s cold weather during the winter comes from a high-pressure system that keeps warmer, more humid air and low-pressure systems with wind and rain from coming up from the Atlantic Ocean. The weakening of the jetstream that holds this in place has allowed cold air to spill further south into much of the United States and Canada, while bringing above-average temperatures to parts of Europe. The knock-on...
Nordic Playlist shares music from throughout the region with fans wherever they are. By Alex Hern Alex Hern ...
s chemical weapon arsenal is to be taken cross-country in Russian armoured trucks guarded by Syrian government troops and tracked by American satellite navigation equipment on its way to the Mediterranean coast. The unprecedented and precarious two-week operation will take the cargo – 500 tonnes of chemical components of sarin and VX nerve agents and canisters of mustard gas – from 12 sites around...
s 17-storey HihHigh Block High Block offices, the works were etched in 1958. They are the first Picassos in concrete, and four of them were especially designed for the site. Norway is debating the future of the damaged buildings where eight people were killed. After the bombing Breivik killed 69 more people, mostly teenagers, at the ruling Labour party's summer camp. The new government, in office since...
s groups and EU officials say government should make buying sex, not selling it, an offence The Netherlands: 'Paying for sex? It's strictly business' How prostitution is dealt with across Europe – map Britain risks becoming a magnet for prostitutes and sex buyers because its policies on sex work are increasingly out of step with those in the rest of Europe, according to MPs, women's groups and EU officials....
s friends immediately called for aid, it would take an hour and a half for a mountain rescue helicopter to reach their location. After 40 minutes of desperate struggling, Bågenholm's body went limp. Shortly afterwards her heart stopped. Following cardiac arrest, the body enters a state known as "downtime". This is the twilight zone in which the process of dying begins. Normally within a few minutes...
s Viking heritage with a little help from the team behind Disneyland Paris. "This area is known as the homeland of the Viking kings," says Odd Erik Salvesen, project co-ordinator at Vikingland Utvikling AS. " We've got a load of history here, including the remains of King Harald Fairhair – the man who reunited Norway. So we wanted to see if there was a way to capitalise on this and attract more...
s ruling did find some flaws in the 2010 ban, but found that: "It fulfils the objective of addressing EU public moral concerns on seal welfare to a certain extent, and no alternative measure was demonstrated to make an equivalent or greater contribution to the fulfilment of the objective." However, the trade organisation said the exceptions granted under the EU ban were not "even-handed", and would...
s reigning champion Viswanathan Anand, Carlsen has earned a place at the very pinnacle of the game, and comparisons to the greatest players of all time. Chess is not a game which scatters its garlands freely – Anand has held the title since 2007, and Carlsen's victory makes him only the 16th undisputed world chess champion since the title was made official in 1886. But with record-setting TV audiences...
s forests and encourage sustainable agriculture to cut deforestation A new $280m (£173m) initiative to help save the world's remaining forests was launched by the UK, the US and Norway at the United Nations climate change talks in Warsaw on Wednesday. The money is aimed at encouraging the sustainable use of land, including ensuring that fewer forests are lost to agriculture – the biggest cause of deforestation...
s military chief has admitted Lt Gen Kjell Grandhagen made the statement in response to a story in the tabloid Dagbladet, which reported that 33 million Norwegian phone calls had been monitored by the US National Security Agency. Grandhagen vigorously denied the story. "We had to correct that picture because we know that this in fact is not about surveillance in Norway or against Norway, but it is...
s celebrated cycling documentary about the 1976 Paris-Roubaix race, A Sunday in Hell , Francesco Moser's mechanic cleans a bike meticulously. His brush flicks back and forth across the chain while the clacking from the drivetrain creates a symphony in the background. Later, as the riders approach the start line, industrial protestors block their path. The protesters eventually part, allowing the cyclists...
s founder, a noted Norwegian engineer and industrialist called Sam Eyde, sporting a particularly fine moustache. One hand thrust in trouser pocket, the other grasping a tightly rolled drawing, the great man stares northwards across the square at an almost sheer mountainside in front of him. Behind him, to the south, rises the equally sheer 1,800-metre peak known as Gaustatoppen. Between the mountains,...
TV crew arrested three times in three days Roy Greenslade ...
Norwegian police arrest suspect after three killed including driver when knife-wielding man hijacked bus A knife-wielding man hijacked a bus on Monday in rural Norway and killed the driver and two passengers before he was detained by authorities, officials said. Police in Sogn and Fjordane county in western Norway gave few details about the suspect, but described him as a local resident originally...
s Magne Furuholmen, Coldplay's Guy Berryman, Mew singer Jonas Bjerre and producer Martin Terefe, who together make up the pan-European supergroup Apparatjik. The band formed in 2008 to create the music for the BBC Two series Amazon with Bruce Parry and has been recording and performing together ever since. Rock stars are generally better known for wrecking hotel rooms than designing them but Furuholmen...
s market square, thanks to three giant mirrors placed on a mountain. Cheering families, some on sun loungers, drinking cocktails and waving Norwegian flags, donned shades as the sun crept from behind a cloud to hit the mirrors and reflect down onto the faces of delighted children below. TV footage of the event showed the centre of the crowded square light up a touch, but not as if hit by direct sunlight....