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Norwegian striker ​Erling Haaland has been ‌keeping himself busy ahead of his side's opening ‌World Cup game ⁠against Iraq ‌by playing golf and video ‌games, and even helping to prepare teammate Leo Ostigard for fatherhood ⁠as the defender's first child is due any day now.Haaland became a dad for the first time in late 2025 but Ostigard will miss the birth of his firstborn due to his involvement with Norway who are appearing at a World Cup finals for the first time since 1998.Asked ​on the Norwegian team's World Cup YouTube channel "Spillerhotellet" (The Players' Hotel) if he had any tips he could offer his team-mate, Haaland laughed."Well, first ‌of all, I would have ⁠said to be ​present during the birth, that's the first tip ​I would give him!" the striker said. "It will be a new daily routine for him, a tough time but it's a lovely time as well."The Norwegians have been preparing for their Group I clashes with Iraq, Senegal and France at their base in Greensboro, North Carolina, and Haaland has been helping Ostigard get into golf during their downtime."There's been a lot of golf, I'm a beginner there and ‌Erling is pretty good, ‌so it's been nice to ⁠play a bit of golf and do some other things ⁠as well," Ostigard said."Everyone ⁠does their own thing. Some play cards, we don't, we play golf, we joke, we play a bit of (Super) Mario, a bit of Pokemon and so on. We know how to enjoy ourselves," Haaland added.It's a good thing for the Norwegians that they ​have plenty of hobbies as, with 48 teams taking part in the World Cup, they will not join the fray until Wednesday when they take on Iraq in Boston, almost a week after the opening games."It feels good, I'm really looking forward to starting, I'm starting to get a bit restless," Haaland said. "I'm looking forward to it, it's just a matter of pushing ‌on to the ​first match, and then we have to hope for the best." HAALAND ENJOYS STANLEY CUP FINALDays before his World Cup debut, Manchester City striker Erling Haaland and several of his Norway teammates took a chance to relax at game five of the NHL Stanley Cup Final on Thursday.A smiling Haaland waved to Carolina Hurricanes fans when he and his teammates were shown on the giant scoreboard screens at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.As they cheered, the 25-year-old Manchester City striker enthusiastically twirled a small Hurricanes rally towel handed out to fans by the home team, who came into the contest tied with the Las Vegas Golden Knights at 2-2 in the best-of-seven championship series.Haaland is playing his first World Cup, leading a Norway team that's back in the tournament for the first time since 1998.They open their campaign against Iraq on Tuesday in Boston and will also face Senegal and France in Group I.But their World Cup base camp is in Greensboro, North Carolina, about 80 miles from Raleigh and Thursday's game was a chance to take in some elite ice hockey.The sport has gained prominence in the Nordic nation with Norway's upset victory over Canada in the World Championships bronze medal match in Switzerland in May. 

The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has approved a new global competition set up by Norway Chess that will crown a “World Combined Champion” across three time formats – Fast Classic, Rapid and Blitz, organisers said Wednesday.The tournament series, called the Total Chess World Championship Tour, will feature four events a year in cities around the world, with the overall winner taking the FIDE title.A one-off pilot event is scheduled for late 2026 before the full championship season begins in 2027.“We are looking for the total chess player – a versatile, tactically intelligent and technically skilled athlete who adapts to multiple time controls,” Norway Chess CEO Kjell Madland said. “It will be a game-changer, both for the players and the fans.”“We expect this (Total Chess World Championship Tour), to become one of the most prestigious events in the entire chess calendar,” said Madland.He said that the World Championships, which is held in the Classical format, and the newly-conceptualised Total Chess World Championship Tour will complement each other as it had been officially approved by FIDE.“The new championship will not replace or affect any existing FIDE World Championship titles,” he said.GAMES SHORTENED TO 45 MINUTESThe Fast Classic format shortens traditional games to 45 minutes plus a 30-second increment per move – part of an effort to make chess more appealing for broadcasters and online audiences.The launch comes months after former world champion Magnus Carlsen, also Norwegian, unveiled a separate “Freestyle Chess” tour, which uses a randomised starting position inspired by Fischer Random chess.That tour has not been sanctioned by FIDE, highlighting tensions between the world governing body and independent organisers seeking to modernise the sport. World number one Carlsen, the undisputed world champion from 2013-23, opted out of defending his title citing a lack of motivation and focused more on Freestyle chess and faster time controls, winning the Esports World Cup title this year.FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich welcomed the initiative.“We are always looking for ways to innovate and push the boundaries of what chess can be,” he said Wednesday.“This new tour complements the traditional World Chess Championship and will attract both existing fans and new audiences.”Carlsen also reacted positively to the move.“This seems like a well-thought-out step to further develop chess. Bringing multiple formats together under a single title will provide a more complete view of the players’ strengths, while the time controls suit today’s players and audience,” he said.Norway Chess said it was inviting potential host cities, investors and partners to join what it called a long-term collaboration with FIDE.The Total Chess World Championship Tour will offer a prize pool of a minimum of $750,000 for each of the first three locations while the fourth event will award at least $450,000 to a four-player field.

