OSLO: Wealthy businessmen are secretly negotiating the ransom of

Norway's most famous painting, The Scream by Edvard Munch, a Government

official said yesterday. The 1893 painting was stolen from the National

Gallery in Oslo on February 12. The statement came after an Oslo

newspaper Dagbladet said the anonymous businessmen were negotiating

through a middleman and were willing to pay 5 million kroner (#480,000)

for the painting. -- AP.