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Click on the picture to watch this audio slideshow about bird watching at Óshólmar, an area at the mouth of Eyjafjardará river just outside Akureyri in north Iceland, the largest Icelandic town outside the capital region. Not many tourists know about this attraction, which is perfect for a walk in the sun.
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Located just 40 minutes by car and six minutes from Keflavík International Airport, Sandgerdi (“Sandy Hedge”) is a growing town of 1,700 with a storied history and loads to see. Read this special promotion about the hidden secrets of one of Iceland's most charming seaside villages.
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The Ministry of Finance proposed in December that the Icelandic state acquire Byr savings bank and that claimants be compensated by 40 percent, paid out with bonds issued by the state.
Claimants rejected this proposal and are awaiting a new offer from the ministry, which could include an ultimatum: either the offer is accepted or a resolution committee will take over Byr, Morgunbladid speculates.
Another option is for the state to merge Byr with the new Landsbanki (NBI) after the Icesave dispute has been resolved. Thus Byr could become part of a merger plan for the Icelandic savings bank system.
Last week an informal meeting among Byr claimants was held where possible counteroffers were discussed.
According to Morgunbladid’s sources, Byr’s domestic claimants, that is, the pension funds, aren’t interested in coming into full ownership of the bank and would rather have the state acquire it.
The ministry estimated in December that the cost of Byr’s restoration would be ISK 10.6 billion (USD 82 million, EUR 60 million) and assumed that it would acquire 70 to 90 percent of the initial capitalization. The rest would remain in the ownership of the current owners.
Less than half of the cost of the financial reorganization would be covered by claimants, around 14 percent by the state and the rest by the owners of initial capitalization.
The total claims to Byr are ISK 58 billion (USD 450 million, EYR 329 million), 75 percent of which are made by Icelandic companies and individuals. The savings bank’s equity is negative by 23.5 billion (USD 182 million, EUR 133 million).
Click here to read more about Byr.
The human being will be on display for the first time in its natural environment in the Reykjavík Family Park and Zoo next weekend. Visitors can observe three men and one woman in a cage after 10 am on Saturday and Sunday.
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The formal Videy island swim took place yesterday and there were three participants, two men and one woman, Thórdís Hrönn Pálsdóttir, who is the first woman to participate in the Videy swim since 1959.
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The Environment Agency intends to investigate whether the Heath Protection Authority handled the situation in Eskifjördur, east Iceland, in the correct manner when contaminated water from a trawler was carried into the town’s drinking water system.
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One hundred and forty million cubic meters of ash is estimated to have fallen in Iceland during the volcanic eruption in Eyjafjallajökull last spring. That excludes all the ash that fell into the ocean and in other countries.
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The second issue of the print edition of Iceland Review 2010 has just been published. Entitled “Under the Volcano” the magazine dedicates 20 pages, words and pictures, to the volcanic eruption in Eyjafjallajökull glacier which made headlines all over the word. New subscribers will receive the book Puffins as a gift and all subscribers are part of a draw to win a trip to Iceland. Click here to subscribe to the magazine.
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REVIEWS
Hendrikka Waage is an accomplished jewellery designer whose first children’s book Rikka and Her Magic Ring in Iceland, takes readers on an enchanted and educational journey through the country. It’s beautifully illustrated and a good lesson in geography, but the plot could have been better thought through and the moral of the story is a bit too prominent.
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On the third day of the Eyjafjallajökull eruption we drove from Skógar to Hvolsvöllur in total darkness, a distance of 18 kilometers. It was frightening, the darkness being so impenetrable that we could hardly see out the windows of the car. We could see faint lights from the farm standing right next to the highway.
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Ásmundur Sveinsson is among the foremost Icelandic sculptors. The current exhibition in the Ásmundur Sveinsson Museum in Reykjavík is entitled “I choose women who thrive…” and features women as symbols in the sculptor’s art. The works in the exhibition are selected from his entire career.
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