Aussies show support for Norway victims

At least 76 lives have been claimed by the blast in central Oslo and the shootings at a youth camp on the island of Utøya - over which a man, Anders Breivik, faces terrorism charges.

The 32-year-old suspect has confessed to the attacks, according to Norwegian police - but they say Breivik does not accept criminal responsibility.

"I think anyone watching the scenes over the weekend couldn't help but be moved at the sheer scale of terror caused by this particular individual," Belfast Lord Mayor Niall Ó Donnghaile said.

He added that the book was a "very small, very modest way for the people of Belfast to send their solidarity to the people of Norway and their sympathy to those so many people tragically affected over the weekend".

It has since emerged that the step-brother of Crown Princess Mette-Marit was among those killed in the massacre at the youth camp - the royal court confirmed that Trond Berntsen, an off-duty police officer, had died in the attack.

No other victims have yet been named, as the search for more bodies continues.

Mr Ó Donnghaile said it was important to support all those who had been affected.

Ahead of Breivik's court appearance on Monday afternoon, his lawyer Geir Lippestad said that his client wanted to attack Norwegian society in order to change it.

The accused had prepared a speech for his day in court, even before launching the attacks that left Norway reeling. He requested an open hearing in which he would wear a uniform, making clear in an online manifesto that he planned to turn his appearance into theatre.

But Breivik, who wanted to start a revolution to inspire Norwegians to retake their country from Muslims and other immigrants, has been denied the global airing of his views.

Ruling that he would appear before a closed court, with the press and public denied access, Judge Kim Heger said: "It is clear that there is concrete information that a public hearing with the suspect present could quickly lead to an extraordinary and very difficult situation in terms of the investigation and security.

The book will pass on messages to families of the 76 victims of Anders Behring Breivik's bombing attack in Oslo and shooting spree later on Utoya Island at a Norwegian Labour Party youth camp.

Mr Rudd knows Norway well and said he had always found it an "extraordinarily peaceful and tolerant land".

"That is why this act of mass murder is so unspeakable given the country ... has nurtured such liberty and freedom over the years," he said.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store told Mr Rudd he would pass on the Australian expressions of solidarity during his daily visits to the hospitals of Oslo to speak with survivors of the mass murder.

Mr Rudd praised the strength of leadership shown by Mr Store and Norway's prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, during this "horrific time.

Duluthians mourn Norway’s victims, call for peace

Seventy-six people died in Norway's tragic moments of violence last Friday. On Wednesday night, Northlanders remembered those affected by holding a peace vigil in Enger Park.

Dozens showed up to show support for the nation, carrying a single flower or a candle to be lit.

Representatives from the Sons of Norway lodge, the City of Duluth and religious leaders were on hand to speak about hope and resilience.

Diane Ege has a relative who was on the island during the youth camp shootings.

"This was wonderful. It's just so nice to have a place to go and remember those that have passed and also those that were able to make it to safety...and just put our thoughts forth to those that have been through this tragedy.

What transpired in Oslo and at Utoya is an attack on the Norwegian society we so treasure,” Eide said in a translated version of the speech. Later in the king’s speech, Eide recited, “I remain steadfast in my belief that freedom is stronger than fear.”

A Norwegian song titled “To the Youth” was sung afterward and remarks were given by Duluth City Council President Sharla Gardner as well as local pastors.

Gardner said she was proud of Duluth’s Scandinavian heritage.

“I think this is how people of Duluth respond to hatred,” she said. “We stand for peace.”

Pastor David Tryggestad of Concordia Evangelical Lutheran Church led people in a peace-themed song and said, “May God bless the memory of those who died.”

The parents of all the children who were killed were on the mind of Pastor April Larson at First Lutheran Church.

“We have no words for what happened to these dear young ones,” she said.

After the speeches and music, attendees walked down to the Japanese Peace Bell and laid their flowers there while people rang the bell.

The event was personal for Diane Ege of Duluth, whose 17-year-old relative was at the camp on Utoya when the shooting began.

“She was on the island, swam for safety and was picked up by a boat,” Ege said.

Ege said the Duluth event helped her cope with the tragedy.

“It helped a lot being here,” she said. “It was nice feeling connected to people in the area.

Norway attacks intensify political resolve of many youths

Labor movement has always derived its power from its ability to mobilize people as a collective whole. But that potential to catalyze social action, and to resonate across lines of color and nationality, is precisely what makes the movement a political target around the world. And that's why the attack on young progressive activists in Norway was both shocking and yet not unpredictable.

