Thursday, February 19, 2026
Srilanka and Norway

Norwegian expert submits interim report on Uma Oya Project

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Norwegian expert Bent Aagaard submitted the interim report on the Uma Oya Multi-purpose Development Project to President Maithripala Sirisena at the President’s Official Residence in Colombo on Friday.

President Maithripala Sirisena said at the occasion that many problems had arisen during the implementation of the Uma Oya Multi-purpose Development Project as the previous government had hurriedly commenced the project without calling for a proper feasibility report and a Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

“The mistakes were done from the beginning and we are attempting to rectify them and ensure that the project would not create any issues in the future, the President said.

The expert said the preliminary studies had not forecast the possibility of large water seepage in the tunnel. He said the machinery used were not capable of strengthening the tunnel wall and seal them with strong grout materials.

“Excavation must be done with suitable machinery on the tunnel to ensure that there will be no seepage in the tunnel in the future,” the expert said. He said the contractors had not prepared for large scale water ingress in the tunnel.

The expert said special grout materials and machinery should be used for tunnelling remaining four and half Km as a part of it is below the residential areas.

Aagaard said a comprehensive preliminary study could have prevented the water ingress that resulted in a severe water shortage in some areas.

The President requested the expert to provide a full report with his recommendations that help stop completely the leakage. The President asked him to provide the reasons for not taking into the consideration the water leakage in the previous reports.

The President said mega scale projects should not be commenced without proper studies. He said Uma Oya problems are lessons for the future.

Expert advice would be sought to implement the next project that comprises tunnelling of 22 Km, the President said.

Mahaweli Development and Environment Ministry Secretary Anura Dissanayake, the Project Director and the Norwegian Embassy officials participated.

(Dailynews)

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Terrorist

Psychological impacts of terrorist attacks transcend borders

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

The terrorist attack by Anders Breivik in Norway in 2011 caused a dramatic increase in trauma- and stressor-related disorders in Denmark, concludes a new study.

On 22 July 2011, the terrorist Anders Breivik attacked and killed 77 adults and children in Norway.

The attack not only spread fear in Norway, but also in neighbouring Denmark, concludes a new study.

Following the attack, there was a sharp increase in the number of trauma- and stressor-related disorders in Denmark—the study estimates that 2,736 extra diagnoses of this type of disorders were made at Danish psychiatric hospitals in the first year and a half following the attack. Trauma- and stressor-related disorders is a diagnostic category, which includes acute stress reactions, post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD), and adjustment disorders.

“Our research shows that the effect of terrorist attacks cross national borders and affect people in other countries to such a degree that they develop mental disorders,” says Søren Dinesen Østergaard, associate professor at the Department of Clinical Medicine at Aarhus University, Denmark.

He is one of the scientists behind the new study that is published in the scientific journal Epidemiology.

Massive increase in trauma- and stressor-related disorders following the Breivik attacks
Between the week of the attack in July 2011 and until the end of 2012, the number of diagnoses of trauma- and stressor-related disorders increased by 16 per cent compared to the expected level. This amounts to 2,736 additional diagnoses.

“At no other time do we find such a marked jump in the number of these diagnoses. It peaks shortly after the attacks, then starts decreasing, and then increases again when Breivik is sentenced and featured in the media once more,” says co-author Bertel Teilfeldt Hansen, a postdoc at the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen.

But how do the researchers know that it was Breivik’s attack and not something else that lead to the rise in psychological diagnoses?

According to Hansen, it is because there are no similar jumps in the number of diagnoses at any other time between 1995 and 2012, and because it is extremely improbable that a randomly coinciding event would lead to such a massive increase in the weeks immediately after the attacks. Additionally, it is highly unlikely that Breivik should have deliberately planned his attacks to occur just before an oncoming spike in the number of Danes with a particular mental disorder, he says.

The Breivik attack had a larger effect than the 9/11 attacks
The researchers behind the study have previously studied the effect of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US.

The attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon also affected the psychological health of people in Denmark, though to a much lesser extent. In the year after the attack, an additional 400 diagnoses of trauma- and stressor-related disorders were recorded.

“Even though the September 11 attacks were objectively a more dramatic event—many more people were killed and it had much larger consequences for the world as a whole—the Norwegian attack had a larger negative impact on the mental health of people in Denmark. It could be related to the fact that we are closer to Norway—both geographically and culturally. Many people probably had the feeling that ‘it could just as well have been us’,” says Østergaard.

In the new study, researchers also studied the media coverage of the terroristattack in Norway. The coverage was intense immediately after the attacks, but new peaks in coverage emerged at the beginning and conclusion of Breivik’s trial.

“The increases in media coverage coincide with the increases in mental disorders. This makes sense, as it is only through the media that we can learn about the event in the first place. The more interesting question is perhaps if the extent or type of media coverage of terrorist attacks induces fear to a further extent,” says co-author Peter Thisted Dinesen, a professor (mso) at the Department of Political Science at the University of Copenhagen.

Terrorist attacks make the headlines
Dinesen thinks that the media’s coverage of terrorist attacks is connected to the observed increase in mental disorder.

“It’s striking that we observe a new increase in trauma- and stressor-related disorders when the media covers topics related to the Breivik attack. It shows that the media’s coverage matters, but whether media practices in relation to terrorist attacks should change is another question,” says Dinesen.

According to media researcher Nete Nørgaard Kristensen, an associate professor at the Department of Media, Cognition and Communication, University of Copenhagen, there is no doubt that the media covers terrorist attacks intensely.

She has studied media coverage following the terrorist attack in Copenhagen in February 2015 and on the French satire magazine, Charlie Hebdo in January 2015.

“As the terrorist attacks have occurred closer to us, it’s natural that they occupy more of the media coverage. But the coverage has also changed. There’s an element of live-streaming. Editors broadcast the information live and verify it later. It gives an even greater feeling of being closer to it and that it’s happening here and now, she says.

Whether the media should change how they cover these events is a balance between public health and having an informed public, says Dinesen.

“Future studies should investigate whether certain types of coverage increases or decreases the effect on [people’s] mental health,” he says.

(sciencenordic)

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NATO and Norway

NATO-owned Airbus A330 MRTT tankers

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Germany and Norway officially joined the European/NATO program to acquire Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport aircraft along with Netherlands and Luxembourg.

The two nations committed to participating in the project through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding at NATO HQ in Brussels today.

Known as the Multinational Multi-Role Tanker Transport Fleet (MMF) the programme was initiated by the European Defence Agency (EDA) in 2012. Europe’s organization for the management of cooperative armament programmes – OCCAR – manages the MMF acquisition phase as Contract Executing Agent on behalf of the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA). Following the acquisition phase, NSPA will be responsible for the complete life-cycle management of the fleet.

The Programme is funded by the four nations who will have the exclusive right to use these NATO–owned aircraft which will operate in a pooling arrangement. The aircraft will be configured for in-flight refuelling, the transport of passengers and cargo, and medical evacuation flights. The first two aircraft have already been ordered to be delivered from Airbus Defence and Space’s tanker conversion line at Getafe near Madrid in 2020. Five additional aircraft will now be ordered, and that order will include options for up to four further aircraft.

