Friday, September 11, 2026
Farming

EU imports of organic products from Norway

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Organic products from Norway and Iceland including Norwegian organic salmon, can again be imported to the European Union and duly marketed as abiding by the EU’s organic rules following the incorporation of the relevant regulations into the agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA).

The long-awaited decision taken today by the EEA Joint Committee puts an end to an 8-year delay during which organic producers from Norway and Iceland (the EEA countries concerned) were complying with outdated rules no longer applied within the EU. As a result of the adoption of this decision, imports of organic salmon produced and certified in accordance with the EU Regulations from the EEA countries will be able to resume as of 18 March 2017.

Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Phil Hogan welcomed today’s decision: “I am happy to see that our EEA partners realised the importance of common standards, and the benefits they bring to producers and consumers on both sides. The rules guarantee a level playing field between EU and EEA organic producers, for their mutual benefit. The Commission will never accept any watering down of our high standards for products being produced, imported and marketed as organic. It is our role to ensure consumer confidence and guarantee the credibility of the EU organic logo”

The EU first adopted rules on organic production and labelling in 1991, but updated them in 2007, in many cases with stricter rules. Additional production rules were introduced later, notably organic aquaculture production rules, in 2009. All these rules became compulsory to EU producers in January 2015, and the delay in the incorporation of the new regulations into the EEA agreement created a situation of unfair treatment of producers and operators.

In particular, as regards the EU aquaculture rules applicable to the production and certification of organic salmon, the delay meant that aquaculture products from these countries could not be imported and sold as organic in the EU, with implications for EEA countries’ producers and EU importers and processors.

The EEA authorities had delayed incorporating the new Regulations because of outstanding requests for derogations on certain technical points, notably on the use of fishmeal to feed ruminants and a degree of flexibility on labelling. These requests have now been withdrawn.

Background
Organic production is the only part of the EU’s common agricultural policy (CAP) legislation that falls within the scope of the EEA Agreement. This agreement, which entered into force on 1 January 1994, brings together the EU Member States and the three EEA States — Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway — in a single market. It foresees the incorporation without delay of all EU legal acts falling within its scope. The delay in doing so meant the EEA countries were still applying the organic production rules adopted by the EU in 1991. The incorporation of the EU rules leads to formal bilateral recognition of and compliance with the rules, and paves the way for organic produce from the EEA to be imported and sold as such within the EU. The legislation on foodstuff does not apply to Lichtenstein therefore the incorporation and the resulting outcome only concerns Iceland and Norway.

(N.Sethurupan)

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Svalbard

Sami people of Norway get involved in oil pipeline

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

The Sami people of Norway have, by way of their parliament in Norway, persuaded the country’s second largest pension fund KLP to withdraw its money from companies linked to the Dakota Access oil pipeline project according to a Guardian report.

The Sami people are the latest addition in a wave of international solidarity with the so called Water Protectors of the Native American Standing Rock Sioux reservation in the United States of America, who have vigorously protested the Dakota Access oil pipeline now backed by US president Donald Trump. The Standing Rock activists and their plight has prompted international solidarity between indigenous people of the world on a scale never before seen.

As a result of lobbying by the Sami parliament, Norway’s local authority pension fund KLP announced it would sell of shares worth $58m in companies building the pipeline, the report informs.

“We feel a strong solidarity with other indigenous people in other parts of the world, so we are doing our part in Norway by putting pressure on the pension funds,” Vibeke Larsen, president of the Sami parliament told the Guardian.

The Sami people, also known as Lapps, are the only indigenous people of Scandinavia recognized and protected under the international conventions of indigenous peoples. They are known as the Reindeer herders and are the northern most indigenous people of Europe, adjusted to arctic conditions.

(icenews)

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Media Freedom

All-woman Norwegian brass ensemble plays dazzling

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Four trumpets, four trombones, a horn and a tuba. All of them played by women. That’s the unusual formula adopted by tenThing, a group of Norwegians who brought their particular brand of entertainment to Minneapolis’ Aria on Thursday evening for a Schubert Club concert.

For those who think that classical concerts are stuffy affairs, hooked on staid formality, tenThing is a stream of living water. The prelude from Grieg’s Holberg Suite burbled with vivacity, the repeated note patterns revealing a group of players with technical chops to die for.

Another treat? They moved around the platform, ringing the visual changes in response to musical mood shifts. In Grieg’s “Gjendine’s Lullaby,” two of the players knelt as though serenading a slumbering baby.

For Grieg’s “March of the Trolls,” they rotated in circles, using the full depth of the platform to create distancing effects, making the eventual rip and snort of trombone trolling all the more effective.

TenThing is led, but in no way dominated by, internationally renowned trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth, who founded the ensemble in Norway 10 years ago. Although Helseth mainly operates in the band as first among equals, she inevitably gets her solo moments. Two in particular stood out. In “Summer” from Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons,” she brought a jazzy, New Orleans-style swagger to the opening movement, hitting a bluesy vibe for the central Adagio.

Vivaldi’s music took on fascinating new refractions, its overfamiliarity dissolving like morning mist. The bright gleam of brass instruments snapped the composer’s daring and inventiveness into pristine focus.

Helseth’s other main moment came in Astor Piazzolla’s “Oblivion.” She soloed in both verses of the famous tango — once with mute attached to her trumpet, once without. Her performance, rapt and deeply melancholy, temporarily suspended the sense of time passing, and held a packed audience enraptured.

Choreography kicked in again in tenThing’s giddy romp through Bizet’s opera “Carmen.” Strutting across the stage, pointing their instruments at different angles, the players pushed the tempos to the verge of parody, and had you blinking at their collective virtuosity.

A word about the arrangements: They are all done by Norwegian guitarist Jarle Storløkken, and all are bursting with wit and individuality.

Somehow, too, Storløkken’s arrangements manage to bring out the femininity of tenThing’s playing. To put it simply, this particular group of 10 players does not sound the way 10 male brass players would. Ten­Thing’s is a nimbler, more balletic style of brass playing, softer and more collegial in the players’ interactions.

These qualities made the band’s roguish take on Mozart’s “Rondo alla Turca” (another slam-dunk Storløkken arrangement) a thing of unadulterated pleasure.

I had a French horn honking in my ear for most of it as players mingled with the audience at floor level, and enjoyed myself thoroughly.

Terry Blain writes about classical music and theater.

(startribune)

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Asylum

Refuge in Europe “mission impossible”

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

The EU-Turkey deal has turned Greece into a testing ground for European Union policies that are eroding the rights of refugees and asylum seekers, and expose people to risk and abuse, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), and Oxfam said today. The humanitarian agencies warned the deal is causing human suffering and should under no circumstances be replicated with other countries.

Monday 20 March 2017 will mark one year since the implementation of the EU-Turkey deal which allows Europe to return asylum seekers from Greece to Turkey, outsourcing their responsibilities to protect people who come to Europe in search of safety.

In a new report, the three organisations showcase how vulnerable people are forced to live in degrading conditions, and it outlines the many ways in which asylum seekers are barred from exercising their right to a fair asylum process.

“The EU-Turkey deal is playing roulette with the futures of some of the world’s most vulnerable. It has become mission impossible for those who need it most to seek refuge in Europe,” said Panos Navrozidis, the IRC’s Country Director in Greece.

The right of refugees to have their individual asylum claims examined is crucial to protect people against being returned to a place where they may be at risk, as enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention. However, on the Greek islands, the primary focus is on whether people can be returned without assessing their individual case. People fleeing the war in Syria, for instance, need to go through an “admissibility” procedure, which does not assess the individual reasons why people were forced to flee.

The report highlights major gaps in critically needed legal counselling and assistance to navigate the confusing, constantly changing asylum procedures. For example, it was decided at a certain point that unaccompanied children could no longer prove their age with an original birth certificate; instead they were requested to present passports or national ID cards – even in cases where such documents are not issued to children under 18 years.

As a result, asylum seekers are forced to navigate the lengthy and drawn-out process with little to no assistance, while they are exposed to further rights violations and often appalling conditions. Making matters worse, there are significant concerns about the expertise and quality of interviews conducted by European Asylum Support Office staff sent by EU countries to support Greece, as well as significant concerns also about lack of oversight of the process.

“Following the EU-Turkey deal, basic human rights and the rights of people in need of asylum are being trampled on. Europe has set a dangerous precedent and we fear that it will be all too easy for other countries to also shirk their responsibility in providing international protection,” said Nicola Bay, Country Director for Oxfam in Greece.

Over the course of the last year, asylum seekers on the Greek islands were, and continue to be, sheltered in tents, even during freezing winter weather. Children, women and men continue to be exposed to risks to their health and wellbeing, and many have limited access to basic services such as medical and psychological support to help overcome trauma.

“The EU justified its agreement with Turkey as a temporary response to an emergency situation. People fleeing war and persecution have been met with uncertainty and a lack of necessary legal support to prepare for interviews which will seal their fate”, said Gianmaria Pinto, Country Director of the Norwegian Refugee Council.

(N.Sethu)

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Economics

Norwegian flies four million passengers between the US and Europe

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Norwegian has now flown more than four million passengers between Europe and the U.S. since the first transatlantic service began in 2013.

Norwegian first launched affordable flights from Scandinavia direct to the U.S. in May 2013, followed by services from London to the US commencing in July 2014. At the end of 2016 Norwegian also launched nonstop services between Paris and the United States, with four new services between Barcelona and the United States commencing in June 2017.

Norwegian CEO Bjørn Kjos said: “Reaching this global milestone of flying 4 million passengers’ in under four years shows the huge demand for affordable travel across the Atlantic. Norwegian’s transatlantic offering is not only great news for the traveling public, but also for the local U.S and European economies, as we will bring more tourists that will increase spending, supporting thousands of local jobs.

“Our low-cost long-haul flights to and from the U.S. are only the beginning, as we have ambitious plans to continue offering passengers affordable high-quality transatlantic flights, to a range of other global destinations.”

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Economics

Croatia Airlines to launch four new international routes

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Croatia Airlines on Wednesday presented four new international routes, from Zagreb to Stockholm, Helsinki, Oslo and Bucharest, which will expand the airline’s network of European destinations during the summer season.

As of 19 May, Croatia Airlines will connect Zagreb and Stockholm and two days later it will introduce the first regular international flights to Helsinki and Oslo.

The first direct flight to Bucharest will be launched on May 19 as well.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Crafts, Martina Dalic, said at the presentation that the new Croatia Airlines routes would be considered to be a sign of success for even much larger companies. These routes are important for tourism and the entire economy as they will make it easier for investors to get to Croatia, she said.

“Launching new routes is not an easy task, but I believe that this is a pledge for Croatia Airlines’ further development because the Croatian government is interested in its strengthening and lasting successful business operations,”said Dalic at the presentation that was attended by representatives of the government, the City of Zagreb, the Zagreb Tourism Board and the ambassadors of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Romania.

Croatia Airlines Board President Kresimir Kucko underscored that over the past year the airline had launched eight new international routes. That, he said, is particularly important for Croatia’s tourism because one in three tourists is an “air-guest” who flies to Croatia with the domestic airline.

