Explosion rocks Government Building in Central Oslo , 2 confirmed dead

Smoke rises from buildings in Oslo, Norway, at the scene of a large explosion which tore apart several buildings.

A loud explosion today shattered windows at the government headquarters in Oslo which includes the Norwegian prime minister’s office, injuring several people.  Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg is safe, government spokeswoman Camilla Ryste said.

Norway PM Stoltenberg says the blasts are “very serious,” bit it istoo early to say if terrorists are to be blamed.

There was no claim of responsibility, though NATO member Norway has been the target of threats, if not bombs, before, notably over its involvement in conflicts in Afghanistan and Libya. Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg was safe, NTB said.

NRK radio said at least two people were killed in an attack that may have brought global political violence to the quiet Scandinavian city.

Images on Norwegian television showed the prime minister’s office and other buildings heavily damaged, sidewalks covered in broken glass and smoke rising from the area.The explosion blew out most of the windows of the 17-storey central government building, cast a huge pall of smoke over the city and scattered shards of metal and other debris for hundreds of meters.

Nearby ministries were also hit, including the oil ministry, which was on fire. Heavy debris littered the streets.

“So far I can confirm that we have received seven people at Oslo University Hospital,” a press officer at the clinic said. “I don’t know how seriously wounded they are.”

Smoke is seen billowing from a damaged building as debris is strewn across the street after an explosion in Oslo, Norway Friday July 22, 2011

Witness Ole Tommy Pedersen was standing at a bus stop about 100 meters from the high-rise at around 3:30 pm (1330GMT) when he saw the blast shatter almost all windows of the 20-floor highrise. He said a cloud of smoke is billowing from the bottom floors.

“I saw three or four injured people being carried out of the building a few minutes later,” Pedersen said. Nearby offices were evacuated including those housing some of Norway’s leading newspapers and news agency NTB.

An AP reporter at the scene saw one person with a bleeding leg being led away from the area.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg was reported to have not been in his office at the time of the blast. Police had sealed off the area, which houses the offices of the prime minister, the finance ministry and the country’s biggest tabloid newspaper Verdens Gang (VG).

NRK radio said at least two people were killed in an attack. AP

Two cabinet ministers said that Stoltenberg had been scheduled to be visiting areas far outside Oslo today. News agency NTB also reported that Stoltenberg was “safe”.

Witnesses said the damage was extensive and that injured victims could be seen.

John Drake, senior risk consultant, at London-based consultancy AKE said: “It may not be too dissimilar to the terrorist attack in Stockholm in December which saw a car bomb and secondary explosion shortly after in the downtown area.”

“That attack was later claimed as reprisal for Sweden’s contribution to the efforts in Afghanistan.”

NATO member Norway has sometimes in the past been threatened by leaders of al Qaeda for its involvement in Afghanistan. But political violence is virtually unknown in a country known for sponsoring the Nobel Peace Prize and mediating in international conflicts, including in the Middle East and Sri Lanka.

It has also taken part the NATO bombing of Libya, where Muammar Gaddafi has threatened to strike back in Europe.

More than 128 including Children Dead in Russian Cruise Ship Sinking

Shadows casted on a wall near flowers, candles and toys left in memory of victims of the tourist boat that sank on the Volga river, at a port in Kazan on Monday.

The rain was not relenting on Sunday afternoon, as the Bulgaria left the riverbanks behind for the open expanse of the reservoir. So the babysitters gathered the children together and led them to the activity room to play.

When the cruise boat lurched on one side and then, slowly, onto its top, the room became a sealed container. Adults broke windows with the heels of their shoes, or slid down the corridor and scrambled into the water.

Meanwhile, babysitters managed to fasten life jackets on some of the children — there were 40 of them, by some estimates. But they could not break out of the play room. On Monday, divers were bringing the dead to the surface one by one. In all, 128 people were presumed drowned. It was the worst loss of life among children in Russia since 2004, when terrorists seized a school in the south.

