Katla in full swing during her 1918 eruption

In recent times the Icelandic volcano Katla has been rumbling and grumbling. Some think this means an eruption is imminent, and indeed the volcano is overdue for an eruption. Earthquakes are continuing under the volcano, and the latest occurred at about 6pm today and measured 3.2 on the Richter scale according to the Icelandic Met Office. Four other earthquakes were recorded after noon today, reaching 2 on the scale.

Labels: Katla, Natural disasters

The airline’s logo

The new Icelandic airline in the ownership of, amongst other Icelandic entrepreneurs, Skúli Mogensen and Matthías Imsland, will be called WOW Air. The company’s website says they are finalising their destinations and will be offering tickets at reasonable prices. The company plans to open bookings to everyone in the next few days.

“But we will of course need to hire people first, choose the uniforms, organize the seat pockets and polish the planes,” says the airline.

On WOW’s Facebook page the company has posted advertisements for various positions. WOW says applicants need to be dynamic, good-humoured and smiley, with plenty of longing for adventure and a passion for customer service.”

Among the advertised positions are air service jobs, which have been sought-after in Iceland for a while now. Unlike other airlines based in the country, the minimum age for applications is 19; those born before 1992 are eligible to apply.

Positions for a flight supervision manager, service manager and managers in the finance and computer departments have also been advertised.

Source: Morgunblaðið
Image: WOW Air

Labels: Transport

The square which occupies the space in front of Harpa, the newly-opened concert and conference centre in Reykjavík, has won a prize at the Swedish architecture conference Arkitekturmässan (in Swedish), which was held for the first time this year between 24th and 26th October. The organisers of the event intend to carve out a niche and make it the largest annual Nordic event for architects, landscape architects and urban planners.

The square by Harpa picked up the prize for Best Nordic Public Space. Landscape architect Þráinn Hauksson at the firm Landslag received the prize on behalf of the company’s design team, who developed the square in co-operation with architecture firm Batteríð. Henning Larsen Architects and artist Ólafur Elíasson also collaborated on the project.

According to Landslag “the design of the square was conceived with a view to the history of the area as an unspoilt shore, where the stream [the one which currently runs under the street Lækjargata] ran to the sea in the harbour area. Reflective ponds create an island feeling far removed from the surrounding busy streets. The bridges over the ponds are a reminder of the jetties which once jutted into the sea here. The square is divided into three areas: an arrival square, a multi-purpose square and a waiting area in a nook formed by the building facing the sun and providing shelter.”

Source: Vísir
Image: Landslag

Labels: Architecture, Harpa

A county court judge today remanded two women in custody until 2nd November at the request of the Reykjavík Metropolitan Police on suspicion of large-scale theft from shops in the capital area.

According to an announcement from police, a large amount of what is suspected to be stolen goods has been seized during two house raids as part of their investigation. The police say they are unable to give further information on the matter at this time.

Source and image: Vísir

Labels: Crime

Martin Wolf in China, 2007

Martin Wolf, associate editor of British newspaper the Financial Times, says he thinks there’s nothing wrong with the fact that Icelanders are holding onto the Icelandic króna, the “smallest currency in the world”, and thinks that the króna has served Icelanders well. As of the time of writing, there are 182 krónur to the pound sterling, 158 to the euro and 114 to the US dollar.

Wolf presided over a meeting this evening with VÍB, the asset management arm of Íslandsbanki. He says he doesn’t see an advantage for Iceland in joining the EU, where he believes the country would have no influence and would have to relinquish control of important resources.

Addressing the audience he said, “I have to ask those of you who want this, have you not been following what is currently going on in the Union?”, which was received with a cry of laughter.

He went on to say that people shouldn’t forget that if they adopt another currency then they need to come to terms with the fact that the exchange rate will not always move in their favour, and that [Icelandic] society would have to possess enormous flexibility.

Amongst the others who were in attendance at the meeting were Vilhjálmur Egilsson, the CEO of Samtaka atvinnulífsins, Katrín Ólafsdóttir, a lecturer at the University of Reykjavík and Heiðar Már Guðjónsson, an investor.

Source: Morgunblaðið
Image: Wikipedia

Labels: Banking, Economy, UK

In a ranking released today by risk analysis firm Maplecroft, Iceland has been declared the country which is least vulnerable to climate change. The ranking not only assesses actual risk due to climate change, but also a country’s ability to cope with it. The assessment looks at various dangers which could occur due to climate change, such as flooding, extreme storms and droughts.

The countries in most danger on the list are all developing nations; Haiti, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe being the three most vulnerable. According to analysis from The Guardian, a developing country does not appear on the list until number 104, which is occupied by Greece. This sits in contrast to the rest of Europe, in which most countries rank amongst the least vulnerable.

