The world wasn’t hers after all

“The whole world is mine,” sang Norway’s Margaret Berger at the finals of the Eurovision Song Contest Saturday night, but when the voting was over, it really wasn’t. Berger, one of the favourites to win the contest, ended up in... 
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Holiday ended with drunks and destruction

Norway’s 17th of May celebrations on Friday ended with rowdy parties, drunkenness and even vandalism to the statue of national war hero Gunnar Sønsteby. Its sculptor Per Ung was furious, calling the vandals “idiots and vermin,” while... 
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‘Hurra’ for all on the 17th of May

New research that has surprised even those conducting it reveals that Norway’s Constitution Day on the 17th of May has emerged not as a day of nationalistic chauvinism but as the most inclusive day of the year, with solidarity cutting across ethnic,... 
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Early parade for the youngest

PHOTO FEATURE: As school children marched all over Norway in Constitution Day parades on Friday, the youngest Norwegians got into the act as well, a day early. In line with tradition, pre-schoolers at what the Norwegians call barnehager (kindergartens,... 
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Begging on streets OK, not sleeping

Police were voicing approval on Thursday after city politicians in Oslo, quarreling over how to deal with thousands of migrant poor on the streets of the capital, banned all outdoor sleeping on public property in populated areas. Begging continues to... 
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Flags fly but 40% drop big parade

As Norway headed into its annual, festive Constitution Day celebrations on the 17th of May, interest seemed to be declining in the traditional children’s parade in Oslo. Only around 60 percent of local school students will be marching this year,... 
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Couple get record-long jail term in ‘worst ever’ case of child abuse

A couple in their 30s were sentenced to 17 years in jail on Thursday for beating and sexually assaulting their three sons from the time two of them were just one and two years old. It’s the longest prison term ever ordered for child abuse in Norway,... 
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Farmers settle for a 10.5% raise

The two major lobbying groups representing Norwegian farmers have agreed to accept a new state-subsidized compensation package that’s expected to yield average pay hikes for farmers of 10.5 percent through direct subsidy and protectionism. The farmers... 
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‘Gratulerer med dagen!’

PICTURE SERIES: That’s the standard greeting on the 17th of May in Norway, when residents congratulate each other over the country’s constitution and its sovereignty. This year’s festivities took place mostly in surprisingly summer-like... 
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