Tuesday, February 18, 2025

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Mass deaths at Norwegian salmon farm

Published 6 November 2023
– By Editorial Staff
Norwegian salmon farms (genre picture). On the right, dead salmon at one of Lerøy's facilities.

Tens of thousands of salmon have been found dead at the bottom of several facilities of the aquaculture giant Lerøy, which is now being criticized for delays in reporting to the food safety authority. The dead fish are reported to have been carrying diseases and parasites.

The salmon farms are located in the sea area between Kristiansund and Hitra. The mass deaths are said to have occurred in the fall at several of the company’s facilities, according to the state channel NRK. Among other issues, they had problems with their gills, which affected the salmon’s breathing, as well as heart diseases and parasites.

The company Lerøy is one of Norway’s largest salmon breeders, which is also one of the country’s leading exports, and fish deaths must be reported to the food safety authority since it can, among other things, pose a risk of infection to other fish. However, the company is reported not to have reported the deviations directly. Even in another case earlier in the fall, they are said to have waited nine days before contacting the authority when 11,000 salmon suddenly died.

– Such conditions must be reported without delay, says Steinar Westerberg at the Norwegian food safety authority to NRK. If there has been an increased mortality for a whole week without the food safety authority being informed, it is a breach of regulations.

The company’s CEO, Bjarne Reinert, acknowledges that there has been a larger fish mortality at the facilities, but claims that there have been no discrepancies in the reporting.

We feel that we have a good dialogue with the Norwegian food safety authority and we have not received any comments from the authority about our reporting, he says.

However, one of the reports from the salmon farming was categorized as “incomplete” due to a lack of information.

“Without knowing the number of dead fish, it is difficult to say anything about the extent of the incident”, writes the press officer at the Norwegian food safety authority to NRK.

The photo was taken during an inspection of one of the establishments. Photo: Food Safety Authority

Dead salmon improperly sent for sale

Earlier in the fall, the food safety authority discovered that the company had attempted to send salmon that had already died for sale. In standard salmon farming operations, live fish are pumped onto boats, then euthanized on board before being processed for sale. In this instance, the company had pumped already deceased fish onto the boat, which they were in the process of distributing for sale as fresh salmon, as reported by NRK. The food safety authority immediately imposed a ban on slaughtering at the facility.

Lerøy contends that they never process already dead salmon for food production.

– We have not and will not process dead fish for human consumption, says Reinert.

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Stoltenberg resigns as Bilderberg chief – becomes Norway’s finance minister

The globalist agenda

Published 5 February 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Jens Stoltenberg during the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Recently, former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was appointed chairman of the influential Bilderberg Group’s steering committee.

Now the high-profile globalist is leaving the position to become Norwegian Finance Minister.

As recently as December, Stoltenberg was introduced as the new head of Bilderberg and claimed to be very pleased with his new assignment.

– In combination with the Munich Security Conference, this is a good platform for cooperation with leaders from politics, business and academia. It is also an important venue for strengthening ties between Europe and the United States. I look forward to contributing to the work of Bilderberg, he said.

However, he is now leaving that post as it is not considered suitable to combine with a Norwegian ministerial role.

– Jens Stoltenberg has resigned as co-chairman of the Bilderberg Group due to his appointment as finance minister in the Norwegian government, a spokesman confirmed to Norwegian E24.

– I have declined everything else I would have said yes to and have informed everyone in different ways, says Stoltenberg, adding that he is “deeply honored to have been asked to help my country at this critical stage”.

The government collapsed

Stoltenberg’s appointment as new finance minister is due to the fact that the Norwegian government collapsed this week something The Nordic Times also reported on. This after the Center Party chose to leave the government cooperation in protest against the failure to agree with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre’s Labor Party on the EU’s fourth energy package and issues related to the Norwegian electricity market.

Jens Stoltenberg has long been singled out as one of the European leaders most committed to continued escalation and war in Ukraine while consistently dismissing diplomacy and dialogue as unrealistic and unreasonable options.

Although he will not be in charge of foreign policy issues, critics are therefore also expressing concern that his return to Norwegian politics could risk leading to further escalation and polarization in the region.

