Norway’s next generation has spoken, and they prefer new national political leadership from the left side of Norwegian politics. Jonas Gahr Støre and his Labour Party trounced the Conservatives in the traditional election held at high schools all over the country on Tuesday. Labour won 23.3 percent of the vote, 4.5 points less than before […]
Party leader ‘sorry’ about housing flap
September 6, 2021
Government minister Kjell Ingolf Ropstad, leader of the embattled Christian Democrats party, added to his own political woes on Monday when he had to apologize for taking advantage of the state’s housing benefit for politicians who commute to Oslo. The 36-year-old Ropstad didn’t report moving out of his parents’ home in Southern Norway until just […]
Norway calls for more US ‘humility’
September 6, 2021
The Norwegian government doesn’t think the US-led withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan last month was the “extraordinary success” that US President Joe Biden thinks it was. Foreign Minister Ine Erik Søreide is calling for more “humility” when NATO evaluates how it spent the past 20 years. Søreide flew to Washington DC late last week […]
Afghan evacuees swiftly resettled
September 3, 2021
Fully 676 of the 860 Afghans flown under chaotic conditions to Norway last week have already been granted status as refugees, and 243 have been sent to new homes in 30 different Norwegian towns and cities. Several hundred more who worked for Norwegian forces in Afghanistan over the past 20 years, however, couldn’t be evacuated […]
Election turns into a ‘political thriller’
September 2, 2021
With less than two weeks to go before Norway’s national election, polls indicate nothing less than what commentators are calling a political thriller. The Labour, Center and Socialist Left parties have lost their majority that seemed so certain since last winter, meaning the country may end up leaning even farther to the left, or keeping the […]
Norwegian Air may cut winter flights
September 1, 2021
Long-troubled Norwegian Air reported another large operating loss this week but also a new plan aimed at keeping it from having to ask shareholders for even more capital. It may anger passengers holding reservations this winter. New CEO Geir Karlsen aims to head off more losses by cutting flights when demand is low. Staffing of […]
Oil tax changes shift exploration risk
September 1, 2021
The Conservatives’ Oil Minister Tina Bru and Finance Minister Jan Tore Sanner surprised just about everyone Tuesday evening, when they proposed some climate-friendly changes in Norway’s tax system for the oil industry. The changes, if approved by Parliament, will leave the industry facing much more of the financial risks involved in oil and gas exploration […]
Afghan evacuation ‘completely over’
August 30, 2021
Norway pulled its last remaining military personnel out of Afghanistan in the early morning hours of Monday. That also brings an end to the chaotic evacuation of both Norwegian and Afghan civilians during the past week, and the closure of Norway’s last remaining military field hospital at the airport in Kabul. A deadly terrorist attack […]
Høie ‘uneasy’ over new Corona record
August 27, 2021
Health Minister Bent Høie now admits to being “uneasy” about the record numbers of new Corona cases being registered in Norway, mostly among young Norwegians who have returned to far more open schools in recent weeks. An additional 1,415 cases of Corona infection were confirmed heading into the weekend, another record high since the pandemic […]
Bombing in Kabul halts evacuations
August 27, 2021
UPDATED: Norway’s military field hospital inside the airport in Kabul was still operating and busy on Friday, after bomb blasts in and around the Afghan capital’s airport area Thursday afternoon. All Norwegian government personnel still in Afghanistan were accounted for, according to Lt Col Ivar Moen at the Norwegian military’s operative headquarters, but evacuation efforts had […]
CURRENCY RATES