Did Norway suspect have surgery to look more Aryan?

Anders Behring Breivik, the 32-year-old Norwegian man who admitted killing 77 people in a bomb attack and shooting rampage, likely had work done to alter his appearance, an intelligence official suggested.

Janne Kristiansen, head of the Norwegian Police Security Service, told The Sunday Times of London that Breivik's facial structure likely was not natural.

"You do not have that Aryan look naturally in Norway," Kristiansen explained. "Hitler would have had him on posters. He has the perfect, classic Aryan face. He must have had a facelift."

Breivik, who denounced multiculturalism in his online manifesto, claims he carried out the attacks as part of a network of modern-day crusaders — the Knights Templar — to launch a revolution against a Europe spoiled by Muslim immigration, and that there are other cells ready to strike.

Story: Norway suspect's manifesto reveals delusion

According to a report in Britain's Daily Telegraph, Breivik bragged about having plastic surgery 10 years ago to a former school friend.

"I remember we were at a party," Breivik's ex-friend reportedly told the newspaper, "and he told me he had had his nose and chin operated on by a plastic surgeon in America. It was a bit weird, but he was hanging around at that time with a group of people obsessed by their bodies."

Reports of the surgery are emerging as more details of Breivik's life — and his plot — come to light.

According to the Associated Press , Breivik wrote that in his early 20s, he spent a year working alongside a mentor who schooled him in the ways of business and management. The man calls that a bizarre exaggeration, noting that the only thing he taught Breivik was how to record corporate minutes.

Those conflicts between Breivik's account and reality hint at a long thread of delusion winding throughout the 1,518-page manifesto he e-mailed to hundreds of people hours before he set out on a murderous rampage just over a week ago.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

View the original article here

Read More

Could it happen here? Britons reflect on Norway tragedy

By Marian Smith, msnbc.com

LONDON - Multiculturalism has become a contentious issue in the U.K., especially since Prime Minister David Cameron declared in February that it had failed and was partly to blame for fostering Islamist extremism. But the tragic bombing and shooting in Norway on Friday has thrown a new spotlight on the issue here: Anders Behring Breivik claimed to have connections to British far-right groups like the English Defence League and said in his manifesto that he wants to “save” Europe from Islam.

Msnbc.com spoke to a variety of Britons to hear their reactions to the tragedy in Norway and their views on multiculturalism, extremism and the potential threat of a violent attack by far-right extremists on British soil.

Bernard, 67, retired oil industry executive
“I agree with him, I’m sorry. I’m fed up with political tolerance. This is a Christian country, you abide by those rules. When I lived in Dubai you couldn’t have a church, you couldn’t wear a cross. It’s a double standard. Muslims are trying to take over the world, I’m sorry.

David Arnott for msnbc.com

Jazmin Hafeez, above, sits outside a cafe on Edgware Road, in London on July 26th 2011.

“I think he is a narcissist… I don’t agree with what he’s done but his feelings, a lot of people feel like that here. This country has changed over the past 20, 30 years. A lot of people here think the way that guy does.”

Story: 'Islam is regarded as the biggest threat to Europe for many Europeans'

Jazmin Hafeez, 22, student
“I don’t think there is [a chance it could happen here]. The U.K. is so multicultural. There’s a large number of Muslims in Europe, but they’re not going to take over. But you probably get different views from the generation above us.”

Metropolitan police spokesman
Although the British police would not get into specifics, a spokesman said: “We have seen, through arrests, prosecutions and convictions, an intention by violent extremists, which includes right-wing extremists, to cause harm. We treat right-wing extremism as seriously as any other form of violent extremism.”

David Arnott for msnbc.com

"If [multiculturalism] is handled well it works beautifully," Patrick Lamb says.

Ghaffar Hussain, head of outreach at the Quilliam Foundation, a counter-extremism think tank in the U.K.
“There’s a new form of extremism, focusing exclusively on Muslims and Islam and a perceived threat. It’s about people creating an atmosphere of hate and paranoia. [The far-right groups] create the mood music, they allow individuals to get engrossed in that view, but they don’t promote violence.

“An attack here is possible; I think it’s likely within the next five years. Not at that scale, but something will happen. Already few mosques have been attacked, there have been isolated incidents.”

Patrick Lamb, 74, manager of a hatmakers shop
“I did feel [an attack like this] was going to happen sometime. People can be frightened of multiculturalism, afraid of outsiders and don’t assimilate well. If it’s handled well it works beautifully. But I didn’t think it would be such a bloody reaction. I can accept that what happens on one side of terror can happen on the other side of terror.

“The fact that it happened in Norway, the most liberal of countries, means it could happen anywhere. [In the UK] there is an unspoken fear that we’re being overrun by immigrants. They live cheek by jowl but they don’t mix.”

Elizabeth Delves. Edgware Road, London, UK. July 26th 2011.

Elizabeth Delves, 31, teacher
“On the whole I think (multiculturalism) works. I work with young people from all sorts of different nationalities and they all get on really well. It definitely can work. You’re always going to get animosity – you can get animosity amongst any group, whether it be about ethnicity, whether it be religion… it could be anything. But this generation is much more open-minded.

“It definitely could happen here. People like that just need an excuse to do these sorts of things.”

Dr. Taj Hargey, chairman and chief executive of the Muslim Educational Centre of Oxford and imam
"We should be vigilant about Muslim extremists but we should be vigilant about all extremists. We’re so concerned about Muslim extremists, but seem to be unperturbed by right-wing fascists. This guy in Norway labels himself as a Christian conservative. We have Islamist terrorists – why don’t we call these people Christianist terrorists? 

“In Britain you don’t have this culture of random violence… but we’re in for a rough time. The government and the press need to go after the English Defence League and the British National Party with same vigor as they’re going after al-Qaida and the Taliban and militants.”

Story: Islamists raise fears of violent 'clash of cultures' in Europe

English Defence League statement
The rightwing English Defence League  issued a statement the day after the attacks in Norway, saying: "Yesterday's tragic events are an alarming eye-opener as to what could happen within our own shores if we are not careful and don't clamp down on groups and individuals that express extremist beliefs, be it Islamic or far-right extremist views."

David Arnott for msnbc.com

Mohammed al-Hussein stands in front of his convertible near Edgware Road in London.

One day after that, the EDL issued a second statement defending itself after it emerged that Breivik claimed to have had contact with the EDL: "No form of terrorism can ever be justified and the taking of innocent lives can never be justified. We are proud to stand strongly against all forms of extremism and we will continue to speak out against the biggest terrorist threat to our nation, Islamic extremism."

