Free Republic

The future of money is changing fast. 💳🌍 Around the world, countries are moving toward a cashless society, where digital money, online payments, and mobile wallets are replacing traditional paper cash. From Sweden and Norway to China and Nigeria, the shift to electronic payments is transforming economies and daily life. In this video, we explore: • Why cash is disappearing in many countries • How digital payments and mobile banking are taking over • The rise of a cashless world and what it means for the future of money If you’re curious about digital currency, cashless societies, online transactions, the...

King Harald V of Norway, Europe’s oldest monarch, has died at the age of 89, after 35 years on the throne. Harald is succeeded as monarch by his son Haakon. He leaves his wife of 57 years, Queen Sonja, two children, and five grandchildren. His granddaughter Ingrid Alexandra now becomes heir to the Norwegian throne. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said, “a whole nation is in mourning” after Harald’s death, with the people of Norway “left with a deep sense of gratitude for a long life in the service of Norway.” The government declared a national period of mourning,...

STAVANGER, Norway, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Norway will continue developing its oil and gas resources in the Barents Sea regardless of the European ​Union's support for a moratorium on Arctic hydrocarbon supplies, and no longer sees itself as Europe's "green battery", Energy Minister Terje Aasland told Reuters. Following Russia's 2022 invasion of ‌Ukraine, Norway has become Europe's largest supplier of natural gas, meeting around 30% of gas demand of both the European Union and Britain. Last year, the country's gas production was near record levels, while oil output reached its highest level since 2009. Official forecasts, however, show production falling...

The Draken Harald Hårfagre is not modeled after a single historic ship, but an amalgamation of many Viking vessels described in stories. Viking Nilsson / Draken Harald Hårgfagre In Christopher Nolan’s new film adaptation of the Odyssey, Calypso is played by Charlize Theron, Odysseus by Matt Damon, and his ancient Greek sea vessel by Draken Harald Hårfagre—a completely functional Viking longship. The wooden ship, commissioned by Norwegian entrepreneur Sigurd Aase, is about 115 feet long and 25 feet wide and equipped with square sails and 50 long oars. Most importantly, it can actually traverse the sea—a necessity for Nolan’s loyalty...

Erling Haaland and his taxidermy raccoon have touched back down in Norway after a sensational performance in his first FIFA World Cup “It followed me home,” Haaland joked in a post on social media after fans quickly circulated the photos of the Norwegian soccer star with his new decor. “It’s been quite a row, thank you for making it so special,” Haaland wrote in a post on X after Norway’s quarterfinals defeat by England Erling Haaland and his raccoon are back in Norway after the soccer star delivered a career-changing World Cup performance. As Haaland, 25, touched down back in...

Norway plays the Ivory Coast tomorrow afternoon in the first knockout phase of the soccer World Cup, and one suspects the New York Times will be backing the Norsemen. The Gray Lady has gone gaga for Norway’s “Viking Row,” a synchronized routine where fans mime the rowing of a Viking longboat to the bang of a drum. It’s caught on among the Norwegian players as well as politicians back in Norway, who performed the row in parliament last week. For the last two weeks the NYT has been publishing breathless pieces about the zany Norwegians and their Viking antics. “The...

The oval-set stone, deep blue in colour, was framed by exquisite filigree: thin gold wires twisted and soldered into spirals, accented with tiny granulated beads.Although the blue "stone" is likely coloured glass rather than sapphire, such materials were prized for their symbolic power -- believed to cool inner heat, preserve chastity, and confer divine protection.With its rich decoration and small size, experts believe the ring once belonged to a woman of high status.The discovery was made during extensive excavations in the Norwegian city of Tønsberg, specifically in Prestegaten and its surrounding streets, where archaeologists from the Norwegian Institute for Cultural...

In an unprecedented move, 22 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, and Australia, issued a joint statement condemning the Islamic Republic of Iran for what they called “hostile actions and extraterritorial operations against individuals on the soil of other countries,” and demanded the immediate cessation of such actions. In the statement, published on Thursday, June 11, the Islamic Republic’s security services were accused of using local and international criminal networks to carry out assassination plots, kidnappings, intimidation, and harassment against dissidents, journalists, and citizens in Europe, North America, and Oceania. The signatories emphasized that attempts...

Support Free Republic this weekend... The Public Prosecutors Office in Paris opening a probe of schools attended by young children. There have been allegations of violence and sexual abuse involving more than 100 schools and childcare facilities. A television news program earlier this year offered up a series of allegations regarding care facilities for very young children... This week Norway became the ninth nation joining a French-led nuclear deterrence plan. Other nations involved are Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, The Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and the UK which already possesses nuclear weapons. Nations in the scheme will host French nuclear forces namely...

