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☆ Markets next week have to contend with how aggressive the Fed drumbeat sounds
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Scott Schnipper | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

"Is Chairman Powell going to say, 'It is likely that we pause now and assess what the economy is going to do?' "The tone on that balance is going to be very critical to how the market is going to move next week." "What is [Powell] going to do? June Fed meeting The betting on Wall Street right now is that, after next week, the Fed will standpat at its next meeting six weeks later, on June 13-14. Beyond Apple, some 161 other companies in the S & P 500 index are scheduled to report latest-quarter results next week.

☆ Cruise workers reveal what happens if you quit your job in the middle of the ocean
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Hannah Towey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

If a cruise worker quits they have to pay for their flight home, current and former employees say. On a cruise ship, quitting your job is a luxury not all workers can afford. "What will happen is the cruise line will fly you home, but will deduct from your wages what you owe," Jim Walker, a Miami-based maritime lawyer who represents cruise workers and passengers, told Insider. What happens when you try to quit your job on a cruise shipFor the most part, resigning on a cruise ship looks logistically similar to any other job, except for the fact that you might be hundreds of miles away from home (or from any land, for that matter). Do you work on a cruise ship?

☆ Norway's DNB beats Q1 profit forecast as rates rise
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

OSLO, April 27 (Reuters) - DNB (DNB.OL), Norway's largest bank, reported a bigger-than-expected rise in first-quarter profit on Thursday, following a trend among Nordic banks benefiting from recent rate hikes. Net profit rose to 10.5 billion Norwegian crowns ($989.43 million) in the January-March quarter, from 7.6 billion crowns a year earlier, while analysts on average had expected 8.9 billion crowns, according to a poll compiled by the bank. Loans to customers increased 0.6% in the quarter while net interest income surged 39.8% to 14.6 billion crowns, just above analysts' average forecast of 14.5 billion, thanks to both increased volumes and interest rates. DNB said it had net reversals of impairment of financial instruments of 79 million crowns in the quarter compared with net reversals of 589 million in the year-earlier period. The net reversals in the oil, gas and offshore industry segment was 515 million in the quarter.

The Swedish crown weakened sharply after the country's central bank was less hawkish than expected, while the euro rebounded 0.65% from losses on Tuesday when jitters over U.S. regional banks buoyed the safe-haven dollar. But the market expects further rate hikes from the European Central Bank, a difference with the Fed that is driving currency moves. The euro rose 1.05% against the crown to a high of 11.426, set for its biggest one-day gain since early March. Sterling was last trading at $1.2462, up 0.44% on the day, while the yen strengthened 0.28% at 133.34 per dollar. Investor attention will firmly be on the slate of central bank meetings in the next few weeks with the Bank of Japan, under the new Governor Kazuo Ueda, holding its policy meeting later this week.

☆ Rocket that landed in the wrong country recovered
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —Authorities in Sweden have retrieved the payload of a research rocket launched from the country’s Esrange Space Center that landed by error in neighboring Norway. It landed 15 kilometers (9 miles) across the Norwegian border — 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of the planned landing site — in a forested area that lies 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) above sea level. The rocket’s payload was recovered on Tuesday in good condition and transported by helicopter back to the Esrange Space Center in the north of Sweden. We are now investigating the reason why the rocket flew further northwest than (optimal). It is still too early to speculate about the cause, and we await more information from the current investigation,” Marko Kohberg, head of sounding rocket and balloon operations at Esrange Space Center, said in a Tuesday statement.

☆ Australia aims to start making guided missiles within two years
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, April 26 (Reuters) - Australia said on Wednesday it would start domestic manufacture of guided missiles by 2025, two years sooner than expected, in a wide-ranging shakeup of defence arrangements to focus on long-range strike capability. read moreThe timetable for domestic manufacture of guided weapons, originally set for 2027, will be hastened to within two years by allocating A$2.5 billion to the project, Defence Minister Richard Marles said in media interviews. The government was already in talks with missile manufacturers Raytheon (RTX.N) and Lockheed (LMT.N) about establishing production in Australia, Marles added. Discussions were also being held with Kongsberg (KOG.OL), the Norwegian manufacturer of the naval strike missile Australia had already agreed to purchase, he said. Pat Conroy, the minister for defence industry, said the review recommended acquiring Kongsberg's joint strike missile which would "allow us to look at manufacturing the Strike Missile family of missiles in Australia".

