Stoltenberg attacks Hagen (Dagsavisen)

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has attacked Carl I. Hagen and Carl I. Hagen has attacked Jens Stoltenberg. The conflict within the Progress Party has now crossed party lines. "Mr Hagen’s behaviour demonstrates an extreme lack of party democracy," says the Prime Minister. "The Prime Minister is just trying to cover up his own total lack of leadership – a leadership that has cost Telenor several billion kroner and led to a permanent crisis in the health sector," replies Mr Hagen.

Brokers conned everyone (Dagbladet/Dagens Næringsliv)

As part of a ruthless battle for several billion kroner in profits, the leading stock brokers used every trick in the book to push Telenor’s stock. In what looks like developing into a major scandal, the losers are both large and small investors who feel duped. The underwriters are accused of bluffing about the tremendous demand for Telenor shares, which led Norwegian investors to oversubscribe by significant amounts. When the share price fell on the first day of trading the underwriters, Goldman Sachs and DnB, bought up excess shares at falling prices, giving a profit of around NOK 100 million.

Boycott NSB (Dagsavisen)

The Consumer Council has protested, the head of the Directorate of Public Roads has said he does not like it and ordinary passengers simply shake their heads in resignation. Despite major delays the national railway company NSB is to increase its fares by six per cent from January. The price rise is largest for those who commute the farthest. A monthly season ticket from Lillehammer to Oslo will cost 27 per cent more.

Government protests against NSB’s prices (Aftenposten)

The price hike announced by national railway company NSB has not been approved by Transport Minister Terje Moe Gustavsen, as claimed by NSB yesterday. The Transport Ministry is angry that NSB chose to announce the new fares before negotiations with the ministry had been concluded. However, it is uncertain whether the ministry will intervene. Acting chief executive Arne Wam says he should have made sure the ministry did not have any objections before he published the fare rises. He has indicated that he will take another look at the most extreme rises.

Heyerdahl to resign from Orkla (Verdens Gang)

Jens P. Heyerdahl is to step down as chief executive of the industrial conglomerate Orkla in six months. Mr Heyerdahl made the surprise announcement at yesterday’s meeting of Orkla’s Corporate Assembly. Verdens Gang has learned from sources that attended the meeting that the news will be officially announced at a press conference today. Mr Heyerdahl will achieve one thing by announcing his resignation at this time. He has ensured that he will remain in his position until the summer.

Major banks woo Akselsen (Aftenposten)

Twelve international and four Norwegian banks are currently negotiating with the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy (OED) for what may be next year’s most lucrative underwriting job in Norway – Statoil’s flotation on the stock market. "We are negotiating with these 16 companies and will make our choice when the Government has come to a conclusion and laid the matter before the Storting," says Tore I. Sandvold, Director General of the OED. Aftenposten has learned that the bill may be presented as early as Friday, 15 December. The underwriters may therefore be chosen in a week.

Passport fraud on the rise (Vårt Land)

Every year between 10,000 and 15,000 Norwegian passports disappear. The police now confiscate three times as many forged passports as just three years ago. Forged passports are used, among other things, in connection with illegal immigration and the organized smuggling of illegal immigrants. A Norwegian passport is worth just over NOK 45,000 on the black market.

Worth noting

• NSB refuses to publish cost and revenue figures for each of its lines – for fear of its competitors, the bus companies. (Verdens Gang)
• The insurance companies will probably end up with the bill for the highly paid lawyers that have been engaged to fight the battle over the Progress Party in the courts. But according to If, the country’s largest general insurance company, an application will have to be made first. (Verdens Gang)
• Agriculture Minister Bjarne Håkon Hanssen has warned that meat may become more expensive as a result of the introduction of new tests for mad cow disease. (Dagbladet)
• Aftenposten has learned that all Norwegian health registers are to be brought together in one place. This will make it easier for researchers to access data about our health. Georg Apenes, Director General of the Data Inspectorate, is critical of the move. He believes it will lead to a concentration of sensitive information about each individual. (Aftenposten)

• Norwegian F16 fighter pilots may be hired out to Denmark. This is one of the solutions currently being considered to put an end to the crisis in the Norwegian Air Force. The reason is that we train more pilots than our defence budget allows us to employ. (Dagbladet)
• Over the past five years 500 women have been in contact with the Church Resource Centre for Battered Women. The women have been the victims of violence and sexual abuse, and in 80 per cent of cases the perpetrator had links with the church. (Aftenposten)

Today’s comment from Verdens Gang

We understand NSB’s difficult position. Almost everything has gone wrong for the national railway company in the past year. But it is completely wrong for NSB to try and get its finances back on the rails by implementing such a dramatic increase in fares. It is wrong for NSB and, not least, wrong for the travelling public. According to the calculations NSB has published to justify its price increases, the company hopes to earn NOK 120 million in increased revenue from ticket sales. NSB’s management says that this money will finance new trains and more frequent departures. We are fairly certain that the calculation is totally unrealistic. Passengers will either chose to use their own cars or switch to one of the many bus services plying these routes. The timing is also wrong. It is only two months since NSB had to reduce the number of trains in service. NSB’s management should reconsider the logic of this move, and come up with another solution.

NOREG