NSPA GM, Peter Dohmen said “As NATO’s Support and Procurement Agency, we are proud to be a key enabler of this critical project to help European nations meet their air transport and refuelling requirements. The successful cooperation in this project – bringing together all our capabilities – bodes extremely well for further future NATO / EU collaboration.”

OCCAR Director, Arturo Alfonso-Meiriño said: “The MMF programme has broken new ground in bringing together the combined capabilities of the EDA, NSPA and OCCAR as one team, with each organisation working within its particular sphere of expertise. I very much welcome that this important initiative has now attracted additional partners to join, and it still includes options for the participation of even more countries.”

EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq said: “The MMF is a prime example of European defence cooperation which shows that once a capability shortfall has been jointly identified, European nations can pull together, work on a common project aimed at filling the gap, and eventually deliver. It’s Pooling & Sharing at its best”.

Airbus Defence and Space Head of Military Aircraft Fernando Alonso said: “The A330 MRTT has established itself firmly as the world’s premier tanker/transport aircraft. It is extremely satisfying to now see it adopted as the core asset of one of Europe’s most important cooperative defence programmes. We hope that this collaborative approach will serve as a model for future joint procurements.”

 About Airbus

Airbus is a global leader in aeronautics, space and related services. In 2016, it generated revenues of € 67 billion and employed a workforce of around 134,000. Airbus offers the most comprehensive range of passenger airliners from 100 to more than 600 seats. Airbus is also a European leader providing tanker, combat, transport and mission aircraft, as well as Europe’s number one space enterprise and the world’s second largest space business. In helicopters, Airbus provides the most efficient civil and military rotorcraft solutions worldwide. 

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Srilanka and Norway

Norwegian expert submits interim report on Uma Oya Project

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena said that it is regrettable that series of problems have arisen during the implementation of the Uma Oya Multi-purpose Development Project as the previous government had hurriedly commenced the project without proper study of the feasibility report and the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

The mistakes have been done from the beginning and we are attempting to rectify them to ensure that the problems faced by the people are solved and there would not be any issues in the future, the President said.

President Sirisena made these remarks after the Norwegian expert submitted his interim report on the project to the President at the President’s Official Residence in Colombo, today (04).

The expert Mr. Bent Aagaard said that the preliminary studies had not forecast the possibility of large water seepage in the tunnel and he further said that the machinery used for the project had not been capable of proper strengthening of the tunnel wall and seal them with strong grout materials.

“Excavation must be done by using suitable machinery on the tunnel wall and grouting all the leaks in the tunnel to ensure that there will be no seepage in the tunnel in the future,” Aagaard  said. He further said that the contractors had not been prepared for large scale water ingress in the tunnel.

The expert advised that it would be necessary to get special grout materials and machinery before remaining 4 and half Km of the tunnel is dug as a part of it is below the of residential areas.

The expert was of the view that a better comprehensive preliminary study could have prevented the water ingress into the tunnel leading to a severe water dearth in some areas.

The President requested the expert to provide a full report on how the leakage could be completely stopped and the reasons for not taking into the consideration the water  leakage in the previous reports.

The President further said that such mega scale projects should not undertake without proper studies. He also said that Uma Oya problems are lessons for the future to avoid such mistakes. President Sirisena said that the government plans to obtain expert advice prior to implementation of the next project in which a 22 Km long tunnel is to be constructed.

Secretary to the Ministry of Mahaweli Development & Environment Mr. Udaya R. Seneviratne, the Project Director and the officials of the Norwegian Embassy participated on this occasion.

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Politics

Eurobarometer: Third countries like the EU more than ‘close neighbours’

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

The world’s three most populated countries, China, India and the United States, have a more positive view about the EU than close neighbours like Russia, Norway and Switzerland, a Eurobarometer survey found.

The EU published on Wednesday (2 August) a new survey that for the first time included the views of people in eleven non-EU countries about the EU.

In China, the US and India, which together represent 49% of the world population and 61% of global GDP, a majority of people have a positive opinion about the EU.

Particularly, 94% in Brazil, 84% in China, 83% in India, 76% in Japan, 79% in Canada, 75% in the USA, 67% in Australia and 54% in Turkey.

On the contrary, it seems that “close neighbours” do not share such a view.

Russia, Norway and Switzerland tend to have “mixed feelings”, Eurobarometer noted, underlining that between 43% and 46% have a positive view of the EU.

Another important element was the question about how people perceive the EU as “a place of stability in a troubled world”.

Eurobarometer also noted that the EU was globally perceived as such; however, there were significant differences “from 82% in India thinking that way to 49% in Turkey – but this is not the case in Russia where only 33% share this view and 61% the opposite”.

Europeans more optimistic

In the meantime, the survey found that EU citizens are increasingly optimistic about the continent’s future (56%), a 6% increase compared to autumn 2016.

In addition, trust is also following a rising trend (42%) up from 36% in autumn 2016 and 32% in autumn 2015.

The highest increase was marked in France (41%+15 points) followed by Denmark (56%+15 points).

Interestingly, for the first time terrorism became the top concern of EU citizens who believe (44%+12% since autumn 2016) that it’s the main challenge of the EU, according to the survey.

In May, the Commission proposed the 2018 EU budget with security taking a center stage.

It’s followed by immigration (38%) while the economic situation (18%), the state of member states’ public finances (17%) and unemployment (15%) are almost unchanged.

(euractiv)

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Racism in Norway

Norwegian anti-immigrant group mistakes picture of bus seats for women in burkas

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

“The hatred that was displayed toward some empty bus seats really shows how much prejudices trump wisdom.”

Talk about blind hatred. A Norwegian anti-immigration group uploaded a picture of a bus filled with women wearing burkas on Facebook. Or so it seemed. The group, called Fedrelandet viktigst – which translates to “Fatherland first,” reported the Local – put the picture to its Facebook wall on 28 July with the caption: “What do people think about this?”

But a closer look at the picture reveals that the burka-clad women are actually just some empty bus seats. There are no travellers on the bus. Not one. It didn’t stop Fedrelandet viktigst, which has around 13,000 members, who all failed to see the obvious. They made their feelings about the state of immigration in Norway known.

Among the comments, one read: “It looks really scary, should be banned. You can never know who is under there. Could be terrorists with weapons.” Another user wrote that these looked like “collapsed umbrellas”.

One Facebook user wrote: “Frightening times we are living in.”

Facebook Sindre Beyer screenshotted the many reactions to the picture. He posted the photos on his personal account, asking: “What happens when a photo of some empty bus seats is posted to a disgusting Facebook group and nearly everyone thinks they see a bunch of burkas?”

His post was shared more than 1,613 times at time of writing. Fedrelandet viktigst’s members were widely mocked on the website, for their ignorance and literal lack of vision. One commenter wrote: “Just when I thought that nothing from that group could surprise me, they manage to actually surprise me.”

Another made light of the situation: “I think I passed the test because the first thing I saw was a group of Darth Vaders.”

But one user pointed out how the whole story was as sad as it was funny: “I can definitely see the humour in it but with that being said I’m left shaking my head over the fact that people could react like that; sad.”

Interviewed by Norwegian online newspaper Nettavisen, Beyer explained he had been following the group for some time: “The hatred that was displayed toward some empty bus seats really shows how much prejudices trump wisdom.”

