Norway announces massive defence spending increase

The Norwegian government will increase its defence budget by 83 percent over the next 12 years, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre announced on Friday.

“A stronger defence system here will act as a deterrent to those who seek to threaten our security and our allies,” Støre said

“Our starting hypothesis is that we will have to face a more dangerous, more unpredictable neighbour for many years,” he said of Russia.

As part of the plans, it was announced that five new frigates, at least fifty submarines, up to 28 vessels of different sizes, maritime surveillance drones, helicopters, and deep-strike weapons would be ordered.

The announcement comes after the PM announced in March that Norway would meet the NATO target of spending the equivalent of two percent of GDP on defence.

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Norway to send controversial Quran burner back to Sweden

Norway will deport Salwan Momika, a Christian Iraqi who burned Qurans at a slew of protests in Sweden last year, back to Sweden.

Momika was arrested a day after arriving in Norway. After a hearing at the end of March, the Oslo District Court decided to detain Him for four weeks, awaiting a likely request from the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) to Sweden that he be returned in accordance with EU legislation.

The court said that deportation would take place as soon as the practical arrangements were in place.

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

Strike warnings issued

On Friday, voluntary mediation for the construction industry broke down between the United Federation of Trade Unions (Fellesforbundet) and the Federation of Norwegian Industry (Norsk Industri).

As a result, a strike notice for 16,700 employees was sent out.

The two parties will now go to a forced meditation with a deadline of April 8th.

Forced meditation can go into overtime, but strikes will be called in the construction industry if talks don’t reach a deal.

Report reveals challenges for foreigners in the workplace

Foreign workers in Norway are three times as likely to be unemployed, and up to 40 percent of foreigners are overqualified for their jobs, according to a new report from The Directorate of Integration and Diversity.

The overview of working life put together by the directorate is part of a wider action plan from the Norwegian government to try and combat racism and ethnic discrimination.

Discrimination in the workplace has also been a massive issue for foreign workers in Norway. This is despite companies wanting to view diversity and the rest of the population having positive experiences with foreign workers.

In addition to those, Norway’s integration directorate said that while Norwegian skills were improving, a lack of proficiency was holding back foreign workers in Norway.

READ MORE: The biggest barriers facing foreigners in the workplace in Norway

Investigation launched after threats closed Norway’s parliament

Norway’s parliament was closed on Wednesday by two threats, which the Norwegian media reported as bomb threats.

The Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) has launched an investigation into the threats.

“We have started an investigation in connection with threats against the Storting and are working closely with the Oslo police district,” Martin Bernsen from PST told NRK.

Police said that they knew who made one of the threats. However, they didn’t confirm whether the same person made both threats.