Public prosecutor blocked Krekar arrest (Aftenposten)

Chief Public Prosecutor Lasse Qvigstad refused to allow the Police Security Service (PST) to arrest Mullah Krekar when he landed at Gardermoen Airport on Monday evening. From what Aftenposten is given to understand, Mr Qvigstad felt the police would have suffered a crushing defeat in the courts if they had attempted to have him remanded in custody. In a letter sent to the PST, Mr Qvigstad made it clear that it is not illegal under Norwegian law for a person to train or lead a violent resistance effort in his or her own country, which was the charge brought against Mullah Krekar under Section 104 of the Penal Code. The Section was originally included in the legislation to halt the activities of underground communist organizations which posed a security threat in post-war Norway. It has later been used against suspected neo-Nazis.

Krekar: I have concealed nothing (Dagbladet)

Mullah Krekar says that he has kept the police informed of his activities on an ongoing basis since he came to Norway as a quota refugee in 1991. Krekar cannot understand why the Norwegian authorities waited until last year before charging him and threatening to expel him from the country for activities he has been telling the police about for the past ten years. Krekar is still facing a request for extradition from Jordan to face drug charges. It was this request which should have been heard in the Netherlands, but the Minister of Justice decided to halt the process because the Jordanian authorities refused to hand over all the details of the case.

Mullah Krekar could stay in Norway for years (Dagsavisen)

Even though the Norwegian authorities want to expel Mullah Krekar, it is far from certain that they will get their way. It will, in any case, take years before all his appeal possibilities are exhausted and an expulsion order can be legally executed. "I am not afraid of being expelled from Norway," Mullah Krekar told the Norwegian media yesterday. He could be right. There are many reasons why Krekar could be allowed to stay for a long time in Norway. The Jordanian extradition request is incomplete. Chief Public Prosecutor Lasse Qvigstad doubts whether Krekar has broken the law in Norway. Krekar’s lawyer will appeal against any expulsion order right the way up to the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. And if Krekar should nevertheless be expelled, there is no country to expel him to.

Possible tax breaks for cyclists (Aftenposten)

The Government is planning to publish a "National Cycling Strategy" this spring. A group under the aegis of the Directorate of Public Roads has therefore been asked to find out what would make people cycle more and come up with proposals for specific measures. If the Directorate’s expert panel has its way we could see the introduction of tax breaks for people who cycle to work and a mileage allowance from the first metre. Another suggestion is to exempt bicycles and bicycle services from VAT. Today you do not have to pay VAT on a used car, but you do on a used bicycle.

Court order could halt gas-fired power stations (Dagsavisen)

An application to proceed with a temporary gas-fired power station with seven gas turbines landed on the desks of officials at the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority (SFT) and the Norwegian Water Resource and Energy Administration (NVE) on Monday. The Government is now planning to ensure the fastest ever evaluation process so that the applications can be approved by the end of the week. The gas-fired power station could therefore go into operation sometime in February. However, the environmental foundation Bellona is threatening to seek an injunction from the Court of Execution and Enforcement if the normal evaluation procedure is set aside.

Statoil shelves plans for merger with Norsk Hydro (Dagens Næringsliv)

Statoil’s chief executive Olav Fjell has shelved plans for a merger with Norsk Hydro, following a thorough evaluation of the pros and cons. The reason is very simple – Norsk Hydro does not want to merge. "Our evaluation is that a merger is not realistic at this time. But that does not mean that we have shut the book on it for ever," said Mr Fjell yesterday.

20 per cent price hike now unlikely (Aftenposten)

The price of electricity was supposed to have risen by up to 20 per cent next week. But the many thousands of electricity customers supplied by Oslo Energi, Tindra and NorgesEnergi will now probably not be facing a price hike of that size. Hafslund, which owns the three electricity supply companies, has said it will be evaluating the situation during the period up to the day on which the price rise was due to come into effect. "If the price stays where it is now, it will have an impact on our notified price rise," said Frode Geirvik, head of corporate communications at the Hafslund group.

