By Charlene Gubash, NBC News

NALUT, Libya – The people of Nalut, a quiet town in the mountains of Libya, gathered together to grieve on Friday.  “There is no God, but God and martyrs are beloved by God,” boomed several hundred men standing in long rows, some crying softly. 

They prayed before the bodies of three young men who died in Thursday’s offensive against pro-Gadhafi soldiers. The thin faces encircled by white shrouds were young. 

“One of them was my friend.  I studied with him for two years in Malta.  This is the biggest loss for me,” said Nadar, a fellow rebel.

“They are all under 30,” said another man who recently arrived from Tripoli.  “But all of this is for freedom,” he said.

Nalut has just gained its freedom from four months of almost nightly rocket fire. Gadhafi’s troops had used villages in the valley beneath Nalut to lob deadly Soviet-era Grad missiles into the town and toward the border with Tunisia.  Victory was sweet.  

After less than a day’s fighting, rebel fighters pushed Gadhafi’s troops out of two cities and a handful of hamlets.  The commanding officer in Nalut attributed their success to good planning and the cooperation of rebel fighters from several mountain cities. Rebels mounted a simultaneous attack on Gadhafi forces from several different directions. 

The commanding officer saw the latest operation as a blueprint for success, but one to be improved and refined.  “Next time it will be much better,” he promised. He recalled with a smile, “We had only 20 hunting rifles made in Nalut in our first battle.” 

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Progress
Thursday’s battle showed just how far they had come.  Rebels used sophisticated artillery, captured from Gadhafi’s weapons stores, against his loyalists.  They loaded missile after missile into Grad rocket launchers and fired at government forces in the valley below. Seized T 55 Russian tanks took turns blasting enemy positions. 

Although the primary complaint of military and civilian leaders throughout the region has been shortage of weapons, fighters seemed to have no lack of artillery shells in Thursday’s battle.

Late into the night on Thursday, young men fired automatic weapons into the air in celebration.
Women, rarely seen outside the home, marched through town and cars screeched through the otherwise orderly streets. Families that had fled Nalut for the safety of Tunisia began to flood back across the border to their now-safe city on Friday.

What’s next?   
The latest rebel advance secured Nalut, but has it moved the rebels any closer to the ultimate goal, Tripoli and the overthrow of Gadhafi?

The answer is a qualified “yes.”  Rebels have achieved some critical strategic aims. 

They have now secured their border with Tunisia and the only supply line for fighters and civilians alike in the arid hills and plains of western Libya.  The rout of enemy forces from the border area is part of a broader plan to allow rebels to push up through the desert to Zawiyah, cutting the regime off from its western supply line, and bringing them within a half-hour drive to Tripoli.

Newly victorious rebel fighters are already working their way up north. Whether success can be duplicated in the critical city of Garyan, Tripoli’s supply line to weapons and mercenaries from the south, remains to be seen. 

Attempts to advance appear to be stalemated to the untrained eye.  But military commanders suggest plans are in place and an offensive, possibly an all-out offensive, is imminent. “Zero hour” has not been determined yet, an officer in Zintan said.  

Although weapons are said to be in short supply, optimism and determination are not. 

When asked if rebels can reach Tripoli before the end of Ramadan, the minister of defense, Omar Hariri, responded, “Maybe before Ramadan.” The Muslim month of fasting begins next week.

By Keith Miller, NBC News Correspondent

PERUGIA, Italy – You reach the ancient hill top town of Perugia by a series of winding roads through the rolling hills of Umbria, traveling past huge poplar trees planted like giant windbreaks. To call it picture-perfect would be an injustice. This is what every American exchange student probably imagines Italy to be like.
 
The favorable impression is reinforced by the warm-colored and weathered stones that make up the walls surrounding the town.
 
But those walls also envelop a place where history has on many occasions been cruel. And its modern judicial system is giving those ancient injustices a new twist, embodied in the form of American student Amanda Knox, who has done even more to put Perugia on the map than the local chocolate factory, Perugina, known for its silver wrapped “Baci” (kisses). 
 
There is little affection here for Knox, who has created a far greater stir than the annual international chocolate festival.
 
Portrayed in the Italian press as a spoiled and sexually promiscuous man eater, Knox, her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito and Rudy Guede, an Ivorian resident of Perugia, were convicted and jailed in 2009 for the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, a British student and Knox’s roommate. Judges concluded that the killing came during a frenzied sex game that spiraled out of control.
 
People often ask if I think Knox is guilty of the murder she was convicted of committing. After three years of reporting on the crime, Knox’s trial and her punishment for the TODAY show, the answer is always the same: "I don't know if she is guilty, but I do know that the prosecution didn't prove it in court."

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Circus-like trial
You can put that down to the inordinately inept Italian court system. As I responded when a reputable Italian newspaper reporter recently asked me my opinion on the proceedings: “I would rather be on trial in Cuba."
 
Add to that a plethora of lawyers, often working at cross-purposes. In this case, four legal teams, representing four different parties, were all taking a swing at Knox. On a given day the prosecutors’ table during the trial was more crowded than a popular pizza parlor
There were lawyers for the state, the victim’s family, an attorney representing a man accusing Knox of slander and an attorney for the convicted murderer Guede. Each had his say, and what they mostly said was conjuncture punctuated by sexual innuendo that would make Mae West blush. 
 
And I must not leave out the chief prosecutor in the case, Giuliano Mignini, a great barrel of a man with a full head of gray hair swept back in the fashionable style of the Italian middle aged male. He cut a formidable figure in court. But as he was prosecuting Knox for murder, he himself was on trial in Florence for abuse of prosecutorial power in a previous murder trial.
 
As Knox was writing in her journal to pass the time in prison, Mignini was shuttling back and forth to Florence to defend himself in court. He was found guilty and given a suspended sentence.
 
This blatant breech of ethics was greeted by silence in Perugia. Mignini carried on his prosecution of Knox with the zeal of an evangelical preacher.
 
A sex game gone wrong?
Throughout the case, this prosecution was all about sex. Mignini formed a motive for the murder of 21-year-old Kercher early and stayed with it till the end. It was, he said, "a satanic ritualistic sex orgy that led to murder."
 
