A member of Norway's ruling Labour Party said Thursday she would not seek re-election to parliament next year after disclosures that she routinely placed calls to clairvoyants and fortune tellers at taxpayer expense.
Saera Khan, elected to the legislature in 2005, said in a statement late Wednesday she "regretted" that she had not disclosed the calls. She added that she had provided compensation for phone expenses that were over the average for a Norwegian member of parliament.
Khan, 29, of Oslo, had come under fire after racking up a huge phone bill on her parliament-issued mobile phone.
She informed the nominating committee of the Oslo section of the Labour Party of her decision shortly before a deadline expired Thursday.
Tabloid Verdens Gang was one of the media outlets that reported on the calls. It also reported that parliament had stopped paying her bills earlier this year.
Khan initially said she had phoned a friend serving with special forces abroad. She was forced to retract that story when the Norwegian military would not confirm it.
The German car market is facing its worse downturn, the nation's auto industry association warned Wednesday as the deepening sense of economic gloom in the country leads to a shakeout in the industry and the prospects of big job cuts.
A comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon as a couple trying to avoid their families at Christmas debuted in first place over the weekend at North American box offices, according to preliminary studio estimates issued Sunday.