Balmy weather of 20C expected in southern Norway 

Summer is finally here! Or at least it is if you live in southern Norway, where a warm front coming up from Europe will bring t-shirt temperatures of 20C, Norway’s national weather forecasting site Yr has said on X. 

“Over the course of the week, a warm front will move up from the south, and will cause high temperatures in southern Norway,” the site wrote. “We expect over 20C in several places.” 

Norwegian vocabulary: varme luftmassar – a warm front (literally “warm air masses”)

Risk of retail industry strike after unions and employers miss talks deadline

The Handel og Kontor (HK), Parat and Negotia unions have decided to continue negotiations with The Federation of Norwegian Enterprise (Virke), despite failing to reach a deal by the deadline of midnight on Monday, raising the risk of a strike. 

The Parat union has warned that shops such as Byggmakker, XL-Bygg, Løvenskiold/Maxbo, Montér, Gustav Pedersen and Optimera could be hit by strikes if no deal is reached, while Handel og Kontor has said that members working for the duty free chain Travel Retail Norway will strike at airports in Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim, potentially forcing the duty free shops there to close.

Negotia meanwhile has warned it will call a strike among members working for the building materials company Gausdal Landhandleri and Imperial Brands. 

Norwegian vocabulary: mekling – mediation 

Hotel billionaire Petter Stordalen appeals tax judgement 

The Norwegian hotel magnate Petter Stordalen has appealed a judgment from the Oslo district court which reduced the tax authorities’ claim against him from 200 kroner to NOK 180 kroner, the E24 financial site has written.

Stordalen’s lawyer Nils Sture Nilsson confirmed to the newspaper that his client had appealed the judgement, which was given in March.

Stordalen bought the holding company Oslo Properties in 2013, using it withdraw over 800 million kroner in tax-free dividends.

In 2022, the Tax Appeal Board ruled that these payments should not be tax-free, leading Norway’s tax authorities to demand over 200 million kroner in back taxes. The district court decided that this claim should be reduced to 180 million.

The billionaire denies buying the company to take advantage of its favorable tax position.

Norwegian vocabulary: gunstig – favourable 

Norwegian police charge Olympic champion’s father for domestic violence

Norwegian police said on Monday that Gjert Ingebrigtsen, the father and former coach of 1,500m Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen, had been charged with domestic violence against a family member.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen and two of his brothers, Henrik and Filip, who are also athletes, shocked Norway last October when they accused their father of being violent.

“We grew up with a very aggressive and authoritarian father, who used physical violence and threats as part of his upbringing,” the brothers wrote in an op-ed for newspaper VG. “We still feel a sense of discomfort and fear that we have felt since childhood,” they added.

Police opened a probe into the abuse claims and on Monday said prosecutors had decided to charge Gjert Ingebrigtsen, 58, with domestic violence against a child.

According to a source close to the case, the acts in question do not concern the trio of known athletes but another, younger child.

Over a period of four years, from 2018 to 2022, Gjert Ingebrigtsen allegedly manhandled, insulted, threatened and hit the child in the face with his hand or with a towel.