Oslo  - Speculation on the possible winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, to be announced October 10, centred Thursday on human rights activists, according to an Oslo-based researcher.

The Nobel Committee may well consider a human rights activist since 2008 is also "the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," Stein Tonnesson, director of the International Peace Research Institute (PRIO), said.

Tonnesson's personal shortlist included two Chinese dissidents, Hu Jia and Wei Jingsheng.

Oslo - A Congolese priest was named winner of the 2008 Rafto Prize on Thursday for his work supporting reconciliation and peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and speaking out against mass rapes of women as part of the "strategy of war."

Pastor Bulambo Lembelembe Josue was cited as "a visionary church leader with high personal integrity and a unique ability to turn strategies into concrete action," the jury said, noting that women were often the victims of the long-standing conflict in the African nation.

Oslo- Norway's central bank kept its key lending rate unchanged at 5.75 per cent Wednesday, citing the "unusually high degree of uncertainty" in wake of the recent global financial turbulence.

Norges Bank deputy governor Jan F Qvigstad noted that "there are wide daily swings in money market rates, equity prices, the krone exchange rate and oil and commodity prices."

"It is difficult to determine how long this pressure will last and the effects on inflation and activity in the Norwegian economy. It is therefore appropriate to keep the interest rate unchanged now," he added in a statement.

Oslo - Norwegian parliament speaker Thorbjorn Jagland said Tuesday he was to leave Norwegian politics, opting to stand as a candidate for secretary general of the Council of Europe.

The veteran Social Democrat, who has also held the posts of prime minister and foreign minister, hoped to succeed Terry Davis of Britain who was slated to step down next year.

Jagland, 58, said the Council of Europe was a key part of the European political and security system along with the European Union, NATO and the Organization of Cooperation and Security (OSCE).

Oslo  - The gap between supporters and opponents of Norway joining the European Union remains wide, according to a new opinion poll published Monday.

While 54.4 per cent were opposed to joining the 27-nation bloc, 36.1 per cent favoured joining the EU, the poll by research institute Sentio said.

Some 9.5 per cent of those people polled on September 2-7 were undecided, Sentio said, adding that the margin of error was 3 percentage points.

The sample was based on 904 people. Only people over 18, and therefore eligible to vote, were included in the survey, Sentio said.

Newspapers Nationen and Klassekampen commissioned the monthly poll.

Oslo - Norway on Friday approved emergency funds to Zimbabwe totalling 40 million kroner (6.8 million dollars), Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store said.

"While we are monitoring the political events in Zimbabwe, we should not forget the acute needs of the hard suffering people," Store said in a statement.

The Norwegian funds were to be channelled via the United Nations and humanitarian agencies, the foreign minister said.