Offshore wind power starts to blow

1 month ago Norway's News in English

Norway’s long-anticipated launch of major offshore wind power projects officially took off on Tuesday, when Oil & Energy Minister Terje Aasland announced plans to put large areas of the North Sea out to bid. It was likely no coincidence that the government’s offshore wind power launch came just as yet another climate conference was getting underway in Canada. “In order to meet these goals we want to have close dialogue with the offshore wind business and other users of offshore areas.”His oil and energy ministry now expects to start issuing licenses for offshore wind power turbines during the first quarter of next year. The state’s own proposals for its offshore wind power projects are now being sent out to hearing, with a response deadline just a month from now and right after the holiday season, on January 6. Equinor has been active in offshore wind projects off the coasts of both the UK and North America, and claimed state financial support will be necessary, expecially during the first phase of offshore power development.
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Economic uncertainty rises, even as ‘war profits’ do too

Ordinary Norwegians are thus facing a much higher cost of living and a new sense of economic uncertainty, after years of prosperity. It’s not just the shockingly high electricity bills now arriving every month, but much higher prices for most everything else. It’s the sharp rise in Norway’s already notoriously high food prices, however, that continues to stun consumers at the grocery store. This summer it all resulted in the highest price hikes in 40 years. Norwegian consumers have often responded to food price hikes at home by driving over the border to Sweden to shop.

3 months ago Norway's News in English

Catching spies on Wikipedia

“Information Warfare and Wikipedia”, a recent report from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) and the Center for the Analysis of Social Media (CASM), analyzes how state-sponsored organizations can infiltrate and modify high-profile Wikipedia pages. Àlex Hinojo, an editor for the Catalan-language Wikipedia site, described a long-running argument over the place names used in the Spanish-language Wikipedia site for some Spanish municipalities in Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands. The Spanish-language Wikipedia site uses the place names established by the Royal Spanish Academy and the National Statistics Institute. The most sophisticated attacks have been launched on the English-language Wikipedia site, but other sites have been targeted as well, said Santiago de Viana, an editor for the Spanish-language site. Wikipedia and the invasion of UkraineThe “Information Warfare and Wikipedia” report used the English-language Wikipedia page for the invasion of Ukraine as a case study, and examined 86 accounts that edited the page and were subsequently blocked from editing.

3 months ago EL PAÍS in English

Putin orders 36-hour ceasefire on Ukrainian front lines to mark Orthodox Christmas

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a 36-hour ceasefire in the Ukraine war, instructing his Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to pass on the instruction to all combat units to cease hostilities on the front lines in observance of Orthodox Christmas. The Russian leader, who rejected all calls for a cessation of hostilities to mark Christmas according to the Gregorian calendar, said he had made his decision following a petition made hours earlier by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Russian Orthodox Church, which uses the ancient Julian calendar, celebrates Christmas on January 7, although some Christians in Ukraine also mark the holiday on that date. Thursday’s order was the first time the Russian leader has directed his troops to observe a general ceasefire in Ukraine. Erdogan calls for “unilateral ceasefire”Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Putin to implement a “unilateral ceasefire,” according to a statement from the Turkish president’s office.

23 days ago El País in English

Tank delivery opens up new phase in West’s military support for Ukraine

After weeks of negotiations and extensive debates, Ukraine will receive the long-awaited German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks as well as US Abrams. This pledge by Western countries, which have acted together, marks a new phase in Western support for Kyiv. Some analysts and experts are now wondering whether the next phase of Western support will be to supply fighter jets to Kyiv – whether that is another red line to be crossed in due course. A list to which modern battle tanks are now being added. And allied military support for Ukraine will increase, says defense analyst Frédéric Mauro, a research associate at the Institut de Relations Internationales et Stratégiques in Paris.

2 days ago EL PAÍS in English

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI dies at 95

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28 days ago EL PAÍS in English

Kylie Jenner’s no-makeup makeup: How the ‘natural look’ reinforces beauty standards

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3 months ago EL PAÍS in English

Harry and Meghan’s Netflix documentary set to air amid simmering controversy

Last Thursday, the first teaser for a Netflix documentary about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was aired and immediately courted controversy. The trailer opens with Harry stating: “No one sees what’s happening behind closed doors.” A second trailer released this week also contains loaded words and provides new questions as to just how revealing the documentary will be. During the first trailer Harry and Meghan are seen holding hands in a room. “It’s really hard to look back on it now and go: ‘What on earth happened?’ Harry says as the trailer opens. It remains to be seen whether the Netflix documentary will prove to the touchpaper for blowing up their relationship with the royal family and confirming their definitive separation from the House of Windsor.

1 month ago EL PAÍS in English

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