Oslo - A Norwegian man lost his driver's license after police had to pursue him at speeds of over 120 kilometres per hour while he was driving and engaged in sex with a female companion at the same time, reports said Monday. The daily Drammens Tidende cited a police report which said police had seen a car zig-zagging on the highway on Easter Sunday, speeding along at 123 kilometres per hour, well over the 100 kilometres limit.

Oslo  - Marina Silva, former environment minister of Brazil, was Wednesday named winner of the annual Sophie Prize for her efforts to protect the Amazon rainforest.

The jury cited Silva for "her courage, her creativity and her ability to forge alliances."

She served as environment minister 2003 to 2008 and was credited with helping to reduce the deforestation "to historically low levels."

Oslo - The Norwegian Football Association has extended coach Egil "Drillo" Olsen's current contract through the ongoing World Cup qualifications, reports said Tuesday.

Olsen led Norway to the 1994 and 1998 World Cups, and was praised after Norway upset Germany 1-0 in a recent friendly. The victory ended a year-long winless drought.

The 66-year-old was called in as caretaker after Age Hareide left, but has succeeded in generating a new spirit in the Norwegian team although Norway lost a recent friendly away to South Africa.

Johannesburg  - World Cup hosts South Africa scored a morale-boosting 2-1 victory against under-strength Norway in an international football friendly on Saturday.

Substitute Siphiwe Tshabalala gave Bafana Bafana an injury-time winner in Rustenburg.

The game played as the annual Nelson Mandela Challenge, and marked the re-opening of the Royal Bafokeng Stadium, which has been upgraded for this year's Confederations Cup and next year's World Cup.

Oslo - Russian-born Mikhail Leonidovich Gromov of France was Thursday named winner of the Abel Prize, sometimes known as the "Nobel Prize for mathematics."

Gromov was cited for "his revolutionary contributions to geometry."

The 65-year-old Gromov became a French citizen in 1992 and is a professor at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques at Bures- sur-Yvette, France.

Oslo  - The Norwegian central bank on Wednesday lowered its lead rate a further 0.50 percentage points to 2.00 per cent, as part of attempts to reduce the impact of the weakened global economy on Norway.

The new cut takes effect Thursday, the central bank said.

Norges Bank deputy governor Jan F Qvigstad said in a statement that "the outlook for the global economy has deteriorated."