Warning against using poisonous chemical in firing range (Aftenposten)

A recent report warns against the use of white phosphorus in ammunition on the new Østlandet Firing Range. The plan is that 4.8 tonnes of phosphorus a year are to be fired there. Most of it will evaporate, but small particles may remain on the ground. Thousands of birds have died on a military firing range in Alaska during the past 20 years because of grenades that contained white phosphorus. Now environmentalists are worried about bird life in Østerdalen. A tenth of a gram of this poisonous chemical is enough to kill a human being.

Gjedrem is asked to exercise control (Dagsavisen)

"The central bank has a mandate that should have enabled it to avoid the latest hike in interest rates," said Dag Terje Andersen (Labour). Mr. Andersen was chairman of the Standing Committee on Finance when the central bank received its new guidelines. He is disappointed about the most recent rise in interest rates, and therefore also about the judgment of central bank governor Svein Gjedrem. "The Storting has made it very clear that the primary goal of monetary policy is to maintain a stable exchange rate in the long term. Controlling inflation is one means of achieving this goal. This means that it is necessary to take the export industry and employment into account when fixing the interest rate," said Mr. Andersen.

Hagen wants public hearing on monetary policy (Verdens Gang)

Carl I. Hagen, Progress Party chairman, wants to invite central bank governor Svein Gjedrem to the Storting for a public hearing on monetary policy. "There he could explain how he interprets, assesses and intends to carry out the mandate he has received, based on current monetary policy. This would give the Storting a basis for judging whether the monetary policy being pursued by the Government is viable," said Mr. Hagen. He will take this up with the chairman of the Standing Committee on Finance after the summer holiday.

No changes in interest rate policy (NTB)

In the view of Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, the time is not ripe to change the monetary policy regulation given to Norges Bank. "The current mandate emphasizes a low inflation rate, and was issued to the bank as recently as under the Stoltenberg Government. We must gain more experience before considering whether we should give Norges Bank a new mandate," said Mr. Bondevik. The PM does not believe that there is any reason to over-dramatize the situation even though Norway’s current interest rate is far higher than that of most of the countries with whom we trade and compete.

Housing Bank is nearly penniless (Klassekampen)

At the beginning of this year the Norwegian State Housing Bank had NOK 13 billion on the books for loans to new housing projects. After six months, there is only NOK 3 billion left. This means that the bank could be penniless by September. The proper cure for this economic crisis is stringent means-testing, which will mean that only a few applications will be approved.

Christian Democrats promise millions of kroner for housing (Dagsavisen)

Yesterday the Christian Democratic Party launched its own report on housing policy, but Minister of Petroleum and Energy Einar Steensnæs, who is also the party’s deputy chairman, cannot guarantee that very many of the suggestions made in the report will actually be implemented. The report is full of pious wishes. "I believe that we must give priority to putting a roof over the heads of the people who are worst off. Increasing housing subsidies by NOK 300 million over the next three years to help people who are homeless and poor, and to make more rental flats available, will be a major priority of the Christian Democratic Party," said Mr. Steensnæs. He expects some housing measures to be proposed in connection with the Government’s plan to combat poverty that will be presented this autumn.

Prepared for a crash (Dagens Næringsliv)

Ole Gunnar Selvaag and the Selvaag Group are expecting the Norwegian housing market to crash. Now the group, one of Norway’s largest house builders, is preparing for a downturn by changing its strategy. The company also changed its tactics before the crash of the 1980s, and successfully survived the crisis. In the view of Mr. Selvaag, several features of the current situation indicate that housing prices have reached an unsustainable level, and housing in areas under pressure is 30 per cent more expensive than it should be.

Salmon has become a cheap meal (Aftenposten)

At the moment prime quality Norwegian salmon is for sale at NOK 19.90 per kilo. Just a few years ago the "swimming gold" was going for almost NOK 100 per kilo. But according to the experts, that era is definitely over. The reason for the drop in price is that countries such as Chile and Scotland are producing large quantities of salmon.

EU is slow to propose a salmon agreement (Aftenposten)

Norway is exerting pressure to obtain the best possible access to the enormous EU market. But the EU is taking its time with Norway. It is unlikely that a new salmon agreement will be in place before late autumn. In the course of July the EU Commission will probably release the names of the Norwegian salmon farmers and exporters who have dumped salmon in the EU.

1. WORTH NOTING:

• The Christian Democratic Party will use its key position to shut the Progress Party out of any government constellation during this Storting term. The Progress Party faces the alternatives of either exerting its influence on a case-by-case basis or total isolation, according to Christian Democratic Party deputy chairman Odd Anders With. (Dagbladet)
• Valgerd Svarstad Haugland, chairman of the Christian Democratic Party and Minister of Culture and Church Affairs, has taken over Lars Sponheim’s role as the person in the Government to be most picked on, in the view of an extremely irritated Kjell Magne Bondevik. The Prime Minister is now defending Ms. Haugland with unusual fervour, and says that he has had several talks with her recently. (Dagbladet)
• Telenor CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas is not seeking a Nordic telecommunications partner at the moment, and analysts approve. In their view, it would be better if Telenor sold off its interests in European mobile telephone companies. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• The falling stock market in the USA is making matters worse for small-time savers in Norway. In the past year alone, the returns on so-called "safe" unit trusts have dropped by 30 per cent. Recent statistics show that most Norwegians have lost confidence in unit trusts. (Dagsavisen)
• Yesterday the most powerful UV radiation so far this year was measured by the Norwegian Institute for Air Research. Rain is predicted this weekend, which means that the radiation level will drop. (Dagsavisen)
• Although the wolf population in Norway has been halved, four times as many sheep have been killed so far this year as during the first half of last year. "We are a little uncertain as to how many wolves are out there," said an expert on predators. The last time wolves killed this many sheep was in 1999. (Aftenposten)

TODAY’S COMMENT from Dagbladet:

Of course the Nasjonalgalleriet should be free. And so should other national museums that are responsible for our common cultural heritage. The state should be generous enough to finance both purchases of objects and maintenance of these institutions. This would have been a policy worthy of a nation proud of its culture. But such is not the case, and the debate that has been sparked by an exchange of letters between three of the museums on Bygdøy and several ministries is actually about whether the Fram Museum, the Kon-Tiki Museum and the Norwegian Maritime Museum, on the one hand, and the Nasjonalgalleriet, on the other, should receive equal treatment. The three first museums mentioned have to charge an entrance fee, while the Nasjonalgalleriet is free. This results in unequal competition. We believe that the three museums should simply accept this inequality. In any case, the answer is not that Nasjonalgalleriet should begin to charge an entrance fee. We should perhaps view the situation from another angle: the more visitors one museum has, the more visitors the others will have, if the exhibitions are worth seeing.