Click on the picture to watch an audio slideshow of Þorrablót, an Icelandic mid-winter feast. In the past there was no fresh food available at this time of year so people ate dried fish, smoked lamb, putrefied shark and soured blood and liver pudding along with other soured meat products—ram testicles included.
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Fjallabyggd (“Mountain Settlement”) is a skier’s dream. Its slopes are perfect for slaloming and there are also tracks for telemark skiing. Winter sporting enthusiasts can also go ice skating or rent snowmobiles. In summer, Fjallabyggd turns into a paradise for hikers. Read this special promotion about one of Iceland’s best hidden gems.
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A resolution on surrogacy has again been submitted to the Icelandic parliament, Althingi. Twenty MPs across all parties, except The Movement, are responsible for the resolution. The resolution’s main representative is, as before, Ragnheidur Elín Árnadóttir, parliamentary party chairperson of the Independence Party.
The photo is not directly related to the story. By Páll Stefánsson.
It was agreed at parliament shortly before the last session ended in September to put the previous resolution on surrogacy aside—it provoked some controversy—but resume parliamentary treatment on the subject at the beginning of the current session, which began on Saturday, ruv.is reports.
According to the resolution, Minister of Welfare Gudbjartur Hannesson is given the responsibility of appointing a task force to prepare a bill to permit altruistic surrogacy.
The objective is to guarantee the interests and rights of the child, the independence and welfare of the surrogacy mother and her family to ensure smooth involvement of the parents-to-be.
A solid legal framework is necessary, as well as strict guidelines and clear work methods for the execution and supervision of surrogacy.
Professional evaluation and knowledge, international research and the experience of other western nations in this regard are to form the basis of the bill.
The bill is to be submitted to parliament as soon as possible.
Click here to read more about the previous parliamentary resolution on surrogacy.
ESA
A Playboy model, Progressive Party in trouble and a bad hair day.
Seven companies have asked to be listed on the NASDAQ OMX in Reykjavík, in one of the biggest privatization plans in the country’s history. All seven companies are owned, at least in part, by Landsbanki Íslands, which the Government of Iceland owns 81 percent.
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Landsvirkjun accounts for 75 percent of total electricity production in Iceland; in the year 2010 production reached 12,625 GWh. Climate change and the resulting increase in temperatures are expected to lead to a significant increase in the flow of glacial rivers in the years to come.
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The Special Prosecutors’ Office has filed charges in the so-called Al-Thani case, which pertains to the purchase of a five percent share in Kaupthing Bank in late September 2008, merely two weeks before the banking system’s collapse.
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The current issue of the quarterly magazine Iceland Review includes for example an interview with world-renowned fashion designer Steinunn Sigurðardóttir as well as features on the successful biotech company ORF Genetics and the hot debate regarding the EU. If you subscribe now, you will receive a photo book by IR editor, photographer Páll Stefánsson of the eruptions in Eyjafjallajökull as a gift. Click here to subscribe to the magazine and here to buy a gift subscription.
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The second series of The Press continues to follow the life of journalist, mother and wife Lára and her investigation of Iceland’s underground world.
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Harvesting human-like protein from genetically modified barley, Icelandic company ORF Genetics is revolutionizing the world of green biotechnology. With Iceland’s First Lady Dorrit Moussaieff and Hollywood stars among its loyal fans, the company’s phenomenal skincare range has, quite literally, changed the face of the cosmetics industry.
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The international recognition that the architecture firm Snøhetta has received is quite unique in a Norwegian context.
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