The inaugural bishops of Skálholt (Kristján Björnsson) and Hólar (Gísli Gunnarsson) have now taken over the administrative tasks that the bishop of Iceland has. They will be responsible for these administrative tasks until the new bishop has taken office, so that their legitimacy of their decions are not subject to doubt.

Ari Guðmundsson, engineer at Verkís, says that the work on constructing a defensive wall around Svartsengi is going well, and the work began in mid-November.

The Social Democrats would have the largest number of votes if parliamentary elections were held today. This is reflected in Gallup’s new national poll on party support in parliament.

The devastating earthquakes that occurred on Friday, November 10, may also have expanded the magma's dike from a deeper chamber to a shallower one. As a result, more magma flows higher into the earth's crust now than before.

The Christmas market at Elliðavatn farm in Heiðmörk opened yesterday. There you can find a craft market, Christmas tree sales, writers’ readings and Christmas decorations.

The police were called to Austurstræti in Reykjavík just before 4 am Saturday morning because of a major assault. Allegedly one man had been kicked in the head.

The great actor, and now author, Richard Armitage, welcomes the journalist with a broad smile and a big hug. Armitage is probably best known for his role as Thor­in Oa­kens­hield in the trilogy Hobbit­, based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s books. Many­ people also ­know him from the British spy-show Spooks, the movie Ocean’s Eight, or the recently launched love-scand­al show Obsession. But now ­the actor ­has tried his hand in the literary field, as the exciting thriller Geneva has been published.­ That ­is ­why the British actor­ was­ invited to Iceland for the book­festival­ Ice­land Noir, which took place in Reykjavík recently.

A car rolled over on Fríkirkjuvegur by the pond in downtown Reykjavík earlier today.

HS Veitur employees have been working in Grindavík to repair electrical cables and hot water pipes that were severed in the earthquakes in the town.

Land is now approaching its previous position at the GPS detector in Svartsengi before land began rising in late October. Land has risen by 23 centimeters in eighteen days, but in recent days land has risen by one centimeter per day.

Roughly eighty delegates are going from Iceland to the United Arab Emirates to discuss climate issues at the UN COP28.

Víðir Reynisson, Director of Civil Protection, says that the need to evacuate the Westman Islands is not being considered, although the Civil Protection has declared a critical phase. Rather, water will be transferred to the islands if the water supply is exhausted.

Only about 500 metres are needed to connect the two defense walls around Svartsengi.

The land rise at Svartsengi has been slowing down in recent days, but is still at a fairly high speed. The speed is measured at about 1 centimeter per day.

The business life in Grindavík is slowly starting with restoration work being done. Work is being done to fix the pipes and fill in the cracks, some of which are so deep that several tons of gravel and sand are needed to fill them.

The man who was in critical condition at the intensive care unit of Landspítali hospital after the fire in Stangarhylur in Árbær last weekend has died.

The National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police, in agreement with the Commissioner of the Westman Islands Police, has decided to declare a crisis level in the Westman Islands due to damage to the drinking water pipeline leading to the Westman Islands.

The temporary closure of the Blue Lagoon has been extended to December 7. This is what the Blue Lagoon has just announced.

A man in his forties is still being held in hospital after a fire which started in Stangarhylur in the early hours of yesterday morning.

A small earthquake swarm began near Svartsengi around midnight last night. Such a rapid burst of earthquakes has not been measured in at least two days.

Temporary financial support will be granted to the residents of Grindavík for increased housing costs due to earthquakes in the area. Priority will also be given to securing housing for rent during the time it is deemed necessary until it is believed it is save to return to the town. These support measures were adopted at the meeting of the government on Friday.

The majority of the dike at Svartsengi has hardened. The likelihood of a volcanic eruption is decreasing and the land rising at Svartsengi has slowed down. Magnús Tumi Guðmundsson, professor of geophysics at the University of Iceland, says this to mbl.is.

The majority of the magma channel at Svartsengi has hardened. The likelihood of a volcanic eruption is decreasing and the land rising at Svartsengi has slowed down. Magnús Tumi Guðmundsson, professor of geophysics at the University of Iceland, says this to mbl.is.

Páll Ein­ar­sson, professor emer­itus at the Department of Earth Sciences at HÍ, says that a new magma channel is possibly form­ing in light of the steep land rise in Svartsengi on the Reykjanesskagi peninsula. Einarsson also says that the situation is complicated at present, but in the coming days it might be possible to assess whether the magma in the channel under Grinda­vík has solidified.

The aviation colour code of the Icelandic Met Office for the volcanic system for the northern part of Reykjanes peninsula is now yellow. It was upgraded to orange on the afternoon of November 10 but has now been reversed.

Birna Sverris­dóttir was busy trying to get her granddaughter’s vehicle out of the danger zone in Grindavík when mbl.is’ journalist and photographer visited the town today. She was returning home for the second time since the town was evacuated on Friday night, November 10. She intends to return to Grindavík when the danger is over.

A large number of Grindavík residents made their way to the town this morning, but Grindavík was brought down from the emergency level to the critical level at 11 am today. From that time until 16 am, residents will be able to retrieve valuables and consider their possessions, but this is also scheduled to be possible at the same time in the coming days.

The District Court of Reykjavík has acquitted the Icelandic state and the Directorate of Immigration in the case of a foreign man who was deported. The District Court says that the decision to ban re-entry for 14 years is not out of proportion, but the man was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for a major drug related offence in 2021.

There is a large demand for housing because of the evacuation of the town of Grindavík. All means are now being used to increase the availability of rental housing in the capital area and elsewhere, and people are asked to cancel holiday homes so they are available to the people of Grindavík.

The idea is to get powerful pumps here in Iceland that could possibly be used to cool lava and divert it from the settlements and infrastructure. A group of experts is expected to arrive in Iceland today that will evaluate whether the pump equipment is useful.

“Work on the defense walls was basically stopped last night. It’s a bit affected by the weather, but the Met Office issued a statement that it couldn’t monitor the area safely with air quality meters, so we took the decision to stop last night and we’re going to stop today as well. We’ll then re-evaluate the situation later today, before the night shift starts. So this is the situation at the moment.”

“I think we’ve decided not to go back,” says a resident of Grindavík and a new father Guðjón Sveinsson.

The Icelandic Met Office has updated the hazard assessment map for the area around Grindavík and Svartsengi. The new map expands the hazard area from the previous map.

Over 630 earthquakes have been detected since midnight on the Reykjanes peninsula, seven of them of more than 2 in magnitude. The largest one occurred at 01.17 am and was 2.7 magnitude.

The land around the Svartsengi power plant is rising much faster than it did before the earthquake swarm that started on November 10, or about 5.5 times faster. The magma inflow is also about ten times faster.