The Italian and British tabloids went positively feverish. They went straight to Knox’s Facebook page, uncovering the lurid that supposedly simmered in the fresh-faced girl. And the nickname she was given at the age of 8, when she played a crafty game of soccer. “Foxy Knoxy” just about sealed her fate. 
 
On air I reduced the prosecution’s claim to "a sex game gone wrong." But at no time during the trial were there any facts presented to back up the claim.
 
Despite the complete lack of evidence to support his theory, Mignini conducted an imaginary dialogue between Knox and the victim as part of his closing arguments. Speaking for Knox, he imagined her saying to Kercher, "You’re behaving like a little saint. Now we will show you, now we will make you have sex."
 
The trial judge dismissing the sex game theory came up with his own motive suggesting Knox and her former boyfriend joined in attacking Kercher after they heard her screams as she was being molested by Guede. Not sex, but jealousy guided Knox, he said.
 
There was no evidence backing up this theory and no rationale, either. In the history of criminal prosecution, I doubt there is a single case where a person jumped at the chance to help a relatively unknown intruder in the dark of night, sexually assault and then stab a roommate to death. Never mind that the testimony delivered in court painted the relationship between Knox and Kercher as friendly.
 
So the trial in the absence of a rational motive came down to the DNA
 
Imagine for a moment a murder scene in a cramped student’s bedroom. A body on the floor, blood everywhere. There were bloodied hand prints on the headboard, cupboard and bloody foot prints on the floor.
 
All connected back to the man first convicted of the crime: Rudy Guede. 

 
Holes in DNA evidence
There was not a single piece of DNA from Knox or her former boyfriend found at the crime scene. The prosecution claimed they cleaned up any trace of being there, but were clever enough to leave behind the clues leading to Guede.
 
Two 20-somethings, admittedly stoned from marijuana, buzzed from too much booze and in the grip of a supposed sadistic sexual fever decided, "Oh dear, let's mop up the blood, extract the hairs and wipe away any bodily fluids before we make our getaway."
 
I don't buy it. Never did.
 
Then this week the prosecution’s case took a hit.
 
Independent forensic experts appointed by the court took the stand on Monday and attacked key pieces of the evidence used to convict them.  
 
The two court-appointed experts presented findings from a 145-page report they wrote after studying the DNA evidence.
 
The experts testified that a series of police blunders like not wearing protective caps and masks and allowing people to tramp in and out of the crime scene contaminated potential DNA evidence. 
 
They also raised questions about evidence concerning the murder weapon, a large, black-handled kitchen knife found at Knox's boyfriend’s apartment. Prosecutors had insisted that Knox’s DNA was found on the handle of the knife and that Kercher’s DNA material was found on the blade. The forensic experts testified Knox’s DNA was found on the handle of the knife, but said there was no DNA from the victim.
 
Another crucial piece of evidence – a bloody bra clasp belonging to the victim that allegedly had DNA from Knox's  boyfriend on it – was so badly handled that it was impossible to test, according to the forensic experts.

Stay tuned… 
Knox's mother Edda Mellas, a school teacher from Seattle, was in tears at the conclusion of testimony. The legal fees and cost of maintaining a transatlantic connection to her daughter has nearly bankrupted the family, but they stand by Knox's insistence that she is innocent.
 
Appealing a murder conviction in Italy can be tricky. The judge could impose an even harsher sentence, but Knox has two things going for her. When the appeals judge agreed to examine the evidence presented in the first trial, it was an admission that the evidence could be flawed.
 
It wouldn't be the first time. Around 50 percent of appeals in major criminal cases in Italy end with the conviction being over turned.
 
The next hearing is scheduled for Saturday when the experts face cross-examination. Stay tuned….

 NBC News’ Mike Taibbi has been reporting from Libya’s western mountains for three weeks and provides an account of a battle he witnessed between rebels and pro-Gadhafi forces.

NAFUSA MOUNTAINS, Libya - More than five months into Libya's civil war, rebels in the western mountains who've seen their advance on Tripoli stall 50 miles from the capital dealt with a new challenge Thursday. 

They launched an all-out assault on Moammar Gadhafi’s forces to protect strategic ground won months ago, an offensive that had been rumored for days. 

Nalut is one of the cities the rebels controlled almost from the beginning of the war, but Gadhafi’s army continued to bomb it nightly.  Government forces have also threatened to try and retake the nearby border crossing with Tunisia, the only such crossing rebels control. 

At around 4:30 a.m. today we saw a convoy of 30 or 40 heavily armed trucks roll out to join the forces already in position.  Our first visit was to a spot overlooking the valley just north of the mountains.  The rebels’ objective was to push Gadhafi forces out of two towns where, protected by landmines and human shields, the government’s guys continued to send scores of grad rockets into Nalut where casualties were increasing. 

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The Gadhafi forces were also rumored to be planning a move on the border crossing at Wazin.  In the two Gadhafi-held towns of Takut and Gazayeh we saw the smoke puffs of rockets fired toward Nalut and toward suspected rebel positions. Answering artillery was fired off at a fast pace.

We then went to a rebel position where they'd amassed dozens of Soviet-made grads from seized Gadhafi stockpile armaments and we watched as they were fired at targets on the approach to the towns to clear the way for ground forces to move in. 

What was apparent to us was that the rebels (in the mountains at least) are not only improving in terms of training and numbers, but they are also leveling the playing field by deploying Gadhafi’s own most fearsome weapon – grad rockets with their 20-mile range – right back at his own troops.

We then went to the most forward position, where we were told no other journalists had been allowed to go, and watched supplemental tank fire going off as part of the task of plowing the road for ground forces.  We saw those forces moving in and then went down the mountain into the valley where.

The rebels have retaken the town of Takut and were on the way to Gazayeh today.  At the time of writing, they'd suffered 19 wounded and three killed.  We couldn’t confirm what the losses were among Gadhafi’s forces but we saw some brought back as prisoners.  By the time we worked our way there, a sort of victory celebration was underway. 

The rebels clearly scored a victory today and afterwards morale was high.  They cheered each other on, gave each other the high-five signs and shouted Allahu Akbar, or “God is Great,” when their missiles hit their targets.

Still, it's a good news-bad news story. 

