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☆ US Marines don skis in joint NATO exercises in the critical Arctic battleground
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-17 | by ( Cameron Manley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Last month, II MEF attended a 10-day training course in the hills near the Norwegian town of Setermoen. "I think that's one of the things that we see with our marines and sailors in this training," said II MEF commander, Lt. AdvertisementThe II MEF, the US military's rapid response group, was ordered to delay the hypothetical enemy so that "reinforcements" had time to arrive. The Arctic is a key locationThe Arctic itself is already a critical region for Russia and NATO. AdvertisementPutin has snapped back at the West following French President Emmanuel Macron's suggestions that NATO could send troops to Ukraine.

Persons: —, Ted Driscoll, David A, JONATHAN NACKSTRAND, Grant Schapps, Pål Jonson, Mark Stephens, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Emmanuel Macron's, Sergei Naryshkin, General Carl, Johan Edstrom, it's Organizations: Service, US Marines, Marine Expeditionary Force, NATO, Marines, Business, NBC News, Nato Nordic, Getty, Reuters, NBC, Norwegian Communication Authority, Brookings Institution, Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, BBC Locations: Alaska, Norway, Norwegian, Setermoen, Iraq, Afghanistan, AFP, Russia, Ukraine, Finland, Sweden, North America, Europe, Russian

☆ A new company is shipping Arctic ice from Greenland to chill posh drinks in Dubai
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-01 | by ( Laura Paddison | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The startup company, Arctic Ice, shipped its first container of around 22 tons of Greenland ice to Dubai this year for sale to high-end bars and restaurants. Founded in 2022 by two Greenlanders, Arctic Ice has an interesting — and controversial — business model. Arctic Ice claims it’s offering a novel way to harness a natural resource, carving out new economic opportunities and raising awareness of the Arctic. Various attempts have been made over the past few decades to bring back natural ice commercially, but with little success. But perhaps inevitably for a business model that involves shipping a diminishing natural resource halfway across the world, Arctic Ice has attracted controversy.

Persons: ”, Malik V, Rasmussen, ” Rasmussen, “, Jennifer Francis, Francis, It’s, Jason Box Organizations: CNN, glitzy, Climate Research, Geological Survey Locations: glitzy Dubai, Dubai, Nuuk, Greenland, Europe, people’s freezers, Norway, Denmark

☆ I paid $55,000 to go on a 3-year cruise around the world after my wife died. The cruise was abruptly canceled, and I still haven't been refunded.
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-23 | by ( Lauren Steussy | Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Purcell was among the dozens of passengers who signed up for a three-year cruise with Life at Sea — an around-the-world journey that was canceled two weeks before its departure. A representative for Miray Cruises denied the passengers' fraud accusations and said they would refund the passengers by February 15. I thought, "God, this cruise is really something I could do." I've been putting off processing my grief, and I'm going to join a grief group in the next couple of weeks. I'm not on that ship, but I'm taking charge of my life.

Persons: —, David Purcell, Purcell, Beth, We'd, they've, I'm Organizations: Service, Miray Cruises, Business, Navy, Miami Airport, US Department of Justice, FBI, US Locations: Southern Florida, Kansas, Norway, Antarctica, New Zealand, Australia, South America, Asia, Roatán, Honduras, Kirkwood , Missouri

☆ The best islands in Europe for getting away from almost everyone
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Terry Ward | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

Here are some of the best islands in Europe for getting away from almost everyone:Schiermonnikoog, the NetherlandsThe Netherlands is better known for canals, dikes and tropical Dutch Caribbean Islands like Bonaire and Curaçao than the sandspun isles along the country’s North Sea coast. Flores Island, Azores, PortugalWaterfalls trickle down an imposing rock face on the island Flores in the Azores. aroxopt/Adobe StockOne of the most remote islands in an already remote archipelago, Flores Island in the westernmost stretches of the Azores is a nature lover’s dream. To say there’s room to stretch out and breathe on these Baltic Sea islands is an understatement. The best islands in Europe for getting away from almost everyoneHavsVidden offers a secluded escape on northern Fasta Åland with villas with their own saunas overlooking the rocky shoreline.