When taking aim at the Utøya summer camp of the Labour Party Youth Movement (AUF), the killer knew exactly what he was destroying: the next generation of young people who would challenge right-wing ideologies. Though it was a relatively mainstream political gathering, the camp symbolized the kind of inclusive society that extremists like Anders Behring Breivik view as a key obstacle to their agenda of engulfing Europe in racist barbarism.

The attack could have been directed at a cultural symbol of “foreignness” in Norway—an immigrant neighborhood or a religious institution, perhaps. But what made the camp a more ideal target was that it encouraged transcendence of cultural allegiances and envisioned a society that could move past ethnic and sectarian conflict. That is, labor was attacked because its strength stems from solidarity rather than divisiveness and exclusion--the political currency the far-right trades on.

Beyond the firsthand horror experienced by the nearly 700 youths at the camp — unprecedented political violence in a nation where crime-related gun deaths are rare — the massacre may shape the views of an entire generation, influencing politics, priorities and fears for decades to come.

"It's something that will impact their world assumptions, their view of life, their feeling that the world is basically safe and that human beings are good," said Tine Jensen, a child psychologist at the Norwegian Center for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies. "They will never forget."

Jensen points to the massive vigils, memorials and stories of ordinary heroes risking their lives to save others as positive lessons, strengthening the national unity of young Norwegians, who have responded with solidarity and defiance.

"You can't change the event, but you can try to counteract it in the aftermath," Jensen said. "When we see how Norway has responded, with flowers and people helping each other, it may actually end up enhancing the sense of cohesiveness and humanity."

Jensen, whose center is drawing upon the experiences of the Sept. 11 attacks and on decades of gun violence in Los Angeles, said the trauma for Norway is particularly intense. That's because young people here have so little direct experience with violence and because Breivik reportedly told police he intentionally targeted the left-leaning youth retreat, believing he could decimate the future leadership of the liberal Labor Party he despised.

Breivik, who police say has admitted to committing both attacks but has pleaded not guilty, made clear in his pre-rampage writings that he had Norway's youth in his sights. His 1,500-page manifesto claimed the first phase of an anti-Islamic revolution would be the formation of "cultural conservative patriotic youth movements," which would serve as the "backbone" of a right-wing resistance movement.

Wennesland said he's committed to ensuring that Breivik's intentions to crush the Labor Party are not fulfilled.

"Then he wins, and no one in Norway wants him to win," he said. "Those of us left are going to be stronger. We will be tighter. The shared experience will tone down the differences that we've had inside the Labor Party for a considerable amount of time. So yes, this will affect us to a great extent, and I think it will mostly be positive."

In an ultimate act of defiance, Wennesland vowed the youth group will return to Utoya next year for its annual retreat.

"The values and ideals that were attacked Friday will prevail," he said.

Havard Narum, a political columnist for Norway's Aftenposten newspaper, said he expects the Labor Party to enjoy a short-term boost as a gesture of sympathy. In recent years, the Labor Party — historically the dominant party among Norway's young — has been losing support to right-leaning rivals, such as the Conservative Party and the Progress Party.

Breivik may have succeeded in drawing attention to his anti-immigration views, Narum said, but his tactics may have made the climate too sensitive for right-wing parties to even raise the issue in the foreseeable future.

The long-term political impact of the attacks remains unclear. "But one way or another, I believe this will have consequences for the whole political climate for quite a long time," Narum said.

As the identities of more victims are released and funerals take place nationwide, parents are also grappling with how to answer their younger children's questions and ease their fears.

"My son keeps asking me, 'Why?'" said Anita Kleemp, 48, an unemployed mother, standing next to her 5-year-old boy in downtown Oslo. "But I really don't know what to tell him."

She said she thinks it's nonetheless crucial to discuss the tragedy with her youngster. On Monday, she brought him to the downtown Oslo bombing site to observe a national moment of silence. Later, they stood in front of the courthouse and waited for a chance to see Breivik being driven to his initial closed-door judicial hearing.

Utoya massacre

Approximately one and a half hours after the Oslo explosion, a man wearing a police uniform, confirmed to be Anders Behring Breivik, boarded a ferry at Tyrifjorden, a lake some 40 kilometres (25 miles) northwest of Oslo, to the island of Utøya, the location of the Norwegian Labour Party's annual AUF youth summer camp, which is organised there every summer and which was attended by approximately 600 teenagers.

Former prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, whom Breivik said he hated and referred to in his writings as "the murderer of the nation, had been on the island earlier in the day to give a speech to the camp. After the attack Breivik stated that he originally wanted to target her especially; but because of delays related to the ongoing renovation of Oslo Central railway station, she was already gone when the shooting started.

