15/12/2012 BBC Weekend News

Good afternoon. Flags are flying at half-mast across America as people

mourn the killing of 20 young children and seven adults in the

state of Connecticut. The gunman, named as 20-year-old Adam Lanza,

went on the rampage inside a primary school in Newtown. Earlier,

he had killed his mother, a teacher at the school, at their home before

driving to the school. Last night the community held a vigil for the

victims as Laura Trevelyan reports. At a vigil to remember the victims,

the church was overflowing. The grief for the dead children was

overwhelming. Families held one another close. For this prosperous

New England community that had seemed to embody the American Dream,

the killings are a devastating shock. It should not have happened

to our children. They are little. They do not understand. It is hard

and I grieve for their parents. see it on the news and I see the

school I went to and do not believe that is where I was from. It is not

clear what happened here. News organisations report that the 20-

year-old killed his mother and opened fire inside the school

before killing himself. Surviving children were rushed at -- from

this scene. A teacher at the school explained how she protected her

class. I told them they had to be absolutely quiet. I was afraid if

he came in, he would hear us and might shoot at the door. I said we

have to be absolutely quiet. I said there is a bad man and we need to

wait for the good guys. Newtown Connecticut is now notorious

because of the mass killing, during a roll-call of American towns. The

President asked for a re- examination of gun laws. We have

endured too many of these tragedies and each time I learn the news, I

react not as a president but as anybody else would, as a parent.

The Newtown pastor who lost young members of his congregation to this

latest massacre added this. Guns are intended for one thing and we

are not living in a war zone, we are living as human beings together.

I hope this town will wake up to anything that means violence to

other people. Tonight the small town is trying to understand the

incomprehensible. People ask questions to which there are no

answers and the parents of the dead are facing an agonising void. Our

correspondent is in Newtown. It must have been a difficult night?

That is right. It is early in the morning. I suspect many people in

this rural community will have got very little sleep as they struggled

to come to terms with the events of the past 24 hours. Little is known

about Adam Lanza. He is believed to have shot his mother first, before

travelling to the school, where he opened fire, firing as many as 100

rounds, and killing 18 students, who are still in the building. And

two others who died at hospital. We are waiting for the police

authorities to update what little they have learned. This is a

community still very much in morning as the country discusses

what next for gun-control. Voting has begun on Egypt's controversial

draft constitution. The document, which is supported by President

Mohamed Morsi, has sparked nationwide protests. There are not

enough judges and officials to oversee nationwide voting, so polls

are happing in Cairo and other big cities and provinces first with the

rest of the country voting in a week's time. Jon Leyne has been

assessing the mood across the nation.

The moment of decision. A simple question, do you support the new

constitution for Egypt, or do you suppose it? The voting is

supervised by police and troops, who have been given special powers

to enable them to maintain order. Despite fears of violence and many

deaths in the run-up to the voting, so far it has been largely peaceful

and orderly. There is plenty of enthusiasm, even after weeks of

protest, debate and argument over the new constitution. Egyptians

waiting patiently to have their say on the future of their country.

President Morsi was one of the first to vote at a polling station

near his palace. He supports the new constitution, as do most of his

Islamist allies, including the Muslim Brotherhood. Opponents

include Liberals and others who want a more secular future for

Egypt. They say the constitution introduces too much emphasis on

Islamic values and not enough guarantees of freedom. This is the

first of two days of voting. Some results may emerge during the night.

The final outcome will not be known for more than one week. Egypt's

future is on hold and in the balance.

A mass has been held in memory of the nurse who was found dead days

after answering a hoax call at a hospital treating the Duchess of

Cambridge. Jacintha Saldanha's husband and two children attended

the service at Westminster Cathedral. In a tribute, they

described her as kind-hearted, generous and well-respected. Your

loss is a painful one and nobody can take the place -- your place in

my life ever again. I love you and I miss you for ever. England's

cricketers have had a good third day in the Test in India but they

had to be patient before reducing their hosts to 297-8 at the close.

England, who lead the four match series 2-1, were left frustrated

for the first six hours of the day, Virat Kohli scoring a century in a

partnership of 198 with captain MS Dhoni. But, in the final hour of