Features

LONGYEARBYEN, Norway — Home to polar bears, the midnight sun and the northern lights, a Norwegian archipelago perched high in the Arctic is trying to find a way to profit from its pristine wilderness without ruining it.

The Svalbard Archipelago, located 1,300 kilometres from the North Pole and reachable by commercial airline flights, offers visitors vast expanses of untouched nature, with majestic mountains, glaciers and frozen fjords. 

Or, the fjords used to be frozen. Svalbard is now on the frontline of climate change, with the Arctic warming three times faster than the planet.

The local coal mines — the original reason for human settlements here — have closed one after the other over the years, and tourism has become one of the main pillars of the local economy, along with scientific research.

“It’s always hard to defend because we know that tourism worldwide creates challenges to all the places people visit, but also in the bigger climate change perspective,” acknowledged Ronny Brunvoll, the head of tourism board Visit Svalbard.

“But we can’t stop people from travelling. We can’t stop people from visiting each other, so we have to find solutions,” he said.

Around 140,000 people visit these latitudes each year, according to pre-pandemic data, where 65 per cent of the land is protected. 

Like the 3,000 local residents, visitors must follow strict rules that bar them from disturbing the animals — tracking a polar bear can lead to a big fine — or picking flowers in an ecosystem almost devoid of vegetation.

“You are really confronted with nature. There are not a lot of places like this left,” said Frederique Barraja, a French photographer on one of her frequent trips to the region.

“It attracts people, like all rare places. But these places remain fragile, so you have to be respectful when you visit them.”

Ultra-polluting heavy fuel, commonly used by large cruise ships, has been banned in the archipelago since the start of the year, ahead of a ban to be progressively implemented across the Arctic as of 2024.

The ban may be another nail in the coffin for the controversial cruise ships that sail into the region.

The biggest of the behemoths can drop off up to 5,000 passengers in Longyearbyen, the archipelago’s modest main town whose infrastructure, such as roads and toilets, is not designed to accommodate such large crowds.

Electric wave

With tourism here already attracting a rather exclusive clientele, some operators are going further than regulations require, such as Norwegian cruise line Hurtigruten which aims to become “the most environmental tour operator in the world”.

Sustainability “shouldn’t be a competitive advantage”, said a senior executive with the group, Henrik Lund. “It should just give a right to play.” 

The company banned single-use plastics back in 2018, and now offers outings on electric snowmobiles.

It also recently launched excursions on board a small cutting-edge hybrid vessel, the Kvitbjorn (Polar Bear, in Norwegian), combining a diesel motor and electric batteries. 

“In the idyllic exploration areas, we go full electric. We go silent and we don’t have any combustion fumes,” said Johan Inden, head of marine engine maker Volvo Penta.

But electrification efforts in the archipelago are currently hobbled by the fact that electricity comes from a coal plant — a fossil energy source that contributes to global warming.

“Electrification makes sense, regardless of the energy source,” insisted Christian Eriksen of the Norwegian environmental group Bellona.

Regardless of whether it comes from “dirty” or “clean” sources, electricity “makes it possible either way to reduce emissions”, Eriksen said, citing a study on electric cars that came to the same conclusion.

Longyearbyen plans to close the plant by the autumn of 2023, invest in renewable energies and reduce its emissions by 80 per cent by 2030.

But Brunvoll, the head of the tourism board, noted the main problem is travel.

“Even when addressing the things we can do locally, like the emissions from snowmobiles or cars, we must still acknowledge that the really big problem is the transport to and from Svalbard, both in tourism but also for us locals,” he said.

“We have a climate footprint per capita in Longyearbyen that is insane.”

BEIJING — Using a craft gun to shoot yarn through a fabric screen, Nora Peng puts the finishing touches on a rug in the shape of a corgi’s bottom — the perfect stress-relieving hobby for her frantic days.

She is one of a growing number taking up the handicraft “tufting” as the country’s younger generations look for options away from the daily rat race.

The handicraft creates versatile shapes and patterns by using a special gun to thread and cut yarn though fabric pinned to a wooden frame.

“I think tufting is very stress-relieving,” college student Peng said, her voice almost drowned out by the noise of the tufting gun. 

“I have to read textbooks everyday for school and it’s exhausting.”