The head of the Norwegian Center Against Racism, Rune Berglund, told Nettavisen: “People see what they want to see and what they want to see are dangerous Muslims.”

He added: “In a way it’s an interesting test of how quickly people can find confirmations of their own delusions.”

Sadly, the comment section of the Nettavisen proves him right, as several users are still sticking to the idea that the empty seats are actually women wearing burkas.

One can only hope other Fedrelandet viktigst’s members will realise their mistake and learn to curb their prejudice next time they’re on an Oslo bus. We wouldn’t want them to confuse people with seats again.

(ibtimes)

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Politics

Five non-EU countries extend sanctions against the Crimea

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Five countries have extended sanctions against the Crimea until June 23, 2018. Norway, Albania, Montenegro, Georgia and Ukraine made the decision subsequent to that of the EU.

This is noted in a statement by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini.

“They [the five countries] will ensure that their national policies are consistent with this decision of the Council [of Europe on the adoption of the signatures.] The European Union takes note of their commitments and welcomes it,” the report said.

Montenegro and Albania are candidates for joining the European Union. Norway is a member of the European Free Trade Association.

Sanctions against Crimea provide for a ban on the supply of Crimean goods to the EU, as well as any European investment in the peninsula, including the purchase of real estate, business financing and the provision of any services. European courts cannot enter Crimean ports except in emergency situations.

The European Union extended sanctions against Russia earlier in June. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said that he welcomed such a decision.

The EU introduced sanctions against Russia in 2014, after the occupation of the Crimea. Later, the EU imposed sanctions against Russia for its involvement in the fighting in eastern Ukraine. Restrictive measures were several times expanded and extended.

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Science

Norway introduces forced biometric authentication

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

On 5 April 2017, the Norwegian government proposed an amendment to the Norwegian code of criminal proceedings to allow the police to compel the use of biometric authentication. After two quick debates, the Norwegian Parliament passed the proposition into law on 21 June.

Article 199 of the Norwegian code of criminal proceedings reads as follows after the change:

“When searching an electronic system the police can demand from anyone with connection to the system the necessary information to gain access to the system or open it by biometric authentication.If anyone refuses a demand for biometric authentication as proposed in the first sentence, the police may perform the authentication by force.The decision to use force

If anyone refuses a demand for biometric authentication as proposed in the first sentence, the police may perform the authentication by force.

The decision to use force by the second sentence is decided by the prosecutor’s office. If there is a risk that would be brought about by delaying the authentication, the decision can be made by the police on the spot. The decision shall immediately be reported to the prosecutor’s office.[…]”

The lack of specificity of an “electronic system” means this law has an extremely wide scope. We can, for example, envision that access to a personal device such as a mobile phone, which stores the access credentials to several cloud storage services, essentially gives away a more or less complete description of a person’s life. To entrust such decision to a single police officer with no due process means that an act with very far reaching consequences may be performed in a matter of seconds. EDRi member Electronic Frontier Norway (EFN) is exploring the possibility that this may violate the privacy protections afforded by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the right to avoid self-incrimination afforded by Article 6.

There is also no reference to proportionality of the use of force. Although there is no reason to suspect this would be used in a disproportionate way, the lack of such a limitation means that we don’t know how far the use force might be taken. While the use of torture is prohibited by the Norwegian constitution, such lack of specificity in an individual law risks creating a situation where an overzealous officer may deem it necessary to perform acts which are prohibited by other parts of the law. It is not obvious how the law may be applied for example when iris scanning is involved. Logically, force must be applied in close proximity to the eyeball and eye socket, which puts an individual at obvious physical risk.

It is also important to take note that the law is not limited to suspects but “anyone with connection to the system”. This means that someone with no connection to a crime may be subjected to the abovementioned uses of force.

EFN is worried about the development this and other changes to the law in the same direction represents. This law has been rushed through without proper justification, and the wording has been chosen with apparently little or no regard to proper scope.

 

Norwegian code of criminal proceedings (only in Norwegian)
https://lovdata.no/dokument/NL/lov/1981-05-22-25/KAPITTEL_4-3#%C2%A7199

Forced biometric authentication in Norway (26.07.2017)
https://efn.no/1807/forced-biometric-authentication-in-norway

(Contribution by Tom Fredrik Blenning, EDRi member Electronic Frontier Norway)

 

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Science

The world’s first crewless ship will launch next year

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

The world’s first crewless, automated ship will launch in 2018, reports the Wall Street Journal, and is expected to be fully autonomous by 2020. The Norwegian-built Yara Birkeland will use GPS, radar, cameras, and sensors to navigate itself around other boat traffic and dock on its own. It’s anticipated to cost around $25 million, which is about three times as much as a standard container ship of the same size. But investors say without the need for fuel or crew, annual operating costs would be cut by up to 90 percent. The vessel will become autonomous in stages, Yara said.

“Yara Birkeland will initially operate as a manned vessel, moving to remote operation in 2019 and expected to be capable of performing fully autonomous operations from 2020,” the company said in a post on its website from May.

The 100-container Birkeland is being jointly developed by agriculture firm Yara International and technology company Kongsberg Gruppen. It’s been dubbed the “Tesla of the Seas,” and is scheduled in late 2018 to start delivering fertilizer from a production facility to the port of Larvik about 37 miles away.

Yara’s head of production Petter Ostbo told The Wall Street Journal the company would look to invest in bigger ships and use them for longer routes once international regulations are in place for crewless vessels. “Maybe even move our fertilizer from Holland all the way to Brazil,” he said.

Yara said its new vessel will also cut emissions. The company plans to reduce air pollutants while improving road safety by removing up to 40,000 truck journeys in populated urban areas.

“We want to go zero emission,” Ostbo said. “Even if some say climate change is not reality, it’s a business reality because clean sources of energy are more affordable than fossil fuels.”

(N.Sethu)

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Science

Norway deploys world’s first wireless network at sea

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

To improve offshore oil spill preparedness, Norway’s government and the oil industry are building an offshore broadband wireless network.

When oil spills occur, the ability to exchange information quickly between ships, planes, and other actors can greatly limit the damage caused by the spill, according to the Norwegian Coastal Administration. In order to speed up communications in such a scenario, an offshore broadband network is being rolled out in Norway.

The network is being built onboard the vessels and planes that take part in oil spill recovery operations. Norway’s Coastal Administration will install the Maritime Broadband Radio (MBR) system on all its oil recovery vessels, as well as ten additional vessels that have oil recovery equipment onboard.

The Norwegian Clean Seas Association for Operating Companies (NOFO) – made up of oil industry organizations – will install the MBR system on all their oil recovery vessels. The system has already been rolled-out on a surveillance plane that’s a joint initiative between the Coastal Administration, NOFO, and the Norwegian Coast Guard. Three onshore base stations have also been installed, to aid in communications with ships and planes.

The Coastal Administration says this is the world’s first national implementation of maritime broadband communication on ships and planes in public service.

“This is a significant improvement that allows us to communicate with all units participating in an oil recovery mission, and share the data without an internet connection. MBR allows us to respond faster with the right actions,” says Kjetil Aasebø, senior advisor in the Coastal Administration, in a statement.

