100 Years People on the South Pole

Wednesday it will be exactly 100 years since the first human reached the South Pole. “One of the greatest achievements in modern human history,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday in Antarctica at 40 degrees below zero, while unveiling an ice bust of the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen.

On 14 December 1912, Norwegians Roald Amundsen, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel, Olav Bjaaland and Oscar Wisting won the race to the pole from a British team led by the adventurer Robert Scott. The Briton used horses and poorly tested machines, scientist Amundsen used dogs to get to the South Pole and, according to plan, also shot them as food for the team.

The Norwegian team left the South Pole alive, while Scott and a second Briton died on the way back to base camp. | © 2011 Marcel Burger for ANP News Agency (original published in Dutch on 14 December 2011)

SWEDEN, 20 NOV 2023: Swedish police is not allowed to block the burning of the Quran citing possible disturbance of public order. This is the final decision by the highest public rule court of Sweden (Högsta Förvaltningsdomstolen) on a case in Norrköping last year. The police in Sweden decides over demonstrations, and freedom of expression is kept in high regard. This apparently includes the burning of holy books. In many places in Sweden riots broke out during Easter 2022 and later, after individuals burned the Quran to make a public statement.

SWEDEN, 18 NOV 2023: The wave of violence that is marking an ongoing gangs conflict within the Foxtrot organised crime network in Sweden has spread to Bosnia-Herzegowina. Two young man with Swedish passports, a 19-year-old and a 25-year-old were arrested in Sarajevo on 17 November, suspected of killing a 31-year-old Swedish gang leader in the Bosnian capital on 31 October. Another gang member, a 22-year-old from Norrköping was wounded in the same assassination attempt. The killed gang member was already a target of an attack earlier, on 6 September in Istanbul. According to Swedish media the arrested 19-year-old is from Malmö, is suspect in the attempted killing of the father in law of Rawa M, the leader of the Foxtrot network, in Uppsala on 13 September. He is apparently already known by authorities since he was 13 years old.

NORWAY, 15 NOV 2023: The Norwegian government announced on Wednesday it will invest NOK 12.5 billion (about EUR 1.07 billion) in upgrading and expanding the air defence network of the Scandinavian country. Norway has a credible indigenous development of surface-to-air missile systems. The NASAMS made by Norwegian defence corp. Kongsberg has been exported to a dozen countries, including the United States that uses the system to protect high-value locations in Washington DC. The US government has even been bought the NASAMS for delivery to the Ukrainian armed forces.

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