My grammar teacher asked the class: “Who can form the longest word, where the letter a and a consonant alternate?”
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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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All four defendants in the so-called Aurum case denied charges when the case was filed at Reykjavík District Court yesterday.
As reported earlier, the Office of the Special Prosecutor filed charges against Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson, Lárus Welding, Magnús Arnar Arngrímsson and Bjarni Jóhannesson.
Jón Ásgeir and Bjarni are facing charges as abettors in the breach of trust case and Lárus and Magnús as main defendants.
The defense attorneys object to the 6,000 pages of evidence submitted by the Special Prosecutor on the grounds that the defendants and their attorneys have not had the opportunity to review the documentation. The case was postponed until next week, mbl.is reports.
Jón Ásgeir’s attorney, Gestur Jónsson, pointed to a similar example from the Supreme Court in July 2012, where the hearings were delayed for several days to allow the defendants and their attorneys to review the documents.
Lárus, who is being investigated in several cases, argues that the trial should therefore be postponed and that the cases should be combined, visir.is reports. A preliminary hearing will be held on the matter on January 16.
The Aurum case concerns a loan of ISK 6 billion (USD 47 million, EUR 36 million) granted by Glitnir Bank, of which Lárus was CEO at the time, to the company FS38 ehf. in mid-2008 to buy shares in the British company Aurum Holding.
Jón Ásgeir said in a statement in December that the charges against him are groundless. At the time he served as chairman and majority owner of investment company FL Group, the largest shareholder in Glitnir before its collapse in autumn 2008.
The other defendants were employees of the bank.
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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
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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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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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