2008 in Norway
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Events
January
- 1 January – The Agency for Public Management and eGovernment is established.[2]
- 1 January – Nordic Battlegroup consisting of military forces from Sweden, Finland, Norway, Republic of Ireland, and Estonia under the control of the European Union, is established.[3]
- 1 January – Mercury becomes banned from use in Norway.[4]
- 11 January – Norwegian police announce that they have arrested a 55-year-old man suspected of being the sexual predator known as The Pocket Man.[5]
- 13 January – A school in Lørenskog Municipality is closed after threats of a school shooting came from a video on YouTube. A 15-year-old was arrested for the threat.[citation needed]
- 21 January – The OBX Index drops 6.4%, then the second biggest fall since August 1991 and the third largest in its history.[6][7]
February
- 5 February – The Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs opens the case to decide whether three Supreme Court Justices will be impeached over their involvement in the Fritz Moen wrongful conviction.[8]
- 14 February – A political case centering on Manuela Ramin-Osmundsen forces her to resign from her post as Minister of Children and Equality and Ida Hjort Kraby to resign from her newly appointed position as Ombudsman for Children in Norway.[9]
- 21 February – An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the moment magnitude scale hits Svalbard. This oblique-slip shock had a maximum Mercalli intensity of IV (Light) and was the strongest earthquake ever to hit Norway.[10]
- 23 February – The 8-kilometre (5.0 mi) long Eiksund Tunnel near Volda in Møre og Romsdal is opened.[11][unreliable source?]
- 26 February – The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is officially opened.[12]
- 28 February – Three people were arrested in Oslo, accused of having participated in the financing of terrorist acts abroad.[citation needed]
- 29 February – Anniken Huitfeldt is appointed Minister of Children and Equality.[13]
- February – Former Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland is entangled in a political scandal over cancer treatments paid for by the Norwegian state, which she was not entitled to having previously changed her residency abroad.[14]
March
- 1 March – Austrian Matthias Lanzinger collides with a gate during a World Cup Super-G run at Kvitfjell, resulting in injuries that lead to his left leg being amputated below the knee two days later.[15]
- 28 March – Norway recognizes Kosovo as an independent state.[citation needed]
April
- 12 April – Official opening of the Oslo Opera House.[citation needed]
May
- 15 May – Ingeborg Synnøve Midtømme is appointed bishop of the diocese of Møre.[citation needed]
June
- 11 June – Norway legalises same-sex marriage.[16]
- September – 2008 psychic phone call controversy: it was revealed that the Norwegian politician Saera Khan had racked up extremely high phone bills using the mobile phone with which she was provided for free by the Parliament.[17]
July
August
September
- 9 September – The OBX Index drops 5.57%, then the fourth biggest drop ever.[6][7]
- 29 September – During the 2008 financial crisis, the OBX Index of the Oslo Stock Exchange drops 8.3%, then its third largest drop ever in one day, but eclipsed only one week later.[18]
October
- 6 October – The OBX Index drops 9.71%, the third largest drop ever in one day.[7]
- 8 October – The OBX Index drops 6.44%[19]
- October – Bangladeshi-Norwegian parliamentarian for the Labour Party Saera Khan withdraws her candidacy for next year's elections when it is revealed that she has spent large sums using her parliament paid-for mobile phone to call psychic hotlines and then consistently lied to cover up the fact.[20]
- October – Controversy erupts when British writer and Holocaust denier David Irving is invited to the 2009 Norwegian Festival of Literature at Lillehammer, to discuss his concept of truth,[21] ending in Irving's invitation being withdrawn.[22] Author Stig Sæterbakken resigns as the festival's content director in protest over the decision.[23]
- 15 October – The OBX Index drops 8.81%[24]
- 24 October – The OBX Index drops 9.24%[25]
November
December
- 13 December – Six people died in a fire in an apartment building in Oslo.[26]
- 29 December - 2008–09 Oslo riots starts.
Popular culture
Film and Entertainment
- Nearly 80% of Norway's population engages with content from NRK, the country's public broadcaster, and NRK1 remains the leading TV channel with its drama Himmelblå setting a record for Norwegian TV.[27]
- Norwegian films have their best year since 2003, with total admissions increasing by nearly 50% to almost 2.7 million.
- The WWII drama Max Manus quickly becomes one of the top films of the year, alongside other successful local films like The Kautokeino Rebellion, Long Flat Balls II, and Cold Prey 2.[28]
Sports
- October – Tromsø's bid to become host city to the 2018 Winter Olympics is cancelled when the sports board of Norwegian Confederation of Sports votes 9 against 3 to withdraw the application for government financial guarantee.[29]
Music
Literature
Cultural Events
- Sandnes and Stavanger are named European Capitals of Culture, joining Liverpool as part of an EU initiative.[30]
Anniversaries
- 200 years since the birth of the poet Henrik Wergeland on 17 June 1808[31]
- 100 years since Norway national football team played its first international game on 12 July 1908, in Gothenburg, Sweden[32]
- 100 years since the sports club SK Brann was established (26 September).[33]
- 100 years since the birth of the poet Olav H. Hauge on 18 August 1908[34]
- 100 years since the birth of the composer and pianist Geirr Tveitt 19 October 1908[35]
- 70 years since the death of Queen Maud of Norway on 20 November 1938[36]
Sport
- January – The 2008 European Men's Handball Championship is hosted by the Norwegian Handball Federation with venues in Bergen, Drammen, Lillehammer, Stavanger and Trondheim.
Notable births
- 29 September – Emma Tallulah Behn, the daughter of Princess Märtha Louise of Norway and Ari Behn.[37]
