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☆ Sweden expects NATO ratification process in Hungary and Turkey to be completed soon
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

STOCKHOLM, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Sweden expects Hungary and Turkey to vote soon on Sweden's application to join the NATO alliance, Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said in Helsinki after a meeting with his Finnish counterpart on Friday. "We see the development in Hungary as positive and we judge that there, as with Turkey, a ratification process will soon be concluded when parliament votes on these questions," Billstrom said. "There is nothing that indicates we are not going to get a positive answer from the parliament in Budapest." Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Simon Johnson, editing by Terje SolsvikOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ EXCLUSIVE In letter, Sweden lists 'concrete actions' on Turkey's concerns over NATO bid
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Jonathan Spicer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Yet Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan said as recently as Oct. 6 that its demands had not yet been met. In its letter to Turkey, Sweden said that "concrete action has been taken on all core elements of the trilateral agreement". Sweden's foreign ministry, Turkey's foreign ministry and the communications arm of Erdogan's office each did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter. The letter was meant to reassure Turkey of Sweden's efforts amid ongoing bilateral talks and to encourage ultimate approval of the NATO membership bid, the source added. In a sign that talks were progressing, Sweden's foreign minister said on Friday he expects the last two holdouts, Turkey and Hungary, to vote soon on its NATO applications.

☆ Turkey's Erdogan to meet Swedish PM Kristersson to discuss extraditions, NATO bid
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERSISTANBUL, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said he will meet Sweden's new prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, to discuss Stockholm's bid to join NATO as well as the extradition of people Ankara considers terrorists. Sweden and fellow Nordic country Finland launched their bids to join NATO in May in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but they ran into objections from Turkey. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterErdogan said Kristersson, who took office on Monday, sided with the fight againt terrorism, Turkish broadcaster NTV reported. Erdogan has said Turkey's parliament would not approve the Nordic countries' NATO bids if they do not extradite the people Ankara has requested. Sweden has taken "concrete action" to address Turkey's concerns over its NATO membership bid, Stockholm told Ankara in a letter dated Oct. 6 and seen by Reuters.

☆ Trump boasted of getting on with strongmen like Putin and Erdogan better 'the tougher and meaner they are' in new audio
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In one clip, Trump said he likes leaders better "the tougher and meaner they are." In one excerpt, Trump described his admiration for authoritarian strongmen including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Erdoğan, and North Korean President Kim Jong Un. I campaigned on getting along with Russia, China and everyone else," Trump said in a January 2020 interview. Trump noted in the interviews that he had better relationships with leaders "the tougher and meaner they are." "It's funny, the relationships I have, the tougher and meaner they are, the better I get along with them.

Germany - the bloc's biggest economy and the main opponent of capping gas prices - said joint purchases, reducing consumption and boosting supply were the way to go instead. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterAhead of the summit, the EU's executive European Commission will propose separately on Tuesday another set of measures to curb high energy prices. They would not, however, include an immediate cap on gas prices, something that has split the bloc. The Croat and Lithuanian ministers backed a wholesale gas price cap, with Croatia also highlighting the need for joint gas purchases among the 27 EU member states. Tytti Tuppurainen, EU affairs minister of Finland - a country generally sceptical of market interventions - said Helsinki was now ready for a "temporary" price cap on gas.

☆ Netflix is doubling down on gaming, with dozens of new hires and a dedicated studio, as it chases younger audiences and battles to turn back subscriber losses
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Netflix is making dozens of hires and opening a studio in Finland to bolster its mobile games push. Netflix is hirings dozens of experts to bolster its year-old push into gaming. A recent Forrester survey of Netflix subscribers, reviewed exclusively by Insider, showed only 5% had played one of Netflix's mobile games in the previous month, while 4% said its mobile games keep them subscribing, and 54% said "I could care less" about games on Netflix. However, the streamer in September announced it was opening a games studio in Helsinki, Finland. But there's a lot of competition in mobile gaming and for consumers' attention, Proulx added, and it's an open question "how hard they should press with their strategy."

