But Norway’s Consul General was acting diplomatic and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman was playing the gracious host at a meeting of seemingly incongruous, desirable destinations.

“It’s probably easier to find things that are different than things that are similar,” says Sten Arne Rosnes, Consul General of Norway. “But I think we have one thing in common and that is attractiveness. The American lifestyle is very attractive to Norwegians. We try to learn from that in how we promote interests and Norwegian business.”

Both officials agreed there was much to be gained from such an alliance.

“I’m sure we can learn from an economy that only has three percent unemployment right now,” adds Mayor Goodman. “In Las Vegas we have 13 percent and we’re suffering as a result of it.”

While most foreign visitors head straight for the Strip, the Consul General from green-leaning Norway went straight in the opposite direction.

“We went out to the solar panels at Nellis. I felt that Norway is important, not because we have sun – we don’t have 300 days a year of sun – but we have been introducing some of the products that are necessary for solar panels.”

Norway is about the size of California. With just under five million people, it ranks near the top in quality of life surveys.

Behind the project is Mari Anne Feet, who settled down in Bali after living and traveling throughout the world for two decades.

For Mari Anne, Mormors Hus – or “Grandmother’s House” – as the restaurant is called, is more than a business idea. “This has always been my dream,” she said. “I love cooking!”

She chose the name, Mormors Hus, in recognition of the happy days of her childhood, spent at her grandmother’s house, savoring salmon, meatballs and waffles.

Norwegian Ambassador to Indonesia Eivind S. Homme, who flew in with several other diplomats from Jakarta to attend the opening, said he hoped Mormors Hus would be more than a restaurant.

“I hope this can become a gathering place for all Scandinavians in Bali, as well as a sort of *Norway House’, where people from Indonesia and other countries can experience Norwegian food and culture,” he said.

“Because, this is after all what life is really about – such moments of togetherness over eating and drinking.”

Previously posted in the Philippines, Italy, the US and China, the ambassador said he had once come across a Norwegian bar in Beijing but had never before had the pleasure of dining in a proper Norwegian restaurant abroad. As he does not want to miss this opportunity, he has already reserved a table for the next time he visits the island, he said.

On the menu is typical Norwegian food such as poached salmon, smoked salmon and meatballs – the way her grandmother made them, with just the right mix of pork and beef – as well as waffles, potato cakes, cinnamon rolls and pancakes with blueberry jam, plus some Italian and Indian dishes.

“Since Norwegian food is not as spicy as Indonesian food, you can taste the ingredients better – the naturalness of the food,” Mari Anne said, promising to invite everyone who wants for a traditional Christmas dinner.

Bali does not have a large Norwegian expat community, but those that reside here are joined by the thousands more who every year make the trip to Southeast Asia on holiday, as well as the hundreds of students who choose one of the four Norwegian schools in Bali for their compulsory pre-university course.

Agnes Christiansen, head of GOstudy, one such school, said she thinks Mormors Hus will become a popular gathering spot for the students.

“This is a place they can come when they miss the familiar,” she said, adding that she is likely to become a frequent customer herself. “I will definitely bring my five year old daughter, Tess, here to enjoy proper Norwegian food.”

Other Norwegian expats, including Hanne Refsnes, Espen Lode Tonnesen and Daniel Pladsg*rd Warren, were also keen, while several non-Norwegians said they were curious to get to know the Norwegian culinary tradition.

The radar, named WISDOM (Water Ice and Subsurface Deposit Observations on Mars), is able to detect geological structures under the surface, and is able to creaate high resolution pictures from down to 2-3 metres. It is also ableto differenciate between liquid water and ice.

WISDOM will be the first so-called geo-radar on the surface of Mars, says Svein-Erik Hamren from the Norwegian Defence Research Institute (FFI), where the radar has been developed.

The 28-year-old Norwegian was named Carlsberg Player of the Match as Norway surprised many people with a 3-1 victory against Sweden in the quarter-finals and told the UEFA Training Ground that the togetherness in the camp is a big reason for their success. “We have a great spirit in the team. We have a lot of players now who have come into the group and along with the coaches everyone feels like one big group. We are really happy and work hard every day. We know that if we work hard we can reach our goals.”

A member of the Norwegian side that were runners-up in the last European finals in England, Stensland is the latest player to feature in UEFA’s Training Ground ‘In Focus’ series.

The newspaper published what it said was a letter to Norway’s foreign ministry from Mona Juul.

“At a time when the U.N. and multilateral solutions to global crises are more needed than ever, Ban and the U.N. are notable by their absence,” the letter read.

