After a nasty cold spell with frosty temperatures and snowfall in north and east Iceland, summer arrived in all parts of the country last weekend with the temperature reaching 15°C (59°F) in the southwest. As of Wednesday, temperatures are expected to take a steep upwards swing in north and east Iceland.  more

An elderly woman died in a car accident in the rural Skorradalur in west Iceland on Saturday afternoon. According to information from the police in Borgarnes, the car she was driving overturned on the road between Indriðastaðir and Hreppslaug.  more

A fire started in Kaffi Lára in Seyðisfjörður, east Iceland, a timber house, which is one of the oldest in town, between 7 and 8 pm yesterday. The café’s owner, Eyþór Þórisson, was alone in the house at the time and managed to get out on his own.  more

Presidential candidate Þóra Arnórsdóttir and her husband Svavar Halldórsson became parents to a baby girl on Friday morning. She arrived at 6:54 am, weighed 4,500 grams and was 55 centimeters long. The mother and baby are in good health.  more

A man, who is in his fifties and an experienced sea cliff climber, fell while collecting eggs at Stapi in Aðalvík in the remote Hornstrandir region in the West Fjords yesterday afternoon when his rope snapped.  more

The tourism development company Rauðka ehf., owned by Róbert Guðfinnsson, has made an agreement with the municipality Fjallabyggð on obtaining a lot in Siglufjörður, north Iceland, to construct a hotel with 64 rooms, scheduled to open in three years.  more

The young Icelandic band Of Monsters and Men, which has enjoyed incredible popularity in the US, will be on Jay Leno’s The Tonight Show, on June 29. This will be the second time that the band performs on an American talk show.  more

The first archeological research in Iceland this year will begin at Hafnir in Reykjanes, southwest Iceland, on Monday. Archeologists will continue their study of a hut which may originate from 770-880 AD and predate the historical settlement of Iceland in 847.  more

A small glacial burst occurred in the volcano Katla, which lies underneath the Mýrdalsjökull icecap in south Iceland, on April 28 and lasted a few days. The activity was registered by seismic monitors and increased conduction was measured in the river Múlakvísl until May 7.  more

The current issue of the quarterly magazine Iceland Review includes interviews with fashion photographer Saga Sig and conceptual artist Rúrí. Also, we take you to Grímsstaðir á Fjöllum, that desolate land coveted by a Chinese tycoon, and also explore Icelandic archeological remains. We discuss the Icelandic Church, the flourishing gaming industry, debate the future of Iceland’s energy resources and interview the president of the Icelandic National League of North America. Subscribe now and receive a free photo book by IR’s editor Páll Stefánsson of the Eyjafjallajökull eruptions. Click here to subscribe to the magazine and here to buy a gift subscription.  more