Former Norway prime minister dies

Norway's former Prime Minister Per Borten, who held the helm in the 1960s, died Thursday in Trondheim at the age of 91.

Borten, who also served in the parliament for several years, died at St Olavs Hospital. The cause of death was not immediately released, Aftenposten reported.

The veteran politician was elected to parliament in 1949 to represent what formerly was known as Bondepartiet, the farmers' party now known as the Center Party.

Borten, who served as prime minister from 1965 to 1971, was called "a towering personality" by one of his successors, Anne Enger Lahnstein.

Carl I Hagen of the Progress Party, which champions much less government regulation and subsidy than the Center Party, said he will remember Borten as "an interesting sparring partner who I valued highly."

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