Portal:Iceland/Iceland news/Archive

2020 edit

15 June 2020: Iceland starts testing passenger arrivals as an alternative to an 14 day quarantine. (RTE)
13 March 2020: Mass gathering ban of 100 people takes effect in Iceland due the Covid-19 pandemic. (reuters)
9 February 2020: Hildur Guðnadóttir (pictured) becomes the first Icelandic composer to win an Oscar. (billboard)

19 December 2019: Red weather alert as a storm hits Iceland. (the guardian)
17 September 2019: Iceland hosts the first international #MeeToo conference. (Reuters)
9 September 2019: Wow Air assets purchased by USAerospace Associates. (the verge)
19 August 2019: Iceland mourns melted glacier, named Ok. (the guardian)
24 May 2019: Wow Air bankruptcy negatively affects tourism. (vox)

29 December 2018: 3 Britons died and 4 Britons are seriously injured after a car crash on a one lane Icelandic bridge.(BBC)
June 5 2018: The Icelandic national football team qualified for World Cup for the first time.(espn)
April 12 2018: A Greenlander is sentenced for killing a 20-year old Icelandic woman.(the guardian)

November 30 2017: A government consisting of parties both to the right and left is formed after instability.(the guardian)

January 1 2016: Iceland's ruling president will not run for re-election in June 2016. (Reuters)
September 6 2015: The Icelandic national football team qualified for Euro for the first time. (Reuters)
October 28 2015: Iceland's central bank and the finance ministry agree on steps to lift capital controls. (Reuters)
November 24 2016: The Icelandic nation sues Iceland Foods in the UK for trademarking the name Iceland.(BBC)
October 30 2016: Icelandic parliamentary elections make the final shape of a new government unclear. (Guardian)
September 5 2016: Ancient viking sword found in Skaftárhreppur, South-Iceland. (RT)
April 7 2016: The Icelandic prime minister resigns and calls for an early elections due to the Panama papers leak. (Reuters)

February 27 2015: The fissure eruption in Holuhraun ends. (BBC)
February 12 2015: Iceland's Supreme Court confirms convictions of four former executives of Kaupthing bank for financial fraud. (RTE)

August 29 2014: Fissure eruption starts in Holuhraun, north of Vatnajökull in South-East Iceland. (The Daily Telegraph)
July 1 2014: Free trade agreement between China and Iceland takes effect. (Reuters)

January 11: The UN Human Rights Committee decides Iceland should establish a fisheries control system that fulfills the international demands, declaring that the IFQ system is not based on justice. (IcelandReview)
January 11: A two-year regional growth agreement, including funding worth US$ 1.4 million, is signed between the Akureyri Regional Business Agency and the state. (IcelandReview)
January 10: 105-year-old Kristín Gudmundsdóttir, formerly the oldest living Icelander, died at a nursing home in a town neighboring Reykjavík on January 8. (IcelandReview)
January 9: Decode Genetics, a biotechnology firm based in Iceland, reports positively on its mid-stage trials of its drug to prevent heart attacks. (Reuters)
January 9: Icelandic fish factories face tough times following the large cut in cod quotas. (IceNews)
January 8: Foreign minister Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir signs an investment agreement with Egypt in Cairo (IcelandReview)
January 7: According to Statistics Iceland, Polish Icelanders are the most law-abiding, compared to other residents. (IcelandReview)

January 5: 830,000 messages, many presumably containing New Year’s greetings, were texted on New Year's Eve at telecom company Siminn, compared to Iceland's population of 300,000. (IcelandReview)
January 4: According to Statistics Iceland, Iceland's trade deficit has decreased ½ billion euros from 2006 to 2007. (IcelandReview)
January 4: The price of one ton of fuel is five times the price ten years ago. Rising oil prices are causing operational difficulties for the fishing industry. (IcelandReview)
January 4: Chilly Iceland gives a warm welcome to South American refugees. (AlertNet)
January 3: Iceland calls peace corps home from Sri Lanka. (IcelandReview)
January 2: In his New Year's speech broadcast, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, president of Iceland, announces he will participate in next summer's election and hopes to serve as Iceland's president for a fourth term. (IcelandReview)

November 27, 2007: According to a U.N. table, Iceland has overtaken Norway as the world's most desirable country to live in (Reuters).
October 5, 2007: A news survey shows Iceland is the world's second greenest country, after Finland.
September 29, 2007: An annual survey by Transparency International of Berlin, Germany has shown Iceland in the top 10 of least corrupt nations.
May 24, 2007: A new coalition government between the centre-right Independence Party and the centre-left Social Democratic Alliance under Prime Minister Geir Haarde (I.P.) takes over.
May 12, 2007: General elections are held.

October 22, 2006: Icelandic whalers kill a Fin Whale (pictured), stating that the International Whaling Commission ban on commercial whaling does not apply.
October 18, 2006: Iceland announces that it will resume commercial whale hunting, becoming the second country after Norway to do so after a globan ban on whaling.