Oslo  - Norwegian salvage teams and representatives of a shipping company were Wednesday assessing how to prevent fuel leaking from a freighter that ran aground in the Oslo fjord, reports said.

Oslo (Norway), Nov 18 : Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, who is on official visit to Norway met the Prime Minister of Norway Jens Stoltenberg at Oslo today and discussed issues pertaining to health sector cooperation between the two countries.

During this meeting, Dr. Ramadoss highlighted implementation of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Imunisation Programme, maternal and child health programme, tobacco control measures, HIV/AIDS in India.

Stoltenberg appreciated Dr Ramadoss on the NRHM and the reduction in Maternal mortality ratio in India.

Oslo - Norway was set to introduce a European Union directive aimed at liberalising services despite a split in the red-green coalition, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday.

"The service directive is good and important for Norway and will contribute to equal, secure and predictable rules for Norwegian companies," Stoltenberg told reporters.

Although Norway is not a member of the EU, it cooperates closely with the 27-nation bloc as member of the European Economic Area (EEA).

Reykjavik/Oslo  - The president of Iceland has expressed anger and disappointment over the slow pace in securing emergency loans, reports said Wednesday.

Since traditional allies like the United States and Britain have failed to aid the cash-strapped North Atlantic nation, Iceland might have to "look for new friends, President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson was quoted in a Norwegian diplomatic report obtained by the Norwegian Klassekampen newspaper.

Grimsson, who does not have formal powers, expressed his views at a recent luncheon for diplomats.

Oslo - Norwegian state-controlled energy group Statoil Hydro said Tuesday it has signed a 1.25-billion-dollar deal with US natural gas group Chesapeake Energy Corporation.

The deal gives Statoil Hydro a 32.5-per-cent stake in Chesapeake's Marcellus shale gas acreage in the Appalachia region, north-eastern US.

In addition to the 1.25-billion-dollar cash payment, Statoil was to pay 2.1 billion dollars for a 75-per-cent future stake for the drilling and completion of wells during the period
2009-12.

Oslo - A World War II wreck of a German submarine that sank off Norway loaded with 65 tons of mercury should be encased and not raised, the Norwegian Coastal Administration said Monday.

The wreck of U-864 was found in 2003. Since the discovery Norwegian authorities have investigated various options of raising or encasing the wreck since the cargo posed a potential threat to the marine environment.

In addition some 30,000 square metres of sea bottom around the wreck are regarded as polluted to a varying degree.

All 73 onboard died when a British submarine torpedoed U-864 in February 1945 as it was heading from Germany to Japan via Norway with war material including 65 tons of liquid mercury in steel containers.