Cold relations with China ‘damaging’
January 16, 2012
The ongoing diplomatic freeze between Norway and China is damaging to both parties, which would do well to put the conflict behind them, according to a major Chinese investment expert. Meanwhile, China’s ambassador to Norway continues to blame Thorbjørn Jagland, head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. It was the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize [...]
Nobel nights end Peace Prize party
December 11, 2011
In line with tradition, thousands gathered in Oslo on Saturday evening for a torchlight parade honoring this year’s winners of the Nobel Peace Prize. Festivities wrapped up Sunday night with the annual Nobel Concert at the Oslo Spektrum Arena. The parade started at the Youngstorget central square downtown and wandered up the capital’s main boulevard, [...]
Peace Prize winners linked by change
December 10, 2011
The three women who were awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Saturday are, according to one of them, “linked by their commitment to change” along with peace, democracy and justice. New Nobel Laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the president of Liberia, also used some of her time at the podium to hail the [...]
‘I promise, you won’t regret this’
December 9, 2011
Tawakkul Karman, the widely acclaimed heroine of the revolution in Yemen, vowed on Friday that the Norwegian Nobel Committee won’t have any reason to regret its decision to award this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to herself and two other peace and women’s rights activists from Liberia. “Thank you for making us more strong,” Karman told [...]
Nobel Days all weekend long
December 9, 2011
The banners are up, the winners are in Oslo and Norway’s capital planned to celebrate the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize throughout the weekend. Some of the events tied to the Peace Prize will last well into the New Year. This year’s prize has been awarded in three equal parts to three women from [...]
Critics still question Nobel choices
December 9, 2011
NEWS ANALYSIS: It’s still said to be the most prestigious prize in the world, but debate continues to swirl over how winners of the Nobel Peace Prize are chosen. Some feel human rights issues now take precedence over the disarmament Alfred Nobel championed. The Norwegian government, meanwhile, seems to have distanced itself somewhat from the [...]
Oil fund won’t exclude PetroChina
December 8, 2011
The Norwegian government is ignoring a recommendation from a state ethics council that it ban investments by Norway’s oil fund in the Chinese oil company PetroChina. Meanwhile, a Chinese shipbuilding company is making inroads on Norway’s west coast. The ethics council, which reviews investments made by Norway’s huge sovereign wealth fund, had recommended that PetroChina [...]
China’s rejection disappoints Norway
October 17, 2011
Chinese authorities have rejected Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre’s latest effort last week to normalize relations between the two countries, and ministry officials appear disappointed. It remains unclear who will make the next move now, although the Chinese say they expect more “tangible efforts” from the Norwegians. The two sides have been communicating recently [...]
News from Burma cheers Norway
October 12, 2011
News this week that Burma’s government was releasing political prisoners, after earlier easing press censorship and showing other signs of more openness, cheered Burma-watchers in Norway and not least the Foreign Ministry. Former Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, who long has followed events in Burma, said the Burmese government seems to finally be moving towards [...]
Støre makes new overture to China
October 11, 2011
It’s been widely claimed that China “lost face” when the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded last year’s Nobel Peace Prize to a Chinese dissident. Norway’s foreign minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, now seems to be making a concerted effort to help China get it back. In a full-page commentary in Norway’s leading business newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) [...]
Winning women hailed for courage
October 7, 2011
The Oslo-based, five-member committee that selects winners of the Nobel Peace Prize hailed the courage of the three women they chose to honour with the prize this year. The committee hopes the prize will help “bring an end to the suppression of women that still occurs in many countries.” The committee announced Friday that Ellen [...]
A Nobel Peace Prize for women
October 7, 2011
The Norwegian Nobel Committee moved away from highly controversial choices on Friday to award this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to three women in Liberia and Yemen who the committee believes have played important roles in creating peace, reconciliation and democracy. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen were awarded [...]
Conflict lingers over last year’s prize
October 7, 2011
A new Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in Oslo on Friday but Norway is still feeling the ill effects of last year’s prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. Ongoing conflict between Norway and China over the prize continues to raise questions about the composition of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Last year’s prize so angered Chinese [...]
EU rises in Peace Prize speculation
October 6, 2011
UPDATED: Thorbjørn Jagland, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, has often referred to the European Union (EU) as one of the greatest peace experiments of recent decades. Now the EU itself has risen as a candidate to win the Nobel Peace Prize, and Jagland dropped a few more hints before the prize was due to [...]
‘Arab Spring’ leads Nobel speculation
October 3, 2011
Initiators of the “Arab Spring” movement who used social media to fight for democracy and human rights in northern Africa and the Middle East lead the lists of candidates deemed most likely to win this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. The prize will be announced in Oslo on Friday. The biggest question is, perhaps, exactly who [...]
