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TODAY IN NORWAY

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

Government investment in offshore wind, SAS cutting flights and the Office of the Auditor General focusing on green issues are among the main stories from Norway today. 

Lofoten, Norway
Read about investment in offshore wind, the Office of the Auditor General focusing on green issues and whether or not russ busses should be scrapped. Pictured is Lofoten. Photo by Peter Oboňa on Unsplash

Government announces heavy investment in offshore wind 

The Norwegian government announced a large scale investment in offshore wind at a press conference on Wednesday morning. 

It said that it hoped that by 2040 there would be capacity for 30,000 MW of offshore wind production. This would be almost double the energy produced by wind in Norway currently. 

The development of offshore wind would also see new power cables built to supply Europe with Energy. 

“With this ambition, we go from the two offshore wind turbines that are in operation today to about 1,500 offshore wind turbines. The construction will take place over the next 20 years,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said at a press conference. 

SAS cancels 4,000 flights this summer

Airline SAS has cancelled 4,000 flights scheduled between May and September. 

“These are changes we make throughout the program, and it is important to emphasise that this applies to 4,000 of approximately 75,000 flights in the same period. Most passengers will not notice in any other way that they are booked over to other flights on the same day,” press officer for SAS, John Eckhoff, told ABC News.

The reason for the cancellations are troubles with staffing, and the delay of several new aircraft being delivered, Swedish outlet Dagens Industri reports.  

Office of the Auditor General to focus on green issues 

The Office of the Auditor General (Riksrevisjonen) will focus its sights on the climate as a key issue for the agency. 

The agency is responsible for auditing the governemnt and parliament and assessing how efficiently it is performing. 

“The Storting (Norway’s parliament) is quite clear that the climate challenge is the biggest challenge of our time. Then we must also have it as our main focus, otherwise, we are neither relevant nor follow our assignment from the Storting,” Karl-Eirik Schhøtt-Pedersen told newspaper VG

Schjøtt Pedersen also announced several reports on whether the Norwegian state was well equipped to meet parliament’s climate goals for 2030. 

“Our task is not to assess whether the Storting sets the right goals, but to see if the administration can implement the Storting’s goals,” Schjøtt-Pedersen said. 

Bullying ombudsman says russ busses too exclusive

The ombudsman for bullying in Viken county believes that russ buses should be more regulated due to their exclusive nature. 

“We receive many inquiries from parents, young people and schools about the consequences of the Russ celebration and how it mercilessly affects young people’s everyday lives,” head of the bullying ombudsman in Viken, Bodil J. Houg, told Drammens Tidende

The ombud said that russ celebrations affected pupils’ everyday school life so much that something needed to be done, and has made a list of ten points with suggestions for improvement. 

The list uniforms being axed, moving the celebrations until after exams and making the rules for busses tighter. 

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TODAY IN NORWAY

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

Risk of retail strike as union talks go into overtime, 20C temperatures expected in the south, hotel magnate appeals tax judgement, and other news from Norway on Tuesday.

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

Balmy weather of 20C expected in southern Norway 

Summer is finally here! Or at least it is if you live in southern Norway, where a warm front coming up from Europe will bring t-shirt temperatures of 20C, Norway’s national weather forecasting site Yr has said on X

“Over the course of the week, a warm front will move up from the south, and will cause high temperatures in southern Norway,” the site wrote. “We expect over 20C in several places.” 

Norwegian vocabulary: varme luftmassar – a warm front (literally “warm air masses”)

Risk of retail industry strike after unions and employers miss talks deadline

The Handel og Kontor (HK), Parat and Negotia unions have decided to continue negotiations with The Federation of Norwegian Enterprise (Virke), despite failing to reach a deal by the deadline of midnight on Monday, raising the risk of a strike. 

The Parat union has warned that shops such as Byggmakker, XL-Bygg, Løvenskiold/Maxbo, Montér, Gustav Pedersen and Optimera could be hit by strikes if no deal is reached, while Handel og Kontor has said that members working for the duty free chain Travel Retail Norway will strike at airports in Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim, potentially forcing the duty free shops there to close.

Negotia meanwhile has warned it will call a strike among members working for the building materials company Gausdal Landhandleri and Imperial Brands. 

Norwegian vocabulary: mekling – mediation 

Hotel billionaire Petter Stordalen appeals tax judgement 

The Norwegian hotel magnate Petter Stordalen has appealed a judgment from the Oslo district court which reduced the tax authorities’ claim against him from 200 kroner to NOK 180 kroner, the E24 financial site has written.

Stordalen’s lawyer Nils Sture Nilsson confirmed to the newspaper that his client had appealed the judgement, which was given in March.

Stordalen bought the holding company Oslo Properties in 2013, using it withdraw over 800 million kroner in tax-free dividends.

In 2022, the Tax Appeal Board ruled that these payments should not be tax-free, leading Norway’s tax authorities to demand over 200 million kroner in back taxes. The district court decided that this claim should be reduced to 180 million.

The billionaire denies buying the company to take advantage of its favorable tax position.

Norwegian vocabulary: gunstig – favourable 

Norwegian police charge Olympic champion’s father for domestic violence

Norwegian police said on Monday that Gjert Ingebrigtsen, the father and former coach of 1,500m Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen, had been charged with domestic violence against a family member.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen and two of his brothers, Henrik and Filip, who are also athletes, shocked Norway last October when they accused their father of being violent.

“We grew up with a very aggressive and authoritarian father, who used physical violence and threats as part of his upbringing,” the brothers wrote in an op-ed for newspaper VG. “We still feel a sense of discomfort and fear that we have felt since childhood,” they added.

Police opened a probe into the abuse claims and on Monday said prosecutors had decided to charge Gjert Ingebrigtsen, 58, with domestic violence against a child.

According to a source close to the case, the acts in question do not concern the trio of known athletes but another, younger child.

Over a period of four years, from 2018 to 2022, Gjert Ingebrigtsen allegedly manhandled, insulted, threatened and hit the child in the face with his hand or with a towel.

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