La Clusaz, France - Petter Northug of Norway gave another demonstration of his sprint finish strength on Saturday to win a 30 kilometres cross-country ski race.

Northug, 22, was unstoppable on the home stretch of the freestyle mass start race in France as he claimed his third career victory in 1 hour 19 minutes 26.5 seconds in driving snowfall.

Dario Cologna of Italy was beaten by three tenth of a second as he climbed a World Cup podium for the first time in his career in second place.

Compatriot Giorgio di Centa and Alexander Legkov of Russia were joint third, 2.0 seconds behind Northug.

Oslo - Norwegian Parliament Speaker Thorbjorn Jagland was Wednesday named new chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee that selects the Nobel Peace Prize winner.

The veteran Social Democrat has also held the posts of prime minister and foreign minister but earlier this year said he was leaving Norwegian politics.

Jagland, 58, succeeds Ole Danbolt Mjos as head of the five-member Nobel Committee as of January 2009.

The committee is elected by parliament, and each member sits for six years.

Mjos will December 10 present the Nobel Peace Prize to former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari who was recognized for mediating in a number of international conflicts.

Oslo - Government leaders from more than 100 states signed a global ban on the use of cluster bombs on Wednesday.

The treaty, which was negotiated in Dublin in May, bans the production, use and trade of cluster munitions.

Cluster weapons - criticized for carrying a high risk of maiming or killing civilians - can be launched from the air or via artillery shells and can disperse hundreds of bomblets over a target area.

Children are often victims of the weapons since they sometimes mistake the so-called bomblets for toys.

Oslo - A Norwegian national of Bosnian descent was sentenced Tuesday to a five-year jail term for crimes against Serbian civilians during the Balkans war.

The district court in Oslo convicted Mirsad Repak on 11 counts of illegal detention of civilians, but he was cleared of a charge of rape, aggravated assault and also of crimes against humanity.

Repak, 42, was also ordered to pay damages of 400,000 kroner (57,000 dollars) to eight plaintiffs, including a woman who was tortured during interrogation.

The court deducted 294 days he spent in custody from the sentence.

Oslo  - Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit was Monday awarded the country's Plussprisen prize for her efforts to combat HIV/AIDS.

The prize - announced in connection with World AIDS day - was awarded by the Norwegian group HivNorway that was formed to safeguard the rights and interests of people infected and affected by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The princess is a goodwill ambassador for the joint United Nations programme, UNAIDS.

The 35-year-old princess shared the prize with Ragnhild Backstrom, who has worked to prevent discrimination against HIV-positive children.

Backstrom works to spread awareness about HIV in kindergartens, schools and local neighbourhoods.

Oslo - US cultural theorist Fredric R Jameson Wednesday accepted the 2008 Holberg International Memorial Prize at the University of Bergen in western Norway.

Tora Aasland, Norwegian Minister of Research and Higher Education, presented the award worth 4.5 million kroner (750,000 dollars) to Jameson who was cited for "outstanding contributions to the understanding of the relation between social formations and cultural forms."