When government ministers from around the world came to Oslo Monday to find a way out of the global unemployment mess, the first thing they noted was that there's no mess here. Norway's unemployment rate is about 3 percent -- well below its level before the financial crisis. The participants, including the prime ministers of chaotic Spain and Greece, heard that labour groups, employers and the government here cooperate closely on wage settlements; that more than 50 percent of the workforce is unionized; that the public sector hires when the private sector cuts back; and that oil revenues flow to all. Everyone agreed that all that is wonderful -- and completely irrelevant to their own economies.

The MV Nordic Barents set sail from Norway to China Saturday with 41,000 tonnes of iron ore. What's remarkable is the route. The ship is steaming through the Arctic Ocean, skirting what's left of the melting ice sheet. "We're pretty much going over the top," said John Sanderson, CEO of the Norwegian mine whose ore was on board. The journey is described as the first non-stop transit of  Russia's Northern Sea Route by a non-Russian commercial vessel. The Arctic short cut will shave about eight days and 5,000 nautical miles from the usual southerly route to Asia.