NATO chief heading to Turkey this weekend in fresh push on Swedish membership
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will hold talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other senior Turkish officials this weekend as pressure mounts on Turkey to lift its objections to Sweden joining the military organization.
2020 Nobel Peace ceremony won't be held in person in Oslo
COPENHAGEN โ The winner of the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize โ the World Food Program โ and the Norwegian Nobel Committee said Wednesday they have jointly agreed to postpone the in-person award ceremony in Oslo next month because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Nobel Peace Prize ceremony usually is held at Oslo City Hall. Now, the Norwegian Nobel Committee is planning "a digital award ceremony where the WFP will be presented with the medal and diploma.โ U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is also expected to attend the virtual forum. Earlier this month, the Norwegian government had granted an exemption from its two-week quarantine requirement for arriving visitors so representatives from the winner of the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize could attend the award ceremony in Oslo. He called the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize โan important event of great national and international interest.โโWe want to make it easy for the prize winner to be physically present this year as well.
Norway's aging king discharged after heart surgery
COPENHAGEN โ King Harald V of Norway was discharged from the main hospital in Oslo on Monday after a successful operation to replace a heart valve. โThe king is in good shape,โ the monarch's doctor, Bjoern Bendz, said after the surgery at the Rikshospitaletโs Cardiovascular and Lung Clinic. The palace earlier had said that the intervention was necessary to improve the 83-year-old kingโs breathing. Last month, the king was hospitalized with breathing difficulties. In 2005, the kingโs aortic valve was replaced by an artificial heart valve.
World Food Program wins Nobel Peace Prize for hunger fight
FILE - In this Sept. 9, 2015 file photo, a child carries a parcel from the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) in Mwenezi, Zimbabwe. The WFP has won the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to combat hunger and food insecurity around the globe. The announcement was made Friday Oct. 9, 2020 in Oslo by Berit Reiss-Andersen, the chair of the Nobel Committee. โThe World Food Program works at the intersection of those two problems (and) it's going to face an increasing workload in the coming years." Some, however, noted that the World Food Programโs top donors are also major food exporters and often involved in the sale of arms to conflict zones where the agency works, from Afghanistan to Yemen.