☆ Finland will shut border to Russian tourists from midnight
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

HELSINKI, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Finland will close its border to Russian tourists from midnight local time (2100 GMT), which is expected to lead to a significant drop in cross-border traffic, the government said on Thursday. The inflow of Russians is now seen as endangering Finland's international relations, Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told a news conference. Entry for family visits, as well as for work and studies, will still be permitted, he added. The Finnish government, wary of being a transit nation into western Europe's passport-free Schengen zone, on Friday said it planned to halt tourism from Russia and that a decision would be finalised in the days that followed. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Anne Kauranen, writing by Terje Solsvik, editing by Gwladys FoucheOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ ECB's Rehn warns against excessive energy expenditure
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

"The efforts of EU countries to identify ways to limit household energy bills are understandable but indiscriminately increasing expenditure would not be - and would not help in the fight against inflation," Rehn said in a statement. Instead, he called for tailored and temporary measures targeted at the most vulnerable to help them pay for their energy. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register"The long-term debt sustainability of more than one-third of the countries in the euro area is under serious threat," he said. Rehn said Europe should combine its forces in combating energy-related inflation via energy market reforms but first and foremost by saving energy. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Anne Kauranen; Editing by Balazs Koranyi and Hugh LawsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ A musician raised an AI 'baby' to harmonize with — and her newest experiment could usher in a brave, new world of art
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Drew Austin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

In the world of art, misgivings about AI have been particularly acute. Despite this widespread apprehension, Holly Herndon — an experimental musician and artist — doesn't think AI is nefarious or will ruin art. In her blog post announcing Holly+, Herndon said she envisioned a future where digitally created voices "soon become standard practice for artists and other creatives." While the project has yielded an ever-growing array of fascinating art, Holly+ also raises questions about the future of that art. (Anyone can use the Holly+ voice tool itself without submitting the output to the DAO, however.)

☆ ECB policymakers put 75 bps hike on table for October
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

FRANKFURT/HELSINKI, Sept 28 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank may need to raise interest rates by another 75 basis points at its October meeting and move again in December to a level that no longer stimulates the economy, policymakers said on Wednesday. Finnish central bank chief Olli Rehn, considered a moderate swing voter, also said that 75 basis points could be among the options. Outspoken policy hawk Robert Holzmann, Austria's central bank governor, also backed a 75 basis point move in an interview with Bloomberg TV, arguing that 100 basis points would simply be too much. ECB President Christine Lagarde said the "first destination" in the rate hiking cycle will be the "neutral" rate, which neither stimulates not slows growth. "In my view, we are heading towards the range of the neutral rate by Christmas," Rehn said.

The October move should then be followed by another step that takes the ECB to what policymakers call the neutral rate, which neither stimulates nor slows growth, ending a more than decade-long experiment with ultra-easy policy. "In my view, we are heading towards the range of the neutral rate by Christmas," said Rehn, 60, a potential Finnish presidential candidate who often tops opinion polls. While undefined, the neutral rate is seen somewhere between 1.5% and 2%, well above the ECB's 0.75% deposit rate. "For euro zone inflation, there is one driver above others and one anchor more important than others," Rehn said. While a downturn is increasingly likely to morph into a recession given sky-high energy prices and potential energy shortages, Rehn argued this was still a small price to pay.

☆ Finland closes highway for fighter jet drill for first time in decades
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Anne Kauranen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JOUTSA, Finland, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Finland has shut down a section of one of its main highways for five days for the first time in decades to allow its fighter jets to practice landings and take-offs on a reserve road runway. But the reserve roadbase located in Joutsa, Central Finland, has not been used for decades due to its importance as the main highway connecting the capital Helsinki to the more northern parts of the country. "Mainly I believe all the roadbases are in quite good condition so easily taken into the operations in a couple of days," Mantyla said. Another local, Seija Viinikainen, 57, welcomed the exercise amid the Ukraine war turning the situation "dubious". Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Anne Kauranen; Editing by Lisa ShumakerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Gas leak at Nord Stream 2 as seen from the Danish F-16 interceptor on Bornholm, Denmark September 27, 2022. But since both Nord Stream pipelines contained mostly methane, "the potential for a massive and highly damaging emission event is very worrisome", McCabe said. Scientists say sharp cuts in methane emissions over the next few years will be a vital lever in curbing climate change. Releasing that amount in entirety to the atmosphere would result in around 200,000 tonnes of methane emissions, said chemical engineer Paul Balcombe at London's Queen Mary University. ENVIRONMENTAL RISKWhile oil spills can immediately affect and ultimately kill wildlife, authorities say the gas pipeline gas leaks pose a limited threat to the surrounding plant and animal life.

