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☆ Hitting record, electric cars sales in Norway near 80% in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

OSLO, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Almost four out of five new cars sold in Norway last year were battery-powered, with Tesla (TSLA.O) the top-selling brand for the second year in a row, registration data showed on Monday. Seeking to become the first nation to end the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2025, oil-producing Norway has until now exempted battery-powered fully electric vehicles (BEV) from taxes imposed on rivals using internal combustion engines (ICE). The share of new electric vehicles rose to 79.3% in 2022 from 65% in 2021 and from a mere 2.9% a decade ago, the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) said. Tesla had a 12.2% share of the overall car market in Norway, making it the number one brand for a second consecutive year, ahead of Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) with 11.6%. The Tesla Model Y was the single most popular model of the year, ahead of Volkswagen's electric ID.4 in second place, and Skoda Enyaq in third.

☆ Decisive Odegaard leads from front as Arsenal scale new heights
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Rohith Nair | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"(City's) Kevin De Bruyne sees it, Odegaard sees it. But I don't think any other player in the Premier League sees it open up." Having initially signed the midfielder on loan from Real Madrid, the 35 million euros ($37.46 million) Arsenal paid to make his move permanent now looks a steal. Odegaard's transformation has drawn parallels with former club captain Cesc Fabregas, who was tasked with leading the side at the tender age of 21 by ex-manager Arsene Wenger. "He has represented the values of this football club, the team... in the best possible way," Arteta said.

☆ New Israel finance minister says to keep free-market policies
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Steven Scheer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JERUSALEM, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Incoming Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he would pursue a broad free-market policy on Wednesday, an apparent effort to allay fears he would be guided by Jewish biblical principles. "I will pursue a broad free-market policy," he wrote. Smotrich said he would be inspired by U.S. right-to-work laws and pursue similar measures to reduce union control in Israel’s labour force. His "traditionalist bloc" in Netanyahu's nationalist-religious coalition had been "vilified" by U.S. media, he said. The $1.3 trillion fund's executive board this month had decided to exclude Israeli security and analytics software provider Cognyte Software Ltd (CGNT.O) from its portfolio citing human rights concerns.

☆ Major aid groups suspend work in Afghanistan AS Taliban bar women
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

KABUL, Afghanistan — Four major international aid groups on Sunday suspended their operations in Afghanistan following a decision by the country’s Taliban rulers to ban women from working at non-governmental organizations. Excluding women from schools and NGO work in Afghanistan “can and will lead to catastrophic humanitarian consequences in the short to long term,” the International Committee of the Red Cross warned. Half of Afghanistan’s population, or 24 million people, are in need of humanitarian aid, according to the group. The International Rescue Committee said it was dismayed by the Taliban decision, adding that more than 3,000 of its staff in Afghanistan are women. The Economy Ministry’s order comes days after the Taliban banned female students from attending universities across the country, triggering backlash overseas and demonstrations in major Afghan cities.

☆ Eni's Vaar Energi makes Arctic gas discovery
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

OSLO, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Norway's Vaar Energi (VAR.OL), majority owned by Italy's Eni (ENI.MI), said on Friday it had made a gas discovery near the Goliat field in the Arctic Barents Sea, supporting the group's long-term plans to expand in the area. "This is the largest discovery on the (Norwegian continental) shelf this year and comes as a Christmas gift," Vaar exploration manager Alessandro Barberis said in a statement. Preliminary estimates place the size of the gas discovery between 57 million and 132 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalents, or 9 million to 21 million standard cubic metres. "The discovery could serve as another step towards realising additional gas infrastructure in the Barents Sea in the future," said Rune Oldervoll, Vaar's head of production and exploration. "We have a long-term growth strategy for the Barents Sea and will continue to chase new opportunities for value creation."

☆ 7 up-and-coming battery makers vying for the $370 billion electric commercial vehicle business
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Andrew Moseman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The global electric commercial vehicle market is expected to top $370 billion in annual revenue by 2030. With a flood of new battery-powered autos set to transform the business of building passenger vehicles, it was natural that commercial vehicles would be next. The global electric commercial vehicles market is expected to surpass $370 billion in annual revenue by 2030, according to Guidehouse Insights. It also has its toes deep into electric mobility, building batteries not only for EVs but also electric buses, boats, and trucks. Now, through internal changes and acquisitions, BorgWarner is positioning itself for the electrified future, especially as that future comes to commercial vehicles.

