Oslo/Reykjavik - Iceland should consider replacing its currency with that of neighbouring Norway, an Icelandic economics professor suggested in an interview published Wednesday.

The move was necessary since confidence in the Icelandic central bank has withered in the wake of the recent financial turmoil, Professor Thorolfur Matthiasson of the economics faculty at the University of Iceland told the Bergens Tidende newspaper.

"To get room to maneuver we need a plan A and a plan B," Matthiasson said, noting that one option was to consider joining the European Union and adopting the joint European currency, the euro.

"In the short-term, it may be more realistic to pursue a monetary union with Norway," he added.

Stockholm/Oslo - Markets in the Nordic region opened strongly Monday in the wake of international efforts, including by Eurozone countries, to solve the financial turmoil.

The Stockholm bourse general index OMXS was up over 6 per cent with a strong start for banking shares.

In Copenhagen, the OMX Copenhagen 20 surged 7 per cent while in Helsinki the OMXH25 was up 5 per cent.

In Oslo, banking and insurance group shares pushed the index up over 6.5 per cent, and in early trading the country's main banking group DnB NOR surged some 22 per cent.

Oslo (Norway), Oct. 10 : Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari has won the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize for his peace-building and brokering efforts in international conflicts for more than 30 years, including his role in a 2005 accord between Indonesia and rebels in its province of Aceh, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said.

"These efforts have contributed to a more peaceful world and to ''fraternity between nations'' in Alfred Nobel''s spirit," the committee said in announcing the prize.

Oslo- Human rights activists from China, Russia or Vietnam topped speculations on the eve of the announcement of this year's Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.

The five-member Nobel Committee advises nominators not to announce their proposals but there are no rules against the procedure, allowing fodder for speculation before Friday's announcement.

In 2007 the prize was shared by former US vice president Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for their efforts to raise awareness about climate change.

Oslo - A member of Norway's ruling Labour Party said Thursday she would not seek re-election to parliament next year after disclosures that she routinely placed calls to clairvoyants and fortune tellers at taxpayer expense.

Saera Khan, elected to the legislature in 2005, said in a statement late Wednesday she "regretted" that she had not disclosed the calls. She added that she had provided compensation for phone expenses that were over the average for a Norwegian member of parliament.

Oslo- A Norwegian literature festival has cancelled an invitation to controversial British historian David Irving, organizers said Thursday.

Irving, who in 2006 was sentenced in Austria for denying the Holocaust, was invited to the Norwegian Festival of Literature at the end of May 2009.

The invitation generated a lot of criticism and on Thursday, the festival's artistic director, Stig Saeterbakken, resigned.