First the bad.  Four months after supposedly asserting control over this part of the country, rebels find it necessary to win control over the same ground again (losing the border would be a disaster). 

The good news is that they pulled off a coordinated artillery and ground attack in a matter of eight hours, and just like they planned it.

This was a victory although not THE victory, of course.  That would be Tripoli.

By Stephanie Gosk, NBC News Correspondent

LONDON – The images bombard us daily, actors and models in magazines and billboards with impossibly flawless skin, impossibly perfect bodies, and impossibly white teeth. 

Most media consumers are aware that the images staring back at them are airbrushed and retouched to reflect an ideal rather reality, but there is a growing movement both in the U.S. and Europe to hold advertisers and publishers to account for what many are calling false, and potentially harmful advertising.

In the U.K., Jo Swinson, a liberal member of parliament, has won an early battle in what will undoubtedly be a drawn-out war.

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Swinson was disturbed by a new L’Oreal ad campaign picturing Julia Roberts and Christy Turlington promoting the latest age-defying products. The images were so retouched, Swinson told the U.K.’s advertising watchdog, that it resulted in false advertising.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) approached L’Oreal over the ad campaign but ultimately was not satisfied with the company’s response.

L’Oreal told the ASA that airbrushing was used to “lighten the skin, clean up makeup, reduce dark shadows and shading around the eyes, smooth the lips and darken the eyebrows,” but that the beneficial effects of their face creams were not misrepresented.

In a statement from L’Oreal on the Turlington ad, the company writes, “Even though the ad features an obviously illustrated effect, some lines are still clearly visible beneath the illustration and we do not believe that the ad exaggerates the effect that can be achieved using this product.”
 
Guy Parker, who works for the ASA said, “L’Oreal did not provide us with the evidence that allowed us to see what impact the retouching had on the final product. We knew they had retouched but we didn’t know to what extent. In those circumstances, we haven’t got a choice but to ban the ads.”  It resulted in what they consider a breach of advertising standards. The ads have been pulled.

False expectations for young girls
But the argument goes beyond just misadvertising. Politicians and some health experts believe the steady stream of “perfect” bodies is giving some people, particularly young women, false expectations.

“Do we really want every photo, every image that we see to be actually so removed from reality that even someone like Julia Roberts or Christy Turlington are deemed not quite beautiful enough to go on an advertisement without extensive retouching?” asked Swinson.

The American Medical Association has adopted a new policy that encourages more cooperation between child and adolescent health groups and advertisers, stopping short of calling for official regulations.

“We have to stop exposing impressionable children and teenagers to advertisements portraying models with body types only attainable with the help of photo editing software,” Dr. Barbara L. McAneny explained in a statement released by the American Medical Association.

Two years ago in France, Valerie Boyer, a member of parliament, was so upset about the steady stream of altered photos that her teen daughters were exposed to, that she proposed the most radical response, legislation requiring advertisers and publishers put a warning on any image that has been retouched. 

“We have to warn everybody that this body doesn’t exist,” Boyer said during an interview with NBC News at the time. But so far that legislation has stalled.

Dr. Vivian Diller a psychologist and author of “Face it: What Women Really Feel as Their Looks Change,” says enforcing laws against advertisers is probably not realistic, but that public pressure could ultimately have the same effect.

“Advertisers are based on making money,” she argued, “if people get turned off on those images it will have the biggest impact.” 

Diller believes we are seeing a backlash against what she calls the “homogenization of beauty.”

“It’s beginning to feel repulsive, annoying,” she said. “I think people are angry even.”

That anger got two advertisements pulled here in the U.K. and many like Diller hope it is just the beginning. 
 
Related link: Scoop: Airbrushed Julia Roberts ad called 'overly perfected' by U.K. agency
 

By ITN's Keir Simmons   
LONDON – The specter of a lone terrorist, such as admitted Norwegian mass-killer Anders Behring Breivik, inevitably raises the question, could the same thing happen elsewhere?

The answer is yes and it already has.

It was not on the same scale, but in 1999 lone bomber David Copeland launched a series of nail-bomb attacks in London targeting African, Caribbean, Asian and gay areas. The first two resulted in injuries, some serious, to dozens of people; the third, on a pub frequented by gay people, killed three and injured more than 100. During his trial, it emerged that Copeland considered himself a Nazi and believed in a master race.

Commentators also have drawn parallels to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, which was perpetrated by a small band of conspirators, chiefly Timothy McVeigh (who drove the bomb to the site) and Terry Nichols (who helped build it).

McVeigh’s defense lawyer, Sean Connelly, sees similarities with the Norway massacre, particularly its home-grown nature. “People thought this kind of thing couldn't happen in Oklahoma or in our country,” he told the Denver Post. "All these years later, I think the people of Norway felt the same way."  

Such attacks, planned and executed by one or a few people from within the communities that are being targeted, are incredibly difficult to prevent. For security services, spotting the “lone wolf” terrorist is far harder than identifying a terrorist cell.

A group will communicate with one another and perhaps with leaders based abroad. Those communications, whether they are over the Internet or physical meetings, provide a trail that can be tracked.

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Part of a bigger threat?
Despite the fact that the Norwegian police say they have no evidence linking Breivik to other right wing extremists in Norway or anywhere else, he has claimed that he is part of a wider movement and that he has contacts in the U.K. There are even fears that he may have drawn inspiration from groups in the U.S. But the nature of those links is not clear.

In his near-1,500 page manifesto, Breivik claimed he had extensive contact with other extremist groups across Europe, including with the far right English Defence League. (The group refutes the claims, saying that Breivik may only have contributed to its Internet sites, and pointing out that it cannot always control what goes on in its public chat rooms.) 

Another facet of the “lone wolf” threat is that it usually comes from the extreme right. Following the Norway massacre, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron asked the police, who have long concentrated on an Islamist terror threat, to take a look at the plans for dealing with an attack inspired by fascism.

So is there a difference between Islamic terrorism and right wing terrorism? It is a question those in governments around the world will be considering over the next few months. Norway may turn out to be a warning as well as a terrible tragedy.
 
