Latest news with #Norway
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Which archipelago is home to Norway's polar bears? The Saturday quiz
1 What is celebrated, mathematically, on 14 March and 22 July?2 Which form of Chinese originated in Guangzhou?3 Summoner's Rift is the main battleground in what game?4 What is advertised as 'Scotland's other national drink'?5 Which archipelago is home to Norway's polar bears?6 Which activist was arrested in Rochester, NY, in 1872 for voting?7 What was the first martial art to become an Olympic sport?8 Which organ produces insulin?What links: 9 Dominic McLaughlin; Jamie Parker; Daniel Radcliffe?10 Riviera's second city; goddess of victory; Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight?11 Star patterns; time travel in Hill Valley; piano; neo-Nazi code?12 Lime Rickey; Arnold Palmer; Shirley Temple; Virgin Mary?13 Political Wife (Sarah Vine); Politician (Rory Stewart) Professional Footballer (Paul Merson); Boy (Robert Webb)?14 Ghost; Lordi; Pussy Riot; Sleep Token; Slipknot?15 Ancelotti; Enrique; Guardiola; Happel; Heynckes; Hitzfeld; Mourinho? 1 Pi (3/14 and 22/7).2 Cantonese (from former name).3 League of Legends.4 Irn-Bru.5 Svalbard (Spitsbergen).6 Susan B Anthony (and 14 others).7 Judo (1964).8 Pancreas.9 Played Harry Potter on stage and screen: forthcoming HBO series; original cast of HP and the Cursed Child; film series.10 Nike: Nice, named after Nike; in Greek myth; founded Nike trainers.11 88: 88 constellations recognised by the International Astronomical Union; DeLorean's 88mph in Back to the Future; 88 keys; numerical code for 'Heil Hitler'.12 Mocktails.13 How Not to be a … books.14 Masked rock bands.15 Managed two clubs to win European Cup/Champions League.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Son of Norway princess charged with rape and sexual assault
The eldest son of Norway's crown princess was charged with multiple counts of rape, sexual assault and bodily harm, on Friday, after ten months of investigation. Marius Borg Hoiby is the 28-year-old son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit and stepson of the heir to the throne — Crown Prince Haakon. He was arrested several times in 2024 amid allegations of rape and preliminary charges of bodily harm. Hoiby has faced scrutiny since and has been at the center of an investigation involving a "double-digit" number of victims. "I cannot go into further detail about the number of victims in the case beyond confirming that it is a double-digit number," Oslo Police Attorney Andreas Kruszewski said at a news conference. He added that the charges include one case of rape involving intercourse, two cases of rape without intercourse, four cases of sexual assault and two cases of bodily harm. The attorney said the evidence had been gathered from sources including text-messages, police searches and witness testimonies. In an email to The Associated Press, Defense attorney Petar Sekulic said Hoiby was "taking the accusations very seriously, but doesn't acknowledge any wrongdoing in most of the cases — especially the cases regarding sexual abuse and violence." The Crown princess' eldest son is her child from a different relationship before she was married to Crown Prince Haakon. Hoiby grew up with the privelege of the other royals but does not hold a formal title or have a public role. After the initial allegations of bodily harm last year, Hoiby admitted to acts of violence directed towards his partner under the influence of alcohol and cocaine. In a statement to the public, he spoke of psychological problems and long-term drug abuse. Edited by: Kieran Burke
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Equinor and Partners Approve $2 Billion Fram Sør Project
A new oil and gas project in the North Sea has been greenlit by Norwegian oil major Equinor and its Fram partners, which plan to invest NOK 21 billion or USD$2 billion. Equinor Energy owns 45 percent of the Fram Sør project, Vår Energi ASA holds 40 percent and INPEX Idemitsu Norge AS has 15 percent. The plan for development and operations was submitted on Thursday to Norway's Minister of Energy. The Fram Sør project is a combined development of several discoveries that will export oil and gas via Troll C. The Troll field contains about 40 percent of total gas reserves on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS). The field consists of the main Troll East and Troll West structures. Troll is also one of the largest oil fields on the NCS. Oil from the Fram field is transported through Troll Oil Pipeline II to Mongstad, and gas is exported to Kollsnes via the Troll A platform. The Troll C platform. Source: Equinor Recoverable volumes at Fram Sør are estimated at 116 million barrels of oil equivalent, 75 percent of which is oil and 25 percent is gas. Production is scheduled to start at the end of 2029, reads a company press release. The field development is also technologically groundbreaking. Fram