43% of Norwegians view Obama’s snub of King as ‘rude’

Norwegians are not pleased with the US President according to this morning’s The Guardian. A mere 34% believe his decision to cut the trip to Oslo short was acceptable – notably his decision to cancel lunch with Norway’s King Harold.

Norwegian paper Aftenposten leads with Obama’s visit and is expecting a ‘humble and personable’ US President. The paper notes that Obama was heavily involved in writing the thank you speech.

For the International Herald Tribune, Obama will have to walk a tightrope in addressing the paradox of a wartime president receiving a peace prize. “Obama will have to explain why war is necessary to bring peace,” the paper says.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, the Chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee Thorbjorn Jagland insists that Obama’s acts in the last year have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind and this is why he was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize for Peace. However in his other role as Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Jagland insists that the US needs to do more to defend human rights internationally. Notably Obama should sign the Treaty of Rome that set up the International Criminal Court, he says. The US has still not ratified the Treaty yet “the court was set up to protect the world from the worst violations of human rights.”

Other stories in today’s international papers:

The Daily Telegraph
Finalists of the 2009 Digital Camera Photographer of the Year Awards

China Daily
Bus drivers in Guangzhou banned from eating garlic