Fuel prices jump as temporary tax cuts end
Fuel prices went up across Norway overnight after temporary tax cuts on petrol and diesel ended at midnight on August 31st.
Long queues formed at petrol stations on Monday evening as motorists scrambled to fill their tanks before the price rise, daily newspaper Aftenposten reported.
Drivers shared stories of bringing multiple cans to stock up on cheaper fuel, while others stated they would now fuel up exclusively in Sweden.
From Tuesday, regular road taxes were added back, raising diesel prices by 4.51 kroner per litre and petrol by 4.26 kroner per litre, according to state broadcaster NRK.
On Tuesday morning, drivers at Esso Sogn in Oslo encountered prices of 27.56 kroner per litre for petrol and 29.25 kroner per litre for diesel.
Prices have also gone up sharply in other Norwegian cities, based on user reports on Drivstoffprisene.no.
Norwegian vocabulary: Økningen - the increase
READ MORE: Norwegian queen's son let off house arrest for king's funeral
Høiby granted leave from house arrest to attend king's funeral
Marius Borg Høiby, the son of Norway's Queen, will be allowed temporary leave from house arrest following his rape conviction and 32 other charges, to attend King Harald V's funeral, police said on Monday.
Høiby, born from a relationship prior to Queen Mette-Marit's marriage to Harald's son, King Haakon, was sentenced in June to four years in prison for two rapes, a conviction he is appealing.
He is serving his sentence under house arrest with an ankle tag while awaiting his appeals trial and was previously granted dispensation to visit Harald in hospital before the late king's death aged 89 on Friday.
As AFP reported, Høiby was also given permission to attend the transfer of the king's remains to the palace chapel on Monday evening.
"The public prosecutor deemed that there were grounds to grant the requests for leave submitted by Høiby in connection with the death," police prosecutor Oda Karterud told AFP.
Norwegian vocabulary: straffesaken - criminal case
Norway's late King Harald's casket moved to lie in state
As reported by AFP, the casket of Norway's late King Harald V was transferred on Monday to the royal palace chapel, where the late king will lie in state until his funeral on September 9th.
The coffin was escorted by Harald's children and grandchildren. Televised images showed a procession through the palace halls that included Marius Borg Høiby, the stepson of the new King Haakon VIII.
The casket, draped in Norway's royal standard, had been in the palace's Red Salon state room since Friday, after being transported from Oslo University Hospital.
The same ceremony of moving the king's casket to the chapel was held when Harald's father, King Olav V, died in 1991.
The public can visit the casket in the palace chapel from Tuesday at 2 pm until September 8th at 6pm. Visitors are not allowed to take photos or film inside the Palace Chapel.
Monday was also an emotional day for the Royal Family as they said their final goodbyes to King Harald V.
Members of the Royal Family placed funeral bouquets at the late King's coffin. Queen Sonja's tribute read: 'Thank you for a good life.'
In the afternoon, King Haakon VIII, Queen Mette-Marit, Queen Sonja, and Princess Märtha Louise went out to Palace Square. Each carried a single rose, placed it with the public tributes, and took time to read messages left by thousands of mourners.
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre was also at the Palace Square on Monday to greet the people.
Norwegian vocabulary: Kongeparet - the royal couple
King Haakon will swear an oath of allegiance in Parliament
At 1pm on Tuesday, King Haakon will take his oath to follow the Constitution in Norway.
He will be accompanied by Queen Mette-Marit and Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra.
Queen Sonja and Prince Sverre Magnus will not enter with King Haakon, but will attend the swearing-in from the Storting.
Norwegian vocabulary: avlegger ed - takes/swears an oath
King Haakon steps down as UN ambassador
King Haakon VIII has stepped down as goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), a role he held since 2003.
He was one of the UNDP’s longest-serving ambassadors. However, as the UN’s top representative in Norway, Toril-Iren Pedersen, director of the UNDP Global Policy Centre for Governance, told news website Panorama Nyheter that role has now ended.
"Now that he is King of Norway, it is a completely different role, and it is not natural for the role of UNDP ambassador to be transferred from Crown Prince to King," Pedersen told the publication.
Norwegian vocabulary: slutter - steps down / quits / ends
Half of this year's road deaths happened during the summer
A total of 83 people have died on Norwegian roads so far this year, according to a press release from the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Statens vegvesen). Half of those victims, 41 in total, lost their lives during the summer months.
Traffic Safety Norway (Trygg Trafikk) reported that fatal accidents happened in every county this summer, something that hasn't happened in ten years.
Also, 14 of the 19 motorcycle deaths this year happened during the summer.
"We are particularly concerned about motorcycle riders, who have so little protection when something goes wrong," said Guro Ranes, Director of Traffic Safety.
Norwegian vocabulary: dødsulykkene - the fatal accidents
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