NORDIC STOCKS – Factors to watch on July 19

July 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 19 (Reuters) – The following stocks may be affected by newspaper reports and other factors on Monday:

NOKIA (NOK1V.HE)

Motorola Inc is close to selling most of its wireless-network equipment business to Nokia’s Nokia Siemens Networks [NSN.UL] venture for $1.2 billion, a source familiar with the matter said on Sunday. [ID:nN18132812]

NSN would buy Motorola’s network unit under the deal, which could be announced as early as Monday, the source said.

For more on the company, double click on [NOK1V.HE]

** For a summary of upcoming results and forecasts, double click on [NORD/EQTY]

** For the western European company diary covering earnings, shareholder meetings, news conferences and analysts’ meetings, click on [WEU/EQUITY] or type in the code and hit the f9 button.

** Double click on <0#.INDEX.ST> for Swedish indices, <0#.INDEX.CO> for Danish indices, <0#.INDEX.HE> for Finnish indices and <0#.INDEX.OL> for Norwegian indices

** For real-time moves on Nordic blue-chip indices double click on .OMXS30, .OMXH25, and .OBX

** For constituent stock moves highlight the above codes in the command box and press the f3 button on your keyboard

** For Nordic top news items, double click on [TOP/NORD]

** For the latest news on Nordic stock price moves double click on [HOT-NORD-RTRS]

(Additional reporting by Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm newsrooms) (Helsinki Newsroom; +358-9-6805-0244)

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SAS says to boost Scandinavian flights due demand

July 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

July 13 (Reuters) – Loss-making airline SAS (SAS.ST) said on Tuesday that it would increase flights on some Scandinavian routes due to strong demand.

SAS was badly hit by the global downturn and has had to slash costs and raise cash via a rights issue. But the airline was upbeat about its home markets

“Apart from the fact that we have planes which are record full, we also see a positive development in our Scandinavian network…,” SAS commercial chief Robin Kamark said in a statement.

“SAS will raise the number of depatures in the autumn within Scandinavia due to strong demand,” the company added. The new flights would come on the Stockholm-Copenhagen and Stockholm-Oslo routes. (Reporting by Patrick Lannin)

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World at risk of “red card” over climate: de Boer

June 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Climate negotiators gave a standing ovation to the outgoing head of the U.N. climate change secretariat Wednesday even after he told them they would be at risk of a red card in a soccer match for wasting time.

Green Business

Dutchman Yvo de Boer, who steps down from July 1 after four years in the job, said governments were doing too little to stick to a promise to limit a rise in world temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) above pre-industrial times.

In a farewell address at 185-nation climate talks in Bonn, he noted that the world failed to agree a binding treaty at a Copenhagen summit in December. The next major ministerial meeting is in Cancun, Mexico, from November 29-December 10.

“To move toward World Cup imagery: we got a yellow card in Copenhagen and the referee’s hand will edge toward the red one if we fail to deliver in Cancun and beyond,” he said.

De Boer raised the profile of negotiations with straight-talking about climate change that is likely to hit the poor hardest. “You gave a voice to the vulnerable countries,” Leon Charles of Grenada told him during a ceremony.

After a standing ovation for de Boer, his successor, Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica, presented him with a pair of shoes and showed a photograph of how small her feet were in comparison.

Greenpeace said: “Figueres…said she has big shoes to fill. Greepeace recommends running shoes.”

For Reuters latest environment blogs, click on: blogs.reuters.com/environment/

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Developing nations want 2011 climate pact deadline

April 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – A group of developing countries, among the world’s fastest-growing carbon emitters, said on Sunday a legally binding global agreement to limit climate change needed to be completed by 2011 at the latest.

Green Business | COP15

Environment ministers of the so-called BASIC bloc — Brazil, South Africa, India and China — met in Cape Town to look at how to fast-track such a deal to curb global warming.

“Ministers felt that a legally binding outcome should be concluded at Cancun, Mexico in 2010, or at the latest in South Africa by 2011,” the ministers said in a joint statement, referring to U.N. climate talks.