☆ Rampant Man City crush Arsenal with De Bruyne double
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Pep Guardiola's relentless side ran riot as they made it 12 successive league wins against Arsenal with a masterful Kevin De Bruyne scoring twice and Erling Haaland also on target as City seized control of their destiny. De Bruyne fired City ahead in the seventh minute and City bombarded Arsenal's goal before John Stones deservedly doubled their lead with a header in first half stoppage time. Guardiola's City, who have trailed Arsenal for almost the entire season, will go top if they beat Fulham at the weekend. City sensed Arsenal's fragility and went for the jugular, tearing through the visitors lines at will. Haaland then forced another sharp save from Ramsdale before Arsenal finally threatened with Thomas Partey shooting narrowly wide.

☆ Carbon capture project in Norway temporarily halted by high costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Nora Buli | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"New cost calculations show that we cannot implement the original plans for the carbon capture project within the existing budget," Knut Inderhaug, head of project operator Hafslund Oslo Celsio, said in a statement. Investment costs for the Klemetsrud waste plant, which are being subsidised by both the Oslo city council and the Norwegian government, were initially set at 5.5 billion Norwegian crowns ($518.88 million). Celsio was also in contact with municipal and state stakeholders over how best to realise the project. The CO2 captured at Klemetsrud is part of Norway's prestigious Longship carbon capture and storage (CCS) project, which also includes carbon capture at a cement plant and the Northern Lights transport and storage project. Klemetsrud was expected to capture round 400,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, corresponding to 14% of Oslo's overall emissions of greenhouse gases.

☆ A Rocket Took Off From Sweden. Part of It Landed in Norway.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Isabella Kwai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

When Sweden sent a research rocket 155 miles into the air at 7:20 a.m on Monday, the expectation was that it would land in the same country from which it had been launched. The route taken by the TEXUS-58 rocket on its return from zero gravity to the Esrange Space Center was longer than anticipated, and part of it parachuted down 25 miles northwest of its original target, in a mountain range. As it happens, that turned out to be in Norway. And although nobody was injured, the mishap was enough to cause some rare diplomatic friction between the two Scandinavian neighbors. The rocket part that came down in the far northern municipality of Malselv, roughly nine miles into Norwegian territory, was about 13 feet long and weighed about 1,650 pounds.

☆ Irsina, the Italian village being repopulated by Americans
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Silvia Marchetti | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

More than 15 families from the US and Canada have bought old properties in this remote village, known for its premium wheat fields and olive groves. The first foreign “pioneer” to buy a house in Irsina was Sandy Webster, a 63-year-old writer from San Diego. The couple fell in love with the village, bought an old house with thick stone walls, antique furniture and ancient maiolica-tile floors, and spent four years renovating it. “When we got here in 2016, over 80% of the population had fled to the newer district of Irsina, the old Irsina was empty and we loved how it looked. Their house, built into the old village walls, was on sale for 70,000 euros ($77,000).

NTB/via REUTERSOSLO, April 25 (Reuters) - A former commander in Russia's Wagner mercenary group seeking asylum in Norway pleaded guilty on Tuesday to being involved in a fight outside an Oslo bar and carrying an air gun in public and said he felt "very ashamed." Medvedev pleaded guilty to fighting outside the Oslo bar on Feb. 22 and preventing a police officer from doing his or her duty. He also pleaded guilty to carrying an air gun in public on a separate occasion on March 14. He also said he had bought an air gun from a shop in Oslo for self-defence, because he feared somebody might attack him. Medvedev told Reuters in February he had fought in Ukraine, including in the region around Bakhmut, at the centre of months of fierce battles between Russian and Ukrainian forces that have all but destroyed the city.

☆ Sweden launches research rocket, accidentally hits Norway
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

STOCKHOLM, April 25 (Reuters) - A research rocket launched by Sweden Space Corp (SSC) early on Monday from Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden malfunctioned and landed 15 km (9.32 miles) inside neighbouring Norway. There are routines in place when things go wrong and we inform both Swedish and Norwegian governments, and other actors, he said. In the event of any border violation, those responsible should immediately inform the relevant Norwegian authorities, which included the foreign ministry, through the right channels, the spokesperson said. The ministry had not received a formal notification of the incident from the Swedish authorities, she added. The Norwegian foreign ministry said it was not aware of whether there was any damage to the surroundings, while a SSC spokesperson said the rocket came down far from any settlement.

☆ You can stay at the Norwegian hotel from 'Succession' for $430 per night
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Madeline Berg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In "Succession," the Roy siblings headed to Norway to negotiate the sale of Waystar Royco. The wheeling and dealing takes place at the Juvet Landscape Hotel. The episode takes place at the Juvet Landscape Hotel in the Valldal valley in northwestern Norway. A self-described "once-in-a-lifetime escape" that merges modern architecture and the natural world, a room at the hotel goes for between between $430 and $750 per night. A landscape room in winter.

