OSLO (Reuters) – Equinor (EQNR.OL) on Monday announced the appointment of Anders Opedal as chief executive effective from Nov. 2 as the Norwegian oil and gas group looks to speed up a move into renewable energy. The new CEO, who had been executive vice preside... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Norway began tearing down a landmark building adorned with giant murals by Pablo Picasso on Monday as part of efforts to rebuild government headquarters after a deadly far-right bombing. Oslo’s ‘Y block’ office building, with a Picasso drawing... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – The head of the French cybersecurity agency ANSSI said there would not be a total ban on using equipment from Huawei in the rollout of the French 5G telecoms network, but that it was pushing French telcos to avoid switching to the Chinese com... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Finland’s Nokia Oyj (NOKIA.HE) plans to cut 1,233 jobs at its French subsidiary Alcatel-Lucent International, equivalent to a third of the local workforce, the group said on Monday, confirming an earlier Reuters report. Nokia, which competes ... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Norway will halt its COVID-19 track and trace app and delete all data collected so far after criticism from the Norwegian Data Protection Authority, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) said on Monday. The app was introduced by some... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Sweden’s economy looks like it has started to pick up after the impact of the novel coronavirus and measures to halt its spread, Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Tuesday. “If you summarize, there are a number of indicators tha... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Scientists in Sweden are hoping an alpaca named Tyson can help deliver a knockout blow in the fight to develop a treatment or vaccine against the novel coronavirus that has killed nearly 400,000 people worldwide. After immunizing Tyson, a... More »
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – A new work by Chinese dissident artist Badiucao in support of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters shows the image of a lone man standing in the path of a tank taken on Tiananmen Square in 1989. But in Badiucao’s version of the photograph,... More »
(Reuters) – Icelandic actor and strongman Hafthor Bjornsson set a world record for the deadlift on Saturday when he lifted 1,104 pounds (501 kg) at Thor’s Power Gym in Iceland. Bjornsson, best known for his portrayal of Ser Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane on the... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Swedish truck maker Volvo (VOLVb.ST) said on Tuesday it had signed a deal with German rival Daimler (DAIGn.DE) to set up a joint venture to develop and produce fuel cell systems for heavy-duty vehicles. Daimler will consolidate all its cu... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union countries on Thursday evening agreed the emergency credit lines from the euro zone’s bailout fund “will be available until COVID-19 crisis is over”, a draft of their deal read. Afterwards, euro countries should remain commit... More »
HELSINKI (Reuters) – A quick-thinking Helsinki bakery has saved itself from financial ruin due to the new coronavirus pandemic by creating a cake that looks like a toilet roll. The dismayed staff at the Ronttosrouva bakery found all their orders cancelled last... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – A spike in novel coronavirus infections and deaths in Stockholm has raised questions about Sweden’s decision to fight the outbreak without resorting to the lockdowns that have left much of Europe at a standstill. Governments across Europe... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Norway called on Friday for more money to help the Palestinian Territories get through the COVID-19 pandemic. Although there has only been one death and 161 reported cases of the coronavirus in the Palestinian Territories, the outbreak is expe... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Airline SAS (SAS.ST) said on Monday it and Danish logistics firm Scan Global Logistics had established a direct cargo charter flight out of Scandinavia to Chicago in the United States, using regular passenger aircraft. The passenger trave... More »
ROVANIEMI, Finland (Reuters) – When Peruvian musician Victor Alarcon set out on his dream trip to shoot a music video in the Finnish Arctic for his single called ‘Aurora Boreal’ (Northern Lights), he did not expect the coronavirus outbreak to leave him strande... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Euro zone governments should “get their acts together” and respond to the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout in a bold and coordinated way now that the ECB has secured cheap financing for it, two ECB rate-setters said on Friday... More »
HELSINKI (Reuters) – Finland’s largest opposition party on Monday stepped up criticism of the government as most schools and daycares remained open despite the coronavirus outbreak. “There are only four countries in the EU which have not closed schools. Respon... More »
HELSINKI (Reuters) – Nokia Chief Executive Rajeev Suri will step down in September and be replaced by Pekka Lundmark, who used to work for the Finnish company and is the current CEO of energy group Fortum, Nokia said on Monday. Suri has been in the role for si... More »
BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – The Chinese city at the center of the coronavirus epidemic closed its first makeshift hospital, one of 16 hurriedly built to handle the epidemic, after it discharged the last recovered patients, state broadcaster CCTV reported on M... More »