Jairam Ramesh, India’s environment and forestry minister, told reporters: “Right now it looks as if we will have to come back to Cape Town in 2011. There is no breakthrough in sight … we have a long way to go.”

The Kyoto Protocol, which the United States did not ratify, binds about 40 developed nations to cutting emissions by 2008-12. U.N. climate meetings have failed to reach a legally binding agreement on what happens post-2012.

More than 100 countries have backed a non-binding accord, agreed in Copenhagen last year, to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times, but it did not spell out how this should be achieved. It included a goal of $100 billion in aid for developing nations from 2020.

The United States supports the Copenhagen Accord but many emerging economies do not want it to supplant the 1992 U.N. Climate Convention, which more clearly spells out that rich nations have to take the lead in cutting emissions and combating climate change.

The BASIC ministers on Sunday proposed to use $10 billion of “fast-start funding” this year to test and demonstrate ways of adapting to and mitigating climate change.

They said the world could not wait indefinitely for the United States, the second-biggest carbon emitter after China, to pass domestic legislation needed to conclude negotiations.

A bipartisan working group on Saturday delayed a compromise climate change bill, a top priority of President Barack Obama that has been closely watched by other nations skeptical of U.S. commitment to fight global warming.

“Of course there is no way to fight climate change without the United States and we believe that we can be able to build an agreement that (would enable) the United States to come on board,” Izabella Teixeira, Brazil’s environment minister, told journalists.

Her South Africa counterpart, Buyelwa Sonjica, said if the United States did not soon pass necessary domestic climate laws, “that would impact on vulnerable countries, making them remain at risk.”

Emissions from industrial countries fell by 2.2 percent in 2008 as the world fell into recession, the sharpest fall since the break-up of the Soviet Union. Experts say there is no basis for believing the decline was the result of a coordinated effort to tackle emissions.

Industrialized nations have been unwilling to take on new commitments beyond 2012 unless major emerging nations, such as India and China, also sign up.

(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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Developing nations want 2011 climate pact deadline

April 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

CAPE TOWN, April 25 (Reuters) – A group of developing countries, among the world’s fastest-growing carbon emitters, said on Sunday a legally binding global agreement to limit climate change needed to be completed by 2011 at the latest.

Environment ministers of the so-called BASIC bloc — Brazil, South Africa, India and China — met in Cape Town to look at how to fast-track such a deal to curb global warming.

“Ministers felt that a legally binding outcome should be concluded at Cancun, Mexico in 2010, or at the latest in South Africa by 2011,” the ministers said in a joint statement, referring to U.N. climate talks.

Jairam Ramesh, India’s environment and forestry minister, told reporters: “Right now it looks as if we will have to come back to Cape Town in 2011. There is no breakthrough in sight … we have a long way to go.”

The Kyoto Protocol, which the United States did not ratify, binds about 40 developed nations to cutting emissions by 2008-12. U.N. climate meetings have failed to reach a legally binding agreement on what happens post-2012.

More than 100 countries have backed a non-binding accord, agreed in Copenhagen last year, to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times, but it did not spell out how this should be achieved. It included a goal of $100 billion in aid for developing nations from 2020.

The United States supports the Copenhagen Accord but many emerging economies do not want it to supplant the 1992 U.N. Climate Convention, which more clearly spells out that rich nations have to take the lead in cutting emissions and combating climate change.

The BASIC ministers on Sunday proposed to use $10 billion of “fast-start funding” this year to test and demonstrate ways of adapting to and mitigating climate change.

They said the world could not wait indefinitely for the United States, the second-biggest carbon emitter after China, to pass domestic legislation needed to conclude negotiations.

A bipartisan working group on Saturday delayed a compromise climate change bill, a top priority of President Barack Obama that has been closely watched by other nations sceptical of U.S commitment to fight global warming. [ID:nN2413665]

“Of course there is no way to fight climate change without the United States and we believe that we can be able to build an agreement that (would enable) the United States to come on board,” Izabella Teixeira, Brazil’s environment minister, told journalists.

