Norway to build world’s tallest timber building – Mjøstårnet

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January 4, 2018

NordenBladet – “Mjøstårnet” will be more than 80 metres tall and stand 30 metres higher than what is today considered the world’s tallest timber building. “Mjøstårnet sets new standards for timber constructions. The building is the closest we come to a skyscraper in timber,” says investor and contracting client, Arthur Buchardt.

Mjøstårnet, named after its neighbour and Norway’s largest lake, Mjøsa. The record-breaking construction will sit on the edge of the north-eastern tip of the lake in the small town of Brumunddal, an hour and a half’s drive north of Oslo.

Spanning over 18 floors, the building will reach 80 metres high, and include apartments, an indoor swimming pool, hotel, offices, restaurant and communal areas. Construction is scheduled to be completed in December 2018. Moelven, a Mjøsa-local Scandinavian industrial group, will supply the timber constructions from local spruce forests required to construct the tower and the swimming pool area.

“The assembly and construction of the Mjøstårnet is nothing short of world-class engineering, and will be managed without external scaffolding, despite the complexity of working at heights. We are primarily using cranes and supplementing with lifts as needed. We have reached 33 metres to date, meaning we have 50 metres to go,” says Buchardt.

Source: tnp.no

Norway´s Prime Minister Erna Solberg will visit President Donald Trump in the White House on January 10th

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Helena-Reet Ennet

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January 4, 2018

NordenBladet – The White House confirms the visit in a press release. Solberg and Trump have encountered earlier during international meetings, but it will be the first proper meeting between Solberg and Trump.

“The United States is important for Norway for security and commerce. Such a meeting gives us the opportunity to promote our view of open world trade and the importance of working together internationally to solve climate challenges,” says Prime Minister Erna Solberg.

“President Trump looks forward to exchanging views on the bilateral ties between the United States and Norway, and how jointly to advance regional and global security, and economic prosperity. The President and Prime Minister will discuss shared defense and security goals within NATO and the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, as well as trade and investment between the United States and Norway,” writes The White House.

Four Norwegian musicians – Kygo, Alan Walker, Sigrid and Aurora – to Coachella Music Festival

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Helena-Reet Ennet

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January 4, 2018

NordenBladet – Sigrid, Kygo, Aurora and Alan Walker will take the stage in one of the biggest music festivals in the world, the Coachella in April. Coachella is considered one of the largest and most important music festivals in the United States and will be held on April 13 this year.

This year , the organizers have invited four Norwegian artists- Kygo, Alan Walker, Sigrid and Aurora to the festival.

The Norwegian artists will be on the stage together with big names like Beyoncé, The Weeknd and Eminem.

The first Norwegian artists who debuted at the prestigious festival were Turboneger, 120 Days and Datarock in 2008.

Source: tnp.no

Tourist influx triggers food-delivery boom in Finnish Lapland

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Helena-Reet Ennet

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January 4, 2018

NordenBladet – The busy tourist season is boosting food deliveries, with an international clientele demanding dishes familiar from home. The rapid growth of tourism in Finnish Lapland and the culinary tastes of international visitors have led to a spike in food deliveries on northern roads. The volume of wholesale deliveries has risen by a third over the past year.

This winter some 600 charter flights are bringing guests to Finnish Lapland and nearby Kuusamo from various European airports. At Kuusamo airport, the number of incoming leisure flights nearly doubled in December compared to a year earlier.

Some locals find it odd that tourists come from Britain and Asia all the way to Lapland, but prefer to eat their own familiar cuisine rather than Lapland’s own signature dishes, says Soile Lehtilahti, regional sales director for wholesaler Metro-tukku. However shops on Spain’s Costa del Sol, cater to Finnish tourists by selling imported rye bread and liquorice, for instance.

Metro-tukku delivers food, alcoholic beverages and cigarettes to Lapland’s tourist resorts from its main warehouse in Helsinki, with northerly terminals in Kemi and Rovaniemi. It is just one of many such firms servicing the ski centres of Finnish Lapland.

Lehtilahti explains that tour operators set the menus for foreign groups. Lapland’s restaurants strictly follow these as they place their wholesale orders. British tourists are served British dishes, while Asians are served their own.

These menus are critical to the pricing of group tours. Operators can keep package rates low by serving familiar, middle-of-the-road foods to each group rather than exotic Nordic offerings such as salmon, reindeer or bear.