Keir Simmons is U.K. Editor for ITV News and an occasional London Correspondent for NBC News. You can reach him on twitter at @keirsimmonsitv

Doctors at the Dadaab Refugee Camp in refugee camp in northern Kenya along the Somali border are being forced to make heartbreaking decisions daily. The hospital at the camps has become a triage center for victims of the drought and famine in Somalia that have walked for days and weeks to seek help. 

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Dr. Gedi Mohamed, with Doctors without Borders tell's NBC’s Rohit Kachroo about the challenges of treating so many patients. The "people we’re seeing now are the most desperate," said Mohamed.

 Famine in Somalia: How to help 

UPDATE 10:30 p.m. ET: The death toll in the shootings at the island youth camp has jumped sharply.

"The updated knowledge we are sitting on now is at least 80," police chief Oystein Maeland told a news conference. "We can't guarantee that won't increase somewhat."

Hundreds of young people were attending the Labor Party youth event at the camp on Utoya island in a lake near Oslo when the gunman attacked.

UPDATE 8:35 p.m. ET: Dagbladet has more details on Anders Behring Breivik, 32, who has been identified as the suspect in Friday's attacks:

Neighbors tell Dagbladet that they have seen the 32-year-old in what looked like a military uniform several times. ...

Late last night, he was still being questioned. It was not known what might have been the motive behind the attacks. 

"We have not formulated a basis for charges so far. We will formulate a charge during the night when we see what comes out of the interrogation," said prosecutor Trine Dingelan to Dagbladet at 1 a.m.

Behring Breivik for a time lived in the same street as a number of prominent white politicians on the west side of Oslo. 

In spring 2009 he established a sole proprietorship in Hedmark with the purpose to cultivate various vegetables and fruit products. Investigators were examining whether the company could have had access to ingredients for explosives. 

He has tried to establish a number of companies in recent years, but they all have been dissolved. One of the companies pursued the development of sales services on the Internet, while another imported goods from abroad.

UPDATE 8:13 p.m. ET: Norwegian television is reporting the identity of the suspect in the Norwegian attacks.

TV2, the country's largest broadcaster, identified him as Anders Behring Breivik, 32, describing him as a member of "right-wing extremist groups in eastern Norway." Shortly thereafter, The Telegraph newspaper of London reported the same information, quoting Norwegian Justice Minister Knut Storberget.

A man of the same name and age is identified in government business records as sole director of a company called Breivik Geofarm. In the records, the company says its business is the "growing of vegetables, melons, roots and tubers" and reports that it has 790 employees.

UPDATE 7:38 p.m. ET: Norwegian authorities are tightening security at the nation's borders and airports, Dagbladet reports. Citing police, it says Norwegians are asked to limit their use of mobile phones and have ramped up security for the royal family. It quotes a new government statement:

"Norway is characterized by an uncertain and difficult situation in connection with explosions in the city center and the shooting of young people. It is important that the citizens of Norway, to the greatest extent possible, preserve the peace in spite of the tragedies. It is important that people also follow instructions from police and other authorities." 

UPDATE 7:25 p.m. ET: Complete with pictures, the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet reports police are storming the home of the 32-year-old suspect in today's Norwegian attacks:

"Police officers in protective gear armed with machine guns arrived at 23:45 p.m. at a residential building in Oslo," the newspaper says. "A 32-year-old man has been arrested after two terrorist attacks today in Oslo and Utoya. Dagbladet has learned that the man has been living at that address."

Some media outlets are reporting a name for the suspect, but NBC News has not been able to confirm it. We'll report it here if and when we do.

UPDATE 6:55 p.m. ET: More is now coming in from people close to the investigation raising the likelihood that the attacks were home-grown and not the work of Islamic militants.

Addressing whether the 32-year-old Norwegian suspect might be affiliated with al-Qaida or another group, Oslo's acting police acting chief said at a late-night news conference: "We do not know if he was involved in an extremist environment."

And Tore Bjorgo, a professor at Norwegian Police University College — which state broadcaster NRK reported is working with police on the investigation — said the fact that the second attack was directed at a political youth organization suggested the involvement of local or European right-wing extremists.

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NRK reports:

"I have consistently kept the possibility open that this might be the extreme right," Bjorgo said.

Bjorgo said the action is reminiscent of the bomb attack in Oklahoma City in 1995, where the right-wing extremist Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people with a powerful car bomb.

"It reminds me of the Oklahoma City bombing. The scenarios we have seen today are described in right-wing literature" like "The Turner Diaries" and "Hunter." 

The first book deals with a bloody race war during which, among other things, the FBI's headquarters are bombed. McVeigh was carrying a copy of "The Turner Diaries" when he was arrested.

If you can read Norwegian (or want to run it through an online translator), here's the full NRK report.

UPDATE 6:25 p.m. ET: We've rounded up what we've learned about the shootings here:

Norway attacks might not be terrorism, expert cautions

Highlights:

• Friday's attacks in Olso and Buskerud could simply be the actions of a disturbed individual with no connection to al-Qaida or any other international terrorist groups, a prominent authority on Islamic militant groups said.

• Witnesses said they saw as many as 20 bodies on the island or in the water, but police said they could confirm only nine deaths for now.

• Police say the suspected gunman is a 32-year-old Norwegian man who posed as a police officer. 

• Undetonated explosives also were found at the island.

• Witnesses describe the chaos at the scene.

UPDATE 5:50 p.m. ET: Police have confirmed that undetonated explosives were found on Utoya island. 

UPDATE 5:22 p.m.: Police say the gunman is a 32-year-old Norwegian.

Witnesses described the suspect  as "blond" and "Nordic-looking." Late Friday, Knut Storberegt, Norway's royal minister of justice and the police, confirmed that he is a Norwegian; the BBC, citing police, said he was from Utoya. Police said he is also believed to have been involved in the bombing that killed seven people earlier in the day in Oslo, about 25 miles away. 

Magnus Ranstorp, a specialist in militant Islamic movements and research director at the Center for Asymmetric Threat Studies at the Swedish National Defense College, cautioned that widespread assumptions that the attacks were connected to international terrorism could be wrong.

The description of the suspect and his possible involvement in bombing national government offices "point to an internal rather than external  extremist," Ranstorp told Nettavisen.

"Intuitively, the bombing is al-Qaida-related, but with this attack on Utoya, this could just be a crazy person," Ranstorp said.