(Reuters) – Brazilian teenager Thiago Seyboth Wild became the youngest player to win on Latin America’s ‘Golden Swing’ since Rafael Nadal in 2005 when he outlasted Norwegian second seed Casper Ruud 7-5 4-6 6-3 at the Chile Open on Sunday. The 19-year-old wildc... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Eight candidates have applied to head Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the country’s central bank said on Tuesday, as its board prepares to decide who should steer the global portfolio of assets worth $1.1 trillion through a time of transition.... More »
(Reuters) – Viktor Hovland became the first Norwegian to win on the PGA Tour when he rammed home a 25-foot birdie at the final hole for a one-shot triumph at the Puerto Rico Open on Sunday. Hovland, who won the 2018 U.S. Amateur Championship and was making jus... More »
GOTHENBURG, Sweden (Reuters) – After more than 40 years in show jumping, Norwegian Geir Gulliksen beat riders less than half his age to score his first FEI World Cup win on Sunday, then survived an injury scare when his horse threw him during the prize ceremon... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Norwegian headline inflation rate is forecast to ease in 2020 to 1.5 percent for the year from 2.2% in 2019, a publicly appointed commission said on Monday. With members from labor unions, employers’ federations and Statistics Norway, the comm... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Norway’s consumer prices rose sharply in January from a year earlier, official data showed on Monday, strengthening the crown currency ahead of a major policy speech by the central bank governor on Thursday. Core inflation, a key measure for m... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Some 9,000 workers at Finnish paper mills will start a three-week strike on Monday after wage talks broke down, their labor union said in a statement, the latest in a series of labor conflicts to hit Finland. Another 6,000 employees at sawmill... More »
(Reuters) – Ultra trail runner Kilian Jornet beat base jumper Tom Erik Heimen in an unusual contest — one ran up and down a mountain while the other climbed up and flew down in a race last year, footage of which was released on Tuesday. The video shows the two... More »
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A rare Vincent van Gogh self-portrait, which had been contested as a forgery for decades, is a genuine work by the Dutch master, researchers have concluded after six years of study. The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam said on Monday that it ... More »
KURESSAARE, Estonia (Reuters) – Estonians have always headed to the forests in their thousands to cut down Christmas trees, but these days they will probably have a smartphone in their hands. The state forestry company of Estonia, a country where almost all go... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – H&M (HMb.ST) reported a slightly smaller-than-expected rise in fourth-quarter sales reflecting a later Black Friday this year, the world’s second-biggest fashion retailer said on Monday. Net sales rose 9% to 61.7 billion crowns ($6.41 bil... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Danish-born actress Anna Karina, one of the most acclaimed luminaries of influential French New Wave cinema, has died of cancer at age 79, her agent said on Sunday. Karina, famous for her kohl-rimmed blue eyes, was the frequent muse of direct... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Telenor (TEL.OL) reiterated on Sunday Huawei would be involved in building Norway’s 5G network along with Ericsson (ERICb.ST), one of several companies to continue working with the Chinese company despite U.S. pressure. Still, on Friday, t... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – From a superfan’s shrine to a replica of the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest stage where they triumphed with “Waterloo”, a new exhibition opening in London on Friday looks back at the huge success of Swedish pop sensation ABBA. Personal items s... More »
ABU DHABI (Reuters) – Six times world champion Lewis Hamilton did not deny meeting Ferrari chairman John Elkann when asked on Sunday about speculation linking the Mercedes driver with a move to the Italian team in 2021. The 34-year-old Briton will be out of co... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – The sequel to Walt Disney Co’s 2013 hit animated musical “Frozen” is generating excitement among indigenous Sámi people in northern Europe, whose culture the movie has taken inspiration from. “Frozen 2” debuted in U.S. cinemas on Nov. 22 and i... More »
HELSINKI (Reuters) – Finland’s national airline Finnair (FIA1S.HE) said on Sunday it was forced to cancel 276 flights scheduled for Sunday and Monday after attempts to settle a labor dispute at the Finnish postal service failed, leading several Finnish labor u... More »
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Max Verstappen won a thrilling Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix for Red Bull on Sunday after the Ferraris collided and Mercedes’ six-times world champion Lewis Hamilton was demoted from third to seventh. In a race of safety cars and surpr... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – Samsung’s plan to outsource a fifth of its smartphone production to China next year may help it compete with low-cost rivals such as Huawei and Xiaomi but it’s a strategy fraught with risks, people with familiar with the move said. Samsung El... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Two teams of young video gamers from Europe and China will do virtual battle on Sunday – and there’s more than $1 million at stake. The teams will fight it out in blockbuster online game “League of Legends”, in a contest drawing millions of v... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – The Swedish Academy has defended its decision to award the 2019 Nobel Prize for Literature to Austrian writer Peter Handke, saying he had made provocative comments but had not supported bloodshed. Handke’s prize has attracted criticism, i... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Norway on Tuesday reported it’s first monthly trade deficit in almost two years, a rare event triggered by a sharp fall in its sale of natural gas and a decline in the price of crude oil, the country’s two most important exports. The September... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – U.S.-based economists Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer won the 2019 Nobel Economics Prize on Monday for work fighting poverty that has helped millions of children by favoring practical steps over theory. French-American D... More »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian politicians and academics cheered the Nobel economics prize awarded on Monday to Indian-born American Abhijit Banerjee, whose proud mother told visitors crowding into her apartment that he came from “a family of economists”. Nirmal... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Alicia Vikander plays a murder suspect caught in a love triangle in “Earthquake Bird,” a thriller set in 1989 Tokyo in which the Oscar winner performs in English as well as Japanese. Based on the novel by Susanna Jones, the film follows Vika... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Volvo Cars will merge its engine development and manufacturing assets with those of parent Geely, creating a division to supply in-house brands Lotus, LEVC, Lynk and Proton, and also potential rivals with next-generation combustion and hy... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Norway plans to spend less money next year from its $1.1 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, as economic growth remains strong and unemployment declines, the center-right majority government said on Monday. “The Norwegian econ... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Swedish power group Vattenfall has won an order from Norway’s biggest dairy group Tine SA to run 200 charging stations for employees’ and customers’ electric vehicles. The state-owned utility said on Sunday the order, which includes payme... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – The Swedish prosecutor in an assault case involving A$AP Rocky said on Tuesday he would not appeal the verdict which saw the U.S. rapper get a suspended sentence for his role in a violent altercation in Stockholm at the end of June. “I be... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – U.S. rapper A$AP Rocky was convicted in Sweden on Wednesday of assault over a Stockholm street brawl, but spared time in jail after a high-profile trial that had led President Donald Trump to accuse Sweden of treating him unfairly. A$AP R... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Norway’s central bank is expected to keep interest rates on hold on Aug. 15 while signaling that a hike will likely follow later this year amid solid growth, above-target inflation and currency weakness, a Reuters poll of economists showed. De... More »
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Huawei Technologies Co Ltd plans to build an $800 million plant in Brazil’s Sao Paulo state over the next three years, the governor said, as the Chinese tech giant ramps up its Latin American presence against U.S. objections. On a trip to... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Sweden on Friday dismissed an angry outburst from U.S. President Donald Trump after prosecutors charged U.S. rapper A$AP Rocky with assault, saying the country’s judicial system was independent of political interference. Best known for hi... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Norwegian telecoms group Telenor (TEL.OL) said its second-quarter earnings would take a hit from “errors” discovered at Grameenphone GRAE.DH, its Bangladeshi telecoms division. “Grameenphone has discovered some erroneous omissions with regards... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Online advertising group Adevinta said the newly introduced digital tax in France lacked clarity but would likely hit the Norwegian company’s earnings as it posted second-quarter earnings roughly in line with expectations. France’s Senate gave... More »
SONKAJARVI, Finland (Reuters) – A Lithuanian couple won the World Wife-Carrying Championship for a second time in a row in the Finnish town of Sonkajarvi on Saturday, triumphing in a contest where men complete an obstacle course with their wives slung over the... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – A Swedish court on Friday ordered that U.S. rapper A$AP Rocky be held in custody for up to two more weeks while prosecutors investigate his part in a brawl in Stockholm. The 30-year-old performer, producer and model, whose real name is Ra... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Sweden launched an inquiry on Friday into a national network outage at telecoms company Tele2 (TEL2b.ST) in June that knocked out voice calls for a many private customers and companies for several hours. Tele2, Sweden’s second-largest tel... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Norway’s $1 trillion wealth fund can invest again in miner Rio Tinto and retailer Walmart after their exclusions from the fund’s investments on ethical grounds were revoked, the board of the central bank said on Tuesday. The fund can also resu... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Defying the years and one of the most fierce onslaughts he has ever faced at Roland Garros, Rafa Nadal won his 12th French Open crown on Sunday, leaving Dominic Thiem crushed and a packed Parisian stadium shaking their heads in wonder. The fi... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Uniper’s chairman on Sunday said talks with major shareholder Fortum to resolve a dispute between the two companies were on hold after two of the German utility’s board members resigned. Fortum and Uniper have been at loggerheads since th... More »