These figures are based on annualized data from January to November 2025, compiled by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and reported by Visual Capitalist and other sources. The United States is the world’s largest oil producer, followed by Russia and Saudi Arabia, with the top 10 countries supplying over 70% of global crude oil.United States 16.1%Russia 11.7%Saudi Arabia 11.3%Canada 5.9%Iraq 5.2%China 5.1%Iran 5.0%United Arab Emirates 4.5%Brazil 4.4%Kuwait 3.1%

...The discovery was made by Henrik Refsnes Mørtvedt, a first-grade pupil at Fredheim School, during a class trip in the Brandbu area of the Gran municipality, in Norway's Innlandet county. According to NRK, Henrik spotted part of the object protruding from the soil while walking across a field with his classmates...Instead of treating it as a souvenir, they contacted local archaeologists. That decision may have saved an important piece of Norway's early medieval past.Archaeologists identified the object as a single-edged sword, meaning it was sharpened on only one side. This type of blade is often associated with the Merovingian Period...

In a Press Announcement by the University of Oslo's Museum of Cultural History, Archaeologists Have Discovered a Votive Gold Hoard During Road Development Works South of Lillehammer on the Shores of Lake Mjosa, Norway.Excavations have found five tiny pieces of rectangular sheet gold decorated with motifs and stamped imagery depicting a man and a woman. The objects were discovered in the remains of a pagan temple, where previous excavations have uncovered thirty similar stamped gold objects in the vicinity over the past three decades.The building measures around fifteen metres in length and was likely used for ritual drinking, however, it...

When the experienced rock carving hunter Tormod Fjeld was driving his daughter Ada to a nearby location, the two of them decided to take a closer look beneath Kolsåstoppen, a hill in Bærum, Eastern Norway.That was when they found something remarkable: magnificent ships carved into the rock.Perhaps these carvings show people in Norway 3,000 years ago -- sitting in their ship, maybe even wearing helmets.They also spotted a large footprint of the sole of a foot, as well as a hand with five thick fingers.And then more ships appeared -- some carved upright, others upside down.

A neo-Nazi who may have interacted with would-be Donald Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks online revealed himself to be Bjorn Leif Hjelmerud of Norway, The Daily Mail reported. Hjelmerud admitted to being in contact with a “Tom Crooks” YouTube account believed by some to be the 2024 Butler, Pennsylvania, shooter who nearly took the president’s life, the outlet reported citing a text exchange with Hjelmerud. A member of the white supremacist Nordic Resistance Movement, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, Hjelmerud egged on violent comments from “Tom Crooks” about overthrowing the government in a 2020 YouTube comments section. “If a gun and...

-The UK government will introduce legislation banning new North Sea oil and gas exploration licences as part of its Energy Independence Bill. -Critics argue the policy will increase Britain’s reliance on imported fossil fuels while damaging Scotland’s oil and gas industry. -Rising oil prices and disruptions tied to the Iran conflict have intensified political pressure on Labour to reconsider the ban. The government will make it illegal to grant new oil and gas licences in the North Sea, the King said at the state opening of Parliament, in a sign ministers are refusing to buckle in the face of a...

The stretch between Svalbard and the North Cape of mainland Norway constitutes the Bear Gap, which is the Arctic Circle analogue to the better-known Greenland-Iceland-UK Gap.4 Svalbard’s proximity to the Kola Peninsula and Novaya Zemlya—home to Russia’s Northern Fleet and its nuclear weapons test site, respectively—further helps explain Moscow’s enduring interest in Svalbard. The archipelago’s importance is likely to grow as maritime trade increases in the Arctic. The Pentagon’s 2024 Arctic Strategy notes, “Reduction in sea ice due to climate change means chokepoints such as the Bering Strait between Alaska and Russia and the Barents Sea north of Norway are...

Repsol, has confirmed that (his) company and its partners are abandoning drilling offshore Cuba, representing a major blow to the island's ambitions to secure oil self-sufficiency.... The decision follows reports that the Jaguey-1 exploration well drilled by Repsol and partners Statoil (Norway) and ONGC (India) on Block N26, in Cuba's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the Gulf of Mexico, had come up dry.

In case of any doubt about Norway’s commitment to maintain – and expand – its production of gas and oil offshore, the energy minister, Terje Aasland, has a pithy response: “We will develop, not dismantle, activity on our continental shelf.” This week, to the alarm of environmental campaigners, he announced that three gasfields off the country’s southern coast would reopen by the end of 2028 – nearly three decades after they closed – to meet a shortfall caused by the impact of the war in Ukraine and disruption to supplies from the Middle East. The decision will help keep gas...

A man went out on a morning walk in southwest Norway and stumbled upon a surprise: an elite warrior's sword scabbard that was purposefully buried 1,500 years ago. The rare gold object, which was richly decorated with serpentine animals, was probably an offering to the gods at a time of famine and societal turmoil, researchers say...The sixth-century gold artifact, which is about 2.4 inches (6 centimeters) long and weighs 1.2 ounces (33 grams), once adorned the scabbard of an elite warrior's sword. Only 17 others have been discovered to date in Northern Europe, and most were found in hoards with...

The Norwegian government has been heavily criticised for approving plans to reopen three North Sea gasfields nearly three decades after they were closed to help fill the gap in energy supplies created by the Middle East war. Amid sharp price rises in oil and gas since the US and Israel’s attack on Iran in February, Oslo has also given its approval for oil and gas companies to explore in 70 new locations in the North Sea, Barents Sea and Norwegian Sea. The decision by the Labour-run government goes against the advice of the country’s environment agency and has infuriated left-leaning...