Story: Demystifying Islam in a strained Britain

Mohammed Al Hussein, 60, retired executive 
“There is surprisingly unfertile ground for that in the U.K., though there is a strong, widespread conservative attitude that Old England is under threat. But people here have come to terms with it (multiculturalism).”

View the original article here

Read More

Teen's texts offer window into Norway terror

Marianne Bremnes received the kind of message that a mother dreads.

“Mummy, tell the police to come quick. People are dying here,” her 16-year-old daughter Julie wrote in a text message from Norway’s Utoya island on Friday.

Like many of the young people attending a Labor Party camp on the island, Julie Bremnes was carrying a cell phone, enabling her to reach her mom while Anders Berhing Breivik was on a 90-minute shooting rampage, killing dozens of people. Her exchange with her mother, released on Wednesday, gives a glimpse into the long, terrifying wait for help.

“The police know,” Marianne Bremnes, 46, texted her daughter. “They’ve had many calls. Give a sign of life every five minutes.”

Julie, was hiding under a rock with three friends while Breivik roamed the island, shooting people as they cowered, ran, or tried to swim for safety.

“We are in fear of our lives,” Julie texted.

Mother: “I understand. Stay hidden.”

As the wait for rescue dragged on, the text conversation seemed a preparation for the worst.

Julie: “I love you even if I still misbehave from time to time."

Mother: “I know that my darling. We love you very much.”

The exchange went on for about 90 minutes.

Debt deal or not, Social Security will change Suicide spikes among middle-aged women A day-in-the-life of Congress For sleeping with own wife, he’s labeled sex offender Walter Reed: 'A healing place' for all the warriors Could it happen here? Britons reflect on Norway tragedy Life Inc.: The best lawn mowers under $300

Julie and her three friends were rescued, physically unharmed.

Many others were not as fortunate.

Breivik shot to death 68 people on the island, and injured many more. Breivik also detonated a bomb at a Norwegian government building in Oslo earlier in the day, killing 8 others before travelling to the island, about 28 miles away.

Adrian Pracon, 21, said members at the camp were gathering for a meeting, to discuss the news of the bombing earlier in the day, which was also carried out by Breivik before he came to the island.

Pracon was shot in the shoulder as he lay among the bodies, hoping to be mistaken for one of the dead.

“I knew it was over,” he told NBC’s Martin Fletcher from his hospital bed. “I knew I was going to die now.”

He said that there were long spells of silence while Breivik was searching for people in hiding, broken occasionally by bursts of gunfire and screams.

“(Breivik) also screamed out that he would kill us all," Pracon said. "That this was the day we would die out,” said Pracon.

On Wednesaday, the Daily Mail reported that the Breivik had consumed a cocktail of drugs prior to his attack in order to be "strong and efficient," according to the defense lawyer. Breivik had plotted to inject poison into the bullets during the attack, though it was unclear whether he had actually done so . He wore a police uniform to draw young campers to him, and appeared in total control during the island rampage, police official Odd Reidar Humlegaard said.

Some of the last-minute cell phone exchanges among loved ones would prove to be their last.

Gunnar Linaker, 23, was speaking by cell phone to his father Roald Linaker in Bardu in northern Norway when the mayhem began.

"He said to me: 'Dad, dad, someone is shooting,' and then he hung up," Roald Linaker said.

Gunnar Linaker was shot and later died in the hospital, having never regained consciousness.

© 2011 msnbc.com  Reprints

View the original article here

Read More

Norway police face review, think killer acted alone (Reuters)

OSLO (Reuters) – Police are increasingly certain that mass killer Anders Behring Breivik acted alone, but are leaving no stone unturned in the hunt for collaborators as they try to close one of the bloodiest chapters in Norway's history.

Breivik, 32, killed eight people in a bomb attack in central Oslo last Friday and then shot 68 at an island summer camp for the ruling Labor Party's youth wing.

He has told police he was part of a network in his self-styled "crusade" against Islam and multiculturalism -- but Norwegian authorities doubt this.

"So far we have no indication that he has any accomplices or that there are more cells," the head of the Norwegian Police Security Service, Janne Kristiansen, told Reuters on Wednesday. His claim was likely to have been a play for publicity, she said.

Kristiansen said there would be no let-up in hunting Breivik's possible partners, however unlikely, or in police monitoring of extremists.

"As long as there is a tiny chance...we have to investigate it -- that is our main focus," said Kristiansen, who added that Breivik was "too calculated, too focused" to be considered insane.

Norway's parliament has promised a review of the country's security services and their actions during Breivik's attacks. The government said on Wednesday it would pay the costs of burying the mostly teenaged and twenty-something victims.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg urged his countrymen to participate in the open debate and democracy that Breivik had cruelly silenced at the camp.

Days after the attacks, Norwegians may be doing just that, with the Labor Party reporting a surge in applications. An opinion poll showed 80 percent believed the prime minister had performed "extremely well" in the crisis.

Staring at thousands of flowers outside Oslo cathedral in the sunshine, physiotherapist Aase Bergheim, 41, said she now saw Stoltenberg, and Norway, differently.

"The prime minister, I now see him in a new light, because he's shown he can gather the people. People are smiling at each other now. I don't usually vote for him, but maybe in future," she said.

(Writing and additional reporting by Mohammed Abbas; Editing by Louise Ireland and Mark Trevelyan)

View the original article here

Read More

Norway PM: After attacks, make country more open (AP)

By KARL RITTER and JIM HEINTZ, Associated Press Karl Ritter And Jim Heintz, Associated Press – 1 hr 5 mins ago

OSLO, Norway – Five days after an attacker incensed by Norway's culture of tolerance horrified the world, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday issued a quiet call of defiance to his countrymen: Make Norway even more open and accepting.

"The Norwegian response to violence is more democracy, more openness and greater political participation," Stoltenberg insisted at a news conference.

His promise in the face of twin attacks that killed 76 people signaled a contrast to the U.S. response after the 9/11 attacks, when Washington gave more leeway to perform wiretaps and to search records.

It reflects the difference between the two countries' approaches to terrorism: The U.S. has been frustrated by what it considers Scandinavia's lack of aggressive investigation and arrests.

"I think what we have seen is that there is going to be one Norway before and one Norway after July 22," the day an anti-immigration extremist bombed Oslo's government quarter and slaughtered dozens at the left-leaning Labor Party's youth camp, Stoltenberg said.

"But I hope and also believe that the Norway we will see after will be more open, a more tolerant society than what we had before."

