The Norwegian seniors have never been better off financially. Since 1990, the income of the average, retired couple has increased by 93 percent, according to Statistics Norway.
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the income of the average retired couple has increased by 93 percent in Norway
- Friday, 28 December 2012 06:23
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Chess prodigy, 22, beats Gary Kasparov’s 12-year record to become game’s highest-rated player of all time
- Monday, 17 December 2012 16:17
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He's been making all the right moves in the world of chess since the age of five and now Norwegian sensation Magnus Carlsen has become the game's highest-rated player ever.
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The 22-year-old world number one has finally surpassed legendary Russian grandmaster Gary Kasparov's 12-year-old tally to be earn the prestigious accolade.
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Known as the 'Mozart of chess' for the raw ability he demonstrated from a young age, Carlsen achieved his goal by defeating English player Luke McShane at the London Chess Classic this week.
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Kasparov had previously claimed that his record rating of 2,851 was impossible to beat, but with victory over McShane, Carlsen nudged his own total to 2,857.4 points.
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In typically understated fashion Carlsen, who has been world number one since he took the crown at the age of 19, said his win over McShane was a 'great start to the tournament' and he was satisfied with the record.
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Ratings are determined through performance and they predict how likely a player is to beat a rival. Points are allocated accordingly.
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Carlsen's manager Espen Agdestein said he didn't anticipate his client would be devoting any time to enjoying a few glasses of champagne to celebrate the landmark because he was 'a bit boring in that regard'.
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The part-time model reportedly picks up a cool £933,000 a year from chess having developed a passion for the game when his father taught him how to play at the age of five.
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Carlsen says his first goal in the game was to beat his sister, then his father. He progressed quickly and became an International grandmaster at the age of 13, the youngest at the time.
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In October 2009, during the Nanjing Pearl Spring tournament, he became the fifth chess player in the history to achieve an Elo-rating over 2800 – by far the youngest to do so. That year he also became The World Blitz Chess champion.
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In 2009 he took on 'The World' in a game of chess. Hikaru Nakamura (U.S.), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) and Judit Polgar (Hungary) made suggestions to a live vote on the internet
On paper, The World had a reasonable chance, but with three players advising it's difficult to form a coherent plan.
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In a King's Indian defence Carlsen could have won in a mundane way, but instead he finished in striking fashion, his passed pawns on the queenside proving unstoppable.
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Carlsen started his recent game over McShane with the in-vogue Berlin defence and McShane went for a symmetrical set up that gave him a slight advantage when the middle game arrived.
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Not one to shy away from complexities, Carlsen created chances for himself in the queen and minor piece endgame after coming back from the jaws of defeat. He avenged a loss at the hands of McShane in 2010 at the same venue.
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‘Mini Abu Ghraib’: Norway mass murderer files 27-page complaint over jail conditions
- Monday, 26 November 2012 00:21
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Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik has typewritten a 27-page letter calling his prison conditions "a mini Abu Ghraib." He claimed guards watch him while he takes vitamins and brushes his teeth, and that his prison director wants revenge on him.
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"If it wasn't for the fact that I am an exceptionally patient person, I would most likely have lost my mind in pure frustration. Anyway, there are limits to what a person can take," AP quoted Breivik's letter as saying.
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Breivik claimed that the prison's director wanted to exact a personal revenge on him and that guards interfered with his strict daily schedule, in which each activity is timed to the minute.
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The mass murderer wrote that numerous practices at the prison facility are “degrading” – he is apparently watched while taking vitamins, and isn’t allowed a mop to clean his cell. Breivik also wrote that he is strip-searched daily, sometimes by female prison guards.
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"Use of a toothbrush and electric shaver is always under supervision. One is therefore under mental pressure to finish quickly as the guards are tapping their feet outside the cell. … This limits brushing to once a day and shaving to once a week in order not to have to go through the mental ordeal more often than necessary," he said.
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In his letter, the mass killer compared his prison to Abu Ghraib, a prison facility in Iraq that became notorious in 2004 when photos were released showing detainees being abused by US soldiers.
