Scotland: Video: Up-Helly-Aa festival lights up Shetland
Hetland was a sea of fire last night as visitors flocked to the annual Up-Helly-Aa festival.
Since 1880, local people have marked the turning of the year and their Viking heritage with a torch-lit march through the island capital, culminating in up to 1,000 torchbearers throwing their firebrands into a specially built replica Viking longship, the centrepiece of a spectacular bonfire. ...
The Scotsman
Iceland: Asylum Seekers up 130 Percent in Iceland
There has been a 130 percent increase in asylum seekers in Iceland since 2012, visir.is reports. From 2013-2014 there was a 50 percent increase.
In 2012, the average processing time was 229 days. Iceland intends to adopt the 48-hour rule, which is used in Norway and which states that asylum seekers should not wait more than 48 hours to know if they are eligible to apply for asylum in Iceland. An ultimate decision will still take time but the Icelandic Ministry of the Interior aims to shorten processing times. …
Iceland Review
Australia: Teenage singing star Lorde laments ‘lecherous gaze’ of music industry
Teenage Grammy-winning singer Lorde has arrived home in New Zealand and complained about pushy media and the industry’s “lecherous’' gaze.
Wearing dark sunglasses, the 17-year-old singer-songwriter flew into Auckland this morning fresh from winning two Grammy awards in Los Angeles.
Auckland Airport staff performed a haka and a few eager fans greeted the star with cardboard banners and snapped pictures with her on their phones. ...
The Australian
Slovakia: Losing patience
Watchdogs, diplomats, the media, businesspeople, critical judges and a fairly large segment of Slovak society would agree that something has gone terribly wrong with Slovakia’s judiciary. They would also agree that things didn’t go wrong just yesterday, or even a year or two ago. Over the past decade international organisations, activists and people affected by decisions that Slovakia’s courts have made (or failed to make), have been showering the state of the judiciary with criticism. ...
The Spectator
Sweden: Sweden hankers for chefs, miners, mechanics
Anyone looking for jobs in Sweden’s mines and kitchens will have an easy time finding employment in the coming years, the Swedish employment agency has said as it revealed the country’s most sought after professions. ...
The Local
UAE: Dubai Health Authority in dilemma over shortage of Yellow Fever vaccine
Travel plans of thousands of people are in a quandary as a global shortage of Yellow Fever vaccine has affected the UAE as well. A senior official from the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) said on Tuesday that the shortage has been persisting for the last two months. …
Khaleej Times
Malta: Continued growth seen in English language teaching tourism industry
Up to 85,000 English language students visited Malta last year based on the country’s projected growth, Tourism Minister Karmenu Vella said today.
Addressing the annual general meeting of the Federation of English Language Teaching Organisations in Malta, Mr Vella projected that foreign students had spent €145 million over 250,000 student weeks last year. ...
Times of Malta
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