Child stole Oslo city bus and drove to Sweden, Stoltenberg warns of impact of Hormuz blockade, and other news from Norway on Tuesday.
Child stole Oslo city bus and drove to Sweden
A 14-year-old boy stole an Oslo city bus and drove it to Sweden, where he was stopped by Swedish police driving down the E6 motorway to Gothenburg.
The bus company reported that their bus had been stolen in Vestby, Akershus, shortly after 4am on Tuesday morning.
“They have GPS tracking on this bus, and it registered it as being in Uddevalla in Sweden,” Rune Isaksen, the duty leader at Eastern Police District, told Norway’s public broadcaster NRK.
The boy was stopped at Stenungsund between Uddevalla and Gothenburg. There were no passengers in the bus and no one was injured.
“Now the Norwegian authorities are on their way to Sweden to bring this boy home. And then he will be followed up further by child welfare services,” Isaksen said.
Growing violence at Oslo schools: report
The number of reports of violent acts and threats at Oslo schools grew by 50 percent to 11,200 between 2024 and 2025, according to new municipal statistics, with the city’s special schools standing out with a 60 percent increase.
Julie Remen Midtgarden, from the Conservative Party, who sits on the Oslo council’s schools committee, downplayed the rise.
“Much of the increase is due to a better reporting culture and a system that makes it much easier for individuals to report,” she said. “And then there is certainly also a real increase, but how large a proportion is what, it is not clear.”
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Norwegian Tourist Association warns of plans to build on nature in Norway
Natural areas equivalent to the existing built-up area in Norway have been set aside for future construction projects, according to a report from the Norwegian Tourist Association (DNT).
“We are in the middle of a natural crisis. Yet municipalities and the state are planning to sacrifice enormous natural and outdoor areas,” said Inger Lise Blyverket, the association’s secretary general. “It is completely absurd.”
The report from DNT has been prepared by Norkart, which has based its analysis on spatial plans under the Planning and Building Act and measures under the sectoral acts.
In total, 5,557.5 square kilometres – 1.7 percent of mainland Norway – have been identified as being set aside for various purposes. This corresponds to an area the size of Akershus County – and is also approximately the same as the entire built-up area of Norway today.
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Stoltenberg: Strait of Hormuz blockade will affect Norwegian economy
Norway’s finance minister Jens Stoltenberg has warned that the US decision to blockade shipping traffic coming in and out of the Strait of Hormuz will hit Norway’s economy, leading to higher energy prices and higher inflation.
“It will contribute to higher energy prices. It could contribute to higher inflation worldwide, and it will also affect the Norwegian economy,” he said.
He also refused to comment on calls from the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions for interest rates to be kept stable, after Ida Wolden Bache, the governor of Norges Bank, said there could be one or two interest rate hikes this year.
Stoltenberg said the government should not get involved in interest rate decisions.
“It is Norges Bank that sets the interest rate. It is we who set the limits,” he said.