Strike stops 130 newspapers (Nettavisen)

Arbitration efforts were unsuccessful and almost 3,300 journalists are now on strike. Verdens Gang, Dagbladet and Aftenposten are among those affected, in addition to a number of web-based news sites. State Mediator Geir Engebretsen announced at 02.00 that there was no basis for an outline solution because the two sides were still too far apart. At 02.30 the central board of the Norwegian Union of Journalists called their members out on strike, reported NTB. Newspapers will be published as normal today, but the full force of the journalists’ strike action will be felt tomorrow. In a press release issued early on Wednesday morning, the Norwegian Union of Journalists said the strike was due to the employers’ rejection of journalists’ demands for an additional week’s holiday.

Snow White snafu? (Dagbladet)

The Government found a way to rescue the Snow White gas field, which lies off the coast of Hammerfest. But the decision could have repercussions for other aid schemes for North Troms and Finnmark. Bellona had complained to the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) because the Government and the Storting had given the developers of the Snow White field particularly advantageous tax breaks – forcing the Government had to come up with a solution fast. On Monday the Government decided to limit the tax incentives to gas (LNG) cooling plants in Finnmark and four local authorities in North Troms. The Government’s emergency solution will probably be approved by the ESA tomorrow. The new tax scheme must be seen as a regional policy measure. And that is not necessarily good news for Finnmark or North Troms.

Jagland pulls out of Labour dialogue (Aftenposten)

Thorbjørn Jagland is to abdicate from yet another leading position within the Labour Party, the Dialogue Forum – a long-range thinktank that was created when Mr Jagland still had ambitions to become party leader. Jens Stoltenberg will take over from Mr Jagland as leader of this group. Mr Stoltenberg is also chairman of the party’s manifesto committee. Mr Jagland maintains that the new party leader should be the one to present the party’s policies at this autumn’s annual conference. "A new situation has arisen after we established the two working groups. I think it is only right to accept the consequences of that change," he said.

Searching for skeletons at Storebrand (Dagens Næringsliv)

A merger between Den norske Bank and Storebrand will mean the end for Finansbanken, which has the Norwegian record for bad debts. DnB will comb the bank’s lending portfolio in search of potential bombshells. Finansbanken manages around NOK 20 billion for wealthy private individuals and business customers. The rest of Storebrand’s business activities will also be put under the microscope.

Tough times for IT Fornebu (Aftenposten)

IT Fornebu doubts its own ability to succeed. In a report to the Ministry the company writes that it will not be possible to know whether the project has been a success for another ten years. IT Fornebu had ambitions to become "Europe’s leading knowledge centre" by 2005. But that ambition has been radically reduced since MPs clashed over the IT Fornebu’s creation almost two years ago. A parliamentary majority made up of Labour and Progress Party MPs felt it was decisive to give the IT centre sufficient financial and physical weight to compete with Øresund, and Kista in Sweden, and other business parks in Europe.

Strike and legal action ahead (Dagsavisen)

Employees at Braathens will take legal action in their fight against the company’s decision to axe 1,040 jobs. At the same time the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) has announced plans for a political strike. Union representatives from all over the country assembled yesterday at Gardermoen to discuss the dramatic situation which has followed the decision by Braathens’ board and Corporate Assembly to close the company’s ground services operations on 1 September this year. From that date ground services will be provided by SAS-owned SGS. Union representatives at Braathens will ask the court to rule on whether the move in reality involves the transfer of a business from one owner to another and is not an exercise in "outsourcing" as Braathens’ management has claimed. The legal definition is important because it affects employees’ rights under the Working Environment Act.

SAS ready to give up bonus points on domestic flights? (Dagbladet)

Dagbladet has reason to believe that SAS is no longer demanding a court ruling on the issue of bonus points on Norwegian domestic flights. The scheme could therefore come to an end on 1 July. From this date passengers will not earn bonus points on Braathens flights either. The squeeze that has been put on Braathens employees over the past two months has made it politically impossible for a parliamentary majority to reverse the Norwegian Competition Authority’s decision to ban bonus points schemes on Norwegian domestic flights.

No time for the kids (Dagsavisen)

The additional cash benefit for children under three costs NOK 3 billion, but has not given children more time with their parents, according to the most wide-ranging survey of the scheme carried out so far. 50,000 mothers took part in the survey which shows that mothers work only four per cent less and fathers work as much as before. When the additional cash benefit was introduced in 1998 the main aim of then Children and Family Affairs Minister Valgerd Svarstad Haugland was to give more parents the opportunity to stay at home with their children. Since there is a clear political majority in the Storting to retain the scheme, Labour’s family policy spokesman, Trond Giske, will fight to change the rules so that only those parents who actually stay at home with their children are entitled to the benefit. According to current Children and Family Affairs Minister Laila Dåvøy (Chr.Dem) that would be "out of the question". However, she admits that there is really no freedom to choose between staying at home or using a nursery as long as there are not enough nursery places for all who want them.

