Shocking news-Norway

shackin'up · #1 07-23-2011, 05:13 PM

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14259356

I'm still in shock...................:

At least 85 people died when a gunman opened fire at an island youth camp in Norway, hours after a bombing in the capital Oslo killed seven, police say.

Police have charged a 32-year-old Norwegian man over both attacks.

The man dressed as a police officer was arrested on tiny Utoeya island after an hour-long shooting spree.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said many people were still looking for their children and had not so far been able to locate them.

He was speaking after meeting victims and relatives with Norway's King Harald, Queen Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon in the town of Sundvollen near the island.

Mr Stoltenberg said he was "deeply touched" by the meetings. "We will do whatever we can to give them as much support as possible," he said.

Earlier he said that he was due to have been on Utoeya - "a youth paradise turned into a hell" - a few hours after the attack took place.

The suspect is reported by local media to have had links with right-wing extremists. He has been named as Anders Behring Breivik. Police searched his Oslo apartment overnight and are questioning him.

The BBC's Richard Galpin, near the island which is currently cordoned off by police, says that Norway has had problems with neo-Nazi groups in the past but the assumption was that such groups had been largely eliminated and did not pose a significant threat.

Police say they are investigating whether the attacks were the work of one man or whether others helped.

"At Utoeya, the water is still being searched for more victims," deputy police chief Roger Andresen told reporters.

"We have no more information than... what has been found on [his] own websites, which is that it goes towards the right and that it is, so to speak, Christian fundamentalist."

A search is going on not just on the island itself, but also in the waters around it because a lot of people tried to escape by jumping in the water and trying to swim away. Even as they did that, eyewitnesses say, the gunman opened fire on them.

The chatter now is that it took the police an hour, if not an hour and a half, to actually get to the island. Of course that gave the gunman so much time to kill so many people.

Also crucially, the police were throwing all their resources at the huge bomb attack which had just taken place in the centre of Oslo.

But still, the question will be asked: Were there not police nearer to this area who could have moved in much more quickly?
Local media report that police are investigating claims by witnesses that a second person was involved, apparently not disguised in a police uniform. (...)

Silver Springs · #2 07-23-2011, 05:17 PM

I'll never understand the atrocities people can commit in the name of religious/racial/opinion differences. Though I guess I don't ever want to understand. Understanding is the first step to becoming, after all. I suppose it's something that's always happened in society, at whatever level or scale, but it just seems like these days I can't wake up without hearing of a new heartache or man made disaster. I can see how people believe that the world really is going to hell.

Macfanforever · #3 07-23-2011, 09:12 PM

I heard the story at the same time I heard about Amy Winehouse today.Everything is goingto hell in a handbasket lately.

ButterCookie · #4 07-24-2011, 04:24 AM

When I first heard about this, all I could do was feel sick with worry. I've still not been able to form a response that I think covers how I feel other than the massive sympathy I feel for the entire country and the families of the victims. This man deserves the death penalty, even if it is solely to bring peace to the affected. These are truly terrible and frightening times that we're living in

Heartboy · #5 07-24-2011, 05:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ButterCookie

These are truly terrible and frightening times that we're living in

Something like this seems to happen on a yearly basis and has forever! People are effin' mental!

That stupid jackass deserves all that's coming to him! *Middle finger up*

Peestie · #6 07-24-2011, 08:27 AM

I was glued to BBC News Channel for most of yesterday. I just couldn't believe it. The whole story just left me in a bit of shock. The eye-witness accounts were incredibly distressing to listen to so I can't even begin to imagine what it must have been like to be there. My heart goes out to those who were directly caught up in these two attacks, as well as to the wider Norwegian society. The response so far has been dignified and I have always had a lot of respect for them as a country.

It's horrible that things like this happen. Not so long ago it was my home country that supplied the world with stories like this...

JWS · #7 07-24-2011, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silver Springs

I'll never understand the atrocities people can commit in the name of religious/racial/opinion differences. Though I guess I don't ever want to understand. Understanding is the first step to becoming, after all. I suppose it's something that's always happened in society, at whatever level or scale, but it just seems like these days I can't wake up without hearing of a new heartache or man made disaster. I can see how people believe that the world really is going to hell.

In the long history of the world, people have been killed in the name of religion. There is no end and it can't be stopped. A suicide bomber can appear anywhere. A man with an automatic gun can go to any street corner and kill as many as he can until he himself is taken down.

Peestie · #8 07-28-2011, 08:22 AM

So they're considering charging him with crimes against humanity. I can't really say I object to that. The alternative is that he gets a maximum of 21 years or goes into "detention" where his case is reviewed after a fixed period to see if he remains in prison or not.

KarmaContestant · #9 07-28-2011, 10:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silver Springs

I'll never understand the atrocities people can commit in the name of religious/racial/opinion differences. Though I guess I don't ever want to understand.

I agree wholeheartedly, and I don't want to understand either.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JWS

In the long history of the world, people have been killed in the name of religion. There is no end and it can't be stopped. A suicide bomber can appear anywhere. A man with an automatic gun can go to any street corner and kill as many as he can until he himself is taken down.

This is a typically American attitude. No offense intended to you - I am American as well and find myself slightly numb to these ever-increasing instances of violence. The socio-political rhetoric here has always been about encouraging people to despise, fear and even hate each other's cultural, social and religious differences.