The Prime Minister's Office has approved a request from the family of Lúðvík Pétursson, who died when he fell into a crevasse in Grindavík on January 10, for an independent investigation into the incident.

Due to the number of slip and fall accidents last week, which led to various fractures, the decision was made at Landspítali National Hospital to open an additional operating room and day ward last Sunday. The same will be the case next Sunday.

Mayor Einar Þorsteinsson, a Christmas child whose birthday is on Christmas Eve, recently awarded the Kokka store and Fálkahúsið with awards for the best Christmas decorations in the city. Kokka received an award for the most beautiful Christmas window and Fálkahúsið for the most beautiful Christmas decoration.

The construction of the new Grindavíkurvegur Road is well underway and the plan is to open it this weekend.

Inflation and earthquakes indicate active magma inflow into the Bárðarbunga volcano.

The experience of a phone-free zone in Akureyri's primary schools has been good this first semester, but a phone agreement was implemented at the beginning of the school year.

There is a lot of trust between the leaders of the Social Democratic Alliance, the Liberal Reform Party, and the People's Party. It would take something unusual to happen for the parties to fail to form a government. Inga Sæland, the leader of the People's Party, hopes that a government will be formed before Christmas and she believes discussions on the division of ministries may begin tomorrow.

Construction work on the expansion and renovation of the Svartsengi geothermal power plant has been going well and it is almost on schedule, despite seven volcanic eruptions on the other side of Mt Sýlingarfell and Mt Þorbjörn since the first shovel was taken two years ago.

The District Attorney's Office has issued a charge of murder against the man suspected of killing his daughter, ten-year-old Kolfinna Eldeyja Sigurðardóttir, on Krýsuvíkurvegur Road in September.

The seventh eruption at the Sundhnúkagígaröði volcano has ended. The eruption began on November 20 and lasted for 18 days. If we consider the past twelve months, it is the second-largest eruption in terms of lava area.

After a two-week closure, the Blue Lagoon reopened its doors to guests on Friday.

Rescue team members from Landsbjörg went up to Kerlingarfjöll, where people got into trouble with several cars, and the Lífsbjörg rescue team on Snæfellsnes was on standby last night.

The government formation talks between the People's Party, the Liberal Reform Party and the Social Democratic Alliance are progressing well, according to Kristrún Frostadóttir, the chairman of the Social Democratic Alliance. The last few days have been spent discussing common ground, but they have now begun discussing areas of disagreement.

The proposed bathing lagoon in Laugarás has been named Laugarás Lagoon and is scheduled to open next summer, according to Hjalti Gylfason, manager of Laugarás Lagoon.

Icelanders compare themselves to Scandinavians when it suits them but ignore the comparison at other times.

The employees of Árekstur.is (Collision) have been very busy this week, but since Monday, well over 100 accidents have been registered with the company.

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.