Persons: Annemarieke Romeijn, ”, Eyrún, Gabriela Silva, Flores, Rocha dos Bordões, Santa Cruz das Flores, Randi Skaug, “, Torunn Tronsvang, Richard Kellett, Luis Fonseca, iStockphoto, São João Baptista, Berlengas, Arlindo Serrao, Mola mola, Francesco Curione, Lent, Skyros, revelry, – it’s, Drake, Åland Organizations: CNN, Adobe, Heimaey, puffin, Norway Visitors, Intrepid, UNESCO, Visitors Locations: Europe, Ibiza, Netherlands, Caribbean, Bonaire, Curaçao, West Frisian, Wadden, Schier, Lauwersoog, Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland, Heimaey, Westman, Hotel Ranga, gannet, fulmar, Flores Island, Azores, Portugal, Flores, Santa Cruz, Naustholmen, Norway, Bodø, Northern Norway, Norwegian, Lofoten, ”, Tiree, Scotland, Hawaii, Scottish, Oban, Glasgow, Loganair, Berlengas, Peniche, São, Grande, Alicudi, Sicily, Italy, Taormina, Skyros, Greece, Mykonos, Rathlin, Northern Ireland, Ballycastle, Åland, Finland, Bothnia, Sweden

☆ U.S. military aircraft crashes into ocean near Japan island with six on board, one confirmed dead, coast guard says
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Jenni Reid | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

(Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)A U.S. military Osprey aircraft crashed into the ocean near Yakushima Island in Japan with six personnel onboard Wednesday, the local coast guard said. A spokesperson for the regional coast guard in Kagoshima Prefecture said that one person who was brought to hospital had been confirmed dead. A caller reported that an Osprey aircraft of unknown affiliation had crashed at around 2:47 p.m. local time on Nov. 29, a coast guard spokesperson told NBC News. The Osprey aircraft, which has vertical take-off and landing as well as long-range, high-speed capabilities, has been involved in a spate of recent incidents. Three U.S. Marines died in August when a MV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft crashed off the coast of northern Australia, with 23 on board.

Persons: Dominick A Cremeans, Smith Organizations: Osprey, NBC News, ., NHK, CNBC, U.S, Marines, NATO Locations: Iwo Jima, U.S, Yakushima, Japan, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japanese, Australia, California, Norway

[1/3] A scientist drives his snowmobile across an icefield of the arctic near Ny-Alesund, Svalbard, Norway, April 10, 2023. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the opening of the station, in Tromsoe, northern Norway, in June, as a means for the US to have a "diplomatic footprint above the Arctic Circle", he said. Tromsoe is the largest city in Arctic Norway, located about 400km (250 miles) to the west of Russia. Tromsoe is also the seat of the Arctic Council, a polar body comprising the eight Arctic states of Russia, the US, Canada, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Sweden and Denmark. Cooperation within the Arctic Council between Moscow and the Western Arctic states was put on hold after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Persons: Lisi Niesner, Antony Blinken, Andreas Oesthagen, Washington, Tromsoe, Gwladys Fouche, Terje Solsvik, Deborah Kyvrikosaios Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Reuters, Arctic Council, Cooperation, Thomson Locations: Ny, Alesund, Svalbard, Norway, Rights OSLO, United States, Washington, Ukraine, Tromsoe, Oslo, Arctic Norway, Russia, Canada, Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Moscow

☆ U.S. Opens Its Northernmost Diplomatic Station, in Arctic Norway
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Oct. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the opening of the station, in Tromsoe, northern Norway, in June, as a means for the US to have a "diplomatic footprint above the Arctic Circle", he said. Tromsoe is the largest city in Arctic Norway, located about 400km (250 miles) to the west of Russia. Norway and Russia share a border in the Arctic. Tromsoe is also the seat of the Arctic Council, a polar body comprising the eight Arctic states of Russia, the US, Canada, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Sweden and Denmark. Cooperation within the Arctic Council between Moscow and the Western Arctic states was put on hold after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Persons: Antony Blinken, Andreas Oesthagen, Washington, Tromsoe, Gwladys Fouche, Terje Solsvik, Deborah Kyvrikosaios Organizations: Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Reuters, Arctic Council, Cooperation Locations: Fouche OSLO, United States, Washington, Ukraine, Tromsoe, Norway, Oslo, Arctic Norway, Russia, Canada, Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Moscow

Magnus Mæland, the municipality mayor, then angrily removed the Russian wreath — only to have a woman, described by Norwegian public broadcaster NRK as being Russian, put it back. In 2019, on the 75th anniversary, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov laid wreaths at the monument and stood side-by-side with Norway’s foreign minister. On Saturday, Konygin gave a speech at the war memorial in the same Norwegian border town. Visiting locals from the Russian border town of Nikel faced the diplomat while residents from Kirkenes silently turned their back to him, according to the online outlet the Barents Observer. Locals had already placed a wreath at the monument before Konygin arrived, with the text “to our Ukrainian heroes from 1944 and 2022," according to the Barents Observer.