Her South Africa counterpart, Buyelwa Sonjica, said if the United States did not soon pass necessary domestic climate laws, “that would impact on vulnerable countries, making them remain at risk”.

Emissions from industrial countries fell by 2.2 percent in 2008 as the world fell into recession, the sharpest fall since the break-up of the Soviet Union. Experts say there is no basis for believing the decline was the result of a coordinated effort to tackle emissions. [ID:nLDE63J1T3]

Industrialised nations have been unwilling to take on new commitments beyond 2012 unless major emerging nations, such as India and China, also sign up.

(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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Copenhagen carbon pledges would fail to curtail global warming: Study

April 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, Apr 22(ANI): Pledges made at last December’s United Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen are unlikely to keep global warming below the two degree Celsius mark, a new study has claimed.

According to an analysis done by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, a rise of at least three degree Celsius by 2100 is likely.

The team also emphasised that many countries, including the European Union (EU) members and China, have pledged slower carbon curbs than they have been achieving anyway, and said a new global deal is needed if deeper cuts are to materialise.

“There’s a big mismatch between the ambitious goal, which is two degree Celsius.. and the emissions reductions. It is like racing towards the cliff and hoping you stop just before it,” BBC quoted Potsdam’s Malte Meinshausen, as saying.

According to their calculation, global emissions are likely to rise by 10 percent to 20 percent between now and 2020, and the chances of passing three degree Celsius by 2100 are greater than 50 percent.

During the summit, some 120-odd countries said that they were prepared to constrain their greenhouse gas emissions, and had pledged cuts by 2020.

The Potsdam team, however, concludes that many of the detailed pledges are nowhere near the ambitious claims.

“The pledged emissions reductions are in most cases very unambitious,” Meinshausen said.

The EU, for example, had pledged to cut emissions by 20 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, while China promises to improve carbon intensity by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 compared against 2005. (ANI)

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Hotel offers “cycle for your supper” deal

April 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

COPENHAGEN, April 14 (Reuters Life!) – A Danish hotel is pioneering a pedal-power electricity generation scheme it hopes will catch on in other countries.

Cyclical Consumer Goods

The Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers, 15 minutes from the centre of the Danish capital and five minutes from Scandinavia’s main airport, is installing two exercise bicycles hooked up to generators.

Guests will be invited to jump on and start pedalling — and if they produce enough electricity they will be given a free meal.

From June, they will be able to race against the 366-room hotel’s solar panel system in a bid to produce the most electricity.

“Anyone producing 10 watt hours of electricity or more for the hotel will be given a locally produced complimentary meal encouraging guests to not only get fit but also reduce their carbon footprint and save electricity and money,” the hotel said in a statement.

Hotel spokeswoman Frederikke Tommergaard said the free meal offer applied only to paying guests, not passers-by.

The value of the meal — any one of the main courses on the hotel restaurant or lobby bar’s menu — is about 240 Danish crowns ($44), she told Reuters.

The electric bikes will be up and running from April 19 and the plan is to test the idea for a year with a view to expanding it to more Crowne Plaza hotels, part of the InterContinental Hotels Group. (Reporting by Peter Starck; Editing by Steve Addison)

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B&O sees f/y sales possible at mid-range of guidance

April 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

COPENHAGEN, April 14 (Reuters) – The head of luxury stereo and television maker Bang & Olufsen (BOb.CO) said on Wedneday full-year sales may well land in the middle of the firm’s forecast range between 2.7 billion and 2.9 billion crowns.

Cyclical Consumer Goods

“We do expect that there is still a good opportunity to end more in the middle of the range than in the bottom,” B&O Chief Executive Officer Karl Hvidt Nielsen told an anlyst telephone conference.

Bang & Olufsen (BOb.CO) reported earlier on Wednesday a swing to its first quarterly profit in nearly two years as markets recovered but trimmed its earnings outlook amid plans for new staff cuts.

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New climate talks set for 2010; no treaty seen yet

April 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – About 175 nations agreed a plan Sunday to salvage climate talks after the Copenhagen summit but the U.N.’s top climate official predicted a full new treaty was out of reach for 2010.