Juul and her husband Terje Roed-Larsen — now a U.N. special envoy — had key roles in secretly brokering the now-failed 1993 Oslo peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

Juul wrote that Ban showed “weak handling” of international challenges. She said he was a “passive observer” to Myanmar’s arrest of opposition leader and Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, and she blasted his slow reaction to the civil war in Sri Lanka.

Norwegian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marte Lerberg Kopstad refused comment on the authenticity of the letter. She referred reporters to Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere’s comment to Aftenposten that he had noted the matter, and that he saw Ban as “hard working” and a “good listener.”

Juul’s Norwegian-language letter was published halfway through Ban’s term as U.N. secretary-general. He is due on an official visit to Norway starting Aug. 31.

The lawsuit was filed in a New York court after the provincial outposts, the largest of which has a population of just 33,000, were brought to the brink of bankruptcy by what they claim was misleading selling of complex and high-risk mortgage-backed investments.

Together with the bankruptcy estate of now-defunct Norwegian brokerage firm Terra Securities that set up the investments, local leaders of the seven — Bremanger, Hattfjelldal, Hemnes, Kvinesdal, Narvik, Rana and Vik — are seeking 141 million euros in compensation as well as punitive damages.

In some of the Norwegian towns, services including schooling, care for the elderly and even a municipal pool in the frozen north of Scandinavia have all been cut, according to reports citing local leaders.

Citigroup has described the allegations as unfounded, spokesman Adam Castellani in the United States telling Dow Jones Newswires that the company “believes this lawsuit to be without merit.”

In a compelling morality tale which amplifies the acheing human cost of the global financial crisis — and the rush among ordinary people to share in vast profits generated at the height of the post-millennium financial services boom — the debacle began when the towns grew impatient with making modest investment profits.

Hoping to make huge gains, the towns then began investing in complex financial products linked to the US mortgage market which were created by Citigroup.

At first, the value of the investments soared, but returns soon crumbled as the bottom fell out of the US subprime housing market — while a clause in the agreement forced the Norwegian towns to keep pumping in more money.

Since 2003 six AMASE expeditions have been carried out. This year’s expedition includes more than 30 scientists and engineers from USA, Norway, Germany, Spain and UK. The participants come from different disciplines like microbiology, geology, biogeochemistry and robotics, SpaceRef.com reports.

The participants will carry out very different activities: from testing equipment that eventually would fly in future Mars missions to study the conditions in which extremophiles thrive in glacial ice and develop and test protocols to search for past and present habitable environments on icy planets.

The main research will be carried out in Svalbard fjords rich in carbonates, clays, basalts or water-ice that are considered good Martian analogue.

According to keyboard player Magne Furuholmen It’s an album that incorporates the key elements that first defined the band: soaring vocals, synth hooks, yearning lyrics and melodic melancholia.  Or as guitarist and principal songwriter Paul Waaktaar-Savoy puts it more simply: “I think we got a great collection of songs this time around.”

A-ha most successful record to date was their debut album Hunting High and Low in 1985 which included international number-one single “Take on Me” and earned the band a Grammy Award nomination as Best New Artist.

Foot Of The Mountain is the Norwegian trio’s nineth album and is released in the UK on July 27.

Norway has twice applied for membership to the EU and on both occasions the membership agreement was rejected in referendums.

Skjoetskift, who writes for Norwegian newspapers Adresseavisen, Bergens Tidene and Stavanger Aftenblad, believes that Iceland’s application alone won’t change much about the attitude of Norwegians towards the EU.

However, once Iceland’s membership agreement is on the table, it might change the debate in Norway, especially the part that concerns the fishing industry.

What lies ahead might change the attitude of many Norwegians and draw attention to the fact that Norway might end up as the only Nordic nation outside the European Union. With Iceland’s admission, Norway would also be the only Nordic nation left in the EEA cooperation.

Alexander Rybak was born in Minsk (Belarus) on the 13th of May, 1986. In 2006 he won the Norwegian talentshow Kjempesjansen with his own song Foolin. Alexander has performed with one of the world’s most celebrated violinists, Pinchas Zukerman, he has won Anders Jahres Culture Price and he’s been the concertmaster for Norway’s largest symphony orchestra for youths, Ung Symfoni, in Bergen.

Performing with Alexander Rybak is the norwegian dance company FRIKAR. Frikar have performed in China, Egypt, Algerie, Zimbabwe, Brazil, USA and all over Europe, touring with productions in traditional and contemporary dance, break dance, capoeira and aerial dance.