Police slow to investigate violent crime (Aftenposten)

The public demands that the police take crimes of violence seriously. Nevertheless, the country’s police forces are astonishingly ineffective when it comes to solving violent crime. Recent statistics from the Police Directorate show that the time taken to investigate crimes involving assault and battery averages 161 days, an increase of 21 days compared with the first six months of last year. The police have now been ordered to shape up. "We have sent a letter to Chief Constables and public prosecutors in which we express our concern," said Hans-Petter Jahre, Deputy Director General of Public Prosecutions.

Norad slammed by Auditor General (Nationen)

According to the Office of the Auditor General, Norad has handed out development assistance cash in violation of existing regulations. Millions of kroner have been paid out without formal agreements about how the money is to be used. The Auditor General’s criticism of Norad’s management of grants to voluntary organizations is harsh, and the Storting will be informed of the situation. "Norad has paid out money in direct contravention of the regulations. This should not have happened," admits the Foreign Ministry. The Ministry declined to say whether Norad’s violations of the regulations governing the payment of development assistance grants will have any repercussions.

Longva wants euro to replace Norwegian krone (Aftenposten)

Svein Longva, head of Statistics Norway, believes the strength of the Norwegian krone could force a large part of the country’s industry to the wall. Mr Longva describes the reduction in the size of the industrial sector as dramatic, and says a radical change in Norway’s economic policy could be needed. He wants a debate on the pros and cons of replacing the Norwegian krone with the euro. Mr Longva claims that Norway is on the road towards having an industrial sector that is far too small. The reason is the strong and "ungovernable" Norwegian currency, which has sharply weakened industrial profitability. Mr Longva’s alternative is to adopt the euro as Norway’s currency instead of the krone – if it is practically possible.

Coalition ups its offer to Progress Party (Dagbladet/Sunday)

Almost NOK 100 million for road-building projects and more money for married pensioners, these were among the most important items which the ruling coalition parties brought to the table when they sat down with the Progress Party on Friday. In total the coalition’s concessions now amount to some NOK 1.5 billion. This means that the coalition’s chief negotiator, Jan Tore Sanner (Con), has been given NOK 650 million more to play with than in the first round of negotiations. But it is still not enough for the Progress Party. However, Siv Jensen was in a generous mood yesterday afternoon, and granted the Conservatives, Christian Democrats and Liberals a pause for more thought.

Backlog of rejected asylum seekers (Verdens Gang)

Three times as many asylum seekers arrive in Norway each month as the police are able to deport. Most of them have their applications for asylum rejected, but remain in Norway for months, and even years, because the authorities do not have the resources to send them home. There is a growing backlog of rejected asylum seekers. 2,300 people are now waiting to be sent home, the Immigration Directorate (UDI) expects the backlog to have risen to 4,000-5,000 by next year.

Defence bosses in the dark about cluster bombs (Aftenposten/Saturday)

Neither Defence Minister Kristin Krohn Devold (Con) nor the Chief of Defence Staff, Lt Gen Sigurd Frisvold, knew that cluster bombs had been dropped over the Hjerkinn firing range on 7 October. This is not the first time that Ms Krohn Devold has been forced to admit that her Ministry did not know what the Armed Forces had been up to. The opposition parties are furious over the Minister’s lack of oversight. The Armed Forces published a press release on the cluster bombing at Hjerkinn on 11 October. But no one in the Defence Ministry or the Armed Forces leadership actually read it.

Hagen defends Defence Minister (Dagsavisen)

Unless Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik himself decides to replace Defence Minister Kristin Krohn Devold, she will probably keep her job. The reason is that Progress Party chairman Carl I. Hagen is satisfied with her handling of the cluster bomb affair. This means there is no majority in the Storting in favour of her resignation – even though the Socialist Left Party, Centre Party and Labour Party have all expressed severe criticism of the Defence Minister’s handling of the cluster bomb affair.

Norwegian homes an explosion hazard (Dagsavisen/Sunday)

A fire service collection scheme has revealed that Norwegian homes are full of dynamite, ammunition and detonator caps. The collection scheme, organized by the Oslo, Romerike, and Asker and Bærum fire services, got underway on 14 October. Since then they have been contacted by more than 150 people who have reported explosives – sometimes in large quantities – stored in their homes.