Persons: Magnus Mæland, ” Mæland, Marit Bjerkeng, Harald Sunde, Sergei Lavrov, Nikolai Konygin, Konygin Organizations: NRK, Russia’s, Observer, Locals, Barents Observer, Soviet Union Locations: COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Russian, Kirkenes, Norway, Soviet, Norwegian, Russia, Ukraine, Nazi Germany, Nikel

☆ Mining Old Sites Can be a Shortcut to More Copper for the Energy Transition
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Yusuf Khan | Mari Novik | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +8 min

In the U.S. and beyond, some are jumping ahead by targeting a new but also old source—closed mines, also known as brownfield sites. In the mountains of northern Norway, Bluelake is seeking to reopen the Joma mine that closed 25 years ago because of low copper prices. “Røyrvik has a valued tradition of mining in the old times,” said Hans Oskar Devik, the leader of the local government. Despite the challenges, brownfield mining is also being seen as a way to help ensure mineral security in the U.S., especially in areas such as defense and energy. Preview SubscribeWhen MP bought its brownfield site in 2017, it had a mining permit but was in a state of disrepair, with the pit itself flooded.

Persons: Arne Hanssen, Bluelake, Bluelake Mineral’s, Arne Hanssen Bluelake’s, Peter Hjorth, ” Hjorth, Joma, “ Røyrvik, ”, Hans Oskar Devik, Maahke Joma, Joma —, Snorre, NRK Joma, wasn’t, James Litinsky, Litinsky, ” Litinsky, Jeremy Richardson, Richardson, Yusuf Khan Organizations: P Global Market Intelligence, Perpetua Resources, Materials, California -, Municipal, Bluelake, NRK, Resources, Defense Department, McKinsey Lyon, Business, Rocky Mountain Institute Locations: Røyrvik, Trøndelag county, Norway, U.S, Sweden, Perpetua, Idaho, Arizona, California, California - Nevada, Germany, Italy, Boise, United States, China

Factors such as cheaper airfares and weaker currencies in Scandinavia could play a role, but one of the world's biggest tour operators TUI (TUI1n.DE) said on Wednesday that climate change will also drive more tourists northbound. Tour operators in places like northern Norway also see an increased demand. This had resulted in more direct flight routes to Northern Norway being created, it said. Heather Storgaard, a Scottish tourist, planned her summer vacation this year in Denmark, with a stop in Northern Germany. Wissenbach is often in Italy due to work but said she preferred the north for holidays.

Persons: Sebastian Ebel, Ebel, TUI, Fabio Scaglione, Diego Bruno, Bruno, Heather Storgaard, we'd, Margit Wissenbach, Joanna Plucinska, Marie Mannes, Rachel More, Alberto Chiumento, Mark Potter, William Maclean Organizations: Mastercard, TUI's, Stockholm, Thomson Locations: Europe, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Scandinavia, Poland, Belgium, Greece, Rhodes, Northern Norway, Turin, Italy, Italian, Spain, Scottish, Northern Germany, France, Germany, Switzerland, Gothenburg, Wissenbach

☆ This Famous ‘Spy’ Whale Likes People. That Could Be a Problem.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Claire Moses | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The highly sociable whale first gained fame in 2019, when he showed up in northern Norway wearing a harness, embossed with “St. But Hvaldimir, whose name is a combination of “hval,” the Norwegian word for whale, and Vladimir, is different from other whales. Researchers said it was impossible to know for sure whether Hvaldimir had really been a spy whale, and no country has claimed him. Militaries have long used animals, including during the Cold War, when the Soviet Navy trained dolphins for military use. The U.S. Navy has trained beluga whales to perform recovery operations and to find underwater mines.

Persons: Hvaldimir Organizations: Soviet Navy, U.S . Navy Locations: Sweden, Norway, St, Petersburg, Vladimir

☆ The Russian navy's biggest warships are becoming its biggest headaches
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Benjamin Brimelow | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Ongoing problems with the Russian navy's biggest warships illustrate that trend. This seems most evident with Russia's largest surface warships: its Kirov-class nuclear-powered battlecruisers, Admiral Nakhimov and Pyotr Velikiy, and the Admiral Kuznetsov, Russia's sole aircraft carrier. Admiral Kuznetsov in a floating dry dock in a shipyard in Murmansk in August 2010. Other Russian navy sources quickly denied the report to another state media outlet. Izvestia has also reported that the Russian navy is reforming the Kuznetsov's crew, which was mostly disbanded when the ship began its refit.