When Breivik arrived on the island, he presented himself as a police officer who had come over for a routine check following the bombing event in Oslo. He signalled and asked people to gather around him before pulling weapons and ammunition from a bag and indiscriminately firing his weapons, killing and wounding numerous people. He first shot people on the island and later started shooting at people who were trying to escape by swimming across the lake. Survivors on the island described a scene of terror. In one example, 21-year-old survivor Dana Berzingi described how several victims wounded by Breivik pretended to be dead to survive; but he later came by to shoot them again in the head with a shotgun.[61] He did relent in his executions on two occasions: First, when an 11-year-old boy who had just lost his father during the shooting, stood up against him and said he was too young to die; and later, when a 22-year-old male begged for his life.[65]

A spokesman for the National Police Directorate under the Ministry of Justice and the Police reported that most of the casualties were youths about 15 or 16 years old. Trond Berntsen, an off-duty, unarmed police officer and step-brother of Norway's crown princess Mette-Marit, was among the dead. Some witnesses on the island were reported to have hidden in the undergrowth, and in lavatories, communicating by text message to avoid giving their positions away to the gunman. The mass shooting reportedly lasted for around an hour and a half, ending when a police special task force arrived and the gunman surrendered, despite having ammunition left, at 18:35. It is also reported that the shooter used hollow-point or frangible bullets (dum-dums) which increase tissue damage.

Local residents in a flotilla of little motorboats and fishing dinghies bravely sailed out to rescue the survivors who were pulled out shivering and bleeding from the water and picked up from hiding places in the bushes and behind rocks around the island's shoreline. Some survived by pretending to be dead. 47 of the campers sought refuge in Skolestua ("the School House") together with personnel from the Norwegian People's Aid. Although Breivik shot two bullets through the door, he did not get through the locked door, and the people inside this building survived.

New York bell tolls for Norway victims

NEW YORK -- The "Bell of Hope" at New York City's historic St. Paul's Chapel has tolled in remembrance of Norway's massacre victims.

Norwegian Consul Aslaug Nygard (OW'-slahg NEE'-gohr) attended the ceremony Wednesday in Lower Manhattan.

The bell was a gift to New York from the city of London a year after 9/11.

It has been rung after the bombings in London, Madrid, Mumbai and Moscow; for the Virginia Tech massacre victims; and on 9/11 anniversaries.

The bell, a block from Manhattan's ground zero, was a gift to the historic church from the city of London after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. It has sounded every September since and after terrorist attacks in other cities to pay tribute to the victims.

Wednesday, it was Norwegian Consul Aslaug Nygard's turn to ring the bell for her fallen compatriots. With it, the 76 people killed in last week's bombing and shooting spree were remembered here, near ground zero, the place synonymous with American tragedy.

Norway Massacre: Historic Church Holds Ceremony to Mourn Victims

Bell that tolls once a year on 9/11 sounded Wednesday for the victims of the terrorist attacks in Oslo and Utoya Island.

Down the street from the World Trade Center site at St. Paul's Chapel, the Norwegian consul spoke of the victims before ringing the "Bell of Hope," given to the chapel by the mayor of London a year after the 9/11 attacks.

"I think this bell carries a message of rememberance," said Norwegian consul Aslaug Nygård. "I hope this bell carries further than New York and Norway."

After a moment of silence, Nygård rung the bell four times, in the same pattern firemen use to honor their fallen brothers.

"On a personal level, New York can identify with how people in Norway feel right now," said Nygård. "Norway is a small country, I have friends who knew people in the attack."

Later, St. Paul's Vicar, the Rev. Canon Anne Mallonee, invited onlookers inside to pray for victims of terrorist attacks around the globe.

Nygard rang the bell five times to honor those who died during Friday’s attacks in Norway.

"The popular reaction to these tragic, horrific actions has been the reaction of love and compassion and peace and flowers and candles and remembrance," Norway Consul Nygard said before striking the bell. "I think there is a strong connection between what this bell symbolizes and also how people in Norway feel right now.”

"We stand together shoulder by shoulder in the darkest of times we as a nation show our neighborly love and show our compassion for the victims their families their friends and the survivors."

The "Bell of Hope" was a gift to New York from the city of London a year after 9/11. The bell has been rung previously for the bombings in London, Madrid, Mumbai, and Moscow; for the Virginia Tech shooting; and on the 9/11 anniversaries.

Norway attacker Anders Behring Breivik killed 76 and injured dozens more on Friday, July 22. The attack started with a bomb blast in the capital Oslo and continued with an hour-long shooting rampage at a camp for Labour Party teens on nearby Utoya Island.

Breivik is currently in custody in Norway and has admitted to the attacks, and claims to have been in contact with other terror cells abroad. Police in Norway are currently investigating footage of the attack, and combing Utoya Island for clues.

