News in Brief
A roundup of the main news stories from the past weeks
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Monday News Edit: What Are Icelanders Talking About?
It’s been a busy week, with good and sad news alike, and with a good dose of sunshine to warm up these icy cold days. But what has been on Icelanders’ minds as of late besides the latest round of flu? Here’s…
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Monday News Edit: What Are Icelanders Talking About?
Despite the blinding sun and the freezing cold, what has been on Icelanders’ minds as of late? Here’s a round-up of fresh debates, hot topics and crazy madness from these past few days. Nobody is more serious than Icelanders when it comes…
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Monday News Edit: What Are Icelanders Talking About?
With no more weather-related complaints to issue, what has been on Icelanders’ minds as of late? Here’s a round-up of fresh debates, hot topics and crazy madness from these past few days. According to a new report from Transparency International, corruption in…
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Monday News Edit: What Are Icelanders Talking About?
Another week, another Monday. While the weekend was meteorologically quiet, it was not void of interesting events that kept us tied to our phone screens as if under a spell. Besides a particularly lively couple of days in Grimsey, where the population has…
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Monday News Edit: What Are Icelanders Talking About?
Besides the biggest issues that have been at the centre of every TV debate in the past few years and aren’t likely to be solved by the time you finish that cup of coffee you’re holding right now, what has been on…
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News In Brief: Drug Smuggling, French Fries and Rude Drones
Like every other year, for as long as we can remember, Iceland’s 2018 began with storms, strong winds and a constant, annoying blend of rain and snow. That’s January for you: it can’t help but bring bad weather, and it’s unapologetic about…
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News In Brief: Early November Edition
Our top story today is undoubtedly the results of the parliamentary elections and the ongoing coalition talks. Two new parties, the People’s Party and the Centre Party, got in, while Bright Future was wiped out. No one won enough seats to form…
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News In Brief: Mid-October Edition
Iceland’s smite-ability once again made international headlines last week when the men’s national team utterly crushed Turkey, 3-0, and qualified for the World Cup for the first time. They are the smallest nation to qualify in recent history. And you know what…
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News in Brief: Early October Edition
So let’s get the Election 2017 stuff out of the way, first of all. The latest polls to come in show the right wing in Iceland is splintering apart. There are now five parties—six, if you count the decidedly centrist Bright Future—running…
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News In Brief: Late September Edition
Well, the past couple of weeks have been pretty slow. Nothing much happened, really. Unless you count the collapse of the Icelandic government. We cover this in depth later in this paper, but the basic rundown is this: Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson’s…
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News In Brief: Early September Edition
Our top story: someone has finally had to answer for what was found in the Panama Papers. Júlíus Vífill Ingvarsson, a former Reykjavík city councilperson for the Independence Party, is now being investigated for money laundering and tax fraud. As the leaked…
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News In Brief
Our undisputed top story of the past two weeks has been the Icelandic reaction to the American reaction to Iceland’s abortion laws and Down’s Syndrome. A recent report on American news station CBS pointed out that medical professionals in Iceland are obliged…
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News: The Top Stories, July 14th–July 27th
It’s been a dry two weeks here up North, news wise, and for a weekend the weather decided to mirror the country’s peaceful state of affairs with a sunny demeanour and more warmth we’ve seen in months. Those living in Akureyri and…
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News In Brief: Costco, Counter-Terrorism & Unsustainable Tourism
It seems like we can never get enough of Costco updates, mostly because what this company is doing seems unfathomable and no more real than a ‘Game of Thrones’ episode. This week, Costco has in fact lowered their gasoline prices by offering…
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News In Brief: A Heart-Shaped Ferris Wheel, Tax Evaders & Doodies
We often talk about the insane amount of tourists who have been visiting our shores in the past few years, but it looks like tourists aren’t the only ones interested in coming to Iceland. The Directorate of Labour estimates that around 3,000…
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News In Brief: Costco, Trains And Elves (Again)
It’s been a week since Costco has opened its doors to the Icelandic public and news about its interesting products and appealingly low prices are already shaking the country. Some expect it to inject the competition the local market needs, while others…
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News in Brief: Robert Spencer’s Conference, New Police Uniforms and Sheep Placenta Face Cream
We unfortunately must report that one of the major stories of the past two weeks was when noted Islamophobe Robert Spencer visited Iceland, invited by a shadowy group known as Vakur. Spencer, who mostly writes on his blog JihadWatch, preached to the…
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Cannabis Candy, Salmon-Splaining & Unicorns: News In Brief
Famed Icelandic band Sigur rós teamed up with cannabis confectionary producer Lord Jones to release a new brand of cannabis-infused gumdrops. Called “Wild Sigurberries,” they are reportedly inspired by the flavours of Icelandic berries such as blackberries, strawberries and blueberries. Lord Jones’s…
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News In Brief: Trapped Frenchmen, Arson, And The “Kattarshians”
We’ve had a spate of stories lately involving tourists, and the wacky shenanigans they get up to. Amongst the most popular of these stories was that of a French man who was trapped in his car for five days, on account of…
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News In Brief: Fake News, Dishonest Bankers, and Músíktilraunir
United Silicon, which runs the plant in Reykjanesbær that everyone loves to hate, could be looking at the end of days. Despite United Silicon’s repeated denials of any wrongdoing, both the town council and Iceland’s Minister for the Environment, Björt Ólafsdóttir, believe…
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News In Brief: Eurovision, Capital Controls and the Sigmundur Davíð-Donald Collusion
The top story of the past two weeks is without a doubt the lifting of the last of the capital controls that Iceland put in place in the wake of the 2008 financial crash. The move does not actually make much difference…
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News In Brief: November 2015
This past month sure has been a busy one where immigration is concerned. Over these past few weeks, we saw a Vietnamese couple accused of having a sham marriage (an accusation that was revealed to be way off the mark), and the…
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A Summary And Rundown Of Recent News: October Edition
Iceland’s National Church, Þjóðkirkjan, has been on a lot of folks’ minds this month, after the spotlight was shone on the “freedom of conscience” exemption that ministers have if they want to refuse to marry a same-sex couple for personal religious reasons.…