Introspekt

A North Sea oil field accommodation platform with 324 people on board is being evacuated after the deep sea rig, located in Norway's Frigg-feltet oil field, snapped two of its anchors in stormy conditions, a spokesman for oil field operator Total said. The accommodation platform, called Port Reval and which is owned by Awilco Offshore, snapped one of its 12 anchors last night, and the second this morning amid strong winds, said Total spokesman…

A declaration calling for a 2008 treaty banning cluster bombs was adopted Friday by 46 out of 49 nations attending a conference in Oslo, officials for the Norwegian government and two non-governmental groups said. Norway's deputy foreign minister Raymond Johansen said Poland, Romania and Japan did not approve the final declaration. Officials for Human Rights Watch and the Cluster Munition Coalition also said those three countries dissented…

Many events are scheduled for the 10th annual Ibsen Festi-val, which will be Friday, Feb. 23, through Sunday, Feb. 25, sponsored by the Commonweal Theatre Company in Lanesboro. The weekend features more than 30 events in 48 hours, many of which are free and provide opportunities for family participation. In honor of Lanesboro's Norwegian-American roots, the Commonweal opens each sea-son with a production from playwright Henrik Ibsen's canon…

Am Donnerstag wird in der ständigen Vertretung Nordossetiens in Moskau der Vertrag für die finanzielle Beteiligung der griechischen und norwegischen Regierung beim Bau eines Sportinternats in Beslan unterzeichnet. „An der Zeremonie der Vertragsunterzeichnung werden der Präsident Nordossetiens, Taimuras Mamsurow, der griechische Botschafter in Russland, Ilias Klis, der Botschafter des Königreichs Norwegen, Oivind Nordsletten, und Vertreter…

Les pays favorables à l'interdiction des bombes à sous-munitions, Norvège en tête, ont manifesté jeudi leur volonté d'obtenir un engagement mondial en dépit de l'absence de pays-clés comme les Etats-Unis et Israël,au cours d'une conférence à Oslo qui s'achève vendredi. La plupart des armées possèdent de telles bombes qui ont été utilisées pendant la récente guerre au Liban. Une bombe à sous-munitions peut abriter 650 petites bombes…

Il est temps de lancer une campagne pour dénucléariser cette région du Moyen-Orient tellement volatile qu’elle risque un embrasement nucléaire dans un acte d’autodestruction pouvant provoquer l’anéantissement de la planète. Conservant jusqu’à aujourd’hui, malgré quelques dérapages verbaux récents, une politique d’opacité et d’ambiguïté sur son programme nucléaire, l’Etat d’Israël a été le premier à introduire la bombe atomique au Moyen-Orient…

Afin d'honorer leur engagement de porter le volume de l'aide à 130 milliards de dollars annuel et doubler l'aide à l'Afrique pour 2010, l'OCDE engage les pays donneurs à porter de 5% à 11% la progression de leurs aides entre 2008 et 2010. En 2005, l'aide publique au développement (APD) a atteint 107 milliards de dollars. Encore loin des 130 milliards de dollars prévus d'ici 2010, parallèlement au doublement de l'aide à l'Afrique. Pour…

Norway has donated 1.6 million dollars to help poorer countries expand their international trade, the World Trade Organization (WTO) said on Thursday. The money was given to the Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund for technical assistance and training programmes to help developing and least-developed countries adapt their trade practices and laws to WTO rules and disciplines in 2007. The donation makes Norway the second biggest…

Although Canada was at the forefront of a campaign to rid the world of land mines, Ottawa is taking a back seat in global drive to stamp out deadly threat to civilians. They've been called the ultimate dumb bombs, spreading death indiscriminately or lying dormant to kill unsuspecting civilians years after a conflict has ended. Today in Oslo, the Norwegian government is opening talks aimed at ending the production, use…

The Norwegian government expressed willingness Thursday to continue to support Sri Lanka's peace process amidst calls by a Marxist party and a group of Buddhist monks to abrogate the five-year-old Cease-Fire Agreement (CFA) with Tamil rebels. The Marxist JVP (People's Liberation Front) put up posters island-wide and were due to hold a protest rally in Colombo later in the day against the truce agreement. A group of Buddhist…

