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Nine gold pendants with rare horse symbols, ten gold beads, and three gold rings from the 6th century were recently discovered by a metal detectorist in Southwestern Norway. Erlend Bore just wanted a hobby. So just before this summer, he bought a metal detector. To get him off his couch and go treasure hunting. He was searching around the shore of the island Rennesøy in Stavanger, in Southwestern Norway, when the metal detector started to beep. In a lump of soil, he saw something that looked like gold coins. “At first I thought I’d found chocolate money with a gold...

A Viking sword discovered by metal detectorists in Norway is revealing new insights into voyages in the North Sea.The sword was found in three pieces in the Jåttå/Gausel area in Stavanger, an area renowned for the grave of the “Gausel Queen” first discovered in 1883...Under Norwegian law, the sword was reported to authorities and was sent to the Museum of Archaeology at the University of Stavanger for further study and conservation work.Although the blade is missing, the hilt has unique details in gold and silver and includes gilded elements of the typical animal styles found during the Iron and Viking...

The rugged west coast of Norway, home to thousands, is a challenge to travel along by car. It takes time. A long time. The harsh weather conditions make it an unpredictable route, with roads often closing and ferries often cancelling their departure due to snow, heavy winds or high waves. A continuous E39 highway that is accessible 24/7, with fixed links between islands and the mainland will make the western coast more accessible for people who inhabit the coast, but also for tourists and for the transportation of goods. Currently, 1,000km of road need to be improved The Norwegian parliament...

600-Year-Old American Indian Historical Account Has Old Norse WordsBy Larry Stroud, Guard Associate EditorPublished on Thursday March 15, 2007 Vikings and Algonquins. The first American multi-culturalists? BIG BAY, Mich. — Two experts on ancient America may have solved not only the mysterious disappearance of Norse from the Western Settlement of Greenland in the 1300s, but also are deciphering Delaware (Lenape) Indian history, which they’re finding is written in the Old Norse language. The history tells how some of the Delaware’s ancestors migrated west to America across a frozen sea and intermarried with the Delaware and other Algonquin Indians. Myron Paine,...

Windsurfers appeal to crown princeSome avid windsurfers, sure they have a kindred spirit in Norway's crown prince, hope he can help them overturn a ban on the sport in some protected areas off the Norwegian coast. They claim Crown Prince Haakon himself has violated the ban."I've surfed with (Crown Prince Haakon) several times, and I know that he loves the waves," surfer Thomas Olsen told newspaper Østlandsposten."Norwegians are outdoorsy people, but (here) we're not allowed to use the outdoors," Olsen claimed. "I hope the crown prince will meet me to talk about this."Another avid windsurfer, Markus Allen, says the surfers...

Norway's giant dairy cooperative TINE was raided Wednesday by competition investigators bearing warrants.The near-monopolist dairy producers have been in the media spotlight after accusations of unfair business practices and trying to smother competition.TINE's offices were ransacked by authorities and documents confiscated, radio station P4 reported. The discount grocery chain REMA 1000 was also visited by the authority. REMA recently revoked a new policy of only stocking TINE products and dropping competitor Synnove Finden's cheeses.TINE communications director Bjørg Bruset confirmed that the NCA (Norwegian Competition Authority) had paid them a visit and left with computer data, printed documents and notebooks."We put...

Odd world record for BergenNorway's rainy city of Bergen holds a bizarre world record, with more wrists broken there than anywhere else.Each year about 1,500 people break their wrist in Bergen, the highest figure in the world. Experts guess that the unstable winter climate is to blame, NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting) reports.Professor of orthopedics Leiv Hove believes that local authorities must should much of the blame for so many citizens tumbling on slippery sidewalks. He said it is time to take care of pedestrians, and not just motorists."It is embarrassing to be a world leader in a statistic like this. Oslo...

Queen Sonja visits the Antarctic Queen Sonja landed on the new Norwegian airfield in the Antarctic just after midnight, following a nine-hour flight from South Africa, Aftenposten reports.Later Saturday the Queen opened the new permanent Norwegian research station in Queen Maud's Land.Norwegian authorities have decided to show a stronger presence on the Antarctic continent, by establishing a permanent polar research station in Norway's Queen Maud's Land. A new, large airfield has been built on the glacier, and an extensive research programme has also been established.This is the first Norwegian royal visit to the Antarctic, and Queen Sonja will spend two...

Dr. Batman to the rescueNorwegian naming laws relaxed a bit on January 1, 2003 but it is still a rarity when someone adopts Batman as their legal name.Medical student Anders Mjelle, 22, is studying to become a pediatrician, and prefers Batman to more supernaturally powerful heroes like Spiderman or Superman, newspaper Nordlys reports.Mjelle, now Anders Batman Mjelle, told the paper that the idea came to him while he was practicing his signature during a prescription class."It just wasn't as cool as doctor signatures usually are. So I tried signing with the name to my old hero of heroes, Batman. That...

