Somali pirates? These guys are everywhere nowadays. Well, mostly off the coast of Somalia, but you know, like, in news media. So what’s the deal?

This month started out with some tension when North Korea decided to go deaf-dumb-and-blind to the rest of the world, and go ahead with their planned rocket launch on April 5. The launch was officially to put a communications satellite into orbit, but is still widely considered a disguised missile test. The UN Security Counsil condemned the launch of the long-range rocket launch, saying it contravened UN bans. Turns out, North Korea doesn’t care.

In the year 2050 there will be an estimated nine billion people in the world. (9,309,051,539 according to the US Census Bureau. (We’ll see how well that plays out. (Oh, well.))) 80% of these 9,309,051,539 (7,447,241,231.2?) are projected to be living in urban centers. If farming is to continue being practiced in traditional fashion, 10⁹ hectares of new land is estimated required to grow sufficient food to sustain the people. That is a land mass of 20 percent more than what makes up the country of Brazil. Oh, and it seems 80 percent of the earth’s land suitable for farming is presently in use.

Yesterday, the verdict in the Pirate Bay case was announced, and it might have been a surprise to the part of the audience that respond to their aliases more than to their names.

Nokia, with its 120 000 employees in 120 countries and a record market share of $40 in late 2007, has painted the economical downturn in its numbers for the first quarter. Destocking by operators and distributors has lead to 19% fewer devices shipped, and profits dropped by 90% in Q1 2009. The Finnish communications giant’s net income is down to 122 million euros, from 1.2 billion for the same period last year.