Source: finland.fi

Esko Repo from the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri): Finland raises asylum approval rate after court setbacks

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Helena-Reet Ennet

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January 4, 2018

NordenBladet – Finland made positive decisions on 40 percent of all asylum applicants in 2017, up from 27 percent in 2016. According to preliminary figures from the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri), 40 percent of the processed applications for asylum last year were positive, compared with 27 percent in 2016.

Decisions by Finland’s administrative courts on the security situation in Baghdad and Mogadishu, for example, have had an impact on the application outcome.

“They have had an effect on how our decisions change,” says Esko Repo from Migri.

However there are other reasons for the increase, Repo adds. In 2016, Migri mostly processed quick and easy applications, many of which were rejected as the applicants had no grounds for protection. Only in 2017 did Migri move on to the more challenging applications, where the decisions more often turned out to be positive, he explains.

Finally, Migri’s own evaluation about the security situation in different countries has caused an uptick. “For instance, there are more areas in Afghanistan where the conditions have deteriorated”, Repo says. The number of applications that Migri dealt with in 2016 totalled 28,000, falling to 9,400 last year.

The number of new applications Migri received each year amounted to about 5,000, with the most coming from Iraqis. Applications from Russians increased from the previous year, Repo says.

Source: finland.fi

Swedish Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson: It’s important to prepare for the risk of hard Brexit

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Helena-Reet Ennet

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January 4, 2018

NordenBladet – We must be prepared for the risk of a hard Brexit, Swedish Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson has said. The Social Democrat minister was quizzed on a number of issues in an interview with Swedish news agency TT released on Thursday, including talks following Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.

“I really hope that these negotiations move forward fast, that would be very good and important,” she said. “But at the same time it is important to prepare for the possibility of ending up in a situation where there is a hard Brexit, if you do not agree and move forward. It’s important that everyone is prepared for that risk.”

Fellow non-euro country Sweden has long seen Britain as one of its closest partners in the union, and concerns have been raised that pressure for Sweden to join will increase when its ally leaves the EU.

Swedish streaming giant Spotify has discreetly filed to go public, according to multiple reports

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Helena-Reet Ennet

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January 4, 2018

NordenBladet – There has been speculation that the streaming firm will go public for some time but Spotify has largely chosen to keep quiet on the matter. On Wednesday both US website Axios and news agency Bloomberg reported that the Swedish company has finally made its move, citing “sources familiar with the matter”.

According to both reports, the tech firm filed documents in the US to go public at the end of December, and hopes to list its stock in the first quarter of 2018, but there is conflicting information over whether the documents were for a traditional IPO or a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

Direct listings are not common for major companies, but was last year reported to be Spotify’s preferred option as it does not need to raise any new money thanks to a subscriber base of over 60 million paying customers.

The last valuation of the company made public was $8.2 billion in June 2015.

Spotify did not comment on Wednesday’s reports.

The news comes in the same week it emerged that a music publisher is seeking at least $1.6 billion from the Swedish streaming giant in a copyright dispute.

Jonas Bjelfvenstam: Stockholm gets Scandinavia’s first driverless buses on public road

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Helena-Reet Ennet

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January 4, 2018

NordenBladet – The Swedish Transport Agency has given the go-ahead to the first driverless buses on a public road in Sweden and Scandinavia. “This is an historic decision which promotes the development of new, innovative technologies which are important for the development of society. Extensive research and trials are necessary to develop automated road traffic in a sustainable and safe way,” Jonas Bjelfvenstam, the Transport Agency’s director-general, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Bus company Nobina is behind the venture, in cooperation with tech experts at Ericsson, SJ, KTH, Klövern, Urban ICT Arena and Stockholm City, funded by among others Vinnova via Drive Sweden.

The buses are set to run between Kista mall and Victoria Tower in northern Stockholm along a 1.5 kilometre pre-recorded path at a speed of 20 kilometres an hour, using GPS and sensors to ensure they do not divert from the path.

They have no steering wheel as such but can be operated manually. A driver will be on board to take control of the bus in case of emergency, as is required under current legislation in Sweden.

“The applicant has to show that the vehicle can be driven without impacting traffic safety. Our role is to ensure that that is the case,” said Bjelfvenstam.

