Mark Memmott

Good morning.

Financial markets in Asia and Europe have rallied today, extending the rebound that began on Wall Street Tuesday afternoon after the Federal Reserve said it plans to keep interest rates at rock-bottom levels for the next two years in a bid to help keep ailing economies from weakening further.

Authorities in Norway now say more than 80 people were killed Friday at a conference for young people shortly after a massive explosion killed at least seven people in nearby Oslo. It's believed the two incidents are related.

Two tragic stories are playing out in Norway, where a large explosion today — or possibly more than one blast — caused deaths, injuries and extensive damage to government buildings in Oslo.

At the same time, there are reports that an individual dressed as a police officer opened fire at a youth Labor Party camp on an island in a fjord about 45 minutes from Oslo. News media in Norway say there were fatalities.

The search for who was responsible for the severe beating of a San Francisco Giants fan earlier this year after a game in Los Angeles against the Dodgers took a surprising turn Thursday.

As the Los Angeles Times reports, police "arrested two men in connection with the brutal [March 31] beating ... and have concluded that the suspect they took into custody in May was not involved in the attack, law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation said."

The latest key development in the U.K.'s "hacking scandal" centers on News Corp. executive James Murdoch (son of Rupert) and "claims he misled lawmakers" earlier this week, The Associated Press writes.

The wire service adds that "a [British] lawmaker called for a police investigation and Prime Minister David Cameron insisted the media scion had 'questions to answer' about what he knew and when he knew it."