☆ Equinor injects $3.7 bln into its energy trading business
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Stine Jacobsen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Soaring energy prices and extreme market volatility have forced multiple European utilities and traders to secure extra funds to cover margin call requirements. "When prices go up, so does the size of margin calls on the energy exchanges," Danske Commodities' finance chief Jakob Sorensen said in a statement. Danske Commodities, which posted a six-fold rise in 2021 operating profits to record levels, told Reuters it expected another record year for 2022 and aimed to continue to grow its business. "As such, the capital injection underlines our growth ambitions, the synergies we gain from being part of Equinor and our commitment to contributing to functioning energy markets," it said in a written comment. Equinor's gas and power chief Helge Haugane, who also chairs Danske Commodities, said he was pleased with Danske's performance.

☆ Norway's November oil and gas output lag forecast
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

OSLO, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Norway's crude oil and gas output fell in November from the previous month, lagging official forecasts, preliminary data from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) showed on Tuesday. Crude oil output fell to 1.74 million barrels per day (bpd) in November, 8.7% below a forecast of 1.91 million bpd and down from 1.75 million bpd in October, the NPD said. Natural gas production in November averaged 346.4 million cubic metres (mcm) per day, 1.8% below a forecast of 352.8 mcm per day and down from 349.4 mcm per day in October. Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, editing by Terje Solsvik and Nora BuliOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The Bank of England also raised its key interest rate by a further half-percentage point on Thursday and indicated more hikes were likely. "Both the Fed and ECB delivering more hawkish rate steers are compounding recession fears," said Joe Manimbo, senior market analyst at Convera in Washington. Powell was also particularly hawkish in his comments, noting that ongoing rate hikes are appropriate to get sufficiently restrictive. In afternoon trading, the dollar rose to two-week highs against the yen, and last traded up 1.6% at 137.665 . Sterling also fell sharply as investors believe the BOE is nearing the end of its rate hikes.

☆ Norway central bank hikes rate by quarter point, likely to act again
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Victoria Klesty | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Of the 24 analysts polled ahead of Thursday's meeting, all but one had anticipated a quarter-point rise, while one had bet on an unchanged rate. Reuters Graphics"The policy rate will most likely be raised further in the first quarter of next year," Norges Bank said in a statement. The Norwegian currency, the crown, strengthened to 10.42 against the euro at 0921 GMT from 10.44 just before the rate announcement. Reuters Graphics"The forecasts for the Norwegian economy are more uncertain than normal, but if the economy evolves as anticipated, the policy rate will be around 3% next year," Norges Bank Governor Ida Wolden Bache said in a statement. Norges Bank, which targets core inflation of 2% over time, on Thursday raised its 2023 core inflation forecast to 5.2% from 4.8% seen in September.

☆ Cold weather can wreak havoc on an electric car's range, but these models do the best in frigid temperatures
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Electric cars can lose lots of driving range in freezing temperatures. Recurrent, a startup that tracks battery health, studied how 13 electric models perform in the cold. Owners of electric vehicles face an extra challenge when temperatures drop: less driving range. RecurrentAll the models Recurrent studied experienced some range loss in cold temperatures. In an analysis of 20 models, the Norwegian Automobile Association found that cold temperatures dealt an 18.5% blow to range on average and stunted charging speeds.

☆ Found Norway shipwreck could be up to 700 years old
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Taylor Nicioli | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Resting at the bottom of Mjøsa, the largest lake in Norway, a shipwreck from hundreds of years ago is in almost perfect condition, frozen in time. The lake is a source of drinking water for about 100,000 people in Norway, according to the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, so the munitions posed health risks. Since the shipwreck was found in the middle of the lake, Ødegård believed the ship had gone down in bad weather. It’s most likely that the ship used square-shaped sails, he added, that proved to be difficult to navigate for seafarers caught in extremely windy conditions. The nearly 2,200-year-old shipwreck was relatively well preserved for being thousands of years old.

