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21 July 2014

Norway, survivors still bear scars of Breivik shootings

 Laila Gustavsen, a former lawmaker whose daughter Marte Oedegaarden was a survivor of the July 22, 2011 Utoeya island massacre, poses for a photo at her home in Kongsberg

Laila Gustavsen sometimes wonders whether meeting Anders Behring Breivik face-to-face would help her to understand.

"I would ask him: 'What made you (do it)?'," she said of the man who shot her daughter twice in the back on July 22, 2011.

"Because at every opportunity he has explained ... the political reasons why he did what he did. What he has not talked about is what made him hold these opinions. Where did it go wrong?"

Then she thinks of all the reasons why it would not be worth it to try.

Actor James Garner of 'The Rockford Files' dead at 86


Actor James Garner, best known for his prime-time television roles as the wisecracking frontier gambler on "“Maverick" and as an ex-con turned private eye on "“The Rockford Files," has died at age 86, Los Angeles police confirmed early on Sunday.

Garner, who built a six-decade career playing ruggedly charming, good-natured anti-heroes and received the highest honor of the Screen Actors Guild in 2004, was found dead from natural causes on Saturday night at his Los Angeles home, according to police.

There were no further details immediately available on the circumstances of his death. Garner underwent surgery for a stroke in 2008, two years after appearing in his last big-screen role as a wealthy grandfather for a film adaptation of the best-selling book "The Ultimate Gift".

South Africa union war follows old pattern on new turf


When a wildcat strike hit Impala Platinum's Marula mine in South Africa's Limpopo province this month, union leaders there had no idea it was coming.

"We were taken by surprise. We came to work that morning and everyone was outside saying they were not going to work," said Solomon Digoro, deputy chairman of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) at Marula, 280 kilometers (170 miles) northeast of Johannesburg.

He has a better idea of what might come next: a takeover by arch rival the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), which looks set to expand after leading a five-month mine strike in the western half of South Africa's platinum belt that pushed the continent's most advanced economy into reverse in the first quarter.

90 years for thug who attacked Irish immigrant Natasha McShane with baseball bat

      County Armagh victim Natasha McShane has started to speak and use her right hand after brutal baseball bat attack.

Heriberto Viramontes (35) has been sentenced to 90 years in prison for the brutal attack on County Armagh student Natasha McShane and her friend, in Bucktown, Chicago in April 2010.

The savage baseball bat attack left McShane (27) in a wheelchair with impaired communication abilities and Stacy Jurich with permanent health issues, including seizures.

Viramontes will serve two consecutive sentences of 25 years for the attempted murder of McShane, 25 years for the attempted murder of Jurich, 20 years for armed robbery, and 20 years for causing great bodily harm.

The judge said a "significant sentence is necessary."

He was found guilty of the attack in October 2013. Prosecutors asked for a sentence of 120 years in prison.

Yum, McDonald's apologize as new China food scandal brews


McDonald's Corp and Yum Brands Inc are facing a new food safety scare in China, denting the fast food giants' efforts to shore up reputations and businesses that were hurt by a 2012 safety scandal in one of their biggest markets.

McDonald's and KFC-parent Yum apologized to customers on Monday after Chinese regulators shut a local meat supplier following a TV report that showed workers picking up meat from a factory floor, as well as mixing meat beyond its expiration date with fresh meat. The firms said they'll stop using the supplier.

The report, which focused on McDonald's and Yum, brings the pair back into the firing line following the 2012 scandal that involved chicken pumped with excessive amounts of antibiotics. It's unclear whether the meat supplier, a local unit of U.S.-based food provider OSI Group LLC, may have sold goods to other clients too.