in budget deficits over the coming decade, though a smaller one than previously reported,'' bud- get office director Douglas Elmendorf said in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. regaining momentum after a series of setbacks that put it on the defensive. But while its forces easily outgun the rebels in direct confrontations, the rebellion has spread them thin — pointing to a drawn-out civil war. Syria's two biggest cities, home to more than one-third of the country's 22 million people and centers of its political and economic life, have remained Romney says Obama threatens US security RENO, Nev. (AP) — Repub- lican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Tuesday called for an independent investigation into claims the White House had leaked national security infor- mation for President Barack Obama's political gain, part of a searing speech that marked a wholesale indictment of the Democrat's foreign policy. In a race that has so far focused almost entirely on the sluggish economy, Romney also critiqued Obama's handling of Iran's nuclear threat, the vio- lence in Syria and relations with Israel during a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars con- vention. More sexually active US teenagers using In his first foreign policy speech since emerging as the likely Republican presidential nominee, Romney accused Obama of putting politics over national security, a serious charge that went straight at a policy area where national polls show the president with the edge. The turn also was a reminder that the increasingly biting cam- paign, which paused over the weekend in deference to the deadly movie theater shooting in Colorado, was on again in earnest. ''This conduct is con- temptible,'' Romney said of the leaks of classified information. ''It betrays our national interest. It compromises our men and women in the field. And it demands a full and prompt investigation by a special prose- cutor, with explanation and con- sequence.'' Satellites spot melting nearly all over Greenland WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly all of Greenland's mas- sive ice sheet suddenly started melting a bit this month, a freak event that surprised scientists. Even Greenland's coldest and highest place, Summit sta- tion, showed melting. Ice core records show that last happened in 1889 and occurs about once every 150 years. NASA calls unprecedented melting of the ice sheet that blankets the island, starting on July 8 and lasting four days. Most of the thick ice remains. While some ice usually melts during the summer, what was unusual was that the melting happened in a flash and over a widespread area. ''You literally had this wave Three satellites show what condoms WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly half of high school stu- dents say they've had sex, yet progress has stalled in getting them to use condoms to protect against the AIDS virus, govern- ment researchers reported Tues- day. Today, four of every 10 new HIV infections occur in people younger than 30, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — and the teen years, just as many youths become sexu- ally active, are key for getting across the safe-sex message. Using a long-standing survey of high school students' health, the CDC tracked how teen sexual behavior has changed over 20 years. The results are decidedly mixed. active high school students say they used condoms the last time they had sex, researchers said at the International AIDS Confer- ence. That's an increase from the 46 percent who were using con- doms in 1991. ''This is good news,'' said Dr. About 60 percent of sexually Kevin Fenton, director of CDC's HIV prevention center. But, ''we need to do a lot more.'' Ghana's vice president sworn in hours after President Atta of warm air wash over the Greenland ice sheet and melt it,'' NASA ice scientist Tom Wagner said Tuesday. The ice melt area went from 40 percent of the ice sheet to 97 percent in four days, according to NASA. Until now, the most extensive melt seen by satellites in the past three decades was about 55 percent. Mills dies at 68 ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — Pres- ident John Atta Mills' election victory secured Ghana's reputa- tion as one of the most stable democracies in West Africa, though his death Tuesday came before the 68-year-old could finish his first term in office. Hours later, Vice President President John Mahama took the oath of office, further underscor- ing Ghana's stability in a region where the death of a leader can spark a coup attempt. Ghanaian state-run television stations GTV and TV3 broke into their regular programming to announce the president's death Tuesday afternoon, which came three days after his 68th birthday. Mahama was sworn in as pres- ident by 8:15 p.m., raising the golden staff of office above his head only six hours after Atta Mills' death. Ghana had ''been hit by an unprecedented tragedy'' Mahama said, adding that the late leader ''gave himself to bettering the lives of the people of this coun- try.'' Recovering ex- congresswoman Giffords rides cable car up French Alps GENEVA (AP) — Former U.S. congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, recovering from injuries in a mass shooting last year, has ventured into the French Alps. Officials at the European Cen- ter for Nuclear Research said Tuesday the outing by Giffords, her astronaut husband Mark Kelly and daughter Claire was organized as part of a visit to CERN outside Geneva. Giffords, who held an Arizona seat in Congress for more than four years, rode a cable car Mon- day up the 3,842-meter (12,605- foot) Aiguille du Midi outside Chamonix, France. Giffords gave up her seat to focus on her recovery from a gun- shot wound to the head during a Jan. 8, 2011, rampage that left six dead and 13 wounded. Wednesday of astronauts who car- ried equipment designed at CERN to the International Space Station. CERN will host a meeting More charges expected over NH hepatitis C outbreak CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A federal prosecutor said Tuesday he expects to bring more charges against a traveling med- ical technician accused of infecting 30 patients with hepatitis C in New Hampshire, and health officials said they are casting a wider net as they look for more victims. In his first court appearance on two drug charges, David Kwiatkowski briefly answered a judge's questions, agreeing that there is enough evidence to keep him incarcerated while the case goes to a grand jury. Afterward, U.S. Attorney John Kacavas said more charges are likely, possibly one for each infected patient. charged last week with fraudu- lently obtaining drugs and tam- pering with a consumer product, is accused of stealing anesthetic drugs from the cardiac catheter- ization lab at Exeter Hospital where he worked, injecting him- self and contaminating syringes that were later used on patients. Kwiatkowski, who was