☆ See inside an arctic Airbnb village that costs $190 per night and lets guests sleep under the Northern Lights
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Jamie Killin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

The Arctic Hideaway, located in northern Norway, was created by composer Håvard Lund. The village has all the functions of a normal home but is split into multiple structures. Guests at the Airbnb can see wildlife like birds and otters, and a view of the Northern Lights. "Despite my in-depth description on Airbnb, I still have bookings from people who don't read one word and just see the pictures and come. "People breathe differently and see natural phenomena that they won't see if they're indoors," like birds, sea otters, and the Northern Lights, Lund said.

☆ After 35 years in flight, the US military says it's done buying one of its most unique and controversial aircraft
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Stavros Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Since its first flight in 1989, the V-22 Osprey has provided a unique capability to the US military. One of them is the V-22 Osprey, a unique and controversial aircraft that has carried conventional troops and special operators around the world for two decades. US Navy/Vernon PughIn the three decades since its first flight, the V-22 Osprey has brought a distinct capability to the US military's aviation fleet, despite its troubled development. Conventional and special-ops missionsUS Air Force special tactics operators fast rope from a CV-22B during an exercise in the UK in April 2021. In August 2022, Air Force Special Operations Command grounded its CV-22s over issues with its clutch, which had caused several "safety incidents."

☆ The US Navy is putting its submarines on rare public display in a message to Russia's growing undersea force
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Christopher Woody | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The US Navy has announced several visits by its subs to North Atlantic ports in recent years. Since 2020, when Norway allowed NATO subs to use a port near Tromsø, announcements of such visits appear to have increased. 'We're in your backyard'British Royal Navy attack submarine HMS Astute sails to the base at Faslane in November 2009. Russian Navy Yasen-class submarine Kazan at its base in Severomorsk on Russia's Arctic coast in June 2021. During the Cold War, US attack subs operated in the high north to get the Soviets to keep their attack subs close by to protect their ballistic-missile subs.

☆ Some travel is 'off the charts' expensive, experts say. Here are 3 ways to cut some costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Greg Iacurci | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

D3sign | Moment | Getty ImagesInternational travel costs have hit record highsThe Eiffel Tower and Seine River at sunrise in Paris. The so-called "revenge travel" dynamic has helped to push up prices, perhaps most acutely for travel abroad. These are record-high prices, Berg said. People should be prepared not just for a busy travel season, but an expensive travel season. Sally French travel expert at NerdWalletThis summer is expected to be the busiest on record for international travel, the U.S. State Department said in March.

☆ Map shows how Russia's border with NATO more than doubles with Finland as a member
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Sinéad Baker | Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Finland officially became a member of the NATO military alliance on Tuesday. Finland has an 830-mile border with Russia, meaning Russia's border with NATO more than doubles. Finland's presence in the alliance more than doubles the border between NATO countries and Russia. The increase in public and political support in Finland for joining NATO came after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He added: "In the event that the forces and resources of other NATO members are deployed in Finland, we will take additional steps to reliably ensure Russia's military security."

☆ I own an 'arctic hideaway' Airbnb in Norway, where guests can pay $150 per night to sleep under the Northern Lights
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Jamie Killin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Håvard Lund is the owner of an "arctic hideaway" Airbnb in Gildeskål, Nordland, Norway. Lund's Airbnb is a village of tiny houses, where guests can see wildlife and the Northern Lights. They came up with the idea of a tiny village with all the functions of a normal house, but cut into several houses. A arctic hideaway building with the Northern Lights in the sky behind it fyreMediaTwo of the six years we've been open have been during the COVID-19 pandemic, so it's been slow. If guests come to visit a remote island in the Arctic without shops and cars, they need to know that they can handle it.

[1/5] Campaigners who have been protesting in Oslo for over a week against the wind turbines at Fosen, end the campaign with a demonstration in front of the Royal Castle in Oslo, Norway, March 3, 2023. Demonstrators had urged government action after Norway's supreme court ruled in 2021 that 151 turbines erected at Fosen in central Norway violated Sami rights under international conventions, but remained in operation 17 months later. Saying that a transition to green energy should not come at the expense of Indigenous rights, protesters blocked access to several ministries, putting the centre-left minority government in crisis mode. "We have made the government take responsibility for the ongoing violations of human rights and apologise," Sami artist and campaigner Ella Marie Haetta Isaksen told Reuters. "This case is bigger than just Fosen," Christian Rynning-Toennesen, the head of utility Statkraft and the operator of one of the affected wind farms, told reporters on Thursday.

