A polar bear and four wolves, officially listed as protected species in Norway, were all shot to death on New Year’s Day. The polar bear made the mistake of refusing to wander out of the main settlement on Svalbard, while the wolves were killed by hunters as soon as they received controversial permission to all but […]
North Cape finally freed for visitors
December 21, 2019
Norwegians and tourists alike have received a surprise Christmas gift, after the county governor of Troms og Finnmark decided that hotel and real estate company Scandic can no longer charge admission fees to Norway’s famed North Cape plateau. The ruling overrides an earlier agreement between Scandic and the local municipal council. High admission fees to […]
More oil found as anti-oil trial begins
November 7, 2019
Norwegian state oil company Equinor seems to believe that the best defense is a good offense. Not only did it announce a large discovery of more oil this week, it also launched a major public relations campaign, just as climate and environmental activists were taking the state to court again in an effort to halt […]
Svalbard seed vault wins more acclaim
October 10, 2019
The international seed vault that Norway administers on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen in Svalbard has been ranked among the world’s most influential projects during the past 50 years. That puts it on par with the Apollo 11 moon landing, bitcoins and Harry Potter. The vault landed on a list compiled by the Project Management […]
Norwegian vessel sails to North Pole
August 21, 2019
Norway’s polar exploration heroes Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen never managed to sail all the the way to the North Pole, but a vessel from the country’s coast guard finally did on Wednesday. The ship’s captain and an Arctic researcher planted flags on the North Pole at exactly 9:32am. “It all went much faster than […]
Russia posts missiles near the border
August 8, 2019
Russian officials have disclosed that they’ve moved a coastal missile system to a new location on Russia’s Sredny Peninsula in the far north. The new location is so close to Norway that it can be seen on clear days from Vardø, the northeastern Norwegian town that’s also home to a controversial radar and surveillance system […]
Norway braced for Russian exercises
August 6, 2019
The Russian Navy is expected to launch “unusually high activity” off the coast of Northern Norway next week, after announcing more military training exercises in the Norwegian Sea. Three US surveillance aircraft have joined Norway in efforts to keep an eye on the Russians. “A large number of naval vessels are on their way from […]
Calls roll in for a train line to Tromsø
July 30, 2019
Norway’s Socialist Left party (SV) is calling “all aboard” for its proposal to build a long-sought train line to Tromsø in Northern Norway. The country’s train service currently terminates in Bodø, but the state railroad directorate has just concluded a study on extending it to Tromsø via Narvik. Called Nord-Norgebanen (NNB), the train line would […]
White whale’s fate subject to debate
July 21, 2019
The tame white whale known as Hvaldimir disappeared from his refuge in Hammerfest late last week, only to resurface Sunday near Alta, more than 50 kilometers away. Debate flew during the weekend over whether he should be escorted back to Hammerfest and cared for by researchers and minders, or allowed to chart his own course. […]
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