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05.02.2013 | 12:02
Controversy over FBI Visit to Iceland Continues
According to a statement released by the Director of Public Prosecutions and National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police yesterday, Icelandic authorities were consulted about the visit of the FBI before the agents arrived in the country, ruv.is reports.
Alþingi, the Icelandic parliament. Photo: Páll Stefánsson/Iceland Review.
Last week it was reported that a group of FBI agents arrived in Iceland in August 2011, requesting collaboration with Icelandic police authorities to investigate WikiLeaks. According to yesterday’s statement, the FBI arrived in Iceland to investigate an impending computer attack on the government offices of Iceland.
Wikileaks spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson told RÚV last week that the Minister of the Interior, Ögmundur Jónasson, had not received notification of the visit beforehand. Kristinn said that Ögmundur had reacted angrily to their arrival and rejected their request for assistance in investigating a matter in the country on the basis that foreign police forces do not have the authority to do so. Ögmundur confirmed that he was not aware of the visit.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Össur Skarphéðinsson also maintains that the FBI arrived in the country without permission and without the knowledge of the Icelandic government, visir.is reports. Össur rejects the explanation of the Icelandic police that there was a connection between the visit of the FBI agents and a separate visit of FBI experts a month earlier to investigate an impending computer attack.
Ögmundur Jónasson is currently on an official visit to China and was not reachable for comment.
Click here to read more about this story.
ZR
Alþingi, the Icelandic parliament. Photo: Páll Stefánsson/Iceland Review.
Last week it was reported that a group of FBI agents arrived in Iceland in August 2011, requesting collaboration with Icelandic police authorities to investigate WikiLeaks. According to yesterday’s statement, the FBI arrived in Iceland to investigate an impending computer attack on the government offices of Iceland.
Wikileaks spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson told RÚV last week that the Minister of the Interior, Ögmundur Jónasson, had not received notification of the visit beforehand. Kristinn said that Ögmundur had reacted angrily to their arrival and rejected their request for assistance in investigating a matter in the country on the basis that foreign police forces do not have the authority to do so. Ögmundur confirmed that he was not aware of the visit.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Össur Skarphéðinsson also maintains that the FBI arrived in the country without permission and without the knowledge of the Icelandic government, visir.is reports. Össur rejects the explanation of the Icelandic police that there was a connection between the visit of the FBI agents and a separate visit of FBI experts a month earlier to investigate an impending computer attack.
Ögmundur Jónasson is currently on an official visit to China and was not reachable for comment.
Click here to read more about this story.
ZR
Icelandic Minister for Foreign Affairs Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson attended an annual consultative meeting last weekend with colleagues from the Nordic and several African countries, as announced in a press release from the Minstry of Foreign Affairs.
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From many salmon rivers anglers are reporting great opening days. Reykjavík Citizen of the year caught the first salmn in Ellidaár in Reykjavík this morning.
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June
20
|
Laxness is now a Crater on Mercury
The Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved new names for nine craters on Mercury including one for Icelandic littereture Nobel Prize winner Halldór Laxness.
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A petition urging the government to reconsider a proposed bill, in which the terms of the law requiring fishing companies to pay a tariff for their use of Iceland’s fishing resources are to be changed, has been signed by more than 11,000 people.
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June
19
|
Iceland’s PM Meets Swedish Counterpart
June
19
|
Walrus Sprawling on East Iceland Beach
June
19
|
Women's Day Off celebrated today
June
19
|
Free Iceland Travel Guides Released
June
18
|
First Fin Whale Caught in Iceland
June
17
|
15 More Reasons to Like Iceland (Photos)
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The 2013 June-July issue of Iceland Review is out. Themed ‘We Are Young’ the magazine celebrates the arrival of summer by interviewing young energetic Icelanders who excel in art, sports, business and politics—and Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, the youngest PM in the republic’s history and the world’s youngest ruling state leader. Click here to take a look at a selection of the current issue and here to subscribe to the magazine.
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REVIEWS
amiina
June
10
|
Harboring the Homegrown
The road to Höfn, a 1,690-person harbor town by the fjord Hornafjörður, is lined with reindeer. Whole herds of the wild horned animals rest peacefully on withered pastures, grace next to sheep and horses and bounce along the road. Soon, Vatnajökull, Europe’s largest glacier and the region’s biggest attraction, comes into view. Looming over Höfn, its outlet glaciers flow down from the mountains on which the bright white icecap rests.
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June
10
|
Sin Fang’s Album Release Concert
Sin Fang will celebrate the release of his third album with a release concert in Iðnó on June 12. Flowers was released in February by Morr Music and has been well received by music enthusiasts and critics alike. The concert will be supported by Vök, this year’s winners of the Icelandic Music Experiments.
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