Premier Ministre 2.0
M. Jens Stoltenberg, Premier Ministre, annonce sur son blog de Facebook qu’il se rendra à Moscou ce printemps pour des entretiens avec le Premier Ministre russe Vladimir Poutine. [...]
Source : revue de presse de l’amb Fra à Oslo
Jens has poked Vladimir.
Jens has created an event: ” Hangover with Vladimir” Set your RSVP?
Jens has just compared Vladimir to his other friends and thinks he is more likely to win in a fight.
Jens and Vladimir are now in a relationship and it’s complicated.
Statistiques des douanes 2008
Hier, la douane norvégienne a présenté ses chiffres pour 2008. Il y a eu une augmentation de la saisie de drogues : 710 kg d’amphétamine, cocaïne, héroïne et cannabis ont été détecté, ce qui est le double par rapport à il y a huit ans. La douane estime cependant qu’elle saisit moins de la moitié de ce qui est introduit en Norvège. Les autorités estiment qu’environ 3 milliards de NOK sont importés/exportés illégalement vers/de la Norvège et que cet argent liquide provient d’activités criminelles. (Aftenposten, I, la une + pp2-3; Dagsavisen pp12-13; VG p8; Nationen p7; Vårt Land p4).
Source : revue de presse amb fra à Oslo.
Economie norvégienne
Dans une entretien avec Aftenposten, la ministre des Finances, Kristin Halvorsen déclare que le gouvernement est prêt à mettre en place d’autres plans de sauvetage si nécessaire pour préserver des emplois en 2009. Mme Halvorsen souligne que la Norvège est en meilleure situation pour faire face à la crise internationale que la plupart des pays. La Norvège a:
- un taux de chômage très faible,
- un fonds souverain fondé sur les recettes du pétrole et du gaz permettant un nivellement des fluctuations de l’économie,
- une main-d’œuvre flexible
- un bon système de protection sociale, y compris de formation professionnelle,
- un Etat qui détient des actions dans les industries clé norvégiennes cotées à la Bourse d’Oslo
Le gouvernement envisage une série de mesures pour aider les entreprises en 2009 et a déjà mis en œuvre les mesures suivantes :
- Plan de sauvetage - les banques peuvent échanger leurs prêts immobiliers contre des obligations du gouvernement jusqu’à 350 milliards de Nok.
- paquet de 50 milliards de Nok destiné à GIEK et à Exportfinans – deux institutions qui fournissent des prêts aux sociétés d’export, jusqu’à 110 milliards de Nok.
- budget 2009 - Halvorsen a déclaré que le gouvernement avait prévu 14 milliards de Nok pour faire face à la crise financière dans le budget 2009.
- Taux directeur - La banque centrale norvégienne a réduit son taux directeur trois fois cet automne (réduction de 2,75%). Le taux directeur est actuellement de 3% et est susceptible de baisser encore.
(Aftenposten III p.4, Dagens Næringsliv p.8 & 10-11)
Source : Revue de presse 23/12/08 Amb Fra No.
Le vin chaud norvégien : le gløgg
gløgg
En Hiver, alors que les bougies viennent péniblement combler l’absence de lumière, les Norvégiens - mais aussi les Suédois et Finlandais - ont pour habitude de se réchauffer autour d’un équivalent de notre vin chaud, le gløgg (prononcer “gleugue”). Vendue sous forme de bonbonnes ressemblant à du sirop, ce liquide doit être mélangé à de l’eau pour les petits bras ou du vin rouge pour les costauds. Chauffé sans attendre l’ébullition, le gløgg peut se boire tel quel, ou bien accompagné d’amandes et de raisins secs. Le résultat est beaucoup trop sucré et est même strictement dégueulasse. Le siroter le sourire au lèvre face aux autochtones, le renverser délicatement dans l’évier lorsqu’ils ont le dos tourné. Ne pas oublier de les remercier pour ce merveilleux brevage, puis boire un coca.
Free fall
| Live rates at 2008.12.18 15:04:12 UTC | ||
1.00 EUR |
= |
9.80104 NOK |
Major pilot interest cut by Central Bank
| The Executive Board of the Norwegian Central Bank (Norges Bank) decided Wednesday to reduce its key policy rate by 1.75 percentage points to 3.00 per cent with effect from 18 December 2008.The Executive Board says in a press release that its strategy is that the key policy rate should lie in the interval 2 - 3 per cent in the period to the publication of the next Monetary Policy Report on 25 March 2009, unless the Norwegian economy is exposed to new major shocks.