Russian television showed rescued parents standing on a pier, screaming. “The child was left behind,” one man sobbed, wrapping his arms around a woman. “The child was left behind.” As many as 208 people were on board when the boat sank, including at least 59 children. About 80 people were hauled out of the water about an hour and a half later, when the third of three passing vessels stopped to help. Nikolai Laptev helped pull the survivors up, in shock and slick with diesel fuel, he told the newspaper Argumenty I Fakti. He could recall seeing only three children among them.

Authorities said the accident seemed to be the result of poor maintenance and a disregard for safety. Survivors said the 56-year-old boat was listing to the left even at port, which Russian maritime experts said was possibly because a sewage tank was overfull. Some passengers were so concerned by the tilt that they asked the captain to cancel the trip while docked at a port earlier Sunday, but the captain refused, Itar-Tass reported.

The boat suffered mechanical troubles that caused one of two engines to break down, according to the elite Investigative Committee,which is examining possible criminal misconduct. It was overburdened, carrying as many as 208 people when it was licensed to carry only 14o and crew. Twenty-three of the passengers were not registered. It had last been overhauled in 1980, and its operators had no license to carry passengers, the Prosecutor General reported.

Documents had been filled out sloppily — an official with the Emergency Situations Ministry told the RIA news agency that of the 59 children on board, 36 were listed as having been born on Dec. 30, 1999. President Dmitri A. Medvedev convened his senior ministers on Monday at his residence outside Moscow. “We have far too many old ships sailing our waters,” he said, according to a transcript on his Web site. “Just because up until now nothing had gone wrong did not mean that this kind of tragedy could not happen. It has happened now, and with the most terrible consequences.”

Accounts by survivors and rescue officials suggest that the children had little chance of escape. Capt. Aleksandr Ostrovsky — whose own family happened to be aboard that day — was trying to turn the tilting, underpowered boat in the choppy water of a dammed portion of the Volga River that forms a broad lake, called the Kuybyshev Reservoir. Witnesses said they were almost two miles from the nearest shore. As he turned, the captain exposed the boat’s length to waves, the news Web site Life News reported. One washed over the deck, sweeping some of the adults into the water, and the boat tilted. “It just tipped to the right, flipped over, and sank,” Nikolai Chernov, one of the survivors, told Russian television. “That was it,” he said. “There was no warning, nothing.”

Those who escaped had to fight their way out. Two dozen of the survivors picked up by the rescue ship, the Arabella, had lacerations and broken bones — caused by breaking the windows on their cabins and squeezing through, as the boat filled with water. One passenger said her teenaged daughter had pulled out life jackets and thrust them at her parents. She said her husband cracked the window with his foot, and they were sucked out and fought their way to the surface — but their daughter never appeared. Natalya Makarova told state television that her daughter slipped from her hands as they tried to escape.

“We were all buried alive in the boat like in a metal coffin,” said Ms. Makarova, who escaped through a window. “I practically crawled up from the bottom. My 10-year-old child was with me, I held onto her as long as possible.” Some survivors described moments of selflessness. Lilia Satarova, interviewed in a hospital in Kazan, said a man slammed against the glass window of her cabin until it broke — and then shoved her out first.

“By then, we were already six feet underwater,” Ms. Satarova said. The survivors spent an hour and a half in the water, clinging to debris and life vests. Two cargo barges passed without stopping, said Mr. Chernov. Another survivor told the Russia Today television station that passengers on one passing boat were taking cellphone videos of the people in the water. Russian television showed survivors shaking with grief or staring hollowly at the port in Kazan where they were taken. In one, a woman yells, “My granddaughter, she was only five years old.”

On Monday, the first divers to examine the wreck at the bottom of the river said more than 100 bodies were inside, some of them wearing life preservers, a rescue official told Russian news agencies. The name of the captain, Mr. Ostrovsky, was not among the list of rescued, and neither were the names of his wife and children, whom he had brought along on the trip.