After its successful restructuring, Croatia Airlines is a stable and prospective company with a clear development direction, Kucko said and announced that the company could have more than two million passengers this year, the most ever in its history.

(eblnews)

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Oil & Gas

MEPs reject ban on Arctic oil drilling

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

MEPs have rejected a proposal saying that the EU should work for a total ban on oil drilling in the Arctic.
The proposal was part of the European Parliament’s report on an integrated EU policy for the Arctic, which was voted on Thursday (16 March).

MEPs voted to remove parts of the report that called for a future total ban on oil drilling and extraction of Arctic oil and gas, and that the EU should pressure international partners to put an end to offshore drilling in Arctic waters.
They let through, however, a paragraph supporting a ban on oil drilling in the icy Arctic waters of the EU and the EEA, a proposal without larger effect as Norway already bans drilling of icy waters.

The Arctic is estimated to hold 22 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas resources. The melting of Arctic ice is unlocking new opportunities in the form of shipping routes and gas and oil stocks, which could further hurt the environment.

The parliament’s position is non-binding, but Norway has taken it very seriously nonetheless.

In the last few weeks, Norwegian MPs have travelled to Brussels in a bid to persuade MEPs to remove the controversial references.

Eirik Sivertsen, chair of the Norwegian parliament’s delegation for Arctic cooperation, has furthermore sent a letter to MEPs saying that climate change “cannot be solved by symbolic actions.”

“The problems of climate change were not created in the Arctic and cannot be solved in the Arctic alone,” he said.

There have also been calls for the Norwegian EU minister, Frank Bakke-Jensen, to resign over his handling of the situation.

Norway was the first industrial country in the world to ratify the 2015 climate Paris agreement, but all parties are committed to continued Arctic oil drilling.

Green pressure groups have taken legal action against the Norwegian government in an attempt to force it to stop offering new drilling licenses for the Barents sea.

The European Parliament debated the report on Wednesday evening.

Estonian liberal, Urmas Paet, a co-rapporteur, reminded MEPs that the EU is dependent on Norway if the bloc wants to reduce its dependence on Russian oil and gas. He argued that there is a need to respect international law, in reference to the law of the sea, which states that coastal states are sovereign to enjoy resources on the continental shelf.

Finnish centre-right MEP Sirpa Pietikainen, the other author of the report, told EUobserver that the centre-right EPP group didn’t back the ban on Arctic drilling.

Pietikainen said it was nonetheless problematic that “anyone is drilling for more fossil fuels anywhere in the world, and in such sensitive areas as the Arctic in particular”.

She argued that there was also a “carbon bubble”, the idea that it’s economically futile to invest in fossil fuels when most of the existing oil and gas reserves have to stay in the ground if we are to survive as a civilisation.

Pietikainen added that even if the report was non-binding, it was important because it could feed into EU legislation at a later stage, and this was what had made Norway nervous.

The parliament, in its final report, asked to step up cooperation between Arctic members so as to better protect the unique ecosystem. It spoke of the importance of listening to indigenous people, such as the Sami, and calls for the creation of a research centre – financed by the EU.

The Arctic’s temperature has increased steadily over the years, around twice as fast as the global average. Sea ice has shrunk significantly – there is around 40 percent less than the amount in summer 35 years ago.

(euobserver)

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Science

Norway’s new pixelated banknotes are gorgeous

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Back in 2014, I posted that Norway would start using new banknotes in 2017 featuring an abstract pixelated design on the reverse of each note. Time did the only thing it knows how to do so here we are in 2017 and the bills will begin circulating later this year. The overall theme for the notes is “The Sea”:

Norway’s long, gnarled coastline has shaped the identity of Norwegians individually and as a nation. The use of marine resources, combined with the use of the sea as a transport artery, has been crucial to the development of Norwegian society.

And each particular note has its own subtheme:

The 50-krone banknote: The sea that binds us together
The 100-krone banknote: The sea that takes us out into the world
The 200-krone banknote: The sea that feeds us
The 500-krone banknote: The sea that gives us prosperity
The 1000-krone banknote: The sea that carries us forward

The final design concept by Terje Tønnessen was chosen from among several finalists. I love the final design but also really like the concept by Aslak Gurholt with a children’s drawing on the back of each note echoing the illustration on the front.

Norway Banknotes Gurholt

Also of note (ha!): Norges Bank crowdsourced several aspects of the design process but managed to do it in such a way as to avoid the Boaty McBoatface problem.

(kottke)

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Spy War

Russian Extradited from Norway – USA

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

ATLANTA – Mark Vartanyan, also known as “Kolypto,” a Russian national who allegedly developed, improved and maintained the pernicious “Citadel” malware toolkit, was arraigned in federal court following his extradition from Norway in December 2016. Vartanyan was charged with one count of computer fraud.

“This successful extradition is yet another example of how cooperation among international law enforcement partners can be used to disrupt and dismantle global cyber syndicates,” said U. S. Attorney John Horn. “This defendant’s alleged role in developing and improving “Citadel” for its use by cybercriminals caused a vast amount of financial harm to individuals and institutions around the world. His appearance in federal court today shows that cybercriminals cannot hide in the shadows of the Internet. We will identify them and bring them to justice wherever they operate.”

“We must continue to impose real costs on criminals who believe they are protected by geographic boundaries and can prey on the American people and institutions with impunity. Vartanyan’s arrest removes a significant player who was engaged in the development, improvement, maintenance and distribution of malware from the resources available to the cyber criminal underground, thereby deteriorating the capabilities of cyber criminal groups. Today’s plea is the culmination of a multi-national effort led by the FBI, highlighting the benefits of global cooperation among the United States and international law enforcement. It further demonstrates the FBI’s long-term commitment to identifying and pursuing cyber criminals world-wide, and serves as a strong deterrent to others targeting America’s financial institutions and citizens through the use of malicious software,” said David J. LeValley, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Office.

According to U.S. Attorney Horn, the charges, and other information presented in court: “Citadel” is a malware toolkit designed to infect computer systems and steal financial account credentials and personally identifiable information from victim computer networks. Beginning in or about 2011, Citadel was offered for sale on invite-only, Russian-language internet forums frequented by cybercriminals. Users of Citadel targeted and exploited the computer networks of major financial and government institutions around the world, including several financial institutions in the United States. According to industry estimates, Citadel infected approximately 11 million computers worldwide and is responsible for over $500 million in losses.

Between on or about August 21, 2012 and January 9, 2013, while residing in Ukraine, and again between on or about April 9, 2014 and June 2, 2014, while residing in Norway, Vartanyan allegedly engaged in the development, improvement, maintenance and distribution of Citadel. During these periods, Vartanyan allegedly uploaded numerous electronic files that consisted of Citadel malware, components, updates and patches, as well as customer information, all with the intent of improving Citadel’s illicit functionality.

Vartanyan was extradited to the United States in December 2016 from Norway. He was charged in a one-count Information with computer fraud, and was arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Russell G. Vineyard.

Vartanyan is the second defendant charged in connection with an ongoing investigation of the Citadel malware. On September 29, 2015, Dimitry Belorossov, a/k/a Rainerfox, 22, of St. Petersburg, Russia, was sentenced to four years, six months in prison following his guilty plea for conspiring to commit computer fraud for distributing and installing Citadel onto victim computers using a variety of infection methods.

Belorossov downloaded a version of Citadel, which he then used to operate a Citadel botnet primarily from Russia. Belorossov remotely controlled over 7,000 victim bots, including at least one infected computer system with an IP address resolving to the Northern District of Georgia. Belorossov’s Citadel botnet contained personal information from the infected victim computers, including online banking credentials for U.S.-based financial institutions with federally insured deposits, credit card information, and other personally identifying information.

In addition to operating a Citadel botnet, Belorossov also provided online assistance with the goal of developing suggested improvements to Citadel, including posting comments on criminal forums on the Internet and electronically communicating with other cybercriminals via email and instant messaging.

Belorossov was convicted on July 18, 2014, after he pleaded guilty.

DOJ’s investigation into the creator of the Citadel malware is continuing.

Members of the public are reminded that the information only contains charges. The defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Assistant United States Attorney Steven D. Grimberg is prosecuting the case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs also provided assistance with this case.

CBS46 News

(N.Sethurupan , Department of Justice / U.S. Attorney’s Office / Northern District of Georgia )

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Environment

World’s first test site for autonomous vehicles opens

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Credit: Kongsberg Seatex

Norway’s Trondheim Fjord will be the world’s first technological playground for pilotless vehicles that move below, on and above the water’s surface.

Snake robots, underwater drones, unmanned ships and flying drones are craft you will soon be able to see on Trondheim Fjord, Norway’s third-longest fjord located in the west-central part of the country. The area is being established as a test lab for autonomous technology – which could replace the crews on ships, among many other possibilities.

“As far as I know, this is the first test site of its kind in the world. In fact, I’m surprised at how fast the development is progressing. Now that the test site is being established, we have also received the blessing of the Norwegian authorities to try out technology that’s going to amaze people,” says Professor Asgeir Johan Sørensen, Director of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s Centre for Autonomous Marine Operations and Systems (NTNU AMOS).

Good for the environment

Autonomous technology is being used to develop intelligent systems where human perception and intervention are automated. We find autonomous functions in advanced automated systems that have human operators – for example in a car’s cruise control and collision avoidance systems or the autopilot on a passenger plane.

Autonomous functions are also found in unmanned systems where people are not physically present – such as on a pilotless vessel, or oil and gas installations. These often involve remote control of the vessel or installation with varying levels of autonomy, using for example satellite communications. Control is then moved from the bridge on the ship or the control room of the installation to a centre on land.

“If a fault or a delay occurs in the communication link, the systems must still be able to “think” for themselves and make decisions. In this area, we have so far made the most progress with autonomous underwater vehicles. Pilotless vessels do not necessarily mean that no people work on board, but the crew will have different functions,” Sørensen says.

Today, autonomous unmanned vehicles are used to perform tasks in so-called unstructured environments with complex, unpredictable and sometimes dangerous areas, or for surveys and mapping of geographical areas. What is now happening with full force is the development of larger pilotless vessels that can transport cargo and maybe passengers. And the environment can actually benefit from that.

“Pilotless ships to carry cargoes can be built without cabins for the crew and without air conditioning systems that would otherwise be needed for the welfare of people on board. So they are both easier and cheaper to build. Pilotless freight traffic could also give us a far more differentiated pattern of transport,” says Sørensen.

Vessels that sail slowly use less fuel. In the future, the speed of freight traffic could be adapted more precisely to the cargo on board. Some products must get there fast, but for others, speed is less important. This is better for the environment, and cuts operating costs.

“Unmanned vessels can also be built in ways that make them less vulnerable to attack – from pirates, for example. However, cyber security will be an issue,” Sørensen adds.

New rules and standards needed

The Trondheim Fjord is highly suitable as a test site for autonomous vessels. The fjord is clear and open, large and wide, almost like a small sea – while it is demanding enough to create challenges for humans and technology to tackle. Another factor is that shipping traffic is relatively low.

