by Mingming Shi
1) KNR reported a story about members of a family [in Danish] living in Tasiilaq, southeastern Greenland, who are suffering from poverty. Without stable jobs, Jeremias Nuko and his girlfriend have been struggling to maintain daily life for them and their kids, even though they are receiving regular governmental subsidies. The case is not unique, since regional development imbalances still exist in Greenland.
2) Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, the President of Iceland, used Facebook to congratulate Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, who were just elected as the next President and Vice President of the United States, as reported in Morgunblaðið. The message was in both Icelandic and English. Icelandic Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir also sent her congratulations to the US President- and Vice-President-Elect.
3) The Norwegian government, according to the Barents Observer, confirmed that it has been considering a ban on heavy fuel oil for vessels operating in the waters around the Svalbard archipelago due to the environmental risks from spills. No further details or a potential enforcement date have been announced by Oslo as of yet.
4) Although global oil prices remain uncertain, the Government of Greenland has announced the creation of three new offshore regions for oil drilling off the country’s west coast, as Rigzone revealed. With Arctic ice in the region receding, there had been much speculation as to when Greenland would be in a position to begin exploration for fossil fuels. According to the project plans, other offshore blocks are to be opened for surveying in 2021-2.
Over the Circle 