Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest with assets exceeding $2.2 trillion, may once again be allowed to invest in nuclear weapons manufacturers, under a proposal submitted Thursday.
The fund currently excludes 14 companies, including Airbus, BAE Systems, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Safran. Because it develops or manufactures nuclear weapons or their components.
The Norwegian government ordered a review of the fund's ethical rules after the criticism it was subjected to due to its investments in groups accused of playing a role in the Gaza war.
A committee established for this purpose, headed by former Central Bank Governor Sven Yedrim, revealed its recommendations on Thursday.
The report stated that the fund can only invest in nuclear companies “based in a state that possesses nuclear weapons based on the definition of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and allied with Norway.”
“This means that several British, French and American arms manufacturing companies will be returned to the fund,” Yedrim explained while presenting the 434-page document.
The committee stressed that other ethical exclusion criteria, such as the manufacture of certain weapons such as biological or chemical weapons, mines, cluster bombs, coal mining, and the production of tobacco or cannabis... will remain unchanged.
The report was delivered to Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg, who previously served as Secretary General of NATO.
Regarding nuclear weapons producers, Stoltenberg pointed to the “paradox” that exists today, which is that “the Norwegian fund cannot invest in companies that may be crucial to Norway’s security,” at a time when Russia is intensifying its threats to use nuclear weapons, and China is strengthening its arsenal.
The committee also recommends reforming the Ethics Council, an independent body charged with providing recommendations to the Bank of Norway, which manages the fund.
The Council will remain tasked with assessing the risks of companies committing serious violations of ethical standards, but it will lose the ability to directly recommend the exclusion of these companies from the investment portfolio, a power that is currently suspended.
These recommendations must still be subjected to widespread consultation before the government presents its conclusions to Parliament for a vote next spring.
Some parties, especially left-wing ones, criticized the report; An environmental official described the report as “completely unreasonable.”
The fund invests in more than 7,000 companies around the world, and in total owns about 1.5 percent of all listed companies around the world, making it the largest single investor at the global level.
On Thursday, Pope Leo
The Vatican announced that Pope Leo received the Undersecretary for Public Affairs at the Vatican Secretariat of State, or what is known as the “substitute,” Archbishop Paolo Rodelli, and resumed work from the hospital. Rodelli undertakes a large part of the daily administrative work of the Holy See.
The update issued by Pope Leo's personal physician, Dr. Luigi Carbone, and the head of the thoracic surgery department at Gemelli Hospital, Dr. Stefano Margaritura, explained that the results of the tests that the Pope underwent after surgery remained within normal levels, and that the physical therapy session that he underwent, Thursday, included exercises for full movement, while he was performing his daily activities independently.
The two doctors said, “The chest X-ray showed good recovery of the lung that underwent surgery.” “In general, the Pope’s recovery after surgery is going as expected.”
On Thursday, the British government declared a state of “severe drought” in parts of southern England, attributing this to “an unprecedented period of extreme weather conditions,” according to what was reported by Agence France-Presse.
The United Kingdom will witness the hottest summer in 2026 since data records began, with several heat waves and exceptional droughts resulting from an unprecedented lack of rainfall since data records began in 1836.
More than 80 percent of England is currently suffering from drought, with below-average rainfall continuing during the autumn months.
Environment Agency head Philip Duffy said: “Record summer heat and extreme drought have put our water resources under enormous pressure.”
A state of “severe drought” was declared in the English counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, East Sussex and West Sussex, which is the highest level of drought severity and is declared when “exceptionally low indicators are recorded over a long period.”
The announcement came at a time when the water level in two major reservoirs in southwest England, which supply about 400,000 properties with water, dropped to less than 20 percent of their storage capacity.
The Environment Agency said water levels in reservoirs “should be around 75 per cent at this time of year”.
According to the government, the south-east and south-west of England witnessed the driest period between April and September in more than a century.
Scientists say that climate change is increasing the severity of weather phenomena, such as drought and heat waves, leading to record levels being recorded at an increasing rate.
As of last week, water levels in reservoirs across England averaged 54 per cent, while the country had received only 10 per cent of the usual average October rainfall.
The government urged water companies to monitor the amounts they withdraw from natural resources, and encouraged consumers to rationalize their consumption, while restrictions on water use have already been imposed in several areas.
Environment Minister Angela Eagle said: “This level of drought has not been seen in decades.”
Several sectors were affected by the months of drought, from farmers and fishermen to firefighters, who said that the severe dryness of plants and lands led to the outbreak of forest fires that were difficult to fight during the summer.
Since August, the government has held a weekly meeting of the “National Drought Group,” with the participation of the Meteorological Authority, water companies, experts, and farmers’ representatives.
