Bomb found in Oslo during World Bank meeting (Bergens Tidende)

The Oslo police located and defused a bomb during the World Bank meeting in Oslo earlier this summer. The bomb contained 30-40 grams of explosive, and was found in a café close to the Oslo Police Station on Monday, 24 June. This was the same day on which demonstrators protesting against the World Bank marched through the streets of Oslo. "One of our technical experts removed what proved to be a bomb. It was defused and dismantled," confirmed Chief of Police Arnstein Gjengedal. The occurrence has been kept under wraps until now.

Tax cuts for you and me (Aftenposten)

There will not be any major tax breaks for the average wage earner this autumn. The private sector will grab the biggest piece of the pie when the fiscal budget is presented in October. But most people can look forward to 2004 and 2005, when Minister of Finance Per-Kristian Foss is promising to introduce a substantial cut in taxes on personal income. The total tax reduction for that two-year period must be NOK 8 billion if Mr. Foss is to keep the promises made in the Sem Declaration.

Hidden agenda denied (Dagsavisen)

Women in the Labour Party reject the claim made by the Labour Youth League chairman that they want to squeeze Trond Giske out of a position in the Labour Party leadership by introducing gender quotas. "I think it is horrible to say that we are using gender quotas as a means of preventing someone from being elected. This is nothing to do with Trond Giske," said Ranveig Frøiland, chairman of the Hordaland branch of the Labour Party. Trond Giske’s problem is that he himself has fought zealously for the use of gender quotas in order to get more women into key positions in the party. "In principle, the four positions at the top should be equally divided between the sexes," Mr. Giske said to Dagsavisen on 13 December 2001. Today he himself is a candidate for the position of deputy chairman of the party, and his views are less categorical. "I think the distribution of men and women should be equal in every position of power in society, but I do not want to engage in a debate about particular individuals," said Mr. Giske.

Hay fever can mean trouble with insurance (Aftenposten)

Entirely normal, everyday illnesses may give people trouble with insurance companies. Hay fever, eczema and asthma are among the 224 ailments that insurance companies will check before people will be allowed to buy life or disability insurance. Arthritis, abnormally high or low weight, syphilis and kidney stones are also on the no-no list. The insurance companies are tallying up illnesses: if a person has too many on his list, he will not be eligible for a group insurance policy. An individual policy will still be available, but the price will be much steeper. The Consumer Council has reacted to this, and is astonished at the length of the list.

Australia at the top of the list for students (Aftenposten)

In the academic year 1997-1998, over half the Norwegian students studying abroad were to be found in the UK or the United States, which were the most popular countries at that time. Today the situation is entirely different. In the course of this short period of time, Australia has taken a kangaroo-leap ahead, jumping from sixth place to first on the list. The increase amounts to over 700 per cent. In the past year alone, 20 per cent more Norwegian students have decided to surf on the Australian wave, while the UK and the USA have lost 12 and 9 per cent of the Norwegian students, respectively.

Human rights to be new school subject (Dagbladet)

Human rights will be an optional subject in upper secondary schools this autumn. The new subject will be one of 13 national optional subjects, and may be offered to students in all areas of study in upper secondary schools. Individual schools will decide whether to offer the subject. The course will give students a broad knowledge of both international and local conditions. "Pupils will be taught that issues concerning human rights, tolerance and racism apply not only in the outside world, but also in our everyday lives," said State Secretary Helge Ole Bergesen of the Ministry of Education and Research.

Sixty billion kroner down the drain (Verdens Gang)

The billions of kroner in oil revenues that have been pumped into the Petroleum Fund during the past few months are gone. The decline in the stock market has drained tens of billions from Norway’s savings account. According to Verdens Gang’s sources, the total amount in the Petroleum Fund at the end of this year’s second quarter was around NOK 605 billion. The loss of around NOK 60 billion represents over NOK 13 000 per inhabitant. With the current oil prices, the Ministry of Finance is currently paying around NOK 13 billion per month into the Fund. In other words, the money that has been paid in since 1 April has only covered the losses sustained on the stock market.

