As the church bells ring in Christmas at six o’clock today, on Christmas Eve, Ástbjörn Egilsson is at work in Reykjavík Cathedral as he has done at this time every year since 1999. “It’s wonderful to be in church on Christmas Eve, as it is on all days,” he says. “It’s a good community and it gets even better on big holidays like Christmas and Easter.”

A swim on Christmas Eve is a rich tradition for many.

Domestic online shopping has been doing exceptionally well in the run-up to Christmas and has exceeded expectations in many respects, especially in November and early December.

Stormy weather hit the south and west of the country last night and early this morning with wind, sleet and rain, but the weather has mostly subsided by morning.

Director Þorleifur Örn Arnarsson and visual artist Erna Mist Yamagata are creating their world in a new home. They met over a year ago and are now working together for the first time on Tennessee Williams’s play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which will premiere at the City Theatre on December 28. The couple is expecting a child in January, but Arnarson has a 13-year-old son from a previous marriage.

The policy statement of the Coalition of The Social Democratic Alliance, the Liberal Reform Party, and the People's Party was presented in Hafnarfjörður today. A new ministerial structure was presented, with 11 new ministers being introduced. Four come from the the Social Democrats, four from the Liberal Reform Party, and three from the People's Party.

The government coalition agreement of the Social Democratic Alliance, the Liberal Reform Party, and the People's Party will be presented this weekend and a new government will be formed as a result.

Christmas should be white across most of the country, according to a meteorologist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office. On St Thorlak’s Mass gales or storms are forecast, and on Christmas Eve there could be considerable snow in the south and west of the country.

Roads in the country's south could become icy and quite dangerous when it rains on frozen roads today.

The leaders of the Social Democratic Alliance, the Liberal Reform Party, and the People's Party will continue to work today on writing a government charter for a new government. According to Ingileif Friðriksdóttir, assistant to Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, the leader of the Liberal Reform Party, that work is going well.

The film Touch by Baltasar Kormákur has been selected for the shortlist for the 2025 Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

Foreign Minister Þórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörður Gylfadóttir attended a meeting of the leaders of the Joint Response Force (JRF) this week. The development of security issues in Europe, increased cooperation between the JRF countries and defense support for Ukraine were discussed at the meeting, which ended yesterday.

The ski resort in Mt Bláfjöll was scheduled to open for the first time this winter at 2 pm today. It was announced on the ski resort's Facebook page early this morning, but since the wind in the area has increased significantly and looks set to pick up even more as the day progresses, Mt Bláfjöll will be closed today.

The Grindavík town council wants to preserve the traces of the disaster in Grindavík and thereby unite the town's past and future. A draft of a new framework plan was presented today and includes, among other things, the preservation and use of cracks, lava, and some traces of buildings in an innovative way.

A stunning photograph of the eye of the crater during the eruption of Litli-Hrútut in August 2023 won an international photography award in New York, USA. The Icelander who took the photograph was also named Photographer of the Year. You can see the award-winning photo here below.

The crew of the Coast Guard patrol ship Þór managed to rescue a whale that had become stuck in a mooring area north of Viðey earlier today.

The chairwomen of the Social Democratic Alliance, the Liberal Reform Party, and the People's Party have met with their people today. They will not give interviews or information about the progress of the government formation talks until tomorrow at the earliest.

The Center for Education and School Services is developing an artificial intelligence tool to assist teachers in various ways.

Ólafur Haraldsson, CEO of Designing Reality, has created a 3D model of Hafnarfjörður.

In the Grundarhverfi district of Kjalarnes, you can find the Danish glassblower Anders Vange, who was given a place to create art at Sigrún Einarsdóttir's workshop. On tables and shelves, you can see a myriad of hand-blown glasses, candlesticks, vases, and other treasures that Vange has designed and made himself. He is lightly dressed, wearing shorts and a T-shirt, which is a bit unusual now that winter has set in. But the reason for that becomes clear as soon as he invites the journalist to watch the glassblowing. The heat from the furnace is substantial!

Landspítali National Hospital has almost 440 million ISK outstanding due to unpaid bills from uninsured individuals who visited the hospital between 2021 and 2023. These people do not have health insurance in Iceland or the EEA.

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 eruption that began at the Sundhnúka crater on November 20 has fizzled out.

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.