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Click on the picture to watch an audio slideshow of the lambing season at Brimnes, a farm in the north of Iceland, in April 2008. Sheep farmer Arnar Gústafsson and his girlfriend Edda Björk take shifts watching over the nearly 300 ewes and helping them give birth 24/7 for about two months or until the last lamb is born. In Iceland, the arrival of lambs is synonymous with the arrival of summer. The lambing season is currently at its height.
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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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Director of Arion Bank, formerly Kaupthing, Höskuldur Ólafsson earns ISK 4.3 million (USD 37,000, EUR 27,000) per month. Birna Einarsdóttir, his counterpart at Íslandsbanki, formerly Glitnir, has a monthly salary of ISK 2.6 million (USD 22,000, EUR 16,000), while Steinthór Pálsson, Landsbanki’s director, earns almost ISK 1.1 million (USD 9,000, EUR 7,000) per month.
Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir. Photo by Geir Ólafsson.
These numbers, as stated in Morgunbladid, are from 2010. According to Fréttabladid, the salaries of the highest-ranking executives in Arion Bank and Íslandsbanki increased significantly last year.
Ólafsson is now said to earn around ISK 5 million per month, which is approximately 145 percent more than what his predecessor earned. The bank’s employment cost increased more than 33 percent last year.
“I haven’t asked for any increases. I was just hired at this salary,” Ólafsson told Fréttabladid but would otherwise not comment on his wages. Einarsdóttir’s salary has increased by 25 percent, the newspaper states.
Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir reacted to the news of the bank directors’ salaries by commenting on her Facebook site:
“There is no moral justification for the excessive pay which the highest-ranking executives of Arion Bank and Íslandsbanki have received in the past year. Their conduct is an intolerable provocation and a direct threat to stability and peace in society. It is unacceptable that the highest-ranking executives of banks and companies shovel out millions for themselves while the public is struggling to cope with the consequences of the banking collapse.”
According to visir.is, representatives of the three banks will attend a meeting with the Trade Committee of the Icelandic parliament, Althingi, today to discuss annual financial statements and the banks’ returns.
Magnús Skarphéðinsson, principal of the Icelandic Elf School, has expressed his concern that Independence Party MP Árni Johnsen may be subject to an accident after relocating a boulder allegedly inhabited by elves to his home in the Westman Islands.
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The first music festival this summer, Reykjavík Live, kicks off with concerts in the center of Iceland’s capital tonight and will carry on through May 20. The venues are Gamli Gaukurinn, Glaumbar, Prikið and Frú Berlaug.
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President of Iceland Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson and his main rival for the presidential election on June 30, Þóra Arnórsdóttir, are supported by an almost equal number of voters, 41.3 and 43.4 percent, respectively, as indicated in a new survey.
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The West Fjords District Court ruled on Monday that a man found guilty of having drowned a Labrador by tying its front and hind legs, fastening it to car tires and throwing it in the ocean is to pay ISK 100,000 (USD 786, EUR 612) in fine.
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The current issue of the quarterly magazine Iceland Review includes interviews with fashion photographer Saga Sig and conceptual artist Rúrí. Also, we take you to Grímsstaðir á Fjöllum, that desolate land coveted by a Chinese tycoon, and also explore Icelandic archeological remains. We discuss the Icelandic Church, the flourishing gaming industry, debate the future of Iceland’s energy resources and interview the president of the Icelandic National League of North America. Subscribe now and receive a free photo book by IR’s editor Páll Stefánsson of the Eyjafjallajökull eruptions. Click here to subscribe to the magazine and here to buy a gift subscription.
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REVIEWS
The Reykjavík Shorts&Docs was held in Reykjavík from May 6 to 9 in Bíó Paradís, and what an enriching experience it was to attend the festival.
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Shedding light on Iceland’s thousand-year history, as manifested in remains ranging from Viking graves to enchanted sites, Mannvist is a fundamental piece of writing. Ásta Andrésdóttir met with its author, archaeologist Birna Lárusdóttir.
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“The House Project” currently on display in Hafnarborg, the Hafnarfjörður Centre of Culture and Fine Art, is a new artwork by Hreinn Friðfinnsson consisting of a photography series of the three houses. His work is described as “a poetic and philosophical exploration of every day human experience.”
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