☆ Netflix is hiring a slew of engineers and developers to bolster its gaming push as subscriptions fall off
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Netflix is making a slew of hires and opening a studio in Finland to bolster its mobile games push. Netflix is hirings dozens of experts to bolster its year-old push into gaming. However, on Monday, the streamer announced it was opening a games studio in Helsinki, Finland. Another listing, for a senior games engineer, shares that "Netflix is building a new internal game studio to incubate and build a new class of hilarious, social party video games." But there's a lot of competition in mobile gaming and for consumers' attention, Proulx added, and it's an open question "how hard they should press with their strategy."

☆ Netflix is opening a video game studio in Finland as part of latest pivot into gaming
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The streaming giant is building its first in-house video game studio in Helsinki, Finland, as it expands its empire over mobile games, Netflix announced Monday. The new gaming studio will be helmed by Marko Lastikka, a veteran from gaming giants Zynga and Electronic Arts, Netflix VP of Game Studios Amir Rahimi said in a blog post. Rahimi said the new studio, however, will be built “from scratch.”Monday’s announcement brings Netflix’s total number of gaming studios up to four. Netflix’s Rahimi said each studio has “different strengths and focus areas” and together will develop a diverse suite of games for Netflix users. Netflix Games have been live for a little over a year now.

A man smokes while walking past a mural, which was painted on a multi-storey building in support of the Russian army, in Moscow, Russia September 21, 2022. read morePrices for air tickets out of Moscow soared above $5,000 for one-way tickets to the nearest foreign locations, with most air tickets sold out completely for coming days. $5,000 TICKETSA tourism industry source told Reuters that there was desperation as people sought to find air tickets out of Russia. Traffic arriving at Finland's eastern border with Russia "intensified" overnight, the Finnish Border Guard said. read moreRussian police detained more than 1,300 people in Russia on Wednesday at protests denouncing mobilisation, a rights group said.

☆ Finland says traffic on border with Russia increasing
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterHELSINKI, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Traffic arriving at Finland's eastern border with Russia has "intensified" during the night, the Finnish Border Guard said early on Thursday, while adding that the situation was under control. "The number clearly has picked up," the Finnish border guard's head of international affairs Matti Pitkaniitty told Reuters. read moreWednesday's number of people crossing the border was, however, lower than during the weekend, according to Pitkaniitty. He said 4,824 Russians arrived in Finland via the eastern border on Wednesday, up from the 3,133 a week earlier. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Stine Jacobsen, Essi Lehto and Gwladys Fouche, editing by Terje Solsvik and Kim CoghillOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Genreal view of electricity pylons and power lines leading from the Uniper coal power plant in Hanau, Germany, early morning November 23, 2016. Alongside surging European gas prices, crude oil jumped more than 2% on Wednesday after Putin announced the partial military mobilisation, escalating the war in Ukraine and raising concerns of even tighter global energy supplies. read moreAfter buying Fortum's stake, the German state will hold about 99% of Uniper, the economy ministry said. Eastbound gas flows via the Yamal-Europe pipeline to Poland from Germany were halted on Wednesday, while Russian supply via Ukraine held stable. read moreMoscow has said it would cut all oil and gas flows to the West if such cap was implemented.

☆ Uniper’s new bailout mixes scars and consolations
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( George Hay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Berlin on Wednesday effectively nationalised the stricken energy company by injecting 8 billion euros in fresh equity, and paying 78% Finnish state-held shareholder Fortum (FORTUM.HE) token compensation in return. Fortum boss Markus Rauramo has good cause to concede that his company should feel “humble” about the current deal. Deconsolidating Uniper’s losses from its accounts means Fortum’s balance sheet equity will therefore be 5 billion euros higher than it would have been. Follow @gfhay on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSGermany confirmed the nationalisation of struggling gas importer Uniper at a cost of 8 billion euros ($7.9 billion) on Sept. 21. In the second quarter alone, Fortum made a loss of 9.1 billion euros due to Uniper’s losses in gas trading.