☆ Yan Rachinsky: Russian Nobel Peace laureate slams Putin's war on Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Allegra Goodwin | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Russian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Yan Rachinsky blasted President Vladimir Putin’s “insane and criminal” war on Ukraine in his acceptance speech in the Norwegian capital Oslo on Saturday. Representatives of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureates collect the awards at Oslo City Hall, from left: Natalia Pinchuk, the wife of Ales Bialiatski, Yan Rachinsky, chairman of the International Memorial Board and Oleksandra Matviychuk, head of the Ukraine's Center for Civil Liberties. Markus Schreiber/APUkrainian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk called for an international tribunal to Putin and Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko to justice over “war crimes” in her acceptance speech. Human rights groups from Russia and Ukraine – Memorial and the Center for Civil Liberties – were officially awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2022 on Saturday, along with the jailed Belarusian advocate Ales Bialiatski. The new laureates were honored for “an outstanding effort to document war crimes, human right abuses and the abuse of power” in their respective countries.

☆ Nobel awards to take place in Stockholm with full glitz and glamour
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NTB/Haakon Mosvold Larsen via REUTERSSTOCKHOLM, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Nobel laureates congregated in the Swedish capital Stockholm on Saturday for the first fully in-person award ceremonies complete with a formal banquet since the COVID-19 pandemic that curtailed events in the past two years. Five of the six Nobel prizes are awarded in Stockholm every year after a nomination process that is kept secret for the next 50 years. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo where separate festivities are held. The Nobel Foundation has also snubbed the ambassadors of Russia and Belarus, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Jailed Belarusian activist Ales Byalyatski, Russian rights group Memorial and Ukraine's Center for Civil Liberties won the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize.

SummarySummary Companies Ukraine, Russia, Belarus rights campaigners won awardPrize highlight importance of civil society for peaceByalyatski in jail, wife speaks for him at ceremonyOSLO, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Russia wants to turn Ukraine into a "dependent dictatorship" like Belarus, the wife of jailed Belarusian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Byalyatski said on Saturday upon receiving the prize on his behalf, speaking his words. "It highlights the dramatic situation and struggle for human rights in the country," she said, adding she was speaking her husband's words. Pinchuk has met her husband once since he was named a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, in prison, behind a glass wall, she told a news conference on Friday. "I know exactly what kind of Ukraine would suit Russia and Putin — a dependent dictatorship. Belarus and Russia are formally part of a "union state" and are closely allied economically and militarily.

☆ Norway's Reitan Retail buys 114 Danish stores from Germany's Aldi
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

OSLO, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Norway's Reitan Retail said on Friday it had agreed to buy 114 Danish grocery stores and three distribution centres from German rival Aldi for an undisclosed amount, boosting the Norwegian group's chain of Rema 1000 discount stores. "This will significantly lift our Danish revenue and should make Rema 1000 the largest chain of grocery stores in Denmark," Reitan Retail Chief Executive Ole Robert Reitan told Reuters. Before the transaction, Rema 1000 had around 330 grocery stores in Denmark. German discounter Aldi said in a statement the sale was part of a full exit from the Danish market, where it has a total of 188 stores. Reitan Retail, which has some 42,000 employees across seven countries, earlier this year reported an operating profit (EBIT) of 3.8 billion Norwegian crowns ($381 million) for 2021, down from 4.4 billion in 2020.

☆ WTO rules against U.S. import duties on steel, aluminium, Norway says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

OSLO, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The Norwegian foreign ministry said on Thursday a World Trade Organization panel had ruled in Norway's favour against the United States in a case the Nordic country had brought over U.S. import duties imposed in 2018 on steel and aluminium. "The WTO panel's report, which was released today, concludes that the U.S. tariff on steel and aluminium was in breach of the WTO rules," the Norwegian ministry said in a statement. In March 2018, then-U.S. President Donald Trump signed a memorandum to impose the tariffs, later exempting some allies, while Norway, a major aluminium producer, was among those that were hit. Several WTO members have filed similar challenges with the trade body, including the European Union, China, India, Russia, Switzerland and Turkey. Reporting by Terje Solsvik in Oslo and Phil Blenkinsop in Brussels, editing by Mark Heinrich, Kirsten DonovanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Factbox: FACTBOX European companies cut jobs as economy sputters
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Evgenia NovozheninaDec 7 (Reuters) - Decades-high inflation and the impact of war in Ukraine have forced companies across Europe into lay-offs or hiring freezes. * FINNAIR (FIA1S.HE): the Finnish airline will cut about 150 jobs, of which 90 are in its home country, as part of a plan to return to profitability. * MICHELIN (MICP.PA): the tyre maker plans to cut up to 1,600 jobs in France, fewer than the 2,300 estimated in its initial voluntary redundancy plan as it seeks to safeguard production. * HUSQVARNA (HUSQb.ST): the garden equipment and tools maker will cut 1,000 jobs, the vast majority of them related to the shift from petrol to battery-powered tools. * H&M (HMb.ST): the Swedish fashion giant, which employs roughly 155,000 people, will cut some 1,500 jobs as part of a 2 billion crown ($189.5 million) savings drive.

