Category Archives: Iceland

Icelandic is in danger of dying out because of AI and English-language media, says former PM

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Katrín Jakobsdóttir and her co-author want the 350,000 people who speak the language to fight for its future

Iceland’s former prime minister, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, has said that the Icelandic language could be wiped out in as little as a generation due to the sweeping rise of AI and encroaching English language dominance.

Katrín, who stood down as prime minister last year to run for president after seven years in office, said Iceland was undergoing “radical” change when it came to language use. More people are reading and speaking English, and fewer are reading in Icelandic, a trend she says is being exacerbated by the way language models are trained.

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Mosquitoes found in Iceland for first time as climate crisis warms country

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Three specimens discovered in what was previously one of the few places in the world without the insects

Mosquitoes have been found in Iceland for the first time as global heating makes the country more hospitable for insects.

The country was until this month one of the few places in the world that did not have a mosquito population. The other is Antarctica.

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‘Most of this is symbolic’: the new wave of anti-migrant vigilantes in Europe

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‘Citizen patrols’ and self-styled protective forces are fuelling social fears and the far right, say experts

Sporting black shirts emblazoned with an iron cross, a dozen or so men marched through the centre of Reykjavík, courting attention on a buzzy Friday night. In Poland and the Netherlands, vigilantes thronged along the German border, ready to turn back any asylum seekers they came across. In Belfast, they roamed after sunset, demanding to see the identity documents of migrants and people of colour.

Each of the groups, who are part of a renewed wave of anti-migrant vigilantes that have sprung up in recent months across Europe, have sought to cast themselves as a sort of protective force. But those who have studied vigilantes warn that their actions often exacerbate security concerns, sow fear and fuel the far right.

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Volcano on Reykjanes peninsula in Iceland erupts for ninth time since 2023

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Iceland’s weather agency advises residents to stay indoors because of high levels of toxic gas from 1.5-mile fissure

A volcano erupted on Wednesday on Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula in the south-west of the country, the ninth eruption in region since the end of 2023.

The Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said the eruption had begun just before 4am local time (05:00 BST), and live video feeds showed lava spewing from a fissure in the ground.

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Mackerel stocks near breaking point because of overfishing, say experts

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North-east Atlantic mackerel in decline and Good Fish Guide says shoppers should look for other options

Mackerel stocks are nearing a “breaking point”, experts have said as the fish is downgraded as a sustainable option.

People should be eating herring instead, the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) said, because mackerel continues to be overfished by countries including Norway and the UK.

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Icelandic town and Blue Lagoon spa evacuated after volcanic eruption

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Those who have not already left Grindavík warned nearby eruption could be much bigger than previous 10 since 2021

The Icelandic town of Grindavík and the nearby Blue Lagoon tourist attraction have been evacuated after the area was hit by another volcanic eruption.

The eruption is the 11th since 2021, when the Reykjanes peninsula, a region south-west of Reykjavík, started its latest eruption period.

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UK court sides with Icelandic firm over artist’s spoof corruption apology

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Judge considering complaint by fishing firm Samherji rules artist Odee unlikely to be able to defend work as parody

The property rights of Iceland’s largest fishing company prevail over the right to artistic expression of an artist who spoofed the firm’s website to draw attention to a high-profile corruption scandal, London’s high court has ruled.

For his 2023 work We’re Sorry, the Icelandic artist Oddur Eysteinn Friðriksson, who goes by the moniker Odee, copied the corporate identity of Samherji, a major supplier to Britain’s fish and chips industry, and uploaded on to the spoof website a statement titled “Samherji Apologizes, Pledges Restitution and Cooperation with Authorities”.

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‘No one will save you’: tourists warned as volcanic site reopens in Iceland after six eruptions in a year

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Local safety chief’s stark advice as visitors return to Grindavík – with more activity expected

Why do people want to see Grindavík? Gunnar Schram, the police chief for Suðurnes, the region of Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula that has erupted six times since last December, laughs at the question.

The allure of getting close to an active volcano is so strong that even the person tasked with ensuring people behave around the eruption site at Grindavík, which opened up to the public on Monday for the first time since the town started cracking open on 10 November last year, cannot deny its majesty.

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Iceland’s PM calls November snap election as coalition collapses

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Government disbanded due to disagreements on issues including foreign policy and asylum seekers, says Bjarni Benediktsson

Iceland’s prime minister, Bjarni Benediktsson, has announced the end of the country’s governing coalition and called for elections to be held on 30 November, Icelandic public broadcaster RUV reported.

In a press conference, Bjarni blamed growing disagreements between the three governing parties “on issues ranging from foreign policy to asylum seekers issues”.

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Rare polar bear shot dead by police in Iceland after being thought a threat

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Environment agency advised that the animal posed a danger to elderly woman in remote summer house in Westfjords

A rare polar bear that was spotted in a remote village in Iceland was shot by police after being considered a threat, authorities have said.

The bear was killed in the north-west tip of the country after police consulted the national environment agency, which declined to have the animal relocated, according to the Westfjords police chief, Helgi Jensson.