Sør will be the first project on the NCS to use all-electric 'Christmas trees' that eliminate the need for hydraulic fluid supplied from the platform and improve monitoring capabilities of the subsea equipment. The technology also reduces the risk of environmental impact. In the fall of 2019, Equinor and partners made a discovery of oil and gas in the Fram area of the North Sea. This discovery, called Echino South, supported the belief that more oil could be found, and contributed to nine discoveries made in the Troll-Fram area over a four-year period. In the spring of 2021, Equinor and partners made the Blasto discovery. Together with two smaller discoveries in previous years, Echino South and Blasto form the basis for Fram Sør. Water depth in the area is about 350 meters and the reservoir is between 1,800 and 2,800 meters deep. 'We have done a thorough job maturing the new resources discovered in the Fram and Troll area in recent years,' said Kjetil Hove, Equinor's executive vice president for exploration & production Norway. 'Fram Sør shows the importance of area solutions and close collaboration between partners and authorities in order to realize the resource values on a mature NCS. We have a large portfolio of projects that will phase in discoveries to our producing fields. Equinor expects to put more than 50 such projects on stream by 2035.' The Fram Sør announcement gels with Equinor's recent decision to pivot from renewables back to its core oil and gas competencies. Earlier this year the company said it is reducing its ambition for installed renewables capacity by 20 percent at the low end and 33 percent at the high end, from 12-16 gigawatts by 2030 to 10-12 GW. The higher target range was set in 2021. The firm also said it is scrapping a previous 2030 target to allocate 50 percent of gross capital expenditures to renewables. Equinor said in its press release reporting Q4 and full-year 2024 results that it plans to increase oil and gas production by 10 percent from 2024 to 2027. The company expects USD$23 billion in free cash flow for 2025-27 by reducing capital expenditures and addressing costs. Norway only produces about 2 percent of the world's oil supply, but it is the largest oil producer and exporter in Western Europe. Equinor is Norway's largest oil and gas company, outputting about 70 percent of its total production, or 2 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. By Andrew Topf for More Top Reads From this article on Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Orcas filmed making out in the wild for first time
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. For the first time ever, a pair of orcas have been spotted making out in the wild. The amorous pair was observed nibbling each other's tongues during a snorkeling expedition in the Kvænangen fjords in northern Norway, around 68 miles (109 kilometers) northeast of Tromsø, according to a new study published June 11 in the journal Oceans. This tongue-nibbling behavior has only previously been seen on a handful of occasions in captivity. The action, described as resembling "kissing" by the citizen scientists who observed it, may play a role in social bonding, the researchers suggest. The citizen scientists spotted and recorded this unique behavior during a whale-watching snorkeling expedition in October 2024. The interaction lasted just under two minutes and involved three bouts of gentle mouth-to-mouth contact between the two orcas (Orcinus orca). Afterward, the pair swam their separate ways. Tongue-nibbling was first seen in captive orcas in 1978 and was described again in 2019 at Loro Parque, a zoo in Tenerife, Spain that houses three captive orcas. The researchers spoke to a range of divers and other orca researchers regarding the behavior in the wild, but only a handful had ever spotted it. Trainers at Loro Parque noted that four individuals at the facility had been seen tongue-nibbling, but the orcas had not performed the behavior for several years. "Tongue-nibbling is exceptionally rare," study co-author Javier Almunia, a marine mammal researcher and director of Loro Parque Fundación, told Live Science via email. "Orca caretakers at several facilities are aware of the behaviour, but its prevalence is extremely low — it may appear and then not be observed again for several years." Mouth contact between animals is seen in a vast number of species and can represent a variety of different social cues. Many social animals use mouth contact to reinforce bonds, such as primates, who engage in kissing or lip-touching as a sign of trust and friendship. In dogs and wolves, mouth licking, especially from younger or subordinate individuals, can represent a sign of respect or submission to a higher-ranking individual. The researchers suggest that tongue-nibbling in orcas may be a form of social bonding, similar to that seen in belugas (Delphinapterus leucas), a type of toothed whale. "Tongue-nibbling