Companies Bp Plc FollowOSLO, April 22 (Reuters) - Norway's $1.4 trillion sovereign wealth fund, one of the world's largest investors, said on Saturday it will vote against a resolution calling on British oil major BP (BP.L) to adopt tougher greenhouse gas targets. The Norwegian fund, itself built on oil and gas revenue, owned 2.73% of BP's shares worth some $2.8 billion at the end of 2022. BP's board has recommended that shareholders vote against the resolution saying it was "unclear" what it wanted the company to do. Investor advisers ISS and Glass Lewis also recommended BP shareholders oppose the resolution, while Britain's Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) asked investors to back it. In February BP rowed back on plans to slash its 2019 oil and gas output levels by 40% by 2030, and now it envisages a 25% cut, angering climate activists.

☆ Norway's wealth fund posts $84 billion quarterly profit
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

OSLO, April 21 (Reuters) - Norway's $1.4 trillion sovereign wealth fund, one of the world's largest investors, on Friday posted a 5.9% return on investment for the first quarter boosted by rising equity markets. The profit of 893 billion Norwegian crowns ($83.89 billion) contrasted with a loss of 653 billion a year earlier. The fund, which saves revenue from Norway's large oil and gas industry, received 217 billion crowns in fresh government funds during the quarter. Norway's central bank manages the fund, which owns 1.5% of all globally listed shares and has stakes in 9,200 companies. It posted a record loss of 1.64 trillion crowns last year.

☆ Norway sovereign fund backs Teck Resources in battle with Glencore
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] The logo of the Canadian mining company Teck Resources Limited is displayed as people visit the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) annual conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada March 7, 2023. REUTERS/Chris Helgren/File PhotoOSLO, April 21 (Reuters) - Norway's sovereign wealth fund, one of the world's largest investors, said on Friday it will support a plan by Canadian miner Teck Resources (TECKb.TO) to spin off its metallurgical coal business and focus on copper and zinc. Glencore on Wednesday said it was willing to improve its $22.5 billion offer for Teck, raising pressure on the Canadian miner to ditch a restructuring plan and sit down at the negotiating table. But the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund, which does not own shares in Glencore due to the Swiss company's large thermal coal business, said it would vote in favour of Teck's plan. The Norwegian fund at the end of 2022, the last available data, owned a 1.48% stake in Teck Resources worth $287 million, while its share of voting rights under the miner's dual-class share structure stood at 0.59%.

☆ Investor who helps manage the largest sovereign wealth fund discusses strategy and biggest fears
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Jason Gewirtz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The "Government Pension Fund" as it is widely known helps back up Norway's government spending. The fund was started in 1996 after massive offshore energy reserves were discovered off Norway's coast. A big part of the fund's concentration in recent years has been on renewable energy. Right now the Government Pension Fund has a mandate to invest at least two percent of assets in renewable energy. But Tronde, who's fund has stakes in more than 9,000 companies, is not overly concerned about all these threats.

Expressed in terms of annualised run-rates, China's output of 39.9 million tonnes last month was the lowest in a year and down by 1.6 million tonnes from August's record 41.5 million. China's aluminium production is now highly dependent on weather patterns in the south of the country. China's average daily aluminium output and monthly annualised changePRAYING FOR RAINYunnan province accounts for around 12% of China's aluminium capacity and produced 4.2 million tonnes in 2022. WESTERN PRODUCTION FLAT-LINESPrimary aluminium production outside of China was flat year-on-year in the first quarter. WEATHER WATCHHowever, China's dominant position in the global aluminium picture means that it holds the key to future production patterns.

☆ Large Food Market Burned in Darfur Camp, Satellite Images Show
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Christoph Koettl | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A large market for food and other supplies serving a camp for displaced people was partly damaged during a fire on Wednesday, reflecting the dangerous toll recent fighting has taken on Sudan’s most vulnerable citizens. The extent of the destruction was evident in satellite imagery and social media videos analyzed by The New York Times, which found that the blaze destroyed or damaged approximately 18 acres of the market. Over the past week, Sudan has been engulfed in violence as the Army and a paramilitary group, Rapid Support Forces (R.S.F. Already, the Abu Shouk camp, located in El Fasher, the regional capital of North Darfur, was experiencing supply shortages. According to Thomas Okedi, the area manager for the Norwegian Refugee Council, the camp hadn’t received any aid in the week before the fire started.