UPDATE 4:07 p.m. ET: Oslo police say that with the gunman in custody, Utoya island is now safe.

Inspector Bjorn Erik Sem-Jacobsen of the Buskerud police district told state broadcaster NRK that the investigation was difficult because witnesses and others who were on the island when the gunman opened fire had good reason to be suspicious of anyone in a police uniform.

"We are working to ensure that the young people out there have confidence that we are real police," Sem-Jacobsen said.

UPDATE 3:50 p.m. ET: Police said they could confirm only nine deaths in the shooting at Utoya. A police spokesman said a 10th person might may have been killed, but that was "uncertain."

Previous reports quoted multiple witnesses as saying as many as 20 people may have been killed.

Norwegian authorities said at a news conference that the gunman was not connected to the police and "has no relation to us."

UPDATE 3:35 p.m. ET: Police said they were confident they had been able to identify the gunman, whom they had in custody. They did not release his identity, but they said they had confirmed that they had "reason to believe" he was connected to the Oslo bombing.

NRK reporter Astrid Randen quoted witnesses as saying the man — described as "tall, blond and Nordic-looking" and speaking Norwegian — wore a police uniform and summoned youth campers to gather around him before he "just executed them."

People in at least 20 pleasure boats converged on the island to help with the rescue operation. One of them, André Skeie, told NRK that he saw at least a dozen "lifeless bodies" floating in the water.

Skeie said he helped remove more than 15 injured people from the island. Many of them were shot in the stomach, he said. 

"It's absolutely awful. It looks like a war zone," Skeie said by phone.

UPDATE 3:12 p.m. ET: NRK is quoting witnesses as saying at least five and perhaps 20 or more people may have been killed at Utoya, some of them shot as they tried to swim to safety from the island. It stressed that police had not confirmed the accounts.

UPDATE 2:53 p.m. ET: NRK quotes police as saying they now suspect one or more bombs may be at the scene at Utoya.

UPDATE 2:51 p.m. ET: The Norwegian news agency NTB quotes witnesses describing a scene of "complete panic."

A witness said in a text message that "we are very afraid," the agency reported. "We do not know what to do. Many people are injured. We are afraid. We are waiting for help. Some are seriously injured. We cannot do anything."

_____
 

Posted 2:45 p.m. ET: As speculation raged that the bombing of government buildings in Oslo, Norway, could be Islamist terrorism, a "tall, blond and Nordic-looking" man dressed as a police officer opened fire with a machine gun on a political youth conference 25 miles away, police and eyewitnesses said.

Police told NRK television that preliminary reports were least five people were injured in the shooting on the island of Utoya, which they said they believed was linked to the bombing earlier in the day. 

NRK and other Norwegian media said the government had sent an anti-terrorism unit to evacuate the island, where the scene was described as chaotic. NRK reported that some terrified campers were trying to swim back to the mainland from the summer gathering, which was organized by the country's Labour Party. 

"The situation's gone from bad to worse," said Runar Kvernen, a spokesman for the national police.

Tourism hasn't always been Libya's strong suit given it's international political isolation. But now some of it's treasures are becoming accessible to visitors.

NBC’s Richard Engel visits the ancient Greek colony of Cyrene, east of the rebel capital Benghazi. The city was once one of the principle cities in the Hellenic world and is mentioned in the bible. UNESCO calls it one of the most extensive collection of ruins in the world with columns, temples and a massive amphitheatre. 

Now that the area is under rebel control, some Libyan tourists are escaping the violence of the ongoing war and visiting it.

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By Mike Taibbi, NBC News Correspondent
 
AR RUJBAN, Libya – We’ve spent 10 days among the rebel fighters in Libya’s western mountains, the ancient plateaued hills of the Nafusah range.

On Tuesday we reached an overlook above the next target, in the Jefara Plain below the northeastern edge of the range, a dense gypsum-mining town called Bi’r al Ghanam where the Gadhafi army is dug in with Schilka tanks and Grad rocket launchers. 

We were given permission to go to the overlook by Gen. Mokhtar Khalifa, the regional commander of rebel forces. He assigned a soldier to take us there in an all-wheel drive pickup truck, a 23-year-old named Ahmed who’d been studying engineering in Liverpool, England, before leaving to join the fighting three months ago. 

Ahmed, a genial presence with soft-spoken English who looks younger than his years, said he had already been involved in three pitched battles at close range, one of them was a chaotic shootout that drove out the Gadhafi forces in the nearby town of Ar Rumayah.

“We were waiting where they could not see us,” Ahmed told me, pointing to the hillocks beyond an intersection where he’d stopped to tell the story.  “We saw four Gadhafi army men in their vehicles stop by a house, they told the man there they would take his house; then we shot at them. We killed three of them, the other we took as prisoner – then the big fighting happened.”

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There was evidence of the “big fighting” everywhere. We saw several disabled Schilka tanks, one rolled over into a dried-out riverbed. The houses were all empty, as they are in one routed town after another, pockmarked by small arms fire or half-collapsed by bigger weapons – some of them appeared to have been scorched by fire. 

Human Rights Watch issued a report last week charging that rebel forces have been torching houses indiscriminately, arbitrarily detaining civilian prisoners, and allegedly abusing some of them, during their slow advance toward Tripoli.

Ahmed pointed to one burned house, by way of explanation. “That one, they help Gadhafi army, we have no choice.” 

I asked him if he was aware of the Human Rights Watch charges. He nodded, “Yes, because they do not understand. We only attack Gadhafi army…” 

He pointed to another house about 50 yards up a hill, the house was untouched, he laughed. 

“That one,” he said, “he makes the best liquor in all of Libya! Very strong!” 

I asked him how as a Muslim he could be familiar with liquor. “In Liverpool,” he replied, “with other students. Sometimes we drink much liquor, then I don’t remember anything.”

A clear view of the enemy 
An hour later we picked up an escort, another soldier at an outpost near the front who led the way to the strategic overlook in one of two Grad launcher trucks recovered from retreating Gadhafi forces weeks earlier. 