Most important of all, however, is the cluster of expertise near the fjord, which includes research institutions, business and industry with long traditions of research and development in autonomous systems, vessel concepts, aquaculture, mineral extraction and robotics. Now these players will have a test laboratory on their doorstep, but the test site will also be available for other players who need to test autonomous vessels.

Kongsberg Seatex, Marintek, and Maritime Robotics have joined forces with NTNU to launch the test site initiative. Other industrial players such as Rolls-Royce Marine are involved as well.

“This is an example of a unique collaboration between government agencies, industry, research and teaching, and it gives us a competitive edge. With the restructuring of the oil and gas sector, the stage is set for a quantum leap in the field. It is during downturns that radical innovation projects emerge,” says Sørensen.

Professor Ingrid Schjølberg is the Director of NTNU Oceans, one of NTNU’s strategic areas of research. She points out that as a maritime nation, it is important for Norway to be at the forefront of maritime research and to ensure that the research infrastructure we need is in place.

“A wide range of expertise will be needed now that autonomous systems are being developed at record speed – because these systems relate to the environment, technology and operations, as well as human operators and operational safety,” she says.

Difficult to predict what might go wrong

Sørensen also notes that the rapid development of autonomous systems creates completely new demands for dealing with risk and management of risk. Qualification of new technology and operations will call for an approach that focuses more on function and risk. The bottleneck for further development of the technology lies here, he believes.

“For the entire industry, it is demanding to keep up with developments. For government agencies and classification societies, it’s going to be a major challenge to follow up standards and regulations, including adequate testing and verification in this area,” he explains.

Ingrid Bouwer Utne, Professor at the Department of Marine Technology at NTNU, is conducting research in areas including risk assessment and maintenance management of marine systems.

She points out that new regulations are often developed after accidents have happened. Although automation is not a new phenomenon, the system complexity and dependencies are increasing. This makes it more challenging to predict and allow for everything that might in fact go wrong.

“It’s often a bit late before this risk management factor is included in the development of new technology – and this is not limited to autonomous systems,” she said. “But when we get systems that are intended to run on their own, through monitoring and remote control, factors such as understanding the situation and the flow of information between the system and the operator immediately become more challenging.”

“When you remove the operator from the vessel, the autonomous ship must be capable of understanding and handling challenges and adverse situations independently to a greater extent,” says Bouwer Utne, who believes both government agencies and other parties see the importance of taking risk management seriously.

(phys)

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Science

Antibiotics may help with intense back pain

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

A Norwegian study will research whether bacteria are responsible for some types of back pain.

It’s just an ordinary bacterium that we all have on our skin. But it keeps some people with herniated discs in severe and almost constant pain, according to researchers from the University of Southern Denmark.

Their study showed that almost half of the patients with herniated discs have this bacterium inside their intervertebral disc. The results also showed that a three-month regimen of antibiotics could in many cases stop the symptoms.

This discovery is “the stuff of Nobel Prizes,” according to the English neurologist Peter Hamlyn at University College London Hospital in a 2013 interview with The Independent. The “stuff” he was referring to was a Danish study published in the European Spine Journal.

The study attracted international attention, and the news did not take long to reach Norwegian patients with chronic lower back issues. Some of them had gone for years with no relief from the intense pain.

Deluge of patients
Oslo University Hospital has experienced a rush of patients who want antibiotics since this study was published, says research director Kjersti Storheim at the hospital’s Communication- and research unit for musculoskeletal disorders (FORMI).

The answer they get is no.

“We don’t change our guidelines based on the results of a single study. A lot of scientific discussions about the Danish study have taken place. We believe that this study needs to be verified,” says Storheim.

A living hell
Heidi Økland knows all too well what a living hell is like.

The 36-year-old has had lower back pain on and off since she was 21 years old. In 2003, a herniated disc was detected in her lower lumbar region. She managed to keep the pain in check somewhat with chiropractic treatment and exercise.

When the pain suddenly changed in the autumn of 2012, she implemented a more structured training program, because this had helped before. But this time, the pain was of a different dimension altogether.

An MRI scan revealed visible changes in the bone marrow, just off the vertebrae, called Modic changes. They are named after the doctor Michael Modic who first described them.

But other findings indicated rheumatism as a possibility, and Økland was therefore diagnosed with rheumatism.

The pain just grew more and more unbearable. Eventually, she was no longer able to walk. Going to work became impossible, even with accommodations.

“It felt like I had a knife stuck in my lower back that was there all the time. I had no break from the pain. I could hardly sleep. Just getting dressed in the morning hurt so much that I almost had to throw up,” Økland says.

She tried numerous medications and treatments, but they only helped briefly, a little or not at all.

“The only thing I wanted was help for the pain, to stay healthy and to start living my life again. And especially, to be a mother to my kids,” she says.

She was told not to be afraid of the pain, which she found both frustrating and provocative.

Began to google
When the pain did not relent, Økland began googling. She came across research describing Modic. She also found a Norwegian group on Facebook where other patients described the same symptoms as she had. She discovered she was not alone.

Through her contact with other patients, Økland learned about the Danish Modic study. She sent her MRI images to the Modic Clinic in Denmark. This is a private clinic that began to treat patients with antibiotics after the Danish study showed positive results of such treatment.

She heard from Denmark that she could benefit from this treatment, and at the same time a private back specialist in Bergen told her that she qualified for back surgery. After much deliberation, she chose the latter.

Økland said it was tough to go through this situation alone and to go against advice and recommendations given by public health services.

The Danish clinic has also opened a branch in Spain. Many Norwegian patients have travelled abroad to obtain this treatment.

Knows that patients go abroad
Storheim is quite aware that patients go abroad to receive this antibiotic treatment.

She says researchers are just as frustrated as patients are that they don’t better understand the reasons why people get back pain and how the pain can be treated.

This treatment option “is finally something concrete for the large group of patients with nonspecific lower back pain. For many years the main intervention has been a psychological approach, for lack of truly effective treatment options,” she says.

Norwegian study initiated
Storheim is heading a large Norwegian project that is setting up a study right now. This must replicate the Danish one exactly in order to verify its findings.

One group of patients will receive antibiotics for 100 days and another group will receive a placebo. Patients must have had disc herniation during the past two years and prolonged back pain.

The Norwegian study also wants to add a new element to what was done in the Danish study. Samples will be taken of all the patients to investigate the hypothesis that a bacterial infection underlies the Modic changes.

Then the researchers will study epigenetic changes that may indicate whether the patient has bacteria in the spinal column. Epigenetics studies how the body organizes our genes.

What about antibiotics use?
“It will take one and a half years for the first results from this study,” says Storheim.

If the Norwegian researchers show that the bacteria level goes down in the group receiving antibiotics, the results will confirm the Danish study. Only then will antibiotics be made available to Norwegian patients with chronic back pain.

That will be a happy day for many back patients. But it is also a huge dilemma for the researchers and society.

High antibiotics use threatens our world. Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest enemies in today’s health care system.

Back pain is a very common ailment in the population. Treating this group of patients with a 100-day antibiotic regimen could become a public health problem.

Storheim admits that the study risks adding to the problem.

But she believes that they have to check whether the Danish study is really true. Not only for the sake of research, but because patients deserve it.

Still more uncertainty than certainty
At this point, what is known about Modic is more uncertain than certain, Storheim believes.

What is quite certain is that Modic changes can be seen as a shadow under or over a disc on your MRI.

One of the hypotheses is that skin bacteria – swirling around in the bloodstream and penetrating into one of the intervertebral discs – are to blame, and that this happens in the context of a herniated disc.

The discs normally remain closed, so any infection takes a long time to be cleared out. This may cause inflammation that results in intense and constant pain.

This hypothesis was the basis for the previously published Danish study and is also the basis for the Norwegian study.

Expensive surgery
Økland had her back surgery in 2015. The operation was successful, and she is now back in a half-time position as a radiographer.

She is also some EUR 20 000 poorer, because her operation was private. The public health system deemed this type of operation an experimental treatment and therefore not advisable.

Økland has joined efforts to launch a separate diagnosis group for those with Modic changes under Ryggforeningen i Norge (Norwegian back association). Several of these patients have been to Denmark to receive antibiotics treatment. She understands them well.

“You become desperate when no one hears or believes you, and you’re not getting any help to deal with such intense, constant pain,” she says.

Wants knowledge-based treatment
Those who are establishing this association want treatment to be available in Norway. But it needs to be evidence-based, says Økland.

She believes it is time for Modic-related back pain to be defined as a specific type of back pain.

She says that although prolonged and sometimes severe back pain has been shown to accompany Modic abnormalities, not everyone with Modic changes experiences pain. A certain continuum probably exists, which complicates the picture and shows the need for a greater understanding of the underlying causes.

The help you get today is random, says Økland. Some Norwegian doctors are already prescribing antibiotics for their back patients, but many doctors are still reluctant to do that.

“The most important thing for us now is to increase the knowledge, interest and experience in the relevant disciplines. For that we require further research,” she says.

(sciencenordic)

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Farming

Freighter Nordfjord breached after grounding off Norway

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

The general cargo ship Nordfjord ran aground off Kopervik, Norway. The freighter was en route to Sandnes in Norway with 5,500 tonnes of sand, but left the fairway and contacted the bottom just below Coop Extra at Moksheim. The crew succeeded to refloat the ship just a few minutes after the grounding, but it was estimated that suffered breaches below the waterline, suffering slight water ingress in the forepeak. The accident was reported to the local authorities and the freighter Nordfjord was ordered to head Kopervik for special survey and underwater inspection. The vessel will remain at the port for repairs before return in service and resume the voyage.

The local authorities initiated investigation for the root cause of the accident. The police routinely took blood alcohol samples of the duty officer, which was negative. Fortunately during the accident there were no reported injuries and no water pollution.

The general cargo ship Nordfjord (IMO: 9341732) has overall length of 109.00 m, moulded beam of 14.00 m and maximum draft of 6.20 m. The deadweight of the freighter is 6,000 DWT and the gross tonnage is 3,990 GRT. The vessel was built in 2006 by Ferus Smit Scheepswerf in Hoogezand, Netherlands.

(maritimeherald)

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Environment

NASA’s Aerial Survey of Polar Ice Expands Its Arctic Reach

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

For the past eight years, Operation IceBridge, a NASA mission that conducts aerial surveys of polar ice, has produced unprecedented three-dimensional views of Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets, providing scientists with valuable data on how polar ice is changing in a warming world. Now, for the first time, the campaign will expand its reach to explore the Arctic’s Eurasian Basin through two research flights based out of Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the northern Atlantic Ocean.

The mission is surveying the region as part of its 2017 Arctic spring campaign, which completed its first flight on March 9 and will continue until May 12.

“This is IceBridge’s ninth year in the Arctic and we’re expecting this to be one of our most extensive campaigns to date,” said Nathan Kurtz, Operation IceBridge’s project scientist and a sea ice scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “We are expanding our reach to the Eurasian sector of the Arctic, so we’re hopefully going to get more sea ice coverage than we ever have.”

