People in routine and repetitive jobs found to have 31% greater risk of disease in later life, and 66% higher risk of mild cognitive problems
If work is a constant flurry of mind-straining challenges, bursts of creativity and delicate negotiations to keep the troops happy, consider yourself lucky.
Researchers have found that the more people use their brains at work, the better they seem to be protected against thinking and memory problems that come with older age.
Continue reading...Leaders of two nations vow to muster international support for two-state solution to Gaza crisis
Ireland and Spain have reiterated their intention to forge an alliance of countries that will soon recognise Palestine as a nation state.
The Irish taoiseach, Simon Harris, and Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, vowed on Friday to muster international support for a two-state solution in Israel and Palestine.
Continue reading...Meteorologist says bears were not aggressive but they fired signal gun to scare them away
Katarzyna Kudłacz was preparing a breakfast of scrambled eggs at a research station on Svalbard when she looked up to see she had three unexpected guests.
Shocked and in awe, the meteorologist immediately alerted her colleagues to the female polar bear and her two cubs peering into the Polish research station in Hornsund, in the south of the Norwegian archipelago, their noses pressed up against the window.
Continue reading...Blockades at facilities in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, with protests in Scotland and action expected in Denmark
Climate activists in four countries are blocking access to North Sea oil infrastructure as part of a coordinated pan-European civil disobedience protest.
Blockades have been taking place at oil and gas terminals, refineries and ports in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, in protest at the continued exploitation of North Sea fossil fuel deposits.
Continue reading...Archaeologists fear more than 2,000 carved figures in Vingen could be destroyed when digging begins
One of the largest and most significant sites of rock art in northern Europe is under “catastrophic” threat.
The Vingen carvings, in Vestland county, Norway, are spectacular, and include images of human skeletons and abstract and geometric designs. Even the hammer stones, the tools used by the ancient artists to create their compositions, have survived.
Continue reading...The 87-year-old, Europe’s oldest ruling monarch, has suffered from ill health in recent years, and it is unclear when he will return home
Norway’s King Harald V, aged 87 and in poor health, is “improving” from an infection that forced him to be hospitalised while on holiday in Malaysia, his office has said.
The king will remain in hospital on the island of Langkawi and it is not yet known when he will return home, the Royal House of Norway said in a statement on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Schools closed and bus thrown off road in most powerful storm for decades, while snow ends dry spell in Himalayas
This week brought the strongest storm so far of the 2023-24 European season, as Storm Ingunn slammed into Norway on Wednesday with hurricane-force winds. A deep, multi-centred area of low pressure intensified as it moved eastwards towards Scandinavia, displaying signs of possible sting jet activity as it approached the Norwegian coast. A sting jet is a narrow channel of very strong winds – often more than 100mph (160km/h) – that can form when low pressure systems strengthen rapidly, with these winds descending from upper levels towards the surface.
The storm deepened to a lowest central pressure of 940hPa on Wednesday evening, approaching Norway’s official low pressure record of 938.5hPa, set in 1907. The storm is the most powerful Norway has seen in decades, with sustained winds equivalent to those from a Category 1 hurricane. Gusts of 80-100mph were widespread along the west coast during Wednesday afternoon and overnight, with the Norwegian Meteorological Society announcing on Thursday a strongest confirmed gust of 115mph at Sklinna Lighthouse on the island of Heimøya, north of Trondheim. Some reports from the Faroe Islands suggest that gusts there could have reached up to 155mph, but these numbers were unconfirmed at the time of writing.
Continue reading...People on sauna boat pull car driver and passenger from freezing water before vehicle is lifted out
Two motorists whose car plunged into a freezing Oslo fjord escaped unharmed when a floating sauna came to their rescue, Norwegian police have said.
A video clip filmed by witnesses and obtained by Agence France-Presse on Thursday appears to shows the vehicle, a Tesla, partly submerged in the water, with its occupants sitting on the roof.
Continue reading...Environmental campaigners say move will threaten marine life and put biodiversity at risk
Norway is to allow mining waste to be dumped in its fjords after the government won a court case against environmental organisations trying to block the plan.
After a 15-year dispute, the private company Nordic Mining has been given the go-ahead to dispose of 170m tonnes of mining waste at the bottom of the Førde fjord, which critics say will threaten marine life and put biodiversity at risk.
Continue reading...Despite leading lavish lifestyles, some monarchs are influencing people to make greener choices
When Prince Frederik takes the throne on Sunday, the Danish crown will pass from his mother, Queen Margrethe II, a monarch who has cast doubt on the fact that human pollution is heating the planet, to one who feels bound by duty to call for stronger action on climate breakdown.
