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TODAY IN NORWAY

Today in Norway: A roundup of the latest news on Tuesday

Norway set for mixed Easter weather, Oslo's new trams to be sent to Spain for repairs, and other news from Norway on Tuesday.

Bergen harbor
Southern and western Norway will likely see a damp start to the holiday weekend. Photo by Darya Maksimenka on Unsplash

Easter weather: Varied conditions across Norway

Norway is set for mixed weather over the Easter holidays, with weather ranging from snow to sun. 

Meteorologists predict a clear divide in weather patterns, with northern regions basking in sunshine while the south braces for wet and grey days, public broadcaster NRK reports.

Northern and central areas can expect clear skies and pleasant temperatures, offering ideal conditions for outdoor activities.

However, temperatures in Troms and Finnmark may remain chilly, with sunny days offset by freezing nights.

Conversely, southern and western Norway will likely see a damp start to the holiday weekend, characterised by cloudy skies and intermittent rain or snow showers.

Weather patterns are expected to shift as the weekend progresses. While temperatures will likely rise in the south, the possibility of sun remains uncertain.

As the Easter weekend concludes, colder air from the north is forecasted to sweep across Norway, potentially bringing snow showers to coastal areas.

Oslo’s new trams sent back to Spain for repairs 

Oslo’s fleet of brand-new trams faces setbacks as three require repairs following accidents.

According to Jan Rustad from Sporveien, the traffic operator in the capital, the new trams have already suffered millions of kroner of damage.

The damaged trams will be sent to Spain for repairs, and their expected return is late this year or early next year, local newspaper Avisa Oslo reports.

This development poses challenges for Oslo’s public transport system, potentially impacting service availability.

Financial strain hits families at Easter

Around 45 percent of families with children in Norway feel financially strained this Easter compared to previous years, according to the Norwegian Red Cross.

This economic pressure is leading to increased demand for free services and assistance during the holiday period.

Marte Eika of the Red Cross highlighted the growing challenges faced by families in managing daily expenses.

She noted a significant uptick in requests for aid, with even those who have never sought assistance before reaching out for help during these difficult times.

Heavy snowfall hits northern Norway

There has been significant snowfall in the outer regions of Nordland and Troms, including Lofoten, Vesterålen, Salten, and inland areas of Troms.

According to feedback from plough crews from the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, some areas are blanketed with up to 70 centimetres of fresh snow, creating challenging conditions for travel and transportation.

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TODAY IN NORWAY

Today in Norway: A roundup of the latest news on Monday

Earthquake near Bergen, perpetrators of Oslo shooting still at large, retail industry strike looms, and other news from Norway on Monday.

Today in Norway: A roundup of the latest news on Monday

Mini-earthquake rattles Voss, outside Bergen 

An earthquake with a magnitude of 3.3 on the Richter scale rattled the municipality of Voss early on Monday morning, waking up many residents but appearing to do no actual damage. 

“We first received a message at 4.22am from a man in Vaksdal who had felt the earthquake. He described it as a clear shaking in the house and as a kind of rumbling,” Berit Marie Storheim, senior engineer at the Department of Geosciences at Bergen University, told the NTB newswire, adding that “3.3 is a small earthquake in the global context and it is not unusual in Norway.” 

She said that she and her colleagues did not expect any damage to buildings or other infrastructure but called on anyone who had felt the quake to register it at skelv.no. 

Norwegian vocabulary: jordskjelv – earthquake  

Perpetrators of shooting at Oslo’s Beirut Kebab still at large 

Oslo police said on Sunday that they were still looking for the men who shot and injured a man in his twenties at the Beirut Kebab kebab restaurant in the Grønland district of Oslo on Saturday night.

“We are investigating broadly, looking at several milieu, and we know that there is more than one perpetrator,” Maria Huseby Fossen, a police lawyer, told public broadcaster NRK.

The victim of the shooting has yet to be interviewed as he is till being treated for his injuries, but police have already interviewed several other witnesses and are seeking to obtain footage from security cameras.

Norwegian vocabulary: ingen pågrepet – no one arrested

Dury free shops may close if retail sector employees strike  

Thousands of members of the Handel og Kontor (HK), Parat and Negotia unions may go on strike from Tuesday if mediation launched on Sunday morning with the Federation of Norwegian Enterprise (Virke), one of Norway’s leading employer groups, is not successful.

The union’s deadline for progress in the talks is midnight on Tuesday night, after which they may mount strikes at building materials stores, grocery stores and duty-free shops, as well as shops run by Norgesgruppen and Coop.

Handel og Kontor has claimed that the strike could see duty free shops at Norwegian airports forced to closed, something the shops’ owners, the Travel Retail Norway joint venture, has denied. 

Norwegian vocabulary: mekling – mediation

Norway calls on West to support Arab peace plan in Gaza 

Norway’s foreign minister Espen Barth Eide on Sunday evening called for EU countries and the US to support a Gaza peace plan drawn up by Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries, as representatives from Arab and Western countries meet in Riyadh on the sidelines of the regional meeting of the World Economic Forum. 

“The closest we have to a comprehensive peace plan is the one Arab countries are currently working on. It is important that we support this. It is simply better to have one plan than no plan,” Eide told Norway’s NTB newsire. “Recognition of a Palestinian state is not an end in itself, but a tool we can use once. When a country like Norway uses it, we must know that it can have an effect.” 

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell, British foreign minister David Cameron, German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock, Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry, Jordanian foreign minister Umin Safadi and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas are in in Riyadh for the meeting, along with Eide. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Riyadh, but will not attend the meeting. 

Eide said that the idea that countries such as the US or Norway could somehow lead peace efforts in Israel and Palestine was past. 

“A country from the West cannot travel down and ‘make peace’, as we maybe let ourselves believe. It needs to be anchored in the region,” he told NRK. 

Norwegian vocabulary: forankrast – anchored

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