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TODAY IN NORWAY

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

The Prime Minister in crisis talks, flights in Norway cancelled due to strikes, a walkout of airport ground staff avoided and other news on Tuesday. 

Kristiansund municipality
Read about the PM heading to Kristiansund yesterday to talk about the municipalities future, flights being cancelled due to strikes and more. Pictured is Kristiansund. Photo by Gary McGillivray-Birnie on Unsplash

11 flights cancelled on Tuesday due to aircraft technician strike 

On Tuesday morning, a total of 11 flights were cancelled as a result of an aircraft technician strike, which commenced last weekend, public broadcaster NRK reports

Norwegian Air Shuttle said that it had cancelled five departing flights and their return trips due to staff shortages due to the strike. 

Widerøe said its flight WF972 had also been cancelled. However, SAS said it has not had to cancel any departures on Tuesday due to the strike. 

PM in crisis meeting over Kristiansund dissolution 

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre met with colleagues from the Labour Party in Kristiansund yesterday to discuss the breakup of the municipality. 

The government decided to break up the municipality, overriding local authorities’ decision to keep it as is. 

After meeting with local members of the Labour Party, the PM came to the compromise of having the state administrator look into the dissolution. 

“The state administrator will make a study of what it means to dissolve the large municipality of Kristiansand. The government has not taken a position on the dissolution of this municipality,” Støre told newswire NTB after the meeting. 

Ground staff strike averted

Following mediation talks on Monday night, ground staff at Norwegian airports will not go on strike as NHO Luftfart, and Fellesforbundet came to an agreement. 

“We are pleased to have arrived in port after a demanding mediation, with good assistance from the mediator. Now we have come to a solution that gives our members a pay rise that we hope they can give their support to,” negotiator Dag-Einar Sivertsen said on Fellesforbundet’s website.

All staff will receive a wage rise of four kroner per hour, in addition to sharp increases in the minimum wage rates. 

Fuel prices continue to rise 

Over the past year, the price of diesel has increased 49 percent, while petrol has gone up 43 percent, according to figures from Statistics Norway. 

Over the past month, the price has risen 8.1 percent for petrol and 6.1 percent for diesel. Last month the average diesel price was 22.39 kroner per litre and 22.96 kroner for a litre of petrol. 

“It is a frightening increase, and many households are struggling with these record prices. Throughout the winter and spring, we have called for measures, but have been met with silence,” Thor Eigil Braadland from the Norwegian Automobile Association said. 

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For members

TODAY IN NORWAY

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

Norwegians stockpile eggs in Sweden, Storm Hans pushes up cabin insurance claims, Quran burner moves from Sweden to Oslo and more news from Norway on Thursday.

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

Norwegians stockpile eggs over border in Sweden 

The continuing shortage of eggs in Norway has led to hordes of Norwegians crossing over the border to Sweden to stock up for their easter celebrations, the Nettavisen newspaper has reported.

According to the online newspaper, eggs have already sold out at the Maximat supermarket in the Swedish town of Svinesund, while the nextdoor Nordby Supermarket is limiting purchases to a maximum of three 20-pack cartons per household.

Many Norwegians do their shopping for Easter, Christmas and other holidays at border supermarkets in Sweden due to the lower prices for sweets, chocolate, and food. 

Norwegian vocabulary: at hamstre – to hoard (literally “to hamster”) 

Norwegian man wins nearly 150m kroner in Viking lotto

A Norwegian man on Wednesday won 148m kroner in the Viking Lotto, the 15th largest sum ever won in a lotto in Norway, all of which are run by Norsk Tipping, the government-run gambling company. 

She said that it was important that people shut off the water to their cabins if they are going to be away for more than three days in the winter or more than 15 days in the summer. 

She also advised people not to leave computers, iPads, jewellery, watches and other expensive items in their cabins, especially if they are visible through the windows. 

Norwegian vocabulary: skadeøkning – increase in claims

Controversial Quran burner moves from Sweden to Norway

An Iraqi refugee in Sweden who stoked international outrage by repeatedly desecrating the Quran last year said Wednesday he was leaving the country for neighbouring Norway after Sweden revoked his residency permit.

Salwan Momika, a Christian Iraqi who burned Qurans at a slew of protests in Sweden over the summer, told AFP that he had left Sweden and arrived in Norway, where he planned to seek asylum.

“I left Sweden because of the persecution I was subjected to by government institutions,” Momika told AFP in a text message.

Momika’s Quran burnings sparked widespread outrage and condemnation in Muslim countries.

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