Stoltenberg strongly defended the right to speak freely — even if it includes extremist views such as those held by Anders Behring Breivik, the 32-year-old Norwegian who has confessed to the attacks and claimed they were necessary to fight what he called Muslim colonization and multiculturalism.

"We have to be very clear to distinguish between extreme views, opinions — that's completely legal, legitimate to have. What is not legitimate is to try to implement those extreme views by using violence," he said in English.

Since the attacks, Stoltenberg and Norwegian family members have underlined the country's openness by making public appearances with little visible security guarding them.

The prime minister, perhaps mindful of many Norwegians' reserved ways, urged the country to fully grieve: "I have cried, and I have told many people that they should not hesitate to cry."

The national sense of heartbreak is being renewed daily as police slowly release names of the dead; the identities of only 17 of the 68 known to have been killed have been officially confirmed.

One those named Wednesday was the youngest-known victim so far — camper Sharidyn Svebakk-Boehn, who turned 14 five days before the rampage.

An employee of Stoltenberg's office, 51-year-old Anne Lise Holter, was confirmed Wednesday as one of the eight dead in the bomb blast. A stepbrother of Crown Princess Mette-Matrit, police officer Trond Berntsen, was confirmed as one of those killed on the island, where the 51-year-old was providing security.

Stoltenberg said an independent commission will be formed to investigate the attacks and determine what lessons can be learned from the response. The commission also is to help survivors and relatives cope with the aftermath. Parliament said it is willing to help pay for funerals, and there will be a monument built to commemorate the victims.

Police earlier gave an eerie account of the end of the siege, where the man who had committed slaughter for more than an hour obediently gave up the moment police approached him, holding his hands over his head.

"It was a completely normal arrest," said officer Haavard Gaasbakk.

Earlier, the leader of Norway's Delta Force anti-terror police unit defended the special operations team, saying the breakdown of a boat didn't cause a significant delay in efforts to reach the island.

Police have come under close scrutiny over how long it took them to reach the island after first reports of shots being fired at the island youth camp Friday. Although the island is only about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the Norwegian capital, police needed 90 minutes to get to the scene.

Police were already grappling with the wide damage inflicted in the downtown government quarter. When word of the shooting came, police drove rather than take a helicopter because the crew of the sole chopper available to them was on vacation. Then the first boat they tried to take to the lake island broke down. The team jumped into other boats and got to Utoya without much delay, police officials said.

Norwegian media are suggesting that police knew Breivik's identity even before they reached the island, tracing him through a rental car company from which he rented the panel van in which the bomb was planted.

Dag Andre Johansen, Scandinavian CEO of Avis car rental company, told the AP that Breivik had rented two vehicles, including a Volkswagen Crafter van. He said police contacted the company after the bombing and got Breivik's identity confirmed. But he declined to say whether that contact came before Breivik was arrested on the island.

Many in Oslo felt a new twinge of worry on Wednesday morning when parts of the capital's rail and bus complex was evacuated because of a suspicious abandoned suitcase. Police later said no explosives were found and that the evacuation order had been lifted. The Norwegian news agency NTB said a bus driver turned in the alarm after seeing a passenger leave the suitcase and walk into the station at a fast clip.

____

Heintz reported from Stockholm. Louise Nordstrom in Stockholm and Bjoern H. Amland in Oslo contributed to this report.

View the original article here

Read More

As Norway names dead, religious leaders and counselors offer comfort to a nation (The Christian Science Monitor)

Oslo, Norway – As Norwegian police begin naming the victims from last Friday’s terrorist attacks, adding a human face to the country’s loss, caregivers and aid organizations say they stand ready to help the public sort out its raw emotions.

Survivors and mourners alike are still coming to grips with the heavy death toll from the shooting spree at the lake island of Utoya and the bombing in downtown Oslo which killed at least 76. Many are particularly disturbed over the mass murder on Utoya, where police claim Anders Behring Breivik shot 68 people – many of them in their late teens and early 20s – dead at a summer camp.

“Everyone seems beaten,” says Oslo resident Sigvald Sveinbjornsson, calling the deaths “extremely meaningless.”

“It’s impossible to comprehend,” he adds.

RECOMMENDED: Norwegian police under scrutiny after terror attacks

Investigators have portrayed Mr. Breivik’s actions as chilling, saying he hunted down the campers, many of whom hid in the woods or dove into the lake to escape. The attacks have triggered an outpouring of sympathy both at home and from abroad, with world leaders and Norway’s institutions offering their support.

Police have provided grief counseling and lawyers to the victims to help them navigate the impending legal process. The University of Oslo has opened telephone lines and prayer rooms to those seeking solace, and made the university’s priest available to students.

The Oslo Cathedral has also become a magnet for memorials and visitors. A gathering of flowers and flags that began on Friday outside of the church has only grown, engulfing much of the adjacent square.

“It has been overwhelming,” senior pastor Elisabeth Thornsen says of the response. She says the church now has to restrict the number of visitors inside the cathedral at one time after a small fire broke Monday night from candles placed throughout the building.

To meet the demand, Ms. Thornsen says the cathedral has extended its hours and will offer services every night this week. She says the state church has sought to give the public a space to grieve but also impart a sense of hope.

“I think it’s important to give a sense of peace; to let people feel what they feel and try to give room for that,” she says. “What I feel is very important is to say what the church always is saying; that there is hope. We believe in hope.”

Astrid Arnslett, spokeswoman with the Norwegian Red Cross, says its volunteers have been working with the authorities since the afternoon explosion in central Oslo. She says the organization has aided with search and rescue operations amid the rubble and on Utoya as well as provided psychological care to victims from both attacks.

Mrs. Arnslett was with many of Utoya’s victims over the weekend, sorting out practical details like finding new pairs of shoes and offering a shoulder to cry on. She says the mood was mixed as victims, overjoyed to be alive and reunited with friends, increasingly became filled with a sense of survivor’s guilt after it became clear dozens had died.

She says as more and more names are released, the number of those grieving will only increase, since victims on Utoya hailed from across the sparsely populated country. As a result, the Red Cross is keeping its centers open nationwide and is preparing to stay in touch with victims as they leave Oslo for home or head back to school.

“These young people have been through things that we’ll never understand,” she says. “Some of these kids will need people to talk to for a very long time.”

Experts agreed the healing process would be long and difficult for those who lived through the attack, especially the young. Rather than trying to shield them from what happened, officials said it is best to keep them informed and open to discussions.