☆ UEFA Chamions League: Manchester City to face Real Madrid in semifinals
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Ben Church | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Manchester City took another step towards winning its first Champions League trophy after cruising to a 1-1 draw against Bayern Munich on Wednesday to secure a 4-1 aggregate win in the quarterfinals. “I’m so happy for three years in a row to be in the Champions League semifinals,” City manager Pep Guardiola told reporters after the second leg at the Allianz Arena. The Norwegian striker pounced on a mistake by defender Dayot Upamecano to smash home a finish into the top corner of the net in the 57th minute – his 12th Champions League goal of the season. “I am very satisfied with both games against Manchester City and with the way we presented ourselves today,” Tuchel told reporters after the match. The Italian side will face fierce city rival AC Milan for a place in the Champions League final where the winner will face either Manchester City or Real Madrid in Istanbul on June 10.

☆ Climate change thaws world's northernmost research station
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Lisi Niesner | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Researchers have been studying the polar region for decades — with Ny-Aalesund’s weather records going back more than 40 years. But their work has become vitally important as climate change ramps up. That’s because what happens in the Arctic can impact global sea levels, storms in North America and Europe, and other factors far beyond the frozen region. August temperatures in Ny-Aalesund were on average 5.1C degrees, about 0.5C warmer than normal for the month. I’ve never seen that,” Gallet said in his office this month, as rain drizzled from a gray sky.

☆ Russia has a plan to sabotage European wind farms, gas pipelines, and internet cables, report say
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russia has been using ships to spy in Nordic waters, a joint investigation by four countries' public broadcasters found. They are collecting intel on wind farms, gas pipelines, and power and internet cables, report said. Norway's NRK reported at least 50 Russian ships gathered intelligence there in the last ten years. DR reported that intercepted Russian navy communications showed Russian ships who had turned off their transmitters sailing in Nordic waters. One of the ships, Russian marine research vessel "Admiral Vladimirsky," sailed near current and future offshore wind farms, and stayed there for a few days, the outlets found.

☆ Russian spy ships suspected of gathering intelligence in Nordic waters, investigation finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Li-Lian Ahlskog Hou Allegra Goodwin Anna Chernova Vasco Cotovio | Li-Lian Ahlskog Hou | Allegra Goodwin | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Russia has a fleet of suspected spy ships operating in Nordic waters as part of a program for the potential sabotage of underwater cables and wind farms in the region, according to a joint investigation by the public broadcasters of Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. The investigation also said Russian ships appear suddenly following NATO exercises. One ship at the center of the investigation, the Admiral Vladimirsky, is officially used for underwater research expeditions, but is, according to the report, a Russian spy ship. A masked man emerged on the deck of the Admiral Vladimirsky, the ship at the center of an investigation that found a Russian fleet of suspected spy ships in Nordic waters. The investigation comes after Dutch intelligence officials warned Russia had tried to gain intelligence to prepare for the potential sabotage of critical infrastructure in their patch of the North sea.

☆ Rival factions defy ceasefire to bombard Sudan's capital, Japan plans evacuation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Smoke rises from the tarmac of Khartoum International Airport as a fire burns, in Khartoum, Sudan April 17, 2023 in this screen grab obtained from a social media video. Air strikes and explosions hammered Sudan's capital on Wednesday after the failure of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire between the army and paramilitary forces, forcing residents to stay hunkered down and prompting Japan to prepare to evacuate its citizens. At least 270 people have been killed and 2,600 injured in the fighting, the World Health Organization said, citing Sudan's health ministry. Khartoum residents were asked to limit their electricity usage, as the state's distribution authority said the servers that manage online purchases of power were out of service. The fighting, which pits Sudan's military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against RSF chief General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, followed rising tensions over a plan for the RSF's integration into the regular military.

☆ ‘World’s longest’ purpose-built cycling tunnel opens in Norway
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Maureen O'Hare | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

A three-kilometer-long (1.8-mile) cycling and pedestrian tunnel has been blasted through the base of Løvstakken mountain and its makers say it’s the longest purpose-built tunnel of its kind. Ronny Turøy/Bybanen UtbyggingIt takes a little under 10 minutes to whizz through the tunnel by bike and around 40 if strolling by foot. “This makes it more pleasant to use than if one would just walk on asphalt.”The tunnel was constructed in parallel with a new tram line. NCC/Bybanen UtbyggingThe new tunnel came about as a byproduct of Bergen’s second Bybanen tram line, which opened in November 2022. The tram line through the mountain required a parallel evacuation tunnel, so the developers decided to make the new tunnel multipurpose.

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