Norwegians love to be on the lime-light. Now they have started comparing their own soldier to English Royalty. Norwegians love to compare themselves with others that come onto the lime light world wide. Surely, what does a local Norwegian army officer, not known to the world have in common with prins Harry at all? Is it because his little known mother, who just recently became defence minister making the son to be in terrorist’s list? This is a crazy dream. By announcing that the officer’s mother is the defence minister is simply causing unnecessary alarm. His life is not in danger at all. He should have gone to war and kept quiet. Who would know that he is the son of a minister? None!

Read the story below and have your own judgement!

by API*APN editorial.

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The Special Forces soldier would be an “obvious target” and could be used by the Taliban for political purposes, Norwegian military officials said.

It would be too dangerous to send son of Norwegian Defence Minister Grethe Strøm-Erichsen (picture) to Afghanistan, Norwegian military decided. PHOTO: HEIKO JUNGE / SCANPIX

The son of Norwegian Defence Minister Grethe Strøm-Erichsen is not allowed to serve in the NATO mission in Afghanistan, Norwegian military officials said this weekend.

Sources in the military compared the position of Special Forces soldier Joachim Strøm-Erichsen to that of Prince Harry of Britain, newspaper VG reports. The British military decided last month that it would be too dangerous to let the prince serve in Iraq.

Strøm-Erichsen, already dubbed “Norway’s Prince Harry” by local media, would be a too attractive target for the Taliban, Birgitte Frisch, spokesperson for the Norwegian military, told VG.

“He would be an obvious target, one that it would be easy for the enemy to use for political purposes. But we have made this decision not only considering his safety, but also the safety of his colleagues,” she said.

Joachim Strøm-Erichsen, age 30, said that he accepted the military’s decision.

“If it only involved my own safety, I would have served anyway. But since this could also hurt my colleagues, I won’t serve,” he said.

By Kristin Solberg

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 About 8 million Iraqis, nearly a third of the population, need immediate emergency aid because of the humanitarian crisis caused by war, relief agencies said Monday.

Those are in urgent need of water, sanitation, food and shelter, said the report by Oxfam and the NGO Coordination Committee network Iraq.

The report said 15 percent of Iraqis cannot regularly afford to eat; 70 percent are without adequate water supplies (up from 50 percent in 2003); 28 percent of children are malnourished (compared with 19 percent before the 2003 invasion); and 92 percent of children suffer learning problems.

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Many political parties have more than doubled their youth membership figure in four years. Either young Norwegians are becoming more interested in politics, or the political parties are simply getting better at the recruitment process, expert says.

“Man is by nature a political animal,” Aristotle said. When it comes to Norwegian youths, Aristotle may indeed have been right, new figures for youth membership in political parties suggest.

From 2003 to 2007, the parties have increased their total youth membership number by a massive 45 percent, reports newspaper Nationen.

The right-wing populist Progress Party (Fremskrittspartiet), the Christian Democrat Party (Kristelig Folkeparti) and the centre-right Liberals (Venstre) have all doubled their youth membership figure, according to the paper.

Social scientist Jo Saglie at the Institute of Social Research, ISF, said that while increased political awareness might be one of the results of the increased political participation, it is only one of the potential explanations of the dramatic membership increase.

“One explanation is that young people are becoming more interested in party politics and join on their own initiative. Another explanation is that the parties are simply better at recruiting people,” Saglie said.

Leader of the youth section of the Socialist Left Party (Sosialistisk Venstreparti), Kirsti Bergstø, said, however, that it is “a myth” that young people are not interested in politics.

By Kristin Solberg

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 69-year-old German tourist could go home to tell the ultimate “big fish story” after a fishing adventure on Norway’s Sognefjord.

Dieter Krüger posed proudly with the huge halibut he pulled out of the Sognefjord. PHOTO: Eirik Thue/Sogn Avis

Dieter Krüger of Hamburg also had to go home exhausted and slightly shaken after hooking a halibut that weighed in at 105 kilos (231 pounds).

But very happy indeed, if a bit stiff.

His big-fish experience unfolded just 500 meters from the popular Kvikne Hotel at Balestrand. He and his wife Ingrid have been spending holidays there for the past 26 years, camping at Veganeset just outside Balestand.

He spends nearly every day out on the fjord in his little plastic boat. One day in late June, he was sitting in the boat just offshore from the landmark hotel, over an area of the fjord that he said is around 200 meters deep.

“I had half a herring on the hook,” he told local newspaper Sogn Avis. “I had 300 meters of fishing line and suddenly it all ran out.”

He said he was sure his rod would break. It was only designed to reel in fish up to 20 kilos.

What followed was a long and hard fight between the man and the fjord. And the halibut.

“It drew out all the line I had three times before it calmed down,” he said. “After three hours, it gave up. Then it was just to reel it in.”

Krüger claims he never considered giving up. “Luckily, the hotel wanted to buy the whole fish,” he said. “We didn’t have room for it in our camping van.”

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