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Election in Norway
Stoltenberg defends Israel holdings: “Right balance”

Norwegian Finance Minister and former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg defends the Norwegian Petroleum Fund’s current holdings in Israeli companies, he says in an interview with the Financial Times.

– The system works. It is possible to combine the ability to be a large state investment fund with ethical guidelines, he says.

According to him, the holdings now strike “the right balance”, after politicians chose to sell off a large part of their shares in Israeli defense companies in early August. 

The flight to Europe
Merkel: I increased support for the AFD

Germany’s former Chancellor, the Christian Democrat Angela Merkel, says that her liberal policies during the 2015 refugee crisis made more voters vote for the far right, reports TT.

– Of course my decision made people join the AFD. And in this way, the AfD definitely became stronger, she says in an interview with the German public service channel ARD.

Nevertheless, she does not regret the choice she made, which she still sees as correct given the circumstances at the time. 

American man charged with espionage in Germany

An American citizen has been charged in Germany on suspicion of spying for China, writes Politico.

The man has been stationed at a US military base and is accused of offering sensitive classified information to the Chinese intelligence service.

The man was arrested in November last year and has been detained since then.

The climate threat  Global challenges
Heat waves accelerate people's aging

People who are repeatedly exposed to heat waves age faster, writes The Guardian based on a study that includes 25,000 people in Taiwan over a period of 15 years.

The conclusion of a series of medical tests is that biological age – a measure of general health – can increase by nine extra days over a two-year period. For people who spend a lot of time outdoors, for example at work, the figure was 33 days.

According to the British newspaper, this is comparable to how smoking, alcohol and poor diet accelerate aging.