With unique access to remote communities in the snow-capped landscape of Norway, this film follows characters on either side of a fierce debate on whether to cull the wolf population. For decades the topic has split political parties, families and communities across the country, with environmentalists world-wide criticising Norway for how it handles its tiny population of critically endangered wolves. Here, a group of hunters await news from the government on whether their yearly hunt will be permitted, while the environmentalists anticipate the worst. With angry threats on both sides, the film takes a deep dive into what’s at stake for both groups, as well as the wider world
Continue reading...Category Archives: Norway
Norwegian Air files for bankruptcy protection in Ireland
Low-cost airline to continue reduced flight schedule and shares will still be traded in Oslo
Low-cost airline Norwegian Air has filed for bankruptcy protection in Ireland, becoming the biggest casualty of the coronavirus pandemic in the aviation sector to date.
The troubled carrier has asked an Irish court to carry out a process of examinership. This should protect the group’s assets while it tries to slash debt levels and find new funding as part of a restructuring. It is expected to take as long as five months.
Continue reading...Global report: Merkel says Germany faces ‘difficult months ahead’ in Covid fight
Chancellor says country is on verge of losing control as Europe death toll passes 250k
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has said her country is on the verge of losing control of its fight against the coronavirus pandemic, telling colleagues from her Christian Democratic Union party “the situation is threatening” and “every day counts”.
In leaked comments to an internal party meeting, she told those attending of “very, very difficult months ahead” and added that “every day [would] count” in tackling the virus’s spread.
Continue reading...Oslo police seize tuned electric scooter with top speed of 36mph
Owner of scooter that can go almost three times the speed limit faces prosecution
Police in Oslo have seized a tuned electric scooter with a top speed of 36mph (58kph), nearly three times the legal limit.
The scooter was seized during a control programme in Oslo in a joint operation with the Norwegian Public Roads Administration during which two electric scooters were stopped on suspicion of illegal speeding.
Continue reading...Norway grants asylum to man claiming persecution by Polish government
Rafał Gaweł’s prison sentence for fraud was retaliation by rightwing regime, Norway says
Norway has granted asylum to a Polish man who was facing prison for fraud and forging of documents, saying the sentence was a form of political persecution under Poland’s rightwing government.
Observers say that Rafał Gaweł’s case is the first time political asylum has been granted to a Pole in more than 30 years since the fall of communism in Poland. They see it as another sign that international trust in Poland’s justice system has been undermined by the government, which is putting it under political control.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson to set fishing ultimatum in crunch EU summit
Buoyed by support for idea from Angela Merkel, PM hopes to overcome French opposition
Boris Johnson will demand that the increasingly isolated French president, Emmanuel Macron, caves in to UK demands on fishing as the price for a trade and security deal at a key meeting with the European commission president on Saturday.
The prime minister will speak to Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday afternoon in a video-conference call to “take stock of negotiations and discuss next steps”.
Continue reading...Young people resume global climate strikes calling for urgent action
Greta Thunberg leads protests as Covid rules restrict numbers compared with last year
School pupils, youth activists and communities around the world have turned out for a day of climate strikes, intended to underscore the urgency of the climate crisis even in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
Social distancing and other Covid-19 control measures dampened the protests, but thousands of activists posted on social media and took to the streets to protest against the lack of climate action from world leaders. Strikes were scheduled in at least 3,500 locations around the globe.
Continue reading...As Covid cases rise again, how are countries in Europe reacting?
Tighter measures are being imposed, but they vary across the continent
Continue reading...European tour tests Chinese foreign minister’s pulling power
The reassessment of China highlighted by Wang Yi’s trip has political, economic and security implications
The Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi did not exactly end his week-long European tour with his tail between his legs but he may have been chastened if he ever believed Beijing could simply win over Europe by pointing to the extremist cold war rhetoric of Europe’s natural ally America.
The five-nation tour surely marked the end of an era where China can any longer get away with simple homilies on win-win solutions, multilateralism and non-interference in another’s internal affairs. Pointing to Donald Trump is also no longer enough to win European friends.
Continue reading...Norway plans to drill for oil in untouched Arctic areas
Critics say plan for fields off Svalbard threatens ecosystem and relations with Russia
Norway is planning to expand oil drilling in previously untouched areas of the Arctic, a move campaigners say threatens the fragile ecosystem and could spark a military standoff with Russia.
A public consultation on the opening up of nine new Norwegian oilfields closed on Wednesday. The areas in question are much further north in the Arctic than the concessions the US president, Donald Trump, announced for Alaska this month.
Continue reading...Dear Christchurch, Breivik’s trial showed us extremist ideas struggle in the light | Åsne Seierstad
A 10-week trial of Anders Breivik afforded him publicity, and underground infamy, but the openness benefited the victims too
Terror wouldn’t work if no one wrote about it. Terrorists crave our attention, our anger and our tears. Norway and New Zealand have both been struck by attacks from violent extremists inspired by ideas from the same root – white supremacy and Islamophobia – but the two countries have chosen different paths in how to deal with it. Norway chose openness and full exposure, while the case around the Christchurch shooter seems dimly lit.
In 2011, the then Norwegian prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, sat in his home office to work on a speech he was going to give the following day at the summer camp of the Labour party youth when a loud bang sounded. Anders Breivik had dressed as a police officer and detonated the bomb outside the prime minister’s office in downtown Oslo, killing eight. He then travelled to the island of Utøya where the camp would be held and shot and killed 69 people, mostly teenagers.