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"Therefore there is the likelihood that Norway's own 'mini Abu Ghraib,' in the cellars of Ila Prison, are being kept a secret and that Norway's human rights ambassadors' work to spread the 'world's most humane principles' are avoiding being embarrassed," he said.
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A spokesperson for Ila Prison, where Breivik is being held, said that no security restrictions have been lifted despite previous complaints. However, he received a normal pen to replace his rubber safety pen, which he described as an "almost indescribable manifestation of sadism."
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He sent a copy of his letter to Amnesty International, the Associated Press, the International Press Center in Oslo and a few Norwegian media outlets.
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Earlier this month, Breivik was given an electric typewriter, though not because of his complaint letter, or his previous statement branding his prison conditions “inhumane.”
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During pre-trial detention, the mass killer was allowed to use a computer that could not be connected to the Internet. The privilege was revoked when he started serving his jail sentence.
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The 33-year-old right-wing fanatic murdered 77 people in two terror attacks last year in Norway's worst peacetime massacre. A car bomb planted by Breivik outside government offices in Oslo killed eight people; he then drove to the nearby island of Utoya, where he massacred 69 people in a shooting spree at a youth summer camp.
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He was sentenced to 21 years in prison for terrorism and premeditated murder, a sentence that can be extended if Breivik is deemed to still be a threat after serving his term.
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Woman who is Breivik’s passion: Mass killer smitten with neo-Nazi who assassinated nine businessmen
- Saturday, 24 November 2012 03:45
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Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik is smitten with a neo-Nazi called Beate Zschaepe.
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He has sent her a letter praising her role in a terror cell which assassinated nine immigrant businessmen and a policewoman in a decade-long reign of terror.
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Breivik, who slaughtered nearly 80 young people last year, said she should use her upcoming trial on murder and other charges ‘to spread right-wing propaganda!’
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He also called her a ‘courageous heroine of national resistance’ and addressed the letter to ‘Dear Sister Beate.’
‘Reveal your political motives to the population,’ said Breivik.
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Details of the correspondence are revealed in this week’s edition of Der Spiegel magazine which went on sale on Sunday in Germany.
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The three-sided letter is apparently full of admiration for the woman who was one of three main players in the National Socialist Underground; a death squad which idolised Hitler and wanted nothing less than the setting up of a ‘Fourth Reich’ in Germany.
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It imploded in November last year when the two male members of the team took their own lives following a botched bank raid. Zschaepe was left with orders to blow up the gang’s HQ and destroy as much evidence of their activities as possible.
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Since the NSU’s disintegration police have gathered evidence which suggests that Zschaepe was present at most murders and probably carried out several of them.
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Breivik, who claimed at his murder trial that his killings were carried out as a ‘wake up call’ over multi-culturalism and unchecked immigration in Europe, is clearly spellbound by the woman who has been dubbed ‘The Nazi Mare’ in Germany.
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‘You did everything to stop the multiculturalism and the Islamization of Germany,’ he went on.Â
But he said that the cell, which was based in the eastern German city of Zwickau, was wrong to target immigrant businessmen.
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‘You should have gone for political elites instead,’ he advised. ‘But both forms of attack would damage the multicultural experiment.’
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Breivik, 32, waxed lyrical about the ‘mission’ he sees himself and Zschaepe, 37, involved in, adding; ‘We are both among the first drops of rain that foretell the huge, cleansing storm about the break across Europe.
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‘We are martyrs of the the conservative revolution and should be extremely proud of our sacrifice and our troubles.’ But his words never reached his jailbird sweetheart; the letter was seized by authorities in Germany and confiscated.
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Breivik bombed government buildings in Oslo, resulting in eight deaths, then carried out a mass shooting at a camp of the Workers’ Youth League of the Labour Party on the island of Utøya, where he killed 69 people, mostly teenagers.
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He was convicted of mass murder, causing a fatal explosion, and terrorism in August 2012 after being declared sane at the time of the atrocity. He was sentenced to 21 years in jail, serving a minimum of 10.
