The Environmental and Natural Resources Appeals Board has rejected a request from environmental organizations to halt preparatory construction work for the Hvammsvirkjun power plant.

Bragginn in Nauthólsvík, renovated by the City of Reykjavík in 2017, has now been closed to the general public.

Mohamad Th. Jóhannesson, formerly known as Mohamad Kourani, who was sentenced to eight years in prison in July last year, has renounced his international protection status.

Fannar Jónasson has announced that he will not seek another term as mayor of Grindavík when his current term ends.

Residents in the capital area who looked up at the sky shortly after 10 p.m. last night were likely astonished to see a long, bright streak resembling a glowing rod made up of many stars gliding across the night sky.

Three individuals were arrested during a large-scale police operation in Auðbrekka, Kópavogur, last night.

Armored vehicles have been seen driving on Icelandic roads as part of the annual explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) exercise organized by the Icelandic Coast Guard.

An earthquake swarm that began off the Reykjanes Peninsula yesterday evening continued through the night, with around 50 quakes recorded in the area between 7 p.m. yesterday and 5 a.m. this morning.

“These are perilous times, and NATO member states must face the seriousness of the threats to their security and democracy.”

One of the main problems in the current discussion about accidental escapes of farmed salmon is that people can no longer tell farmed fish apart from wild fish. This is according to Daníel Jakobsson, CEO of Arctic Fish in Ísafjörður.

An earthquake measuring 3.1 occurred on Vatnajökull glacier just before 7 a.m. this morning. Its epicenter was located 12 kilometers east of Hamrin and it was measured at a depth of four to five kilometers.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has issued a statement directed at Icelandic citizens currently in Poland.

Landowners at Ytra-Seljalandi, near the famous Seljalandsfoss waterfall in South Iceland, have requested a change to the area’s zoning plan to allow for the construction of nine summer houses.

Dressed formally, members of parliament and government ministers processed from the Parliament House in Reykjavík, accompanied by the President of Iceland, the Speaker of Parliament, and the Bishop of Iceland, to Dómkirkjan (the Cathedral) for a service — a long-standing tradition marking the official opening of parliament.

President of Iceland Halla Tómasdóttir did not mince words at the opening of parliament yesterday, urging MPs to choose their words carefully in the chamber and to improve the conduct of parliamentary business.

Njáll Trausti Friðbertsson, a Member of Parliament for the Independence Party, intends to submit amendments to the new budget bill presented yesterday by Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Daði Már Kristófersson.

Swimmer Ross Edgley today became the first person ever to swim around the entire coastline of Iceland. He was greeted with warm cheers at Nauthólsvík after completing his 115-day journey.

Jómundur Ólason, a sheep farmer from Borgarfjörður, stars in a new global advertisement by the international car manufacturer Skoda. The ad follows Ólason as he drives his Skoda vehicle past the one-million-kilometer mark.

Daði Már Kristófersson, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, says that the newly announced draft budget is confirmation of how firmly the government is working to ensure economic stability and support the Central Bank in bringing down inflation and interest rates.

A sharp rise in applications from students outside Europe to study at Icelandic universities may, at least partly, be linked to videos circulating on social media platforms such as TikTok. These videos claim that international students can study in Iceland for free and even move to the country with their families.

“We weren’t necessarily looking for a ‘seventies-style’ house, but that’s what we ended up buying,” says Svana Rún Símónardóttir, a social worker. She and her husband, Ríkarð Svavar Axelsson, station manager at Special Tours, recently purchased a unique property in northern Italy. Svana has been sharing their house-hunting journey and renovation plans on social media.

The Reykjavík International Film Festival (RIFF) has received a prestigious cooperation agreement from Creative Europe MEDIA, the European Union’s culture fund, marking a significant milestone for the festival.

An adjunct lecturer in Icelandic as a second language at the University of Iceland, who is also pursuing a doctorate in Icelandic linguistics, has been told that he cannot be granted Icelandic citizenship unless he proves his Icelandic proficiency by taking an official test. The Directorate of Immigration does not consider the documentation he has provided sufficient proof of his language skills.

A fire broke out in an apartment in a multi-family building on Sól­eyjarhlíð in Hafnarfjörður last night. No injuries were reported.

“I remember that day very clearly. It was an incredibly tense day,” says Gregory Fletcher, the pilot who crash-landed a Douglas C-117D aircraft on Sólheimasandur in November 1973, saving the lives of everyone on board.

Iceland must intensify its efforts to meet its target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the non-industrial sectors by 2030. According to a specialist at the Environment Agency of Iceland, it is unlikely that the current trajectory will be sufficient.

The Capital Area Police are investigating a fraud case in which an Icelandic man visited the homes of elderly residents in the district, claimed to be a Microsoft employee, and said he was there to help them.

“These changes will not be without controversy,” said Jóhann Páll Jóhannsson, Minister of Environment, Energy, and Climate, during a presentation on a planned overhaul of Iceland’s system for health inspections, pollution control, and food safety monitoring.

The Icelandic Meteorological Office has received no reports of landslides in East Iceland overnight. Yesterday, however, several minor slides occurred in stream channels in Seyðisfjörður, Norðfjörður, Eskifjörður, and Fáskrúðsfjörður.

The Liberal Reform Party (Viðreisn) is preparing to field candidates in more municipalities in next year’s local elections.

Google Maps has now “reopened” Reykjanesbraut to traffic, after the road had been marked as closed on the app for the past 24 hours.

An error in Google Maps, or unclear road signage from the Icelandic Road and Coastal Administration (Vegagerðin), has caused confusion among drivers using Google navigation, with the app showing that Reykjanesbraut is closed near Straumsvík.

Police in Bulgaria are searching for Ólafur Austmann, an Icelandic man in his fifties, who has not been seen since August 18.

About 20 employees of the airline Play were laid off this week. Birgir Olgeirsson, Play’s communications officer, told mbl.is that the layoffs affect staff across the company.

Immediate action is needed to prevent the collapse of the Gulf Stream. If the world waits too long, it could be too late. Iceland would feel the effects acutely, as the country would experience significant cooling.