NordenBladet – The 24-year-old Gustav Magnar Witzøe is Norway’s richest person with a capital of NOK 11.1 billion. He is shareholder of his father’s marine business. According the tax list, The 24-year-old Gustav Magnar Witzøe has the most wealth and paid the highest tax in Norway last year.
Towards the end of 2011 Witzøe has taken over all shares from his father’s company Kverva, which at that time made him Norway’s youngest billionaire.
After five years, he has now been listed with a capital of NOK 11.14 billion as the richest person in Norway. This is an increase of NOK 1.3 billion from the previous year.
The country’s second richest is the businessman in fishing industry, Kjell Inge Røkke with a capital of over NOK 11 billion.
NordenBladet – A recent report from Proba samfunnsanalyse confirms that young Norwegians with immigrant background benefit from social assistance less than ethnic Norwegian youths. While 1.2 per cent of this group receives social assistance, the figure is 1.6 per cent for Norwegians without immigrant background.
“This is interesting but not surprising finding,” says Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Anniken Hauglie (H) to NRK. The motivation for seeking jobs among young immigrant background Norwegians is influenced by the public perception about immigration and unemployment, according to NRK.
“Because we do not want anyone to think we came here just to get social assistance, but we want to work,” 20-year-old Tasbih Hindi says to NRK.
The report “Social Assistance Expenses – Driving Power and Measures” is commissioned by The Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS).
Municipalities, want to reduce the costs of social assistance, which is increasing every year. There has been a sharp increase of 38 per cent in social assistance expenses from 2012 to 2016.
General immigrant population makes up a large part of the social beneficiaries.
NordenBladet – “Mjøstårnet” will be more than 80 metres tall and stand 30 metres higher than what is today considered the world’s tallest timber building. “Mjøstårnet sets new standards for timber constructions. The building is the closest we come to a skyscraper in timber,” says investor and contracting client, Arthur Buchardt.
Mjøstårnet, named after its neighbour and Norway’s largest lake, Mjøsa. The record-breaking construction will sit on the edge of the north-eastern tip of the lake in the small town of Brumunddal, an hour and a half’s drive north of Oslo.
Spanning over 18 floors, the building will reach 80 metres high, and include apartments, an indoor swimming pool, hotel, offices, restaurant and communal areas. Construction is scheduled to be completed in December 2018. Moelven, a Mjøsa-local Scandinavian industrial group, will supply the timber constructions from local spruce forests required to construct the tower and the swimming pool area.
“The assembly and construction of the Mjøstårnet is nothing short of world-class engineering, and will be managed without external scaffolding, despite the complexity of working at heights. We are primarily using cranes and supplementing with lifts as needed. We have reached 33 metres to date, meaning we have 50 metres to go,” says Buchardt.
NordenBladet – The White House confirms the visit in a press release. Solberg and Trump have encountered earlier during international meetings, but it will be the first proper meeting between Solberg and Trump.
“The United States is important for Norway for security and commerce. Such a meeting gives us the opportunity to promote our view of open world trade and the importance of working together internationally to solve climate challenges,” says Prime Minister Erna Solberg.
“President Trump looks forward to exchanging views on the bilateral ties between the United States and Norway, and how jointly to advance regional and global security, and economic prosperity. The President and Prime Minister will discuss shared defense and security goals within NATO and the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, as well as trade and investment between the United States and Norway,” writes The White House.
NordenBladet – Sigrid, Kygo, Aurora and Alan Walker will take the stage in one of the biggest music festivals in the world, the Coachella in April. Coachella is considered one of the largest and most important music festivals in the United States and will be held on April 13 this year.
This year , the organizers have invited four Norwegian artists- Kygo, Alan Walker, Sigrid and Aurora to the festival.
The Norwegian artists will be on the stage together with big names like Beyoncé, The Weeknd and Eminem.
The first Norwegian artists who debuted at the prestigious festival were Turboneger, 120 Days and Datarock in 2008.
NordenBladet – There is a lot going on all the time.. I would like to keep you updated with 100% of my ventures, yet I doubt if I have the capacity to reflect on 10% of everything that is going on daily. Here I am facing the dilemma – whether to post blogs more frequently and more briefly or, on the contrary, more seldom but also more exhaustively instead. Which option would you like more?
NordenBladet and the OHMYGOSSIP sites that belong to it are expanding rapidly! Such increase in growth couldn’t have been hoped for in wildest fantasies! Today NordenBladet has an overlapping share of readers with the TOP 10 of Scandinavian media groups (Bonnier, Sanoma, MTG, Schibsted, Egmont, Aller, YLE, Otava, Alma, NordenBladet), being in the social media steadily located in the TOP 5 best Scandinavian editions – the latter position is due to OHMYGOSSIP’s enormous international pool of readers. It is my dream to build NordenBladet into Scandinavia’s #1 newsletter and online journal!
