Free Republic

Modernists are trying to reverse trends in cultural-heritage preservation by subtle interventions in several key conservation standards of the European Union. Writing from Norway, Audun Engh of the International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture & Urbanism (INTBAU) warned me today that the modernists plan to “introduce recommendations that modernism (‘contemporary design’) should be a required style for new construction at EU-funded cultural-heritage sites.”

Actor Kevin Spacey issued a creepy message to the world on Christmas Eve, a day before a man who once accused Spacey of groping him committed suicide. Geir Håkonsund, a spokesman for the family of Norwegian author Ari Behn, announced that Behn, 47, who had once been married to Norwegian Princess Martha Louise, had killed himself. (snip) Behn had alleged that in 2017, Spacey — who has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple men — groped him under a table. Although there is no indication that there was any connection between the suicide and the video, the timing of...

Ari Behn, a former member of Norway’s royal family who was one of Kevin Spacey’s sexual assault accusers, died by suicide on Wednesday, his manager said. He was 47. “It is with great sadness in our hearts that I on behalf of the very closest relatives of Ari Behn must announce that he took his own life today,” his manager, Geir Hakonsund, said in an email to AFP. SNIP In December 2017, Behn came forward to accuse Spacey, 60, of groping him under a table at a Nobel Peace Prize concert in 2007. Spacey never responded to that allegation and...

Four Muslim men attacked a street preacher after they lured him away while he was preaching and praying for the sick on a street in Trondheim, Norway last week. According to the website Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe, Roar Fløttum was approached by the men when one of them asked him to come with them to pray for a friend who had injured his foot. Instead, they took him to a nearby backyard where the men allegedly pushed him down a cellar staircase, beat him, robbed him and threatened to kill him if he did not...

Ancient Viking ship discovered buried next to church using breakthrough georadar technology A Viking ship believed to be over 1,000 years old has been discovered buried next to a church in Norway. Archaeologists from the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) announced they had found the ship, believed to have been used in a traditional ship burial, using “breakthrough” large-scale high-resolution georadar technology. The remains of the 17m vessel are buried just below the top-soil, at Edøy church on Edøya island in western Norway. Archaeologists have suggested parts of the structure may have been damaged by ploughing. The team...

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry says it has summoned Norway’s ambassador to convey the deep concern of the government and Pakistani people over the recent burning of Islam’s holy book by a Norwegian man that was caught on video. In Saturday’s statement, the ministry said: “Such actions hurt the sentiments of 1.3 billion Muslims around the world.” The statement demanded action against the person in the city of Kristiansand who desecrated the Quran at an anti-Islam rally last week. …

A mysterious double Viking boat burial has been discovered in Norway, intriguing experts. Last month archaeologists excavating a site at Vinjeroa in central Norway uncovered the boat grave of a woman who died in the second half of the 9th century. Shell-shaped gilded bronze brooches and a crucifix-shaped brooch fashioned from an Irish harness fitting were found in the grave, along with a pearl necklace, two pairs of scissors, part of a spindle and a cow’s skull, according to the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

Oslo is an unremarkable place compared to other European capitals, lacking the picturesque charm of smaller Norwegian cities such as Bergen, Trondheim and Stavanger. But it’s pleasant and pretty enough. Tourists find it easy to get around, with lots to explore. The Oslo Opera House, which opened in 2008, is spectacular. And in summer, you can swim in the Oslofjord and enjoy expensive utepils (“outside beer”) on the seafront or on Karl Johans gate, the city’s broad main street. Like the rest of Norway, Oslo traditionally has been a safe place, even by the standards of other wealthy countries. It’s...

NORWAY: MUSLIMS GO BERSERK as a Quran burned in the public square in protest of creeping Islamization NOVEMBER 19, 2019 BY BARENAKEDISLAM The supervised protests, during which members of a local anti-Islamic organization slammed Islam as a religion of violence and labeling the prophet Muhammad a “paedophile,” culminated in the central religious text of Islam being burnt, likely for the first time in Norway. Nearly 6% of the population is now Muslim…approaching the breaking point of 10%. Sputnik News (h/Mano) Muslim leaders in Agder, Norway, have announced plans to file a police report after the Quran burning that occurred during...

The oil giant released a valuation target ranging from $1.6 trillion to $1.7 trillion. The figures fall short of the $2 trillion target Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been fixed on for more than two years. The difference in value illustrates the operational, geopolitical and governance risks that investors face betting on the offering, writes Ben Dummett. The IPO still has potential to be the world's biggest by surpassing the $25 billion Alibaba raised in 2014. But the stock listing is beginning to reveal a set of dueling interests for Saudi Arabia. Saudi leadership wants the stock offering...

