Yet another candidate challenges Giske (Aftenposten)

None of the other candidates has backed out of the race since Trond Giske announced that he would accept the nomination to the position of deputy chairman of the Labour Party. Instead, Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen, chairman of the Municipal Council in Bergen, has now entered the race as the seventh candidate. "We have nominated her to the Central Executive Committee. If the election committee asks her to run for deputy chairman of the party, we will support her," said Hordaland County chairman Ranveig Frøland. Several county branches insist that if Jens Stoltenberg is appointed chairman and Martin Kolberg secretary, then the two deputy chairmen must be women. Current deputy chairman Hill-Marta Solberg has also announced that she will run for re-election.

Stoltenberg will not promise to stay away from Christian Democrats (Dagsavisen)

The Norwegian Labour Youth League wants Jens Stoltenberg to promise that he will not form a coalition government with the Christian Democratic Party. But the prospective Labour Party chairman is not giving any guarantees. "Now it looks like the Christian Democrats have already chosen sides for this Storting session, and that’s the problem. In many ways the Christian Democratic Party has a lot in common with us. Among other things, we hold the same views on the environment and the public sector," said Mr. Stoltenberg at the Labour Youth League summer camp at Utøya yesterday.

Nine hundred crimes a day (Dagsavisen)

An average of one criminal act every other minute was reported in Norway during the first half of this year. According to the statistics, ten per cent more crimes are being committed this year than last year. Crimes of gain are still in the majority, but economic crimes and serious narcotics offences are increasing most. What is most worrying to Acting Director-General for the Police Odd Berner Malme is that the police are unable to reverse the trend towards serious crime. "I am not surprised at any of the statistics for the first half of the year. What worries us most is that there is a steady increase in the most serious cases although we have worked very hard to reverse this trend, for example by introducing preventive measures and amending legislation," he said.

Dangerous workplaces closed down (Aftenposten)

An increasing number of workplaces are being closed down by the Directorate of Labour Inspection due to poor safety measures. There are four times as many interventions now as there were five years ago, and three out of four inspections reveal faulty safety measures. This state of affairs can be blamed to a large degree on the hectic building activity going on in Oslo and Akershus. Last year alone the Directorate of Labour Inspection had to shut down 656 workplaces. Nine inspections resulted in the firm being reported to the police.

Minister of Justice intervened in bullet-proof vest issue (Verdens Gang)

Yesterday Minister of Justice Odd Einar Dørum intervened personally in the issue of bullet-proof vests for police officers. Mr. Dørum has demanded precise information as to how much the bullet-proof vests are designed to withstand. "The Norwegian Police Directorate has informed me that the vests were in any case scheduled to be tested before November, and that this could be done in August at the earliest. So I expect it to be done in August," said Mr. Dørum.

Cross-border trade on the rise (Nationen)

Preliminary estimates indicate that cross-border trade has increased by around 30 per cent during the first half of this year compared with the same period last year. If this trend continues, annual growth will be from one to two billion kroner. The strong Norwegian krone is one factor that is contributing to this marked increase. Nordea Bank in Halden, near the Swedish border, has registered an increase of 18.6 per cent in cash transactions so far this year. However, the bank’s statistics do not include the use of credit cards or currency exchange before people travel to Sweden.

Summer storm causes heavy damage (Dagbladet)

Yesterday’s storm was a summer nightmare for the insurance companies. Their telephone lines were jammed with calls from unhappy people all over the country who were reporting serious damage caused by lightning and flooding. By yesterday evening Vesta Insurance Company had registered around 200 cases of water damage and around 500 incidences of damage to electronic equipment. Yesterday If Insurance Company registered 300 cases of damage due to weather conditions the night before last.

Gjedrem under pressure (Dagens Næringsliv)

Key economists are calling for a debate on guidelines for Norges Bank’s interest rate policy. Most of them believe that Governor of Norges Bank Svein Gjedrem should not focus exclusively on inflation for the next two years when fixing interest rates. Several economists are calling for new or adjusted guidelines. In the view of chief economist Knut Anton Mork of Handelsbanken, Norges Bank’s current mandate is self-contradictory. "The main goal is establishing a stable exchange rate, but the operative goal is controlling inflation. I see a need to clarify the relationship between these two goals. This must be done by the Government and the Storting," said Mr. Mork.

Norway under pressure to sell billions of kroner worth of gas (Dagens Næringsliv)

Statoil and Norsk Hydro must sell 15 billion cubic metres of gas to new EU customers by 2005. If Norway makes this guarantee, the gas conflict with the EU Commission will be brought to an end. The companies have been accused of illegal collaboration on prices. A total of 30 companies that have sold gas from the Norwegian continental shelf will conclude agreements with the EU Commission.

Worth noting

• The Norwegian Labour Youth League gave its full support to Trond Giske’s candidature for the position of deputy chairman of the party at its summer camp at Utøya yesterday, while it was more critical towards Jens Stoltenberg. The youth organization disapproves of Mr. Stoltenberg’s pandering to the Christian Democrats and demands better environmental policies. (Aftenposten)
• Trond Giske will have to fight his way into the position of deputy chairman of the Labour Party. The arguments in favour of the other candidates have one thing in common: they differ in every conceivable respect. (Verdens Gang)
• Minister of Justice Odd Einar Dørum (Liberal) made no explicit promises yesterday as to the content of a draft bill regulating dog ownership when he met with parents of children who have been killed or injured by dogs. (Aftenposten)
• Some celebrities have been assigned aliases in hospital journals to prevent employees from sneaking a peek at their private information and leaking it to the media. (Verdens Gang)
• Minister of Justice Odd Einar Dørum believes that the current rate of clearing up rape cases is too low. However, he has not presented any specific measures designed to improve the rate other than "building competence". (Dagsavisen)
• A new survey reveals that Norwegian auto parts are by far the most expensive in Europe. They are 55 per cent more expensive in Norway than in Germany. (Aftenposten)
• This autumn MP Åslaug Haga (Centre) will submit a proposal to the Storting that recommends providing free fruit and vegetables to all children attending primary school. The price tag: NOK 315 million. (Dagbladet)
• A lack of consistency and clarity has been very destructive for the Centre Party, according to party ideologist John Dale. (Klassekampen)
• Kjell Inge Røkke says that bringing his companies back to Norway from their tax havens is not as dramatic as it may seem. The billionaire pointed out that his activities abroad have been subject to taxation in Norway since 2000. (Aftenposten)
• The combination of enormous amounts of precipitation recently and large power reserves means that the price of electricity is on its way down. (Nationen)

Today’s comment from Vårt Land:

Trond Giske has announced that he is a candidate for the position of deputy chairman of the Labour Party. But he is not content to merely put himself at the party’s disposal. He is also presenting a plan for his role as part of the party leadership. Mr. Giske wants the Labour Party to have a more visibly radical profile, and a more definite environmental profile. He wants to give priority to forming a government together with the Socialist Left and Liberal parties, and does not intend to wait for the Christian Democrats to break away from the Conservatives. Mr. Giske is thus helping to turn the choice of a deputy chairman into a choice of the future political direction of the party. This will be interesting.