☆ Germany nationalises gas importer Uniper
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Uniper logo is seen at the utility's firm headquarters in Duesseldorf, Germany, July 8, 2022. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/File PhotoRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterCompanies Fortum Oyj FollowUniper SE FollowBERLIN/HELSINKI, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Germany has agreed to nationalise Uniper (UN01.DE) by buying Fortum's (FORTUM.HE) stake in the gas importer to secure operations and keep its business going, the three parties involved said on Wednesday. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe package "creates a clear ownership structure in order to secure Uniper, and thus the energy supply for companies, municipal utilities and consumers," it said. Russia cutting back natural gas supplies and last month closing the Nord Stream 1 gas pipe have led Uniper, Germany's largest gas importer, to financial dire straits, triggering a rescue package with Berlin which was agreed in July. ($1 = 1.0075 euros)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Essi Lehto, Anne Kauranen, Kirsti Knolle editing by Stine Jacobsen, Paul CarrelOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Billionaire Sara Blakely's 2 assistants detail all the work that goes into keeping her life running smoothly — and how there's no room for egos
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Elle Hardy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

They worked together to support Sara Blakely, the Spanx founder and CEO, in all areas of her life. Sara Blakely began researching and developing what would become the popular intimates company Spanx in 1998, with just $5,000 in savings. Behind the scenes, Magazine and Kenya Graham, Blakely's executive assistant for six years in total across two stints, called themselves Blakely's "hype crew." "It's sharing of information, setting up a cadence of meetings, making sure that no one's hoarding information." Kenya and Jamie, the editorial strategist, are in the venue making sure this is the side she likes to sit on.

☆ Baltic states and Poland close doors to Russian tourists
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Andrius Sytas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A general view of the bridge over Narva river at the border crossing point with Russia in Narva, Estonia September 18, 2022. Monday's entry ban is targeted at tourists and excludes Russian dissidents seeking refuge in the EU along with lorry drivers, refugees and permanent residents of EU countries as well as those visiting family members. The border guard told me I won't t be allowed to come here anymore," he told Reuters. "I will still be able to get to Estonia through other countries," he told Reuters shortly after crossing into Narva. Russia said it would retaliate against the curbs, but would not close itself off from the bloc.

☆ Trump's own former intel chief worried that Russia had compromising material on him, book says
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-15 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Dan Coats, former director of national intelligence, worried about Trump's relations with Putin. According to a new book, Trump's behavior at a summit with Putin sparked his concern. Trump's relationship with Russia has long been a subject of rumor and speculation. According to the authors, Trump's behavior as president raised alarm among top officials, including Dan Coats, then the DNI. Special Counsel Robert Mueller did not find sufficient evidence to substantiate claims the Trump campaign had colluded with Russia in 2016.

☆ The No. 1 city in the world to travel and work remotely is in the US—and it isn't New York or LA
▼ + stars: | 2022-06-24 | by ( Jennifer Liu | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

1 global city to take a working vacation. It comes out on top of 115 global cities in the ranking, which were chosen because of their prominence in the tourist industry and availability of "slow" travel options. Here are the top 10 best global cities to take a working vacation, according to Icelandair. While remote work makes it easier than ever to take a working vacation, a lot of people are coming back from these "breaks" more burned out than when they left. Some 61% of Americans who took a working vacation in the last year didn't consider them to be "true" vacations, according to Expedia's latest Vacation Deprivation study of 14,500 working adults across 16 countries.

☆ These are the top 10 cities for work-life balance, according to an analysis — and there isn't a single US city among them
▼ + stars: | 2022-05-26 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A new analysis found the Norwegian capital, Oslo, to be the world's best city for work-life balance. The top six cities for work-life balance as determined by the software company Kisi were all European, and no US city ranked in the top 10. According to Kisi's data, workers in Oslo take on average 25 days of vacation a year and get 707 days of paid parental leave. The city also scored highly for remote working, quality and availability of healthcare, and air quality. The surge in remote working means some people have used the past two years as an opportunity to relocate.

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