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SAS transfered its most expensive plans to Norway
- Friday, 23 November 2012 09:57
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SAS transferred two of their most expensive planes to Norway in order to escape foreign creditors in the case of bankruptcy.
Crown Prince Haakon to visit Haiti
- Wednesday, 24 October 2012 06:48
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Norway's Crown Prince Haakon will on October 29th to 31st visits the victims of the 2010 earth quake on Haiti.
Human traffickers bring children to Norway
- Saturday, 22 September 2012 09:20
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Human traffickers bring an increasing number of children to Norway that they plan to use for criminal activities and prostitution.
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There has been an increase in the number of smuggled children from Africa to Europe and Norway. Police attorney Rudolf Christoffersen informs that police often run into cases now where people have taken advantage of children by forcing them to commit criminal acts.
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Children have been used to sell drugs and sex, Christoffersen explains. They have also been forced to work, beg and to perform other criminal activities.
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Although police doesn't know the exact number of children who come to Norway, Save the Children estimates that there are several dozens each year. This is taking advantage of children in a cynical and worst possible way, Anne Kristine Ivà n, an adviser for the organization tells NRK.
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The past few years, six people from Romania were convicted in Norway for human trafficking and for taking advantage of children between 13 and 17 years old.
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So far, only Oslo and Bergen police districts have successfully increased their focus on human trafficking and brought specific cases to court, Christoffersen explains. He thinks that most other police districts still have a long way to go.
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Emails of Breivik published in a form of new book
- Tuesday, 04 September 2012 10:38
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A new book out in Norway on Monday publishes the private emails of Anders Behring Breivik, showing a killer fond of emoticons but largely devoid of emotion and illustrating his attention to detail in planning his attacks.
Jobless rate fall to 2.6 in Norway
- Saturday, 01 September 2012 09:10
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With major oil investments and low interests rates helping to fuel the job market, Norway’s unemployment rate dropped to 2.6 percent in August.
Norway jailed Mullah Krekar for threatening Norwegians
- Thursday, 30 August 2012 17:47
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Mullah Krekar, the founder of a radical Iraqi Kurdish Islamist group, has been sentenced to a year in jail in Norway for issuing threats against Norwegians, an Oslo court announced on Wednesday.
Norwegian appointed ambassador for women by NATO
- Tuesday, 28 August 2012 11:22
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NATO named a female Norwegian diplomat on Tuesday in a new role created at the nuclear-armed military alliance to promote the role of women in ending conflict.
Norway vows 'humane' conditions for mass killer
- Monday, 27 August 2012 17:23
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Those expecting Anders Behring Breivik to spend the rest of his days alone in a cramped cell will be disappointed when the far-right fanatic receives his sentence Friday for killing 77 people in a bomb and gun rampage last year.
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If declared insane, the confessed killer will be the sole patient of a psychiatric ward that Norway built just for him, with 17 people on staff to treat him.
If found mentally fit, he will remain isolated, for now, in the high-security prison where he uses three 86-square-foot (8-square-meter) cells: a bed room, an exercise room and a study.
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Officials at Oslo's Ila Prison say the ambition would be to eventually transfer Breivik to a section with other prisoners, who have access to a school that teaches from primary grades through university-level courses, a library, a gym, work in the prison's various shops and other leisure activities.
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It's all about a philosophy of humane prison treatment and rehabilitation that forms the bedrock of the Scandinavian penal system.
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"I like to put it this way: He's a human being. He has human rights. This is about creating a humane prison regime," said Ellen Bjercke, a spokeswoman for Ila (EE-luh) Prison.
Dealing with an unrepentant killer responsible for Norway's worst massacre since World War II puts the system to, perhaps, its most challenging test yet.
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During his trial, Breivik, 33, coolly described how he set off a car bomb that killed eight people and injured scores in Oslo's government district on July 22 last year. Then he unleashed a shooting rampage that left 69 people dead, mostly teenagers, at the summer camp of the governing Labor Party's youth wing. The youngest victim was 14.