The buses in Kista will be free to use and both have space for 12 passengers at a time. They are expected to start running in mid-January next year, Nobina told The Local on Wednesday.

The Transport Agency is currently processing another seven applications for self-driving trials, and more applications are expected in 2018.

Photo: Stockholm gets Scandinavia’s first driverless buses on public road (Nobina)

EU supports Finnish development cooperation project in Nepal with EUR 20 million

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Helena-Reet Ennet

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January 3, 2018

NordenBladet — The European Union has awarded EUR 20 million to a water resources management project implemented by Finland in Nepal. This is the first time the EU has granted support to a Finnish development cooperation project. The water resources management project based in Far-Western Nepal is expected to enhance the management of water resources, improve the health and access to sanitation of local people and ensure better livelihoods and food security in rural areas.

The project’s total budget is EUR 60.2 million, of which Finland will contribute EUR 15 million in 2016–2022. The Nepalese government and end users will contribute a total of EUR 25.2 million. The EUR 20 million of support from the EU will be channelled through Finland.

The project is being implemented in ten districts in two regions. The aim is to improve access to the supply of water and electricity in rural communities and to ensure better food security and livelihood opportunities. Project activities include helping rural communities utilise every drop of water efficiently for various purposes.

In addition to the supply of drinking water, the project supports small-scale irrigation and hydropower systems. Irrigation will help diversify the range of crops grown in domestic gardens and extend the growing season, which will improve farmers’ food security, support a more balanced diet and provide farmers with extra income from the sale of produce. Moreover, project activities will also help communities prepare for catastrophes and climate change.

The first phase of the Rural Village Water Resources Management Project in Far-Western Nepal was launched in 2006 as a bilateral development cooperation project. The current third phase will run until 2022.

The second phase implemented in 2010–2016 was successful. Among other things, it gave 144,000 people in Nepal access to drinking water and improved sanitation for 358,000 people. Small-scale hydropower systems gave 41,000 people access to electricity for the first time ever, irrigation systems helped 28,000 farmers, and 164,000 people set up small gardens, which improved their food security and livelihood and diversified their diet.

The project has also received recognition for its good management. In 2016, it won the Finnish Project Management Association’s annual Project of the Year prize. In 2017, it came second in a project excellence competition organised by the International Project Management Association.

Source: Finland.ee
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Finland will increase its humanitarian aid for Yemen and the crises in Africa

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Helena-Reet Ennet

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January 3, 2018

NordenBladet — Finland will assist areas suffering from conflicts and drought in Yemen, Northeast Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia. “The focus in our aid decisions towards the end of the year is on crises where the need is currently particularly great and aid is needed urgently”, says Kai Mykkänen, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development.

Millions of people in Yemen, which suffers from war, depend on international aid. Almost one million people have caught cholera after last spring, and the country now faces the worst famine for decades. Finland will direct a total of EUR 2.5 million to Yemen through the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR (EUR 1.5 million) and the World Food Programme WFP (EUR 1 million).

More aid will also be granted for the acute crises in Africa. Finland will support Northeast Nigeria with EUR 1.5 million through the UNHCR. In addition, EUR 750,000 will be directed to Ethiopia through the WFP and EUR 1 million to the Democratic Republic of Congo. In Congo, as many as 3.8 million people have had to flee from conflicts and currently the country has one of the fastest growing humanitarian crises in the world.

In addition, Finland will grant EUR 8 million of general aid for the WFP. The WFP can flexibly decide on allocating general aid, which often improves the cost-efficiency and speed of the aid.

With the new aid, the amount of humanitarian aid that Finland has granted in 2017 will total EUR 81.3 million. Approximately one third of this is general aid, one third directed to humanitarian action in the Middle East and slightly less than one third to Africa. In addition, Finland has supported humanitarian work in Afghanistan, Myanmar, North Korea and Ukraine.Among other things, in thematic issues, Finland has hosted a conference on aid to Syria and promoted the position of the disabled in humanitarian action and the development of flexible forms of funding during this year.The humanitarian situation in the world has deteriorated during 2017. According to the UN’s recent estimates, 136 million people are now in need of humanitarian aid and protection. In spite of the ever-growing need, more aid has been delivered this year than ever before, which has saved millions of lives in different parts of the world.

Source: Finland.ee
Find us also on Twitter: @NordenBladet