Satisfied with handling of Juul affair (Dagsavisen)

The Storting’s Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs Committee is satisfied with the way the Foreign Ministry handled the disciplinary case against Norway’s Ambassador to Israel, Mona Juul. Progress Party chairman Carl I. Hagen complained that the written reprimand issued to Ms Juul was far too mild a reaction. However, he got no backing from the other parties in his demand for an investigation into whether Thorbjørn Jagland had acted improperly when he, as Foreign Minister, appointed Ms Juul as Ambassador to Israel. Law professor Eivind Smith has previously said it was wrong of Mr Jagland not to consider the issue of his own impartiality in connection with the appointment.

1 Worth Noting

1. Last year the Norwegian state had to fork out a total of NOK 5.5 billion to take in asylum seekers, put them up at reception centres, deport those whose applications were turned down and resettle those who were granted asylum. A total of 14,782 asylum seekers arrived in Norway last year. 4,328 were allowed to stay. (Aftenposten)
2. 10,000 jobs have disappeared in the banking and insurance sector since 1991. Employees at DnB/Storebrand are now afraid that a merger between the two companies could lead to a further 1,000 job losses. (Dagsavisen)
3. Union representatives at DnB and Storebrand blocked plans to present a final merger agreement before the Oslo Stock Exchange opened for business yesterday. "We needed to know more about the consequences for employees," said senior union representative at DnB, Per Hoffmann. (Dagens Næringsliv)
4. The Storting has decided to postpone a decision on Norway’s adoption of the EU’s gas directive until the autumn. In a letter to the Storting’s Energy and Environment Committee, Petroleum and Energy Minister Einar Steensnæs has refused to consider potential annual losses in the billion kroner class. "This could mean annual transfers of at least NOK 10 billion from Norway as a gas producer to the EU, without the Government even taking the trouble to consider the problem," said Hallgeir Langeland (Socialist Left), who is responsible for piloting the issue through the committee stage. (Nationen)
5. The Government will decide the future of the Airport Express Train on Thursday, with ministers on course for a head-on collision. Some ministers want to sell off the business or give it complete autonomy, while others want to hand it over to NSB – the state-owned railway company. (Aftenposten)
6. Borrowers who signed fixed-interest agreements on their mortgages four years ago have saved around NOK 48,000 on the deal. But now the gains are getting smaller. The banks have beaten their savvy customers to it and have already put up their fixed interest rates. (Aftenposten)
7. So far this year 21 people have been murdered. The figure for the whole of last year was 37. The National Bureau of Crime Investigation has decided to launch an investigation into the wave of murders to see if it can find any common characteristics. Access to weapons, an increase in the number of apparently random killings and unfathomable motives, as well as drug-related issues are to be included in the analysis. (Verdens Gang)
8. Finn Wagle, Bishop of Nidaros has been chosen as the new Preses, chairman of the Church of Norway’s Bishops’ Conference. He takes over from Odd Bondevik, Bishop of Møre. (Vårt Land)
9. Queen Sonja and the artist Ønulf Opdahl have collaborated on a book about the mountains of Sunnmøre, to be published next month. The book is filled with the Queen’s own writings and photographs, as well as watercolours by Opdahl. (Vårt Land)
10. According to the advertising slogan it is "lovely" to be a Norwegian in Denmark. And it is getting lovelier by the day. For the first time since the end of the 1980s Norwegians were yesterday able to buy DEK 100 for less than NOK 100. The record exchange rate of NOK 99.56 for DEK 100 coincided with a new Norwegian record against the US dollar. (NTB)

2 Today’s comment from Dagbladet

Seating at the historic meeting of the Nato Russia Council, attended by 20 heads of government and held outside Rome yesterday, was strictly alphabetical. President Vladimir Putin therefore found Russia’s place at the pale blue table located between Portugal on the one side and Spain on the other. Nato was created in 1949 as a military and security policy instrument to block any further expansion of Soviet influence. During the Korean war, the Berlin blockade, the Cuba crisis, the Prague spring, the Vietnam war, Yom Kippur and the invasion of Afghanistan the opponents stood on the nuclear brink. The cold war was a monster which threatened humanity with unimaginable disaster that would have killed hundreds of millions of people and left the survivors envying the dead. The terrorist attacks of September 11 pale by comparison. The agreement which was signed yesterday ties Russia closer to Nato and gives the country a measure of influence. It is a welcome victory for common sense.