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NORWAY

Swedish expert praises Danish terror approach

A Swedish terrorism researcher who blasted Norway's handling of a recent threat said that the Danes are more proactive and better with their messaging.

Swedish expert praises Danish terror approach
Norwegian police have been on guard since the announcement of an imminent terror attack. Photo: Heiko Junge/Scanpix
A Swedish terrorism expert who had sharp criticism for Norway’s handling of a recent threat had a more positive take on the Danish approach. 
 
Magnus Ranstorp, a terrorism expert at the Swedish National Defence College, told The Local that Norway’s response to reports of an imminent terror attack “created unnecessary anxiety in Norway”.
 
“There are some critical questions we don’t know the answer to," Ranstorp said. "How close was the threat, was it an inevitable trajectory, and how much of it could they control? And we don’t know any of that because the story keeps on changing."
 
A former director of the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (Politiets Efterretningstjeneste – PET) has also criticised Norway's handling of the terror threat.
 
"Threats are a reality in any Western intelligence service, and the intelligence agencies should take the responsibility for handling them. In this case, a decision was made to burden citizens with the worries,"  Hans Jørgen Bonnichsen told Berlingske. 
 
 
Ranstorp said that both Sweden and Denmark have gone public about terror threats before, but generally only once the threat is under control and the suspect has been clearly identified.
 
Ranstorp went on to say that Denmark “plays an offensive game” when it comes to terrorist threats.
 
“Denmark has a very open intelligence service, but it’s also one of the more offensive – it takes a very offensive posture, it goes after threats with a great operational pace, both inside and outside of Denmark,” he said. 
 
Ranstorp added that PET has a proactive media approach. 
 
“They regularly publish trend reports on what has gone on in the terrorism world, and they sometimes call journalists for contextual briefings, and then a couple of days later they pounce on a suspect they have had under surveillance,” he said.
 
On Monday evening, Norwegian intelligence authorities announced that they would be lowering the threat level on Tuesday another step – but that the nation is still armed and prepared for an attack. 

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NORWAY

Norway to send 200,000 AstraZeneca doses to Sweden and Iceland

Norway, which has suspended the use of AstraZeneca's Covid vaccine until further notice, will send 216,000 doses to Sweden and Iceland at their request, the Norwegian health ministry said Thursday.

Norway to send 200,000 AstraZeneca doses to Sweden and Iceland
Empty vials of the AstraZeneca vaccine. (Photo by GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP)

“I’m happy that the vaccines we have in stock can be put to use even if the AstraZeneca vaccine has been paused in Norway,” Health Minister Bent Høie said in a statement.

The 216,000 doses, which are currently stored in Norwegian fridges, have to be used before their expiry dates in June and July.

Sweden will receive 200,000 shots and Iceland 16,000 under the expectation they will return the favour at some point. 

“If we do resume the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, we will get the doses back as soon as we ask,” Høie said.

Like neighbouring Denmark, Norway suspended the use of the AstraZeneca jab on March 11 in order to examine rare but potentially severe side effects, including blood clots.

Among the 134,000 AstraZeneca shots administered in Norway before the suspension, five cases of severe thrombosis, including three fatal ones, had been registered among relatively young people in otherwise good health. One other person died of a brain haemorrhage.

On April 15, Norway’s government ignored a recommendation from the Institute of Public Health to drop the AstraZeneca jab for good, saying it wanted more time to decide.

READ MORE: Norway delays final decision on withdrawal of AstraZeneca vaccine 

The government has therefore set up a committee of Norwegian and international experts tasked with studying all of the risks linked to the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, which is also suspected of causing blood clots.

Both are both based on adenovirus vector technology. Denmark is the only European country to have dropped the AstraZeneca
vaccine from its vaccination campaign, and said on Tuesday it would “lend” 55,000 doses to the neighbouring German state of Schleswig-Holstein.

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