The Norwegian government has allocated NOK 1 billion towards education for girls in developing nations, says Norway's Minister for International Development, Erik Solheim. Solheim will at the UN summit in New York on Tuesday present the funds to UNICEF, as a contribution towards reaching one of the UN Millennium Goals of securing education to all girls and boys by 2015. An increasing number of children in the world now go to school, but it is of little comfort to a mother or father to see that the world average is steadily improving, a long as their own children do not receive education, Solheim says.

South Korea and Norway on Monday signed an agreement on defense cooperation, calling for exchange of defense goods and related technologies, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency said.  The pact allows the two countries to provide more detailed information on their weapons systems to each other, which can also be viewed as a sign of an apparent start of meaningful deals, Yonhap quoted unnamed South Korean official as saying.

Norway has recently adopted measures to limit the number of Economical asylum seekers in the country particularly those coming from Iraq, the Ministry of Labor and Social Inclusion announced here recently. The Labor Ministry directed the Immigration Office that starting November 1, Iraqis would not be granted asylum on the grounds of protection but will be considered on individual grounds/merits. “The practice concerning asylum seekers from certain areas in Iraq, have been more liberal in Norway than in Sweden and Denmark. The Norwegian practice will now change and will be more in line with the practice in Sweden and Denmark,” Minister of Labor and Social Inclusion Dag Terje Andersen said in a press statement.

‘Traditions Meet’ is an amazing meeting of folk music, classical and contemporary traditions from Sri Lanka and Norway with artists from the two countries bringing together string and wind music, Sri Lankan folk dance and drums. The concert to be held at Ananda College, Colombo on November 14, and at the Hindu Cultural Centre in Kandy on the 13th is presented by the Norwegian Embassy, in collaboration with The Concert Institute, Norway, and the Aru Sri Art Theatre, Sri Lanka.

StatoilHydro has interests in two new oil finds offshore Angola – in Block 31 and Block 15/06 respectively, found in ultra-deep waters in the Dione discovery.  StatoilHydro has a 13.33% interest in the discovery which is located in the southern portion of Block 31, some nine kilometres south-west of the Juno 1 discovery. Dione is situated 390 kilometres northwest of Angola’s capital Luanda. The well was drilled in 1696 metres of water to a total depth of 3272 metres below sea level.

Norway is increasing its support for the Palestinian self governing Authority by NOK 85 million, to a total of NOK 310 million for this year, Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere says. A meeting of the the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) members and other major donor countries in New York, chaired by Mr. Stoere, reaffirmed their strong commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  As Chair, Norway thanked the participants, in particular the Palestinians and the Israelis, for their spirit of cooperation and their positive contributions during the deliberations.

The Norwegian Government condemns Saturday's terrorist attack at the Marriott Hotel. -We have expressed to the Pakistani authorities our sympathy at the loss of so many lives and requested that this be conveyed to the relatives, says Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere. “There is no justification for killing innocent civilians, and I can only express my outrage at such a despicable act,” said Mr Stoere.  “This is a difficult situation for Pakistan. Now it is important to support the recent democratic progress in the country,” said the Foreign Minister.