p 19, The Arctic Council
was founded to promote joint scientific research and to study
pollution, conservation and mapping. The Ottawa Declaration named
eight members of the Arctic Council: Canada, Russia, Norway,
Denmark, Iceland, the United States, Sweden and Finland. The first
step towards the formation of the Council occurred in 1991 when
eight Arctic countries signed the Arctic Environmental Protection
1996 The prime minister of
Norway is Gro Harlem Brundtland.
(WSJ, 5/16/96, p.A-14)
1996 Aug 27, The 29 stave
churches left were under government protection and threatened by
arsonists of a Satanic movement.
(WSJ, 8/27/96, p.A12)
1996 Oct 23, Gro Harlem
Brundtland announced her resignation as prime minister. Thoerbjorn
Jagland, leader of the Labor Party, was expected to replace her.
(SFC, 10/24/96, p.C3)
1996 Nov 1, Norway announced a
$24 million donation to educate girls in 19 African countries. The
gift went to UNICEF’s African Education for All program.
(SFC, 11/2/96, p.C1)
1997 Jan 18, Norwegian Boerge
Ousland completed a solo crossing of Antarctica that began Nov 15.
He used a parachute and skies to help pull himself across the 1695
miles from Berkner Island to Scott Base.
(SFC, 1/18/96, p.C1)
1997 Jun 4, In Drammen a car
bomb destroyed the headquarters of the Bandido motorcycle gang. One
passerby was killed and 4 people were injured.
(SDUT, 6/6/97, p.A26)
1997 Sep 2, The US demanded
exemptions to a proposed global ban on land mines at an int’l
meeting in Oslo, Norway. The exemptions were for mines on the Korean
peninsula and for certain types of mines.
(SFC, 9/3/97, p.C2)
1997 Sep 14, It was reported
that Norway is the world’s 2nd largest oil exporter and that the
government sets aside nearly $8.3 billion into a fund for the
(SFEC, 9/14/97, p.A24)
1997 Sep 15, Prime Minister
Thorbjoern Jagland said he would step down after support in national
elections reached only about 35%.
(SFC, 9/16/97, p.A12)
1997 Sep 18, In Norway an
explosion at a Russian-operated coal mine in the Svalbard islands
killed 23 Russian and Ukrainian workers.
(SFC, 9/19/97, p.A14)
1997 Sep 23, The Gilmore Artist
Award, a $300,000 prize given every 4 years to a classical pianist,
was awarded to Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes at the Irving S.
Gilmore Int’l. Keyboard Festival in Kalamazoo, Mich.
(SFC, 9/24/97, p.E5)
1997 Feb, It was first noticed
that lake water near Oslo was subsiding in association with the
construction of an 8-mile tunnel.
1997 Jun, Terms of the Baltnet
Group, an Air Surveillance System for Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia,
were established in Oslo, Norway.
1997 Oct 25, In Norway it was
reported that a new 8-mile tunnel outside of Oslo was draining water
from nearby lakes at the rate of 10,000 gallons a minute. The
sealing compound Rhoca-Gil was supposed to stop the leaks, but its
use in Sweden had already caused water to be contaminated with
acrylamide, an agent that causes nerve damage. In Sweden
construction of a controversial tunnel was halted when water
draining from the tunnel was found to be contaminated by the sealing
1997 Dec 3, Dr. Christian
Sandsdalen was convicted for the mercy killing in Jun 1996 of Bodil
Bjerkmann (45), who suffered from multiple schlerosis. He was the
first Norwegian tried for mercy killing.
(SFC, 12/4/97, p.C4)
1998 Jan 27, The UN named Gro
Harlem Brundtland, the former prime minister of Norway as the head
of the World Health Organization (WHO).
(SFC, 1/28/98, p.A6)
1998 cApr 3, A 2-day meeting
called by the Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers was
attended by 18 African nations, over a dozen European countries and
Japan, Canada and Argentina. They endorsed measures to control the
spread of light weapons.
(SFC, 4/6/98, p.A13)
1998 cMay 8, Norway authorized
another season of hunting minke whales with a 30% allotment increase
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A7)
1998 May 26, In Russia Pres.
Yeltsin signed an accord with King Harold V of Norway for the
dismantling and disposal of 90 nuclear submarines decaying in the
Barents Sea. Russia expected Norway to provide $30 million for the
project, which was expe