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In testimony that was deeply disturbing to the bereaved, the self-styled anti-Muslim militant said he was acting in defense of Norway by targeting the left-wing political party he accused of betraying the country with liberal immigration policies.
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Since Breivik's guilt is not in question, the key decision for the Oslo district court Friday is whether to declare him insane after two psychiatric teams reached opposite conclusions on his mental health.
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Its ruling will be read in a courtroom custom-built for Breivik's trial at a cost of 40 million kroner ($6.8 million). A glass partition separates Breivik from relatives of victims attending the hearing. Remote-controlled cameras capture the proceedings, and a video feed is distributed to court rooms around Norway, where other relatives can watch it live.
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Prison officials say the special measures for Breivik are justified because he presents a security risk that Norway's prison and justice systems previously didn't have the infrastructure to deal with.
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Some Norwegians disagree.
"To do that for just one person, when there are other things in Norway that need to be taken care of, like elderly care and roads and such things the money could have been spent on other things," said Thomas Indreboe, who was removed as a lay judge in the case when it emerged that he had advocated on the Internet for Breivik to be executed. In Europe only Belarus still applies the death penalty, according to Amnesty International.
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Indreboe stood by his assertion that capital punishment would make sense in Breivik's case and save "taxpayers from unnecessary expenditures."
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Criminology researcher Thomas Ugelvik of the University of Oslo said that would mean creating a totally different society.
"We wouldn't be Norway," he said. "We have a general need to offer humane conditions in our welfare state, and the prison is part of the welfare state."
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Ila Prison has prepared itself for every possible outcome Friday. A psychiatric ward was built just in case he is declared criminally insane. It cost between 2 million and 3 million kroner ($340,000-$510,000), according to Norway's Health Ministry.
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The facility, featuring a 100-square-foot (9 square-meter) cell with a bathroom, would offer Breivik some recreational and educational options with therapists from a psychiatric hospital, but not the breadth of options available to prison inmates.
Bjercke estimated the cost of keeping Breivik there at 7 million-10 million kroner a year ($1.2 million-1.7 million).
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That's not extraordinary in Norway. Anne Kristine Bergem, the chief physician of the regional psychiatric center for dangerous and violent patients, said the average annual cost of care on her ward was nearly 6 million kroner per patient.
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If found to be mentally fit, Breivik would face a sentence of "preventive detention." Unlike a regular prison sentence — which can be no longer than 21 years in Norway — that confinement option can be extended for as long as an inmate is considered dangerous to society. It also offers more programs and therapy than an ordinary prison sentence.
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While in isolation, Breivik has access to TV and newspapers and a computer, but no Internet connection.
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He has three cells instead of one in "compensation" for not having access to activities offered to other inmates, Bjercke said. In addition, prison staff and a priest come see him more often than other inmates, so that he has someone to talk to.
"Isolation is torture," Bjercke said.
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Breivik, like other prisoners, is free to communicate with the outside world with letters, as he has done since restrictions were lifted at the start of this year. His defense lawyers have said he is already planning to write books building on the 1,500-page manual on far-right terror he released before the attacks.
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Prison director Knut Bjarkeid wouldn't comment on any special security measures taken to make sure Breivik doesn't escape. He said someone last escaped from the prison, which doesn't have armed guards, in 2004, but was caught within minutes.
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During the trial, which transfixed Norway with its gruesome details, Breivik insisted his actions were politically motivated and expressed horror at the possibility of ending up in "the madhouse."
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His lawyers have said Breivik would appeal an insanity ruling.
Whatever the outcome, Breivik has already proved to be so dangerous that legal experts say he is not likely to walk free until he's an old man, if at all.
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That's more important than the conditions under which he's held, said Christin Bjelland, deputy head of a national support group for victims' families and survivors.
"Our primary goal is that he should be removed (from society) for all time," Bjelland said.
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Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.Â
Breivik chapter closed - sentenced to 21 years
- Monday, 27 August 2012 13:26
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With Anders Behring Breivik sent to prison, Norway now turns its attention to the lessons to be learned from the massacre with the prime minister launching the process when he appears before parliament on Tuesday.
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