☆ Battery start-up Freyr accelerates U.S. plans on IRA support
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Nora Buli | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

OSLO, March 1 (Reuters) - New York-listed Norwegian battery start-up Freyr is accelerating investment in a U.S. plant to benefit from Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) tax credits, its chief executive told Reuters this week. Of the two large battery plants Freyr is currently building, plans for Giga America, in the state of Georgia, were previously anticipated to be 10-12 months behind those of Giga Arctic, in northern Norway. Tax credits offered through the IRA meant that Freyr would receive $37 million per gigawatt hour (GWh) of capacity installed in the United States, he added. The IRA also offers investment tax credits for energy storage projects, he said. A first, smaller customer qualification site in Norway will start production on March 28, but commercial operations are scheduled for 2024.

At stake is whether EU vessels have the right to catch snow crab, whose meat is considered a delicacy by gourmets in Japan and South Korea, in the same way than Norwegian vessels do. "If the Supreme Court thinks the Svalbard treaty applies, it is not only about snow crab, it will be about oil, gas, minerals and fish," he told Reuters. In a sign of the importance the case has for Norway, 16 Supreme Court judges were present on Tuesday to hear arguments during the four-day session. "The key question here is the Svalbard Treaty and the surrounding areas," Hallvard Oestgaard, representing the Latvian fishing firm, told the court in his opening statement. In 2019 the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that EU fishermen must ask permission from Oslo to catch snow crab, after the same Latvian fisheries company had tried to fish off Svalbard with only an EU licence.

☆ The Nord Stream pipeline attack shows what Russia can do, Western officials say, even if they can't prove Russia did it
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Christopher Woody | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

After months of investigation, Western officials can't prove Russia blew up the Nord Stream pipelines. While they can't name Russia as the culprit, officials say the attacks illustrate what Russia can do. The vulnerability of undersea infrastructure, like pipelines and data cables, is a growing concern. Four months on, investigators are unable to prove Moscow was behind the attack, but officials say the explosions illustrate the threat malign actors — especially Russia — pose to vital undersea infrastructure. Despite the uncertainty, the attack has only added to concern about threats to undersea infrastructure, particularly cables and pipelines, that connects continents and powers economies.

☆ Florian Ledoux: The icy patience of an Arctic photographer
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Nell Lewis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —The polar bear was just a faraway speck in a frozen white expanse. “It’s the price we pay to get unique images,” recounts award-winning French photographer and filmmaker Florian Ledoux. Florian LedouxThe months when the sun just starts to poke through create the perfect palette for a photographer, Ledoux says. Yet these are the days Ledoux lives for. Disney, Netflix or the likes will request a specific shot of a polar bear, such as a successful hunt or a mating scene.

Persons: speck, ”, Florian Ledoux, Florian Ledoux Ledoux, Ledoux, “ That’s, hasn’t, Florian, Florian Ledoux “ Organizations: CNN, Disney, Nature, Netflix, Oceanographic Magazine Locations: Tromsø, Norway, Longyearbyen, Svalbard

☆ As Russia's only aircraft carrier falls apart, some Russians want to undo a shady ship deal with China 25 years ago
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Russia's sole aircraft carrier has been sidelined for years and may not see action again. A Russian lawmaker has proposed trying buying China's Liaoning aircraft carrier as a replacement. Liaoning began life as a Soviet carrier, but China acquired it in a shady sale in the late 1990s. Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning during a drill in the western Pacific in April 2018. A 40-year-old aircraft carrier in the Black Sea won't provide much value.

☆ A US plan to drop bombs from cargo planes hit another milestone, but the Air Force is still figuring out how it would use it in a war
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Christopher Woody | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

US Air Force special operators launched a cruise missile from a cargo plane over Norway this month. The Air Force wants to have more planes that can launch long-range strikes, but there are logistical hurdles. US Air Force personnel load a Rapid Dragon deployment system on an MC-130J before a test in November 2021. Air Force Research Laboratory"The beauty of that capability is it doesn't require any aircraft modifications. We are intentionally trying to be provocative without being escalatory," said Melnicoff, Special Operations Command Europe's lead officer for Operation Atreus.

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