lasting peace from Africa and Asia to Europe and
the Middle East. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it honored
Ahtisaari for important efforts over more than three decades to
resolve international conflicts.
2008 Nov 20, The Norwegian
government said it has picked the US developed F-35 Joint Strike
Fighter to replace its aging US-made F-16 aircraft in a roughly 60
billion kroner ($8.5 billion) deal.
2008 Dec 3-2008 Dec 4, In
Norway 94 nations signed a treaty banning cluster bombs in a move
that supporters hope will shame the US, Russia and China and other
non-signers into abandoning weapons blamed for maiming and killing
civilians. Norway, which began the drive to ban cluster bombs 18
months ago, was the first to sign, followed by Laos and Lebanon,
both hard-hit by the weapons.
(AP, 12/3/08)(Econ, 12/13/08, p.70)
2008 Dec 10, The Nobel Prizes
were awarded in twin ceremonies in Stockholm and Oslo.
2008 Dec, In Norway Think
Global AS, a front runner in the plug-in car market, filed for
Bankruptcy after its failure to get capital financing under the
current credit crunch.
(WSJ, 1/24/09, p.B2)
2009 Jan 11, Arne Naess
(b.1912), Norwegian philosopher, writer and mountaineer, died. He
was best known for launching the concept of "deep ecology,"
promoting the idea that Earth as a planet has as much right as its
inhabitants, such as humans, to survive and flourish.
2009 Jan 23, In northern Norway
an off-duty police officer shot and killed his ex-girlfriend with
another officer's service pistol, then critically wounded himself
outside the elementary school where she was a student teacher.
2009 Jan 26, Norway announced a
20 billion kroner ($2.89 billion) stimulus package to boost growth
(WSJ, 1/27/09, p.A8)
2009 Feb 23, Norwegian
architect Sverre Fehn (b.1924) died in Oslo. His unique style of
blending modern forms with Scandinavian traditions earned him the
prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize (1997). His white concrete
Glacier Museum (1991), which has been hailed as a landmark within
contemporary architecture. It stands on a plain carved by Norway's
Jostedal Glacier at Fjaerland Fjord.
2009 Mar 26, The MT Bow Asir, a
Norwegian tanker with a crew of 27, was hijacked 250 miles east of
the south coast of Somalia.
(AP, 3/27/09)(WSJ, 3/27/09, p.A8)
2009 Apr 17, In Norway a $225
million fund to provide low-price anti-malaria medicine around the
world was launched in Oslo to fight a disease that kills 2,000
children a day.
2009 Apr 17, In Afghanistan two
earthquakes shook eastern Nangarhar province, collapsing mud-brick
homes on top of villagers while they slept and killing at least 21
people. Two suicide bombers on foot tried to attack the office of
the minister of refugees in southern Nimroz province. Guards shot
and killed one bomber at the scene of the attempted attack. While
fleeing the 2nd bomber detonated his explosives, killing 3
civilians. A Norwegian intelligence officer serving with the
nation's peacekeeping force was killed by a roadside bomb near the
northern city of Maymana.
2009 Apr 22, A group of
Norwegian lawyers filed a complaint accusing 10 Israelis of war
crimes in Gaza under the country's new universal jurisdiction law.
2009 May 16, Norway’s
fiddle-wielding Alexander Rybak (23), dubbed 'Alexander the Great'
by Norwegian media, won a landslide victory in the Eurovision Song
Contest in Moscow for his song "Fairytale," gaining the most points
in Eurovision's 53-year history.
2009 May 25, Haakon Lie
(b.1905), a pioneer of Norway's welfare state and one of the
country's most influential politicians, died in Oslo. His several
books included "Slik jeg ser det naa" ("As I See it Now"), which was
published last year.
2009 May, In CongoDRC 2 former
Norwegian soldiers (Tjostolv Moland and Joshua French) allegedly
murdered their driver and attempted to murder a witness. The motive
behind the killing was unknown. On Sep 8 they were convicted of
espionage and murder. In 2010 a military judge threw out the ruling
and ordered a new case. In August, 2013, Tjostolv Moland (32), died
in prison. An autopsy report said he had hanged 