Today in Norway: A roundup of the latest news on Friday
Authorities mull euthanising a famous walrus, a 'dramatic' new climate report, and a salmonella outbreak are among the headlines from Norway on Friday.
Authorities say Freya the walrus may be euthanised
Norwegian authorities are considering putting down a walrus that won hearts basking in the sun of the Oslofjord amid fears it is putting itself and the public in danger, they said Thursday.
Despite repeated appeals to the public to keep their distance from the walrus -- a young female weighing 600 kilos (1,300 pounds) that has been nicknamed Freya -the mammal continues to attract big crowds, the Fisheries Directorate said in a statement.
Its text was accompanied by a photograph of a group of onlookers crowding near the animal.
"The public's reckless behaviour and failure to follow authorities' recommendations could put lives in danger", a spokeswoman for the fisheries agency, Nadia Jdaini, said.
"We are now exploring other measures, and euthanasia may be a real alternative", she added.
The Arctic is heating up much faster than expected
Temperatures in the Arctic have risen four times faster than the rest of the planet, with the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard warming up even quicker, a new study has found.
The environment minister Espen Barthe Eide has called the study's findings dramatic.
"These are dramatic figures. The study is another serious warning about how quickly climate change is happening," Eide told Norwegian newswire NTB.
"The ice is melting at record speed, the water is getting warmer, the permafrost is thawing, life on land as well as in the sea is changing," he said.
"Parts of Svalbard are in the process of changing from an Arctic to an Atlantic climate," he added.
The study concluded the temperature in the Arctic has increased by 0.75 degrees Celsius per decade, and this is almost four times as fast as the rest of the globe. In the areas around Svalbard and Novaya Semlja, the temperature has increased by as much as 1.25 degrees per decade.
Salmonella outbreak linked to watermelon
An outbreak of salmonella has been linked to a batch of watermelon, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority has said.
The authority said it was working to identify the watermelons linked to the outbreak, in which 18 people have neem infected, but said it was unlikely that the batch in question was unlikely to be found in supermarkets anymore.
Ukrainian refugees didn't receive money they were entitled to from the UDI
A number of Ukrainian refugees did not receive the basic benefits they were entitled to when they first arrived in the country, with the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) working to identify who may be owed money.
"We cannot say anything about when we will start the repayments themselves, but UDI wants to make it clear that this is a high-priority matter and that there are many people working on the matter," press adviser at the UDI, Per-Jan Brekke, told the newspaper Aftenposten.
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Authorities say Freya the walrus may be euthanised
Norwegian authorities are considering putting down a walrus that won hearts basking in the sun of the Oslofjord amid fears it is putting itself and the public in danger, they said Thursday.
Despite repeated appeals to the public to keep their distance from the walrus -- a young female weighing 600 kilos (1,300 pounds) that has been nicknamed Freya -the mammal continues to attract big crowds, the Fisheries Directorate said in a statement.
Its text was accompanied by a photograph of a group of onlookers crowding near the animal.
"The public's reckless behaviour and failure to follow authorities' recommendations could put lives in danger", a spokeswoman for the fisheries agency, Nadia Jdaini, said.
"We are now exploring other measures, and euthanasia may be a real alternative", she added.
The Arctic is heating up much faster than expected
Temperatures in the Arctic have risen four times faster than the rest of the planet, with the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard warming up even quicker, a new study has found.
The environment minister Espen Barthe Eide has called the study's findings dramatic.
"These are dramatic figures. The study is another serious warning about how quickly climate change is happening," Eide told Norwegian newswire NTB.
"The ice is melting at record speed, the water is getting warmer, the permafrost is thawing, life on land as well as in the sea is changing," he said.
"Parts of Svalbard are in the process of changing from an Arctic to an Atlantic climate," he added.
The study concluded the temperature in the Arctic has increased by 0.75 degrees Celsius per decade, and this is almost four times as fast as the rest of the globe. In the areas around Svalbard and Novaya Semlja, the temperature has increased by as much as 1.25 degrees per decade.
Salmonella outbreak linked to watermelon
An outbreak of salmonella has been linked to a batch of watermelon, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority has said.
The authority said it was working to identify the watermelons linked to the outbreak, in which 18 people have neem infected, but said it was unlikely that the batch in question was unlikely to be found in supermarkets anymore.
Ukrainian refugees didn't receive money they were entitled to from the UDI
A number of Ukrainian refugees did not receive the basic benefits they were entitled to when they first arrived in the country, with the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) working to identify who may be owed money.
"We cannot say anything about when we will start the repayments themselves, but UDI wants to make it clear that this is a high-priority matter and that there are many people working on the matter," press adviser at the UDI, Per-Jan Brekke, told the newspaper Aftenposten.
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