ONE NEWS

Saturday, December 12, 2009 OSLO: US president has turned down an invitation to lunch with the king of Norway, will not hold a press conference nor attend the Nobel concert held in his honour the day after the prize ceremony. Obama is due to arrive in Oslo in the morning and will stay in the Norwegian capital for less than 24 hours. The official Nobel programme is usually spread out over three days. His decision is thought to be fuelled by embarrassment over being given the award so early in his presidency and a wish to avoid a public backlash in the US. But his decision to pull out of parts of large sections of the programme has been taken as a snub in Norway. Polls suggest the Norwegians are deeply unimpressed by his decision not to make more of the visit.

OSLO: President United States Barrack Hussain Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize here at a prize distribution ceremony on Thursday.Speaking on the occasion, the U.S. President said, “I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated. In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage.”He said the most profound issue surrounding his receipt of this prize is the fact that he is the Commander-in-Chief of a nation in the midst of two wars. One of these wars is winding down, he added. He continued:A decade into a new century, (the) old architecture is buckling under the weight of new threats. The world may no longer shudder at the prospect of war between two nuclear superpowers, but proliferation may increase the risk of catastrophe. Terrorism has long been a tactic, but modern technology allows a few small men with outsized rage to murder innocents on a horrific scale. Moreover,...