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TODAY IN NORWAY

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

Norway's egg shortage likely to persist throughout the year, warnings issued for grass and heather fires in parts of eastern and western Norway, and other news making the headlines on Friday.

Odda
Here's the latest news from Norway. Pictured are wooden houses in Odda, Vestland. Photo by Magne Roed on Unsplash

Shortage of Norwegian eggs expected to last throughout 2024

Norwegian supermarkets have grappled with a widespread shortage of eggs since last spring, with the shortages making national headlines numerous times over the past 12 months.

READ MORE: Why there are currently no eggs in supermarkets in Norway

On Friday, Nortura, the agricultural cooperative in Norway responsible for the egg market, said there may be a slight shortage of Norwegian eggs in the shops until 2025.

The reason is that too few eggs are produced in Norway.

“In an attempt to recruit more producers, Nortura has increased the price we pay for eggs to our producers,” communications advisor Matilda Aronsson at Nortura said in a press release.

The shortage of Norwegian eggs will be addressed with imported eggs, according to Nortura.

Yellow danger warning for grass and heather fires in parts of Norway

Meteorologists have issued a yellow danger warning for grass and heather fires, which applies to parts of eastern and southwestern Norway.

“Vegetation can easily catch fire, and large areas can be affected,” the meteorologists said.

The danger warning applies from Thursday afternoon until “significant” rainfall occurs.

“Be especially careful with open fires where there is dry grass or leaves from last year,” they added.

The Norwegian Directorate for Emergency Preparedness has decided to deploy two additional forest fire helicopters from May 3rd to May 5th.

Passengers forced to leave Widerøe flight after fire alarm went off

Passengers had to leave the plane after a Widerøe flight that was supposed to travel between Bergen and Kristiansand Airport Kjevik ran into problems on Thursday.

The reason for the plane’s evacuation was that the fire alarm went off in the toilet, according to the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK).

The issue occurred before the plane took off.

New fraud wave in Finnmark

The police department in Finnmark has issued a warning about a surge in fraud attempts across the region.

There have been multiple reports of scammers attempting to get access to people’s sensitive information like BankID.

The fraudsters impersonate both law enforcement officers and bailiffs.

Lars Rune Hagen, the operations manager at the Finmark Police Department, said it was important for people to stay vigilant.

“If you encounter unusual inquiries regarding your BankID or other sensitive data, exercise caution,” he said, adding that police never request account numbers or BankID information over the phone.

The perpetrators employ a technique known as spoofing, which enables them to pretend to call from Norwegian numbers.

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TODAY IN NORWAY

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

Norwegian government strikes deal to stockpile grain, parliament votes through medicine rationing law, and more news from Norway on Wednesday.

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

The government establishes emergency storage for grain

The Norwegian government has signed contracts with four companies in the grain industry to build up and store a national emergency grain stockpile corresponding to three months of national consumption. 

Under the deal, the state aims to build up the 82,500 tonne stockpile by 2029, with the four companies — Norgesmøllene, Fiskå Mølle, Strand Unikorn and Lantmännen Cerealia — responsible for buying and storing some 15,000 tonnes a year into storage.  

“Contingency storage of grain has been an important matter for the government. The Center Party and the Labor Party, both in opposition and in government, have worked to get emergency stocks in place,” Agriculture and Food Minister Geir Pollestad (Sp) said in a press release. 

The Norwegian government liquidated its stategic grain stockpile in 2004, judging that there was no longer a need for it. 

Norwegian vocabulary: beredskapslager — emergency storage site

Norway’s parliament votes through law rationing medicines

Norway’s parliament on Tuesday passed a new law which will allow the government to ration medicines that are in critically short supply in the country. 

The law, which comes into force on July 1st, will allow the government to ration medicines in high demand, such as ADHD medicines, anti-obesity medicines such as Wegovy and Ozempic, and antibiotics for children. 

The law will give the government the opportunity to ration medicines of which there is a critical shortage in Norway, says health policy spokesman in the Labor Party, Truls Vasvik.

“Today we have no legal basis for doing that, and that is what we have to put in place. And it is important to have also for future critical situations,” the health policy spokesman for the Labour Party, Truls Vasvik, told NRK

“For patients, the new law means that pharmacies will limit the amount of medication that can be dispensed at a time,” Ingrid Aas, senior physician at the Norwegian Medical Products Agency, said. 

Norwegian vocabulary: at begrense – to limit

Swedish 19-year-old charged with arson in Aurskog

A Swedish 19-year-old has been charged with arson after a fire broke out in a detached house in Aurskog in Romerike, east of Oslo, on Tuesday night.

“In questioning, he admitted to being involved in the action and to have been on the site at the time,” the prosecutor in the case, Marit Aurdal, told the VG newspaper. 

According to the police the man doused a house in petrol and then set fire to it, causing some damage to the structure but not destroying it. 

The man’s defence lawyer, Hilde Mo, told VG that while his client had explained what had happened and his role in it, he had not decided whether or not to admit to the charge of arson.

“We cannot rule out that there may be others involved, and we want to get an overview of any helpers,” Aurdal said.

Norwegian vocabulary: mordbrann – arson

SAS accuses pilots of ‘illegal action’ after 30 flights cancelled at weekend 

Scandinavia’s SAS airline has accused its Norwegian pilots of mounting an illegal strike action after 30 flights were cancelled over the weekend due to pilots not being available. 

According to NRK, SAS has sent a letter to pilots’ unions accusing them of using sick leave, refusal sales of their holiday days, and claiming not to be in a physical or mental state to fly in a coordinated way, which it argued constituted an illegal strike action. 

The airline is claiming that the pilots engineered a staff shortage to protest the fact that their collective agreement was worse than what competing airlines received in their wage settlements. 

The airline has said it plans to hold both individual pilots and their unions responsible, and will levy financial penalties to offset the financial damage from the cancelled flights. 

Roger Klokset from the Norwegian SAS pilots’ association (NSF) told the national broadcaster NRK that the union “absolutely refutes” these claims. 

“We are not aware that there has been a strike at all. We have asked SAS to explain what is the root cause of this weekend’s cancellations,” he said. 

Knut Morten Johansen, the airline’s public relations director, confirmed to NRK that the airline had sent a letter to unions demanding that pilots stop “what we believe is an illegal collective bargaining action”.

Norwegian vocabulary: en aksjon — a strike action 

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