Green Business | COP15

Delegates at the April 9-11 talks, marred by late-night wrangling between rich and poor nations on how to slow global warming, agreed to hold two extra meetings in the second half of 2010 after the December summit fell short of a binding deal.

The extra sessions, of at least a week long each, and a linked plan to prepare new draft U.N. climate texts would help pave the way to the next annual meeting of environment ministers in Cancun, Mexico, November 29-December 10.

“We had an outcome that was pretty positive. That is a good augury for what comes next,” said Jonathan Pershing, head of the U.S. delegation. He said it was “a pain in the neck” that it took so long but noted U.N. climate talks were often sluggish.

“We have made substantial progress in the resuscitation of a positive spirit,” said Dessima Williams of Grenada, who chairs the Alliance of Small Island States. The disputes showed that “multilateralism is very slow and complicated.”

Earlier, the U.N.’s top climate official, Yvo de Boer, said governments should focus on practical steps in 2010, such as aid to poor nations to cope with the impacts of climate change, protection of tropical forests or new clean technologies.

“I don’t think Cancun will provide the final outcome,” de Boer told Reuters on the sidelines of the talks, the first since Copenhagen and intended to rebuild trust after the summit.

MANY MORE MEETINGS

“I think that Cancun can agree an operational architecture but turning that into a treaty, if that is the decision, will take more time beyond Mexico,” he said, predicting “many more rounds” of talks to reach an ultimate solution.

Elliot Diringer, of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, said that a climate treaty should remain the ultimate objective but might be years off. “We shouldn’t fool ourselves about getting there this year or next,” he said.

Delegates asked the chair of the talks, Margaret Mukahanana-Sangarwe of Zimbabwe, to come up with a draft text by May 17 on ways to combat global warming to help push ahead with negotiations at a meeting scheduled for Bonn May 31-June 11. Two extra meetings are also planned but no venues have been fixed.

All countries could send her input over the next two weeks.

At the heart of the dispute between rich and poor was the role of the non-binding Copenhagen Accord, worked out at the summit and backed by about 120 nations led by the United States.

Mukahanana-Sangarwe said she reckoned she could draw on elements of the Accord in her work, even though it was not adopted by all in Copenhagen and faces bitter opposition from nations such as Sudan, Bolivia and Saudi Arabia.

The Accord aims to limit a rise in average world temperatures to below two degrees Celsius (3.6 F) from pre-industrial times. But it does not spell out how and some poor nations say it is too weak to avert dangerous impacts.

The Accord also pledges $30 billion from 2010-2012 to help developing nations cope with climate change, such as floods, droughts, mudslides and rising seas. Aid is meant to rise to $100 billion a year from 2020.

But almost all delegates say that the current pledges from developed nations for cutting greenhouse gases by 2020 will mean a temperature rise of more than 3 Celsius.

“We don’t have a debate happening (about tougher goals) and that’s not acceptable,” said Kathrin Gutmann of the WWF conservation group.

(Editing by Louise Ireland)

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Extra U.N. climate talks agreed after Copenhagen

April 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – About 175 nations agreed a plan on Sunday to revive climate talks after the Copenhagen summit but the U.N.’s top climate official predicted a full new treaty would be out of reach for 2010.

Green Business

Delegates at the three-day talks, which were held up for hours by bitter splits between rich and poor nations, agreed to hold two extra meetings, each at least a week long, in the second half of 2010 after the Copenhagen summit last December failed to reach a binding deal.

The extra sessions, and a linked agreement to prepare new draft texts about fighting climate change, will help prepare the next annual meeting of environment ministers in Cancun, Mexico, from November 29 to December 10.

(Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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New climate talks set for 2010; no treaty seen yet

April 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

BONN, Germany, April 12 (Reuters) – About 175 nations agreed a plan on Sunday to salvage climate talks after the Copenhagen summit but the U.N.’s top climate official predicted a full new treaty was out of reach for 2010.