GRIMBERGEN, Belgium (Reuters) – Belgian monks at the Grimbergen abbey are on the verge of brewing beer again after a break of more than 200 years. The abbey, whose emblem is a phoenix with the Latin motto “Ardet nec consumitur”, meaning “Burned but not destroy... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – The Swedish prosecutor heading an investigation into a rape allegation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange filed a request with a local court on Monday for him to be detained in absentia. If granted, the court order would be the firs... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – IKEA plans to invest 400 million euros ($448 million)in France over the next three years as it builds up its new city center stores in the country, IKEA France’s chief executive Walter Kadnar said on Monday. Kadnar unveiled the plans as IKEA ... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Crown Prince Naruhito, set to become Japan’s emperor on May 1, is known as an earnest, studious man who wooed and won his ex-diplomat wife, Crown Princess Masako, with a pledge to protect her. Naruhito, 59, will not only be the first Japanese... More »
TALLINN (Reuters) – Estonia’s opposition center-right Reform party pulled off a surprise win over Prime Minister Juri Ratas’ governing center-left Centre party in Sunday’s parliamentary elections. The results put Reform leader Kaja Kallas in the pole position ... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Two crane ships early on Tuesday began raising a submerged Norwegian navy frigate which collided with an oil tanker in November and has remained stranded off Norway’s west coast since, the armed forces said. The accident injured eight people a... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Swedbank said on Tuesday it had hired external forensic auditors to investigate information in a media report linking the bank to a Baltic money laundering scandal, replacing recently appointed audit firm EY. Sweden’s public broadcaster a... More »
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – What to do with the mountain of garbage a major metropolitan area produces is an age-old question. Copenhagen has come up with a brand-new answer: ski down the mountain. Well, not exactly. The waste is actually inside Copenhill, a waste-... More »
(This Feb 7 story corrects to show, in fourth paragraph, that a temperature rise of 2°C is equivalent to 3.6°F, not 35.6°F) By Gwladys Fouche OSLO (Reuters) – Norway’s $1 trillion wealth fund will push the 9,000 firms it invests in to disclose more data on gre... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – European stocks slipped again on Friday, following their weakest day in six weeks, as downgrades to growth forecasts weighed and bleak numbers from Umicore, Skanska, and Rockwool outweighed a sales beat at L’Oreal. The pan-European STOXX 600... More »
ARE, Sweden (Reuters) – Lindsey Vonn made up for lost time at the Alpine ski world championships on Friday by completing the downhill part of the women’s combined as preparation for the final race of her career. The U.S. great, who bows out after Sunday’s down... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – The pictures – three anemic watercolours showing a mountain scene, a river and a distant figure sat beneath a tree – are little different from wares on sale at flea markets the world over, except for the autograph scratched in the corner: “A... More »
LUND, Sweden (Reuters) – Might tree roots, twigs and branches one day be used to power cars? That’s what a Swedish researcher is hoping after developing a pulp byproduct that – on a modest scale – does just that. Chemical engineering scientist Christian Hulteb... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – The scandal-plagued Swedish body that awards the Nobel Prize for literature said on Friday that one of its members would leave after an investigation determined she had leaked the names of winners. The poet Katarina Frostenson and her pho... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Uncertainties about the global economy mean Sweden’s central bank needs to move cautiously in tightening policy after its first hike in more than seven years, minutes of its December meeting published on Wednesday showed. Last month, the ... More »
WARSAW (Reuters) – Polish and Lithuanian power grid operators said on Friday they had agreed to build a high voltage direct current (HVDC) underwater cable by 2025 as part of a plan to connect the electricity grids of the Baltic states with those of the Europe... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – A Swedish appeals court on Monday found Jean-Claude Arnault, the man at the center of a sex scandal that forced the postponement of this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature, guilty of an additional rape and increased his prison term. A lower... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Norway’s Ultimovacs plans to raise around 700 million Norwegian crowns ($82 million) in an initial public offering in early 2019 to help fund the development of its immunotherapy cancer drug. “Our main investors are positive and will take a si... More »
HELSINKI (Reuters) – Clients at some banks in Finland have faced problems with the use of their payment cards on Sunday, payment firm Nets said. “The problems affected card transactions and online banking at some banks in Finland. It was related to a network i... More »
