Bjarni Benediktsson, acting Prime Minister and Minister of Food, has issued a fishing permit for 201 fin whales to Hvalur hf. in addition to a fishing permit for 217 minke whales to the trawler- and minke whale fishing vessel Halldór Sigurðsson ÍS 14, which is owned by Tjaldtangi ehf., according to an announcement on the Government website.

Yesterday marked two weeks since the eruption of the Sundhnúkagígar crater row began, the sixth eruption this year and the seventh in the series since December last year.

The coalition talks between the Social Democratic Alliance, the Liberal Reform Party and the People’s Party will continue today, but the location of the meeting will not be announced.

State mediator Ástráður Haraldsson says talks between teachers, and the state and local governments are starting slowly after the parties to the dispute reached an agreement on Friday on how to proceed with the collective agreement and postponement of teacher strikes.

Landsbanki's research department is now forecasting a somewhat slower decline in inflation than it had previously expected. If the forecast holds, inflation will be 4.6% at the end of the year instead of 4.3% in the last forecast and it will be 4% in February instead of 3.5% according to the last forecast.

Kristrún Frostadóttir, chair of the Social Democratic Alliance, plans to meet with the chairmen of the Liberal Reform Party and the People's Party at 3 pm today to discuss government formation.

Halla Tómasdóttir, the President of Iceland, gave Kristrún Frostadóttir, the leader of the Social Democratic Alliance, a mandate to form a government this morning when they met at Bessastaðir.

Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, the chairman of the Central Party, was the fifth chairman to meet with President Halla Tómasdóttir after the result of the elections became clear yesterday. The Central Party had a support of over 11% and is the fifth largest party in the Althingi.

Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson, chairman of the Progressive Party, arrived at a meeting with President Halla Tómasdóttir in Bessastaðir last of the chairs of the political parties.

Inga Sæland, chair of the People’s Party, said after a meeting with Halla Tómasdóttir in Bessastaðir that she had had informal discussions with Kristrún Frostadóttir, chair of the Social Democratic Alliance, and Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, chair of the Liberal Reform Party, where congratulations were exchanged. However, nothing was formal about a possible government formation.

Kristrún Frostadóttir, chairwoman of the Social Democratic Party, was the first chairwoman of the parties that had MPs elected to meet with Halla Tómasdóttir, President of Iceland, this morning.

Kristrún Frostadóttir, the leader of the Social Democratic Party, was reluctant to reveal which leaders of other parties she had been talking to when she spoke briefly to the media after she met with Halla Tómasdóttir, the President of Iceland, in Bessastaðir.

"It was a good chat about the situation," said Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson about his meeting with the President of Iceland in Bessastaðir this morning.

Yellow warnings come into effect across the country today or tonight, including in the capital area, South Iceland, the Westfjords, and in Breiðafjörður. Snowfall and poor driving conditions can be expected. Traffic could be disrupted, especially on mountain roads.

Kristrún Frostadóttir, chairwoman of the Social Democratic Party, and Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, chairwoman of Viðreisn, spoke after the results of yesterday's parliamentary elections were announced.

“These results are huge news, this is a reversal of the party system,” says Eiríkur Bergmann, a professor of political science, about the parliamentary elections held yesterday.

Final results from all six constituencies in the country have now been published. The Social Democratic Alliance wins the most votes, or 20.8%. The party gained nine seats since the last election and 15 MPs.

The country is in the Christmas spirit this first weekend of Advent and there are a variety of Christmas related activities on offer all over the country.

Although the weather forecast is not too favorable for elections across the country tomorrow, the election is still planned to take place in the same format tomorrow. If an election is to be postponed in any constituency, a decision on this will not be made until tomorrow, but this would cause the count to be postponed until after the entire country has voted.

“Given how this looks in the media, of course, you are not sitting at the negotiating table yourself, but our children have been at home for four weeks without anything happening. I think it is inexcusable and we want an explanation for this.”

State mediator Ástráður Haraldsson says that there is still a long way to go in the wage dispute between teachers and the state, but the parties to the dispute met at the State Conciliation and Mediation Office (SCMO) at 9 am this morning.

The Social Democratic Alliance takes the lead in a new poll by Prósent for Morgunblaðið with only two days until the election.

“This was finally achieved and we left the negotiating table very amicably last night,” says Steinunn Þórðardóttir, chairman of the Icelandic Medical Association, but agreements were reached in the wage dispute between doctors and the state and at other times last night.

The construction of the new Grindavíkurvegur Road has begun. Contractors began work on it at four o'clock yesterday. This is the fourth time this section of road has been laid over lava since the eruption started in November last year.

Early voting has been increasing day by day and already over 25 thousand Icelanders have voted in the governmental election that will be held next Saturday.

The government has issued a 3,800-tonne quota for deep-sea beaked redfish in the current fishing year despite scientific advice that such fishing should not be conducted to protect the stock.

“Do you have any stories about teachers at the school that could be included in my next book about the worst teachers in the world?” asked British author and comedian David Walliams when he made a surprise visit to Áslandsskóli School in Hafnarfjörður yesterday and spoke to students and teachers. Yesterday was the first day at the school after a temporary teachers’ strike.

Work on preparations to erect a new electricity mast within the Svartsengi defense walls has begun. The aim is to bring the line into operation as soon as possible and conditions permit. The new electricity mast will raise the conductors by 12-14 meters.

The Blue Lagoon expects a bus stop to be near the lagoon when it opens. Buses would arrive and depart there regularly.

The central and southern craters have most likely completely extinguished the eruption of the Sundhnúkagígar series.

The raising of the defense walls from the place where the Blue Lagoon parking lot used to be to the Njarðvíkur pipeline is well underway and was ongoing throughout the night. It is expected that two defense walls will be raised by 3-4 meters.

Work was done all night on cooling the lava at the eruption sites at Sundhnúkagígar crater row as well as on expanding and widening the defense walls, so that red-hot lava does not get over them.

The first round of doctors' strikes, due to start at midnight, was called off late last night after an agreement was reached on the main points of a new collective agreement. However, individual points in the agreement still need to be finalized and negotiations were planned to continue into the night.

Last night, volcanic pollution (SO2) was measured in Grindavík and on air quality monitors south of the eruption sites at an unhealthy concentration for sensitive people.

"Activity last night was fairly steady to begin with, but at 5 am this morning the volcanic activity decreased and at the same time the visible activity in the central crater, the crater that has been the most active so far, decreased."