Today in Norway: A roundup of the latest news on Friday

Traffic, train strikes, and winter tyres for Norway’s høstferie

After returning to school in August, families and students across Norway are getting ready for their first big break of the year: the autumn school holiday, or høstferie.

Depending on where you live, the break falls on either week 40 or week 41. From Monday, students in Oslo, Agder, Nordland, Akershus, Østfold, Buskerud, and Finnmark will have their week off, while the rest of the country will take their break the week after.

READ MORE: How Norway’s autumn school holiday dates vary across the country

If you plan to drive, be ready for heavier traffic. Roads will likely be much busier from Friday afternoon through the weekend as many people leave the cities.

If you were hoping to travel by train, keep in mind that the ongoing driver strike is still causing major headaches.

Rail operator Vy has already announced cancellations through to Sunday. There will be 145 cancelled departures on Friday, 96 on Saturday, and 76 on Sunday. This will be a major inconvenience for many people who already had their holidays planned.

READ MORE: Which routes are impacted by Norway’s train strike?

For those staying in the cities, local public transport in holidaying counties will also run on reduced timetables throughout the week, so check your local transport planner.

If you are going to the mountains, it may be a good time to check your tyres. The Norwegian Automobile Federation (Norges Automobil-Forbund, NAF) warns that you should switch to winter tyres if you are heading into higher altitudes, as snow has already hit several mountain passes.

“If you are staying in the lowlands, leave the summer tyres on,” said Nils Sødal, senior communications advisor at NAF, in a press release.

Norwegian vocabulary: fjell – mountains

Norwegian government to spend 240 million kroner more on getting people into work

A budget leak to news agency NTB, ahead of the official state budget presentation on October 7th, revealed that the Norwegian government will set aside an extra 240 million kroner to help more people get jobs.

This plan is part of the Labour Party’s goal to get 150,000 more people working by 2030.

According to figures from the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV), around 702,000 working-age individuals are currently outside the labour market in Norway, including 110,000 young people.

Minister of Employment and Inclusion Kjersti Stenseng told NTB, “It is moving in the right direction, but the numbers on exclusion are consistently far too high. This is one of our biggest challenges, and also one of the government’s top priorities.”

The extra money will go to youth job programs, wage subsidies for health and care jobs, and more support for immigrant women and young jobseekers who face mental health or social challenges.

Norwegian vocabulary: arbeidslivet – working life 

Oslo unveils proposed names for eight new consolidated districts

Earlier this year, Oslo City Council announced plans to consolidate the capital’s 15 districts into eight mega-districts from January 1st, 2028.

Following an open public consultation held in the spring, city authorities have now unveiled their final proposal for the new administrative names.

The eight new districts would be called Vestre Aker, Gamle Aker, Gamle Oslo, Frysja, Hovin, Øvre Groruddalen, Østensjø, and Nordstrand.

Health Councillor Oluf Ulseth defended the choices, saying that half of the names keep existing district names and the other half use historic designations. “We believe that the proposal both gives good names to each district and represents a whole,” Ulseth told Norwegian media. “The names of the new districts should highlight the city’s history, geography and identity, while supporting a clear and future-oriented district structure.”

However, the names have faced quick criticism for ignoring public preferences from over 2,300 consultation responses. Many residents wanted to keep traditional district names like Frogner and Sagene, or just keep the district numbers.

The full Oslo City Council will discuss and vote on the final names by November 1st.

Norwegian vocabulary: navnene – the names

Norway to launch unified national strategy to combat hate speech

The Norwegian government plans to launch a national strategy to fight hate speech and online harassment. The goal is to make public debate safer.

Minister of Culture and Equality Lubna Jaffery said that separate plans for fighting racism, antisemitism, anti-Muslim hatred, and discrimination will be combined into one strategy, which will be presented in 2027

This proposal comes after recent studies showed that 40 percent of local politicians have faced threats or harassment, while nearly four in ten young people say they have received hostile comments after speaking out in public.

Jaffery warned that without stronger protections, “only the most hardened of us will choose to be in politics or in the public debate and participate as engaged citizens. And then you get a narrow group of people,” as reported in Aftenposten.

Norwegian vocabulary: hatytringer – hate speech

Chinese EV sales surge in Norway despite scepticism

Chinese electric vehicle (EV) brands now make up a quarter of all new electric cars sold in Norway. This comes even as consumer scepticism surrounding data privacy and geopolitical concerns continues to climb.

According to a survey of nearly 15,000 EV owners conducted by the Norwegian Electric Vehicle Association (Norsk elbilforening), 31 percent of respondents are sceptical of Chinese-made cars for political reasons, up from 23 percent last year.

“New cars are practically running computers. When data security and privacy get more attention, it is natural that more consumers will be concerned about where the cars come from and how the data is handled,” Secretary General Christina Bu told Aftenposten.

Despite these concerns, China has gone from almost no market share in Norway in 2019 to becoming the country’s second-largest supplier of new electric cars in the first half of 2026.

The survey also showed that scepticism toward Tesla dropped sharply, from 43 percent last year to 24 percent this year. The association said this is because there has been less media focus on CEO Elon Musk’s political comments.

Norwegian vocabulary: kinesiske elbiler – chinese electric cars