The MBR system has been developed in cooperation with the Norwegian companies Kongsberg Seatex and Radionor. The system operates in the 5GHz frequency band, and offers speeds up to 15Mbps. Its operational range is in excess of 50km, depending on antenna placement.

This means the radios will work well beyond line-of-sight, greatly improving the practical applications of the technology compared to traditional high-performance data communication equipment used offshore.

An MRB network has a mesh network topology. This means that senders and receivers that are out of reach of each other can use other MBR stations between them as radio relay stations. Consequently, a circling airplane with an MBR station can greatly extend the coverage of the network.

MRB radio stations are hardened for offshore use, and contain no moving parts. As a result, the omnidirectional models can contain up to 60 phased-array solid state antennas. The enclosed signal processing circuitry performs real-time radio beamforming and adaptive power control, in order to provide an optimal signal to users, both those nearby and behind the horizon.

(zdnet)

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Defence

Norwegian police pens deal for three AW169s

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

The Norwegian Police Directorate has chosen the AW169 as the country’s new police helicopter.

The operator is preparing to sign a contract with Leonardo to purchase three helicopters with the option for another three.

The helicopter value is approximately NOK 313 million ($38 million). The contract also includes operation and maintenance services, making the entire contract worth $82 million.

If the directorate fulfils the order, it will be the first police operator to place an order for the rotorcraft. The contract is scheduled to be signed in August.

Alongside this order, the Police Directorate has opened a new central air station in Taradrud to improve its readiness and response time.

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Science

One in four Norwegian humanities researchers ‘never publishes’

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Major evaluation of country’s research landscape also found that internationalisation was a key area for improvement.

More than a quarter of humanities researchers in Norway have never published, according to the first evaluation of the discipline in the country for 30 years.

The study, which was commissioned by the Research Council of Norway, found that 26 per cent of researchers in the discipline had no publications and, while there were “pockets of excellence” in most areas of the humanities, no research groups or universities “reached the highest levels of international performance”.

Overall, however, the humanities had higher than average publication per academic staff member than the other disciplines in the country, according to the report.

The humanities accounted for 16.8 per cent of Norway’s national publication output and there was a 7.8 per cent increase in publications between 2011 and 2015, it added.

The Evaluation of the Humanities in Norway, which was undertaken by 54 international humanities scholars, assessed 2,300 researchers and 97 research groups in 36 organisations in 2016 and early 2017.

Shearer West, deputy vice-chancellor at the University of Sheffield and chair of the evaluation’s principal committee, said that the high proportion of researchers without publications was probably because research in the country is concentrated at its four big research universities: the University of Oslo, University of Bergen, Norwegian University of Science and Technology and UiT The Arctic University of Norway.

“There are a whole bunch of university colleges and other organisations that were more like teaching colleges that have recently begun to be merged with larger institutions. They don’t have a research culture yet they are expected to do research,” she said.

“In some universities that we looked at, staff had 10 per cent of their time allocated to do research, whereas in other places it was closer to 40 per cent or even 45 per cent.”

PhD students accounted for just one-third of the non-publishing research staff.

She said that the main conclusion of the evaluation was that the government and the university sector must “think more strategically about their priorities in terms of humanities research”.

“We didn’t see a lot of evidence of this,” she said.

The report also highlighted internationalisation as a key area for improvement and found that in many instances research was focused on “Norwegian issues and contexts”.

“In a number of cases, the focus on Norwegian research did not lead to sufficient emphasis on how topics, questions and problems investigated in Norwegian case studies should be related to larger, comparable international phenomena,” the panel found.

It also recommended that researchers should target more internationally leading journals and peer-reviewed books while universities should increase inward and outward mobility of academics.

While some institutions provided funds for staff to spend time abroad during sabbaticals, there was “little evidence” of institutions providing fellowships or opportunities for researchers from other countries to visit and spend time working with their own staff in Norway, according to the study.

(times higher education)

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Nobel Peace Prize

Norway PM Solberg accused of being ‘relieved’ at death of Liu Xiaobo

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

As Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and others in Washington mourned the death of the long-imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, a Communist Party-affiliated newspaper in Beijingsaid the Nobel peace prize laureate had been “kidnapped” by the West and bestowed with “a halo which will not linger”.

On 8 October, 2010, Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his “long and nonviolent struggle for fundamental human rights“.

“The world has failed to save one of the most conscientious and genuine Chinese”, said Wu’er, who fled China and now lives in Taiwan.

Liu’s death led to global criticism of China’s handling of the issue. In apparent protest of the award, a group of Chinese business and cultural leaders established an alternative to the Nobel, the Confucius Peace Prize, and later honoured such human rights renegades as Vladimir Putin, Fidel Castro and Robert Mugabe.

Liu died from multiple organ failure after being denied treatment overseas.

Ottawa’s reaction to Liu’s death came as Canada’s Governor General David Johnston is concluding a state visit to China on Friday, accompanied by a large delegation of Canadian politicians and business leaders.

“Now, we are most concerned about Liu Xia, but there has been no information about her”.

Geng said China has lodged formal protests with the United States, Germany and the United Nations, among others. “He wanted the Japanese government to support pro-democratic movements and human rights issues in China; he wanted the government to show more interest”.

“I want to tell the regime that is withholding my freedom: I have no enemies“, Liu wrote in an essay that was published worldwide in 2010.

She has been suffering severe depression, according to close friends, especially after the authorities sentenced her brother to 11 years in prison over what supporters call trumped-up charges of business fraud.

It said Liu’s family has refused the tracheostomy.

The Chinese government revealed he had liver cancer in late June only after it was virtually beyond treatment.

China punished Norway by suspending political and economic ties – including salmon imports from Norway – until a year ago, when Oslo promised to respect “China’s core interests and major concerns”.

They also urged China to free Mr Liu’s wife, artist and poet Liu Xia, from the strict house arrest she has lived under for years even though she has not been convicted of any crime. Relatives would only be allowed to hold “a simple farewell ceremony, under severe surveillance”, Hu said, adding that Liu’s friends had been unable to find out specific details.

Despite pleas form all over the country, he was not allowed medical parole until much later, when he was hospitalised in northeast China. The Chinese government reacted by briefly suspending trade with Norway.

A plainclothes Chinese security guard attempts to stop a photographer from taking photos of an apartment building where Liu Xia, the widow of Chinese dissident and Nobel Prize victor Liu Xiaobo, has been living under house arrest in Beijing on July 14, 2017.

Prominent dissident Liu Xiaobo, the only Chinese citizen ever to be awarded a Nobel Prize while still residing in China, has died at age 61.

Despite worldwide solidarity behind Liu Xia, many supporters sense the Chinese government’s fear of her turning into an global symbol and rallying cry for human rights – and foresee an uphill battle ahead.

“Liu Xiaobo’s imprisonment in 2009 became a death sentence”.

“The Chinese government figured out 10 to 15 years ago that there was no real price to be paid”, Human Rights Watch’s China director Sophie Richardson said.

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China and Norway

Liu Xiaobo 61, Nobel laureate and political prisoner dies in Chinese custody

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Liu Xiaobo 61, Nobel laureate and political prisoner, dies of liver cancer, after spending almost a quarter of his life behind bars in Chinese custody.