Traditionally, IceBridge’s Arctic campaigns operate from three bases: Thule Air Base in northwest Greenland, Fairbanks in Alaska, and Kangerlussuaq in southwest Greenland. The addition of Svalbard will allow the mission to collect data on sea ice and snow in a scarcely measured section of the Arctic Ocean and its surrounding seas, along with measurements of a few glaciers in the Svalbard archipelago. Researchers think that the sea ice characteristics in the Eurasian side of the Arctic might be different from those of its Amerasian counterpart. In particular, they suspect that they may see a thicker snow cover on the Eurasian sea ice, but they will not be able to confirm it until IceBridge flies over.

(Credit: NASA/Nathan Kurtz)

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Svalbard

Billions of Reasons to Invest in Arctic Europe

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Northern Finland, Sweden and Norway – is the 10th largest economical region in the world. The Arctic region can develop into Europe’s largest area of investment: from 2016 to 2025 investments in the region can exceed 100 billion euros.

City of Oulu is participating in MIPIM expo together with the two other arctic cities, Luleå and Tromsø.

– This Arctic Europe collaboration has already bred a new intercity flight route ‘Arctic Airlink’, increased cooperation between the universities, and created export opportunities to Northern companies. Logistics, research, and business is a cooperation whole, which will showcase the immense potential of the Arctic areas internationally, BusinessOulu’s Head of Marketing and Communications, Pauliina Pikkujämsä, believes.

Arctic Europe is the shortest airway to Northern America and Northern Asia from Europe. Arctic Europe gathers together an area under the same brand, where the understanding of the Arctic, world-class know-how, and immense natural resources. Logistics – expanding a Europe-wide transport network, and building an international digital communication cable connection – is also part of the Arctic area’s growth potential that is being boosted by nearly 200 billion in investments in the following 10 years.

Oulu, in Northern Finland, is a world-class high-tech city: 2.6 billion people around the world use ICT technology developed in Oulu. The city is not only the fastest growing region in the Nordics, but also has the youngest population in Europe.

Luleå, in Northern Sweden, is the Growth Municipality of the year 2015 as well as the home city of Facebook in Europe. Luleå University of Technology is the international competence center for research in the field of minerology and metallurgy.

Troms, in Northern Norway, is the home of major institutions of Arctic international and national policies. The city is known for its highly skilled workforce in research and development. Troms boasts fast growing industries in space technology, marine resources, tourism and energy/environmental technology.

The stand P-1.K1 in MIPIM features the City of Oulu, Invest in Lapland, Health City, the City of Pudasjärvi, Lukkaroinen, Maikkula Estate, Lehto Group, CubiCasa, GBuilder, Pave Architects, the City of Luleå, Arctic Airlink, Luleå Airport, Treeohotel, Port of Luleå, the City of Tromsø, and Arctic Center.

SOURCE BusinessOulu

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Politics

Wealthy Viking woman buried in Denmark was in fact Norwegian-born

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Viking ship in full sail, Labrador Sea

A Viking woman buried in Denmark more than a millennia ago was born in Norway, an archaeologist has discovered. Her case highlights once more that the Vikings were mobile people, accustomed to migrating to other lands.

The woman’s remains were placed in a Viking grave in Randers, in Denmark’s Jutland peninsula. It was first excavated fourteen years ago by Ernst Stidsing, the curator at East Jutland Museum.

A number of wealthy and elaborate grave goods such as a broach, a knife and a necklace with bronze and glass pearl were recovered.

All these objects suggest that it was a wealthy woman of high status which was laid to rest there. However, no human remains – except for a few fragments of teeth – were preserved.

At the time of the excavation, Stidsing had found one object that he had never seen before – a brooch made from a decorative plaque which had been taken from a holy shrine.

“I had not seen anything like this before from the time of the Danish Viking Age, but I later found that this type of jewellery was not so uncommon in Norway and that it could also have been plundered from sites in Northumbria, Ireland or Southern Scotland. But at the time, we were not able to verify this by analysing the origins of this woman,” Stidsing told IBTimes UK.

Now, the archaeologist has been able to dig deeper in the woman’s past, examining what remains of her teeth with a strontium isotope analysis. Strontium isotope composition of tooth enamel can provide valuable information about where an individual is born and where spent their childhood.

The method works because strontium isotopes provide a fingerprint for different rock types and thus, indicate geographical locations where people might have spent time.

Here, the archaeologists have found clear indications that the woman was born in Norway and grew up there. It is not clear what led her to Denmark, although such movements wouldn’t have been uncommon for her and her contemporaries.

“We don’t know how she ended up in Denmark. Maybe her presence there is connected to an arranged marriage with a Viking from the region but we can’t know for sure. We don’t even know her age, since only parts of her teeth remain for us to analyse. So mysteries remain, but she is a proof that migration was taking place between countries in the Viking Age,” Stidsing concluded.

(ibtimes)

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Farming

Norway’s cod exports to Portugal rise 9% in 2016

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Norwegian exports of cod to Portugal rose by 9% year on year in 2016 to €271.4 million, totalling 48,603 tonnes, the Norwegian Fishing Council (Norge) said.

Portugal’s national dish is salted cod and there are said to be enough recipes to eat a different Portuguese cod dish on every day of the year. It is traditionally eaten boiled on Christmas Eve. Portugal’s biggest source of this delicacy is Norway.

According to Norge, exports of dried salted cod saw the greatest rise (10%), from €153.4 million in 2015 to €168.9 million in 2016, totalling 25,167 tonnes.

Exports of so-called green salted cod (sent to factories in Portugal to be dried) rose 9%, from €81 million to €88.6 million, to 18,919 tonnes. The remaining categories of cod (fresh, frozen and fillets) recorded a drop of 1%, from €14.1 million to €13.9 million, or the equivalent of 4,517 tonnes.

These figures make Norway Portugal’s largest supplier of cod. Average per capita consumption of cod in Portugal in 2016 was 6.5 kilos, and a total of 65,000 tonnes.

Norwegian cod comes from sustainable stocks in the Norwegian and Barents sea (Northeast Atlantic) which are jointly managed along with Russia.

Cod quotas since around 2015 have remained at around 890,000 tonnes per year, around half of which for Norway.

(N.Sethu)

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Media Freedom

Norway promises to respond to Russia’s ban on entry for its journalist

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Foto: VG

The Director of Communications for the Foreign Ministry of Norway, Frode Overland Andersen, said that the country condemns Moscow’s for ban the entry of Norwegian journalist Thomas Nielsen into Russia.

As reported by NRK news agency, this act is considered in Norway to be unlawful and unreasonable, and will not be left unanswered.

“We believe that it is unreasonable and unlawful to use EU restrictive measures as a pretext for refusing entry to Russia for Norwegian citizens,” Andersen said.

In addition, he noted that Norway in the future “will take into account” Russia’s actions against Nielsen when building bilateral relations.

A few days ago it became known that the editor-in-chief of the Norwegian edition of the Barents Observer, Thomas Nielsen, was unable to enter Russia. As part of a delegation of the Danish Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, the journalist had intended to attend the events in Murmansk. The incident occurred at the border checkpoint in Borisoglebsk, where Nielsen was informed that his visit to Russia was impossible “for reasons of state security”.

Later on, the Russian Embassy in Norway said that this step is a reciprocal measure against Norway’s accession to the personal sanctions list of the EU. In particular, they are talking about the “Act From September 1, 2016 Given the Permanent Character of the Discriminatory Order Regarding Entry of Russian citizens to Svalbard”.

(N.Sethu, uawire)

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Nobel Peace Prize

The Holberg Prize Names British Philosopher and Kant Scholar

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Today, The Holberg Prize—one of the largest international prizes awarded annually to an outstanding researcher in the arts and humanities, the social sciences, law or theology—named British author, scholar and Philosophy Professor Onora Sylvia O’Neill as its 2017 Laureate. O’Neill is an Honorary Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, at the University of Cambridge, and a crossbench member of the House of Lords. She will receive the financial award of NOK 4,500,000 (approx. USD 525,000) during a formal ceremony at the University of Bergen, Norway, on 8 June.

O’Neill will receive the Prize for her distinguished and influential role in the field of philosophy and for shedding light on pressing intellectual and ethical questions of our time. Her contribution to our understanding of Immanuel Kant is regarded as transformative and has led to a renewed interest in his work. In particular, O’Neill has explored the requirements of public reason and how they relate to international justice and to the roles of trust and accountability in public life.

For almost half a century, O’Neill has combined writing on political philosophy and ethics with a range of public activities, and her work has influenced generations of scholars, policy makers and practitioners alike. She has written extensively on political philosophy and ethics, bioethics and international justice, and is highly regarded as a specialist on human rights. She has applied a rigorous philosophical thinking when discussing major contemporary issues and her scholarship has had an immeasurable impact on the wider public sphere.

O’Neill describes the central question in her early works on Kant as “how reasoning could bear on action.” “This seemed,” she says, “and still seems to me the elephant in the room that is all too often ignored or pushed into the margins in philosophical work in ethics and political philosophy.”

To date, O’Neill has published more than a dozen books and more than a hundred articles. Many of these confront some of the deepest moral and political challenges of our age. Her works on Kant include Acting on Principle (1975), which explores the relationship between morality and rationality, and Constructions of Reason (1989), which argued that Kant saw reasoning as requiring that we make it possible for others to understand what we say and to grasp what we do. In books such as Faces of Hunger (1986) and The Bounds of Justice (2000), she deals with the structural conditions of oppression and how global inequality may be understood through a concept of justice that is cosmopolitan rather than civic. In Justice across Boundaries: Whose Obligations? (2016), she deals with human rights and responsibilities and poses the question: Who ought to do what, and for whom? O’Neill argues that sovereign states often lack competence and will to secure justice and universal rights, and a progression towards global justice requires that obligations be held by both states and non-state actors. Complex questions of morality and public policy are also discussed in O’Neill’s work in bio-ethics: Rethinking Informed Consent in Bioethics (2007), co-authored with Neil Manson. In this book, they defy current practice and opinion by rejecting the widespread policy premise that informed consent sufficiently protects patients and research subjects.

“O’Neill has an extraordinary ability to blend questions of morality, with an account of psychological plausibility and institutional legitimacy that makes her a powerful guide to the most profound ethical questions of our time,” says Chair of the Holberg Academic Committee, Dr. Pratap Bhanu Mehta. “Not only has she transformed our understanding of Kant, she has also demonstrated how to do philosophy in a way that measures up to the complex moral demands of the world. Her philosophical work is rigorous, yet gracious in its articulation and profoundly moved by a deep and abiding concern for humanity.”

O’Neill studied philosophy, psychology and physiology at the University of Oxford before she received her PhD from Harvard University in 1969. In 1970 she became Assistant Professor at Barnard College, the women’s college at Columbia University. In 1977 she returned to Britain and took up a post at the University of Essex, where she became full Professor of Philosophy in 1987. From 1992 until 2006 she was Principal of Newnham College, University of Cambridge, where she is now Honorary Fellow. O’Neill was created a life peer as Baroness O’Neill of Bengarve in 1999 and has served as a crossbench member of the House of Lords since 2000. She has won a number of awards, and was appointed a Commander of the British Empire in 1995 and a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 2014. In 2015 she was awarded the prestigious International Kant Prize.