Every weekend, Beijing’s iHome tufting workshop attracts flocks of young handicraft lovers who spend the day carefully weaving yarn.

On a recent Saturday around twenty young people, mostly women, packed out the brightly-lit studio, each holding a tufting gun in their hands. 

“It requires a lot of patience, but as long as you get the hang of it, tufting is not difficult,” first-time tufter and state company employee Yan Xinyue told AFP.

Chatter and laughter filled the room as they stopped to compare and admire each other’s designs — mostly cartoon character carpets or colourful patched handbags and mirrors. 

Peng decided to have a go after seeing the craft trending on social media.

“Everyone is making it, so I thought I’d come and try it as well.”

Her cheeky corgi backside rug is a place for her pet cat to sleep, she said.

“I think it’s cute and funny,” she laughed. “[The design of] a corgi’s little butt is very popular these days.”

Tufting’s popularity has been hugely boosted by online influencers.

“Making this gave me a sense of satisfaction,” said Shi Ba, an influencer reviewing workshops for her online followers.

Stress relief

Weighed down by worries over the high pressures of life, including growing inequality and the rising costs of living and property prices, China’s young adults are looking for new ways to unwind.

Stressed young people under thirty are typical tufting lovers according to Xu Shen, the founder of iHome tufting workshop.

They want to “forget about their tedious work and just focus on making craftwork”, he told AFP.

Tufting has only became popular in China over the past three to five months, he added, but soaring demand for the craft has seen him already open nine stores across the capital.

Each receives hundreds of customers per week — many drawn in through social media.

There are now more than 140 tufting workshops in Beijing alone, according to booking site Dianping.

But the challenge is getting repeat customers, Mao Wei, the owner of Horus Club tufting workshop told AFP. 

Many are just one-time visitors who “come out of curiosity”, he said.

The hobby is riding a wave of popularity as it draws in young people hunting entertainment away from work, said Xu.

“We know that [the development of] tufting will likely go through a bottleneck period, and the market will not grow anymore after it reaches a certain scale,” he admitted.

“But it’s still on a rising trend.”

GENEVA — The tobacco industry is a far greater threat than many realise as it is one of the world’s biggest polluters, from leaving mountains of waste to driving global warming, the World Health Organisation (WHO) charged on Tuesday.

The WHO accused the industry of causing widespread de-forestation, diverting badly needed land and water in poor countries away from food production, spewing out plastic and chemical waste as well as emitting millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide. 

In its report released on World No Tobacco Day, the UN agency called for the tobacco industry to be held to account and foot the bill for the cleanup.

The report, “Tobacco: Poisoning our planet”, looks at the impacts of the whole cycle, from the growth of plants to the manufacturing of tobacco products, to consumption and waste.

While tobacco’s health impacts have been well documented for decades — with smoking still causing more than eight million deaths worldwide every year — the report focuses on its broader environmental consequences.

The findings are “quite devastating”, Ruediger Krech, WHO director of health promotion, told AFP, slamming the industry as “one of the biggest polluters that we know of”.

The industry is responsible for the loss of some 600 million trees each year, while tobacco growing and production uses 200,000 hectares of land and 22 billion tonnes of water annually, the report found.

It also emits around 84 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, it said.

In addition, “tobacco products are the most littered item on the planet, containing over 7,000 toxic chemicals, which leech into our environment when discarded”, Krech said.

He pointed out that each one of the estimated 4.5 trillion cigarette butts that end up in our oceans, rivers, sidewalks and beaches every year can pollute 100 litres of water. 

And up to a quarter of all tobacco farmers contract so-called green tobacco sickness, or poisoning from the nicotine they absorb through the skin.

Farmers who handle tobacco leaves all day consume the equivalent of 50 cigarettes worth of nicotine a day, Krech said.

This is especially worrying for the many children involved in tobacco farming.

“Just imagine a 12-year-old being exposed to 50 cigarettes a day,” he said.

Most tobacco is grown in poorer countries, where water and farmland are often in short supply, and where such crops are often grown at the expense of vital food production, the report said.

Tobacco farming also accounts for about 5 per cent of global deforestation, and drives depletion of precious water resources.

At the same time the processing and transportation of tobacco account for a significant share of global greenhouse gas emissions — with the equivalent of one-fifth of the global airline industry’s carbon footprint.