Source: The Guardian
Image: Maplecroft

Labels: Environment, Natural disasters

A 36 year-old man has been charged of punching a policeman in the face in an incident which occurred in a police car on 27th December 2009. The policeman suffered from “soreness” in the face due to the attack. The case against the man was discussed in Reykjavík County Court this morning. There the defendant was given the opportunity to voice his side of the argument but he declined to speak and will seek the advice of his solicitor.

Source: Vísir
Image: Flickr

Labels: Crime

Skúli Mogensen, the principal shareholder in the new venture

Icelandic businessman and investor Skúli Mogensen has teamed up with investors to found a new Icelandic airline which is due to start operations in spring 2012. Flights between Iceland and Europe will be offered, and contracts for long-term rental of several Boeing jets are in their final stages of completion. Details on the airline’s name and potential destinations are being kept mum for now.

Títan, the investment company which is fully owned by Skúli, has been looking at the possibility of starting up a new airline to fly to and from Iceland for a while. The preliminary work is now coming to a close, as jet lease contracts with a Canadian air operator are currently in the process of being finalised. The airline will base its headquarters in Iceland and will be fully in Icelandic ownership.

According to an announcement from Skúli the airline has been fully-funded in regards to air operations, “The company will be in the majority ownership of Títan, but the other investors Baldur Baldursson and Matthías Imsland.”

Baldursson is the CEO of the company and has been working on the project which bears the temporary name Iceland Jet ehf.

Skúli himself is excited about the venture: “This is an immensely exciting project. We see diverse opportunities in the Icelandic tourism industry and I look forward to playing a part in boosting [this industry] in the coming years.”

Source and image: Morgunblaðið

Labels: Transport

The onset of winter can clearly be felt here in Iceland. Just the other day the Icelanders were celebrating the first day of winter with the annual kjötsúpa (Icelandic lamb soup) festival. Morgunblaðið reports roads in south and east Iceland in the area around Holtavörðuheiði are empty due to dangerous ice-slicks.

According to information from Vegagerðin (the Icelandic Roads Authority) such conditions are to be found in the Steingrímsfjarðarheiði and Þröskuldar areas and in Northern Iceland slippery ice and ice-slicks are widespread. Such ice is also in the process of forming in the Öxnadalsheiði area and on the road between Akureyri and Dalsvík. The area surrounding Víkurskarð in Northern Iceland has also seen some snowfall.

In Eastern Iceland the snow has reached the areas of Möðrudalsöræfi and Vopnafjarðarheiði. Slippery conditions are also present in Fjarðarheiði and ice-slicks can be found around Fagradalur and Oddskarð. Due to roadworks the Oddskarð tunnel will be closed at night until Friday, from 23:00 to 06:00.

Wherever your heading in rural Iceland, make sure you have your snow tyres installed and you let someone know where you’re going.

Source: Morgunblaðið

Labels: Transport, Weather, Winter

You may have noticed some activity on this otherwise dead blog for the first time in a while tonight. I would like to apologise for the silence over the past year. Keeping up with the blog took a bit more time than I would have hoped for a year ago, however I hope that my mad Icelandic skills have improved enough over the last year to make translating from the Icelandic media a little less time-consuming.

This is just a one-man operation, folks, so please be patient if there aren’t hundreds of new articles appearing every day! I do however intend to update this blog far more regularly than I have been doing over the past wee while — do stick around and see how things develop!

Labels: Enquirer

The Icelandic Embassy in London owes the City of London £1,320 (about 242,000 ISK) in congestion charge fees due to the fact that the embassy’s cars have entered the charging zone in Central London without paying the required £10 fee.

The Danish state broadcaster DR reported this story first, and it comes to your fine eyes via Morgunblaðið. The reason the story has been reported in Denmark is down to the fact that its own embassy is indebted to the city of London the tune of £264,560 (equivalent to 48.5 million ISK), for the very same reason.

London adopted a congestion charging scheme in 2003 in an attempt to reduce traffic levels and air pollution in the city centre. According to DR, the reason that the debts have racked up to such a figure is due to late payment fines which have accumulated over time.

DR reports that the British authorities say that the charge is not a tax but a fee which everyone must pay, including foreign ambassadors. Around two thirds of the embassies in London pay the charge regularly but the other third avoid insist on not paying.

The US Embassy has the largest debt to the City, which currently stands at £5,760,900 (just over one billion ISK). The US Embassy says it consider the charge a British tax which American ambassadors are exempt from paying — needless to say the British authorities are not exactly in agreement with this interoperation of the charge.

Other embassies that have gone into the red in London include the Finnish, German and Japanese representations, who owe £124,160, £3.6 million, £4.6 million respectively. Amongst the embassies who are willing to pay the charge are those of Norway and Sweden, who owe nothing in congestion charge fees to the City.

Labels: Foreign affairs, UK