Number of births in Norway on upward trend
Birth numbers are rising in Norway with 43,200 babies born so far this year, Statistics Norway says.
“Some 43,200 babies have been born so far in 2025, which is 1,200 more than in the first three quarters of 2024,” the national agency’s senior consultant Magnus Haug via the Statistics Norway website.
“Unless there is a substantial drop in the fourth quarter, we will see the birth rate increase for the third year in a row and the total fertility rate rise,” he said.
A total of 15,400 babies were born in the third quarter of this year, helping raise the population by 11,400 to a figure of 5.62 million people in Norway.
Storm Amy caused ‘1 billion kroner’ of forest damage
Felled trees and other damage inflicted on Norwegian forests during last month’s Storm Amy has a value of more than 1 billion kroner, according to estimates from the insurer Skogbrand Forsikring.
The losses probably cover around 1.5 million cubic metres of timber, NRK writes.
“We now need to save the value of timber that has been blown down,” the insurance company’s CEO Per Asbjørn Flugstad said in a press release.
We encourage forest owners to report damage to us and contact their timber buyers to plan the clean-up as quickly as possible,” he said.
Tingvoll, Orkland, Larvik, Bamble and Skien are among the municipalities which suffered most damage to wooded areas during the storm.
The insurer has so far received 600 damage reports and has assessed around a third of the affected forests.
Environment Agency says methane emissions from oil field too high
Methane emissions from the Johan Sverdrup field in the North Sea have been too high for too long, the Norwegian Environment Agency says.
The authority is asking oil extractor Equinor to explain what measures it can take to reduce emissions, NRK reports.
Equinor has previously described Johan Sverdrup as an “environmental field” because its production emits relatively little CO2 compared with other oil fields.
The company says the methane emissions are partly due to increased production and measurement issues, and has also said it plans to implement measures next year that will reduce emissions.
Denmark sentences Norwegian footballer for sharing video of minor
Norwegian footballer Andreas Schjelderup was handed a 14-day suspended sentence in Denmark yesterday for sharing a video of a sexual nature involving minors, Norwegian media reported.
Schjelderup admitted sharing the 27-second video on Snapchat.
Danish prosecutors had called for the 21-year-old to serve 20 days behind bars as part of a deal for pleading guilty, but the Copenhagen court gave him a 14-day suspended sentence and a year's probation.
"You're getting a yellow card," judge Mathias Eike said as he read out the verdict, according to Norwegian newspaper VG.
The incident took place two years ago when Schjelderup played for Danish club Nordsjælland. He now plays in Portugal for Benfica.
During proceedings on Wednesday, Schjelderup admitted sharing the video as "a bad joke" with four friends on Snapchat, VG said.
The striker apologised on November 8th in a post to Instagram, admitting to having made a "stupid mistake".
He said he deleted the clip shortly after sending it, when a friend pointed out that it contained illicit content.
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