In addition, products like cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes also contribute significantly to the global build-up of plastic pollution, WHO warned.

Cigarette filters contain microplastics — the tiny fragments that have been detected in every ocean and even at the bottom of the world’s deepest trench — and make up the second-highest form of plastic pollution worldwide, the report said.

And yet, despite tobacco industry marketing, WHO stressed that there is no evidence filters provide any proven health benefits over smoking non-filtered cigarettes.

The UN agency urged policy makers worldwide to treat cigarette filters as single-use plastics, and to consider banning them.

It also decried that taxpayers around the world had been covering the towering costs of cleaning up the tobacco industry’s mess.

Each year, China for instance dishes out around $2.6 billion and India around $766 million, while Brazil and Germany pay some $200 million each to clean up littered tobacco products, the report found.

WHO insisted that more countries should follow the so-called Polluter Pays Principle, as in France and Spain.

It is important, Krech said, that “the industry pay actually for the mess that they are creating”.

Different from the average bland run of the mill SUVs and crossovers that dominate city roads, the genuinely off-road capable SUV carries a sense of authenticity and peace of mind to drive in adverse conditions. More so, the off-road SUV brings a sense of excitement and adventure that crossovers cannot replicate. Fitting such a description, albeit in different ways, sizes and price points, the Lada Niva Travel, BAIC BJ40 Plus and Haval Dargo are among the most interesting SUVs to arrive in Jordan in recent months.

Lada Niva Travel

A wholly Russian-owned automaker independent of the Renault group once again as of recent days, Lada’s latest Jordanian offering however arrived in recent months. First developed as a joint venture with General Motors and launched in its latest iteration in 2021, the Lada Niva Travel is intended as a more comfortably refined, better equipped and more modern vehicle to supplement the brand’s old school Niva Legend legacy model.

It would, however, be a misconception to think of the Niva Travel as a soft-edged crossover. It is instead a slightly less hardcore sister model to the iconic Niva Legend, and rides on similarly rugged live axle and coil spring rear suspension. A tiny five-door SUV of the mountain goat philosophy, the Niva Travel easily maneuvers through narrow and inhospitable terrain, and features generous off-road angles, 220mm ground clearance and 500mm water fording capability. 

Powered by Lada’s familiar and uncomplicated longitudinally mounted 1.7-litre four-cylinder engine, the Niva Travel develops 80BHP at 5,000rpm and 94lb/ft at 4,000rpm. Accelerating through 0-100km/h in 19-seconds, it can attain 140km/h. Driving all four wheels through a 5-speed manual gearbox, the Niva Travel’s extensive off-road ability also benefits from a locking centre differential and low gear ratios for even more demanding inclines and low traction conditions.

Specifications
Engine: 1.7-litre, in-line 4-cylinders

Gearbox: 5-speed manual, four-wheel-drive,

Drive-line: Low ratio gears, locking centre differential

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 79 (80) [58.8] @5,000rpm

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 94 (127.4) @4,000rpm

0-100km/h: 19-seconds

Top speed: 140km/h

Length: 4,099mm

Width: 1,804mm

Height: 1,690mm

Wheelbase: 2,450mm

Ground clearance: 220mm

Wading: 500mm

Kerb weight: 1,485kg

Suspension, F/R: Double wishbones/solid axle, coil springs

Tyres: 215/65R16

Price, on-the-road: JD17,500

BAIC BJ40 Plus

Faintly familiar with a tapered bonnet, and boxy, upright and utilitarian design similar to a Jeep Wrangler and distant hints of Land Rover to its grille, the BAIC BJ40 Plus’s influences, however, coalesce to its own distinct character. One of the China’s most impressive vehicles to reach Jordan, the BJ40 Plus is an authentic and capable off-road SUV with body-on-chassis construction and coil sprung solid rear axle.

Smooth and forgiving on road, with a faintly rippled ride at the rear and tidy turn-in from its double wishbone front suspension, the BJ40 Plus dispatches lumps, bumps and potholes in its stride and feels better settled on rebound than one would expect. With removable roof, fold-down windshield, safety bars and commanding driving position, it meanwhile allows one to enjoy a configurable and truly open air driving experience.