Continue reading...Earth has lost 28 trillion tonnes of ice in less than 30 years
‘Stunned’ scientists say there is little doubt global heating is to blame for the loss
A total of 28 trillion tonnes of ice have disappeared from the surface of the Earth since 1994. That is stunning conclusion of UK scientists who have analysed satellite surveys of the planet’s poles, mountains and glaciers to measure how much ice coverage lost because of global heating triggered by rising greenhouse gas emissions.
The scientists – based at Leeds and Edinburgh universities and University College London – describe the level of ice loss as “staggering” and warn that their analysis indicates that sea level rises, triggered by melting glaciers and ice sheets, could reach a metre by the end of the century.
Continue reading...Sweden records highest death tally in 150 years in first half of 2020
Covid-19 caused about 4,500 deaths in six months to end of June as Sweden opted against strict lockdown
Sweden, which has stood out among European countries for its low-key approach to fighting the coronavirus pandemic, has recorded its highest tally of deaths in the first half of 2020 for 150 years, the Statistics Office said.
Covid-19 claimed about 4,500 lives in the period to the end of June – a number that has now risen to 5,800 – a much higher percentage of the population than in other Nordic nations, though lower than in some others, including Britain and Spain.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: UN warns world faces ‘generational catastrophe’ over school closures
UN says getting students safely back to classroom must be ‘top priority’; Philippines reimposes lockdown; record fines for isolation breaches in Australia
- Millions in Manila back in lockdown
- Trump criticises lockdowns and falsely claims US ‘doing very well’
- UK coronavirus live: latest updates
- Australia live coronavirus updates
- See all our coronavirus coverage
We’re reporting that builders in the Australia could lose $450m daily under Melbourne stage 4 Covid-19 lockdown.
Work levels from big construction sites to trade businesses set to be pummelled amid predictions new curbs will ‘knock wind out of’ state
Related: Victorian builders could lose $450m daily under Melbourne stage 4 Covid-19 lockdown
Reuters is reporting that Taiwan has provisionally approved the use of dexamethasone, a cheap and widely-used steroid, to treat the new coronavirus because the island faces a shortfall of the antiviral drug remdesivir after the United States bought nearly all global supplies.
Taiwan Centres for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang told reporters on Tuesday that medical experts had decided to provisionally allow dexamethasone to be listed as a COVID-19 treatment but that procedures still needed to be completed before it could be given to any patients.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: Greece reports highest number of cases in weeks as Danish expert advises against lockdown easing
UN says getting students safely back must be ‘top priority’; France says ‘situation is precarious’; record fines for isolation breaches in Australia
- Global report: France ‘could lose control of Covid-19 at any time’
- Trump flounders in interview over US death toll
- Six months on, victories remain fragile
- UK coronavirus live: latest updates
- US coronavirus live: latest updates
France’s Accor, the world’s sixth largest hotel chain, said it was slashing 1,000 jobs worldwide in a major cost cutting plan accelerated by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
The group, which runs high-end chains such as Raffles and Sofitel, and budget brands like Ibis, plans to cut costs by €200m by 2022.
After weeks of railing against what he claimed were the potential risks of voting by mail, president Donald Trump has urged voters in at least one Republican state - Florida - to vote by any means.
Trump, who is trailing presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in polls, has repeatedly warned in recent weeks - without evidence - that mail-in voting carries more risks than voting by absentee ballot and could result in widespread fraud.
Whether you call it Vote by Mail or Absentee Voting, in Florida the election system is Safe and Secure, Tried and True. Florida’s Voting system has been cleaned up (we defeated Democrats attempts at change), so in Florida I encourage all to request a Ballot & Vote by Mail! #MAGA
Continue reading...Two cruise ships hit by coronavirus weeks after industry restarts
Outbreaks of Covid-19 recorded on MS Roald Amundsen in Norway and the Paul Gauguin in Tahiti
Covid-19 has been detected on at least two cruise ships – one in the Arctic and one in the Pacific – just weeks after cruising holidays restarted.
At least 40 passengers and crew from the MS Roald Amundsen have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, and authorities are trying to contact trace hundreds of passengers from two recent Arctic voyages the ship took.
Continue reading...Coronavirus mass surveillance could be here to stay, experts say
Use of invasive digital and physical tracking measures soars as the pandemic spreads
Extensive surveillance measures introduced around the world during the coronavirus outbreak have widened and become entrenched, digital rights experts have said, three months after the World Health Organization declared a pandemic.
The measures have often been billed as temporary necessities rushed into place to help track infections, but governments have been accused of denting civil rights with the widespread use of techniques such as phone monitoring, contact tracing apps, and physical surveillance such as CCTV with facial recognition.
Continue reading...‘I raised hell’: how people worldwide answered the call of World Oceans Day
From protecting fishing communities to regrowing coral reefs, Guardian readers and environmentalists share how they’re working to defend the ocean
World Oceans Day, which took place on Monday, is marked by hundreds of beach cleans and events globally. Despite Covid-19 restrictions, environmentalists and readers from around the world shared how they are continuing to work to protect the ocean, and told us about the local marine issues that matter to them.
Continue reading...Powerful landslide sweeps away buildings in Norway – video
Eight houses have been swept into the sea in Norway after a powerful landslide near the town of Alta. The landslide was filmed by a local resident, Jan Egil Bakkedal – one of the houses that was lost belonged to him – who said he ran for his life when he realised what was happening.
Continue reading...Norwegian politicians film physically distanced dance for national day – video
The prime minister, Erna Solberg, and her colleagues filmed the dance during the coronavirus pandemic. It was aired on 17 May on NRK.
Mass gatherings and parades are not permitted until at least mid-June to try and slow the spread of Covid-19 in the country