I am well aware that I dream big – however, when one looks at other players on the Scandinavian media scenery then it becomes evident that we are on the right course – NordenBladet (as well as Sanoma and Modern Times Group) when beside other media editions are kiddies with regard to the year of establishment! Bonnier was founded 213 years ago and NordenBladet 5 years ago – the fact that we are already compared alongside one another is a considerable accomplishment in my eyes! Of course, there is still plenty of room for growth, but I feel in my heart that we are on the right track moving upwards and this achievement makes my heart beat faster!
A concise overview of the TOP 10 Scandinavian media groups:
Bonnier – founded 213 years ago Bonnier is a Swedish publishing company established in 1804. The company came to life when Gerhard Bonnier founded a bookstore in Copenhagen. A book publishing company Albert Bonniers Förlag was founded in Stockholm in 1837. In the year 1924 the Bonnier family purchased the majority of the partnership in the Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter, and in 1929 purchased Ahlen&Akerlund, at that time the largest magazine publishing company. In 1944 Bonnier founded the successful evening paper Expressen. In 1950 Bonnier began publishing comic strips. In 1965 began issuing hobbies related journals. In 1973 the one family company expanded towards the film industry, purchasing the largest Swedish filmmaker SF. In 1976 began the publication of Dagens Industri, a newspaper on the topics of economy, belonging to the Bonnier family. In 1984 Bonnier began publishing Science Illustrated. In 1989 Bonnier launched the newspaper Äripäev. Since 1997 Bonnier has gradually taken up shares in Sweden’s largest television channel TV4, as of today 99% of the shares belong to Bonnier. In 2005 Bonnier purchased the Finnish television channel MTV3 and the radio station Radio Nova. In 2006 Bonnier attained partnership in the U.S. publishing company World Publication which is issuing ca 50 periodicals and runs half a hundred web sites. Nowadays Bonnier is represented in 25 countries, the media group has got shares in the total of 175 companies. Bonnier is to this day a family enterprise.
Sanoma – founded 18 years ago
Established in 1999 Sanoma Oy (until 2008 Sanoma WSOY) is Finland’s largest media group and the second largest in the Nordic countries, active in more than 20 European countries. The company’s headquarters is located in Helsinki and ca 19500 people work for the company. The biggest newspaper in Finland and the Northern countries, Helsingin Sanomat, belongs to this media group. Nelonen Media, also belonging to this group, runs 6 television channels, the most important of them being Nelonen.
Modern Times Group (MTG) – founded 20 years ago
Founded in 1997. Modern Times Group (MTG) is a Swedish media company. MTG was summoned in 1997 by Kinnevik, an investment company hosting various media enterprises, via the assemblance of Viasat and Metro International under the name Modern Times Group. Viasat is made up from a bunch of television channels, including for example TV3 (the first commerce channel in Sweden, launched in 1987), ZTV, Viasat Sport and TV1000. Metro International manages a chain of newspapers delivered free of charge. MTG is issuing shares on the Stockholm stock exchange, referred to by the symbols MTGA and MTGB.
Schibsted – founded 178 years ago
Established in 1839. Schibsted is a Norwegian media group active in 20 countries, mainly Norway and Sweden. It is noted at Oslo’s stock market. In the year 2013 it owned the newspapers Postimees and Õhtuleht in Estonia as well as the television channels Kanal 2 and Kanal 11. In the year 1998 it purchased the newspaper Sõnumileht. Schibsted activities re related with the following areas: printed news, film, publishing, multimedia, mobile services. Schibsted stock is at Oslo’s stock exchange.
Egmont – founded 139 years ago Egmont media group (previously Gutenberghus media group) is a media enterprise founded in Copenhagen in 1878. Egmont Group was founded by Egmont Harald Petersen in the year 1878.
Aller – founded 144 years ago
Established in the year 1873, Aller Media is a Northern media group with the headquarters located in Denmark, Copenhagen. Best known brands from Aller Media are Elle, Cafe, Familie Journlen, Femina, Allers and Se og Hor. Aller Media was established in the year 1873 in Copenhagen by Carl Aller and his wife Laura aller and in the 1890s the company expanded to Sweden and Norway and in 1992 also to Finland.
Yle – 91 years ago Yle (the full name in Finnish is Yleisradio and in Swedish Rundradion Ab) is a Finnish official television- and broadcasting group established in the year 1926. Yle is a broadcasting organization with a lot in common with the British broadcasting BBC, since it has been their example while designing Yle. Yle belongs to the Finnish republic (98,88%). Yle transmits four national television channelds, 13 radio networks and 25 regional radio channels. Finland is an officially bilingual country – ca 5,5% of the Finnish population speaks Swedish as their mother tongue.
Otava – founded 127 years ago Otava (officially Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava) is among Finland’s oldest and largest publishing companies. Otava has published, among others, writings from Eino Leino, Veijo Meri, Marja-Liisa Vartio, Paavo Haavikko, Tuomas Anhava, Mauri Kunnas, Antti Tuuri, Kjell Westö and Laila Hirvisaari (Hietamies). Otava is a public limited company, established in 1890. It is one part of the Otava group (Otava Oy). The editor-in-chief since 2009 is Pasi Vainio. The sales of the publishing company in 2014 was 54,5 M euros, the profit was 7,2 M euros.
