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UTØYA

‘Do not put my daughter’s name on Utøya memorial’

The mother of a 14-year-old girl who was shot dead by far-right extremist Anders Breivik wants to stop her daughter's name being used on the 'Memory Wound' memorial designed by Swedish artist Jonas Wahlberg.

'Do not put my daughter's name on Utøya memorial'
Memory Wound by Jonas Dahlberg -- Source: Jonas Dahlberg
"No one should be allowed to make money on our daughter's death, and we would rather not have her name on a memorial,"  Vanessa Svebakk told Norway's NRK television channel. 
 
Svebakk's daughter Sharidyn was shot in the chest as she tried to escape the killer after he unleashed his gun massacre the island of Utøya. She died almost instantly. 
 
Dahlberg's design for two permanent memorials to the dead was chosen at the end of last month by Koro, the body which commissions public art in Norway, and has been praised worldwide for its poignancy and imaginativeness. 
 
He aims to carve a three-and-a-half-meter wide slice through Sørbråten, the peninsular which juts out into the Tyrifjorden towards the island, to create a permanent scar on the landscape. 
 
The names of the dead will be carved on one exposed surface, which will be viewable to visitors who come down an underground walkway. 
 
"We have never been asked for permission to use our daughter's name on a memorial," Svebakken objected. "We see it as state overreach and undemocratic." 
 
Svein Bjørkås, who heads Koro told NRK that this was the first time he had heard that any of the bereaved objected to the memorial. 
 
He conceded, however, that Koro had not directly contacted all of the bereaved relatives of the 77 dead, and had instead shared information through intermediary organisations such as the AUF, the labour youth group that runs the summer youth camp Breivik attacked.
 
"It's a whole new problem. We will examine what we can and can not do," he said. 

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TRAVEL

Today in Norway: A roundup of the latest news on Tuesday 

Find out what's going on in Norway on Tuesday with The Local's short roundup of important news.

Today in Norway: A roundup of the latest news on Tuesday 
Oslo Operahus .Photo by Arvid Malde on Unsplash

Only one in ten Norwegians plan to travel abroad this summer 

Around ten percent of people in Norway are planning to take a holiday abroad this summer, according to a survey carried out by tourism organisation NHO Reiseliv.

Seven out of ten respondents said they still plan to holiday in Norway this year, even if they receive a vaccination before the holidays start.

READ MORE: ‘My arguments didn’t matter’: How I ended up in a hotel quarantine in Norway 

Viken and Vestland are this year’s most popular travel destinations for Norwegians planning a “staycation”. Young people were the most likely to want to remain in Norway this summer. Just under half of those aged between 18 and 29 said they wished to stay in Norway this summer. 

Third of Utøya survivors have received abuse or threats

A third of Utøya survivors have been victims of hate speech or received threats, according to a new survey. 

Three-quarters of respondents said that the reason they received the abuse was linked directly to the Utøya terror attack, the Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Studies (NKVTS) found. 

The massacre on Utøya was the second of two terror attacks carried out by Anders Breivik on July 22nd, 2011. Of the 69 people who died in the attack, 32 were under the age of 18. 

Fewer in Oslo willing to ditch cars 

A climate survey carried out by the city of Oslo has shown that fewer people than before are willing to cut back on using their cars. The proportion of those who think that Oslo city centre should be car-free has fallen to 45 percent from 52 percent last year. 

READ ALSO: Could Norway introduce mandatory inbuilt car breathalysers 

When asked whether Oslo City Council had gone too far in removing cars from the city centre, almost half said that they believed that this was the case. 

“A change in the attitude around these measures may be due to more people feeling dependent on cars during the pandemic. There has been a lot of debate about measures that have been introduced or are planned to be introduced,” Heidi Sørensen, Director of the Climate Agency, told the Dagsavisen newspaper

Tighter Coronavirus measures in Trondheim 

Gyms, museums and swimming pools have been closed, and alcohol service in hospitality has been stopped in Trondheim. The new measures come barely a week after restrictions were last tightened. 

“We need to shut down most of Trondheim to get control. It is only days since we last tightened measures, but we are in a situation where we must take even stronger action,” Morten Wolden, the municipal director for Trondheim, told state broadcaster NRK.

Norway reports 292 new Covid-19 cases

On Monday, 292 new coronavirus infections were registered in Norway. This is a drop of 52 compared to the seven-day average of 344. 

In Oslo, 48 cases were recorded, an increase of two on the capital’s seven day average of 46. 

The R-number or reproduction rate in Norway is currently 1.0. This means that every ten people that are infected, will, on average, only infect another ten people, indicating that the infection level is stable. 

Total number of Covid-19 cases so far. Source: NIPH
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