Virus has already killed other mammals including sea lions and seals, while also taking toll on farm animals The first case of a walrus dying from bird flu has been detected on one of Norway’s Arctic islands, a researcher has said. The walrus was found last year on Hopen island in the Svalbard archipelago, Christian Lydersen, of the Norwegian Polar Institute, told AFP ..read more

Norway's foreign minister has criticised some western countries for their inconsistent responses to violations of international law in Gaza and Ukraine. Speaking on the second day of the World Economic Forum special meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Espen Barth Eide said: 'Many western countries ... hesitated to use the same type of language against violations of international humanitarian law, for instance, that we easily apply when they are violated by Russia in Ukraine' Middle East crisis: latest updates ..read more

This idealistic feature draws parallels between the struggles of immigrant Polish workers in Norway and the homophobia faced by two young lovers, but can’t quite sew up the two seams Director Leiv Igor Devold makes an unexpected link-up between Norway, the country where he grew up, and Poland, where he attended film school, in this idealistic but sometimes heavy-handed second feature. He also finds invigorating cross-currents in contrasting the collectivist struggles of immigrant Polish fish-processing workers with another oppressed minority: the stuttering romance, in the face of homophobia ..read more

People in routine and repetitive jobs found to have 31% greater risk of disease in later life, and 66% higher risk of mild cognitive problems If work is a constant flurry of mind-straining challenges, bursts of creativity and delicate negotiations to keep the troops happy, consider yourself lucky. Researchers have found that the more people use their brains at work, the better they seem to be protected against thinking and memory problems that come with older age ..read more

Leaders of two nations vow to muster international support for two-state solution to Gaza crisis Ireland and Spain have reiterated their intention to forge an alliance of countries that will soon recognise Palestine as a nation state. The Irish taoiseach, Simon Harris, and Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, vowed on Friday to muster international support for a two-state solution in Israel and Palestine ..read more

The Swedish artist Lap-See Lam is drawing on the Cantonese operas of the 19th century to explore the ‘fiction’ of culture Amid a polarising debate taking place in Sweden over what constitutes culture, the artist behind this year’s Nordic pavilion at the Venice Biennale hopes her multilingual opera staged on a Chinese dragon ship will act as a sort of riposte. Lap-See Lam, a Swedish artist with Cantonese roots, is leading the Nordic countries’ offering at the international exhibition, which opens on 20 April, with a multidisciplinary artwork ..read more

At the Norwegian event, creators from Europe’s only Indigenous nation used kettles, synthpop and recordings of salmon to create music that drew on their often threatened traditions On stage in a former industrial building in the Norwegian city of Bergen sits a strange, if not bewildering, selection of objects. There is an upright, warp-weighted loom, one of the most ancient and basic forms of human technology, with a weaving in progress on its frame. There is a kettle, a heating element, and an old-fashioned hand-cranked coffee grinder. There is something that looks like a miniature upside-dow ..read more

The Norwegian theatremaker talks about succeeding Ivo van Hove as artistic director of one of the influential Internationaal Theater Amsterdam and staging classic plays as rock concerts When Eline Arbo informed her mother at a young age that she wanted to be a theatre director, her mother told her that it would take more than talent and hard work to become a truly great artist – you had to be respectful and caring, too. She remembers her mother telling her that “a lot of great artists are terrible people, and a lot of lovely people are mediocre artists. The hardest thing is to combine the two ..read more

Meteorologist says bears were not aggressive but they fired signal gun to scare them away Katarzyna Kudłacz was preparing a breakfast of scrambled eggs at a research station on Svalbard when she looked up to see she had three unexpected guests. Shocked and in awe, the meteorologist immediately alerted her colleagues to the female polar bear and her two cubs peering into the Polish research station in Hornsund, in the south of the Norwegian archipelago, their noses pressed up against the window ..read more

Norwegian sociologist who founded the discipline of peace studies and proposed creative solutions for many of the world’s conflicts The Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung, who has died aged 93, was a leading contributor to peace and conflict research. His ideas about positive peace and structural violence have had a global resonance. Now taught in more than 500 universities, the field he helped to establish has become a worldwide endeavour to develop systematic knowledge about the causes of violence, the conditions of peace and the means of effective peacebuilding. When he was called up to th ..read more