Because Economics is Sexy...

Iceland’s parliament has approved plans to repay 3.8bn euros (£3.4bn) to savers in the UK and the Netherlands.
The money will go to the British and Dutch governments, who partially compensated savers when the Icesave online bank failed.
More than 320,000 savers lost out when the bank collapsed in 2008.
A bill on the measure, narrowly approved against [...]

Shots have been fired at a shopping centre in the town of Espoo, near the capital of Finland, Helsinki.
An eyewitness said at least one person was left lying on the floor after shooting broke out, the national broadcaster YLE said on its website.
Hunting is a popular sport in Finland and gun ownership is a controversial [...]

KABUL (Reuters) – A suicide bomber penetrated a foreign army base in Afghanistan and killed eight CIA employees on Wednesday, one of the U.S. agency’s largest death tolls, while four Canadian troops and a journalist died in a separate attack.
A “well-dressed” Afghan army official detonated a suicide vest at a meeting of CIA officials in [...]

A new carbon tax that was supposed to go into effect in France at New Year has been struck down, delivering a blow to President Nicolas Sarkozy.
France’s Constitutional Council, a legal compliance watchdog, said there were too many exemptions for polluters in the tax plan.
The body said 93% of industrial emissions, other than fuel use, [...]

Italy has raised 95bn euros (£86bn;$137bn) from a tax amnesty, much more than the government had expected.
According to the country’s finance ministry, 98% of the illegally-held overseas money has been repatriated.
The amnesty caused a spat with Switzerland after Rome claimed the Swiss government was refusing to cooperate with the tax crackdown.
[Source]

Iran is attempting to reach a deal to secretly import 1,350 tons of purified uranium ore from Kazakhstan, according to an intelligence report obtained by The Associated Press news agency.
The report, which was apprently drawn up by a unnamed member nation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was leaked as the US and its [...]

At least 23 people have been killed in twin suicide bombings in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi.
Another 57 people were injured in the blasts on Wednesday in Anbar province, including Qassim Mohammed Abid, the provincial governor.
A suicide bomber in a car caused the first blast and a suicide bomber on foot caused the second, [...]

NEW YORK (Reuters) – GMAC Financial Services is close to getting about $3.5 billion in added aid from the U.S. government, on top of the $12.5 billion already received since December 2008, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The announcement is expected within days and will coincide with GMAC taking additional steps to absorb losses related to [...]

A British man convicted of drug smuggling in China has been executed, the Foreign Office has confirmed.
Akmal Shaikh, 53, a father-of-three, of London, had denied any wrongdoing and his family said he was mentally ill.
The execution took place despite repeated calls from his family and the British government for clemency.
[Source]

Pakistani officials have appealed for calm in Karachi following a suicide attack on a Shia Muslim procession that left at least 40 people dead and scores injured.
Shops, offices and schools were closed in the southern city on Tuesday after religious leaders and political parties called for a day of mourning.
Public transport was also shut [...]