Goodbye to cheap imports of cars (Dagens Næringsliv)

If the EU’s proposal for new competition rules in the automobile sector is approved, it will no longer be profitable for Norwegians to buy a new car abroad. Until now it has often been extremely advantageous for Norwegian consumers to buy a new car in Denmark. "The new set of rules will harmonize automobile prices throughout Europe. This will mean that Norwegians will no longer save money by buying cars in, for instance, Denmark or Sweden," said John Fiskum, an independent consultant for the automobile sector in Norway. However, the new rules will have little impact on buying a used car abroad.

Wants beer to be available day and night (Verdens Gang)

Karita Bekkemellom Orheim (Labour) wants Norwegians to be able to buy beer whenever they choose. "I am absolutely in favour of liberalizing the sale of beer. We achieve nothing by setting time limits. People are capable of regulating what they buy even if they can shop all day and all night," said Ms. Bekkemellom Orheim, former Minister of Children and Family Affairs.

1. WORTH NOTING:

• Russia is opening up three air corridors for Norwegian military transport aircraft that are bringing aid to Afghanistan. Until now, Norwegian Hercules aircraft have had to detour around the south of Russia when flying to and from the Manas air base in Kyrghyzstan. Now it will be easier, because Russian Minister of Defence Sergei Ivanov opened up Russian airspace for flights providing "humanitarian aid" during a meeting in Oslo yesterday with his Norwegian counterpart, Kristin Krohn Devold. (Aftenposten)
• Øystein Djupedal (Socialist Left) is sceptical towards a proposal made by Christian Democratic deputy chairman Einar Steensnæs on Tuesday, promising a lower document duty for first-time home buyers. "I am sure voters can see right through this bluff," said Mr. Djupedal. (ANB)
• A recent report from SINTEF, the Foundation for Scientific and Industrial Research at the Norwegian Institute of Technology, concludes that the police receive too little training in how to drive at high speeds during road chases. They are only given two weeks of training. Now the National Police Academy is revising its curriculum. (Dagsavisen)
• Minister of Labour and Government Administration Victor D. Norman is slowly supervising the modernization process of the public sector. So far he has only fulfilled three of 34 promises made. "I am satisfied with our pace. We have done more than I expected, but modernization takes time," said Mr. Norman. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• The actors in the housing market are scoffing at Ole Gunnar Selvaag’s prediction that the housing market will crash. Their collective advice to worried house-owners is to relax. (Dagbladet)
• A polar bear and her two cubs broke into cabins on Svalbard over 30 times. That was too much for the Governor of Svalbard, and the three bears had to pay with their lives. In the mother bear’s stomach an empty package of soup mix was found. (ANB)

TODAY’S COMMENT from Aftenposten:

President Vladimir Putin’s unmistakably pro-Western cooperation policy is becoming obvious when his representatives talk with their Western colleagues. Yesterday it was clearly demonstrated that Norway is no exception when Russian Minister of Defence Sergei Ivanov discussed bilateral and international issues with Norwegian Minister of Defence Kristin Krohn Devold, the Chief of Defence Norway and defence policy MPs. He did not even criticize an issue that used to be extremely sensitive, Norwegian naval intelligence in the Barents Sea. The sunny relations enjoyed by NATO and Russia are also warming up relations between Norway and Russia. Both countries are more interested in what they can cooperate on than in what divides them. However, this does not mean that everything is rose-coloured and simple. Russia, in its role as a superpower, has its own interests to defend, and they do not always coincide with Norwegian interests. After over 30 years of negotiations the two countries have still not managed to agree on how the continental shelf in the Barents Sea should be divided. One of the reasons for this is the Russian fear that petroleum operations in the North will get in the way of Russian military activities, which will, in turn, increase now that the Northern Fleet has received funding for exercises. A proposed seminar on the connection between petroleum operations and military activities could clear up some of the misunderstandings, thereby preparing the ground for a successful and fruitful visit to Norway by President Putin in November.