O’Neill was President of the Aristotelian Society from 1988 to 1989 and President of the British Academy between 2005 and 2009, where she became a Fellow in 1993. She is also a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, and a foreign member or honorary member of several non-British academies. O’Neill was the founding President of the British Philosophical Association in 2003, and she became an honorary Fellow of the Royal Society in 2007. In 2013 she held the Spinoza Chair of Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam. O’Neill was Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission from 2012 until 2016, and she has been a member of many other policy committees and public advisory boards, including the Nuffield Council on Bioethics from 1996 to 1998 and the Human Genetics Advisory Commission from 1996 until 1999. As a crossbench member of the House of Lords, she has served on various Select Committees, particularly on Science and Technology. Furthermore, she has been Chair of the Nuffield Foundation since 1997, and she is since 2016 a member of the Banking Standards Board, tasked with improving banking culture and accountability in the UK. O’Neill holds a great number of honorary doctoral degrees. She was elected to the German order Pour le Mérite in 2014, and was awarded the Knight Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2016.

(N.Sethurupan)

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Defence

Norway, Sweden increase defence preparedness

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

NORWAY and Sweden are getting nervous. They’ve just upped their defence postures amid fears President Trump will not come to their aid if Russia attacks.

Russia’s increasing military presence on the Arctic nations’ borders have not gone unnoticed.

Nor has President Vladimir Putin’s return to Cold War style sabre-rattling, with aggressive and unannounced military exercises appearing to target their territories.

So now the small European states of Norway and Sweden are reinforcing their defences.

And the European Union is itself beginning to strengthen its ability to act as an independent fighting unit, separate from the command and control of the United States.

It’s all part of the political fallout of President Donald Trump’s apparent determination to forge a new friendship with Russia, even at the risk of cold-shouldering its old allies.

He’s repeatedly suggested the US may ignore its treaty obligations. He’s called NATO ‘obsolete’ on several occasions.

He’s done little to project a change of heart since taking office in January.

SWEDEN’S CALL TO ARMS

Sweden yesterday approved a defence budget boost its Minister for Defence, Peter Hultqvist, called a “good signal to the Swedish people, a good signal to the armed forces and a good signal to the surrounding world”.

It was an admission the strategic environment of the Baltic nation had changed.

Sweden is not a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), but its relations with the US-European defence group has strengthened in recent years.

It’s a move that has drawn President Putin’s unrestrained ire.

He’s sent several ‘messages’ of his displeasure, including simulated air and sea attacks on key Swedish facilities.

Now Sweden is preparing to fight back.

It recently announced it was reintroducing conscription, compelling its young men and women to undergo military training.

Yesterday it passed a new emergency budget measure.

An injection of some SEK 75 million ($A11 million) will go immediately into local governments to improve cyber security. More money will go boosting defence capabilities, particularly on the strategic island of Gotland.

Sweden’s government alliance is now warning voters a bigger bill is yet to come:

“The parties behind this deal agree that a further strengthening of the resources will be needed 2018,” Hultqvist told local media yesterday.

“The budget request from the Armed Forces needs to be analysed further, and this will be the subject of further talks during the spring, ahead of next year’s budget.”

Military estimates put this figure at SEK 6.5 billion ($A1 billion).

But it’s also not enough to meet President Trump’s requirement that its European allies at least 2 per cent of their incomes on the military. Sweden would have to double current levels to achieve that.

NORWAY FEELS THE CHILL

Left to right: James Mattis (US Secretary of Defense) and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg

It’s a nation that has experienced military occupation within living history: Norway was seized by the Nazi’s in World War II. It was used in an attempt to strangle Russia’s northern ports and launch attacks against Europe’s vital Atlantic supply routes.

It knows it remains strategically significant even today.

Russia’s been making that obvious.

It has increased the size and readiness of its northern fleet. Military facilities have been upgraded. Troop numbers have increased. New bases are being built in the Arctic Circle.

When Moscow moved on Ukraine in 2014, Norway — like many other small European nations — took notice.

Its northern air base at Bodo is now on constant alert. Incursions by Russian military aircraft in Norwegian airspace has soared in recent years.

And recent cyber attacks on the Norwegian government have been blamed on Russian espionage agencies.

In response, Norway is getting some 300 extra US Marines as part of a permanent boost of its NATO strength. It’s also hosting a new round of large-scale military exercises.

It has also just extended compulsory military conscription to women.

That is on top of a considerable boost in defence spending, with an extensive shopping list including new submarines as well as new combat and surveillance aircraft.

“What is most important to us right now is to have both a predictable and a very clear policy on Russia,” Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg recently said. “The earlier and the clearer that the new (Trump) administration comes out with this, the better it is, also for European security.”

Norway’s boosted defence budget of ($A7.8 billion) remains below the 2 per cent GDP commitment demanded by President Trump

EUROPE GOES IT ALONE?

The European Union has overnight approved the creation of a headquarters for its own military operations, outside of NATO control.

German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said that the EU foreign ministers “founded, or put in motion, today a European command centre for foreign missions.”

EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said it would provide a “more efficient approach to the existing military training missions we have.”

Von der Leyen said the idea is that those EU members who don’t want to join in directly could have an observer mission.

“For those who are not members of the European Union, like for example Norway or the British, there will be the possibility to join in selectively with certain projects or missions,” she said. “The Norwegians have great interest in this, the British have great interest in this.”

Britain is among those who say the EU must not waste money by doing similar things to the NATO alliance with the US.

Arriving for the meeting, British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said just that, urging his European partners “to co-operate more closely with NATO to avoid unnecessary duplication and structures.”

Von der Leyen, however, said establishment of such a command centre “was long overdue.”

“We took a very important step toward a European security and defence union, because we have become very concrete,” von der Leyen said.

(townsvillebulletin)

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Corruption in Norway

Barnevernet is a true corruption face of Norway

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Barnevernet became Human Rights Violations and systematic and institutionalised abuse towards families in Norway.

The Barnevernet is cruel, inhuman, system! It’s walls has to come down, enough it’s enough!!

Norwegian authorities are now implementing intimidation tactics on its own population. For instance, if you are someone who supports the reunification of the Bodnariu family and the 1000’s of other innocent children unfairly taken from their parents in Norway, and you publicise this on blogs or facebook, for example, you are then categorised as an activist and put on a ‘watch list.’

Once you are classified as an activist, and you have children under 18 years of age, investigations into the family and interviews with your children (in some cases, your children will be taken away without notice for a few hours of interrogation) are sadly not uncommon at the moment. It’s pretty terrifying.

To make matters worse, if someone does criticise Norway’s CPS, the blinded and brainwashed majority of the population will think there’s probably something wrong with that person – their conditioning has led them to believe that – they think that those that criticise barnevernet, must have something to hide. It’s an illusion, but many people in the attempt to support their beliefs will find something wrong with a particular person and then go no further, that’s enough, so they switch off the brain, and there’s no more thinking to do.

And, as we already know, the majority of children are taken from parents who are considered to have a lack of ‘parenting skills’ which of course is subjective and means, that barnevernet can justify taking any particular child it wants from any particular parent it chooses at anytime. Norway is truly not safe for families, far from it.

It’s also interesting to note, that many parents who have lost their children in Norway also once thought that it only happened to parents who in some way or another systematically abused their children, not to parents who love and care and do whatever they can for them.

So, why has Norway become such a dangerous place for so many families to live? This is not so easy to answer, but Norway has become ‘totalistic’ in the sense, it demands ‘targeted’ parents to be its idea of ‘perfect’, so as to reach its ideological aims.

Norway, not only wants obedience from its population, but also conversion to its ideology as well. They think they see the future more clearly than you or me, or whoever may not be quite so convinced of the reality of its ideology. They want their rule, and their belief system, to be accepted and self-sustaining by everyone.

Every parent who secretly objects, or even so much doubts this type of ideology, is a danger to the future of the whole project. Therefore, the Norwegian regime enforces its subjects not only to obey but to believe as well.

And, the Norwegian authorities can never be wrong. Kai-Morten Terning, undersecretary to Solveig Horne (Ministry of Children) reminds me of the former Iraqi Information Minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, who once said “There is no presence of the American columns in the city of Baghdad at all. We besieged them and we killed most of them.”

The Allies, led by the Americans were on his doorstep, but he just couldn’t accept it and he continued to lie, lie and lie, hoping his people would believe him and stay motivated I guess.

The main problem with Kai-Morten Terning’s defence of the indefensible is this. There is no credibility in what he says, leading me to accept he is not a man of integrity.

Firstly, over 170 professionals, including barristers, lawyers, psychologists, doctors, professors, nurses and other professionals say that Terning is wrong.

Thousands of children who are crying out to go back to mummy and daddy, because they miss them so much say that Terning is wrong.

Thousands of tormented parents are starting to speak out of their silence, a silence the authorities bullied into them, say that Terning is wrong.

And hundreds of thousands of people around the world and growing, I might add, say that Terning is wrong.

Terning says, “It’s a cultural misunderstanding.” Maybe, he’s right on this one, the civilised world does not understand how culturally Norway can take 1000’s of innocent children from perfectly healthy families and stand there, nose in the air, and say, it’s a cultural misunderstanding. I mean, every totalitarian government will tell you that.

Not only will Norway take innocent children from healthy families, they will also force the parents to admit the error of their ways. You must accept that you’ve committed a crime, although you haven’t. You must dispose of your own values and accept the ideas that the Norwegian authorities are better. You must rebuke yourself for undermining the construction of a better world, ‘The Magical Kingdom of Norwayland.’

Those that follow this ideology will attack those in the public arena who don’t support it, like the minority of lawyers, barristers, doctors, judges, writers and other professionals who stand up. Norway’s ideology hates the fact that you may have a different opinion, or a better way and it will hold you to account for your personal thoughts. Have you committed any thought crimes recently?

You don’t have the right to hold a different opinion in Norway. Holding onto a belief in a minority view or even as a private thought is dangerous. Everyone knows someone in Norway, who has been bullied out of their job. If you choose to persist and still disagree with Norway’s ideology, you will be attacked and others will be set on you as well like raging wolves, to deprive you of your status in your profession, of your standing in your community, and even of your livelihood.

And Norway calls this a cultural misunderstanding. It certainly is – 100% correct!

A number of people in the Norwegian Government are a little concerned that Norway’s CPS, barnevernet is losing trust with its population. They are worried because they recognise that dealing with parents and children requires trust in the first place.
Hopefully, this post can help the Norwegian government understand why so many people, including many professionals do not trust barnevernet. In fact, many families live in fear with just the mention of the name barnevernet, especially those with young children or those who are still fighting to get their children back.

This is not an exclusive list, but it might be a good start with helping in the many up and coming debates regarding barnevernet that are planned in Norway. If Norway’s CPS wants trust, it needs to deal with these issues and change its ways radically first.

