|
|
Photo at top: A Valkyrian sky over Oslo, Norway
|
 |
NORDIC LOOKOUT
1 April 2010
Sharing the Wealth of the Barents: Norway and Russia are close to resolving a 40-year-old conflict over their sea boundary in the Arctic, a Norwegian expert, Rune Rafaelsen, told United Press International. Agreement on where to draw the line between the Russian and Norwegian economic zones in the Barents Sea will determine who owns the oil and natural gas reserves down below. As the Arctic ice has retreated in recent years, offshore production has grown more feasible, heating up the border issue.
30 March 2010
Leisure is priority No. 1: Denmark's foreign minister, Lene Espersen, showed yesterday just how seriously Scandinavians take their vacations. Ms. Espersen got an early start on her Easter holiday, traveling with her family to Spain instead of pressing Denmark's and Greenland's interests at summit meeting in Canada with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and foreign ministers from other Arctic nations.
29 March 2010
Volvo turns Chinese: Two months after General Motors unloaded Sweden's iconic Saab car brand onto Spyker of the Netherlands, Ford has sold Volvo Cars to the Chinese carmaker Geely, for $1.8 billion. Ford had bought Volvo back in 1999 -- for $6.5 billion. And so it goes for another big money-losing Swedish industrial brand.
28 March 2010
Copenhagen Metro named best in world: Copenhagen's driverless rapid transit system, which opened in 2002, was named the best metro service on earth this week at MetroRail 2010, an annual conference in London. The Danish capital currently has only two metro rail lines, but a major expansion -- a circle line around the city -- is under way. "This metro has delivered incredibly high levels of passenger satisfaction, with 2009 being a record year in terms of service availability," the jury said.
28 March 2010
Danish fathers embrace paternity leave: More and more Danish fathers take extended leave from work when their children are born. In the public sector, the proportion taking the 10 weeks allowed by law has doubled, to 21 percent, since 2005. The average dad in the public sector now takes 38 days off.
27 March 2010
Swedish jets shot down again: The Swedish defense firm Saab reacted with frustration today to reports that Romania has chosen to buy used American F-16 fighter aircraft instead of the latest version of Saab's Gripen. A Saab spokesman said Romania "may end up with someone else's junk," according to the news agency AFP. Saab is still smarting from Norway's decision last year to buy American F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters instead of the Gripen.
Sharing the Wealth of the Barents: Norway and Russia are close to resolving a 40-year-old conflict over their sea boundary in the Arctic, a Norwegian expert, Rune Rafaelsen, told United Press International. Agreement on where to draw the line between the Russian and Norwegian economic zones in the Barents Sea will determine who owns the oil and natural gas reserves down below. As the Arctic ice has retreated in recent years, offshore production has grown more feasible, heating up the border issue.
30 March 2010
Leisure is priority No. 1: Denmark's foreign minister, Lene Espersen, showed yesterday just how seriously Scandinavians take their vacations. Ms. Espersen got an early start on her Easter holiday, traveling with her family to Spain instead of pressing Denmark's and Greenland's interests at summit meeting in Canada with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and foreign ministers from other Arctic nations.
29 March 2010
Volvo turns Chinese: Two months after General Motors unloaded Sweden's iconic Saab car brand onto Spyker of the Netherlands, Ford has sold Volvo Cars to the Chinese carmaker Geely, for $1.8 billion. Ford had bought Volvo back in 1999 -- for $6.5 billion. And so it goes for another big money-losing Swedish industrial brand.
28 March 2010
Copenhagen Metro named best in world: Copenhagen's driverless rapid transit system, which opened in 2002, was named the best metro service on earth this week at MetroRail 2010, an annual conference in London. The Danish capital currently has only two metro rail lines, but a major expansion -- a circle line around the city -- is under way. "This metro has delivered incredibly high levels of passenger satisfaction, with 2009 being a record year in terms of service availability," the jury said.
28 March 2010
Danish fathers embrace paternity leave: More and more Danish fathers take extended leave from work when their children are born. In the public sector, the proportion taking the 10 weeks allowed by law has doubled, to 21 percent, since 2005. The average dad in the public sector now takes 38 days off.
27 March 2010
Swedish jets shot down again: The Swedish defense firm Saab reacted with frustration today to reports that Romania has chosen to buy used American F-16 fighter aircraft instead of the latest version of Saab's Gripen. A Saab spokesman said Romania "may end up with someone else's junk," according to the news agency AFP. Saab is still smarting from Norway's decision last year to buy American F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters instead of the Gripen.