Women attack male industrial workers’ dominance in wage negotiations (Aftenposten)

Women in the public sector are fed up with the framework for the year’s wage negotiations being set by those in the industrial sector. And in return for following up Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik’s call for moderate wage settlements this year, they are demanding that women workers will not end up with the short end of the stick. "This year’s settlement will just be an adjustment of last year’s main two-year agreement, and it should be obvious to everyone that there is no more to be squeezed out it," said Jens Petter Jensen, deputy leader of the Norwegian United Federation of Trade Unions, the country’s largest industrial trade union.

Worth Noting

• According to Local Government and Regional Affairs Minister Erna Solberg, it is too early to say whether Mullah Krekar will be expelled from Norway. "Expel? Where is she going to expel me to? asks Krekar. "In that case she will have to ask the UN to take me back. And then the UN can send me wherever they want – to Burkina Faso or Greenland!"
  (Aftenposten)
• Ågot Valla, chairwoman of the Storting’s Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs Committee, took sick leave on Monday. The Socialist Left Party MP is emotionally exhausted following the pressure and criticism she has received since the suicide of former Health Minister Tore Tønne.
  (Verdens Gang)
• Leading women politicians from the Christian Democratic Party, Centre Party and Conservative Party are in agreement; the introduction of a new pension scheme should not make women worse off – it should do the opposite in fact. They will work together across party lines to bring this about.
  (Aftenposten)
• Norwegian 15-year-olds read less and borrow fewer books than their peers in the majority of other OECD countries. Boys in particular are poor readers, and the consequences are dramatic. Education Minister Kristin Clemet is planning to spend at least NOK 20 million on improving Norwegian boys’ reading skills.
  (Aftenposten)
• More than 60,000 jobs could be at risk if the scheme under which companies in outlying areas are allowed to pay a lower employers’ national insurance contribution is abolished, according to recent calculations. During the next few months the Norwegian authorities will discuss the future of the country’s differentiated employers’ national insurance contribution scheme with the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA).
  (Nationen)
• The Ministry of Finance has given the go-ahead: the Government Petroleum Fund can continue to invest in nuclear weapons. The Fund has invested almost NOK 309 million in companies which produce nuclear weapons.
  (Dagsavisen)
• Nordlandbanken’s last-ditch attempt to raise new local capital failed last night. By today Den norske Bank (DnB) will probably have claimed victory. The local rescue attempt had hoped to raise NOK 500 million, but when the money was totted up in Bodø yesterday the calculators showed only NOK 170 million in the kitty.
  (Aftenposten)
• During the past five years the number of Norwegian couples getting married abroad has risen by over 30 per cent. The number of couples getting married abroad fell only in 2001, a year badly affected by the impact of the terrorist attacks on the USA.
  (Vårt Land)
• Large sections of the northwest coastline were brought to a standstill by the storm, code-named "Agda". High-speed and ordinary ferry boats stayed in port, whole areas were without power and tiles were blown off roofs. The storm abated somewhat yesterday afternoon, but the wind is expected to strengthen again later today and more bad weather is forecast for the weekend. Extraordinarily heavy rain can be expected in Bergen.
  (Dagsavisen)

Today’s comment from Dagbladet

On Monday Mullah Krekar arrived unexpectedly at Gardermoen Airport. Neither the Norwegian authorities nor his lawyer were prepared for his release from prison in the Netherlands, where he had been held on remand since 13 September. Krekar is alleged to have been the leader of the militant guerrilla group Ansar al-Islam in northern Iraq. Jordan had requested his extradition to face drugs charges, but the Dutch authorities dismissed the request as being without foundation. Now they have sent him to Norway, where he arrived as a quota refugee in 1991 and where his family is living. There are strong indications that Krekar has violated the rules of asylum, and if he has been fighting a military campaign in his homeland under cover of his status as a refugee in Norway, he should probably be expelled. But on the other hand he has his family here in Norway, and the rule of law also applies to mullahs. For this reason we do not support the baying voices demanding that he should be expelled immediately, preferring to await the outcome of a thorough evaluation of his case.