Barnevernet Says = (BS)

The Reality = (TR)

1. (BS) If you divorce your husband, you will get your children back.

1. (TR) Once the divorce is through, the unity between the husband and wife is destroyed and the family has been weakened.

Barnevernet has you exactly where it wants you – powerless. The children, in the majority of cases are never given back to the single parent. Remember, a single parent is one of those who are in the target group that Barnevernet hunts down in the first place.

Anne-Kathrine Eckbo-Fangan, a former social worker said: “Norway’s ‘Child Protective Services’ are only concerned with removing children as quickly as possible but not bringing them back again quickly. They stay with foster parents until they are 18 years old – no discussion. We had lists of mothers who we specifically targeted, single mothers, ones with children from several fathers, poor, sick unemployed parents, or families without relatives, that is uncles, aunts and grandparents.”

2. (BS) If you support the take over of your children to us voluntarily, you will get your children back.

2. (TR) Norway’s CPS often make this happen through intimidation, harassment and bullying of the parents and statistically, this looks much better for the government records and to the outside world if the parents agree. In the vast majority of cases, the parents do not get their children back. Øivind Østberg, a Barrister in Oslo said:
“No other country has a child protection agency which so frequently removes the children from parents by means of coercion. Not even close. Of the 10.1 per 1000 children placed in foster care by the CPA , in 71% of the cases this occurs without the consent of the biological parents. In Germany the corresponding figures are 9 and 10%, in Sweden 8.2 and 26 %.”

3. (BS) If you accept seeing your children only, let’s say four times a year, and accept supervision, you will have your children back soon.

3. (TR) In the majority of cases, the parents do not get their children back. The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks replying to a question of Valeriu Ghilețchi (Republic of Moldova) on the issue of the Bodnariu family said:
“Taking children away from their parents is a broader issue and here the utmost caution is required because we have to think: what is the best interest of the child?

The best interest of the child is almost always to be with the parents. Only in extreme and exceptional cases, where the child can come to serious harm because of the parents’ behaviour, should a child be taken away temporarily from the parents. We need to intervene to support families so that they can remain together and children can be with their families. Removing children from their parents should be done only as a last resort and for a very short period.”

4. (BS) If you never protest, get help from others or go public with your story, you might get your children back, or maybe see them more often, or not even need supervision when you visit them.

4. (TR) The parents are expected to behave nice to the carers, the foster parents, and all their oppressors, no matter what, and you guessed it, in most cases, they still don’t get their children back.

5. (BS) If you accept guidance you may get your children back.

5. (TR) This is a crazy arrangement, and only implemented with the goal of finding/inventing proof of how bad the parents are. One family had 400 hours of guidance. A woman coming every second week, from Bergen, staying in a hotel and of course she wasn’t able to teach them anything new. She wasn’t educated, just an assistant of a psychological ‘expert team’. She started off as a translator, and then in time, she became the parent supervisor, and shortly after, the children were confiscated.

6. (BS) If you want financial support to improve your education, we can help by sending someone in to help identify the family’s need.

6. (TR) When Norway’s CPS enters the home, it isn’t long before they find a basis for not supporting the parent; but instead, they find reasons why the parent is bad for neglecting their children by putting so much effort into education in the first place, or whatever it is.

7. (BS) Children do not miss their parents and have now got use to their foster parents.

7. (TR) During visitations, children often share letters with their parents which say the complete opposite. It’s also important to note, that many children are fed lies by the CPS with regards to their parents, with the aim of cutting off the attachment their have.

8. (BS) Parents refused help from us.

8. (TR) There is no help offered in many cases. Like in the Bodnariu case, for example. And what happens, when the parents do accept help? Øistein Schjønsby, a Norwegian lawyer with 30 years experience will explain:

“Barnevernet set up the monitoring of families under consideration for intervention.
A family’s neighbour may be the one who reported the family (denounced them?).

The CPS gives the impression of planning to help the family – in the way they are obliged to by law – but in actual fact nothing much comes of it. Instead, the CPS takes action in the form of removing the child as an acute measure – and the outcome of the case is thereby assured.”

9. (BS) The parents don’t have a good attachment to their children.

9. (TR) In many cases, barnevernet employees have never seen the parents and children together.

10. (BS) Snatching children is the last resort and only when drug abuse and serious violence is included.

10. (TR) 100% untrue, it’s often the first resort sadly in Norway, and in many cases the children taken have never experienced any form of abuse from their parents.

Venil Katharina Thiis is a lawyer from Trondheim. She said this about Norway’s CPS, barnevernet.

“I have been working with cases involving child care for over 20 years and have seen how the legal rights of both children and parents have increasingly diminished over the years.

Barnevernet has more power than they are able to manage, so often end up abusing the authority they hold. As to this, they have developed a culture where the last solution, force, often becomes the first alternative, as opposed to forming dialogue which can lead to voluntary methods.

They also have many “locked doors” where disqualified psychologists control, both the County Board and the courts. What happens in the county boards is therefore undemocratic – it’s David’s encounter with Goliath.”

11. (BS) There is freedom of speech in Norway and parents can publish their stories in the media.

11. (TR) It’s often the case that children are fast tracked to adoption, when parents publish anything online, or the parents are threatened with never seeing their children again. It’s a bit like a revenge policy. Erik Bryn Tvedt, a lawyer from Sandefjord in Norway said this about Child Welfare in Norway:

“So, in Norway, we exclude from public debate specific issues about when it is appropriate to take children into care, separating them from their parents!

Norwegian practice is contrary to Article 10 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 19, 1 and 2:

1. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.

2. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right includes freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or printed form, or artistic or other media of his choice. ”

12. (BS) You stigmatise the child when you publish anything about your case online.

12. (TR) The innocent child was stigmatised the day it was taken from a normal home with healthy parents. In fact, it’s OK for the CPS to run advertising campaigns, showing foster care children jumping up for joy with their new foster parents, but you can’t publish stories with your own children. This is called double standards, and Norway seems to be full of them.

13. (BS) The biological principle is always respected.

13. (TR) Only in 25% of cases are children returned to relatives. Øistein Schjønsby, a Norwegian lawyer with 30 years experience says:

“Oh no, the CPS takes the child and places it with temporary foster parents, after which they go looking for foster parents who are complete strangers to the child. Time passes, and by now there are too few who are willing to be foster parents and permanent placement therefore is long in coming.

In the meantime, the child could have been given a permanent home with its family, typically with grandparents, aunts or uncles, but the CPS is not interested in that.

We are left to figure out for ourselves what it is that stops them.

Just for the record: The consideration under §4 is something one is entitled to demand. But the CPS gets around it in several ways. The CPS is not interested in the family having anything more to do with the child.

So I say, is it really any wonder that people are afraid of barnevernet, the child protection service in Norway?”

14. (BS) Children are very happy in foster homes.

14. (TR) Around 95 children in care commit suicide every year, two per week, sadly.

That’s a big number for a small country of five million people.

15. (BS) The parent cares more about himself than his child, because he is still fighting to win his child back and does not let it attach to the new foster carers.

They don’t respect our decision.

15. (TR) No, you took an innocent baby or child from a normal/healthy family (ca.80% of children confiscated in Norway have not been physically abused, no drugs were involved and no sexual abuse either). So, if the mother/father doesn’t fight for their children, I would really question their love for them.

16. (BS) Spend some time at the social care home for mothers with children. We can teach you how to treat your baby.

16. (TR) Unfortunately, during the stay, they just look for ‘new errors’ and a big percentage of mothers do not leave the care centre with their baby – they leave alone. In fact, the targeted mothers are given an ultimatum just after birth – you come with us now, or we take your baby.

If a mother and her child goes into a ‘home for mothers’, and she divorces her husband at the same time, it is not uncommon for that same mother to leave the home with her baby, only to be faced with a second and final snatch in the coming days. It is incredibly tormented.

Dag Sverre Aamodt, a Norwegian lawyer and former policeman said:

“The Child Welfare Act* invades the individual’s private sphere to a large degree and must in reality be considered as the greatest threat to the Norwegian population today[…]The case handling is generally characterised partly by unsubstantiated opinions and partly by blatant lies. I have often observed reports from the Child Care Services that contain allegations without any link to reality.”

17. (BS) Religion is not a reason for taking children into care.

17. (TR) Biblical Christians are a big threat to Norway’s ideological goals, so it’s no wonder they target Biblical Christians. The ‘liberal and cultural christians’ are left alone in the main, as there do not cause any threat to the system and even indirectly support HR violations in many cases.

Norway is also among the European countries with the highest number of overdose deaths according to the EU’s report on drug use in 2014. Estonia is the only country with more overdose deaths than Norway. Oslo is also known as the one-night stand capital of the world. So, it’s no wonder that Biblical Christians are targeted as they highlight this obvious chasm between teaching their children some morals and restrained behaviour compared to the new ‘moral progressive culture’ with behaviour that is unrestrained.

Muslims are also targeted. One family had their children taken because the father was classed as a radical Muslim, although there was absolutely no evidence to prove it.

In fact, Barnevernet told him he was not European enough, although he had spent 20 years in Europe. He and his wife also took a course in European studies and they both received a Diploma, but that still wasn’t enough for Norway’s CPS. There took their baby boy of nine months old and a little girl of two years old in 2013. They get to see them for two hours every three months.

18. (BS) The mother has a pathological attachment disorder.

18. (TR) The diagnosis of pathological attachment disorder has been given by individuals who are not psychiatrists. In the vast majority of the cases the diagnosis is completely false. If, in the best case scenario, those assessing the situation are actually psychologists, it has been revealed that they did not apply standardised testing nor repeated evaluation in giving a diagnosis according to all the criteria found in DSM (The Diagnosis and Statistics Manual of Mental Disorder).

This has been the case in all the cases presented so far. They would not have had the time to follow this protocol because everything was done so quickly. It has been justified that ‘this is how things are’, without any proof, and then the children are removed as an ‘emergency measure’. The way evidence is fabricated in Norway is an insult to civilised psychology, medicine, and most notably psychiatry.

19. (BS) The ‘superior interest of the child’ takes precedent over everything else.

19. (TR) The obvious intention here is to break all stable attachments formed within the biological family and recreate an attachment to a foster family. This is Barnevernet’s ‘superior interest of the child’.

Let’s take the Bodnariu children as an example. Why were the five children separated?

Because, you can ‘populate’ three new families with them. Why were the older children grouped by two’s with the sibling of the closest age? Why were the parents given different visitation schedules for each set of children? Because, their attachment to the biological family is in different stages of development, based on their ages.
Eliana and Naomi already have a stable attachment, having developed from ages five and six, so they had to be completely separated from their parents, without visitation rights, presents or phone calls to begin with.

Lene Skogstrøm, a journalist in Norway said:

“A growing number of experts who come into contact with the Norwegian child welfare services, barnevernet are beginning to understand that, in many situations, the system is far from safeguarding a child’s best interests.