Canine war hero gets Scottish statueBamse, a Norwegian St. Bernard that symbolized national freedom and resistance during WWII, will be memorialized in a life-sized bronze statue in the Scottish city of Montrose.Bamse, which means teddy bear, sailed to Britain on the Royal Norwegian Navy (KNM) minesweeper Thorodd in 1940, part of the flotilla that carried King Haakon VII into safety, newspaper The Scotsman reports.The dog became a favorite with locals as well as Norwegian troops fighting to liberate Norway from abroad. The mascot of the Royal Norwegian Navy, Bamse regularly sailed at the front gun tower of the ship when...

Socialist Left continue fallThe Socialist Left Party (SV) dropped nearly three percent points on a new political poll but the 'red-green' alliance remains an increasingly realistic government alternative as Norway warms up for national elections later this year.The Labor Party (Ap) rose 1.4 percent points to 30.8 percent in the Opinion poll carried out for Aftenposten and NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting). SV fell 2.9 percent points to 12.9 percent, the biggest loser in the February poll.Recent discussion of a red-green alliance of Labor, SV, and the agrarian Center Party (Sp) have cost the SV support, but the possible coalition remains strong...

Terror alarm to be tested in OsloA noiseless terror alarm will be tested in an Oslo subway station. The surveillance system will be able to detect chemical agents and radioactive radiation released by terrorists.Alarm systems such as this in crowded areas is one of several measures considered by the authorities, says director Finn Moerch Andersen of the Directorate for National Security to NRK.He adds that such an alarm will function only in addition to other measures.The Al Qaida has twice over the past few years encouraged followers to attack Norwegian interests. Last year the Security Service of the Norwegian police...

Airport security nabs moonshineA man in central Norway tucked five liters of home-brewed alcohol into his suitcase and checked it on board a flight from Trondheim. Airport security officials confiscated the canister, claiming it could have blown up the plane.The incident occurred last week, when the man, in his 30s, checked in for a flight to northern Norway. The web site for local newpaper Adresseavisen said the home brew was removed, but the man was allowed to continue his journey.The alcohol, according to Arne Hofstad of the Nord-Trøndelag Police District, "can be compared to gasoline, only it burns even better."...

Insane must payNorway's Supreme Court has ruled that even those judged as insane when committing a crime must be held financially accountable for their acts, reversing common legal practice.Up until now insanity has acted as a protection against compensation claims for non-economic damages to victims of violence or their survivors, newspaper VG reports.On Tuesday the Supreme Court overturned an appeals court decision and ordered a 36-year-old to pay NOK 50,000 (USD 7,600) in compensation despite being assessed as insane at the time of the crime."A dramatic change. The Supreme Court is now saying that consideration of the victim is more...

The European Union can and must see Russia as a “big Norway,” Mikhail Krotov, secretary-general of the Interparliamentary Assembly of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), told RBC on Monday.Russia was a country rich in natural resources and capable of cooperating with the EU “in a special regime, in the light of its interests,” he said.Norway, outside the EU on reasons of principle, had built a “special relationship” with the overcrowded EU, poor in natural resources, Krotov said, noting that “Russians should learn from Norwegians.”

Teenagers attacked police after partyFour teenagers in northern Norway are charged with assaulting two police officers, both physically and verbally, after a party in a private home last weekend. The police were trying to help ambulance personnel get two injured girls to a hospital.The incident occurred in Fauske, Nordland County, around midnight on Friday. The police had been called out to assist an ambulance team that earlier had been called to help two girls hurt at the party.Police wouldn't comment on the nature of the girls' injuries, or on how they were inflicted. They would say, however, that they were...

Orchard owner plucks out new nameAn ambitious young man seeking a tourism-related future around an apple orchard in Sogn applied to change his name to "Eplet," which means "the apple" in Norwegian. He was prepared to defend his choice, but it wasn't necessary.Instead, it only took Trond Henrik Lie-Andreassen around three hours at the local registry office in Sogndal to complete the name-change formalities, reported newspaper VG."If the authorities put up a challenge, I was ready to argue that lots of Norwegians are named Gran, (which means 'fir,' as in the tree, in Norwegian)," Lie-Andreassen said.Lie-Andreassen, age 29, recently moved...

OSLO, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Worms squirming on a fishhook feel no pain -- nor do lobsters and crabs cooked in boiling water, a scientific study funded by the Norwegian government has found."The common earthworm has a very simple nervous system -- it can be cut in two and continue with its business," Professor Wenche Farstad, who chaired the panel that drew up the report, said on Monday.Norway might have considered banning the use of live worms as fish bait if the study had found they felt pain, but Farstad said "It seems to be only reflex curling when put...