Alma – 168 years ago
Established in the year 1849. Alma Media is a media enterprise mainly focussing on digital services and publishing. The best known brands of Alma Media are Aamulehti, Iltalehti, Kauppalehti, Talouselämä Monster.fi and Etuovi.com. About 2400 people work for Alma Media.
NordenBladet – 5 years ago
NordenBladet is the largest readership owning media groups in the Northern countries (over 7 million readers monthly), its headquarters are located in Estonia, Tallinn. Established in 2012 by the owner of international OHMYGOSSIP sites and Scandinavia’s best known blogger and most followed woman in social media Helena-Reet Ennet. Active in 17 countries worldwide, mainly in Estonia, Finland, Sweden, America, England, Brazil and Russia. The best known brands from NordenBladet are NordenBladet, OHMYGOSSIP, OHMYGOSSIPteen, Ohmygossip Couture and Bloglist24.
NordenBladet — Norway is to become the first Scandinavian country to decriminalise drugs as it focuses on treatment rather than punishment. The majority of the Norwegian parliament, the Storting, backed the historic shift which was supported by the Conservatives (Hoyre), Liberals (Venstre), the Labor Party (Ap) and the Socialist Left (SV).
Sveinung Stensland, deputy chairman of the Storting Health Committee, told Norwegian publication VG: “It is important to emphasise that we do not legalise cannabis and other drugs, but we decriminalise.
“The change will take some time, but that means a changed vision: those who have a substance abuse problem should be treated as ill, and not as criminals with classical sanctions such as fines and imprisonment.”
Nicolas Wilkinson, the SV party’s health spokesman, told VG that parliament’s goal was to “stop punishing people who struggle, but instead give them help and treatment”. He added the aim is to transfer responsibility for drug policy from the justice system to the health system.
The move follows the drug programme with judicial control (ND) scheme to replace custodial sentences with treatment programmes for drug addicts in the cities of Bergen and Oslo.
Launched in 2006 the scheme, billed as an “alternative to detention in prison”, was rolled out to all Norwegian courts last year.
Justice Minister Anders Anundsen previously said: “The goal is that more addicts will rid themselves of their drug dependency and fewer will return to crime.
“But if the terms of the programme are violated, the convicts must serve an ordinary prison term.”
Norway’s Country Drug Report released this year shows in 2014, the latest figures available, 266 people died from drug-related deaths. The figures, released by the Cause of Death Register, showed an increase from the year before, with opioids the most commonly involved drug.
The Norwegian Health Committee is planning a trip to Portugal in February, which decriminalised personal possession of drugs in 2001. The country made the move following a heroin epidemic and the highest drug-related Aids deaths in the European Union (EU).
It now has the second lowest drug-related deaths in the EU.
Norway could join other countries such as Portugal, the Netherlands, Uruguay, and certain US states including California and Colorado, which have liberalised drug laws.
NordenBladet — The Nordic Council of Ministers has established a fixed-term council of ministers, MR-Digital, to coordinate cooperation on digitalisation. The Baltic states also participate in the cooperation.
Minister Anne Berner will attend the first MR-Digital meeting on 8 December 2017 in Oslo. The meeting will decide on the future priorities and discuss the use of electronic authentication (eID) and the 5th generation wireless systems (5G).
NordenBladet – In a session of the Council of State 20 October, the King has made changes in the Norwegian Government. State Secretary Marit Berger Røsland has been appointed Minister of EEA and EU Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Marit Berger Røsland’s work experience includes:
2016 – State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
2015 – 2016 State Secretary in the Ministry of Justice and Public Security
2014 – 2015 State Secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister
2006 – 2014 Lawyer, Wiersholm.
2010 Deputy Judge, Oslo District Court
2003 – 2005 Political Adviser in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
2000 – 2001 Political Secretary, Mayor of Oslo
Political appointments
2003-2007 Member, Oslo City Council
2000-2002 Deputy Chair, Young Conservatives
1997–2000 Member, Akershus County Council
Marit Berger Røsland holds a Master’s degree in law from the University of Oslo (2006).
NordenBladet – In a session of the Council of State of 20 October, the King has made changes in the Norwegian Government. Minister of Defence Ine Eriksen Søreide has been appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. he is the first woman to hold this position.
Political background
Eriksen Søreide represents The Conservative Party (Høyre), and is elected to parliament from the constituency of Oslo.
Her parliamentary experience includes:
2009-2013 Chair, Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence, and Chair, Enlarged Foreign Affairs Committee
2009-2013 Head of the Delegation for Relations with the European Parliament, and Head of the European Consultative Committee
2005-2009 Chair, Standing Committee on Education, Research and Church Affairs
2001-2005 Member, Standing Committee on Education, Research and Church Affairs
Eriksen Søreide holds a Graduate degree in Law (Cand. jur.) from The University of Tromsø (2007).
