Oslo  - Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit was Monday awarded the country's Plussprisen prize for her efforts to combat HIV/AIDS.

The prize - announced in connection with World AIDS day - was awarded by the Norwegian group HivNorway that was formed to safeguard the rights and interests of people infected and affected by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The princess is a goodwill ambassador for the joint United Nations programme, UNAIDS.

The 35-year-old princess shared the prize with Ragnhild Backstrom, who has worked to prevent discrimination against HIV-positive children.

Backstrom works to spread awareness about HIV in kindergartens, schools and local neighbourhoods.

Oslo - US cultural theorist Fredric R Jameson Wednesday accepted the 2008 Holberg International Memorial Prize at the University of Bergen in western Norway.

Tora Aasland, Norwegian Minister of Research and Higher Education, presented the award worth 4.5 million kroner (750,000 dollars) to Jameson who was cited for "outstanding contributions to the understanding of the relation between social formations and cultural forms."

Oslo- The Hurtigruten shipping company that operates the Norwegian coastal express Wednesday posted weaker third-quarter results over higher fuel costs and fewer passengers and said it would cut half its land-based staff.

The company posted a pre-tax profit of 60 million kroner (8.5 million dollars), a 81-million-kroner drop year-on-year.

The group reported 934 million kroner in sales for the quarter, compared to 978 million kroner in the corresponding business period last year.

Management said it aimed to trim costs by 35 per cent during 2009, resulting in 200 fewer land-based jobs, of which 80 in Norway.

Oslo - Citing the effects of the global financial turmoil, the fund that invests income from Norway's petroleum and gas riches for future pensions on Tuesday reported its lowest return to date.

The return on the fund during third-quarter 2008 fell 7.7 per cent measured in international currency, the central bank that manages the fund said.

The Norwegian Government Pension Fund - Global was worth 2.12 trillion kroner (299 billion dollars) at the end of the third quarter.

Oslo  - Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit on Monday began studies in leadership and management at the Norwegian School of Management.

"I am really looking forward to these studies," the 35-year-old princess told local media.

The six-month course includes studies of leadership drawn from classic works penned by the likes of Norwegian Henrik Ibsen as well as Norwegian explorers Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen.

"We focus on both modern theories and classics. We will study (Friedrich) Nietzsche, Soren Kierkegaard, Machiavelli and Joseph Conrad," said lecturer Kjetil Eikeset, an economist and philosopher.

Oslo  - Norwegian salvage teams and representatives of a shipping company were Wednesday assessing how to prevent fuel leaking from a freighter that ran aground in the Oslo fjord, reports said.