“The more they understand the better they cope with the situation,â€

He doubts the attacks would ultimately scare young people away from politics, instead predicting they could fuel their interest in activism. In any case, he said the attacks would be seared into the public’s conscience, which in the end may serve to benefit Norway’s future generations.

“It is important to remember so that we can work to prevent such a thing in the future,” he says.

RECOMMENDED: Norwegian police under scrutiny after terror attacks

View the original article here

Read More

Did Norway shooter inject bullets with poison?

Anders Behring Breivik planned to inject poison into ammunition before launching his murderous assaults in Norway, British press reported Tuesday.

Girl’s clean water wish takes off after her death Races' wealth gap has become a chasm Debt talk damage has already been done Risky pelvic mesh highlights worries about FDA Alaska's Inside Passage iPhony: Inside China’s counterfeit Apple store Rolling restaurants: Some cities floor it, others brake

Norwegian authorities have not confirmed that the 32-year-old man behind Norway's worst post-World War II atrocity carried out the threat. At least 76 people died in Friday's attacks.

In a chilling 1,500-page manifesto emailed to recipients across Europe before the attack, Breivik mentioned his intent to inject lethal doses of liquid nicotine into bullets ensuring that every shot delivered a deadly blow, U.K.'s Daily Mail reported.

"I’ve now ordered 50ml — 99 percent pure liquid nicotine from a Chinese online supplier," Breivik wrote in his manifesto last year, the Mail reported. It included, "3-4 drops will be injected in hollow point rifle bullets, which will effectively turn it into a lethal chemical weapon."

Police believe Breivik acted alone when he set off a massive bomb in central Oslo and then hours later massacred 68 others on a nearby island, where up to 600 people — mostly teens —had gathered for a summer political camp. Authorities have not completely ruled out that he had accomplices.

Breivik emailed his manifesto to 1,300 people less than 90 minutes before detonating the bomb in Oslo, The Guardian reported. Breivik told authorities he didn't expect to make it out of alive from the city's center and believed he would have died before carrying out his murderous plot.

Breivik donned a police uniform as part of a ruse to draw young campers to him, appeared in total control during the island rampage, police official Odd Reidar Humlegaard said.

"He's been merciless," Humlegaard said.

Authorities say that in the island attack Breivik used two weapons — a pistol and an assault rifle both bought legally, according to his manifesto.

Story: Police begin to release IDs of Norway massacre victims

On the gun application, Breivik had claimed he wanted a rifle to hunt deer. "It would have been tempting to just write the truth; "executing category A and B cultural Marxists/multiculturalist traitors," just to see their reaction,'" according to his diary entry at the same time of her permit application.

The ammunition used was illegal "dum-dum"-style bullets designed to disintegrate inside the body and cause maximum internal damage, a doctor treating shooting victims confirmed to Reuters. 

"We still have to find out whether he did use the nicotine, and toxicology tests on the victims will give us the answer," a police official told the Daily Mail. "But his planning appears so meticulous that we fear he may have used the chemicals in this way. We would not put anything past this man."

Many of the Utoya victims suffered injuries consistent with hollow-point expanding ammunition, The Daily Mail reported.

If convicted, Breivik faces 21 years in prison for the terrorism charges. He told authorities he  expected to remain in prison indefinitely. A judge ordered he be held for eight weeks, including four in isolation.

Reuters contributed to this report.

© 2011 msnbc.com

View the original article here

Read More

Norway begins to release victims' IDs

OSLO, Norway — As the first names of victims of Norway's mass killings were released, one stood out for many Norwegians: Monica Bosei, 45, who had worked for so long at the island camp where most of the deaths occurred that Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said, "For a lot of us, she was Utoya."

With the nation still reeling from grief and shock, the attorney to the confessed killer Anders Behring Breivik said Tuesday that his client appeared to be insane, believing his attack would launch a necessary revolution. Breivik said Monday that he was part of a campaign to "save" Europe from Muslims, but so far there has been no confirmation of collaborators.

Just four of the rampage victims' identities were confirmed by the National Police Directorate, according to regional reports.

They included Gunnar Linak, 23, who was at the Utoya island at a Labor Party summer camp where most of the victims were shot to death.

Linak was talking to his father by phone when the massacre started, according to a report in the Toronto Star, and told him: "Dad, dad there is a shooting, I have to go."

Also confirmed dead were Tove Ashill Knutsen, 56, Hanna M. Orvik, 61, and Kai Hauge, 32.

Norwegian publications, that were pulling together victims lists through contacts with friends and family, offered a more complete picture, though as yet not official.

The Norwegian newspaper VG reported that Bosei had been killed, though her husband and two daughters, who were also present on the island, had survived.

Bosei, also known as "Mother Utoya," was a professional accountant, and had recently been named head of the Norway Maritime Museum. She apparently became suspicious when she was chatting with Breivik, who was dressed in a policeman's uniform, on the ferry out to the island. A witness on the ferry said she was shot when she ran off to alert an off-duty policeman who was working as a guard, according to the London Evening Standard.

The guard, Trond Berntsen, turned out to be the 51-year-old stepbrother of Norway's Princess Mette-Marit. He too was reported dead, according to multiple press reports, though not on the official government list. Berntsen reportedly saved his 10-year-old son by shoving him out of the way just before he challenged the gunman.

Many of the victims reported in the press were in their teens and 20s, including Tore Eikeland, an aspiring politician who was chairman of a regional youth party, and Ismail Haji Ahmed, 19 an ebullient dancer who appeared on "Norway's Got Talent with the stage name of Isma Brown.

Iraq-born Jamil Rafal Yasin, whose family sought refuge in Norway when she was a child, was missing and feared dead, according to The Telegraph.

The youngest victim in the massacre is believed to be appears to be 14-year-old Johannes Buo, who has not been seen since the shooting.

Story: Norway attacks focus attention on US right-wing extremists Girl’s clean water wish takes off after her death Races' wealth gap has become a chasm Debt talk damage has already been done Risky pelvic mesh highlights worries about FDA Alaska's Inside Passage iPhony: Inside China’s counterfeit Apple store Rolling restaurants: Some cities floor it, others brake

Breivik reportedly told his lawyer that he was surprised and satisfied by the number of people he had killed in his attacks.

"This whole case has indicated he's insane," Geir Lippestat told a room full of journalists.

He also said his client was surprised he wasn't stopped earlier in the shooting on Utoya island or killed on the way to court on Monday.

"He is sorry he had to do this but it was necessary to start a start revolution in [the] Western world," Lippestat said, adding that he shows hate to anyone who's not an extremist.

