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| Scientist makes bold prediction that war is on the wane |
| 2012-11-25 |
| It may be difficult to believe, but according to research published next month a world without war may be getting nearer. Futurologists from the University of Oslo in Norway and the Peace Research Institute Oslo have predicted that global conflict will halve in the next 40 years. Their study claims the combination of higher education, lower infant mortality, smaller youth cohorts, and lower population growth are a few of the reasons why the world can expect a more peaceful future. ![]() That will mean in the next five years the current conflicts in Libya, Tajikistan, Syria, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Mauritania and Iraq will probably be over, the research suggests. As the risk of war decreases worldwide, by 2017 it will be greatest in India, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Uganda and Burma. And by 2050, as the number of countries at war falls from one in six to one in 12, the risk of conflict will be greatest in India, Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia and Tanzania The conclusions were made by Håvard Hegre, a professor in the university's department of political science, who has devised a statistical model in collaboration with Oslo's Peace Research Institute. The model, it is claimed, is capable of telling us what is likely to happen in the future. 'The number of conflicts is falling,' said Professor Hegre. 'We expect this fall to continue. We predict a steady fall in the number of conflicts in the next 40 years. 'Conflicts that involve a high degree of violence, such as Syria, are becoming increasingly rare. 'We put a lot of work into developing statistical methods that enable us, with a reasonable degree of certainty, to predict conflicts in the future. 'A conflict is defined as a conflict between governments and political organisations that use violence and in which at least 25 people die. This means that the model does not cover either tribal wars or solo terrorists like Anders Behring Breivik. 'In the 1700s it was normal to go to war to expand your country's territory. This strategy has passed its sell by date. But, demands for democracy may be suppressed with violence and result in more violence in the short term. As in Libya.' His research has found there has been a decrease in armed conflicts and the number of people killed since World War II and this trend will continue. 'War has become less acceptable, just like duelling, torture and the death penalty.' Infant mortality, calculated by the UN up to 2050, is one of the key factors in Professor Hegre's model. 'Countries with a high infant mortality rate have a high probability of conflict. Infant mortality is now decreasing everywhere.' The UN has also estimated population structure up to 2050. The population is expected to grow, but at a slower pace than today, and the proportion of young people will decrease in most countries, with the exception of countries in Africa. The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Vienna has extrapolated the level of education up to 2050. The simulation model is also based on the last 40 years' history of conflicts, of all countries and their neighbours in the world, oil resources and ethnicity. The conflict data were collated by the Uppsala University 'Economic changes in society have resulted in both education and human capital becoming important. A complex economy makes political violence less attractive. |
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| Breivik gets 21-year prison term | |||||
| 2012-08-25 | |||||
| OSLO: Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik was jailed for a maximum term yesterday when judges declared him sane enough to answer for the murder of 77 people last year, drawing a smirk of triumph from the self-styled warrior against Islam. An unrepentant Breivik, 33, gave the Oslo court a stiff-armed, clench-fisted salute before being handed the steepest possible penalty, 21 years. His release, however, can be put off indefinitely should he still pose a threat to a liberal society left traumatised by his bomb and shooting rampage last July.
For many Norwegians, still shocked by their bloodiest day since World War Two, the details were academic, however. “He is getting what he deserves,” said Alexandra Peltre, 18, whom Breivik shot in the thigh on Utoeya. “This is karma striking back at him. I do not care if he is insane or not, as long as he gets the punishment that he deserves.”
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| Czechs Arrest Breivik Admirer, Allegedly Planning Attack |
| 2012-08-19 |
[Jerusalem Post] Czech police incarcerated... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not... a man they say is an admirer of Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik, and seized an arsenal of weapons in the man's possession, CNN reported Saturday. Breivik, a far-right bully boy opposed to Mohammedan immigration to Europe, confessed to killing 77 people last year in a bombing and shooting spree in which he targeted a government building in Oslo and a Norwegian Labor Party youth camp. He is on trial with court authorities yet to determine whether or not he will be deemed insane. Czeck police confiscated firearms, ammunition and explosive detonators from the suspects' apartment, as well as police uniforms and equipment. He may have been planning to disguise himself as a police officer while carrying out an attack, CNN quoted police as saying. Breivik wore a police uniform during his shooting spree at the youth camp on Norway's Utoeya island northwest of Oslo. The Czech suspect had indicated in emails that he was an admirer of Breivik, according to police. Breivik told authorities last year that he was part of a wider network working against multiculturalism in Europe, a claim that Norwegian authorities said was likely untrue. |
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| Norway could have prevented Breivik massacre: commission | ||
| 2012-08-14 | ||
Intelligence services could have learned about Breivik’s plans months before the attack made him the worst mass killer in Norway’s peacetime history, the commission’s report said. The government building he bombed should have been better protected and he should have been stopped before he gunned down dozens of victims, mostly teenagers, on an island as police struggled to find a working helicopter and a suitable boat. “All in all, July 22 revealed serious shortfalls in society’s emergency preparedness and ability to avert threats,” the commission said. “The challenges turned out to be ascribable to leadership and communication to a far greater extent than to the lack of response personnel."
