Well here’s testament to Iceland’s global influence. Or at least it’s Northern European influence. One Steinunn Sveinsdóttir Barkved (right), an Icelandic resident of the town of Sola, not far from Stavanger in Norway, is said to be in no doubt that certain stones that have turned up on the beach close to her home, originate from the volcanic eruption under Eyjafjallajökull.

“I spotted three unusual stones on the beach, which I was completely sure were lumps of lava or pumice. What’s more, there was a sulphur smell coming from one of them. When I came back to the beach later on, I noticed that more of these lumps had washed ashore.”

Steinunn is half-Icelandic and says she knows Iceland very well, but has lived in Norway for a while. She has no doubt that what she found are lumps of lava ad that they couldn’t be anything Norwegian. The distance from the southernmost tip of Iceland to the town of Sola is about 1,374 km (854 miles, very rough Google Earth estimate), so the pieces of lava would have travelled at least this far to reach the coast of Norway.

Source: mbl.is
Image: mbl.is

Labels: Eyjafjallajökull, Norway

Team members from the epically-named Norwegian Economic Crime Unit will come to Iceland in June to assist their colleagues with the investigation into affairs surrounding the Icelandic banking system. Geir Kjetil Finneide, the unit’s senior officer, is remaining mum on exactly how many of his specialist team will be sent to Iceland to join the investigation.

Finneide said in an interview with the Norsk Telegrambyrå that is it not at all unusual for members of his team to travel to other countries to offer their assistance to their international colleagues. What would be special in this case, however, is the size of the investigation, and the sheer fact that such a large portion of the banking system is involved.

Labels: Kreppa, Norway