Jailed mass killer Anders Breivik has been refused permission to attend his mother’s funeral.
The 34-year-old far-right fanatic, whose mother died on Friday, was convicted of terrorism and premeditated murder in 2012 for killing 77 people and wounding hundreds in a bomb-and-gun rampage that stunned Norway a year earlier.
His lawyer Tord Jordet said prison authorities decided to extend Breivik’s confinement in the maximum-security wing of Oslo’s Ila Prison, and rejected his request to attend the funeral.
Breivik would appeal, MrJordet said.
Breivik is serving a 21-year sentence that can be extended for as long as he is considered a menace to society.
Dreamliner test flight
A Boeing 787 with a redesigned battery system made a two-hour test flight and the company said the event “went according to plan”.
The test flight was an important step in US plane maker Boeing’s plan to convince global safety regulators to let airlines resume using the 787, called the Dreamliner. The fleet has been grounded since January after lithium-ion batteries aboard two planes overheated.
Boeing will analyse information from the flight and prepare for another one, using the same plane, to demonstrate the 787’s performance to the US Federal Aviation Administration, said company spokesman Marc Birtel.
Oil pollution emergency
Peru’s Government declared an environmental state of emergency in a remote Amazon jungle region that it says has been affected by years of contamination at the country’s most productive oil fields.
The Environment Ministry said the contamination in the Pastaza River basin near the Ecuador border included high levels of lead, barium and chromium as well as petroleum-related compounds. The region is inhabited mostly by the Quechua and Ashuar, who are primarily hunter-gatherers.
The fields have been operated for about 12 years by Argentina-based Pluspetrol, the country’s biggest oil and natural gas producer, which will be obliged to clean up the contamination, said environment minister Manuel Pulgar-Vidal.
Aussie troops return home
Most Australian troops in Afghanistan will be home by the end of the year when the international military base at Tarin Kowt in Uruzgan province closes.
Defence Minister Stephen Smith said at least 1,000 of the 1,550 troops in Afghanistan would leave by the end of 2013. The decision by the US-led International Security Assistance Force to draw down and close the base was made after consulting Australia and Afghan authorities.
The Australian military’s main focus in Afghanistan is to train an Afghan National Army battalion to take responsibility for security in the province.
Police probe killer driver
A driver who police said may have been under the influence of alcohol or drugs struck four pedestrians crossing a street in north Seattle, Washington, killing two and critically injuring two others, including a two-week-old baby.
Seattle police spokesman Jeff Kappel says the driver of the vehicle, a 50-year-old Seattle man, was in custody.
A man and a woman were pronounced dead at the scene and Kyle Moore of Seattle Fire Department said a 25-year-old woman and the baby she was carrying were in a critical condition.