Delegates at the April 9-11 talks, marred by late-night wrangling between rich and poor nations on how to slow global warming, agreed to hold two extra meetings in the second half of 2010 after the December summit fell short of a binding deal.

The extra sessions, of at least a week long each, and a linked plan to prepare new draft U.N. climate texts would help pave the way to the next annual meeting of environment ministers in Cancun, Mexico, Nov. 29-Dec. 10.

“We had an outcome that was pretty positive. That is a good augury for what comes next,” said Jonathan Pershing, head of the U.S. delegation. He said it was “a pain in the neck” that it took so long but noted U.N. climate talks were often sluggish.

“We have made substantial progress in the resuscitation of a positive spirit,” said Dessima Williams of Grenada, who chairs the Alliance of Small Island States. The disputes showed that “multilateralism is very slow and complicated”.

Earlier, the U.N.’s top climate official, Yvo de Boer, said governments should focus on practical steps in 2010, such as aid to poor nations to cope with the impacts of climate change, protection of tropical forests or new clean technologies.

“I don’t think Cancun will provide the final outcome,” de Boer told Reuters on the sidelines of the talks, the first since Copenhagen and intended to rebuild trust after the summit.

MANY MORE MEETINGS

“I think that Cancun can agree an operational architecture but turning that into a treaty, if that is the decision, will take more time beyond Mexico,” he said, predicting “many more rounds” of talks to reach an ultimate solution.

Elliot Diringer, of the Pew Centre on Global Climate Change, said that a climate treaty should remain the ultimate objective but might be years off. “We shouldn’t fool ourselves about getting there this year or next,” he said.

Delegates asked the chair of the talks, Margaret Mukahanana-Sangarwe of Zimbabwe, to come up with a draft text by May 17 on ways to combat global warming to help push ahead with negotiations at a meeting scheduled for Bonn May 31-June 11. Two extra meetings are also planned but no venues have been fixed.

All countries could send her input over the next two weeks.

At the heart of the dispute between rich and poor was the role of the non-binding Copenhagen Accord, worked out at the summit and backed by about 120 nations led by the United States.

Mukahanana-Sangarwe said she reckoned she could draw on elements of the Accord in her work, even though it was not adopted by all in Copenhagen and faces bitter opposition from nations such as Sudan, Bolivia and Saudi Arabia.

The Accord aims to limit a rise in average world temperatures to below two degrees Celsius (3.6 F) from pre-industrial times. But it does not spell out how and some poor nations say it is too weak to avert dangerous impacts.

The Accord also pledges $30 billion from 2010-2012 to help developing nations cope with climate change, such as floods, droughts, mudslides and rising seas. Aid is meant to rise to $100 billion a year from 2020.

But almost all delegates say that the current pledges from developed nations for cutting greenhouse gases by 2020 will mean a temperature rise of more than 3 Celsius.

“We don’t have a debate happening (about tougher goals) and that’s not acceptable,” said Kathrin Gutmann of the WWF conservation group.

- For a FACTBOX-Climate talks in 2010 on road to Mexico, please double click on [ID:nLDE63A03W]

- For Reuters latest environment blogs, click on: blogs.reuters.com/environment/ (Editing by Louise Ireland)

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New climate talks set for 2010; gloom for treaty

April 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – About 175 nations agreed a plan on Sunday to revive climate talks after the fractious Copenhagen summit but the U.N.’s top climate official predicted a full new treaty was out of reach for 2010.

Green Business | COP15

Delegates at the April 9-11 talks, which reopened splits between rich and poor nations from Copenhagen, agreed to hold two extra meetings each at least a week long in the second half of 2010 after the December summit fell short of a binding deal.

The extra sessions, and a linked agreement to prepare new texts about fighting climate change, are meant to help pave the way to the next annual meeting of environment ministers in Cancun, Mexico, November 29-December 10.

And the U.N.’s top climate official, Yvo de Boer, said governments should focus on practical steps in 2010, such as aid to help poor nations cope with the impact of climate change or to promote clean technologies.

“I don’t think Cancun will provide the final outcome,” de Boer told Reuters on the sidelines of April 9-11 talks, the first since Copenhagen and intended to build trust.