The lawyer said it was too early to say if Breivik would plead insanity at his trial, expected to be a year away. Lippestat said he would quit if Breivik did not agree to psychological tests.

"He hates all the Western ideas and the values of democracy ... he expects that this is the start of a war that will last 60 years.

"He looks upon himself as a warrior. He starts this war and takes some kind of pride in that," said Lippestat, a member of the Labor party whose youth wing had been the target of Friday's shooting rampage.

Lippestad said Breivik had used "some kind of drugs" before the crime to keep strong and awake, and was surprised he had not been killed during the attacks or en route to Monday's court hearing.

'Several cells abroad'
Lippestat also said that Breivik said he is part of an anti-Islam network that has two groups in Norway and several more abroad, although he refuses to give police any information about them. Breivik is cooperating with police in other ways, he said. Police declined to say where Breivik is currently being held.

"He talks about two cells in Norway, but several cells abroad,'' said Lippestat, adding that Breivik has had no contact with his family.

Norwegian police and researchers have cast doubt on such claims. Police have checked many other buildings in Oslo and have not found any other explosives.

Story: Unsettling wariness in Norway, where cops are rarely armed

The Aftenposten daily said Breivik's interrogation was moving slowly, with the confessed killer silent on his claims about sleeper cells or other potential collaborators.

Researchers doubt Breivik's claim that he is part of a wider far-right network of anti-Islam "crusaders," seeing them as empty bragging by a psychopathic fantasist who has written that exaggeration is a way to sow confusion among investigators.

Magnus Ranstorp, Research Director at the Center for Asymmetric Threat Studies at the Swedish National Defense College said that as far as he knows, nobody had evidence of the existence of the Knights Templar organization.

"There's no one who seems to know if the group exists or if it's something he made up," he told Reuters. "They (mass killers) are usually alone. He's extremely narcissistic and he goes on about himself and his role in history."

Story: European police probe Norway attacker's links to right-wing groups

Even the final entry in Breivik's own 1,500 page manifesto says on July 22: "The old saying: 'if you want something done, then do it yourself' is as relevant now as it was then."

Police face criticism
On Tuesday, Justice Minister Knut Storberget met with police chiefs who are facing criticism for taking more than an hour on Friday to stop a shooting spree in which 68 people, mostly teenagers, were shot after a bomb in Oslo killed eight.

"It is very important that we have an open and critical approach...but there is a time for everything," Storberget said after talks with Oslo's police chief, referring to questions about the police response time.

PhotoBlog: Norway mourns after shooting spree, bombing

More than 100,000 Norwegians rallied in Oslo on Monday night, many carrying white and red roses, to mourn the dead and to show unity after July 22. Tens of thousands of others rallied in other cities from Tromsoe to Bergen.

Norwegians have felt a widening sense of relief that 32-year-old Breivik seems to have been alone in his drive to protect Europe from "cultural Marxism" and a "Muslim invasion" by striking at Norway's ruling Labor Party.

In signs that police are toning down fears that Breivik was part of a wider network, border controls imposed on July 22 were lifted late on Monday.

Story: German tourist rescued teens during Norwegian island massacre

Police defended themselves from suggestions that some alarm bells should have rung about Breivik. The head of the PST security police even said he would have slipped through the net in former East Germany with its feared Stasi police.

PST says Breivik's name appeared only once, on a list of 50-60 Norwegians sent by Interpol after he paid 120 crowns ($22.16) to a Polish company that sold chemicals and was on a watch list. They found no reason to react.

"I don't think even Stasi Germany could have uncovered this person," PST chief Janne Kristiansen told the VG newspaper's online edition, adding he was "the incarnation of evil."

Even father horrified
Breivik is likely to face a lifetime in jail if convicted of the crimes, which included shooting dead terrified teenagers on Utoya island at a Labor Party summer camp.

He admits the attacks, but denies criminal responsibility. Even his father is horrified.

Slideshow: Norway mourns after massacre (on this page)

"In my darkest moments, I think that rather than killing all those people, he should have taken his own life," Breivik's father told Norwegian independent TV2 in France.

He said his son, with whom he has had no contact since he was a teenager, must be mentally ill. "There is no other way to explain it."

Reuters contributed to this report.

View the original article here

Read More

Doubt cast on Norway gunman's claim of more cells

OSLO — Norway's police believe Anders Behring Breivik probably acted alone in killing 76 people last Friday, as Norwegians united in revulsion against the worst attack in the Nordic nation since World War II.

Alaska's Inside Passage Deadly China train crash prompts outrage Paralysis tied to food poisoning in U.S., Mexico Wall Street, Washington play chicken over debt Field Notes: Wedding fever hits NYC How fatty foods brighten a bad mood

Breivik, who admitted to carrying out a bomb attack and shooting spree Friday, told a court on Monday that two cells of collaborators were in his "Knights Templar" group that aimed to "save" Europe from Muslims.

Police attorney Christian Hatlo told reporters on Monday he "cannot completely, and I stress completely, rule out that others were involved in what happened."

Story: Norway attacks focus attention on US right-wing extremists

But police say privately that they think more cells are unlikely although security services are checking with their international partners about potential foreign links.

"We feel that the accused has fairly low credibility when it comes to this claim but none of us dare to be completely dismissive about it either," a source close to the investigation told Reuters.

Police are checking Breivik's phone and credit card records as well as his known movements to determine whether he was working alone.

Researchers also doubt Breivik's claim that he is part of a wider far-right network of anti-Islam "crusaders," seeing them as empty bragging by a psychopathic fantasist who has written that exaggeration is a way to sow confusion among investigators.

Magnus Ranstorp, Research Director at the Center for Asymmetric Threat Studies at the Swedish National Defense College, said, as far as he knows, nobody had evidence of the existence of the Knights Templar organization.

"There's no one who seems to know if the group exist or if it's something he made up," he told Reuters. "They (mass killers) are usually alone. He's extremely narcissistic and he goes on about himself and his role in history."

Ragnhild Bjoernebekk, a researcher at Norway's police school who specializes in crime and violence, said it's not inconceivable that Breivik was part of a network, but added: "The fact he wants to talk about it is surprising. Perhaps he wants to suggest that he is part of something bigger than himself," she said.

Story: German tourist rescued teens during Norwegian island massacre

Further undermining his claim, Breivik's manifesto published before his shooting rampage suggested authorities should be disinformed about collaborators.

"Give the impression that your cell is larger by attempting to forward misinformation on the police band or by other means," he said in the 1,500 page document.