“I think it’s important for me to have a message for other people,” he told the Financial Times in 2010 after a trip to the melting Arctic with the heirs to the Norwegian and Swedish thrones, “to convince the broader population there are changes happening and that we are making the change.”
Continue reading...The animals combine sleeping and digesting, researchers found after extracting reindeer brain data
If your ceaseless feasting at Christmas leaves you exhausted, it may be worth taking inspiration from reindeer: research suggests the animals can sleep while chewing.
During the summer months, reindeer spend most of their time munching foliage – an important activity given food can be scarce in the winter. However, a study suggests one way they balance their need to digest with the need to sleep is by multitasking.
Continue reading...Campaigners use traditional Sámi tents to block roads in Norwegian capital in protest against turbines on reindeer pastures
Hundreds of Indigenous and environmental campaigners have blocked a main thoroughfare in Oslo to demand the demolition of two windfarms that have been described by the Norwegian government as a “violation of human rights”.
The Wednesday protest traces its roots to a landmark 2021 decision by Norway’s supreme court that found 151 wind turbines in the western region of Fosen had trampled on the rights of Sámi reindeer herders by encroaching on their pastures.
Continue reading...Campaigners including Greta Thunberg had called for halt to Rosebank project involving Oslo-listed Equinor
Britain has given the go-ahead to develop the UK’s biggest untapped oilfield off Shetland, sparking outrage from environmental campaigners.
The UK oil and gas regulator’s decision to grant the Oslo-listed Equinor and the British firm Ithaca Energy permission to develop the Rosebank oil and gas field in the North Sea was condemned by the Green party MP Caroline Lucas as “the greatest act of environmental vandalism in my lifetime”.
Continue reading...Researchers in Norway reveal further analysis of 2022 explosions as well as a detailed timeline of events
Scientists investigating the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines have revealed key new details of explosions linked to the event, which remains unsolved on its first anniversary.
Researchers in Norway shared with the Guardian seismic evidence of the four explosions, becoming the first national body to publicly confirm the second two detonations, as well as revealing a detailed timeline of events.
Continue reading...Former British PM calls for 3% levy on oil and gas export revenues of biggest producers to generate $25bn a year for global south
Petrostates should pay a small percentage of their soaring oil and gas revenues to help poor countries cope with the climate crisis, the former UK prime minister Gordon Brown has urged.
Countries with large oil and gas deposits have enjoyed a record bonanza in the last two years, amounting to about $4tn (£3.3tn) last year for the industry globally. Levying a 3% windfall tax on the oil and gas export revenues of the biggest-producing countries would yield about $25bn a year.
Continue reading...A dispute that caused scandal in the world of elite chess appears to have been settled after the players involved said they have moved on from their rift.
Hans Niemann, a rising star in the chess world, filed a $100m lawsuit against Magnus Carlsen, the website chess.com and chess streamer Hikaru Nakamura after allegations he had cheated.
Continue reading...Despite progress towards a 2045 zero-emission goal, the high price of EVs has created a headache for governments
European countries are struggling to persuade people to switch from combustion engine cars to electric ones, experts warn.
Europe sells 10 times more electric cars today than it did just six years ago, according to the International Energy Agency, but its fleet is cleaning up too slowly to meet its climate goals. Governments across the continent are struggling with the price-tag of electric vehicles, which can cost several thousand euros more upfront than comparable ones that burn fossil fuels.
Continue reading...Middle section of Randklev Bridge on Oslo-to-Trondheim line slid into Lågen River on Monday morning
A critical railway bridge in Norway has collapsed into a river after a storm caused widespread damage to infrastructure.
The middle part of the Randklev Bridge in Ringebu, which is crossed by the Dovre line connecting Oslo and Trondheim, slid into the Lågen River on Monday morning.
Continue reading...North of continent records unusually wet and windy summer conditions while Portugal and Spain battle flames
Floods struck northern and central Europe last week. Some areas of Slovenia recorded more than 200mm of rain in 12 hours on Thursday and Friday, causing extensive flooding across two-thirds of the country. Many buildings and roads were damaged, at an estimated cost of €500m (£432m), and six deaths were reported.
Storm Hans hit the Baltic region a few days later. Hans originated as an area of low pressure over eastern Europe, but quickly deepened as it travelled northwards towards the Baltic Sea. The low was unusually deep for a summer storm, and led to daily rainfall totals of 80 to 100mm in parts of southern Norway and Sweden earlier this week.
Continue reading...Landslides, a stranded town and two deaths so far reported as extreme weather sweeps across south of the country
A powerful storm has brought destruction to Norway, causing landslides and leaving an entire town stranded, as meteorologists warned of the strongest rainfall in a quarter of a century.
The storm – named Storm Hans – has killed two people, ripped off roofs and caused widespread disruption across northern Europe in a summer that started with wildfires across much of the region.
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