“I think that Cancun can agree an operational architecture but turning that into a treaty, if that is the decision, will take more time beyond Mexico,” he said, predicting “many more rounds” of talks to reach an ultimate solution.

Delegates asked the chair of the talks, Margaret Mukahanana-Sangarwe of Zimbabwe, to come up with a new draft text by May 17 about ways to combat global warming to help negotiations on a new treaty in 2010.

It was not decided where and when the extra meetings would be held. The meetings will be in addition to a session in Bonn from May 31-June 11.

“We have made substantial progress in the resuscitation of a positive spirit,” said Dessima Williams, who chairs the Alliance of Small Island States, despite wrangling between rich and poor. “Multilateralism is very slow and complicated.”

“It has been a difficult process,” said Wendel Trio of Greenpeace. “We have agreement on a minimum programme. It’s a start but not an extremely good start.”

The U.N. talks among senior officials were meant to build trust after the December summit merely agreed the non-binding Copenhagen Accord, which has backing from about 120 of 194 U.N. member nations, including all top greenhouse gas emitters.

TWO DEGREES

The Accord aims to limit a rise in average world temperatures to below two degrees Celsius (3.6 F) from pre-industrial times. But it does not spell out how and some poor nations say it is too weak to avert dangerous impacts.

The Accord also pledges $30 billion from 2010-2012 to help developing nations cope with climate change, such as floods, droughts, mudslides and rising seas. Aid is meant to rise to $100 billion a year from 2020.

The United States praised the Accord as a basis for guiding talks in 2010. But many developing nations say that rich nations should do far more to cut their own greenhouse gas emissions.

The head of the European Commission delegation said a cause of gridlock was that neither China nor the United States, the top emitters of greenhouse gases, were willing to take on legal commitments to curb emissions unless the other did.

“That’s where the problem lies in the end,” Artur Runge-Metzger said.

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Extra U.N. climate talks agreed after Copenhagen

April 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

BONN, Germany, April 11 (Reuters) – About 175 nations agreed a plan on Sunday to revive climate talks after the Copenhagen summit but the U.N.’s top climate official predicted a full new treaty would be out of reach for 2010.

Delegates at the three-day talks, which were held up for hours by bitter splits between rich and poor nations, agreed to hold two extra meetings, each at least a week long, in the second half of 2010 after the Copenhagen summit last December failed to reach a binding deal.

The extra sessions, and a linked agreement to prepare new draft texts about fighting climate change, will help prepare the next annual meeting of environment ministers in Cancun, Mexico, from Nov. 29 to Dec. 10. (Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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Global climate deal impossible in 2010 -U.N.

April 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

BONN, Germany, April 11 (Reuters) – The world cannot agree a final climate deal this year, outgoing U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer told Reuters on Sunday, saying the focus should be on practical steps to help the poor and save forests.

De Boer was speaking on the sidelines of the first U.N. talks since a bad-tempered summit in Copenhagen in December fell short of agreeing the full legal treaty many nations had wanted.

Negotiators at the April 9-11 talks in Bonn struggled to find a formula to revive negotiations on a pact to combat global warming and agree a schedule before the next annual ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico in November and December.

“I don’t think Cancun will provide the final outcome,” said de Boer, executive secretary of the U.N. climate change secretariat, who steps down in July after almost four years.

“I think that Cancun can agree an operational architecture but turning that into a treaty, if that is the decision, will take more time beyond Mexico. I think that we will have many more rounds of climate change negotiations before the ultimate solution is arrived at.”

Many delegates at the Bonn talks were gloomy about the outlook, saying the negotiations to find a successor to the Kyoto Protocol after 2012 had lost momentum.

De Boer said the focus should be on practical actions to slow climate change, rather than trying to make a deal legally binding — a major barrier to progress so far.

“We have legally binding targets under the Kyoto Protocol but it’s very difficult to take a country to court if a target is not met. Perhaps the rules and instruments, the compliance that is put in place, is even more important than the international legal definition.”

