Ruhpolding, Germany - Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen clinched his first biathlon World Cup win of the season with victory Saturday in the men's 10-kilometre sprint in Ruhpolding, Germany.

It was an 83rd victory for record World Cup winner Bjoerndalen who had a comfortable advantage over Austrian Dominik Landertinger and overall leader Emil Hegle Svendsen of Norway.

Bjoerndalen made no shooting errors on his way to a time of 23 minutes 25.8 seconds, 33.4 seconds ahead of Landertinger (no errors) and 35.3 seconds up on Svendsen
(one error).

Oslo - Olympic ski-jump champion Lars Bystoel of Norway has tested positive for doping, reports said Friday.

Bystoel told the weekly gossip magazine Se og Hoer that he "had tested positive" but said the substance was "not performance enhancing and was not taken in connection with a competition."

According to the weekly the 30-year-old has tested positive for THC, a substance found in marijuana.

The test was conducted in connection with a competition in November 2008.

Bystoel won gold in the normal hill event at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

Oslo - All 10 crew members were safely evacuated Friday from a freighter that ran aground and was listing heavily in a fjord south-east of Bergen, western Norway, officials said.

Oslo - Egil Olsen was named Wednesday as caretaker manager of the Norwegian national team until a longterm replacement is found for Age Hareide, who resigned in December after a string of poor results.

Olsen will remain at the helm until April and his first match in charge will be Norway's friendly international against Germany on February 11 in Dusseldorf. He will also be in place for the internationals against South Africa and Finland.

The 66 year-old was also Norway coach between 1990 and 1998 during which time the country qualified for two World Cups.

Hareide took over in 2003 but missed out on qualification for the 2006 World Cup in Germany as well as Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland.

Oslo - Norwegian state-controlled energy group Statoil Hydro plans further cost cuts by 1.5 billion kroner (211 million dollars) due to "macroeconomic changes," the group said Wednesday.

Statoil Hydro said it expected to produce more oil and gas in 2009, estimating production at 1.95 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day compared to some 1.9 million boe per day in 2008.

The estimates and outlook were to be presented at a meeting with analysts in London later Wednesday.

Oslo  - Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store was due to visit Egypt for talks with his counterpart Ahmed Abul Gheit on Wednesday before flying out for a meeting of European officials in Paris the next day..

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, Middle East envoy Tony Blair, and European Union external affairs commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner would be part of the meeting in Paris Thursday.

Norway currently chairs the international donors group for the Palestinians, known as the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee.