2008 in Norway

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Decades: 1980s • 1990s • 2000s Centuries: 19th • 20th • 21st See also: Other events of 2008 List of years in Norway

Stavanger and Sandnes, together with Liverpool, are European Capitals of Culture for 2008.

[edit] Events

[edit] Anniversaries

• 200 years since the birth of the poet Henrik Wergeland on June 17, 1808
• 100 years since Norway national football team played its first international game on July 12, 1908 in Gothenburg, Sweden.
• 100 years since the sports club SK Brann was established (September 26)
• 100 years since the birth of the poet Olav H. Hauge on August 18, 1908
• 70 years since the death of Queen Maud of Norway on November 20, 1938

[edit] January – March

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.[1]
    • Nordic Battlegroup consisting of military forces from Sweden, Finland, Norway, Ireland, and Estonia under the control of the European Union, is established.
    • Mercury becomes banned from use in Norway.
  • January 5 – A blizzard strikes the Agder counties of Southern Norway.
  • 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.
  • January 21 – The OBX Index drops 6.4%, the biggest fall since August 1991.
• 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.
  • 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.
  • February 21 – An eathquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale hits Svalbard. It's the strongest earthquake ever to hit Norway.
  • February 23 – The 8 km Eiksund undersea tunnel near Volda in Møre og Romsdal is opened.
  • February 26 – The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is officially opened.
  • February 29 – Anniken Huitfeldt is appointed Minister of Children and Equality.
  •  – 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.
• 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.

[edit] 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

[edit] Sports

• 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 30 – The Norwegian Premier League 2008 kicks off, lasting through November 2.

[edit] Births

[edit] Deaths

• January 14 – Carsten Thomassen, journalist is killed an a terrorist attack on Serena Hotel in Kabul (b. 1969)
• January 23 – Stein Rønning, 1990 world champion in karate (b. 1965)
• February 9 – Nils Retterstøl, professor of psychiatry (b. 1924)
• February 10 – Ove Jørstad former football player (b. 1970)
• July 3 – Harald Heide-Steen Jr. actor (b. 1939)