Iceland’s Parliament, Alþingi, passed a highly controversial immigration bill last night, bringing a contentious five-year process to a close, RÚV reports. The newly passed legislation strips asylum seekers of their rights, including access to housing and healthcare, 30 days after their applications have been rejected. Human rights organisations in Iceland have strongly opposed the bill, […]
Iceland is lagging when it comes to knowledge and education on cyber security, which could put the country at risk of cyber attacks, RÚV reports. Minister of Universities, Innovation, and Industry Áslaug Arna Sigurbjörnsdóttir says a new university program focusing on cyber security will be established in the coming year or so. Suspicious traffic within […]
A total of 97,829 books were sold at the Icelandic Publishers’ Association book fair in Reykjavík, which ended yesterday, RÚV reports. That is over one book sold for every four residents of Iceland – or every 2.5 residents of the capital area. A recent study found that Icelanders read or listen to an average of […]
The European Commission approved the first ever Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) from Iceland today for Icelandic lamb (ice. Íslenskt lambakjöt). The product name is applied to the meat from purebred Icelandic lambs, which have been born, raised, and slaughtered on the island of Iceland. The designation is the same type granted to champagne, and […]
Iceland’s Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir and Foreign Minister Þórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörð Gylfadóttir are on their way to Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital city, to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials, Vísir reports. One of the topics of discussion will be Ukraine’s participation in the fourth summit of the Council of Europe, to be […]
A report related to the sale of public assets that has been shrouded in secrecy will now likely be made public, thanks to a two-year-old legal opinion, RÚV reports. The Speaker’s Committee of Parliament is required to hand over a report made by the Auditor General in 2018 on the dealings of Lindarhvoll ehf., a […]
No one was seriously injured when a shot was fired in a downtown Reykjavík bar yesterday evening. The Reykjavík Capital Area Police Department is still looking for the shooter. Police received a report around 7:00 PM last night that a man had entered Dubliners Irish pub in downtown Reykjavík and fired a shot inside the […]
The Icelandic Opera’s ongoing production of Madama Butterfly is reinforcing harmful stereotypes of Asian people, local critics say. The opera, composed by Puccini in 1904, centres on the relationship between a white, US naval officer and a 15-year-old Japanese girl. The state-funded production has been accused of using yellowface and Chinese characters in its set […]
Lindarhvoll, a company founded to handle public assets following the banking collapse, must hand over a 37-page internal report on its dealings, the Prime Ministry’s Information Committee (Úrskurðarnefnd um upplýsingamál) has ruled. Opposition MPs have demanded the publication of other internal documents from the company that pertain to the sale of public assets that fell […]
Iceland’s population increased by 3.1% between January 2022 and January 2023: the largest increase since 1734 or as far back as population figures for Iceland go. The population was 387,758 on January 1 of this year, and had increased by 11,510 from last year, according to the latest figures from Statistics Iceland. Population increase was […]