We headed off-road, bouncing over dirt tracks cleared of mines – another category of detritus the Gadhafi army has been leaving behind in every abandoned town.  On the approach to another village now controlled by rebels, al Qawalish, mine-clearers collected more than 1,300 anti-personnel mines and more than 90 anti-tank mines, slowing the rebels’ slow march even more.

We drove slowly, trying at our escort’s urging to keep the plumes of dust to a minimum so as not to signal our position to anyone watching from below. We walked the last 100 yards, past scores of spent artillery shells. When we get to the top of the ridge – with our heads lowered and on all fours at the end – I could see the need for caution. 

Just below us, clearly visible to the naked eye and visible in specific detail through field binoculars, was Bi’r al Ghanam.  If we could see them, of course, they could see us, if they knew where to look. 

We crouched in what appeared to be a foxhole made for four, with a crude wall of stacked rocks for forward cover.  I looked through the binoculars, toward the big white buildings on the east side of town where one of the soldiers on post told me most of the heavy fire had been coming from.

“All night,” he said with Ahmed translating. “Just rockets. We don’t use our rifles.” Our position, elevated in the hills, was a couple of lateral miles south of the town, well within the 12-mile range of the Grad rockets Gadhafi forces have in abundance.
               
I asked the soldier if he and his fellow fighters were ready to make a move on the town. The soldier shook his head to say, “no.”

I asked him how long they’ve been manning this observation post, where they’ve taken fire every night, where several rebel fighters have been killed and a greater number injured.
               
“Weeks,” he answered, through Ahmed. “Weeks…”
               
From where we sat, crouching and  watching, we were just 50 miles from Tripoli, closer to the capitol than any engaged rebel force in Libya.
 
Rebels wait, and wait, for the ‘go’ signal
Gen. Khalifa, the commander of rebel forces in the region, is a careful man. He deftly deflected some of our questions.

No, we’d have to ask a politician whether the French have in fact air-dropped weapons to aid the rebel cause, as has been reported, he said.  Yes, it’s true that he commands his forces without the benefit of any direct communication with NATO.

“We only get NATO information through intermediaries in the East, from Benghazi,” he told, NBC News Producer Charlene Gubash who was translating. “And only where we must stop to wait and not go further.”
               
We asked if the recognition last week by 40-plus nations, including the United States, of the rebels’ Transitional National Authority as the new governing authority of Libya has translated to a specific promise of practical help for his fighting forces yet. For example, did he expect to see any of the $34 billion in frozen Libyan funds turned quickly into equipment and a real arsenal for his badly under-equipped forces?
               
He shook his head, drawing on the third cigarette of our conversation.
               
“You’ll have to ask a politician about that…”

His office is in a building still adorned by the bright green of the Gadhafi regime. The painters haven’t gotten here yet to replace the green with the tri-colors of the old – and potentially new – Libya as we’ve seen has happened in towns throughout the Nafusah Mountains. 

The general’s men have moved through those towns methodically, and in some towns like Jadu and Zintan, some semblance of life is returning. Water and electricity are more available then before, volunteers are being trained to staff new civilian police forces, a few markets are open, a café here and there. There are watermelons for sale, gasoline from plastic tanks in the back of small trucks; tomatoes, peppers, onions.

But at the forward edges of the rebels’ advance, outside Garyan on the east side of the mountain range, and in the lookout perch above Bi’r al Ghanam in the Jefara Plain, men with too few weapons, but with dreams of freedom, sit and wait for a “go” signal even their commanders cannot solicit from NATO, whose air cover alone would make a credible advance on Tripoli a real possibility. 
Weeks have turned into months.  More than five months now, since it all began here Feb. 17. Fifty miles from Tripoli, and waiting.
 
NBC News Producer Charlene Gubash contributed to this report

Related links:

Conflict in Libya slideshow

Daily life in Libya slideshow

 

By Chris Hampson, NBC News Director of International News

LONDON – It was a moment, perhaps, more suited to the confessional box than a public hearing being watched by millions.

“This is the most humble day of my life,” said Rupert Murdoch in a rare act of contrition as he addressed the British parliamentary inquiry into the phone hacking scandal on Tuesday.

Whether the words came from his heart, or his legal team’s brief, it was something of a surprise from the world’s most powerful press baron.

It was typical of the journalist in Murdoch that he used a phrase that was, of course, a gift to headline writers everywhere. Though perhaps not in the way he intended.

“Murdoch eats humble pie,” screamed the banner headline on the Daily Telegraph following the attack on the octogenarian with a plate of shaving foam.

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The unrestrained enjoyment from the British papers at the current discomfort of one of the most ruthlessly combative media tycoons in the business is palpable.

And many of Britain’s politicians seem to be enjoying it too. It is as if the schoolyard bully has been brought down to size. Now it’s their turn to do the kicking.

For too long – or so they’d have you believe – they’ve been pushed around by an over-powerful popular press whose influence on their readers can be the difference between winning the keys to power – or another season ticket to the political backwoods.

Well, up to a point. You reap what you sow.

The phone-hacking scandal is throwing light into all sorts of shady corners.

Take for example the interesting revelation to members of parliament that Murdoch had been invited to 10 Downing Street to receive the thanks of the (then) newly-elected Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron.

So why, Murdoch was asked, did he go in through the back door?

“Because I was asked to,” he said, “…to avoid the photographers I suppose. I did what I was told. I was asked if I would please come in through the back door.”

He got a cup of tea for his trouble, and Cameron’s gratitude for his newspapers’ support.

Murdoch also revealed he’d been asked to Downing Street “many times” by the previous Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
“I wish they’d leave me alone,” Murdoch grumbled.

In 1995 Tony Blair caused controversy at home when he flew half way round the world to Australia to try to win Murdoch’s support by speaking at a News Corporation conference.  

Murdoch commented at the time: “If the British press is to be believed, today is all part of a Blair-Murdoch flirtation. If that flirtation is ever consummated, Tony, I suspect we will end up making love like two porcupines – very carefully.”

Two years later  –  with the support of Murdoch’s mass circulation Sun newspaper behind him  –  Blair became prime minister in a landslide.

When I worked as a political reporter at parliament I remember overhearing phone conversations one night between a colleague, a former Labour leader, and the despotic and corrupt media “tycoon” Robert Maxwell.

