NORWAY’S prime minister, who presided over four years of unprecedented prosperity fuelled by high oil prices, yesterday said he will resign after a left-wing opposition bloc won parliamentary elections.

Norway was poised for a power shift after the left-leaning opposition won a majority of seats in Parliament with pledges to spend more of the nation’s vast oil wealth on welfare, official election results showed early today.

Improving transatlantic ties between Europe and the US was a key issue for many leaders today whomever US voters send to the White House.

The Norwegian Prime Minister has admitted he unwittingly smuggled two illegal elephant tusks into the country.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has sent a hand-delivered letter to US President George Bush, appealing for more time to prove he is trying to halt terrorist violence against Israelis.