Liu, who championed non-violent resistance as a way of overcoming “forceful tyranny”, had been serving an 11-year jail sentence for demanding an end to one-party rule when he was diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer in May.

In 2010, Liu was awarded the Nobel peace prize for his “long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China”. He was represented at the award ceremony by an empty chair. When he was informed of his victory he reportedly said: “I dedicate this prize to the lost souls of 4 June,” in reference to the victims of the Tiananmen massacre.

He died of multiple organ failure while under guard at a hospital in north-east China, making him the first Nobel peace prize winner to die in custody since German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky, the 1935 recipient, who died under surveillance after years confined to Nazi concentration camps.

News of Liu’s death sparked an immediate outpouring of international mourning and condemnation. His peaceful activism and biting criticism of one-party rule meant he had spent almost a quarter of his life behind bars.

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, paid tribute to “a courageous fighter for civil rights and freedom of opinion”.

The US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, said he mourned the loss of a man who had dedicated “his life to the betterment of his country and humankind and to the pursuit of justice and liberty”.

The British foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, said he was deeply saddened by the “huge loss” of the “lifelong campaigner for democracy, human rights and peace” and attacked Beijing for denying Liu and his family the chance to seek medical treatment overseas.

Berit Reiss-Andersen leader of the Norwegian Nobel Committee which awards the prize, said the Chinese government – which had stopped Liu travelling abroad for treatment despite appeals from world leaders – bore “a heavy responsibility for his premature death”.

The leader of the Norwegian Nobel Committee was even denied a visa to China on Friday. Berit Reiss-Andersen wanted to take part in the funeral of Nobel Prize Winner Liu Xiaobo, who died on Thursday, but her visa application wasn’t even accepted.

Reiss-Andersen, a prominent Norwegian attorney by profession and member of the Norwegian Labour Party, told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) that she was told her visa application was rejected because it’s allegedly “not possible to visit a person who’s dead.”

Liu won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 but was never allowed to accept it. The 61-year-old Nobel Laureate was serving an 11-year prison sentence at the time because of his efforts to promote democracy and human rights in China. He died of complications from liver cancer while still in custody.

“Liu Xiaobo is a special Peace Prize winner, who sat in prison when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize,” Reiss-Andersen said. “He died in that same custody, and this is an extremely special situation.”

Human rights and democracy campaigners saw Liu’s Nobel prize as a triumph for their cause. But for his wife, the poet and artist Liu Xia, with whom he had fallen in love during the 1990s, it was a catastrophe.
She was immediately placed under house arrest since 2010 and denied all contact with the outside world. She has spent recent years living in almost total isolation, under constant surveillance.

“She is a wonderful woman. A really wonderful woman,” says Jean-Philippe Béja, a French academic and longstanding friend. “I don’t even dare to imagine how she feels now.”

Other family members have also reportedly been harassed or threatened to remain silent by Chinese authorities.

Liu is survived by Liu Xia, who has been living under house arrest since 2010, and by Liu Tao.

Liu Xiaobo, author and Nobel peace laureate, born 28 December 1955; died 13 July 2017.

Liu was born in Changchun, Jilin, in north-east China, into an intellectual family. His parents, Liu Ling and Zhang Suqin, were devoted to the party, but from his youth Liu struck an independent course.

After studying Chinese literature at Jilin University, he began an MA in 1982 at Beijing Normal University, where he stayed on as a lecturer. His keen intelligence and razor tongue soon established his reputation: hundreds watched his dissertation defence, while students from other universities packed out his electrifying lectures. He was also a visiting lecturer at the universities of Oslo and Hawaii, and Columbia University in New York.

He made as many enemies as admirers in those years. He was as merciless in dissecting friends and apparent allies as political opponents. He was individualist to the core, his friend and biographer Yu Jie noted, and it cost him close friendships.

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China and Norway

Nobel Peace Prize committee chief says China has rejected her visa application

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Berit Reiss-Andersen has sought the permit to attend activist Liu Xiobo’s funeral.

The chief of the Norwegian Nobel Committee that gives out the Nobel Peace Prize said on Friday that China had rejected her visa application to attend Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo funeral. “I was told that my visa application was incorrectly filled in…because I did not have an invitation from the person I was visiting,” Berit Reiss-Andersen told Reuters.

Reiss-Andersen said the Chinese consulate in Oslo had refused to receive her visa application. “When I told them I would be attending a funeral and that the person had passed away, I was told I should try a relative,” she said. “I told them she [Liu’s wife] was kept in isolation…I was also told that I should have a hotel and plane ticket booked.”

Liu, China’s most prominent human rights and democracy advocate, died at the age of 61 on Thursday. The Nobel Peace Prize winner had been diagnosed with liver cancer in May and granted medical parole in June.

The activist was serving an 11-year sentence for writing a pro-democracy manifesto called Charter 08, where he called for an end to one-party rule in China. He had been jailed multiple times throughout his life. His wife had also been placed under house arrest.

 

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Media Freedom

How Norwegian TV broadcaster NRK used Instagram to hook teenagers

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

As TV ratings continue to take a beating, broadcasters are searching for ways to keep audiences — particularly hard-to-reach teenagers — engaged in their shows. For Norway’s public service broadcaster, NRK, this meant putting Instagram at the heart of its popular teen drama, “Skam.”

“Skam,” which means “shame,” followed a fictional group of teens at school in a suburb of Norway’s capital, Oslo. Scenes from their lives, plus social media posts, were published in real time throughout the week, so if a scene from the show occurred at midnight on New Year’s Eve, that’s when it went live online. Each week, a compilation episode about 20 minutes long aired on TV and online. The final episode of the fourth — and last — series, aired on June 24.

By the end of the fourth series, “Skam” episodes online were fetching 1.3 million unique users on NRK’s site, according to the broadcaster, roughly a fifth of the country’s population.

Part of this success came from the social media activity of the show’s characters. All 15 characters have their own Instagram accounts, with some amassing 800,000 followers, and group chats and text messages were regularly posted online.

“The goal was to make a show that could mirror the target group,” said NRK producer Mari Magnus, who manages all the accounts. “NRK didn’t have the 16-year-old anywhere on the platform; [teenagers] didn’t trust NRK to make anything for them. As a public broadcaster, that’s a problem because you have to be there for everyone.”

During the show’s research phase, NRK frequently heard phrases like “Instagram is a big part of my identity” or “I am 100 percent myself on Instagram.” It was an obvious choice to use social media in the story or distribution, Magnus added.

For “Skam,” the Instagram posts and the group chats between characters offered storylines that aren’t crucial to the main narrative but added to the characters’ development. The number of posts Magnus published was fluid and depended on the nature of the lead character, which changed each season. The lead in the third season, Isak, struggles to deal with his sexuality and starts to retreat and shut out his friends. His lack of Instagram posts reflected this, said Magnus.

“’Skam’ is handmade to be watched day by day, also weekly,” she said. “We want to get audience engaging with the [show’s] universe.”

According to Magnus, the number of unique users watching “Skam” online kept climbing, even though viewing figures for the weekly episodes started to decline. More people moved from watching weekly episodes to daily clips.

The characters also posted on Instagram about things happening in the real world, like tributes to Manchester after the terrorist attack or videos of Melania and Donald Trump. This gave a snapshot of the show’s universe in a way that blurred the lines between fiction and reality.