Maxwell was throwing a party to “celebrate” the anniversary of his takeover of the then popular red-top Daily Mirror. Not many of us working there felt we had much to celebrate. There was justifiable unease about Maxwell.  He was later found to have robbed the pension fund of millions.

The Labour leader didn’t want to attend the party. Maxwell was furious – so angry that he threatened to switch the paper’s support to the Conservatives. Reluctantly, the politician gave in.

It made no difference. He didn’t go on to win the election.

The press may be powerful, the public gullible.

But, sometimes, the politicians have only themselves to blame.

Related links:

UK premier accused of 'catastrophic error' amid phone-hacking probe

Murdoch's 'foggy' performance may have served him well

Mrs. Rupert Murdoch wins hearts and minds in China

 

Kulsoom Abdullah headed into Friday's USA National Weightlifting Competition with modest expectations, but even before she stepped up to the barbell she had won a major victory.

Until two weeks ago Abdullah didn’t expect to compete because internationally sanctioned events didn’t allow her to compete with her arms and legs covered — and doing so without the covering ran counter to her Islamic faith and the modesty that she practices. So she went to the top — and persuaded the International Weightlifting Federation to change its rules.

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“I am going to do my best though I will only have had two weeks of preparation since registering,” Abdullah, 35, said prior to the competition. She’s in the 48 kg (105 lbs.) senior women’s weight class. (The Associated Press reported that Abdullah cleared a snatch of 41 kilograms, or just over 90 pounds, and 57 kilograms in the clean and jerk. That earned her a fifth-place finish out of six competitors in her weight class.)

As we reported on June 27, Abdullah only learned she couldn’t compete at the national level when she managed to qualify last fall. USA Weightlifting officials denied her request for alternative dress, because the international body sets rules for competitions that ultimately can lead lifters to Olympic competition.

She didn’t attend the December competition at Cincinnati, but neither did she take no for a final answer. Instead, with the help of a lawyer, she put together a 44-page appeal laying out her argument and detailing several long-sleeved, long-legged garments that would meet both modesty requirements and competitive needs.

Her goal was to illustrate sports gear that would allow judges see if the knees and elbows were in the “locked” position, in order to declare whether the lift was successful.  

Abdullah, bolstered by activist women and Muslims, then persuaded the US Olympic Committee to present her case at the International Weightlifting Federation annual meeting in Penang, Malaysia.

Lo and behold, on June 29, the IW agreed with her and announced it would allow a close-fitting “unitard” with long legs and arms under the standard singlet that most competitors wear.

“Weightlifting is an Olympic Sport open for all athletes to participate without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, or national origin," stated Tamas Ajan, IWF President. "... This rule modification has been considered in the spirit of fairness, equality and inclusion."

For Abdullah, getting to take part in high level competitions will allow her to focus her training, but she has greater hopes for her triumph over the old dress code:

“It will help increase female participation in weightlifting, and possibly increase the participation in other sports, regardless of faith,” she said. “I hope to continue and be able to help others in similar situations,” she said.

Click here to follow Kari Huus on Facebook  

By Sebastian Rich, NBC News

KABUL – In any other country, the sight of a group of women holding colorful placards, marching and protesting is commonplace.

But not in Afghanistan.

In fact, a women’s protest on the streets of Kabul on Thursday was the first of its kind.

On a hot, muggy day, about 30 women of all ages mustered up the courage to speak up against the age-old indignity of sexual harassment by men.

With banners that read "This street also belongs to me" and "We won't stand insults anymore,” they marched with a confident stride from Kabul University to the Afghan Human Rights Institute.

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Women in Afghanistan face intimidation and sexual assault on a daily basis. In the most extreme cases, schoolgirls have been terrorized by men throwing acid at them as they walked to school.

The United Nations Population Fund in Afghanistan (UNFPA) says that about 31 percent of Afghan women suffer physical violence and another 30 percent suffer from psychological trauma.

But it is unheard of for a woman to respond back to her tormenter on the streets of Kabul. Public harassment is so pervasive in Afghan society that women are used to it.

“As a woman that lives in Kabul, when I go every day, or when my mom or my sisters go out every day, we face sexual harassment at all different levels, from hearing bad things to being touched, to being pushed, to being stalked and followed,” Shaharzad Akbar, one of the protestors told NBC News. “No one has paid attention to this issue. We know this is a small step and we know not everyone will change their attitude – probably no one will – but at least discussing it as an issue rather than something that’s normal, something that’s OK if it happens, this is the idea of this walk today.”

As they marched, the women gently and politely handed out leaflets to bewildered men and women. Many of the men read them and then threw the pamphlets with disdain into Kabul’s already clogged gutters.

I watched with a smile as one woman, whose husband was standing next to a nearby fruit stall, read the leaflet she was handed. Furtively, she folded the paper and hid it up her sleeve. She caught my eye, blushed profusely and was seemingly riddled with guilt. I smiled and pressed my forefinger to my lips in an act of mutual and friendly conspiracy.

During the Taliban’s rule, women were forbidden to work or even leave their home without a male escort. Seeking medical help from a male doctor was also forbidden.   

Still, today in Afghanistan, a staggering 87 percent of Afghan women are illiterate and the average life expectancy for women is just 44 years, according to the CIA World Factbook.

As the women left the back streets of Kabul and entered one the city’s busiest market streets, mouths were agape with incredulity (and I suspect possibly jealousy from under swiftly passing burkas). Red-faced angry men shouted insults and spat on the ground as they passed.

As they walked across the Kabul River, the broiling heat of the day gave an extra aromatic pungency to the river’s fetid still waters.

The women wrinkled their noses in disgust. A young woman protester who looked to be about 20 years old used her bright blue headscarf to wave the rotting smell away from my face.

She turned to me, dropped her scarf to her shoulders and said, “This smell it is like Afghan man, yes.”

Afghanistan surprisingly has a strong robust press corps, and there were almost more photographers and journalists than women marching.

The women were pleased with the press presence and hope it will bring their cause into the spotlight. But most of the women were fatalistic and acknowledged that this was just the beginning of their struggle.

When the small band of brave suffragettes wielding iPhones and flipcams arrived at the Afghan Human Rights Commission, they exchanged hugs and then disappeared back into a man’s world.