- Since the end of October international and domestic growth prospects have weakened considerably. At the same time, inflation is subsiding faster than expected. An overall assessment suggests that it is appropriate to lower the key policy rate considerably at this juncture. The credibility of the inflation target now makes it possible to use monetary policy actively to dampen the impact of the financial crisis on the Norwegian economy, says Deputy Governor Jan F. Qvigstad. The world economy is experiencing a pronounced cyclical downturn. Key policy rates have been lowered substantially abroad. Oil prices have continued to fall. It appears that economic growth in Norway will also be markedly lower than anticipated in October. According to new information from Norges Bank’s regional network, production and employment are expected to fall in the coming quarters. Inflation is moving down. On the other hand, the krone exchange rate has been weaker than expected. The low value of the krone is helping to mitigate the effects of the international downturn on the Norwegian economy. - The risk of a pronounced downturn in the Norwegian economy has increased. At the same time, the risk that inflation will become too high ahead has been reduced. The dual consideration of stabilising inflation around the inflation target and stabilising developments in output and employment suggests a markedly lower interest rate, says Deputy Governor Jan F. Qvigstad. (NRK/Press release) Rolleiv Solholm |
Un cargo a à moitié coulé dans le fjord d’Oslo
Un cargo qui transportait du ciment a à moitié coulé dans le fjord d’Oslo hier. Toute la presse en fait une grande couverture. Le cargo contient 140 tonnes de fuel, et il y a un risque d’une énorme catastrophe si le fuel s’échappe dans le fjord d’Oslo.
Source : Revue de Presse de l’Ambassade de France en Norvège
Study Finds Working At Work Improves Productivity
An American worker can triple his work output by working.“Our findings are astounding: By simply sitting down and doing work, employees can dramatically increase their output of goods and services,” said Deputy Undersecretary of Labor Charlotte Ponticelli, who authored the report. “In fact, ‘working’ may revolutionize the way people work.”
Perhaps even more shocking, the study reveals that not working significantly decreases worker productivity, sometimes even resulting in no work getting done at all. Similar findings were reported in the areas of avoiding work, putting off work, complaining about work instead of actually working, pretending to work, and fucking around.
“Fucking around is in fact detrimental to the work process,” the study reads in part.
To conduct the study, researchers split the staff of a Washington-based insurance company into two groups and assigned each group a series of tasks to be completed by the end of the day. The control group engaged in normal workplace activities, such as standing around and talking, staring vacantly at the computer screen, and surfing the Internet. The other group was instructed to do work and complete its given tasks. Incredibly, the group that did not do any work failed to get any work done, while the group that did do work finished all the work.
The researchers believe that these lessons could possibly be applied to fields outside the insurance industry.
Enlarge ImageTypical workplace activities, such as shooting the shit, turn out to be less productive than not wasting time.
“Based on the study, we can safely conclude that if an employee’s job is to process expense reports, doing a crossword puzzle will result in the successful completion of that task zero times out of 100, while processing expense reports will result in the successful completion of that task 100 times out of 100,” head researcher Richard Schoemberg said.
Jon Halper, a Baltimore-area small-business owner, claims that people used to laugh whenever he told them that the key to worker productivity was not checking friends’ MySpace pages for hours at a time, but rather working.
“After this study, I feel vindicated,” said Halper, who believes working is so important that for years he has required all his employees to work throughout the day. “Hopefully, more companies will embrace the idea that employees working on things that they are supposed to do is practically essential.”
A similar study conducted at Harvard University over a period of three years attempted to determine conclusively whether working was more productive than various different subsets of not working. The results showed across the board that working is 100 percent more productive than listening to music and checking e-mails, 100 percent more productive than meandering around the office socializing with coworkers, 100 percent more productive than playing online Sudoku, 100 percent more productive than watching YouTube videos of nostalgic childhood television programming, 100 percent more productive than reading celebrity-gossip blogs while chatting with friends on Instant Messenger, 100 percent more productive than napping, and 98.2 percent more productive than not showing up to work.
Despite the staggering new findings, many American workers say that they still do not feel comfortable working on the job.
“I love coming into work every day,” Arlington, VA sales manager Bryce Davidson said. “I get to have great conversations with [office receptionist] Sandy, challenge myself with Yahoo! TextTwist, and still have time to set my fantasy-football roster. Why would I want to ruin work by working?”
source : http://www.theonion.com/content/news/study_finds_working_at_work
Le Spitzberg c’est fantastique.
Do I have to have a gun license when arriving Svalbard..?
You do not need a gun licence to be able to rent a rifle in Svalbard. You can rent a rifle for a period of maximum 4 weeks without any special permission. But we highly recommend that you practice shoooting with a rifle before you come to Svalbard, for your own safety.
PAN LE POLAR FOX !
Gripen ou JSF ?
Favour Swedish military aircraft
A majority of Norwegians would favour Swedish aircraft when the Norwegian Air Force decides on purchasing a new fleet of fighter bombers, according to a poll made for NRK by Norstat.
The choice is currently between the Swedish made Jas Gripen or the US Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).
The poll shows that of those who have made up their minds, 37 per cent are of the opinion that Norway should buy Swedish aircraft, while 18 per cent favour the US JSF. But nearly half of those asked, around 45 per cent, say they have no opinion on the matter.
Conservative Party leader Erna Solberg, however, says to NRK: - This is not a matter to be decided by opinion polls. This will be decided on the basis of which is the technically best aircraft for Norway.
(NRK)
Rolleiv Solholm
Source : http://www.norwaypost.no/News/Favour-Swedish-military-aircraft/menu-id-26.html