Pakistan
U.N. Relocates Pakistan Staff over Security Concerns
The United Nations will withdraw some of its staff from Pakistan over security concerns, a U.N. spokesperson said on Thursday. “Some percentage of the international staff will be relocated and this relocation includes within the country and outside the country to safer locations,” U.N. spokesperson Ishrat Rizvi told Reuters news agency.
Eight U.N. workers were killed by a suicide bomber at the U.N. World Food Program office in Islamabad, Pakistan, in October. In recent months Taliban fighters have repeatedly launched suicide bomb attacks after the Pakistan army launched a campaign against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in the South Waziristan region near the border with Afghanistan. Pakistan has been under increasing pressure from the United States to purge Taliban forces from the border area, where they have been launching attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Finland
Man Causes Five Deaths in Finland Shooting
A man dressed in black caused a tragedy in Finland on Thursday by shooting four people, his ex-girlfriend, and eventually himself. Forty-three-year-old Ibrahim Shkupolli, an Albanian immigrant, is believed to have killed his ex-girlfriend at her home in Espoo. Afterward he went to the Sello shopping center and reportedly began randomly shooting people inside a grocery store. The killer escaped the scene but his body was later found at his home. It is reported that the shooting had a “domestic” motive. This is third time in two years that such a rampage has taken place in Finland and residents are urging for tighter gun-control laws in the country.
Global
New Year’s Eve Blue Moon
This New Year’s Eve was celebrated under a blue moon—not by color, but by having a full moon twice in the same month. The last blue moon that occurred on a New Year’s Eve was in 1990 and the next will not be seen until 2028. The blue moon is an astronomical rarity that occurs just seven times every 19 years—or, once in a blue moon. Different stories tell of the origin of the name “blue moon.” The name has been around for close to 400 years. The moon has appeared blue on several occasions. One occurred after the explosion of Krakatoa, a volcano in Indonesia, in 1883 that covered the sky with dust and turned the moon blue. A monsoon in India in 1927 created the same effect.
Iceland
Iceland One Step Closer to Repaying $5.5 Billion
A year after the economic crisis hit Iceland, the Iceland Parliament has approved plans to repay $5.5 billion to the U.K. and The Netherlands. The money was loaned by the U.K. and Dutch government to the Iceland government to compensate customers who lost billions of dollars after the online Iceland bank ‘Icesave’ went insolvent. Plans to repay foreign customers have met large opposition in the country, with 70 percent of the population against it. With a population of 320,000, the repayment of the debt equals roughly 12,000 euros for each citizen. The new bill was passed by a vote of 33 to 30. Dutch media have reported that the president of Iceland is still refusing to sign the law. The extent of the financial crisis made the Iceland government resign in January this year.
The Netherlands
Dutch Court Authorized to Pass Judgement on Royal Dutch Shell
A Dutch court has ruled that a Dutch judge is authorized to pass judgement on the activities of oil firm Royal Dutch Shell in Nigeria, Dutch media reported. A Dutch environmental organization, Milieudefensie, and four Nigerian farmers started a lawsuit against Shell Nigeria, which is part of Royal Dutch Shell, because of an oil slick in the Niger Delta. Originally, Shell claimed that Dutch law does not apply to Shell Nigeria. With the recent decision, however, the lawsuit can begin. “I think Shell must finally take the responsibility and start behaving more like a socially responsible entrepreneur,” Geert Ritsema, Milieudefensie’s spokesperson was reported as saying by the Volkskrant, in a comment to the verdict.
