Church shooting suspect on murder charges

RELATIVES of the South Carolina church shooting victims have made tearful statements at the first court appearance of the man charged with the murders.

The Charleston church shooting suspect has been ordered to remain in custody on nine murder charges.

THE white man accused of gunning down nine black worshippers at a US church has been ordered held on murder charges as authorities said they were investigating the killings as a possible act of "domestic terrorism".

THE carnage at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston was the worst attack on a US place of worship in decades and comes at a time of revived racial tensions in many parts of the country.