We see frequent examples of where the agency emerges as a dysfunctional organisation that carries out extensive miscalculations which have serious consequences.”

20. (BS) If your child needs extra help because of health challenges, such as ADHD, for example, we are here to help.

20. (TR) Sadly, not true. Gro Hillestad Thune is an attorney and expert on human rights. She said:

”We see several examples which demonstrate how Norway’s CPS, barnevernet has developed an authoritarian and closed system that exposes vulnerable children and families to abuse by the authorities.

We also hear of parents whose children have additional health challenges, such as Asperger, Tourette’s and ADHD, are too often are not met with support or respect for their difficult parental tasks, but instead have their children taken away and are deprived of their parental rights.”

21. (BS) If your child is being sexually abused in a foster home, we will move them straight away.

21. (TR) Sadly, as long as the investigation is ongoing, the children will stay exactly where they are.

22. (BS) We follow Human Right’s obligations.

22. (TR) Far from the truth. Tomáš Zdechovský is an elected member of the European Parliament and through his studies, has earned three Master’s degrees. He said:
“As a member of the European Parliament, I am deeply worried about how Norway, in many areas under the Rule of Law and particularly in CPS cases, violates its Human Rights obligations.

I am not surprised to see hundreds of thousands of people throughout Europe and in the rest of the world, marching the streets and protesting against Norway’s Human Right’s abuses.

With other colleagues in the European Parliament, from many different countries, I have decided that these abuses must come to a final end.”

23. (BS) We listen to parent’s concern.

23. (TR) Thea Totland is a lawyer in Norway and she sees this a little differently. She remarked:

“I have worked a lot with cases involving the care of children in Norway and I have found that the staff at barnevernet lack humility and willingness to have a dialogue. It is important that people take into account the fact that children, who moved from their biological parents into care, are not always placed in a foster home or an institution which can nurture their individual needs. With this mind, many would have been better off if they would have stayed with their own parents whilst receiving support and regular follow ups.”

24. (BS) Just because psychologists rely on their income coming from us, doesn’t mean that they write reports that we tell them to write.

24. (TR) In most cases, not true. Einar C. Salvesen is a psychologist in Norway. He said:

“Many Psychologists have too close ties with barnevernet, and their principal concern is to deliver their assessment to favour the interest of barnevernet. This risks the legal protection of the vulnerable families affected. Child Welfare appointed experts act disproportionately when cases come to court. As a result we often see that the biological parents have no chances to win against such a powerful ‘machine’.”

25. (BS) Parents can still see their children throughout the year.

25. (TR) True. In some cases, six times a year for two hours at a time. Other cases, four times a year, two hours at a time.

Eivind Meland, a general practitioner and professor of medicine at the University of Bergen said:

“…the right of access which, biological parents are completely denied by barnevernet, becomes primarily an attack against the children who need contact with their biological parents. Each case should be treated by its own merits and discretion. The current legal way is threatening the rule of law. The lawyers and judges have abandoned their posts and made the experts in the fields the new legal judges. It is an embarrassment and a shame.”

26. (BS) The parents are responsible for their children.

26. (TR) In the past they were. But now, things have changed. Jørgen Stueland, a Norwegian lawyer who has worked with child protection cases over several years said:
“The welfare state now owns our children. We only borrow them. And once an overzealous nurse, a doctor, a hateful neighbour, sends in a message of concern, barnevernet dissects a family’s life, and follows this up with taking the children.”

27. (BS) Social status does not come into the equation when we remove children from their parents.

27. (TR) Arne Seland, a lawyer who has worked in the judicial system for the last 20 years, including his special field of criminal law, child protection and child custody cases said:

“There is one guarantee not to have your children taken away in Norway: social status. I have seen incredibly many children be deprived of their parents. But I have never seen a doctor, never a lawyer, never a police officer, never a journalist have their child taken away. That’s the way it is.

This is about quite fundamental human rights. Human rights are there for the weakest. In Norway we have, with the best of intentions, taken from our children their fundamental human rights.”

28. (BS) Barnevernet has never been in such a good shape as it is today. We have positively moved forward.

29. (TR) No, unfortunately not. Marianne Haslev Skånland, Professor Emeritus, Bergen, Norway, suggests that Barnevernet has never left the ‘dark ages.’ She wrote:

“Barnevernet continue in exactly the same dictatorial style as they have done for several decades. All that is different, is that with ever more money in their hands, Barnevernet extends its actions to even more families; they take more children than before from their parents. They all the time say, that they and their ‘system’ are altogether different now from what they were in ‘the dark ages.’ The dark ages, however, usually turn out to be around 1990, or 2000, or the years before 2010 or thereabouts.

Around the year 2000, people who saw what was going on, often said, “Compensation will be paid out for this in 50 or 30 years’ time.” More recently, we may forecast that what Barnevernet is doing now, will be eligible for compensation in 20 years, even in 10, perhaps.”

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Media Freedom

Norwegian Journalists Under Attack In Istanbul

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

An pro-Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) group has attacked a Norwegian journalist in Istanbul, thinking that he was from the Netherlands.

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) supporters have today attacked the norwegian journalists who were covering the protest of academic Nazife Onay, member of Eğitim-Sen union, who demands to be returned to her job after dismissal with a statutory decree issued during the state of emergency.

Onay was first targeted by an AKP supporter from among those who set up a tent nearby in Istanbul’s Cevahir area to run a ‘Yes’ campaign for the upcoming referendum.

The Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) supporter tried to seize the banner Onay unfurled for her protest, which read “We will not allow the AKP fascism to usurp our rights”.

Police intervened the scene afterwards, removing the assailant from the site and detaining the academician.

The Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) group also obstructed the women journalists covering the incident, and attempted to lynch a journalist from Norway, who was at the scene to interview the dismissed academician, thinking that he was ‘Dutch’.

The mob later attacked the women journalists that tried to hinder the lynching attempt, and threatened them, saying:

“You are working for the Netherlands.

I have recorded all of you.

You will pay for it’.

It grabbed attention that police did not intervene the group and just watched them as they harassed the journalists.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TctJcQy-Xgs

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Crimes

Norway Asks Online Drug Dealers to Pay up, in Bitcoin

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Bitcoin has been portrayed as the most favored currency among the criminal kind. Thanks to increased usage of the likes of Bitcoin among the darknet marketplaces. However, the pseudonymous nature of Bitcoin leads to criminals getting caught on a regular basis. But usually, those who face the trial usually end up having their cryptocurrencies, devices confiscated, sentenced to jail time with or without a monetary penalty slapped on them.

The penalties paid by the dark net drug or weapons dealer caught in the act is usually in the form of fiat currency, but not in Norway. Recently, reports have emerged that the Norwegian prosecutors are demanding three convicts, charged with dealing drugs on dark web marketplaces, including the Silk Road to repay the profits in Bitcoin. If the court does allow the prosecutors to have it their way, then the dealers will be forced to pay about 120 bitcoins, which is worth around $140,000. But it doesn’t end here. They are also demanding 3.1 million in the country’s native fiat currency, Norwegian Kroner as well.

The case dates back to the Silk Road days, and the three men were arrested way back in June 2015 for running an online drug distribution ring. The arrests were the result of a 2-year long investigation by Norway’s law enforcement authorities along with other international investigators. The arrests which took place in Oslo, Norway, also resulted in the seizure of a considerable amount of narcotics, computers and even an indoor marijuana farm.

News articles on media outlets state the prosecution saying that they have enough evidence for the sale in Bitcoins to convict the drug-dealing trio. However, the demand for profit repayment in Bitcoin is heard for the first time in the Norwegian judicial system. The demand made by prosecutors could soon set a precedent for other courts within and beyond the region to adopt a similar practice.

The government’s interest in seeking Bitcoin payment, which is not even a recognized currency in Norway also sets a milestone in Bitcoin’s timeline, pushing it one step closer to recognition as a mainstream currency.

(newsbtc)

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Science

Norway testing autonomous ship technology

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Autonomous cars are all the rage these days, but autonomous boats? While automobiles are certainly among the most popular forms of transportation, they’re not the only form. As we’ve begun to normalize the notion of a driverless future, other methods of transportation are looking to adopt the same concept. In Norway’s Trondheim Fjord, you can now find a testing site for water-based drones. Because land and air-faring machinery shouldn’t be the only ones having autonomous fun, right?

Despite officially opening late in 2016, it’s taken a while for business, which is to say testing, to pick up. But now, companies like Kongsberg Seatex, Marintek, Maritime Robotics, and Rolls-Royce Marine are all on-site to start putting their robotic and self-driving technologies to the open water.

Thus far, the fjord has seen tests for a variety of purposes, including navigation, collision avoidance systems, operational safety, and risk management projects. And as these tests continue, we may be drawing nearer and nearer to a human-less shipping industry, as large boats find their way across the ocean without the need for a crew. Perhaps this could even mean the automation of the fishing industry, or a whole host of other sea-based activities.

“As far as we know, there are no such test sites of this kind in the world so the Norwegian Coastal Authorities are taking the lead in a changing maritime world,” Kongsberg Seatex President Gard Ueland said last year upon the site’s opening, reports Engadget. “We will also see technology that has the potential to enable fully autonomous cargo vessels. Much of this will come from Trondheim, thanks to the unmatched maritime expertise here and our autonomous vehicles test bed.”

So get ready friends. Remote-controlled ships may soon no longer be toys that you sail in the park. Rather, they could be the transport that gets us from one country’s coast to another.

(digitaltrends)

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Spy War

Russian military checking military activity in Norway

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Russian military inspectors will begin a visit to a designated district in Norway to check military activity in the area, a military official has said.

“Within the framework of the Vienna Document 2011 on Confidence and Security-Building Measures, , which allows signatories to conduct up to three inspections in Norway per year.

Russian group of inspectors will assess a designated district in Norway from March 13 to 17,” Sergei Ryzhkov, head of Russia’s National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center, was quoted by Media as saying on Monday.

According to Ryzhkov, apart from verifying military activity in the Norwegian district, the inspectors will also visit training grounds and attend briefings at the military bases of the Norwegian armed forces.

The Russians were on site also during the previous Cold Response drill in 2014. In April 2015 a group of Russian inspectors visited Brigade Nord in Troms county for an evaluation of local military units.

The inspections take place on the backdrop of the serious chill in east-west relations. In line with NATO policy, military bilateral cooperation between Norway and Russia has been suspended since March 2014, following Russia’s annexation of the Crimea and use of armed forces in Ukraine. In December 2014 the suspension was extended until the end of 2017.

(N.Sethu)

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Africa and Norway

Oslo Conference on Nigeria and the Lake Chad Region

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

USG/ERC Stephen O’Brien Statement to the Security Council on Missions to Yemen, South Sudan, Somalia and Kenya and an Update on the Oslo Conference on Nigeria and the Lake Chad Region.

Mr. President, Council members,

Thank you for inviting me to brief on my visits to countries facing famine or at risk of famine: Yemen, South Sudan and Somalia. I will also briefly mention the outcomes of the Oslo Conference on the Lake Chad Basin.