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Icelandic fishing giant Samherji sues art student for spoofing corporate website

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High court told ‘culture-jammed’ apology for high-profile corruption scandal ‘did not qualify as parody’

Iceland’s biggest fishing company is suing an art student at London’s high court for spoofing its website and issuing a fake public apology over a high profile corruption scandal.

The costly lawsuit, which will be heard this month, is feared by the student’s supporters to have a potentially chilling effect on artists engaging critically with large corporations, while also raising questions about the UK’s status as the go-to litigation jurisdiction for powerful businesses.

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Rescue effort at ice cave in Iceland ends after police say no one is missing

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Search for more survivors of cave collapse that killed one called off as records show 23 not 25 people were on tour

After a 17-hour, 200-person rescue operation in which first responders used chainsaws and ice picks to cut through a collapsed ice cave to track down two missing tourists, police in Iceland have called off the search and said they now believe that no one had ever been missing.

Officials in Iceland said on Monday that after examining tour operator records, they had concluded that 23 people were on the tour, not 25 as had been previously reported.

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Two people missing and two injured in ice cave collapse in Iceland

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Incident happened as tour group of 25 was visiting Breiðamerkurjökull glacier in south-east of country

Two people are missing and two others were seriously injured when an ice cave collapsed in south-east Iceland while a tour group was visiting the area, police have said.

A group of 25 people were on an organised tour of the Breiðamerkurjökull glacier with a guide when the cave collapsed.

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Iceland grants country’s last whaling company licence to hunt 128 fin whales

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Conservationists criticise ‘disappointing’ and ‘dangerous’ move to allow harpooning of fin whales after curbs last year

Iceland has granted a licence to Europe’s last whaling company to kill more than 100 animals this year, despite hopes the practice might have been halted after concerns about cruelty led to a temporary suspension last year.

Animal rights groups described the news as “deeply disappointing” and “dangerous”.

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Fresh volcanic eruption triggers evacuation in south-west Iceland

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Plumes of lava reach 50 metres into air as people are moved away from Grindavík near Blue Lagoon spa

A volcanic eruption has begun on the Reykjanes peninsula in south-western Iceland, according to the country’s meteorological office, shortly after authorities evacuated the nearby town of Grindavík.

“An eruption has started near Sundhnúkagígar, north of Grindavík,” the Icelandic meteorological office said in a statement on Wednesday, almost three weeks after the end of a previous eruption that started on 16 March.

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Bid to secure spot for glacier in Icelandic presidential race heats up

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Idea Angela Rawlings had a decade ago for Snæfellsjökull has snowballed into a full-blown campaign with a team of 50 people

Standing in the shadow of Iceland’s Snæfellsjökull, – a 700,000-year-old glacier perched on a volcano and visible to half the country’s population on any given day – in 2010, Angela Rawlings was struck by an unconventional thought.

“It suddenly just came to me. What if the glacier was president?” said Rawlings. It was a seemingly unorthodox way to push forward a movement that was already swiftly advancing; Ecuador had enshrined legal rights for nature while Māori in New Zealand were working to secure legal personhood for the Whanganui River.

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Iceland volcanic eruption: barriers appear to hold back lava outside town

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Defences redirect flows away from key infrastructure in Grindavik but threat to nearby sites remains

Defensive barriers that were bolstered overnight around the fishing town of Grindavik appeared to have held, but a steadily slowing lava flow from the fourth volcanic eruption on Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula since December remained a threat on Sunday.

After weeks of warnings that semi-molten rock was building up under the ground, the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said on Saturday night that the eruption, at 8.23pm local time (2023 GMT), had opened a nearly 3km long fissure in the earth between two mountains.

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Volcano in Iceland erupts for fourth time in three months

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Police declare state of emergency and evacuate local town of Grindavik after volcanic activity

Icelandic police have declared a state of emergency as lava spewed from a new volcanic fissure on the Reykjanes peninsula, the fourth eruption to hit the area since December.

A volcanic eruption “started between Stóra Skógfell and Hagafell on the Reykjanes peninsula”, said a statement from the Icelandic Met Office (IMO) on Saturday. Live video images showed glowing lava and billowing smoke.

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Iceland volcano erupts for second time this year with lava close to power plant

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Eruption in Reykjanes peninsula disrupts hot water supply for 20,000 people as lava edges closer to Svartsengi power plant

A volcano in Iceland has erupted for the second time this year and the third time since December, pumping lava up to 80 metres (260ft) into the air and disrupting life in the Reykjanes peninsula in the south-west of the country.

Fountains of bright orange molten rock spewed from cracks in the ground and lava crossed a road near the Blue Lagoon, a luxury geothermal spa, which had closed on Thursday.

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Rescuers in daring bid to save sheep trapped by Iceland volcano

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More than 200 animals abandoned by farmers after the eruption have not been fed or watered for days

A daring operation is being launched to rescue more than 200 sheep left to their fate by farmers after a volcanic eruption near the evacuated Icelandic town of Grindavik.

With molten lava setting homes ablaze and the ground surface cracking, rescue teams are seeking to bring out an estimated 270 animals from their fields and indoor pens.

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