Iceland News

Articles, stories and videos from the past week that caught the eye of Iceland News.

Icelandic Saga Database
Sagas of the Icelanders
“The Icelandic Saga Database is an online resource dedicated to the digital publication of the Sagas of the Icelanders — a large body of medieval literature which forms the foundation of the Icelandic literary tradition. The sagas are prose histories describing events that took place amongst the Norse and Celtic inhabitants of Iceland during the period of the Icelandic Commonwealth in the 10th and 11th centuries AD.”

YouTube
Volcano! Surtsey and Haemay
“A fascinating extract from the ITV documentary “Savage Earth” first broadcast in the 1990s. Surtsey was the island born from an underwater volcanic eruption off the south coast of Iceland in 1963. Haemay was the small town on the Westmann islands, south of Iceland, which was awoken one night in 1973 to find its volcano had burst into life. The townsfolk fought the advancing lava with high pressure hoses and managed to turn it away from their harbour.”

YouTube
Peace Tower Event
“A little old, but we saw this video while browsing online. The Imagine Peace Tower is a memorial to John Lennon from his widow, Yoko Ono, located on Viðey Island in Kollafjörður Bay near Reykjavík, Iceland. It consists of a tall “tower of light”, projected from a white stone monument that has the words “Imagine Peace” carved into it in 24 languages. These words, and the name of the tower, are a reference to Lennon’s peace anthem, Imagine.”

Video: Helgasons.com
Halldor winns X Games Big Air with best possible score!
“Icelandic snowboarder comes out top.”

Articles and stories from the past week that caught the eye of Iceland News.

Guardian
Iceland’s children paying for slump
“Public health experts have noticed signs of family breakdown in the wake of the 2008 financial meltdown that left most adults in serious debt.”

Iceland Weather Report
In support of those about to lose their homes
“Soon after the crash, the government froze mortgages — meaning that people could delay their payments until a later date. However, that freezing runs out next month, at which time there is likely to be a tidal wave of people losing their homes.”

Economic Disaster Area
Johannes Bjorn: Speech At Austurvollur 23.1.2010
“It is clear as dayligth that the political and financial elites which control the “four parties” decided early in the economic collapse to sacrifice the indebted households in the country. This was done while a fortress was erected around owner of capital and the criminals who bankrupted the country.”

Maclean’s
Iceland’s genetic problem
“CEO Kari Stefansson’s company never turned a profit.”

Iceland Cinema Now
RUV’s Director Slashes Programming of Icelandic Series, Docs and Films
“In a statement released Friday, pubcaster RUV’s Director Páll Magnússon, announced huge cuts in programming due to budgetary demands. The cuts relate mostly to local documentaries, TV series and features, leaving in-house programmes such as news and current affairs with some cuts but light entertainment and sports mostly intact.”

Your roundup of the best recent blog posts and news articles about Iceland from across the globe.

Iceland Review
Not Coming Home for Christmas
“By the time you read this I’ve either just had my baby, am giving birth or am about to (my due date is Christmas Day). I might also possibly be in an ambulance, stuck in snowdrift somewhere between Blönduós and Akureyri, the so-called Capital of the North.”

These are the best days of our lives
14,400 minutes and counting
“After the game a couple of the parents planned a surprise mystery trip for the team. We received a list of things we needed to bring with us but had no idea where we were going, which only made the trip more fun.”

Icelandish
Has it really been a month?
“Even though I’m only enrolled part-time in my Strategic Management masters programme at the U. of Iceland, the coursework for my two classes have been fairly intense.”

Iceland banking crisis news and more
Flag burned at a protest in Iceland – and Eva Joly signing book
“And today, Eva Joly, Norwegian-born French magistrate, who is a special adviser by the Icelandic government to investigate the banking crisis, was a few hundred feet from the protest, in a bookstore, signing here book.”

Your roundup of the best blog posts and news articles about Iceland from across the globe.

Iceland Weather Report
A rundown of the Assembly results
“I’ve been going through the results from yesterday’s National Assembly and am well and truly inspired by what I see. Granted, all the work needed to implement these things still remains, and there are not many concrete suggestions — but the vision is there, and there are many of us who consider that vitally important.”

Iceland News
Comprehensive English language links and information for Iceland’s National Assembly (Þjóðfundur) meeting
“English language information about Þjóðfundur.”

Iceland Review
Integrity Named Iceland’s Most Important Value
“Integrity is the value which the estimated 1,400 attendees of Iceland’s first National Assembly, held in Laugardalshöll sports arena in Reykjavík on Saturday, mentioned most often as society’s most important value.”

Iceland Review
Iceland’s Foreign Minister Meets EEA Council
“Iceland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Össur Skarphédinsson attended a meeting with the EEA Council in Brussels on Monday and meetings with the Committee of Members of Parliament of the EFTA Countries (CMP).”

Reykjavik Grapevine
230 Immigrants Will Take Language Test for Citizenship
“230 immigrants will take an Icelandic language test next month, as part of the process of applying for citizenship, Vísir reports. The tests are given twice a year, in June and December, and cost 7,000 ISK.”