Norway Massacre Highlights Europe's Growing Far Right

Norwegian investigators believe Breivik acted alone last Friday when he killed 76 people by bombing an Oslo government building and then going on a shooting rampage at a nearby summer camp.

Still, they have asked their counterparts in Belgium, the Czech Republic and other European countries to check whether Breivik - a right-wing loon with anti-Islamic views - was operating in cahoots with other extremist organizations.

Meanwhile, the London-based Telegraph newspaper reported that Scotland Yard was investigating whether there was any truth to Breivik's reported claim that he was one of 80 "solo martyr cells" in Western Europe bent on toppling governments that tolerate Muslim immigrants.

In his screed, Breivik cited New York-based blogger Pamela Geller, who led the charge against the Islamic Center near Ground Zero. He also quoted one of Geller's cohorts, anti-Islamic activist Robert Spencer, more than 60 times.

He was very pleased," the 32-year-old friend said. "He had had surgery on his forehead, nose and chin."

Breivik, who is also 32, began lifting weights and taking muscle builders to bulk up after being bullied in the sixth grade, the friend added.

While a photo has surfaced of Breivik dancing at a Gay Pride event in Oslo seven years ago, the gunman insisted he was straight in his manifesto.

An expert in European right-wing extremism at London's Kingston University, Andrea Mammone, says Breivik's ideas are consistent with many on the extreme right in Europe.

"These ideas of having a pure community, of having a white Europe are quite widespread across European right-wing extremism," Mammone explained. "Certainly immigration and for now Islam, which is a very easy target, they are against this. They are for an immigrant-free Europe, this is quite evident."

And it is an outlook that is gaining political ground. In Norway, the populist right-wing Progress Party is the second largest in parliament. Breivik was a member until he decided it was too moderate.

In Sweden, Democrats joined parliament last year with the slogan "Keep Sweden Swedish," and in Finland, the nationalist True Finns have one in five votes.

It is not just the Nordic countries. Geert Wilders, leader of the third largest party in the Netherlands, says he "doesn't hate Muslims. [He] hates Islam."

K. Biswas from the magazine, the New Internationalist, says a tide has turned over the past decade.

"You've seen parties in Italy, in Denmark, in Holland that have grown outside the mainstream conservative electoral vehicles in their countries, and they have had an effect," noted Biswas. "They have had an effect on immigration. They have had an effect on the language used by mainstream politicians."

Across Europe, the far right has joined in the outrage against Breivik. The leader of Norway's Progress Party, Siv Jensen, called his acts "repulsive."

The extreme right may agree with much of Breivik's outlook, but, they say, not with his tactics. Biswas says it is important to separate the two.

"What is interesting to note is that these views are no longer fringe views," Biswas noted. "These views are entering part of the mainstream. To link Islamophobia, hostile anti-elite views to violent acts I think is wrong."

Extreme politics can be a dangerous starting point, but, he says, the path does not necessarily lead to violent extremism.

New Zealand teenager youngest of Norway massacre victims

Family of the New Zealand-born girl who was killed in the Norway massacre have spoken about their grief.

Police in Norway have confirmed the identity of Sharidyn Svebakk-Bohn, believed to be 14.

Her parents have released a statement saying it is with immense grief and deep sorrow that the family today received the message they been dreading since the attack on the Labour youth organisation (AUF) on the island Utoeya, outside Oslo last Friday.

"Our beloved daughter, Sharidyn Svebakk-Bohn, was confirmed dead earlier today."

She was among 68 people shot dead by Anders Behring Breivik on the island where some 650 youths had gathered at a summer camp.

Norwegian police on Wednesday published the names of a further 13 victims of Anders Behring Breivik's attack on Oslo and Utoya Island.

Twelve of those named were among the 68 shot dead on Utoya, the island that was hosting a summer camp run by the youth wing of Norway's ruling Labour Party. Most of the victims were less than 20 years old.

The other victim was one of the eight people killed by Friday's car bomb in central Oslo.

The combined death toll from both attacks stands at 76 people. Police have refused to rule out the possibility of the number rising as they trawl the waters surrounding the island.

Ten of the names released today are teenagers. The youngest, Sharidyn Svebakk-Bohn, was only 14 when Breivik carried out the massacre.

On Tuesday, police named the first four victims. They said they will release the other names once they have been identified and their families informed.

Petter Stordalen, a Norwegian billionaire, has offered to redevelop the island as a haven for international youth democracy.

"Today Utoya is a symbol of a nation in mourning – but I want it once again associated with joy, unity and optimism," the 48-year-old Norwegian hotelier said.

Meanwhile Lisa Engelsrud, 31, who knew Breivik when he was young said he was a “troublesome” child.

She Told The Times that he used to spit in the basement of the block of flats they lived in in west Oslo.