Batman Paris premiere cancelled

he Paris premiere of the new Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises, has been cancelled following a shooting at a midnight screening in the US.

At least 12 people have been killed and dozens injured in the attack in Denver, Colorado on Thursday night.

Witnesses said a man wearing a gas mask opened
fire as movie-goers watched the new Batman film

Witnesses said a man wearing a gas mask opened fire as movie-goers watched the film.

In a statement film studio Warner Bros. said they were "deeply saddened to learn about this shocking incident".

"We extend our sincere sympathies to the families and loved ones of the victims at this tragic time," the statement said.

As well as the cancellation of the red carpet premiere on the Champs-Elysees, the Hollywood Reporter reported that media interviews with the director, Christoper Nolan, and the film's cast have also been cancelled.

The Paris premiere was due to take place on Friday.

Meanwhile, according to reports, Warner Bros. has also pulled a trailer for its upcoming film Gangster Squad, a 1940s-set thriller starring Sean Penn and Ryan Gosling.

Movie website Deadline said the trailer, which was being shown during the previews of The Dark Knight Rises, featured a scene of gunmen going into a cinema and shooting patrons as they watch a film.

Shackleton and Scott's Antarctic huts are put online by Google

Google took several images with fish-eye lenses and then stitched them together to allow users to explore Shackleton's hut

Images of the Antarctic huts used by polar explorers Sir Ernest Shackleton and Robert Falcon Scott have been posted online as part of the latest extension to Google's Maps service.

The prefabricated wooden cabins were erected in 1908 and 1911 respectively, and were used as bases for the men's attempts to reach the south pole.

Users can navigate the 360-degree photographs to see some of the kit and supplies used by both expeditions.

The locations appear well-preserved.

The buildings have benefited from ongoing conservation work by the New Zealand-based Antarctic Heritage Trust, which co-operated with Google on the project.

Both structures had previously appeared on the World Monuments Watch List of the most endangered sites in the world.

Frozen food

Shackleton's hut is located at Cape Royds, where the explorer and nine other team members left their ship, the Nimrod, to stay during the winter.

It still houses about 5,000 of the team's personal possessions including books, clothing and canned food, which have been preserved by the cold temperatures.

Shackleton's expedition was the first to climb the volcano Mount Erebus, but bad weather and diminished supplies caused them to turn back about 156km (97 miles) before reaching the south pole. Nevertheless this was the furthest south anyone had reached at the time and the group returned to the UK as heroes.

Scott's base at Cape Evans was erected three years later and still contains more than 8,000 artefacts from his doomed adventure.

Boxes of Tate sugar cubes, Heinz Tomato Ketchup bottles and clothing can be seen in the uploaded pictures from the location.

Scott's hut still contains many items of food
abandoned when his team set out to the pole

Scott and four others did reach the pole in January 1912 but found they had been beaten to there by a Norwegian party led by Roald Amundsen. The members of Scott's party died as a result of the freezing conditions during their return journey.

Google said it had carried out the fish-eye lens photography project to provide school children and others with an "insight into how these men lived for months at a time".

In addition to the two huts it has also added images of the Ceremonial South Pole - where flags can be seen planted by the various teams that reached the spot - as well as the Cape Royds Adelie Penguin Rookery.

Syria crisis: Heavy clashes in second city of Aleppo

There have been heavy clashes between security forces and rebels in Syria's second city of Aleppo, activists say.

The fighting was centred on the Salah al-Din district, but had also spread to Sakhur and Haydariya, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

The rebel Free Syrian Army has gone on the
offensive in Aleppo province in recent days

Aleppo has so far been spared the daily bloodshed seen in other cities since the uprising began in March 2011.

The violence came a day after the UN Security Council voted to extend the UN observer mission for a "final" 30 days.

A resolution stated that after that period the monitors would leave if they were unable to carry out their job of verifying the peace plan brokered by the UN and Arab League's special envoy, Kofi Annan.

Their mandate may be renewed if the use of heavy weapons ends.

The observers' work has been mostly suspended since June because of the escalating violence, which reportedly left more than 300 people dead on Thursday and another 200 on Friday.

On Saturday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the Security Council to forge a united way forward and exercise its collective responsibility.

Mr Ban also said he would send his Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations, Herve Ladsous, to Syria and had asked his top military adviser to take charge of the observer mission.

'Exodus'

Activists said the clashes in Aleppo between troops and members of the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) began in Salah al-Din on Friday morning. By Friday afternoon, they had spread into Sakhur and Haydariya.

Aleppo-based activist Mohammed Saeed said the fighting continued throughout the night until Saturday morning, most of it in Salah al-Din.

"Last night was very bad," he told the Associated Press. "There were huge explosions and the gunfire didn't stop for several hours."

"The uprising has finally reached Aleppo," he added.

The governor of Damascus has said all
resistance will be cleared up within five days

Mr Saeed said dozens of FSA fighters had entered from the countryside. Aleppo is not far from Turkey, where the FSA commanders are based.

The Local Co-ordination Committees, an activist network, said there had been an "exodus" of Salah al-Din residents "because of fear of a regime bombardment and offensive".

The BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says fighting in Aleppo is ominous for President Bashar al-Assad's government, since the city has so far stayed out of the uprising.

So too had the capital, Damascus, but those days are now over, our correspondent adds.

Government forces hit back hard on Friday, using all their firepower to retake the southern district of Midan, causing massive damage. Sporadic gunfire and explosions were heard by residents of the city throughout the night.

The governor of Damascus has said all resistance will be cleared up within five days, but not far south of Midan, at Yarmouk, video published online by activists appeared to show the local police station overrun by rebels.

On the other side of the city, in the northern suburb of al-Tal, another video purportedly showed the head of the local Political Security Directorate (PSD) branch and all his staff surrendering to FSA fighters.

There was also a violent and prolonged battle in the rebel-held town of Talbasiya, north of the city of Homs in central Syria. Activists said government forces tried to storm the town then bombarded it heavily.