Maybe it would be best for both Jón Bjarnason and the whole country if he were to move to Grímsey, an uninhabited island in the West Fjords.
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The new Dreamliner, Boeing 787, landed at Keflavík International Airport yesterday morning for test flights in side wind. According to the airport’s information officer Fridthór Eydal, the airplane will be in Iceland for test flights for about a week.
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Click on the picture to watch an audio slideshow of a hike to Hraunsvatn lake in Öxnadalur valley in north Iceland, which lies at a height of 490 meters, interlocked between two steep mountains and a small glacier with a view of the majestic Hraundrangar peaks.
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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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Minister of Finance Steingrímur J. Sigfússon and Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir announced at a press conference on Friday that funding to the office of the special prosecutor, which is investigating the collapse of the banking system, will be increased.
Minister of Finance Steingrímur J. Sigfússon. Photo by Páll Kjartansson.
“We will reinforce the office and probably also increase the number of prosecutors,” Sigfússon said. These measures are undertaken to improve the leverage of investigators and are a response to criticism expressed by the office’s special consultant, Eva Joly. It is unclear how much funding to the investigation will increase.
The government leaders also presented other measures during the press conference, such as a planned bill on a consulting referendum, which would enable the Althingi parliament to call for a referendum with a simple majority.
The referendum would be based on the current election system and there would not be any conditions on minimum participation. The bill also assumes that such a referendum is called for at least three months in advance.
Sigurdardóttir explained that the University of Iceland’s Institute of Economic Studies and the Social Science Research Institute have been provided with the task to undertake a status analysis from 1990 until today with the purpose of estimating the success of economic measures in that period. It is scheduled to be completed in September this year.
Furthermore, Sigfússon mentioned that propositions on owner and ownership policy of state-owned companies had been presented to the cabinet, involving that the state’s ownership of banks and financial institutions will be transferred to independent parties who will operate these companies according to the state’s policy. A bill to that end is expected this week.
Measures in relation to state finances are also expected to be presented this week. Sigfússon said it would probably be unnecessary to lay off employees in the public sector. However, it is possible that the number of state employees will decrease since vacant positions will not be filled.
A planned bill on a wage council, which will determine the wages of the highest-ranking executives of state-run companies on behalf of the government, was also dicussed during the press conference. No salaries in the public sector will be higher than that of the prime minister.
Click here to read more about the government’s policy on salaries and here to read more about the investigation of the banking collapse.
The second issue of the print edition of Iceland Review 2010 has just been published. Entitled “Under the Volcano” the magazine dedicates 20 pages, words and pictures, to the volcanic eruption in Eyjafjallajökull glacier which made headlines all over the word. New subscribers will receive the book 2010 Eruptions as a gift and all subscribers are part of a draw to win a trip to Iceland. Click here to subscribe to the magazine.
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Dadi Gudbjörnsson's art with its smiley faces, Aladdin's lamps, gleaming hearts, blue mountains and psychedelic flora of unearthly origin reminds me of the cheesy R.E.M. song “Shiny Happy People”. The sugar-sweet naivety fails to amuse me but I must admit it infects my mood with delirious joy.
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Former President of Iceland Vigdís Finnbogadóttir turned 80 on 15 April this year and Mayor Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir—in making her an Honorary Citizen of Reykjavík to mark the occasion—observed that Finnbogadóttir’s life was interwoven with that of Reykjavík. In June 1980 Finnbogadóttir made history when she became the world’s first democratically elected female head of state.
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Today, August 30, and tomorrow is your last chance to visit the exhibition “Eau De Parfum” by Andrea Maack at the Spark Design Space in Reykjavík. In the exhibition space, Maack introduces three perfumes that are the result of her collaboration with French perfumery apf aromes & parfums.
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