Bomb blast/ multiple shootings in Norway

[SiHart]

Bloody hell- this is terrible: (from the BBC)

A large explosion has hit near government headquarters in the Norwegian capital Oslo.

The blast is thought to have caused damage to the offices of Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and a number of other official buildings.

Initial reports suggested Mr Stoltenberg was unharmed.

At least eight people were injured in the city centre explosion, local media reports. No-one has said they were behind the attack.

Television footage from the scene showed rubble and glass from shattered windows in the streets - smoke was around some buildings. The wreckage of at least one car was in street.

All roads into the city centre have been closed, said the NRK newspaper.

Oistein Mjarum, head of communications for the Norwegian Red Cross, said his offices were close to the blast.

"There was a massive explosion which could be heard over the capital Oslo."

Mr Mjarum said there were fires burning in the 17-storey prime minister's building.

Eyewitness Ole Tommy Pedersen said he was standing at a bus stop about 100m away from the blast.

"I saw three or four injured people being carried out of the building a few minutes later," Mr Pedersen told AP.

He said there was a cloud of smoke billowing from the lower floors.

An NRK journalist, Ingunn Andersen, said the headquarters of tabloid newspaper VG had also been damaged.

"I see that some windows of the VG building and the government headquarters have been broken. Some people covered with blood are lying in the street," Associated Press news agency quoted him as saying.

"It's complete chaos here. The windows are blown out in all the buildings close by."

There's also been a shooting incident involving children eleswhere in Norway this afternoon.

[Rob McCow]

Horrible news So far there have only been two confirmed deaths, according to some internet sources. Hope the casualty toll stays low.

[Dino]

I've found an image of the gunman.



So a Freemason?...

[WhiteCrowNZ]

The news about this is just horrific. He posed as a policeman calling people to him, then shooting them twice to confirm they were dead.

He was a right winger, deliberately targeting some kind of Labour party retreat to kill those with different views to himself.

[Rob McCow]

Norwegian media have reported that Breivik set up a Twitter account a few days ago and posted a single message: "One person with a belief is equal to 100,000 who have only interests."

That's really scary.

[Alex]

Over 84 dead on the island youth camp, according to the BBC. It's a truly shocking story, and horrifying that one man could kill so many.

There's more here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14259356 - but be warned, some of the details are quite stomach turning.

[Anthony Williams]

These were shocking and terrible incidents. An ex-girlfriend/friend of mine is living in Norway at the moment. Thankfully, she was alright. My thoughts and prayers are with those who were affected by these incidents.

I've found an image of the gunman.

So a Freemason?...

The fact that he's a Freemason has very little to do with it. In the first degree ceremony, the candidate is instructed to be "exemplary in the discharge of your civil duties, by never proposing or at all countenancing any act that may have a tendency to subvert the peace and good order of society, by paying due obedience to the laws of any State which may for a time become the place of your residence or afford you its protection."

So, if anything, his actions went against Masonic principles, which teach the importance of abiding by the law, and of tolerance.

[SiHart]

An excellent piece from Charlie Brooker here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...gs?CMP=twt_iph

[WhiteCrowNZ]

It's kind of disturbing such calculated evil can exist. I've also heard there is a maximum sentence of 21 years in the Norwegian prison system. You just want such evil locked away and the key thrown away.

[Jason Thompson]

That Guardian article is indeed excellent, and is something I have been complaining about for years now. The media is so eager to have the breaking news and be the first to report things that we now have pages of papers and hours of TV news shows filled with speculation. I am tired of hearing news reports that say 'such-and-such is expected to announce so-and-so at the big summit meeting tomorrow' and then fill the rest of the time speculating about what it would mean if the announcements are indeed made! For heaven's sake, news is supposed to be giving us the facts, not idle speculation about things that haven't happened yet.

[SiHart]

That's a symptom of 24 hours news. You need something to fill up the airtime.

[Larry]

T



The fact that he's a Freemason has very little to do with it. I

very true for anybody to go on a killing spree like this you would have to say he must be a very mentally unstable person

[Rob McCow]

I'm pleased that the court hearings are being held in private. The last thing we need is for this guy to have a platform to spout his views.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion...n-2325991.html

"Tested gear. Exhausted!!! Good workout though. I'm drinking 4 X protein shakes per day now to maximize muscle generation," the aspiring mass murderer wrote four days before the attacks.

To me, this Brevik guy seems totally irredemable. There's no mitigating circumstances, such as poverty, stupidity or even madness. Here was a man who fantasised about being a war hero, of getting his face on the front page of every paper in the most dramatic way possible. He didn't shoot himself, possibly because he wanted to see the worldwide media reaction and to bask in the glory,* when what he's actually done is to murder almost a hundred young people.

I don't see how they could ever let him out of prison. There would always be a risk that he would pose a dangerous threat to society and to people's lives. And I'm saying that as a massive liberal. I believe that there is always a chance for someone to be redeemed or to be forgiven. In this case however, this man could always be dangerous.


*I know I'm joining the long list of guessers by saying that.

[Larry]

I'm. There's no mitigating circumstances, such as poverty, stupidity or even madness.

well reading the Mail, yesterday they were saying how his parents split up when he was around 12 years old and because of that he hated his father .

[Jason Thompson]

That's hardly a mitigating circumstance for going out and murdering children, is it?

The man was either insane or delusional. He is unrepentant as he believes he has struck the first blow in a war that will last for 60 years. He is quite simply a racist delusional madman who should be locked away for the rest of his life.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

Didn't Hitler have a similar get-out-clause to his tragic youth?

[Anthony Williams]

There are plenty of people whose parents split up, and how many of them blow up government buildings and go on gun rampages?

The guy was obviously unhinged, but I doubt his parents' break-up had quite that much of an impact!

[Jason Thompson]

My parents split up when I was about 12. I don't feel the need to go out and blow innocent people up and shoot children.

[Stuart Wallis]

Exactly the same circumstances with me, and I'm a bag of nerves, let alone whatever he is. Words aren't enough to describe this sort of personality.

[Alex]

Apparently this story hasn't been picked up by any of the major news outlets:

http://talkaboutequality.wordpress.c...really-happen/

Which is frankly bizarre. I mean, surely, it can't just, as the article suggests, be because they're lesbians, can it...?

[Rob McCow]

I'd have thought that the papers would love lesbian heroes, but apparently not!

[Stuart Wallis]

Bearing in mind the amount of times they've got their collective knickers in a twist every time there's an LGBT storyline in a soap, one wouldn't have thought so...

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I see the b*****d Breivig has been found sane and sentenced to life imprisonment (under current Norwegian law the maximum term is 21 years but I understand that he will face a parole hearing and almost certainly be given a further 21 year sentence).
Good.

[Stuart Wallis]

Now to do the same with the Batman killer.

PS Mark Chapman, while we're on a similar subject, has had his parole turned down again, I gather.