Stoltenberg previously served as leader of the Labour Party from 2002 to 2015 and as Prime Minister of Norway from 2000 to 2001 and again from 2005 to 2013.

Norway’s coalition government collapses: “Enough is enough”

Published 31 January 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Jonas Gahr Støre is the Norwegian Prime Minister since October 2021.

The Center Party in Norway leaves the government after a disagreement with the Labor Party. The decision, taken at a lunch meeting on Thursday, was confirmed by Center leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum.

At a meeting with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Center leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum on Thursday, it became clear that the government cooperation between the parties can no longer continue.

We say enough is enough, this is the limit, Vedum told VG.

The reason for the rift is said to be the EU’s fourth energy package, where the Labor Party has partly wanted to adopt the proposal while the Center Party opposed it.

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre canceled his other commitments during the day to try to find a solution.

– He is doing so to continue talks with the Center Party, with the aim of finding a solution, says State Secretary Kristoffer Thoner.

Despite the talks, the party leaders failed to reach an agreement. However, the resignation does not necessarily mean that Støre’s time as prime minister is over. According to media sources, the Labor Party can continue to govern as a single party in a minority government.

The next parliamentary elections are scheduled for September.

Norwegian deep-sea mining halted

Published 4 December 2024
– By Editorial Staff
The World Wildlife Fund calls seabed mining “madness”.

The Norwegian government is halting the handing out of licenses for seabed mining. Reportedly, the plans are temporarily hampered due to tough budget negotiations.

At the beginning of the year, the Norwegian Parliament voted in favor of so-called deep-sea mining, that is, mining on the seabed. The minerals they hoped to extract included cobalt, magnesium, nickel and copper. The decision was met with strong criticism, including from 120 MPs and MEPs from 19 different parliaments, who sent a letter to Norwegian politicians urging them to say no to mining.

Over the weekend, the Norwegian government negotiated the state budget for next year. There it was decided to postpone the planned mining, an initiative mainly driven by the Socialist Left (SV).

We have stopped the plans to open up mining on the seabed, says party leader Kirsti Bergstø.

Only a pause

The Norwegian branch of WWF welcomes the decision. It had previously filed a lawsuit against the government over the deep-sea mining plans.

– The government rushed ahead, ignoring warnings from experts about significant knowledge gaps that made seabed mining indefensible. Fortunately, SV has recognized the seriousness of the situation and taken responsibility to stop the madness, said Karoline Andaur, Secretary General of WWF.

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre emphasizes that this is a pause in the plans, not a definitive stop to seabed mining.

It will be a postponement and we have to be able to accept that, Støre told Norwegian TV 2.

Norwegian public service bleeds – 90 jobs cut

Published 2 December 2024
– By Editorial Staff
One of NRK's main buildings

Norwegian public broadcaster NRK has to cut costs by 200 million kroner next year, which means, among other things, the loss of 70 to 90 full-time positions.

This means that we will introduce a hiring freeze, refrain from replacing employees who leave or retire, and give our employees the opportunity to apply for severance pay, explains Vibeke Fürst Haugen, head of television.

According to Ms. Fürst Haugen, there are several reasons for the poor financial situation and the fact that costs are far too high in relation to the company’s revenues.

– This is partly due to the expensive period that we and many other organizations are in and the fact that the NRC has not been fully compensated for wage and price increases in recent years. At the same time, we are facing a technological transformation where we will replace our entire core technology. This is a major, long-term investment that we need to make now to secure our future operations.

The taxpayer-funded broadcaster will also cut travel, consultancy, digital services, overtime and administrative costs – but despite these savings, nearly 100 staff will have to leave.

“Leave no stone unturned”

– Between 70 and 90 full-time equivalent positions will be eliminated by 2025, and we intend to do this on a voluntary basis, Fürst Haugen continues.

However, she says that they don’t want to cut the channels’ content and programming for the sake of viewers and listeners, and that they are therefore very keen to implement the savings in other ways – if possible.

– We will therefore leave no stone unturned to find other ways to make savings. Our experience with the 2023 cost savings has been good, and I am confident that we will succeed. But I cannot rule out that the savings will also have an impact on the public offering.