Oslo - A man was arrested Wednesday after threating to detonate a homemade bomb

Oslo - Police were Friday investigating an attack on a refugee centre in south-eastern Norway where some 20 refugees were assaulted, police and local media reported.

Hospitals said Friday that the injured refugees were in stable condition.

The attack took place Thursday evening and several reports attributed the attack to rivalry between Chechen nationals and refugees of Kurdish background.

Ole Morten Lyng of the Valer refugee centre said the attack was conducted by some 40 to 50 Chechen nationals.

The assailants arrived in several vehicles, scaled the refugee centre's perimeter fence and used baseball bats and iron bars to beat refugees, he told broadcaster NRK. Some refugees were also stabbed.

Oslo  - Norwegian King Harald and Queen Sonja will attend the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, reports said Wednesday.

The reports said that the royals will be joined by Petroleum and Energy Minister Terje Riis-Johansen at the August 8 ceremony.

Culture and Sports Minister Trond Giske, the cabinet member who most vocally backed earlier calls for staying away from the opening ceremony to protest human rights concerns, was slated to attend the closing ceremony with Crown Prince Haakon.

Oslo  - Norwegian conservationists have persuaded the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Mark Knopfler, Elvis Costello and Emmylou Harris to participate on a cd in aid of the Norwegian wolf population, reports said Tuesday.

On the CD, Springsteen sings the track Everything I Do (Leads Me Back To You) with Elliot Murphy, Oslo daily Aftenposten reported.

The opening track Birds of Paradise features Roger Waters' guitarist Terence Charles "Snowy" White.

Oslo - Norwegian aluminium and power generation group Norsk Hydro on Tuesday posted lower second quarter earnings, citing that a weak US dollar and higher production costs failed to offset higher aluminum prices.

In line with a recent profit warning the group said earnings before interest and tax dropped 44 per cent to 1.6 billion kroner (315 million dollars), compared to 2.88 billion kroner for the corresponding business period 2007.

Hydro posted turnover of 23.98 billion kroner in the second quarter, down 4 per cent from the second quarter 2007.

Oslo - Former British prime minister Tony Blair on Friday said a two-state solution was the only means of solving the Israeli- Palestinian conflict.