Norway's trains, stock exchange to grind to halt at noon

OSLO: Norwegian trains and the country's stock exchange will grind to a halt at noon on Monday as Norway falls silent in honour of a self-confessed mass killer's 93 victims.

As Anders Behring Breivik, 32, readies to appear for the first time before an Oslo judge for a remand hearing at 1:00 pm (1100 GMT), Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg will lead national mouring with the minute's silence from 1000 GMT.

"A minute's silence will be observed right across Norway at noon and in this context, all trains will stop for a minute in honour of the victims of these terrorist attacks," NSB Norwegian railways spokesman Erik Loedding told AFP.

Workers and passengers in the country's airports will also be asked to pay their rspects, said airports authority Avinor.

"Measures will also be taken to limit aerial traffic at this time," a statement added.

The Norwegian Stock Exchange also said in a statement that it "calls on all actors to stop working and show their respect for the victims and loved ones" of Friday's "attrocious attacks."

The premier, who spoke teary-eyed during a Sunday memorial mass of knowing personally many of the mostly teenaged victims of the "evil" Behring Breivik, will be joined by Norway's King Harald V and Queen Sonja at the University of Olso.

A public book of condolences will also be opened, as Scandinavian neighbours Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland said they would show solidarity by also staging a minute's silence at the same time and flying national flags at half-mast.

"It was an attack against the very values that our countries are built upon. It was an attack against all of us," said Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011