Breivik Drops Far-Right Salute In Court

Mass killer Anders Behring Breivik has dropped his familiar far-right salute at the start of a day in court after relatives of his victims asked him to respect their wishes.

His defence team had advised him to not do his characteristic clenched-fist gesture after Wednesday's proceedings as families of victims and survivors had said they found it offensive.

At the time the 33-year-old had told his lawyers he would continue to do his salute, which has been associated with fascist groups.

His surprise change of heart has been seen by some Norwegian commentators as a strategic plan rather than out of any respect for the victims' families.

The prosecution in the trial of the man who killed 77 people in Norway last summer is today focusing on the first of his two attacks.

The court is looking at the circumstances leading up to the bombing of a government building in the heart of Oslo, the capital.

Breivik, who admits attacking the offices of the Norwegian Labour Party over what he saw as support for multiculturalism, told the court he had expected to be confronted by police after the attack and thought he had only a slim chance of escape.

"I estimated the chances of survival at less than 5%," he said.

The court heard how his original plan was to also bomb a Norwegian royal palace.

He killed eight people in the office attack in Oslo before travelling to Utoya island, where he shot and killed another 69 - most of them young Labour Party supporters.

The prosecution has spent hours testing his claims that he was working for a European anti-Islamic network.

He claimed on Wednesday that he had travelled to London in 2002 to co-found the Knights Templar - a militia tasked with stopping the spread of Islam.

In the manifesto he published to justify his extreme ideology, Breivik spoke of an "English mentor".

But when he was pressed to disclose the man's name and more details about the network he refused, saying he did not want anyone else to be arrested.

During what were at times testy exchanges in court, Breivik told the prosecution not to ridicule him.

He insisted that what he said about his London trip and a visit to Liberia to meet a Serbian militant was true.

He said Serbs in Kosovo were the inspiration for his attacks and that he admired their "crusader mentality".

Breivik admits to all of the killings, but pleads not guilty to terrorism on the grounds he acted in self-defence to stop the spread of Islam.

The key issue of the trial is whether Breivik can be established as criminally insane.

What the five judges decide will dictate whether he will spend the years to come in a prison cell or on a psychiatric ward.