But for an hour on the streets of Kabul they had protested as if they lived in any democracy, with confidence and freedom. God help them if the Taliban should ever return.

Earlier this week, we published my story about a grassroots initiative in Japan to map radiation, “DIY-style,” by a group of tech-minded citizen scientists.

I sent several emails and made phone calls to the relevant government agencies in Japan seeking reaction to this and similar "citizen scientist "initiatives over the last few weeks. Overnight Wednesday, I got a response. Unfortunately, we’d already published the story noting my efforts to get government reaction.

But for the interested reader, I’m sharing those comments here, with my questions (which I have shortened since they were fairly lengthy).

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 Email: “Dear Ms. Miranda Leitsinger, I am Naoaki Akasaka of Emergency Operation Center of MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) which conduct environmental radiation monitoring regarding with Fukushima Dai-ichi NPS accident. I am very sorry for not having answered your questions sooner.”

Question:  I wanted to get reaction from NISA/METI on such grassroots efforts? Is this recommended or not? 

Answer: “We think it is basically preferable that many organizations including grassroots' efforts measure and press the environmental radiation level, because more data of environmental radiation will be accumulated. But we think we have to pay close attention for intercomparison for these data, because measurement procedures and measurement accuracy are different depending on organizations. 

We think it is beneficial to people to get much information from many sources about radioactive contamination level at their living region, but specific information sources are never recommended by us.” 

Q: Where can people find information about the radiation measurements for their towns or cities in Japan? How much area does this testing cover? Who is collecting the measurement data? Does the government use mobile Geiger counters, or ones in fixed places to take the measurements? 

A: “The environmental radiation monitoring is being conducted by Japanese government and each local government. People can get information about environmental radiation level from their press release or their Homepage. Especially, concerning detail information about environmental radiation level at their residential area, we think it is better that they look for the released data from the local government where they are living. 

After Fukushima Dai-ich accident, each local government, especially prefecture of east side of Japan, are conducting many activities regarding with environmental monitoring.  Japanese government also decided a lot of reading points, and is doing the measurement of the air dose rate by ionization chamber and NaI portable scintillators and the measurements of the integral dose by the simple type dosimeter continuously in Fukushima Prefecture. In addition, at prefectures other than Fukushima Prefecture, Japanese government is planning to increase the monitoring post, to measure air dose rate at wide area using portable survey meter and to conduct wider monitoring of airborne survey.” 

Q: Has the government issued guidelines about what are the safe levels for radiation and what ones are not safe?

A: “Nuclear Safety Commission is evaluating the result of the environmental monitoring.”

 By Sebastian Rich, NBC News
KABUL, Afghanistan – Through my work as a photojournalist, I have reported from Afghanistan for over 30 years. I have known great happiness, pain, fear and sadness in this beleaguered country – sometimes all in the course of the same day.

I have experienced the fear and terror of being under teeth-rattling mortar shells, machine gun fire and the ever-present danger of a roadside improvised explosive device ending everything in an instant. I’ve had the pain of being wounded and the sadness of losing a friend.

But at times my life has never been happier than in Afghanistan. I have been surrounded by some of the most wonderful children in some very bizarre circumstances.

Recently I was on a hot and miserable patrol with the U.S. Army in Helmand Province – an area of Afghanistan where the Taliban are fighting fiercely for the control of opium production.

Our platoon, suspecting an enemy had detected our position, laid low for a few minutes in the dust to gather intelligence. Out of nowhere half a dozen dusty, ragged children between the age of 5 and 11 years old swarmed over me like friendly honeybees.

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My fading tattoos were apparently of great interest. Little fingers started trying to pick aging butterflies off my arms. My helmet vanished gently from my head as if by magic and appeared on a 10-year-old rascal grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Just 20 yards from my position with the children a first sergeant was scanning the horizon for danger with eagle eyes.
 
The sergeant in a moment of, shall we say forgetfulness or he just didn’t care, passed wind with an almighty crack. The children and I for an instant looked at each other with wide eyes of disbelief then erupted in howls of laughter.
 
If the enemy didn’t know where we were before they did now!

The children were laughing hysterically with tears of joy. The sergeant bent his head low with a little smile and was christened with a new nickname: “Sergeant Fart Pants.”

But these children were lucky to be here at all. Afghanistan is not a good place to be a child.

Afghanistan has one of the world's highest infant mortality rates – one in five children do not live past the age of five, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund.  

It’s not great for mothers either. Women have little or no access to basic prenatal and postnatal care. As many as 1,400 women die from pregnancy related causes for every 100,000 births annually, according to UNICEF, which specifies that those are “reported” deaths, many non-governmental organizations estimate that the real numbers are much higher.

Nevertheless, compare that figure to the U.S. where 24 mothers die out of every 100,000 births. Childbirth can literally be a death sentence for a mother and her new baby in Afghanistan.

One of the main reasons for the high fatality rates among mothers and their new born babies is that many women give birth at home without any medical help. The children that do survive in the first years of their lives often succumb to preventable and treatable illnesses like diarrhea, malnutrition and respiratory infections.

A major shortage of medical professionals doesn't help – according to estimates by the United Nations Development Program there is only one doctor per every 50,000 Afghans.  

Traditional cultural practices in a deeply conservative and patriarchal Afghan society contribute to the fact that Afghanistan remains one of the most awful places for a woman to give birth. For example, even if there were more doctors in rural areas men often do not allow their wives to be treated by male doctors.

“Move out,” shouted a grim-faced lieutenant. My helmet was playfully handed back to me.

As I left my new found little gang in the dust of their village I could hear imitations of fart noises and looked over my shoulder to see wiggling bottoms impersonating “sergeant fart pants.”

The children made my day and for a few moments all the trepidation of being on patrol in very hostile territory seemed a little less nerve-racking.

Of course the children had no idea how lucky they are to reach the ages they had.

The serious and deadly business of being on an army patrol in Helmand was brought back to me when a stern instruction from our lieutenant bellowed into my face.

“Hey Mr. NBC Cameraman, keep your distance from the man in front of you, I don’t want two men killed instead of one.”

World Health Organization Afghanistan Health Profile  

UNICEF Afghanistan statistics