Half the staff to go from public management body (Dagens Næringsliv)

The Directorate of Public Management is not exempting itself from the Government’s efforts to modernize the public sector. Jon Blaalid, head of the Directorate, has now announced plans to axe a large part of his own staff. In a letter to Labour and Government Administration Minister Victor D. Norman, Mr Blaalid has proposed cutting the number of civil servants at the Directorate from 160 to 80. However, Mr Blaalid does feel that half of the Directorate can defend its position in Mr Norman’s modern civil service. The half-size Directorate of Public Management will provide consultancy services to the Labour and Government Administration Ministry (AAD) and other government ministries – coordinated through the AAD.

1. Worth Noting

• The arrival of 600 new members in just one week has provoked a feeling of elation tinged with apprehension in the Progress Party. The party now wants to protect itself against people who think they can use their membership to secure a high-speed political career.
  (Dagbladet/Saturday)
• Children and Family Affairs Minister Laila Dåvøy is preparing to ban direct advertising aimed at children, and tighten up the law on marketing. "I personally would like to find good measures to reduce the commercial pressure on children," she said.
  (Vårt Land)
• Cluster bombs are standard armaments in the Norwegian armed forces. As recently as this autumn, Norwegian soldiers have tested cluster bombs – not dropped from aircraft, but fired from ordinary artillery pieces – at the Hjerkinn firing range.
  (Dagsavisen/Saturday)
• The number of robberies committed by children has skyrocketed in the past year. Nevertheless, the police think that we have only seen the tip of the iceberg. Every day Oslo’s police stations receive information about children who extort, threaten, rob and commit violent acts on other children. The motive is often to acquire status-giving accoutrements like mobile phones and designer clothes.
  (Dagbladet)
• The ruling coalition parties are facing demands to reintroduce dividend tax if they invite the Labour Party’s Jens Stoltenberg to participate in budget negotiations.
  (Dagens Næringsliv/Saturday)
• On Thursday, the national conference of the Norwegian Civil Service Union (NTL) will tell Gerd-Liv Valla, president of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), that she should not allow herself to elected onto the Labour Party’s central committee. The NTL’s leadership wishes to maintain the cooperation committee between the LO and the Labour Party, but feels that the form of the collaboration between the two organizations should be brought up to date.
  (Dagsavisen)
• Old people living in nursing homes are becoming increasingly frail, but are receiving less and less medical attention. The chief county medical officers’ inspections of 31 Norwegian nursing homes so far this year show that one in three does not provide its residents with satisfactory medical care.
  (Dagbladet)
• Inmates of Norwegian prisons who receive a visit from their lawyer, are routinely required to strip naked and be searched by prison officers afterwards. This stricter control comes as a result of the Storting’s signals to maximize efforts to combat drug-use behind bars.
  (Aftenposten/Sunday)
• Seven out of ten people are in favour of voluntary euthanasia, according to a poll by MMI. Nevertheless, Norwegian politicians are refusing to legalize voluntary euthanasia. A large section of the voters of all parties are in favour, with the exception of the Christian Democrats.
  (Dagbladet)
• 20 deaths and 90 serious injuries on the roads could be avoided every year with safer new cars. The Directorate of Public Roads has now decided that it should be compulsory for all new cars to include a safety rating in connection with marketing and sales campaigns.
  (Aftenposten/Saturday)

2. Today’s comment from Dagsavisen

As Defence Minister, the Conservatives’ Kristin Krohn Devold has not got the hang of the job. On security policy issues she stands out as an enthusiastic supporter of the Bush administration’s trigger-happy global policeman. On security policy issues it is the Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister’s office which have the final say. On the other hand, when it comes to the Armed Forces’ domestic tasks, it is the Defence Minister, and no other, who bears the political responsibility. This means that she must make sure that she is at all times fully briefed on what is happening in the Armed Forces. Unfortunately, there are strong indications that she is failing to do so. The Defence Minister’s list of gaffes has grown long in a short space of time. However, none of her previous blunders can match the cluster bomb scandal. The news that such bombs are being dropped from the air over Hjerkinn, and that similar armaments are fired from the ground has, naturally enough, come as a complete bombshell to politicians. It is beyond all reason that Norway – which is at the forefront of international efforts to ban all use of cluster bombs – should allow such weapons to be used in this country during Nato and other training exercises. The Defence Minister was once again not informed about what had happened. But that is still not an acceptable excuse. Today, the Armed Forces’ report on the cluster bomb affair is due to be released. It will have to be good. If not, the Defence Minister could become the first minister in Kjell Magne Bondevik’s second coalition government to be relieved of her portfolio.