Tragedy in Norway

Sunniva Davies-Rommetveit

The 22^nd July, 2011 should have been a day which followed suit with the so far pleasant summer that Norway was now used to having. Conversely it became a living nightmare for Norwegians, one which cannot be forgotten. It was a day that bore witness to a horrific massacre of innocent life which has not been encountered in Norway since the Second World War.

Many people’s underlying suspicion was that an international terror group had been behind the bombing which took place in Oslo city centre, where 8 people were killed, and for hours this filled the constantly rolling news on the television channels. Initially, there was very little coverage on what would reveal itself to be an even worse tragedy – the unfolding events on Utøya which left 68 innocent children killed.

Têtes de Turcs

Alicia Cassidy

EU Flag

Le temps est-il venu pour Nicolas Sarkozy de s’unir enfin avec le Royaume-Uni afin d’encourager l’adhésion de la Turquie dans l’Union Européenne ?

La Turquie veut entrer dans l’Union Européenne depuis 1987, mais les obstacles sont énormes. Les événements qui se produisent actuellement en Libye ont poussé les pays occidentaux à réexaminer la situation avec la Turquie et sa position en Europe. Cependant, il existe un désaccord entre Londres et Paris sur la situation. David Cameron, le premier ministre britannique, pense qu’il vaut mieux que la Turquie soit un membre de l’Union et un allié, surtout en ce moment, parce qu’elle constitue le lien entre l’occident et des pays orientaux problématiques comme l’Iran et le Pakistan. La France, elle, continue à s’opposer à l’adhésion proposée et selon Le Monde, dans un article écrit en 2009, le président Sarkozy a dit : « J’ai toujours été opposé à cette entrée et je le reste ». En revanche, l’ancien président français Jacques Chirac avait montré son appui en 2005.

Japan

Still feeling the effects of the tsunami

Tomohiro Harada

A survivor of the tsunami

It has been relatively a quiet weekend in Tokyo, but up north, the civil defence force is still discovering 1000 bodies per day. We are missing additional 15000 bodies somewhere in the zone where the Tsunami struck and the overall death toll is expected to top 20000. People are still dying, because of the strong cold weather and snow in the region without electricity. Over 20 communities ‘disappeared’ and 10 communities are still isolated from the rest. Supply lines are being formed, but the commodity price in the North are hiking very fast. The government are trying to respond though increase in supply, but it is becoming increasingly difficult as various vegetables are being scrapped as a result of nuclear contamination.

Bad dreams

Lucy Vauclair

Nuclear bomb

I’m prone to nightmares in periods of uneasiness. In my childhood a large snake slithering through my sheets and eventually choking me to death tormented my sleep. During my teenage years friends dressed as gorillas tended to push me off skyscrapers. My A Level period was haunted by an extremely large vanilla ice-cream cone which would land on my head, drowning me in its creamy goodness. But now I’m dreaming of the earth shaking itself so much it falls apart whilst scary fighter pilots bomb St Andrews with nuclear weapons. And I don’t think this reflects uneasiness about my upcoming graduation.

For a pretty long spell I’ve dreaded turning on the Today programme, accessing my Guardian homepage and listening to the 6 o’clock news because I just feel so disappointed by the decisions our governments are making on our behalf.