Powered by an abundant and responsive Saab-derived 2.3-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine driving rear or all four wheels, the BJ40 Plus feels quicker on the move than its already brisk 9.5-second 0-100km/h acceleration time suggests. An adept off-roader with excellent off-road angles, generous 210mm ground clearance and axle articulation, the BJ40 also features low gear ratios and a locking rear differential for more extreme off-road and low traction conditions.

Specifications
Engine: 2.3-litre, turbocharged in-line 4-cylinders

Gearbox: 6-speed automatic, four-wheel-drive

Drive-line: Low ratio transfer, rear electronic differential lock

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 247 (250) [184] @5,300rpm

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 258 (350) @1,900-4,500rpm

0-100km/h: 9.5-seconds (estimate)

Top speed: 170km/h (estimate)

Length: 4,630mm

Width: 1,843mm

Height: 1,861mm

Wheelbase: 2,730mm

Ground clearance: 210mm

Approach/break-over/departure angles: 37°/23°/31°

Kerb weight: 2,095kg (estimate)

Suspension, F/R: Double wishbone/solid axles, coil springs

Tyres: 245/65R17

Price, on-the-road: JD34,000-35,000

Haval Dargo 2.0T

Known domestically as the Dagou in China and Big Dog in Australia, Haval’s chunkiest, most aggressively styled SUV was, however, launched in recent months in the Middle East as the Dargo. A portmanteau for “dare to go”, the Dargo’s scowling, squared-off design goes all out to project a tough and rugged persona. Similarly stylised inside, the Dargo’s cabin is however sophisticated and well-equipped with convenience and infotainment features.

Styled with assertive sensibilities, the Dargo is, however, not quite the traditional SUV one might initially imagine. It is instead built using unibody construction, independent rear suspension and a transverse engine layout, similar to most crossovers. Closer to a so-called “soft roader” in front-wheel-drive guise, the four-wheel-drive Dargo however earns its off-road capable SUV credentials with its limited slip centre differential, locking rear differential and 200mm ground clearance

With centre and rear differentials allowing it to keep going in low traction conditions and even with one rear wheel raised, the top spec Dargo is meanwhile powered by generous 2-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine mated to a 7-speed dual clutch auto gearbox. Producing 196BHP at a 5,600-6300rpm plateau and 240lb/ft throughout a broad 1,500-4,000rpm band, it carries its 1,815kg mass through 0-100km/h at a fairly quick pace in 9.2-seconds.

Specifications
Engine: 2-litre, turbocharged transverse 4-cylinders

Gearbox: 7-speed dual clutch automated, four-wheel-drive

Drive-line: Limited slip centre differential, locking rear differential

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 196 (198) [146] @5,600-6,300rpm

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 240 (325) @1,500-4,000rpm

0-100km/h: 9.2-seconds

Top speed: 195km/h

Length: 4,620mm

Width: 1,910mm

Height: 1,780mm

Wheelbase: 2,738mm

Ground clearance: 200mm

Approach/break-over/departure: 24°/22.5° /30°

Weight: 1,815kg

Suspension, F/R: MacPherson struts/multi-link

Tyres: 235/60R19

Price, on-the-road: JD37,500

By Dr Tareq Rasheed
International Consultantand Trainer

Research proves that our mood affects our physical, mental and emotional lives. How well you manage your emotions is your ticket to achieving your objectives in life.

The Mode Dynamics Model

•Child: Raising a child with the mentality of worry and fear will keep the child in a disturbing mood throughout life and interactions. Parents should always help their kids grow positively and emotionally aware. Parenting modes should encourage self-awareness 

•Coping: Here, people surrender themselves to the will of others; thus, they try to avoid being with others and do not control their choices. This mode can lead to depression and other mental health issues

•Healthy Adult: People with this mode control, manage and achieve. They have a high degree of assertiveness, care for themselves and others

To help change your mood and get to the Healthy Adult Mode, let’s revisit some helpful tools…

The Control Triangle

I apply the Triangle of Control, which is composed of three entities: 

•God: Everything is under God’s control. Give thanks and move ahead

•Me: I control my reactions 90 per cent of the time 

•Environment: Whatever the environment (external circumstances) throws at me, I will never give the environment more than 10 per cent because I can choose, control and move ahead. Yet, people who feel hopeless give the environment 90 per cent of the control. But they cannot change their parents, spouses, colleagues. What they can change is their reaction and control