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Braving Europe’s heatwave, more than 150 Santas from around the world donned their heavy suits and full beards at their annual conference in Denmark. As the 61st World Santa Claus Congress kicked off in Copenhagen, many of the delegates ... More »
REPINO, Russia (Reuters) – There has been a relentless positivity and forward-looking tenor to England’s approach to this World Cup but before the adventure in Russia began, manager Gareth Southgate forced his players to confront a nightmare from the past. Two... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean LG Display Co Ltd’s plan to build a new organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panel production facility in China has been approved by the Chinese government, the company said on Tuesday. The new China plant will be established thro... More »
SONKAJARVI, (Finland) (Reuters) – Fifty-three men slung their wives or partners over their shoulders and hurtled off on an hour-long race in the small Finnish town of Sonkajarvi on Saturday, as thousands of fans cheered from the stands. The World Wife-Carrying... More »
SAMARA, Russia (Reuters) – Sweden coach Janne Andersson has full confidence in his team’s straightforward but effective tactics as he prepares his side for their World Cup quarter-final clash with England on Saturday. Andersson’s men are aiming to reach the la... More »
SAMARA/SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) – Andreas Granqvist did not set the world alight during his two seasons with the then Premier League side Wigan Athletic, but Sweden’s defensive linchpin is ready to show how far he has come when his side take on England in the W... More »
SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) – The two Sweden forwards likely to start in Saturday’s quarter-final against England may have only one World Cup goal between them so far, but Swedish pundit Bojan Djordjic says that won’t bother Janne Andersson’s men in the slightest.... More »
SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) – Sweden can beat England in Saturday’s quarter-finals and eventually win the World Cup in Russia if they can handle the pressure, former captain and record goalscorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic has said. Speaking to reporters at LA Galaxy’s tr... More »
NIZHNY NOVGOROD, Russia (Reuters) – Croatia showed none of the spark that marked their romp through the group phase but still did enough to edge Denmark in their round-of-16 clash on Sunday and ensure they will take on Russia in the World Cup quarter-finals ne... More »
NIZHNY NOVGOROD, Russia (Reuters) – Croatia’s elated coach Zlatko Dalic lauded his captain Luka Modric who missed a penalty in extra time but then scored another in a shootout victory over Denmark on Sunday that put them in the World Cup quarter-finals. “I am ... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Chancellor Angela Merkel’s agreement with French President Emmanuel Macron on euro zone reforms does not violate the coalition agreement, as some Bavarian conservatives have suggested, an aide to the German leader said. Chancellery Minister ... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Swedish biometrics firm Fingerprint Cards on Monday announced a new round of big cost cuts on the back of weak market conditions for capacitive sensors for smartphones and heavy price pressure. The company said it expected the new cost cu... More »
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Shares in Danish biotech Genmab fell by as much as 25 percent on Monday after its partner Johnson & Johnson decided to ditch a study using its blockbuster cancer drug. Genmab said Janssen, a Johnson & Johnson business, had decided that t... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Norway’s $1 trillion wealth fund voted against a motion at Shell’s annual meeting urging the energy giant to set climate targets, despite a push the fund is making for more firms to do so. Long-term investors with $10.4 trillion of assets unde... More »
(Reuters) – Sweden defeated Switzerland in a dramatic penalty shootout after a pulsating Ice Hockey World Championship final at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen on Sunday to retain the title they won against Canada in similar fashion a year ago. With the game fin... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Shareholders in Norway’s largest company, Statoil (STL.OL), will approve on Tuesday the board’s proposal to drop “oil” from its name as its seeks to diversify its business and attract young talent concerned about fossil fuels’ impact on climat... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The shipping industry has long been criticized by campaigners for allowing vessels to be broken up on beaches, endangering workers and polluting the sea and sand. Now, it is being called to account from a quarter that may have a bit more clo... More »
BAKU (Reuters) – Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton has accused Ferrari title rival Sebastian Vettel of failing to play by the rules when leading behind the safety car in Sunday’s chaotic Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver told reporters he would seek... More »
(Reuters) – The family of Swedish DJ Avicii, who was found dead last week in Oman at the age of 28, said on Thursday that he struggled with life and “could not go on any longer.” In their first comment on his death, the cause of which has not been disclosed, t... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – In just over three weeks, U.S. actress Meghan Markle will join a select group of “commoners” to marry into a royal family when she weds Britain’s Prince Harry at Windsor Castle. Markle, 36, follows the likes of Kate Middleton, who married Ha... More »
