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 11th annual Night of Lights festival begins today in Reykjanesbaer municipality in southwest Iceland. Tomorrow and Saturday night, many of the country’s best bands will play in Reykjanesbaer and on Sunday local choirs will entertain guests.
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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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Iceland’s Minister of Health Ögmundur Jónasson resigned yesterday due to disagreement with other cabinet ministers on how to approach the changes to the Icesave legislation preconditions, requested by the British and Dutch governments.
However, Jónasson will still support the government in parliament. “I’m resigning because I have been made to understand that the government must be in absolute agreement regarding Icesave,” Jónasson explained, criticizing the government’s work methods. In his opinion, the matter should be handled by the Althingi parliament, Morgunbladid reports.
Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir announced on Tuesday that if all ministers of the cabinet are unable to reach an agreement on Icesave by the end of this week, the coalition between the Social Democrats and the Left-Greens is automatically terminated.
According to ruv.is, both members of the Social Democrats and the Left-Greens are dissatisfied with the tight circle in which the Icesave matter has been discussed so far, only between the party leaders: Sigurdardóttir and Foreign Minister Össur Skarphédinsson of the Social Democrats and Finance Minister Steingrímur J. Sigfússon and Jónasson of the Left-Greens.
The Althingi parliament reconvenes today after a short break and the Icesave debate must be brought to an end during the current parliamentary session as soon as possible, the PM stated. The Social Democrats worry that the dispute of last summer will repeat itself.
After Jónasson’s resignation, the parliamentary groups of both coalition parties met to discuss the Icesave preconditions and the changes requested by British and Dutch authorities with the goal of reaching a conclusion on the matter.
After the meetings, both parties declared support for their party leaders and the parliamentary group of the Left-Greens announced that Sigfússon had their mandate to conclude the Icesave matter according to what the government had decided in their cabinet meeting last night, ruv.is reports.
Álfheidur Ingadóttir of the Left-Greens will replace Jónasson as minister of health and formally be appointed to the office today. She has until now chaired the parliament’s Economic and Tax Committee; it is unclear who will assume her position.
Click here to read more about Icesave.
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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