“The target group immediately and intuitively understood the concept; they knew it was just fiction but continued to engage with the posts like [the characters] were their real friends,” said Magnus. “People grow up with so much competence and intuitively understand digital storytelling.”

Shows have often used social media as a way of adding additional information. The BBC, which broadcast “Sherlock,” published blog posts sidekick John Watson wrote, but often the efforts felt like what they were — thinly veiled marketing tools.

Magnus doesn’t think it’s important to define whether Instagram was used for promoting “Skam” or enhancing the story. “They work so well together: Instagram is creating a buzz and also telling a story.”

Fans’ interaction and comments factored into the show’s digital activity, too. Toward the end of the fourth season, single Instagram posts were getting 1,500 comments. When Noora, one of the main characters, is waiting for a love interest to text her back, a fan commented on Noora’s Instagram account that she couldn’t study for her exams until Noora received an answer from him. “I took that line and wrote that in a chat between Noora and her friends,” said Magnus. “The fans recognize [their influence on the show] immediately — it gives them the illusion of power; they feel like they have been seen and understood.”

Image courtesy of NRK

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Nobel Peace Prize

Liu Xiaobo obituary

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

It was China’s decision to jail Liu Xiaobo for 11 years over a call for peaceful democratic reform that spurred the Norwegian Nobel committee to honour him with its peace prize in 2010 and propelled him to international renown. But his first nomination had come two decades earlier, after the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests of 1989, in which the author and intellectual played a key role, first as one of the prominent “four gentlemen” who launched a hunger strike in support of the students; then by helping to broker a peaceful exit from the square for remaining demonstrators amid the bloody crackdown.

The events were the turning point in Liu’s life. The writer, who has died aged 61 of cancer, was abroad when the movement erupted and he went home despite the risks. It brought jail, an end to his career as a brilliant young literary professor, and the ending of his first marriage to Tao Li; thereafter his contact with his son, Liu Tao, was limited. But the transformation was internal too. He never forgave himself for writing the confession that shortened his sentence. He believed he had not only sold out his dignity, but also the souls of the dead.

After 1989, many outspoken figures fled abroad or fell silent: “Others can stop. I can’t,” said Liu, believing that to abandon course would be a second betrayal. He dedicated his Nobel prize to the martyrs of Tiananmen Square.

Liu was born in Changchun, Jilin, in north-east China, into an intellectual family. His parents, Liu Ling and Zhang Suqin, were devoted to the party, but from his youth Liu struck an independent course. After studying Chinese literature at Jilin University, he began an MA in 1982 at Beijing Normal University, where he stayed on as a lecturer. His keen intelligence and razor tongue soon established his reputation: hundreds watched his dissertation defence, while students from other universities packed out his electrifying lectures. He was also a visiting lecturer at the universities of Oslo and Hawaii, and Columbia University in New York.

He made as many enemies as admirers in those years. He was as merciless in dissecting friends and apparent allies as political opponents. He was individualist to the core, his friend and biographer Yu Jie noted, and it cost him close friendships. Later on, he acknowledged that he had been preoccupied with ideals of justice and human rights, showing little concern for the people around him. While he let some down he was steadfast in his commitment to others, becoming especially close to Ding Zilin and Jiang Peikun, who had founded the Tiananmen Mothers pressure group in response to the killing of their 17-year-old son.

Friends noted that he was far less abrasive in maturity and, as co-founder and director of the Independent Chinese PEN centre, showed an unexpected talent for dialogue and compromise.

In 2008 he helped to draft and gather support for Charter 08, a bold call for peaceful political reform and an end to one-party rule, inspired by the Czechoslovakian dissidents who issued Charter 77 in 1977. Police detained him at his flat two days before its release and the following year he was given a punitive 11-year sentence for inciting subversion. He was adamant that this time no confession would shorten his sentence.

China censored discussion of Liu and his Nobel win domestically. But intermittently its media denigrated him as a shill for western governments, highlighting his support for the Iraq war and a remark in a 1980s interview that it would take “300 years of colonialism” for China to reach Hong Kong’s level of development. Such comments were never contextualised, and though Liu saw western civilisation as a tool that was useful to reform China, he said it was utterly flawed and in need of critique itself. In any case, those comments bore no relation to his jailing.

Despite Liu’s sometimes acid remarks he was anything but austere; and was warm and playful with those he knew well – one letter to a fellow dissident, a serious discussion of political resistance, begins “Dear Baldie, or is it Beardie?”. He relished good red wine until hepatitis stopped him drinking. Friends teased him about his love of good food and voracious appetite, which he ascribed to the devastating famine of his youth, as well as to being one of five sons.

But even when notionally free, his life was shadowed by harassment, questioning, house arrest and surveillance. Asked why he continued – and why he made ambitious calls for fundamental reforms instead of targeting incremental improvements – he said his role was to push for changes that would benefit everyone.

It was in a labour camp, in 1996, that he married the poet Liu Xia. Her devotion sustained him and – painfully aware of his shortcomings in his first marriage – he was a very different husband the second time around. He took enormous pride in his wife’s talents.

“Your love has been the sunlight that leaps over high walls and shines through iron bars,” he said in a statement at his trial in 2009. “My love for you … is so full of remorse and regret that it at times makes me stagger under its weight.”

They were planning for their life after his release. But late last month it emerged that Liu Xiaobo had been diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer, and he was transferred from prison to hospital, still under heavy guard.

“A calm and steady mind can look at a steel gate and see a road to freedom,” Liu once wrote of life as a prisoner. The gate remained locked and outside the political repression increased. Friends were bitter at the strikingly late diagnosis and the authorities’ refusal to let the couple go abroad or release them fully. Yet the man who alienated so many in his youth had told his trial that he had no enemies, speaking kindly of the police, prosecutors and judges.

He insisted that love could dissipate hate, and that progress would be made. No Enemies, No Hatred, a selection of his essays and poems, was published in 2013.

Liu is survived by Liu Xia, who has been living under house arrest since 2010, and by Liu Tao.

• Liu Xiaobo, author and Nobel peace laureate, born 28 December 1955; died 13 July 2017

(the guardian)

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Science

Turkey builds hybrid ferries for Norway: shipbuilder

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Turkey has so far built nine hybrid ferries for Norway, which is one of the world’s leading maritime nations, deputy board chairman of Yalova-Altinova Shipbuilders Inc. said Wednesday.

“Norway is looking to replace [a part of] its fleet of ferries with hybrid ones [which combine diesel power with electric battery power] until 2020,” Orhan Gulcek told Anadolu Agency, adding the Nordic country was preparing to get at least 80 new ferries in this regard.

“Some 20-25 ships have already been built of which nine has been built in Turkey,” Gulcek said, adding this number would increase further considering Turkey’s success in this area.

Noting that Turkey also built battery ferries, Gulcek said there had been an increasing demand for environmentally friendly ferries, especially in the Nordic countries, and Norway was the biggest market in this area.

“Hybrid ferry business is not only new for Turkey, but for the world too. Our biggest customer at the moment is Norway,” he said.

Gulcek said some of these ferries were being built in Norway using semi-finished products from Poland.