De Boer said many scientists were advocating a halving of world greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. “Even in my wildest dreams I don’t think that Cancun in detail is going to define exactly how that will be achieved,” he said.

After two years of talks the Copenhagen summit failed to agree a successor to Kyoto, but more than 110 countries have since signed a non-binding accord. U.S. President Barack Obama is one of its top supporters.

The accord pledged $30 billion from 2010-2012 to help the poor face the impacts of climate change, such as floods, droughts, mudslides and rising seas.

It also sought to keep a rise in average world temperatures to less than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) from pre-industrial times. But it did not spell out how this should be done.

De Boer described the Copenhagen Accord as a “very important outcome”, but many developing countries in Bonn rejected further mention of it in U.N. talks, underscoring tension with the United States, which never ratified Kyoto.

The mood in Bonn was also soured by Bolivia’s claim that the United States and Denmark had withdrawn funding to the Latin American nation, which opposes the accord.

De Boer said the most needy should get funds to help adapt to the impacts of a changing climate.

“There is a general agreement on the question of adaptation, in that the money should go primarily to small island countries, to least developed countries and to African nations.”

“I hope that the decision in Cancun will be that irrespective of how those countries feel about the Copenhagen accord they should be eligible for adaptation support.”

(Editing by Tim Pearce)

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NORDIC STOCKS – Factors to watch on April 9

April 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

HELSINKI, April 9 (Reuters) – The following stocks may be affected by newspaper reports and other factors on Friday:

Industrials

SAS (SAS.ST) The Scandinavian airline releases March traffic figures at 0900 GMT.

For more on the company, double click on [SAS.ST]

** For a summary of upcoming results and forecasts, double click on [NORD/EQTY]

** For the western European company diary covering earnings, shareholder meetings, news conferences and analysts’ meetings, click on [WEU/EQUITY] or type in the code and hit the f9 button.

** Double click on <0#.INDEX.ST> for Swedish indices, <0#.INDEX.CO> for Danish indices, <0#.INDEX.HE> for Finnish indices and <0#.INDEX.OL> for Norwegian indices

** For real-time moves on Nordic blue-chip indices double click on .OMXS30, .OMXH25, and .OBX

** For constituent stock moves highlight the above codes in the command box and press the f3 button on your keyboard

** For Nordic top news items, double click on [TOP/NORD]

** For the latest news on Nordic stock price moves double click on [HOT-NORD-RTRS]

(Additional reporting by Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm newsrooms) (Helsinki Newsroom; +358-9-6805-0244)

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Ada Lovelace the most popular technology heroine

March 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, Mar 26 (ANI): Ada Lovelace, who worked with mathematician Charles Babbage in the 1800s, has been voted as the most popular technology heroine.

Up till now, 2,239 people from around the globe have posted blogs, videos and podcasts online nominating their heroines.

March 34 is celebrated as Ada Lovelace Day, dedicated to celebrating women working in the fields of science and technology, reports The BBC.

Events were held in London, Copenhagen, Dresden, Montreal and Brazil to mark the day.

Babbage”s invention, the Analytical Engine, formed the basis of modern computing.

Other nominees included scientist Marie Curie, mathematician-turned-actress Hedy Lamarr, programmer Grace Hopper and Lisbeth Salander, fictional creation of the late author Stieg Larsson. (ANI)

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Screening doesn’t cut breast cancer deaths

March 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, March 24 (ANI): A Danish study has found that screening women for breast cancer doesn’t reduce the number of deaths from the disease, contrary to earlier findings.

A 2005 study suggested that screening had reduced breast cancer deaths by 25 percent in Copenhagen.

But researchers from the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen, together with scientist from Folkehelseinstituttet in Oslo, identified important problems in this study and decided to undertake a more comprehensive analysis of the data.

They compared annual changes in breast cancer deaths in two Danish regions offering publicly organised screening programmes (Copenhagen and Funen county) with non-screened regions across the rest of Denmark.

Their analysis covered 10 years after screening could have had an effect on breast cancer mortality. For comparison, they also looked at the 10-year period before screening was introduced.