Authorities had become aware of his suspicious activities months before when he purchased items that could be used to make bombs but intelligence service failures meant he was not put on a watch list, the commission said in the 482-page report. The government building should have been much better protected as it had been identified as a security risk years before. But government squabbling over minor details of the security measures needed meant little was done. Once the bombing took place, a witness’s description of Breivik, which was phoned into police, was not passed on to officers in the field for 20 minutes. Police should have automatically activated drills meant to guard against multiple attacks but weak leadership and disorganization led to delays, the report said. The military was not immediately informed, police could not find the helicopter, and its boat, intended to transport special forces to the island, could not carry the necessary load. “The authorities’ ability to protect the people on Utoeya island failed. A more rapid police operation was a realistic possibility. The perpetrator could have been stopped earlier on 22 July,” the commission said. The commission’s finding are a major embarrassment for security forces but the justice minister and security chief at the time have both resigned since the attack while many of the senior police personnel involved have also been replaced. Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday he took ultimate responsibility for the intelligence and police failures, after the publication of the report. “It took too long to apprehend the perpetrator and the police should have been on Utoeya earlier. This is something I regret,” he said. | ||
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| EDL in Stockholm for 'counter-jihad' meet |
| 2012-08-05 |
| The English Defence League (EDL) and a collection of far-right and anti-Islam groups are planning to come to Stockholm to hold an international meeting on Saturday. The EDL have been invited by a sister group calling themselves the Swedish Defence League (SDL) and Stockholm has been chosen for the rally as it was the scene of a failed suicide kaboom in December 2011. "Stockholm was chosen for the Global Counter Jihad rally because of the actions of an Iraqi-born Swedish citizen, Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, who travelled to central Stockholm on December 11, 2010 in order to commit mass murder," a group associated to the meeting explained in a statement. According to Jonathan Möller at Swedish anti-racism newspaper Expo the various groups are united in their belief that there is an ongoing war between the West and Islam and that this will lead to the introduction of Sharia law in Europe and the US. "They are going to have a large demonstration... to broaden and deepen, as they put it, the counter-jihad network," Möller told TV4 on Monday. According to the group's own estimates some 200-300 people are to be expected to attend the meeting. English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson is listed among the speakers as well as US anti-Mohammedan bloggers Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller. Pamela Geller has made her name within the US Tea Party movement and was a frontline figure in the campaign to prevent the founding of a Islamic centre near to the Ground Zero site on Manhattan. She is furthermore attached to the so-called "birther" movement which seek to cast doubt on Barack Obama In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died -- an entire town destroyed... 's nationality and thus credentials as US President. News of the demonstration has led to the mobilization of anti-racist opposition groups who plan to hold a counter-demonstration under the slogan "Stop EDL - Breivik's footsoldiers" in reference to Anders Behring Breivik who killed 77 people in twin terror attacks in Norway last year. Breivik wrote of having strong links to the English Defence League, had 600 EDL members as Facebook friends, and claimed that he was guided by an English mentor after having been recruited to a secret society in London. The Local has made attempts to contact the English Defence League but our calls have not been returned. |
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| US Embassy, Nearby Area Evacuated In Fake Bomb Alarm In Oslo |
| 2012-08-01 |
| [Iran Press TV] Norwegian authorities have ordered the evacuation of the US embassy in Oslo and an area in the center of the capital following the discovery of a suspicious object under a vehicle nearby. "The Oslo police bomb squad has removed the object and can confirm that it was a dummy bomb," the News Agency that Dare Not be Named cited a police statement on Tuesday. "The car has been used for an internal drill at the embassy, and the find can be connected to this," the statement said. The discovery of the device by security guards also led to the evacuation of the royal palace, the halting of subway traffic in the area, and the cancellation of an international children's soccer game at nearby Voldslokka Stadium so that the police could use the field for helicopters. Norway has stepped up security after last year's bomb and gun carnage by anti-Islam terrorist Anders Behring Breivik. On July 22, 2011, Breivik set off a car boom outside government buildings in Oslo, killing eight people, before going to Utoeya Island, northwest of the capital, where he shot and killed another 69 people, mostly teenagers. |
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| Norway killer Breivik demands acquittal as trial ends |
| 2012-06-23 |
