phone,
Bangladesh’s largest mobile phone firm, opened the largest IPO in
Bangladesh history. It aimed to raise $70 million. It was owned by
Telenor, a Norwegian telephone company, and Grameen Telecom, a
non-profit founded by Muhammad Yunus, a pioneer of microfinance.
(Econ, 10/17/09, p.88)
2009 Oct 5, A UN agency said
Norway enjoys the world's highest quality of life, while Niger
suffers the lowest, as it released Human Development Index, a
ranking that highlights the wide disparities in well-being between
rich and poor countries.
2009 Nov 12, In Norway thieves
stole a valuable artwork by Edvard Munch from an Oslo art dealer in
downtown Oslo. One or more thieves stole "Historien" (History) from
2009 Nov 12, A Norwegian
freelance journalist kidnapped on Nov 5 in eastern Afghanistan was
released along with his Afghan interpreter. Paal Refsdal was in
Afghanistan filming a documentary for the Norwegian production
(AP, 11/12/09)(SFC, 11/13/09, p.A2)
2009 Nov 14, In Moscow Magnus
Carlsen (18) of Norway became the new No. 1 chess player in the
world with a tournament victory over Peter Leko of Hungary.
(SSFC, 11/15/09, p.A6)
2009 Oct 28, Norway’s central
bank became the first in Europe to tighten, raising its policy rate
to 1.5% from 1.25%.
(Econ, 11/7/09, p.70)
2009 Nov 26, Shirin Ebadi, 2003
Nobel Peace Prize, said that Iranian authorities took her medal
about three weeks ago from a safe-deposit box, claiming she owed
taxes on the $1.3 million she was awarded. Ebadi said that such
prizes are exempt from tax under Iranian law. In Norway, where the
peace prize is awarded, the government said the confiscation of the
gold medal was a shocking first in the history of the 108-year-old
2009 Dec 3, A Congolese court
upheld death sentences for two Norwegians convicted of espionage and
murder, prompting condemnation from Norwegian officials. They had
been convicted in Sep of murdering their driver and attempting to
murder a witness in May 2009.
2009 Dec 10, In Oslo, Norway,
President Barack Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, acknowledging
his own few accomplishments while delivering a robust defense of war
and promising to use the prestigious award to "reach for the world
that ought to be."
2009 Dec 12, Iraq sold Russian
firm Lukoil rights to the West Qurna-2 oil field, one of the world's
biggest untapped oil fields, on the 2nd day of an auction. Lukoil
will work with junior partner StatoilHydro of Norway.
2009 Dec 25, In Norway Knut
Magne Haugland (92), the last of six crew members who crossed the
Pacific Ocean in 1947 on board the balsa wood raft Kon-Tiki, died in
2009 Dec 31, In Myanmar
Freelance reporter Hla Hla Win (25) was sentenced by a court in
Pakokku for an alleged violation of the country's Electronics Act.
She was arrested in September after visiting a Buddhist monastery in
the northern town of Pakokku. The jailed reporter had worked with
the Myanmar exile broadcaster Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), based
in Oslo, Norway. A man accompanying her was sentenced to 26 years in
2009 Karl Ove Knausgard
(b.1968), Norwegian writer, authored the first of his 6-volume
autobiographical work: “My Struggle" (Min Kamp).
2010 Jan 4, The Norwegian Chess
Federation said Magnus Carlsen (19) is the youngest person to hold
the title since ratings were introduced in 1971.
2010 Jan 6, A diplomat at the
Iranian embassy in Norway told Norwegian television that he had
resigned in protest over a crackdown on demonstrators in Iran. The
government in Tehran denied the report. In mid-February the
Norwegian Immigration Directorate gave Mohammed Reza Heydari and his
family permission to remain in Norway as political refugees after
going through "all necessary information pertaining to the case."
(AP, 1/6/10)(AP, 2/18/10)
2010 Jan 25, In Afghanistan a
Norwegian soldier died when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb in
Faryab province in the north.
2010 Feb 15, Yara, a Norwegian
fertilizer maker, agreed to pay $4.1 billion for Terra, an American
company. This would extend Yara’s lead as the world’s biggest maker
of nitrogen-based fertilizer.
(Econ, 2/20/10,