Housing Norway

The sign says "Vormstuen, " and it marks the new apartment complex on the outskirts of Lillehammer where many of the 8,000 journalists are staying while covering the Winter Olympics. New, but hardly plush. In fact, the word utilitarian springs directly to mind. The building housing Times troops is typical. There are three bedrooms and two bathrooms downstairs, four bedrooms and two bathrooms up, a small common area on each floor. Decor is stark white, unpainted wallboard.

Norway's Supreme Court declared Friday that it was legal to use such discriminatory statements as "foreigners unwanted" and "whites only" in real estate listings--a precedent that worries human rights activists. "This is a first test of the racism law. It is an encouragement for discrimination," Jesper Hansen of the Institution Against Public Discrimination said.

Norway's Supreme Court declared Friday that it was legal to use such discriminatory statements as "foreigners unwanted" and "whites only" in real estate listings--a precedent that worries human rights activists. "This is a first test of the racism law. It is an encouragement for discrimination," Jesper Hansen of the Institution Against Public Discrimination said.

The sign says "Vormstuen, " and it marks the new apartment complex on the outskirts of Lillehammer where many of the 8,000 journalists are staying while covering the Winter Olympics. New, but hardly plush. In fact, the word utilitarian springs directly to mind. The building housing Times troops is typical. There are three bedrooms and two bathrooms downstairs, four bedrooms and two bathrooms up, a small common area on each floor. Decor is stark white, unpainted wallboard.