More than 50 die as Russian Cruise Ship Sinks in Volga River

The death toll rose to 50 but officials said it was likely to climb further as divers continued the grim task of removing the dead from an overloaded Volga River cruise ship that sank in a storm Sunday afternoon. Dozens remained missing and presumed dead in Russia's worst marine accident in 25 years.

President Dmitry Medvedev declared Tuesday a national day of mourning and ordered officials to check the safety of Russia's aging fleet of cruise ships. "It's already clear that this disaster couldn't have happened if safety regulations were followed and inspections were conducted," a somber-looking Mr. Medvedev told ... Dozens survive, rescuers search for nearly 100 missing after a tourist boat, believed to have been carrying 182 people, sinks in Russia.  Video courtesy of Reuters.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin appeared to have tears in his eyes as he spoke of the disaster at a separate meeting with economists shown on state television.
Officials said 208 people among them many families with young children were on the two-deck Bulgaria. The vessel was built for no more than about 120, investigators said, and didn't have the proper permits to sail. Twenty-five of the passengers weren't on the official manifest, officials said. "We still need to figure out how they got there," Sergei Shoigu, minister of emergency situations, told Mr. Medvedev.

About 80 people were reported rescued, most by a passing ferry. Investigators said the half-century-old Bulgaria went to the bottom in just a few minutes after being swamped by a large wave as the crew tried to maneuver in a sudden thunderstorm storm on the huge Kuibyshev Reservoir on the Volga. Terrified passengers and crew managed to get only a few inflatable rafts off before the ship sank.

"The ship was just sailing along and then suddenly turned over," survivor Nikolai Chernov told the Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid. His wife and five-year-old grandson were feared dead.

Alexander Bastrykin, head of Russia's Investigative Committee, arrived Monday at the scene to supervise the probe. Officials said the Czech-built Bulgaria was listing four degrees to the starboard and its port engine was inoperative when it left port for the return voyage from Bolgar to Kazan Sunday morning.
Prosecutors cited "numerous violations" on the part of operators, including the lack of the necessary license. Officials said its last major renovation was conducted in 1980.

Regulators stopped at least one cruise ship of similar design to the Bulgaria for inspection Monday, news agencies reported. But local news agencies quoted the Bulgaria's operator as saying it had been in working order.

"The ship was in good condition," Svetlana Imyakina, director of the Agrorechtur company that rented the ship, told the Interfax news agency Monday. "They wound up in a storm and the holds were flooded."

Waves remained as high as two meters Monday at the accident site, complicating the rescue efforts on the wide river. The wreck was about 2.5 km from shore. Divers worked to remove bodies from the ship, which lay in 18 meters of water, focusing on the restaurant and main hall where children had gathered for a party just before the ship sank. Rescuers combed nearby islands for any who might have survived.

"Divers are working in shifts and will continue around the clock," said Rustam Minnikhanov, governor of the Tatarstan Region, where the accident took place. "I promise that measures will be taken against the ship owners who allowed the Bulgaria out on the water," he told relatives of the passengers. "It's shocking that the ship sank in such a short time." He also promised to investigate two passing ships that survivors said didn't stop to help.

Relatives and survivors stood vigil in the rain on the shore Monday, news reports said, as divers brought bodies up from the wreck.
Officials said the accident was the worst in Russian marine history since 1986, when a passenger ship struck a freighter and sank off Novorossiisk in the Black Sea, killing at least 423.

Gunpowder explodes at Cyprus Naval base, 11 killed

Cypriot rescue workers assess the situation at the "Evangelos Florakis" naval base in Zygi

Huge blasts in a seized Iranian weapons cache at a Greek Cypriot naval base in the south of the Mediterranean island killed at least 11 people on Monday, state media said.

The force of the explosions blew out virtually every window in the nearby fishing village of Zygi, whose seafront restaurants are popular with the many tourists who frequent the resort island, an AFP correspondent reported.

