2008 in Norway.html



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The Norwegian twin cities Stavanger/Sandnes, together with English Liverpool, are European Capitals of Culture for 2008.

Events

Anniversaries

• 200 years since the birth of the poet Henrik Wergeland on June 17, 1808^[1]
• 140 years since the founding of the Norwegian Mountain Touring Association (January 21)^[2]
• 100 years since Norway national football team played its first international game on July 12, 1908 in Gothenburg, Sweden^{citation needed}
• 100 years since the sports club SK Brann was established (September 26)^[3]
• 100 years since the birth of the poet Olav H. Hauge on August 18, 1908^[4]
• 70 years since the death of Queen Maud of Norway on November 20, 1938^[5]

January – June

Official opening of Eiksund undersea tunnel February 23

Svalbard Global Seed Vault opens February 26
Photo:Global Crop Diversity Trust

Anniken Huitfeldt is appointed new Minister of Children and Equality

• January
  • January 1 –
    • The Agency for Public Management and eGovernment is established.^[6]
    • Nordic Battlegroup consisting of military forces from Sweden, Finland, Norway, Ireland, and Estonia under the control of the European Union, is established.^[7]
    • Mercury becomes banned from use in Norway.^[8]
  • January 5 – A blizzard strikes the Agder counties of Southern Norway.^{citation needed}
  • January 11 – Norwegian police announce that they have arrested a 55-year old man suspected of being the sexual predator known as The Pocket Man.^[9]
  • January 21 – The OBX Index drops 6.4%, then the second biggest fall since August 1991 and the third largest in its history.^[10][11]
• February –
  • February 5 – The Stortinget's Oversight Committee opens the case to decide whether three Supreme Court justices will be impeached over their involvement in the Fritz Moen wrongful conviction scandal.^[12]
  • February 14 – A political scandal centering on Manuela Ramin-Osmundsen forces her to resign from her post as Minister of Children and Equality and Ida Hjort Kraby to resign from her newly appointed position as Ombudsman for Children.^[13]
  • February 21 – An eathquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale hits Svalbard. It's the strongest earthquake ever to hit Norway.^[14]
  • February 23 – The 8 km Eiksund undersea tunnel near Volda in Møre og Romsdal is opened.^{citation needed}
  • February 26 – The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is officially opened.^[15]
  • February 29 – Anniken Huitfeldt is appointed Minister of Children and Equality.^[16]
  •  – Former Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland is entangled in a political scandal over cancer treatments paid for by the Norwegian state, which she was not entitled to having previously changed her residency abroad.^[17]
• March
  • March 1 – Austrian Matthias Lanzinger collides with a gate during a World Cup Super-G run at Kvitfjell, resulting in injuries that lead to his left leg being amputated below the knee two days later.^[18]

July – December

• September
  • September 9 – The OBX Index drops 5.57%, then the fourth biggest drop ever.^[10][11]
  • September 29 – In conjunction with the global liquidity crisis the index of Oslo Stock Exchange drops 8.3%, then its third largest drop ever in one day, but eclipsed only one week later.^[19]

Saera Khan gets wrapped up in a scandal after lieing about using public money to call psychics.
Photo: Harry Wad

• October
  • October 6 –
    • The OBX Index drops 9.71%, the third largest drop ever in one day.^[11]
    • Tromsø's bid to become host city to the 2018 Winter Olympics is cancelled when the sports board of Norwegian Confederation of Sports votes 9 against 3 to withdraw the application for government financial guarantee.^[20]
  • October 8 –
    • The OBX Index drops 6.44%^[21]
    • Bangladeshi-Norwegian parliamentarian for the Labour Party Saera Khan withdraws her candidacy for next year's elections when it is revealed that she has spent large sums using her parliament paid-for mobile phone to call psychic hotlines and then consistently lied to cover up the fact.^[22]

Arts and literature

• January / February –
  • In Melodi Grand Prix 2008 the song "Hold On Be Strong" with Maria Haukaas Storeng was selected to be the Norwegian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in late May.^[23]
• October –
  • Great controversy erupts when Holocaust denier and historian David Irving is invited to the 2009 Norwegian Festival of Literature at Lillehammer, to discuss his concept of truth^[24], ending in Irving's invitation being withdrawn.^[25] Author Stig Sæterbakken resigns as the festival's content director in protest over the decision.^[26]