The Proactivity Model

This is a beneficial model to help you be in the Healthy Adult Mode as it provides you with the tools that help you control your reactions and even change them positively. The elements you need are: 

•Self-Awareness: By enhancing your self-awareness, you are helping yourself know your motivators, fears, strengths and weaknesses. You start working on investing your points of strength and utilising motivators to manage negative moods

•Desire: People in the Healthy Adult Mode share their desires and speak positively with themselves to motivate their inner voice and be achievers 

•Free will: By consistently applying the concept of “I am free to choose”, successful people change whatever obstacles they face into manageable challenges. Our greatest power is the freedom to choose

Emotional Intelligence

We can also positively impact our mood by applying our skills in emotional intelligence:

•Ability to manage and control negative emotions (stress, fear, anger, worry, boredom)

•Self-motivation by creating a positive environment for ourselves: Choosing our relationships and friends wisely and nurturing a positive environment all around

•Communicating with positive people and nurturing positive relationships ourselves

•Managing our emotions by practising gratitude, empathy and kindness, accountability (to all your choices and steps in life), optimism and patience — one of the most important secrets of success in challenging times is to be patient, remembering that hard times yield lessons to help us grow, move and achieve

The most important one who deserves your attention is you! If you lose yourself through negative emotions, you risk losing everything and everyone you care about.

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

POHANG, South Korea — A head pops out of the toilet, a woman gets pregnant from birth control pills — South Korean Booker Prize nominee Bora Chung’s short stories are full of horror, inspired by her own lonely life.

An academic specialising in Slavic literature, Chung was considered a “genre writer” and excluded from South Korea’s mainstream literary scene. Until recently, she was relatively unknown to local readers.

Her stories — which combine science fiction, horror and fantasy — are not considered “pure” literature by Seoul’s cultural elite. But her life took a dramatic turn when her 2017 collection “Cursed Bunny” caught the eye of translator Anton Hur.

Hur’s English edition of the book, released by British publisher Honford Star, has been named a finalist for this year’s International Booker Prize.

Only two South Korean writers — Han Kang (“The Vegetarian”) and Hwang Sok-yong (“At Dusk”) — have previously been nominated for the honour, and both were far more established and well regarded domestically.

“Cursed Bunny” has not won any prizes in South Korea, and Chung mostly earned a living teaching at a university and translating Russian literature.

“I certainly don’t think Chung is aiming to write ‘pure’ literature, and her work is all the richer for it,” Jeremy Tiang, one of the judges for this year’s International Booker Prize, told AFP.

The collection’s blend of genres was “viscerally rooted in the real fears and pressures of everyday life”, he added. 

Chung said the anthology was ultimately about the innate loneliness of being human.

She spent nearly a decade overseas as a graduate student, living year-to-year and unsure of her next move, which profoundly shaped her imagination as a writer, she told AFP.

“I wasn’t sure if anything was actually waiting for me in South Korea even if I wanted to return,” she said.

“I was constantly nervous about the future, and because this lasted for nine years, I became very used to the state of being lonely,” she added.

A graduate of Seoul’s Yonsei University, Chung holds a master’s degree in Russian and East European studies from Yale and a PhD in Slavic literature from Indiana University, both in the United States.

She was deeply inspired by Soviet Russian writer Andrei Platonov’s 1928 novel “Chevengur”, about a poor orphan whose quest to find a communist utopia ultimately fails and ends in a bloodbath.

The Booker Prize Foundation says Chung’s collection uses the fantastical to address the horrors of the “patriarchy and capitalism of modern society”.

Her characters include a father who locks up his daughter and exploits her for business, a designer who falls in love with a robot companion she’s invented and a woman who is constantly shamed after becoming pregnant due to the side effects of birth control pills.

Another character faces the horror of repeatedly seeing a creature appear in her toilet bowl, claiming to be her child. 

In her own life, Chung said the prospect of falling pregnant felt like a serious threat during her years overseas.

“To me, it was horror,” she told AFP at her apartment in the South Korean port city of Pohang before leaving for the United Kingdom to attend the awards ceremony set for Thursday.