In the rambling manifesto, which mixes imagery of medieval crusades and Internet war games, Breivik calls himself a "Justiciar Knight Commander of Cell 8" and said he would try to "initiate contact with cell 8b and 8c."

The document says each cell commander has up to two operatives.

"Intuitively, it feels like he is alone when you read the document. It's like he's lost in this made up world and can't distinguish between fantasy and reality," said Ranstorp.

'Essential' for 'normal life' to continue
Earlier Monday, Norway police lowered the number of deaths in Friday's bombing in Oslo and the mass shooting at a youth camp to 76, down nearly 20 from previously reported numbers, citing difficulties in gathering information at Utoya island where the shooting spree occurred.

There were 68 killed at the camp site run by the Labor Party, significantly lower than the 86 previously reported, and eight killed in the bombings, an increase of one, police said.

"We had to prioritize the survivors and make the area safe and we came out with a too high number of dead," police spokesman Oystein Maeland said at a press conference on Monday afternoon. "The main thing for us was to convey the information that the number [of dead] was much higher than the 10 we had reported earlier."

"Now it's essential that normal life continues," said another police spokesman.

Police also responded to criticism that their response time was too slow, saying that they "only have one helicopter with limited air time, it’s not a tool we can use all the time and it wouldn't have made any difference to these events," a spokesman said. "A better response time than that cannot be expected."

Slideshow: Norway in mourning after massacre (on this page)

It took police a full hour to get a team of elite forces to the island. Norwegian television chartered a helicopter and filmed the killer before the police showed up. When the armed team did arrive, Breivik gave himself up without a fight. On Tuesday, Justice Minister Knut Storberget will meet police chiefs who are facing criticism.

The prosecutor said Monday that Breivik appeared "unaffected" by his actions and was prepared to spend the rest of his life in prison. Breivik said through his lawyer that he wanted to explain his motives at the hearing, but a judge ruled the hearing would be closed to the public and press.

After the hearing, the judge said he had ordered Breivik detained in solitary confinement for eight weeks, with no letters, newspapers or visits, except from a lawyer. The detention, in line with a request from prosecutors, will allow them to investigate the case against Breivik.

Thousands rally in Oslo
Also on Monday, at least 100,000 people rallied in Oslo and tens of thousands more marched in cities across Norway in a nationwide expression of grief and unity over the massacre.

Norwegian PM Jens Stoltenberg addressed the evening crowd, many of them holding up red and white roses for remembrance, his voice trembling with emotion: "By taking part you are saying a resounding 'yes' to democracy."

He called the Rose March a "march for democracy, a march for tolerance, a march for unity."

In a country of 4.8 million, where a single murder makes front-page news, the solidarity rally was probably the biggest since World War II.

Earlier in the day, a handful of enraged protesters awaited Breivik at Oslo District Court.

"Get out, get out!" shouted Alexander Roeine, 24, banging on a car he wrongly believed contained the mass killer. In fact police brought Breivik into the courthouse via a side entrance.

"Everyone here wants him dead," Roeine said, adding that he knew one of the dead and three survivors of the attacks.

Police defended themselves from suggestions that some alarm bells should have rung about Breivik. The head of the PST security police even said he would have slipped through the net in former East Germany with its feared Stasi police.

PST says Breivik's name appeared only once, on a list of 50-60 Norwegians sent by Interpol after he paid 120 crowns ($22.16) to a Polish company that sold chemicals and was on a watch list. They found no reason to react.

Story: Norway attacks shine light on right-wing extremism in Europe

The maximum jail term in Norway is 21 years, although that can be extended if there is a risk of repeat offenses. Breivik is likely to face a lifetime in jail if convicted of the crimes.

Meanwhile, in France police searched Breivik's father's house, Britain's Press Association reported. Breivik and his father, a former Norwegian diplomat who is said to be devastated by the news of his son's involvement, haven't spoken in many years, according to media reports.

"In my darkest moments, I think that rather than killing all those people, he should have taken his own life," Breivik's father told Norwegian independent TV2 in France.

He said his son, with whom he has had no contact since he was a teenager, must be mentally ill. "There is no other way to explain it."

Photoblog: Norway mourns after shooting spree, bombing

Breivik asked to wear a uniform in court, but was denied the request by the judge. His lawyer, Geir Lippestad, said he did not know what type of uniform he wanted to don. Breivik has not served in the armed forces but in some of the pictures he posted on the Internet before his killing spree he was dressed in a military-style outfit. The killer was dressed as a policeman during his shooting spree.

Lippestad said his client had admitted to Friday's attacks but that he denies any criminal guilt.

The worst peacetime massacre in the normally placid country's modern history appears to have been driven by Breivik's mission to save Europe from what he sees as the threats of Islam, immigration and multiculturalism.

Norway mourns
Crowds packed Oslo cathedral square for a minute of silence at midday on Monday that swelled into five. The only sounds were the beeping of traffic crossings, the crying of seagulls and a dog barking.

"This is a tragic event to see all these young people dying due to one man's craziness," Sven-Erik Fredheim, 36, a mechanic, told Reuters near the cathedral square where people piled more flowers onto a carpet of bouquets already laid there for the dead since Friday's violence.

Video: Oslo suspect wanted to trigger ‘anti-Muslim’ revolution (on this page)

Survivors offered harrowing accounts of the shooting. Ingvild Stensrud, 16, hid in a house on the island with friends only to find the shooter in their midst.

Video: Girl pretended to be dead, survived Norway attack (on this page)

"It's horrible my friends were killed and I was shot because I believe in a multicultural Norway," she said.

Immigration debate
The attack was likely to tone down the immigration debate ahead of September local elections, analysts said, as parties try to distance themselves from Breivik's beliefs and reinforce Norwegians' self-image as an open, peaceful people.

Norway's immigrant numbers nearly tripled between 1995 and 2010 to almost half a million in a population of 4.8 million.

Story: In rural town, Norway attacker seemed a city loner

The sense that many were drawn by Norway's generous welfare handouts helped spur the growth of the Progress Party which became Norway's second biggest in parliament after the 2009 election on a largely anti-immigration platform.

Breivik was once a member of the party, but left complaining it was too politically correct. It was then he began scheming to "resist", burying ammunition more than a year ago, weight-lifting, storing up credit cards and researching bomb-making while playing online war games.

Reuters contributed to this report.

View the original article here

Read More

Norway shooting victim played dead to survive

Ingvild Stensrud spoke deliberately and clearly to TODAY Monday about the horrifying events in Norway last Friday that have left a reported 75 dead, describing how she managed to survive after being shot in the leg by playing dead. The 16-year-old was so composed that Ann Curry asked how she managed it after such a horrific ordeal.