SKAERSOGAARD, Denmark — On a mild autumn morning, Sven Moesgaard climbed a sunbathed hill and inspected an undulating expanse of neatly planted vines. A picking crew was harvesting tons of hardy Solaris grapes that he would soon turn into thousands of bottles of crisp white and sparkling Danish wine. A decade ago, winemaking was regarded as a losing proposition in these notoriously cool climes. But as global temperatures rise, a fledgling wine industry is growing from once-unlikely fields across Scandinavia, as entrepreneurs seek to turn a warming climate to their advantage. “We’re looking for the opportunities in climate change,” said...

Iran has discovered a new oil field in the country’s south with over 50 billion barrels of crude, its president said Sunday, a find that could boost the country’s proven reserves by a third as it struggles to sell energy abroad over U.S. sanctions. The announcement by Hassan Rouhani comes as Iran faces crushing American sanctions after the U.S. pulled out of its nuclear deal with world powers last year. Rouhani made the announcement in a speech in the desert city of Yazd. He said the field was located in Iran’s southern Khuzestan province, home to its crucial oil industry....

President Barack Obama’s first act as a Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2009 — nine months after he took the oath of office — was to try to wriggle out of accepting it. “The morning the prize was announced, his staff investigated whether anyone had failed to travel to Oslo to receive their prize,” writes Nobel insider Geir Lundestad in “The World’s Most Prestigious Prize” (Oxford), out this month. Apparently, the president was among the 61 percent of Americans who believed he didn’t deserve it. “It is true, Obama did not do much before winning,” Lundestad, 74, a member of...

In Hurtigruten’s most extensive stateside event ever, the Norwegian company just gave nearly 300 US and Canadian travel advisors and media a taste of its new hybrid-electric ship, Roald Amundsen. ‘The US market is very important to us, both as a destination and as a source market,’ Hurtigruten CEO Daniel Skjeldam said. The company ‘hasn’t been that present in the US market, but that’s going to change,’ he added. Just 10% of business came from the US last year. That is targeted to rise to 25% to 30%, and Hurtigruten’s Seattle office has bulked up from a few people to...

Details of .22 Pistol Defense Failure against Polar Bear in Norway; iStock-940461304 U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- While searching for cases where pistols were used to defend against bears, three failures have been found. In the last published results, of 73 cases, that was a 4% failure rate. The very small sample size means a few cases can change the percentages of success or failure significantly.  It is useful to know what happened in each case to determine how the failures and successes occurred. The three failures involved the three species of North American bears. One case involving a polar bear and a...

An armed man has stolen an ambulance and driven it at multiple people in a busy city. A child, believed to be a baby or toddler, is among those injured and dashed to hospital. Emergency services are desperately trying to calm the chaotic situation in Oslo, Norway. Witnesses said they've also heard gunshots. A police helicopter has been spotted scouring the vicinity.

The timing of Norway’s biggest oil project in decades is a bit awkward. Equinor ASA kicked off its massive Johan Sverdrup field, a rare mega-project in the aging North Sea, at a moment where the pressure on the oil industry and governments to act against the climate crisis has never been greater. The field is set to produce crude for 50 years, well beyond the time where the world’s greenhouse-gas emissions should be net zero to avoid warming of more than 1.5 degrees.

This year’s apple season has been so fruitful that distributors in Norway are running short on storage space. Meteorologists have linked climate change to the quickly-ripening fruits, NRK reports. Orchards in the western area of Hardanger told the broadcaster that this year’s apple season had been unusually short and intense, with a much shorter window than usual for harvesting. Large quantities of apples are now ready for transport to distributors and trees have been cleared of fruit, according to the report. “It has been a good season. The quality is also good. We can see that in both the color...

Botswana is a landlocked country which is situated in Southern Africa. It is my favourite country in the world. It is a "Wildlife Paradise" in more ways than one. It is home to the "Big Five" namely Lion, Leopard, Cheetah, Elephant, and Rhino. They are called the "Big Five" because they were difficult to hunt on foot in the past. Botswana has reserved 40% of its land exclusively for wildlife. Botswana is home to many famous "National Parks" and "Game Reserves". The most famous are Chobe National Park and Moremi Game Reserve. Chobe National Park in Northern Botswana is globally...

In Emmanuelle Macron’s ‘Open Borders’ France, more than 90,000 illegal alien Muslim invaders have lodged asylum claims so far this year, tying with Germany SEPTEMBER 15, 2019 BY BARENAKEDISLAM New statistics have revealed that France is now tied with Germany for new asylum applications this year, with over 90,000 mainly Muslim illegal migrant wannabes attempting to claim asylum in France. A document from the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) claims that France has seen a total of 91,372 asylum applications so far in 2019, just 767 less than Germany over the same period, French newspaper Le Bien Publique reports. France...