The island's largest power station at Vassiliko right next to the base was virtually levelled by the blast, causing widespread power cuts that are likely to last for months.

Three of its four main buildings were virtually levelled along the generator's two main fuel tanks, the correspondent said.

The main motorway connecting the capital Nicosia with the island's second-largest city Limassol runs less than a kilometre (half a mile) from the plant and motorists passing at the time of the blasts reported debris flying through the air.

State television broadcast images of damaged vehicles, twisted road signs and debris strewn across the central reservation.

Five hours after the blasts, an AFP correspondent saw four fires still raging at the plant.

Interior Minister Neoklis Sylikiotis told the state CNA news agency that the village of Mari just east of the base was devastated by the explosion with virtually every home damaged.

Police prevented journalists from approaching the village or the Evangelos Florakis naval base itself, named after a military commander who died in a helicopter crash exactly nine years to the day before the blasts.

But the speaker of parliament, Yiannakis Omirou, who is a former defence minister and visited the scene, said the explosion had been so massive that the entire arms cache had been destroyed without trace.

President Demetris Christofias also visited the stricken base ahead of an emergency cabinet meeting.

According to public radio, the fire brigade was called to a wildfire near the base at 4:24 am (0124 GMT) and that the explosions followed at 5:50 am (0250 GMT) as the fire raged out of control.

Five firefighters were among the 11 dead, who also included four members of the Greek Cypriot National Guard and two sailors, CNA said. State television said at least 12 people were killed.

Wildfires are a frequent problem in Cyprus in the tinder-dry conditions created by the searing summer heat.

Health Minister Christos Patsalides said three people were undergoing emergency surgery after being seriously hurt by the blasts. Another 35 to 40 people had suffered more minor injuries, he said.

National Guard chief Petros Tsaliklides told public radio that the blasts struck among containers of Iranian munitions seized from Cypriot-flagged vessel M/V Monchegorsk in 2009.

It was intercepted in the eastern Mediterranean en route to Syria in January that year and, after repeated searches, its cargo was eventually seized.

A UN Security Council panel concluded that March the shipment was in clear violation of an arms embargo against Iran adopted as part of UN sanctions imposed over Tehran's controversial nuclear programme and the seized weapons were put into storage.

"There were 98 containers of gunpowder. Two of them (caught) fire and huge explosions occurred," a police spokesman told CNA news agency.

The Iranian ambassador visited the Cypriot presidential palace in Nicosia for a 20-minute meeting after the blast, public radio said.

Power was restored to the island's main international airport at Larnaca by mid-morning after extensive disruption to early flights but electricity remained out in the resort city and across much of the south of the island.

The Cyprus Electricity Authority appealed to consumers to cut down on their power use, as demand for air conditioning in the summer heat far outstripped supply from the two power stations still working, threatening to crash the entire national grid.

Cypriot authorities impounded the Iranian weapons under a 2007 sanctions resolution adopted by the Security Council.

It requires that "Iran shall not supply, sell or transfer from its territory any arms and related materiel, and that all states shall prohibit the procurement of such items from Iran."

Israeli media reported that the Monchegorsk was suspected of carrying Iranian arms destined for the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and was detained by the Cypriot authorities in response to requests from both Israel and the United States.

Israel has long accused Iran of arming Islamists in Gaza, a charge Tehran denies even though it says it offers moral support to Hamas.

Iran reacted furiously to the interception of the cargo bound for Syria, its main Arab ally, and strongly denied accusations that the weapons were intended for either Hamas or the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah.