“However, I believe a majority will be built in Turkey. Because Turkey has started to become big in this business. So far 8-9 ferries have been built and delivered. This number will go up,” he added.

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Media Freedom

Norway Extends Media Support for Women

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Norway is supporting The Irrawaddy news organization to strengthen its coverage of women, peace and security issues over a 19-month period as part of Norway’s commitment to the implementation of United Nations’ Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 in Myanmar.

The resolution reaffirms the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts, peace negotiations, peace-building, peacekeeping, humanitarian response and in post-conflict reconstruction, and stresses the importance of their equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security.

The Irrawaddy’s founder and editor-in-chief Aung Zaw and the Royal Norwegian Ambassador in Yangon Tone Tinnes signed an agreement to implement the project on July 7.

Starting this month, the project will focus on mainstreaming ethnic women’s views and concerns related to peace and security, so that their voices will be heard and taken into consideration in the ongoing peace-building process in Myanmar.

The Irrawaddy will invest in building public awareness and understanding around women’s involvement in the peace process. It will support and encourage the airing of the views of women and girls on the challenges they face and the solutions they seek in relation to gender issues and on all matters concerning peace and security.

The new project follows earlier support from the Norwegian Embassy to The Irrawaddy news organization for coverage of women and gender issues.

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Economics

UK and Norway to lift flight ban of two Super Puma helicopters

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the Civil Aviation Authority of Norway are set to lift a flight ban of the H225LP and AS332L2 Super Puma helicopters across the two countries.

The ban was imposed after an accident involving a H225 killed 13 people near Turøy, Norway, last year.

Following the ban, operators in the UK and Norway were unable to use Super Pumas, manufactured by Airbus Helicopters, for commercial offshore flights.

The latest decision to remove the ban came after close consultations with the European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) and Airbus Helicopters, as well as the UK and Norwegian operators.

“The safety of those who travel on offshore helicopter flights is a key priority for both the UK and Norwegian aviation authorities.”
Airbus Helicopters has also made improvements and modifications, in addition to introducing enhanced safety measures and maintenance inspection methods for the relevant helicopter types.

UK CAA airworthiness head John McColl said: “This is not a decision we have taken lightly. It has only been made after receiving extensive information from the Norwegian accident investigators and being satisfied with the subsequent changes introduced by Airbus Helicopters through detailed assessment and analysis.

“The safety of those who travel on offshore helicopter flights is a key priority for both the UK and Norwegian aviation authorities.

“We would not have made this decision unless we were convinced that the changes to the helicopters and their maintenance restore the required airworthiness standards.”

The CAA is also planning to undertake further checks, modifications and inspections before allowing the proposed Super Puma flights in the country.

Individual operators will also be required to provide safety cases if they wish to resume Super Puma flights.

(aerospace-technology)

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Crimes

Gunman opened fire injuring four people in Oslo

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

A GUNMAN armed with a pistol opened fire outside a Norwegian nightclub in Oslo injuring four people including two bouncers, police reported.

André Kråkenes, police spokesman, said the victims were taken to hospital from the music venue Blue in Oslo but were not critically injured.

Oslo police added that emergency crews are still on site. Officers have already arrested the shooter and said they have “no more suspects.”

The suspect reportedly tried to escape in a taxi before armed police officers detained him.

The reason for the shooting appears to be that the man was asked to leave the club, police said.

American hip–hop artist Kool G Rap was performing at the Blue nightclub on Saturday night. It was his first ever appearance in Norway.

Police were reportedly nearby, responding to a separate incident, when the shots were fired.

The suspect is known to police but they would not comment on whether he has been previously convicted or whether he is part of a criminal gang.

A gun was recovered at the scene, according to a Norwegian paper.

Witnesses claim one of the victims was shot in the neck and another was shot in the leg.

The shooting happened just before 3:30am BST.

The club where the shooting took place is said to be located in an old industrial building in the Brenneriveien area of the city.

(N.Sethurupan)

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Asia and Norway

PM Modi invites Norway pension funds to invest in India

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Narendra Modi invited Erna Soolberg, PM of Norway to invest in National Investment and Infrastructure Fund in India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday invited Norwegian pension funds to invest in the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund as he met Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg, who gifted him a symbolic football. Continuing his series of bilateral meetings here on the sidelines of the G20 Summit.

Modi also, met South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Italy’s Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni. He held a bilateral meeting with President of Argentina Mauricio Macri. Modi congratulated in person Moon on his victory in presidential elections while the South Korean President recalled the prime minister’s congratulatory phone call and tweet in Korean language, saying it was warmly received by the people of South Korea.

Both leaders expressed their commitment to further develop the special strategic partnership between India and South Korea, particularly through participation in programmes such as Make in India, Digital India and Start up India, the Ministry or External Affairs said.The prime minister invited President Moon to visit India at an early date. The invitation was accepted, the MEA said.

Modi’s discussions with Italy’s Prime Minister Gentiloni focused on promoting bilateral relations, particularly trade and investment and people-to-people ties. Prime Minister Modi invited Italy’s participation in World Food India – the food processing exhibition to be held in India in November this year. The two leaders stressed on the significance of promoting interaction between medium enterprises of the two countries for strengthening bilateral economic cooperation. The prime minister of Italy appreciated Indian investments in his country, including in the industrial sector. The two also discussed ways and means to work together for providing sustainable solutions to prevent climate change and promote development in Africa.

Modi and Solberg discussed bilateral matters, especially strengthening of economic relations. Prime Minister Modi invited participation of Norwegian pension funds in the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund. The prime minister of Norway invited India to participate in the Oceans’ Conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA). In a gesture symbolising cooperation for attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Prime Minister Solberg presented to Prime Minister Modi, at the end of the meeting, a football with SDGs inscribed on it.

On Friday, Modi held bilaterals with Japan’s Shinzo Abe and Canada’s Justin Trudeau.

(N.C2)

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Srilanka and Norway

Sri Lanka’s University and Western Norway University of Applied Sciences cooperation on clean energy technology

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Western Norway University of Applied Sciences

The Western Norway University of Applied Sciences today signed a collaboration agreement with the University of Jaffna on capacity building and establishing of a research consortium in nanomaterials for clean energy in the presence of the Norwegian Ambassador, Thorbjørn Gaustadsæther.

This collaboration which is 6.2 million Norwegian Kroners (Rs. 112 million) over a period of three years, is funded by the Norwegian Embassy as part of its development cooperation program.

“I hope this partnership on clean energy technology brings new ideas and advances in sustainable energy solutions for Sri Lanka,” Ambassador Gaustadsæther said.

Part of the funding will be utilized to upgrade the laboratory facilities and for technical assistance and capacity building at the Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Technology at the Kilinochchi campus and at the Faculty of Science at the Jaffna campus of the University of Jaffna.

One of the main aspects of this collaboration is the establishment of a consortium on clean energy technologies, which includes the partners and private enterprises in both Sri Lanka and in Norway.

Clean energy technology is one of the priority sectors for Norway. Therefore, promotion of these technologies as well as building linkages between research and business is encouraged as this could lead to further investments in innovation.

Enterprises in Norway and in Sri Lanka will contribute to this project by means of technical assistance, offering work placements for the students, involvement in research projects, offering mentors and external supervisors for the research projects, offering opportunities for visits and exchange of knowledge through discussions.