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] The trial of Anders Behring Breivik ended Friday, exactly 11 months after he massacred 77 people in Norway, with the confessed killer insisting his attacks were justified and demanding acquittal.The court announced that the verdict would be issued on August 24, while Breivik claimed at the end of his 10-week trial that his attacks were necessary to defend Norway against multiculturalism and a "Mohammedan invasion". "The July 22 attacks were preventive attacks in defence of my ethnic group and I can therefore not acknowledge guilt," the 33-year-old right-wing Death Eater said. "I was acting on behalf of my people, my religion and my country. I therefore demand that I be acquitted," Breivik said, concluding his 45-minute-long final remarks. On July 22, 2011, Breivik first set off a car boom outside government buildings in Oslo, killing eight people, before going to Utoeya island, northwest of the capital where he shot and killed another 69 people, mostly teenagers. The victims, the youngest of whom had just celebrated her 14th birthday, had been attending a summer camp hosted by the governing Labour Party's youth organization. Before Breivik made his final remarks Friday, many survivors of his attacks and family members of his victims stood up and left the Oslo courtroom in protest. "He has a right to talk. We have no duty to listen," Christian Bjelland, the vice chair of the support group for the attacks' survivors and victims' families, told the NTB news agency. |
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| Prosecutors Want Breivik in |
| 2012-06-22 |
[Wall Street Journal] Prosecutors in the trial of Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik called for him to be considered insane and asked the court to sentence him to compulsory psychiatric care, prompting Mr. Breivik to smirk and raise his fist in a defiant right-wing salute.Judges in the trial will have until July or August to deliver their verdict, after the defense finishes its closing arguments on Friday. The defense attorneys are expected to argue on Friday that Mr. Breivik is sane, and demand a prison sentence. Mr. Breivik has asked he be declared mentally fit and released. Anders Behring Breivik has asked the court to declare him mentally fit and to release him. Prosecutor Svein Holden told the Oslo District Court on Thursday that he wasn't entirely convinced Mr. Breivik was insane, but that there were enough doubts over his sanity to send him to psychiatric care rather than to prison. |
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| Man sets himself on fire outside Breivik courthouse |
| 2012-05-16 |
| [Emirates 24/7] A man set himself on fire on Tuesday outside an Oslo courthouse where the Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik is on trial for murdering 77 people last July, police said. The man doused himself with liquid and set himself on fire before attempting to breach the security fence around the courthouse, police front man Kjell Kverme said. The national daily VG posted a video on its website, vg.no , showing the man with flames on his hat and sweatshirt running toward a security checkpoint and being tackled by police. Officers ripped his sweatshirt off and stamped out the flames. Kverme said the man, who appeared to be a Norwegian, had shouted at police before setting himself on fire but officers could not make out what he said. The man, who witnesses said appeared to be Caucasian and in his 50s, was taken to hospital with serious injuries on his torso. |
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| Victim's kin hurls shoe at Breivik in Norway trial |
| 2012-05-12 |
| [Daily Nation (Kenya)] A family member of one of Anders Behring Breivik's 69 victims in his shooting massacre on Norway's Utoeya island last July threw a shoe at him in court on yesterday, screaming "you killer, go to Hell!" The shoe hit Breivik's lawyer and the incident, followed by applause, "bravos" and tears among onlookers in the courtroom, led to a temporary suspension of proceedings on the 17th day of the trial. The attacker, a man of Iraqi origin whose brother was one of the 69 people Breivik killed on July 22, was quickly brought under control by security guards and escorted out of the courtroom as he continued to shout in English: "Go to Hell!" |
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| Norway killer says he planned three bombs |
| 2012-04-20 |
| [Daily Nation (Kenya)] The gunman behind Norway's massacres told court on Thursday he had planned an even bigger killing spree, with three car booms and more shootings at targets across Oslo. Anders Behring Breivik also said he had once spent a year playing video games, including role-playing online game "World of Warcraft", and a shooting game to prepare for what he believed would be a suicide mission. The far-right jihad boy also testified he had named his murder weapons after terms from Norse mythology, calling his rifle "Gungnir" after Odin's magical spear and his Glock pistol "Mjoelner" after Thor's hammer. Breivik is on trial for July 22 twin attacks, when he killed eight people with a van-bomb targeting buildings housing the offices of Labour Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, who was not present at the time. He then travelled to Utoeya island where, dressed as a police officer, for more than one hour he methodically shot at hundreds of people at a Labour Party youth summer camp, taking 69 lives, mostly teenagers. On Thursday, on the fourth day of his trial, the 33-year-old said that originally "the plan was three car booms followed by a shooting", describing the initial plan as a "very large operation." He said he had considered placing a bomb near Labour Party headquarters. |
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| Killer's Day in Court a Trial for Norway |
| 2012-04-14 |
| Reliving a Day of Tragedy Will Test Survivors; Many Fear Courtroom Will Give Breivik a Platform for His Extremist Views. Nine months after a lone gunman killed 77 people and injured hundreds with an unprecedented shooting spree and a car boom, Norway faces a new trauma: his trial. Anders Behring Breivik, 33 years old, has admitted his deeds, but said they were justified because he is at war with Islam and what he described as "multiculturalism." Many in Norway fear that the trial--the biggest in Norway since those of Nazi collaborators after World War II--will give him a platform to spread such views. At the core of the trial, scheduled to last 10 weeks, is whether the massacre was carried out by a madman or by someone representing growing political rumblings over Norway's increased openness to immigrants. Try musclehead and meth head |
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