Sports

For football, see 2008 in Norwegian football

• January
  • The 2008 European Men's Handball Championship is hosted by the Norwegian Handball Federation with venues in Bergen, Drammen, Lillehammer, Stavanger and Trondheim.
• March 29 – The Norwegian Premier League 2008 (association football) kicks off, lasting through November 2.^[27]
• November 2 – The Norwegian Premier League 2008 ends.^[28]

Births

• September 29 – Emma Tallulah Behn, the daughter of Princess Märtha Louise of Norway and Ari Behn.^[29]

Deaths

• January 4 – Bjørn Odmar Andersen, footballer (b. 1943)^[30]
• January 14 – Carsten Thomassen, journalist is killed an a terrorist attack on Serena Hotel in Kabul (b. 1969)^[31]
• January 23 – Stein Rønning, 1990 world champion in karate (b. 1965)^[32]
• January 24 – Johannes Heggland, author and politician (b. 1919)^[33]
• January 28 – Dagfinn Grønoset, author (b. 1920)^{citation needed}
• January 28 – Marie Takvam, author and actor (b. 1926)^{citation needed}
• February 9 – Nils Retterstøl, professor of psychiatry (b. 1924)^[34]
• February 10 – Ove Jørstad former football player (b. 1970)^[35]
• February 10 – Arne Barhaugen, Olympic nordic combined skier (b. 1932)^{citation needed}
• February 15 – Inge Thun, footballer (b. 1945)^[36]
• February 16 – Per Erik Monsen, Progress party politician (member of Parliament 1997-2005) (b. 1946)^[37]
• March 7 – Julius Paltiel, Holocaust survivor (b. 1924)^[38]
• March 10 – Marianne Gullestad, social anthropologist (b. 1946)^[39]

Kjell Kristian Rike (1944–2008)

• March 14 – Ingvald Ulveseth, Labour party politician (b. 1924)^[40]
• March 16 – Victor Sparre, visual artist (b. 1919)^[41]
• March 22 – Arne Skarpsno volunteer worker, known as the "Father of the street children" (b. 1926)^[42]
• April 23 – Haagen Ringnes, journalist and author (b. 1928)^[43]
• April 29 – Julie Ege, actress (b. 1943)^[44]
• May 15 – Tove Billington Bye, Centre party politician (b. 1928)^[45]
• May 19 – Kjell Kristian Rike, sports commentator (b. 1944)^[46]
• June 2 – Geir Kjetsaa, professor in Russian literary history (b. 1937)^{citation needed}
• June 11 – Gunnar Solum, Labour party politician (b. 1929)^[47]
• June 15 – Ole-Jørgen Nilsen, actor and theatre director (b. 1936)^[48]
• June 19 – Antonio Bibalo, Italian-Norwegian pianist and composer of contemporary music (b. 1922 in Trieste, Italy)^{citation needed}

Aril Edvardsen (1938–2008)

• June 22 – Odd Aukrust, economist (b. 1915)^{citation needed}
• June 22 – Jens Petter Ekornes, entrepreneur (b. 1942)^{citation needed}
• June 22 – Hans Haga, agrarian leader (b. 1924)^[49]
• June 26 – Asbjørn Haugstvedt, Christian Democratic politician (b. 1926)^[50]
• June 27 – Sasha Gabor, Hungarian-born pornographic actor (b. 1945)^[51]
• July 3 – Harald Heide-Steen Jr. actor (b. 1939)^[52]
• July 8 – Erling Rønneberg, trainer of the Norwegian resistance movement and mayor of Ski (b. 1923)^[53]
• July 14 – Henki Kolstad, actor (b. 1915)^[54]
• July 21 – Knut Boye, civil economist (b. 1937)^[55]
• August 2 – Rolf Bae, mountaineer, fall from K2 (b. 1975)^[56]
• August 2 – Helga Gitmark, Centre party politician (Minister of the Environment 1973) (b. 1929)^[57]
• September 2 – Andreas Zeier Cappelen, politician and minister (b. 1915)^[58]
• September 6 – Aril Edvardsen, evangelical preacher and missionary (b. 1938)^[59]
• September 11 – Nils Johan Ringdal,author and historian (b. 1952)^[60]
• September 23 – Arne Haugestad, Supreme Court lawyer, Arne Treholt's defender (b. 1935)^[61]

References