☆ Factbox: European companies cuts jobs as economy sputters
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

☆ 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.

[1/2] Offshore oil and gas platform supply vessels (PSVs) are docked at a pier in Stavanger, Norway, August 10, 2021. The decision to postpone the so-called 26th licensing round was part of the minority government's budget deal with the opposition Socialist Left Party (SV), Terje Aasland said in an interview. The deal extends an agreement the minority cabinet and SV made last year, when the government won elections, which delayed the 26th licensing round by a year. Aasland said there was "no drama" in the decision as authorities still issue licences to oil companies in a parallel licensing around called the APA round, in so-called mature areas that are already open to oil companies. The 26th licensing round grants the right to oil companies to explore and produce oil and gas in areas not explored previously.

☆ Russia summons Norwegian ambassador over arrest of Russian nationals
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 28 (Reuters) - Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Monday it had summoned the Norwegian ambassador over what it said was the politically-motivated arrest of Russian citizens for using drones illegally, while Norway said the arrests were legal. The Nordic country is now the European Union's largest gas supplier, following a drop in Russian gas flows. Russian flights have been banned from Norwegian airspace since Feb. 28, due to Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. This includes Russians flying drones as well as Russian companies flying commercial planes and helicopters. "He also reviewed the status of the cases that are now being processed by Norwegian courts," said a spokesperson for the Norwegian foreign ministry.

The U.S. will require that Chevron report details of its financial operations to ensure transparency. WASHINGTON—The U.S. said it would allow Chevron Corp. to resume pumping oil from its Venezuelan oil fields after President Nicolás Maduro’s government and an opposition coalition agreed to implement an estimated $3 billion humanitarian relief program and continue dialogue in Mexico City on efforts to hold free and fair elections. Following the Norwegian-brokered agreement signed in Mexico City, the Biden administration granted a license to Chevron that allows the California-based oil company to return to its oil fields in joint ventures with the Venezuela national oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA. The new license, granted by the Treasury Department, permits Chevron to pump Venezuelan oil for the first time in years.

☆ Nobel Prize Winner Maria Ressa Is Fighting for Press Freedom
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Emily Bobrow | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

When the Philippine investigative journalist Maria Ressa won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, the committee called her “a fearless defender of freedom of expression” who “exposed the abuse of power, use of violence and increasing authoritarianism” of Rodrigo Duterte , the president of the Philippines who left office this year. Ms. Ressa notes that before she and Russian journalist Dmitri Muratov shared the prize, the last journalist to win it was Carl von Ossietzky, a German who received the honor in 1935 while languishing in a Nazi concentration camp. “The Norwegian Nobel Committee signaled that the world was at a similar historical moment, another existential point for democracy,” Ms. Ressa writes in her new book, “How to Stand Up to a Dictator.” Since 2017, she has been battling charges brought against her by the Philippine government, including tax evasion and three cyber libel cases. “My freedom’s at stake, and my reputation,” says Ms. Ressa, 59, on a video call from Los Angeles, where she is visiting family and her lawyer, the human-rights advocate Amal Clooney .

☆ Equinor and partners to invest $1.44 bln in Arctic gas field
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

OSLO, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Norway's Equinor (EQNR.OL) and its partners on Tuesday said they would invest 14.8 billion Norwegian crowns ($1.44 billion) in developing the Irpa gas discovery in the Norwegian Sea. "The Irpa development will use available processing capacity on the Hansteen platform when production gradually declines and at the same time contribute to extending the life of the Hansteen field," Norway's energy ministry said in a statement. Production is expected to start in the final quarter of 2026 and last until 2039, the development plan showed. Equinor, the field's operator, has a 51% stake in the Irpa license, with state-owned Petoro holding 20%, Wintershall Dea 19% and Shell (SHEL.L) 10%. ($1 = 10.2451 Norwegian crowns)Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, editing by Terje Solsvik and Anna RingstromOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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