Data for each area were divided into three age bands. Women aged 55-74 years, who could benefit from screening, and women aged 35-55 years and 75-84 years, who were largely unaffected by screening.

They found that in women who could benefit from screening (55-74 years) breast cancer mortality declined by 1 percent per year in the screened areas and by 2 percent per year in the non-screened areas.

In women too young to benefit from screening (35-54 years), breast cancer mortality declined by 5 percent per year in the screened areas and by 6 percent per year in the non-screened areas during the same period.

For the older age groups (75-84 years), there was little change over time both in screened and non-screened areas.

“We were unable to find an effect of the Danish screening programme on breast cancer mortality. The reductions in breast cancer mortality we observed in screening regions were similar or less than those in non-screened areas and in younger age groups, and are more likely explained by changes in risk factors and improved treatment than by screening mammography,” the authors said.

“Our results are similar to what has been observed in other countries with nationally organised programmes. We believe it is time to question whether screening has delivered the promised effect on breast cancer mortality,” they added.

The study has been published on bmj.com. (ANI)

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India to pressurise developed nations on carbon emission cuts: Shyam Saran

March 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Mar 20 (ANI): The Prime Minister”s Special Envoy on Climate Change, Shyam Saran, has said India would pressurise developed nations to commit on carbon emission cuts.

“We bring about as much pressure as we can so that the developed countries deliver on the commitment that they have already made, which is what they are trying to wriggle out of,” Saran told reporters here during a seminar.

India joined almost all other major greenhouse gas emitters earlier this month in signing up to the climate accord struck in Copenhagen, boosting a deal strongly favoured by the United States.

More than 100 nations have now endorsed the Copenhagen Accord, a non-binding agreement reached after two weeks of tortuous wrangling at a 194-nation summit in December.

The accord plans 100 billion dollars a year in climate aid for developing nations from 2020 and seeks to limit global warming to below two degrees Celsius (3.6F) above pre-industrial times, but produced no timetable of emission limits to reach that goal.

But, Saran feared that the global financial crunch might cloud further negotiations.

“I am not very optimistic about the results, why? Because even at Copenhagen it was very obvious that as long as you have this huge economic and financial crisis which is preoccupying certainly, we are perhaps less impacted, but most of the industrialized world is very badly impacted by this and that doesn”t seem to be much sign that they are actually coming out of it,” he said. (ANI)

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‘Father of global warming’ to speak in Adelaide

March 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The so-called “father of global warming”, James Hansen, is using his Australian visit to push for a global carbon payment system.

Dr Hansen, the head of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City, will speak at an Adelaide University event tonight.

The climate scientist is in Adelaide to outline what he thinks countries should do after last year’s Copenhagen climate talks.

He says the Federal Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is too heavily favoured towards polluters, and he is pushing for a user-pays system.

“You collect a fee at the mine or the wellhead or the port of entry, and then you distribute that money to the public as a green cheque or an income tax reduction,” he said.

“All you really need is for the United States and China to agree that they’re going to do that and then it becomes relatively easy. Europe would go along with the United States.”

Dr Hansen says any countries that do not agree would have a border tax imposed on their products.

He says no agreement came from Copenhagen because no solution arose that favoured both the environment and the economies of the countries which took part.

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Nokia to axe 330 jobs in Finland, Denmark

November 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Handset giant Nokia said it will cut around 330 jobs in Finland and Denmark, as part of streamlining research and development operations.

The company plans to streamline research and development (R&D) operations in Finland and Denmark, which is expected to affect up to 230 employees at the Oulu site (Finland) and about 100 employees at the Copenhagen site, Nokia said in a statement.

The company has around 17,000 employees in the research and development division, of which more than 2,000 are in Oulu and over 1,000 are based in Copenhagen.

The company said it aims to support the employees with alternative solutions, such as finding new positions within the company for as many employees as possible.

Nokia, in the third quarter of 2009, reported an operating loss of 426 million euros. It had posted an operating profit of 1.5 billion euros in the year-ago period.

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