The Embassy said it is pleased to assist in bringing research institutes and business together for the advancement of innovation and new technology.

The Norwegian Embassy through this collaboration is further strengthening the support of 4.7 million Norwegian Kroners (Rs. 85 million) received from NORPART (Norwegian Partnership Programme for Global Academic Cooperation) for the period starting from 2017 to 2021.

In March of this year, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences and the University of Jaffna signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on educational and research cooperation at Masters and PhD level.

Under the NORPART program, the two institutions collaborate on higher education and research in nanomaterials for clean energy technologies (HRCNET). Other institutions, such as the University of Bergen and the University of Agder from Norway, the University of Peradeniya from Sri Lanka, and Coimbatore Institute of Technology from India are also included as partners in this project.

(N.Sethu)

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Oil & Gas

Norwegian government wins legal battle over gas transport tariffs

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Norway’s government has won the latest battle in a long-running row over tariffs for transporting gas through offshore pipelines.

The country’s Borgarting Court of Appeals ruled in favour of the government last week in a lawsuit that was brought by investors in pipeline joint venture Gassled.

Solveig Gas, Silex Gas, Njord Gas Infrastructure and Infragas had argued that Norway’s decision shortly after they bought their stakes in Gassled in 2011 and 2012 to cut pipeline tariffs was unlawful and would cost them 15 billion kroner (US$1.8 billion) in lost revenue by 2028. The reduced tariffs took effect on October 1, 2016.

Last week’s unanimous decision upheld the 2015 verdict of a lower court, which said the government was acting within its rights when it cut tariffs.

However, while the state did not in that initial verdict win the right to have its costs covered by the plaintiffs, they were ordered last week to pay the government 42.2 million kroner (US$5 million).

“The state has won the case and has the right to have its costs covered” by the plaintiffs, the appeals court said.

Solveig Gas said it would consider “carefully” whether to appeal. “We will obviously continue as owners in Gassled,” its CEO Tryve Pedersen said. “We will keep Gassled running. This case never impacted in our role in Gassled.”

Silex Gas had told Reuters ahead of the latest verdict that it would consider appealing to the Supreme Court if it lost this round, but would also be open to negotiating a settlement with the Norwegian government.

“The court has emphasised the ministry did not establish transparent systems,” Silex CEO Kurt Georgsen said following last week’s verdict. “But the court has also said that there was a legal basis for the tariff reduction and that we have no basis for claims and damages.”

He declined to comment on whether Silex would now seek to sell its Gassled stake.

The four investors hold a combined 44% stake in Gassled, which is 45.8% owned by Norway’s government via state-owned Petoro. State-run Statoil also owns 5%. They paid 32 billion kroner (US$3.8 billion) for the holdings, which they acquired from ExxonMobil, Total, Statoil and Royal Dutch Shell.

The plaintiffs have until September 16 to appeal to the Supreme Court.

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Asia and Norway

Norway returns Buddha statue to protect Myanmar’s national cultural heritage

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Under the auspices of UNESCO, representatives of The Republic of the Union of Myanmar and The Kingdom of Norway finalized the repatriation of an illegally-purchased Buddha Statue to its place of origin, according to a statement. The return of the statue took place during an official handover ceremony in the presence of H.E. Mr Børge Brende, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway, and H.E. Thura U Ko Aung, Minister of Religious Affairs and Culture, at the National Museum in Nay Pyi Taw on 6 July 2017 at 16.45.

The alabaster statue depicts Buddha in the mudra of ‘earth witness’ (bhūmisparśa), one of the most common iconic representations of Buddha images in Myanmar. Its tumultuous story dates back to 2011 when Norwegian Customs identified and prevented the illegal import of the cultural artefact. The Norwegian prosecutor confiscated the statue and after years of research, the statue was identified by experts as originating from the Mandalay region in Myanmar and estimated to be between 150 and 200 years old. Hence, as a protected cultural object, the procedure for the return to its country of origin was initiated by the Government of Norway.

Recalling that both states are parties to the UNESCO 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, and bearing in mind the good relations based on mutual trust, representatives of the Governments of Norway and Myanmar, met at UNESCO in Paris on 16 January 2017 to formalize the statue’s return. The process conducted by Norwegian authorities to return the Buddha statue illustrates a best practice for thereturn of cultural property. Norway hindered the illegal import of the statue and engaged specialists to find its country of origin, thus securing a successful return to its country of origin, Myanmar.

The return of the Buddha statue furthermore marks an important step in the cultural cooperation between Myanmar and Norwegian authorities, with international counterparts, in regards to the global efforts to safeguard cultural heritage and to curb illicit trafficking. Trafficking of cultural artefacts often follow the same networks and routes as other international crime. It is, therefore, necessary to keep raising awareness about this issue and increasing international cooperation to combat such illicit trade.

From 2016 and until its repatriation, the Buddha statue remained on display at The Museum of Cultural History in Oslo, where its presentation aimed to raise public awareness about illicit trafficking of cultural artefacts. Upon its return home, the Buddha statue will be put on display at the National Museum in Nay Pyi Taw.

Under the auspices of UNESCO, representatives of The Republic of the Union of Myanmar and The Kingdom of Norway finalized the repatriation of an illegally-purchased Buddha Statue to its place of origin, according to a statement. The return of the statue took place during an official handover ceremony in the presence of H.E. Mr Børge Brende, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway, and H.E. Thura U Ko Aung, Minister of Religious Affairs and Culture, at the National Museum in Nay Pyi Taw on 6 July 2017 at 16.45. The alabaster statue depicts Buddha in the mudra of ‘earth witness’ (bhūmisparśa), one of the most common iconic representations of Buddha images in Myanmar. Its tumultuous story dates back to 2011 when Norwegian Customs identified and prevented the illegal import of the cultural artefact. The Norwegian prosecutor confiscated the statue and after years of research, the statue was identified by experts as originating from the Mandalay region in Myanmar and estimated to be between 150 and 200 years old. Hence, as a protected cultural object, the procedure for the return to its country of origin was initiated by the Government of Norway. Recalling that both states are parties to the UNESCO 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, and bearing in mind the good relations based on mutual trust, representatives of the Governments of Norway and Myanmar, met at UNESCO in Paris on 16 January 2017 to formalize the statue’s return. The process conducted by Norwegian authorities to return the Buddha statue illustrates a best practice for thereturn of cultural property. Norway hindered the illegal import of the statue and engaged specialists to find its country of origin, thus securing a successful return to its country of origin, Myanmar. The return of the Buddha statue furthermore marks an important step in the cultural cooperation between Myanmar and Norwegian authorities, with international counterparts, in regards to the global efforts to safeguard cultural heritage and to curb illicit trafficking. Trafficking of cultural artefacts often follow the same networks and routes as other international crime. It is, therefore, necessary to keep raising awareness about this issue and increasing international cooperation to combat such illicit trade. From 2016 and until its repatriation, the Buddha statue remained on display at The Museum of Cultural History in Oslo, where its presentation aimed to raise public awareness about illicit trafficking of cultural artefacts. Upon its return home, the Buddha statue will be put on display at the National Museum in Nay Pyi Taw.

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