Europe Iceland The Kindergarten Teachers' Association has announced an indefinite strike in all 22 kindergartens in Kópavogur starting 3 March
Europe Iceland Iceland Foods is reintroducing plastic trays in response to consumer dissatisfaction with vacuum-packed minced meat; vacuum-sealed packages were designed to contain 50% less plastic and reduce the retailer's annual consumption by 35 tonnes
Europe Iceland The use of tanning beds has steadily decreased: only 5% of people said they had used them in the past 12 months, compared to over 30% in 2004; the number of tanning beds has also decreased, with 86 beds in 2023, compared to 97 in 2020
Europe Iceland Fermented shark, an Icelandic delicacy, may become increasingly difficult to find due to a number of factors, including declining interest in the industry and rising costs
Europe Iceland The Kennel Club will officially recognise the Icelandic sheepdog as a purebred breed in April 2025; the Icelandic sheepdog can trace its roots back some 1.000 years and was even mentioned in a play by William Shakespeare
Europe Iceland The new Icelandic government that took office on Saturday has made it part of its programme to organise a referendum on EU membership by 2027, giving substance to a debate that is rather heated in the country
Europe Iceland Departures from Keflavík Airport reached 162.000 in November, an increase of 14.000 over last year, approaching the record levels of departures in 2018
Europe Iceland Artist Ásta Fanney Sigurðardóttir will represent Iceland at the Venice Biennale in 2026; also a poet and musician, she often mixes her disciplines to create complex works mirroring the complexity of contemporary times
Europe Iceland The entire parking lot of the renown thermal pool Blue Lagoon is now under lava, except for a few street lamps at the far end; the lava continues to flow along the defense wall west of the Blue Lagoon and alternative accesses will have to be assessed
Europe Iceland Two female citizens were recently diagnosed with AIDS after months of illness, despite numerous visits to health services where no one thought to test them for HIV before the virus led to AIDS
Europe Iceland Local goat breeders are trying to pursue the same selective breeding that is saving Icelandic sheep from scrapie, but without success; only about 2.000 Icelandic goats, vulnerable to the disease, are left
Europe Iceland The next eruption at Sundhnúksgígar is expected 30% larger than the last one, in its turn the largest so far in this recent cycle of volcanic activity measuring 60 million cubic metres in volume and covering 16 square kilometres of territory
Europe Iceland The fee to participate in breast cancer screening has been drastically reduced from ISK 6.098 (€40) to ISK 500 (around 3 euros) at the breast centre in Eiríksgata, hoping to encourage demographic groups that access screening less, such as foreign women