News of the World to close after hacking scandal

This Sunday's issue of the News of the
World will be the last edition of the paper,
News International chairman James
Murdoch has said.
In the past few days, claims have been made
that the paper authorised hacking into the
mobile phones of murdered schoolgirl Milly
Dowler and the families of 7/7 bombing
victims.
Mr Murdoch said proceeds from the last
edition would go to good causes.
Downing Street said it had no role or
involvement in the decision.
The News of the World, which has been in
circulation for 168 years, is the UK's biggest
selling newspaper and is famed for its
celebrity scoops.
No advertisements will run in this
weekend's paper - instead any advertising
space will be donated to charities and good
causes.
News International has refused to comment
on rumours that The Sun could now become
a seven-day-a-week operation.
"What happens to The Sun is a matter for
the future", a spokeswoman for News
International said. The Sun, another News
International tabloid, is currently published
from Monday to Saturday.
The spokeswoman also refused to say
whether the 200 or so employees at the
paper would be made redundant, saying:
"They will be invited to apply for other jobs
in the company."
The News of the World's political editor,
David Wooding, who joined 18 months ago,
said it was a fantastic paper.
"They cleared out all the bad people. They
bought in a great new editor, Colin Myler,
and his deputy, Victoria Newton, who had
not been sullied by any of the things that
had gone on in the past.
"And there's nobody there, there's hardly
anybody there who was there in the old
regime.
"The people are very clean, great, talented
professional journalists and we pull out a
great paper every week. And we're all
paying the price for what happened six
years ago by a previous regime."
'Serious regret'
In a statement made to staff, Mr Murdoch
said the good things the News of the World
did "have been sullied by behaviour that
was wrong - indeed, if recent allegations are
true, it was inhuman and has no place in
our company".
"The News of the World is in the business of
holding others to account. But it failed when
it came to itself."
He went on: "In 2006, the police focused
their investigations on two men. Both went
to jail. But the News of the World and News
International failed to get to the bottom of
repeated wrongdoing that occurred
without conscience or legitimate purpose.
"Wrongdoers turned a good newsroom bad
and this was not fully understood or
adequately pursued.
"As a result, the News of the World and
News International wrongly maintained that
these issues were confined to one reporter.
"We now have voluntarily given evidence to
the police that I believe will prove that this
was untrue and those who acted wrongly
will have to face the consequences. This was
not the only fault.
"The paper made statements to Parliament
without being in the full possession of the
facts. This was wrong.
"The company paid out-of-court settlements
approved by me. I now know that I did not
have a complete picture when I did so. This
was wrong and is a matter of serious
regret."
He said: "So, just as I acknowledge we have
made mistakes, I hope you and everyone
inside and outside the company will
acknowledge that we are doing our utmost
to fix them, atone for them, and make sure
they never happen again.
"Having consulted senior colleagues, I have
decided that we must take further decisive
action with respect to the paper. This
Sunday will be the last issue of the News of
the World."
He reiterated that the company was fully co-
operating with the two ongoing police
investigations.
He added: "While we may never be able to
make up for distress that has been caused,
the right thing to do is for every penny of
the circulation revenue we receive this
weekend to go to organisations that
improve life in Britain and are devoted to
treating others with dignity."
Labour MP Tom Watson told Sky News it was
"a victory for decent people up and down
the land, and I say good riddance to the
News of the World".
But Justice Secretary Ken Clarke said: "All
they're going to do is rebrand it" and
former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott,
who alleged his phone was hacked, thought
the decision was simply a gimmick.
In April, the News of the World admitted
intercepting the voicemail messages of
prominent people to find stories.
It came after years of rumours that the
practice was widespread and amid intense
pressure from those who believed they had
been victims.
Royal editor Clive Goodman and private
investigator Glenn Mulcaire were jailed for
hacking in January 2007 after it was found
they targeted Prince William's aides.
Detectives recovered files from Mulcaire's
home which referred to a long list of public
figures and celebrities.
The scandal widened this week when it
emerged that a phone belonging to the
missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler, who was
then found murdered, was also hacked into.
Earlier on Thursday, the Met Police said they
were contacting almost 4,000 people whose
names appeared in 11,000 pages of notes.
On Wednesday, the government promised
an inquiry.