Prince William gives Kate a pair of Diana’s earrings Kate Middleton already wears Princess Diana's sapphire and diamond engagement ring, and now the Duchess of Cambridge has received more jewels from her husband's late mother.

Mrs. Obama goes cookout-casual in an $86 dress Amy Winehouse autopsy inconclusive TODAY Moms: Why do skinny moms love to one-up each other on pregnancy pounds? Bacon lollipops, sheep heads and more meat treats

Stensrud explained that little of the tragedy has sunk in for her yet. “I don’t understand what I have been witness to, so that’s why I am calm right now,” she told Curry via satellite from Skien, Norway. “I think the feelings will come later.”

Self-described anti-Muslim and multiculturalism foe Anders Behring Brevik was arraigned in Oslo court Monday after Friday’s rampage, which began when a bomb exploded in downtown Oslo, killing seven, and then continued on tiny Utoya Island, where a reported 68 young people attending a camp sponsored by the country’s Labor Party were massacred.

Video: Motive emerges in Norway mass murder (on this page)

‘Everybody ran’
Stensrud was one of the teens attending the camp. She told Curry she was outside when she heard shooting on one side of the island, but “I didn’t understand what was happening.”

She and other campers sought refuge by running into a nearby building, but they soon found themselves face to face with Brevik, who was dressed as a policeman.

“I was trapped in a small room, and when the man came into the house and we heard shooting inside, everybody ran — out windows, doors, into other rooms,” Stensrud said.

But when Brevik entered, Stensrud and nine others were unable to escape the room. “When he came in through the door, he started shooting the people on the floor,” she said. Three of the 10 survived, Stensrud said, by lying lifeless under dead bodies.

Mom faces jail after son, 4, died jaywalking with her Norway shooting victim played dead to survive Meet the other Sarah Palin (she might save your life) Threepeat! Mom, dad, and baby share July 19 birthday Two sisters give birth to babies on the same day

“I think I’m alive because I pretended to be dead; I had a woman lying over my body and I [hid] under her until the police came to the main building and [got] us to the hospital,” she said. “The three people who were alive in the room [were] just lying [there]. We didn’t know how many people that [were] shooting, so we didn’t know if they [were] coming back or leaving us.”

‘Shot for my beliefs’
The attacks, the worst peacetime massacre in the normally tranquil country’s history, have left a nation in mourning. Norway declared a moment of silence at noon today to reflect on the lives lost at the hands of Brevik, who is being described as having a crystal-clear vision in the motive behind his brutal attacks.

Brevik’s lawyer, Geir Lippestad, had admitted his client committed Friday’s shootings, but denies any criminal wrongdoing. In a TODAY report Monday from Martin Fletcher, Lippestad was quoted as saying Brevik believes “this is the start of a revolution that will change the Western world.”

Story: Doubt cast on Norway gunman's claim of more cells

Speaking with Curry Monday, Stensrud showed emotion when she spoke about her assailant’s belief that Europe has become dominated by Muslims and that the various cultures in Norway should not live side by side.

“I think it’s horrible, and it’s horrible that my friends were killed, that I was shot, because I believe in a multicultural Norway; for my beliefs,” the 16-year-old told Curry.

Slideshow: Norway in mourning after massacre (on this page)

And she found it particularly heinous that Brevik was dressed as a policeman, leading many of the slain to approach him for help when the shooting started.

“He was in a policeman’s suit, so he attracted people and said things were OK; therefore many walked to him and got shot,” Stensrud said.

Video: Oslo suspect wanted to trigger ‘anti-Muslim’ revolution (on this page)

Brevik’s rambling, 1,500 page manifesto indicates he was part of a cabal of nine people from eight European countries formed in 2002, leaving authorities to question whether a similar attack could possibly be planned in another nation.

Video: Girl pretended to be dead, survived Norway attack (on this page)

The nation of 4.8 million saw its Oslo cathedral become a place to gather and grieve in the days after the attack, as people prayed together and laid flowers and wreaths for the slain.

“This is a tragic event to see all these people dying due to one man’s craziness,” mourner Sven-Erik Fredheim told Reuters news.

© 2011 MSNBC Interactive.  Reprints

View the original article here

Read More

Norway terror attacks suspect to appear in court

The man accused in Norway's twin terror attacks that killed at least 93 says he acted aloneReport: An attorney says the suspect wants to explain himself in court MondayInvestigators are still searching for victims of a bomb blast in OsloAuthorities also are searching waters around Utoya island for victims

Oslo, Norway (CNN) -- A man who authorities say confessed to Norway's terror attacks is expected to make his first court appearance Monday, when, according to his attorney, he wants to "explain himself."

The court appearance comes as authorities continue to search for possible victims of Friday's bombing in downtown Oslo and a mass shooting at a political youth retreat on Utoya island. At least 93 people were killed and 96 were wounded in the attacks.

Police have not identified the suspect, but local television and newspaper reports say the man in custody is Anders Behring Breivik.

Attorney Geir Lippestad, who claimed to represent Breivik, told Norwegian TV2 that the suspect feels the terrorist attacks were "horrible," but "in his head (they) were necessary."

During the TV2 interview late Saturday, Lippestad said his client "is ready to explain himself" at Monday's court hearing.

Whether the suspect will be allowed to address the Norwegian court and under what, if any, circumstances is not immediately known.

CNN's attempts to reach Lippestad have been unsuccessful.

The 32-year-old Norwegian has told investigators he acted alone and was not aided in the planning, acting National Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim told reporters Sunday. But authorities have not ruled out that others may have been involved or helped him along the way, he said.

Sponheim said there has been "no progress" in ascertaining what the suspect's motive might have been. But he said that investigators were studying a 1,500-page manifesto that authorities believe was published online the day of the attack.

The document rants against Muslims and their growing presence in Europe and calls for a European civil war to overthrow governments, end multiculturalism and execute "cultural Marxists."

The author of the document identifies himself as Breivik and indicates he is from Norway. CNN could not independently verify that Breivik wrote the document, and Norwegian authorities would not confirm that the man in their custody wrote the manifesto, saying it was part of their investigation.

Authorities allege that the man in custody killed seven people Friday by setting off a car bomb in downtown Oslo that targeted government buildings, then traveled 20 miles to Utoya island and killed at least 86 teens and young adults in an ambush at a political youth retreat.

