Activists at Oslo Gardermoen

Following yesterday’s unsuccessful protest on Oslo Gardermoen’s runway, activists returned to the airport on Thursday morning.

Eleven activists were reported to be at the airport on Thursday morning, with six blocking parts of the check-in area, the newspaper Dagbladet reported.

Avinor said that the protest would not affect air traffic on Thursday morning.

“The activists appeared in the terminal just before 7:30am and are blocking the area for fast track. We have opened another lock so we can let the passengers in. The demonstrations will have no impact on air traffic,” press officer Ylva Celius Trulsen from Avinor told Norwegian newswire NTB.

“Commitment to climate emissions is welcome, but we do not want it to be done in a way that is illegal or disturbs the passengers,” she said.

The protest group wants the Norwegian government to stop the extraction and burning of fossil fuels by 2030. The action is part of a string of protests by groups across Europe.

The check-in area was cleared after the arrival of airport security and police. 

Socialist Left Party in favour of personal data tax

The Socialist Left Party (SV) supports the finance minister, Trygve Slagsvold Vedum’s, proposals for a tax levied against tech giants who profit from users’ data.

Vedum wants the tax to be adopted worldwide to prevent tech firms from using legislation and loopholes in other countries to get out of the tax.

“Norway has every opportunity to tax Google and Meta. Vedum’s initiative is good, but we don’t need to wait for tedious international processes,” Kari Elisabeth Kaski, financial policy spokesperson for the Socialist Left Party, told the Norwegian newspaper Klassekampen.

While the party is not part of the government, it is the preferred budgetary partner for the current minority coalition. This means the government relies on the party to get key policies and its budgets passed through parliament.

Driver dead after car collides with train

One person has been confirmed dead after an accident where a car was hit by a train in Sarpsborg, southeastern Norway.

Police reported the accident at 2:42pm on Wednesday afternoon, and none of the train’s passengers were injured in the accident. The deceased’s next of kin have been notified.

Big day for Norwegian sport

The Norwegian women’s handball team will play its first match in the Olympic games in Paris against Sweden on Thursday. While the Olympics don’t officially start until tomorrow, football and handball have been permitted to begin early.

The women’s handball team are among the frontrunners for a medal.

Meanwhile, Molde, Brann and Tromsø from Norway’s top-flight men’s league are all chasing European qualification. Molde plays against Silkeborg in the second qualifying round of the Europa League.

Brann and Tromsø aim to qualify for the Europa Conference League. Tromsø will play the finish KuPS, while Brann will play the Go-Ahead Eagles from the Netherlands. Should both teams progress, they will have a third-round qualifier and playoff to enter the competition proper.