Norway will continue to assist Russia in the clean-up of nuclear waste at the nuclear submarine base in the bay of Andrejeva in Murmansk, according to reports from Oslo on Wednesday. The County Governor of Norway's Finnmark and the Governor of Russia's Murmansk have signed an agreement, which will secure 14 million Norwegian krone (about 2.3 million U.S. dollars) to the project, Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reported. Part of…

Die norwegische Volksvertretung (Stortinget) wird künftig zu einem Einkammer-Parlament. Die dafür nötige Verfassungsänderung beschloss das Parlament in Oslo. Die Einteilung in Odelstinget (127 Sitze) und Lagtinget (42 Sitze) verschwindet per 1. Oktober 2009, nach der nächsten Parlamentswahl. Dem Lagtinget kam zuletzt nur noch eine formale Rolle zu. Mit der Einführung des Einkammer-Systems kommt eine Änderung der parlamentarischen…

Alexia est en fuite. Elle ne peut plus revenir dans le centre du C.R.P.S à cause de ses pouvoirs qui grandissent de plus en plus vite. Sa fuite la transporte sur une l’île de Flergen, au large de la Norvège. Elle n’y se rend pas par hasard. En effet il paraîtrait que plusieurs personnes furent enterrées vivantes en pleins cœur du cimetière de l’île. Peu à peu, Alexia se rend compte qu’une force occulte est présente et elle va devoir…

A 21-gun salute at noontime Wednesday from the battlements of the Akershus fortress marked the official start of Norway's celebrations of King Harald on his 70th birthday. Earlier, the king received representatives from local councils from all over Norway and was also congratulated by Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. On a fine, crisp winter's day with a few snowflakes shimmering in the air, King Harald and Queen Sonja then…

A German naval minesweeper ran aground off the Norwegian coast in the early hours of Wednesday, reported rescue services authorities in the city of Stavanger on Norway's south- western coast. According to the report, none of the vessel's 42 sailors were in danger at any time. The ship was participating in naval exercises when the accident occurred owing to a 'navigational error,' the Norwegian authorities said. The ship was…

Norway has called for a fresh commitment from the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels to work towards peace. Violence between the two sides has left a Norwegian ceasefire brokered in 2002 in tatters. Norway's ambassador to Sri Lanka, Hans Brattskar, says neither Colombo nor the rebels have ever cancelled the truce, but says both sides must recognise the need to fully implement it. Sri Lanka's defence spokesman, Keheliya…

Teekay-Petrojarl ASA posted a fourth quarter operating loss of 6.8 mln usd, down from a one-off influenced profit of 210 mln the year before, on higher general costs and depreciation charges. The Trondheim-based firm, which specialises in the operation of floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels, said its year-on-year operating result was influenced by the reversal last year of a 210 mln usd impairment. Excluding this one-off reversal…

Think of the citizens of the Nordic states -- Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland -- as people who live in the nicest global neighborhood. They are as assured of wealth, political stability, low crime and the good life as any Americans living in a nice suburb. Norwegians enjoy the highest standard of living in the world. Finns are the least corrupt. As a group, the Nordics are the happiest in their jobs. The U.S. may…

Representatives from some 45 countries and international organisations will gather in Oslo this week to kick-start efforts to obtain an international ban on cluster bombs. The Norwegian Government decided to host the conference after the latest UN talks on the issue, held in Geneva in November, which Oslo perceived as a failure. Norway and other nations in favour of a ban are being hampered by nations that oppose a ban…

Norway's Norsk Hydro ASA reported a steeper-than-expected 56 percent fall in fourth-quarter operating profit on Monday, hit by one-offs, and said the merger of its oil and gas business with Statoil remained on track. The energy and aluminium company reported figures a day earlier than planned after a newspaper said a version of the fourth-quarter report had leaked. The bourse is investigating. Operating income in…