The suspect was carrying a considerable amount of ammunition when he surrendered to authorities, Sponheim told reporters.

Investigators will conduct autopsies over the next few days, Sponheim said, and the identities of the victims will be released once all the next-of-kin have been notified. The death toll -- which rose to 93 on Sunday after a person succumbed to injuries from the mass shooting -- could increase, police say.

At least four people have not been accounted for around Utoya island, with investigators searching the waters nearby for victims who may have drowned trying to escape the shooter.

Authorities are also still trying to determine how many people died in the Oslo bombing, where the explosion badly damaged several government buildings as well as the majority Labour Party office.

They are also hunting for new evidence.

On Sunday, police raided a property the suspect owned in the eastern Oslo area of Slettelokka looking for explosives.

"We were there with dogs but found nothing of any value as evidence," Sponheim said.

Police said Sunday that the area around the blast site would remain cordoned off, but members of the public in the area were not at risk.

In addition to the dead, at least 96 people were wounded in the attacks -- 30 in the blast and 66 in the mass shooting, Sponheim said.

Doctors at Oslo University Hospital Sunday were treating 31 patients injured in the terror attacks, 18 of whom were critically or seriously injured, Oslo University Hospital spokesman Jo Heldaas told CNN.

CNN's Michael Holmes, Erin McLaughlin, Chelsea J. Carter and Greg Botelho contributed to this report.

View the original article here

Read More

Police: Suspect in Norway attacks says he acted alone

Norway suspect allegedly posts videoNEW: Authorities say they have not established the suspect's motiveInvestigators are still searching waters around Utoya island for victimsThe man accused in Norway's twin terror attacks that killed at least 93 says he acted alonePolice are looking into a 1,500-page manifesto purportedly written by the suspect

Oslo, Norway (CNN) -- The man accused of killing at least 93 people in Norway has said he carried out the bombing and mass shooting, authorities said Sunday, as an ashen-faced and openly weeping King Harald V led the nation in mourning.

The suspect has not pleaded guilty, and said he acted alone with no accomplice, acting National Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim told reporters Sunday.

"There is no progress on the question of what (his) motive was," Sponheim said, but he said investigators were studying a 1,500-page manifesto that authorities believe was published online the day of the attack.

The document, apparently compiled over a period of nine years, rants against Muslims and their growing presence in Europe and calls for a European civil war to overthrow governments, end multiculturalism and execute "cultural Marxists."

The author of the document identifies himself as Anders Behring Breivik, the suspect in the Norwegian terrorist attacks. CNN could not independently verify that Breivik wrote the document, and Norwegian authorities would not confirm that the man in their custody wrote the manifesto, saying it was part of their investigation.

Police have not identified the suspect, but local television and newspaper reports say the man in custody is Breivik, 32.

Authorities allege that he set off a car bomb outside government buildings in Oslo on Friday, then ambushed an island political youth retreat in a shooting spree that left at least 86 dead. The suspect was still carrying a considerable amount of ammunition when he surrendered to authorities, Sponheim told reporters.

Police raised the official death toll from the twin attacks to 93 after a person wounded in the shootings died Sunday. That number could increase, they said, as investigators continue searching waters around the island for victims who may have drowned trying to escape the shooter. At least four people have not been accounted for from the shooting.

Authorities were also still trying to determine how many people died in Friday's bombing in downtown Oslo, where the explosion badly damaged a number of government buildings as well as the majority Labour Party office.

The investigation continued Sunday as memorial shrines with flowers and candles dotted the city's streets and Norwegians gathered at a cathedral in the capital to mourn the victims of the attacks.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg called the attacks "incomprehensible."

"Soon, names and photographs will be released. The enormity of the evilness will surface in all its horror, and that will be a new test for us all," he said.

Attorney Geir Lippestad, who claimed to represent Breivik, told TV2 late Saturday that his client "is ready to explain himself" on Monday when it is anticipated he will make his first court appearance. Breivik believed the terrorist attacks were "horrible," but "in his head (they) were necessary," Lippestad said.

CNN was unsuccessful in its attempts to reach Lippestad for comment.

While they have arrested only one suspect, Sponheim said authorities have not ruled out the possibility that someone else was involved in the shooting on the island. Statements from witnesses to the mass shooting "make it uncertain if it was more than one person," Sponheim said.

A police raid searching for explosives on property the suspect owned in the eastern Oslo area of Slettelokka Sunday did not turn up any leads, he said.

"We were there with dogs but found nothing of any value as evidence," Sponheim said.

Authorities Saturday were searching for bodies of victims in the bomb attack in downtown Oslo.

On Sunday police said the area around the blast site would remain cordoned off, but members of the public in the area were not at risk.

Seven people have been confirmed dead from the bomb attack. Police said that the explosive was in a car.

At least 97 people were wounded in the attacks -- 30 in the blast and 67 in the mass shooting, Sponheim said. That total includes the person who died Sunday.

Investigators will conduct autopsies over the next few days, Sponheim said, and the identities of the victims will be released once all the next-of-kin have been notified.

Doctors at Oslo University Hospital Sunday were treating 31 patients injured in the terror attacks -- 18 of whom were critically or seriously injured, Oslo University Hospital spokesman Jo Heldaas told CNN.

On Saturday, an employee at a Norwegian agricultural cooperative told CNN that the man identified in media reports as the suspect bought six tons of fertilizer from her company in May.

Oddmy Estenstad, of Felleskjopet Agr, said she did not think the order was strange at the time because the suspect has a farm, but after Friday's explosion in Norway's capital, Oslo, she called police because she knew the material can be used to make bombs.

"We are very shocked that this man was connected to our company," said Estenstad. "We are very sad about what happened."

Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday offered his "fervent prayers for the victims and families, invoking God's peace upon the dead and divine consolation upon those who suffer."

"At this time of national grief he prays that all Norwegians will be spiritually united in a determined resolve to reject the ways of hatred and conflict and to work together fearlessly in a shaping a future of mutual respect, solidarity and freedom from for coming generations," according to a statement released by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone on behalf of the pope.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed U.S. solidarity with Norway.

"The United States strongly condemns any kind of terrorism no matter where it comes from or who perpetuates it, and this tragedy strikes right at the heart of the soul of a peaceful people," she said in a statement.

CNN's Michael Holmes, Erin Mclaughlin, Chelsea J. Carter, Jim Boulden, Laura Smith-Spark, Joe Sterling, Moni Basu, Chelsea Bailey, Claudia Rebaza and Cynthia Wamwayi contributed to this report.

View the original article here

Read More