I need to mention that I also visited Northern Kenya where pastoralists are worst affected by the terrible drought. Over 2.7 million Kenyans are now food insecure, a number likely to reach 4 million by April. In collaboration with the Government, the UN will soon launch an appeal of $200 million to provide timely life-saving assistance and protection. For what follows however, I will focus on my other visits over the past 16 days.

Mr. President,

I turn first to Yemen. It’s already the largest humanitarian crisis in the world and the Yemeni people now face the spectre of famine. Today, two-thirds of the population – 18.8 million people – need assistance and more than 7 million are hungry and do not know where there next meal will come from. That is 3 million people more than in January. As fighting continues and escalates, displacement increases. With health facilities destroyed and damaged, diseases are sweeping through the country.

I spoke with people in Aden, Ibb, Sana’a and from Taizz. They told me horrific stories of displacement, escaping unspeakable violence and destruction from Mokha and Taizz city in Taizz governorate. I saw first-hand the effects of losing home and livelihood: malnourishment, hunger and squalid living conditions in destroyed schools, unfinished apartments and wet, concrete basements. In the past two months alone, more than 48,000 people fled fighting, mines and IEDs from Mokha town and the surrounding fields alone. I met countless children, malnourished and sick. My small team met a girl displaced to Ibb, still having shrapnel wounds in her legs while her brother was deeply traumatized. I was introduced to a 13-year-old girl who fled from Taizz city, left in charge of her seven siblings. I spoke with families who have become displaced to Aden as their homes were destroyed by airstrikes living in a destroyed school. All of them told me three things: they are hungry and sick – and they need peace so that they can return home.

I travelled to Aden on the first humanitarian UN flight, where I met the President, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the Republic of Yemen. I also met with the senior leadership of the Houthi and General People’s Congress authorities in Sana’a. I discussed the humanitarian situation, the need to prevent a famine and to better respect international humanitarian law and protect civilians. I demanded full, safe and unimpeded humanitarian access. All counterparts promised to facilitate sustained access and respect international humanitarian law. Yet all parties to the conflict are arbitrarily denying sustained humanitarian access and politicize aid. Already, the humanitarian suffering that we see in Yemen today is caused by the parties and proxies and if they don’t change their behaviour now, they must be held accountable for the inevitable famine, unnecessary deaths and associated amplification in suffering that will follow.

Despite the almost impossible and terrifying conditions, the UN and humanitarian partners are not deterred and are stepping up to meet the humanitarian needs across the country. In February alone, 4.9 million people received food assistance. We continue to negotiate access and make modest gains. For instance, despite assurances from all parties of safe passage to Taizz city, I was denied access and retreated to a short safe distance when I and my team came under gunfire. Yet, we managed to use this experience to clear the path for reaching people inside Taizz city with a first humanitarian truck delivery of eight tons of essential medicine on the Ibb to Taizz city road since August 2016. We will not leave a stone unturned to find alternative routes. We must prevail as so many lives depend on us, the full range of the humanitarian family.

For 2017, the humanitarian community requires US$ 2.1 billion to reach 12 million people with life-saving assistance and protection in Yemen. Only 6 per cent of that funding has been received thus far. An international ministerial-level pledging event is scheduled for 25 April, but the situation is so dire that I ask donors to give urgently now. All contributions and pledges since 1 January will be counted at the event.

I continue to reiterate the same message to all: it is only a political solution that will ultimately end human suffering and bring stability to the region. And at this stage, only a combined response with the private sector can stem a famine: commercial imports must be allowed to resume through all entry points in Yemen, including and especially Hudaydah port, which must be kept open and expanded. With access and funding, humanitarians will do more, but we are not the long-term solution to this growing crisis.

I am pleased as I said to confirm that a ministerial-level pledging event for the humanitarian response in Yemen for 2017 will take place in Geneva on 25 April. The Secretary-General will chair the event, co-hosted by the Foreign Ministers of Sweden and Switzerland, to advocate for more resources and access. For 2017, as mentioned, the Yemen humanitarian response plan asks for US $2.1 billion to assist 12 million people in need across all 22 governorates.

Mr. President,

Turning to South Sudan which I visited on 4 and 5 March. The situation is worse than it has ever been. The famine in South Sudan is man-made. Parties to the conflict are parties to the famine – as are those not intervening to make the violence stop.

More than 7.5 million people need assistance, up by 1.4 million from last year. About 3.4 million people are displaced, of which almost 200,000 have fled South Sudan since January alone. A localized famine was declared for Leer and Mayendit [counties] on 20 February, an area where violence and insecurity have compromised humanitarian access for years. More than one million children are estimated to be acutely malnourished across the country; including 270,000 children who face the imminent risk of death should they not be reached in time with assistance. Meanwhile, the cholera outbreak that began in June 2016 has spread to more locations.

I travelled to Ganyiel in Unity state where people have fled from the horrors of famine and conflict. I saw the impact humanitarians can have to alleviate suffering. I met an elderly woman with her malnourished grandson receiving treatment. I listened to women who fled fighting with their children through waist-high swamps to receive food and medicine. Some of these women have experienced the most appalling acts of sexual violence – which continues to be used as a weapon of war. Their harrowing stories are only a few among thousands who have suffered a similar fate across the country.

Humanitarians are delivering. Last year, partners reached more than 5.1 million people with assistance. However, active hostilities, access denials and bureaucratic impediments continue to curtail their efforts to reach people who desperately need help. Aid workers have been killed; humanitarian compounds and supplies have been attacked, looted, and occupied by armed actors. Recently, humanitarians had to leave one of the famine-affected counties because of fighting. Assurances by senior Government officials of unconditional access and no bureaucratic impediments now need to be turned into action on the ground.

Mr. President,

In Somalia, more than half the population – 6.2 million people – need humanitarian and protection assistance, including 2.9 million who are at risk of famine and require immediate assistance to save or sustain their lives, close to 1 million children under the age of 5 will be acutely malnourished this year. In the last two months alone, nearly 160,000 people have been displaced due to severe drought conditions, adding to the already 1.1 million people who live in appalling conditions around the country.

What I saw and heard during my visit to Somalia was distressing – women and children walk for weeks in search of food and water. They have lost their livestock, water sources have dried up and they have nothing left to survive on. With everything lost, women, boys, girls and men now move to urban centres.

With the Secretary-General – his first field mission since he took office – we visited Baidoa. We met with displaced people going through ordeals none of us can imagine. We visited the regional hospital where children and adults are desperately fighting to survive diarrhoea, cholera and malnutrition. Again, as if proof was needed, it was clear that between malnutrition and death there is disease.

Large parts of southern and central Somalia remain under the control or influence of Al-Shabaab and the security situation is volatile. Last year, some 165 violent incidents – an 18 per cent increase compared to 2015 – directly impacted humanitarian work and resulted in 14 deaths of aid workers. Al-Shabaab, Government Forces and other militia also continue to block major supply routes to towns in 29 of the 42 districts in southern and central Somalia. This has restricted access to markets, basic commodities and services, and is severely disrupting livelihoods. Blockades and double taxation bar farmers from transporting their grains. It is critical that AMISOM and Somali forces secure vital road access to enable both lifesaving aid and longer term recovery. A lot of hope is placed in the new Government.

The current indicators mirror the tragic picture of 2011, when Somalia last suffered a famine. It is important to add that when the famine was called at that time 260,000 had already died, this will be important in what I am about to tell you. However, humanitarian partners now have a larger footprint, mature cash programming, better data through assessments, better controls on resources and vetting of partners, as well as stronger partnership with government authorities. The Government recently declared the drought a national disaster and is taking steps to work with humanitarian partners to ensure a coordinated response. To be clear, we can avert a famine, we have a committed clear new President, a humanitarian and resilience track record, a detailed plan, we’re ready despite incredible risk and danger, we have local and international leadership, we have a lot of access, now we need the international community, at the scale of you the donor agencies and nations, to invest in Somalia, its life-saving – but we need those huge funds now.

For all three crises and North-Eastern Nigeria, an immediate injection of funds plus safe and unimpeded access are required to enable partners to avert a catastrophe; otherwise, many people will predictably die from hunger, livelihoods will be lost, and political gains that have been hard-won over the last few years will be reversed. To be precise we need $4.4 billion by July, and that’s a detailed cost, not a negotiating number.

Mr. President,

Before I visited all these countries, I was in Oslo, where the governments of Norway, Germany and Nigeria, in partnership with the United Nations, organized a humanitarian conference on Nigeria and the Lake Chad region. 10.7 million people need humanitarian assistance and protection, including 7.1 million people who are severely food insecure. Humanitarian partners scaled up their response to reach the most vulnerable groups threatened by violence, food insecurity and famine, particularly in North-Eastern Nigeria.

Fourteen donors pledged a total of US$672 million, of which $458 million is for humanitarian action in 2017. This is very good news, and I commend those who made such generous pledges. More is needed however to receive the $1.5 billion required to provide the assistance needed across the Lake Chad region.

Mr. President,

We stand at a critical point in history. Already at the beginning of the year we are facing the largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of the United Nations. Now, more than 20 million people across four countries face starvation and famine. Without collective and coordinated global efforts, people will simply starve to death. Many more will suffer and die from disease. Children stunted and out of school. Livelihoods, futures and hope will be lost. Communities’ resilience rapidly wilting away. Development gains reversed. Many will be displaced and will continue to move in search for survival, creating ever more instability across entire regions. The warning call and appeal for action by the Secretary-General can thus not be understated. It was right to take the risk and sound the alarm early, not wait for the pictures of emaciated dying children or the world’s TV screens to mobilise a reaction and the funds.

The UN and humanitarian partners are responding. We have strategic, coordinated and prioritised plans in every country. We have the right leadership and heroic, dedicated teams on the ground. We are working hand-in-hand with development partners to marry the immediate life-saving with longer term sustainable development. We are ready to scale up. This is frankly not the time to ask for more detail or use that postponing phrase, what would you prioritize? Every life on the edge of famine and death is equally worth saving.

Now we need the international community and this Council to act:

First and foremost, act quickly to tackle the precipitating factors of famine. Preserving and restoring normal access to food and ensuring all parties’ compliance with international humanitarian law are key.

Second, with sufficient and timely financial support, humanitarians can still help to prevent the worst-case scenario. To do this, humanitarians require safe, full and unimpeded access to people in need. Parties to the conflict must respect this fundamental tenet of IHL and those with influence over the parties must exert that influence now.

Third, stop the fighting. To continue on the path of war and military conquest is – I think we all know – to guarantee failure, humiliation and moral turpitude, and will bear the responsibility for the millions who face hunger and deprivation on an incalculable scale because of it.

Mr. President,

Allow me to very briefly sum up. The situation for people in each country is dire and without a major international response, the situation will get worse. All four countries have one thing in common: conflict. This means we – you – have the possibility to prevent – and end – further misery and suffering. The UN and its partners are ready to scale up. But we need the access and the funds to do more. It is all preventable. It is possible to avert this crisis, to avert these famines, to avert these looming human catastrophes.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President.

(N.Sethu, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs)

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