Dusseldorf - Defender Andreas Beck and midfielder Mesut Ozil are set to win their first caps for Germany in Wednesday's friendly international against Norway in Dusseldorf.

Assistant coach Hansi Flick said Monday Hoffenheim right-back Beck, 21, and 20-year-old Werder Bremen midfielder Ozil would play some part in the game.

"We have called up Andi Beck and Mesut Ozil to see how they perform. We plan to play both of them," he said.

Oslo  - Nordic foreign ministers welcomed a report Monday recommending increased cooperation in defence and foreign policy matters - including in the mineral-rich Arctic.

"We face new threats," former Norwegian foreign minister Thorvald Stoltenberg said at a news conference in Oslo attended by the five foreign ministers of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

Stoltenberg, commissioned last year to write the 36-page report, specified the melting Arctic ice cap and the booming cost of defence technology as areas where closer regional cooperation was needed.

It has recently come to vision that Norway has dropped its legal complaints against Apple, which it made in 2006. The confirmation came on Wednesday from the official sources.

Earlier, when the legal hammer was thrown by Nordic powerhouse upon Apple, even the Consumer Ombudsman Bjorn Erik Thon was involved in the whole issue, and it is quite well known that when Bjorn gets involved, things get negotiated.

Oslo- The Norwegian government Friday said it would expand its fiscal stimulus package as Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said the end of the economic downturn was not in sight.

"I don't think we have completely realized the dramatic events that are unfolding," Stoltenberg said at a meeting of his Labour Party.

Citing continued job losses in the United States, Stoltenberg said the "crisis has not bottomed" adding that it impacted the whole world.

New Delhi, Feb. 5 : A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is to be signed between the Government of India, Ministry of Panchayati Raj and the Kingdom of Norway, Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development for the mutual cooperation on local Governance.

The objective of the MoU is to encourage skill transfer between India and Norway for strengthening Local Self Governance.

Both the nations are planning to form a Joint Forum at the ministerial level and a Joint Working Group (JWG) at the official level.

Oslo  - Female Norwegian police officers would in future likely be allowed to wear the hijab - the Muslim headscarf, as part of their uniform, the justice ministry said Wednesday.

The issue came to light recently when Keltoum Hasnaoui Missoum, 23, asked if it was possible to wear the hijab during police training and as a trained police officer.

Her query triggered a justice ministry probe and the announcement that regulations for police uniforms would be changed so that "religious headwear can be used with police uniforms."