His Excellency Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani sent a cable of congratulations to Jonas Gahr Store on his re-election as Prime Minister of the friendly Kingdom of Norway, wishing him success in carrying out his duties.

Norway's $2tn wealth fund, the world's largest, has divested from US construction equipment group Caterpillar and from five Israeli banking groups on ethics grounds. The five banks are Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank, First International Bank of Israel and FIBI Holdings, the fund said in a statement. The six groups were excluded "due to an unacceptable risk that the companies contribute to serious violations of the rights of individuals in situations of war and conflict," said the fund, which is operated by Norway's central bank. The companies did not immediately reply to requests for comment. The Israeli embassy in Oslo declined to comment. Prior to its divestment, the fund held a 1.17% stake in Caterpillar valued at $2.1bn as of June 30, its records showed. The stakes in the five Israeli banks were valued at a combined $661mn, also as of June 30, according to fund data. The news was announced when the Tel Aviv and New York stock exchanges were closed. Shares in Caterpillar were down 0.4% in pre-market trading at $430.61 per share Tuesday. FIBI Holdings shares were up 4%, putting them on course for their best day since early 2024. Hapoalim's stock was up 3.3% and Bank Leumi, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank, and First International Bank of Israel were between 1.8% and 2.8% better off. The fund's ethics watchdog, called the Council on Ethics, said that "in the council's assessment, there is no doubt that Caterpillar's products are being used to commit extensive and systematic violations of international humanitarian law". Bulldozers manufactured by Caterpillar "were being used by Israeli authorities in the widespread unlawful destruction of Palestinian property," it said. The violations were taking place both in Gaza and the West Bank, the council said, adding that "the company has also not implemented any measures to prevent such use". "As deliveries of the relevant machinery to Israel are now set to resume, the council considers there to be an unacceptable risk that Caterpillar is contributing to serious violations of individuals’ rights in war or conflict situations." The council, a public body set up by the Ministry of Finance, checks that firms in the portfolio of the fund meet ethical guidelines set by Norway's parliament. The fund is invested in some 8,400 companies worldwide. It makes recommendations to the board of the central bank, which has the final say. The board agreed with the council's recommendation. The Norwegian fund said on August 18 that it would divest from six companies as part of an ongoing ethics review over the war in Gaza and developments in the West Bank, but declined at the time to name any groups until the stakes were sold. On the banks, the ethics watchdog initially scrutinised the Israeli banks' practice of underwriting Israeli settlers' housebuilding commitments in the region. On Monday, the council said that all the banks excluded had, "by providing financial services that are a necessary prerequisite for construction activity in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem ... contributed to the maintenance of Israeli settlements". Around 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7mn Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Many settlements are adjacent to Palestinian areas and some Israeli firms serve both Israelis and Palestinians. The United Nations' top court last year found that Israeli settlements built on territory seized in 1967 were illegal, a ruling that Israel called "fundamentally wrong", citing historical and biblical ties to the land.