“All I could think was if I suddenly fell pregnant and gave birth, I would just die with my child. I would just be on the streets and die,” she said.

“I had no ability to raise a child, didn’t have a partner, had no support network and I was a foreigner.”

‘A very hard sell’

Chung’s nomination rides a global wave of enthusiasm for South Korean culture, from Netflix’s “Squid Game” to Bong Joon-ho’s 2019 Oscar winner “Parasite”, as well as Han’s “The Vegetarian”, which won the International Booker in 2016.

But Hur said “Cursed Bunny” was “actually a very, very hard sell” given what he characterised as a lack of interest in Korean literature.

“I did everything I could to promote the book, whether it was on social media, at Oxford University where I won a translator’s residency... and the many literary festivals I dragged the author to so that we could sell just one more book,” he told AFP. 

Chung, who is married to a labour rights activist, prefers to spend her spare time attending political rallies.

“I feel at ease at rallies as I get to be with a lot of people who share the same thoughts as me,” said the author, who met her husband at a rally.

Chung’s years overseas, meanwhile, have made her painfully aware of cultural differences, and her work seems to ask: If culture and language are such barriers to intimacy, then what hope do humans have of understanding robots?

STOCKHOLM — In one of the longest awaited musical reunions, Swedish pop legends ABBA return to the concert stage on Friday in London but only as avatars of their 1970 selves shimmering with shiny costumes, glitter and platform boots.

While fans will hear the quartet’s real voices, the band will not be on stage. Concert-goers will see “ABBAtars” projected as holograms, looking like they did at the peak of their fame.

“We put our hearts and souls into these avatars and they will take over now,” 77-year-old band member Bjorn Ulvaeus told AFP in an interview in Stockholm ahead of the premiere.

Fans will once again be able to see Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad — whose first initials form the name ABBA — perform hits from the 1970s and 1980s, as well as their recent comeback album, at the “ABBA Voyage” show in London.

The group announced the reunion in September last year, dropping the new singles “I still have faith in you” and “Don’t shut me down”.

They then released the 10-track album “Voyage” two months later and announced plans for the high-tech concert at a specially-built London arena.

Other attempts at concert hologrammes have received lukewarm reviews, but the group hopes fans will feel they’re seeing the real deal.

“This is one of the most daring projects that anyone has done in the music industry ever,” said Ulvaeus, who wrote most of the group’s biggest hits with Benny Andersson.

“How it will be received by the audience, I don’t have a clue,” he said. 

“But I think that they will feel an emotional pull from the avatars, they will see the avatars as real people.”

In addition to re-recording their songs for the show, the quartet also spent hours in a studio dressed in leotards, having their movements digitally recorded to reproduce them on stage.

The avatars will appear in the band’s kitsch 1970s outfits and are also expected to don futuristic get-ups, according to trailers.

The show will run seven days a week until early October in the purpose-built theatre ABBA Arena in east London.

“I don’t know about the others but, me, myself, I felt more nervous a month ago than I do now,” Ulvaeus said, adding: “I know that we have done our utmost.”

The hologrammes are the product of a years-long project, designed in partnership with a special effects company founded by Star Wars creator George Lucas.

The concert was recorded using 160 cameras and five weeks of performances.

For Ulvaeus, who is also setting up a circus musical in Stockholm about Pippi Longstocking, the main character in an eponymous series of children’s books by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, the overwhelming amount of archival ABBA footage means it is not strange to see his 40-year-younger self on stage.

ABBA broke onto the international scene in 1974 when they won the Eurovision Song Contest with “Waterloo”, powered by a flood of British votes.

They went on to record a string of hits, including “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!”, “Dancing Queen” and “The Winner Takes it All”, before breaking up in 1982.

They long steered clear of a reunion despite their music’s enduring popularity, fuelled by a hit compilation album in 1992, the “Mamma Mia!” movies starring Meryl Streep, Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan and a spin-off musical.

Notching up several hundred million album sales over 50 years, ABBA helped put Sweden’s pop music industry on the map. 

The country remains the third-biggest exporter of music after the United States and Britain.

In London, concert-goers will be treated to a 90-minute show, with a dozen live musicians on stage backing up the avatars.

Will the quartet ever perform together again for real? 

“ABBA has no plans. It is what it is,” Ulvaeus said.