Tag Archives: Norway

Russia tops agenda for White House visit by Nordic leaders

President Obama and Nordic Leaders

By Roberta Rampton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The leaders of Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland will be treated to the pomp of a White House state visit on Friday, a summit where Russia’s military aggression will top the agenda.

President Barack Obama will welcome the leaders for talks focused on pressing global security issues, including the crisis in Syria and Iraq that has led to a flood to migrants in Europe.

Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014 alarmed Russia’s Nordic and Baltic neighbors. With NATO considering ways to try to deter further Russian aggression, the White House wants to show support for its northern European allies.

“It is a way of sending a signal that the United States is deeply engaged when it comes to the security of the region, and we will be actively discussing what steps we can collectively take to improve the situation,” said Charles Kupchan, Obama’s senior director for European affairs.

Kupchan declined comment on specific measures the White House hopes to emerge from the summit.

Obama will be limited in what he can promise by the political calendar, given that his second and final term ends next year on Jan. 20. Americans are set to hold presidential elections on Nov. 8.

The visit will culminate in a star-studded state dinner in a tent with a transparent ceiling, with lighting, flowers and ice sculptures evoking the northern lights.

Pop star Demi Lovato, known for her support of liberal causes, will perform after guests enjoy a main course of ahi tuna, tomato tartare, and red wine braised beef short ribs.

Obama is expected to laud the humanitarian and environmental accomplishments of his guest nations, who have been key supporters of an international deal to curb climate change that the White House sees as a key part of Obama’s legacy.

“The president has often said, ‘Why can’t all countries be like the Nordic countries?'” Kupchan said.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton)

Norwegian Youth Camp Attacked by Terrorist Reopens

A Norwegian youth camp where terrorist Anders Behring-Breivik killed 69 people four years ago has reopened.

“It’s good to be home again at Utoya,” the president of the Labor Party youth organization, Mani Hussaini, told a crowd sitting on a hill.

The camp’s organizer told media outlets before the opening they will not allow “that dark day to overshadow the nice and bright” memories of the camp.

The island is owned by the political party and is used every year for youth camps where the students learn about the party’s beliefs and values.  Breivik, who said at his trial he considered the youths at the camp traitors to Norway, took a ferry to the island dressed as a police officer and then began his massacre.

“To have the summer camp here again with all the tents reminds me a lot of walking here together with the friends who are not here anymore,” said Runar Kjellstad Nygaard, 23, who had left the camp just before the murders.

“It was actually the plan to stay and sleep here, but then I dropped it because they warned of bad weather,” he explained.  “I’m very happy for that today, but it is a very strange feeling to sit at home and get text messages from your best friend saying ‘things are happening out here’”.

Memorials have been placed on the island with the names of most of the victims of the attack.  The assault was the worst killing spree in the country since World War Two.  Breivik had also set off a car bomb in a nearby city earlier in the day, killing eight people.

Flash Freeze Kills Thousands Of Fish In Norway

Residents of Lovund off the Norway coast awoke to a shocking site.

A flash freeze of a lake froze thousands of fish at the surface of the water.  Officials cannot estimate the number of fish that were discovered in the solid block of ice covering the lake.

Scientists from Havforskningsinstituttet, a marine research institute, said that the fish may have been chased close to the surface by some kind of predator.  The temperature overnight before the freeze was 18 degrees Fahrenheit but a strong wind is believed to have caused the flash freeze.

This is not the first death of animals from a flash freeze in Norway during the last week.  Last week a moose was flash frozen in Kosmo Lake.

Norwegian Singer Arrested On Terror Charges In France

A musician from Norway who has connections to the mass murder Anders Breivik has been arrested in France on “suspicion he was preparing a major terrorist act.”

Kristian “Varg” Vikernes was called a “threat to society” by the French Interior Ministry. Vikernes is reportedly connected to neo-Nazis and received a manifesto from Breivik, who killed 77 in a bomb and gun attack on Oslo, Norway and a nearby island in July 2011. Continue reading →