itself has not been recorded in other species, but comparable mouth-related social interactions have been observed in belugas (e.g., mouth-to-mouth contact). This could suggest that, given cetacean anatomy — particularly the adaptation of limbs to the marine environment — oral contact may serve as a more versatile means of social communication than in terrestrial mammals," Almunia said. "This behaviour appears to serve affiliative purposes and may play a role in reinforcing social bonds or resolving conflicts, akin to grooming or reconciliation behaviours in other highly social species," he added. However, we cannot be certain of what exactly drove the orcas to exhibit this behavior without further research. "We can only speculate on the function and nobody can know for sure without data relating it to known social structures in the wild (in captivity the 'social structure' is completely artificial and therefore largely irrelevant for understanding social function in evolutionary terms)," said Luke Rendall, a marine mammal researcher at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. "It may be affiliative, it might be a form of begging, that is trying to stimulate food transfers, it might even be a form of grooming, somehow having a cleaning function," Rendall told Live Science. The researchers suggest in the paper that the observed tongue-nibbling could be a "trend" play behavior in the orcas, similar to positioning dead fish on their heads as hats, which was seen in one orca population. This observation of tongue-nibbling in the wild suggests that the behavior is not exclusive to captive animals and instead is found in a range of genetically distinct populations. "Observing the same behaviour in wild orcas confirms that this is a natural behaviour retained in orcas under human care. This continuity supports the idea that behavioural studies in zoological settings provide important insights into the ethology of wild populations," Almunia said. Related stories —Salmon-hat wearing orcas also give each other massages with kelp, scientists discover —'Incredible and rare' sight as endangered whale attacked by 60 orcas in brutal hunt —Grieving orca mom carries dead calf around on her head for a 2nd time However, not everyone is convinced by the argument that captive animals can give insights into natural behavior and suggest far more research is needed to understand this tongue-nibbling. "There's no quantification here — no attempt to calculate actual rates by doing the hard work of pulling together numbers such as the number of hours observed in the wild per observation of this behaviour, and the same for captivity," Rendall said. "Even if the behaviour itself is fascinating, and I think it is, we are limited on conclusions because it's just one observation, but it is telling that in their summing up these authors take great pains to try and explain how this observation justifies the activities of [orca captivity and swim-with-cetaceans programmes]. It does not, in my view."
The Guardian
8 hours ago
- The Guardian
Son of Norway's crown princess charged with rape, sexual assault and bodily harm
Oslo police on Friday announced charges against Marius Borg Høiby, the eldest son of Norway's crown princess, on counts including rape, sexual assault and bodily harm after a months-long investigation of a case that involved a 'double-digit' number of alleged victims. Høiby, the son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit and stepson of the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Haakon, has been under scrutiny since he was repeatedly arrested in 2024 amid allegations of rape and on preliminary charges of bodily harm and criminal damage. The Oslo police attorney Andreas Kruszewski said Høiby had been cooperative during police questioning, which was now complete. Evidence in the case was drawn from sources including text messages, witness testimonies and police searches, the police attorney said. The charges included one case of rape involving intercourse and two cases of rape without intercourse, four cases of sexual assault and two cases of bodily harm, Kruszewksi said at a news conference. 'I cannot go into further detail about the number of victims in the case beyond confirming that it is a double-digit number,' he said. The defence attorney Petar Sekulic, in an email to the Associated Press, said Høiby was 'absolutely taking the accusations very seriously, but doesn't acknowledge any wrongdoing in most of the cases – especially the cases regarding sexual abuse and violence'. The royal palace did not immediately respond to a request from AP seeking comment. Høiby, 28, previously lived with the royal couple and their two children, Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus, but now lives in a separate house nearby, according to Sekulic. He remains free pending a possible trial and is entitled to a presumption of innocence until a court rules otherwise.
