Are you enjoying this? Are you not? Tell us what to do more of, and what you'd like to hear less of.

The Reykjavík Grapevine's Iceland Roundup brings you the top news with a healthy dash of local views. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by Heimildin journalist Aðalsteinn Kjartansson, and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to roundup the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week are:

Snow And Ice Expected All Over Iceland
Consider this a weather warning. We’re expecting a lot of snow in Iceland in the next 24-48 hours, with snowfall up to 20-30 centimeters, in the south and east of Iceland, including Reykjavik

Stuck In The Highlands (With Your Mom)
A mother and son, who arrived in decent weather at Landmannalaugar in the Icelandic highlands this Saturday, woke up yesterday in deep snow, rendering them stuck, far from civilization. They had to be towed from there by SARS.
 
The Last Criminal Case Following the 2008 Economic Collapse, Resolved.
The last Icelandic criminal case in relations to the 2008 banking collapse was resolved in 2021. However, one case in Luxembourg remained and that case was finally finalized with a settlement in a Luxembourg court last week. The case in question, called the Lindsor case, had been under investigation for 15 years and had to do with the bank Kaupthing buying up bonds from Kaupthing’s employees, just days before the bank collapsed in October 2008.

The Icelandic Housing Market Freezes Over
Following a recent Supreme Court ruling on inflation indexed housing loans, all the major Icelandic banks stopped issuing such loans. The result is, at least temporarily, that very few Icelanders can actually take out a hosing loan.

Police raids the wrong address, Twice. 
Twice this year, the police entered the wrong house to perform a search.

00:34:30 Question Time
We respond to some listeners questions.


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WHO ARE WE?
The Reykjavík Grapevine is an alternative monthly magazine, bringing you all the news and views on Icelandic society, music, travel, culture and more. Grapevine.is #rvkgrapevine

J

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SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

You can also support the Grapevine by shopping in our online store: https://shop.grapevine.is

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a Reykjavík Grapevine podcast.
The Reykjavík Grapevine is a free alternative magazine in English published 18 times per year, biweekly during the spring and summer, and monthly during the autumn and winter.

The magazine covers everything Iceland-related, with a special focus culture, music, food and travel. The Reykjavík Grapevine’s goal is to serve as a trustworthy and reliable source of information for those living in Iceland, visiting Iceland or interested in Iceland. Thanks to our dedicated readership and excellent distribution network, the Reykjavík Grapevine is Iceland’s most read English-language publication.

You may not agree with what we write or publish, but at least it’s not sponsored content.
www.grapevine.is

Are you enjoying this? Are you not? Tell us what to do more of, and what you'd like to hear less of.

The Reykjavík Grapevine's Iceland Roundup brings you the top news with a healthy dash of local views. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by Heimildin journalist Aðalsteinn Kjartansson, and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to roundup the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week are: 

00:00:55 Overview Of This Weeks Stories

00:04:00 Strange Place Names In Icelandic
We discuss a random assortment of strange names of places in Iceland

00:11:00 A Drunk Man Arrested For Taking A Nap On A Coast Guard Ship
The police arrested a man who had “taken up residence” in the the Icelandic coast guard ship Thor (Þór) this weekend. No further details were given about the incident.

00:16:50 Iceland And Germany Sign A Defense Agreement
On Sunday, Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, Iceland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Boris Pistorius, Germany’s Minister of Defense,  signed a bilateral declaration of intent on defense matters in connection with Pistorius’ visit to Iceland. According to the declaration Iceland will build up infrastructure to accommodate military submarines and aircraft as a part of Iceland’s membership in NATO. 

00:21:40 Julian Assange Visits Iceland
Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, visited Iceland this weekend and was spotted at Vitabar, having a burger and fries. Assange, who was more or less in detention for 15 years was set free a year ago and now lives in Australia. 

00:24:30 Drugs On A Ferry
The only ferry to sale to Iceland on schedule, Norræna, which harbors in Seyðisfjörður, east Iceland, has been in the news recently for drugs. At the beginning of September, 7 kilos of cocaine were apprehended in a car on the ferry and two men arrested. Later in September, 15 kilos of Ketamine and 5 kilos of MDMA war found in another car on the ferry. Three people were arrested in the latter case.

00:29:00 52% Think Church And State Should Be Separated
A poll conducted recently tells us that 52% of Icelanders think that church and state should be separated. 27% are neither for nor against the motion, and 21% are opposed to separation. 

00:39:40 Women’s Strike 50th Anniversary
This Friday, October 24th the famous 1975 Women’s Strike turns 50. Tens of thousands are expected to celebrate this with a strike, and gather in downtown Reykjavík. 

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SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

You can also support the Grapevine by shopping in our online store: https://shop.grapevine.is

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a Reykjavík Grapevine podcast.
The Reykjavík Grapevine is a free alternative magazine in English published 18 times per year, biweekly during the spring and summer, and monthly during the autumn and winter.

The magazine covers everything Iceland-related, with a special focus culture, music, food and travel. The Reykjavík Grapevine’s goal is to serve as a trustworthy and reliable source of information for those living in Iceland, visiting Iceland or interested in Iceland. Thanks to our dedicated readership and excellent distribution network, the Reykjavík Grapevine is Iceland’s most read English-language publication.

You may not agree with what we write or publish, but at least it’s not sponsored content.
www.grapevine.is

Are you enjoying this? Are you not? Tell us what to do more of, and what you'd like to hear less of.

The Reykjavík Grapevine's Iceland Roundup brings you the top news with a healthy dash of local views. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by Heimildin journalist Aðalsteinn Kjartansson, and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to roundup the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week are: 

00:03:50 Overview Of This Week's Stories

00:04:50 Man Drinking Alcohol At City Library Kicked Out
A man was evicted from a library in Reykjavík for drinking alcohol in the library’s bathroom on Friday. The police said that drinking in the library was not good “library etiquette”.

00:10:45 Laxness On His Way Out Of Icelandic College Curriculum
Novels by Halldór Laxness, the only Icelander ever to win a Nobel prize, will soon no longer be taught in Icelandic schools 

00:26:20 Icelanders Can Now Be Named Mohammed
The Icelandic Naming Committee decided on five new names that Icelanders can use this past week. The names in question were Tenchi, Ivy, Ýri, Meryem and Múhameð, which is the Icelandic spelling of Mohammed.

00:33:40 Former Icelandic Popstar And Activist Arrested On The High Seas By Israel
Margrét Kristín Blöndal, arrived in Amsterdam this past weekend after having been released from custody by the State of Israel. Margrét, or Magga was arrested last Wednesday along other members of the so called Freedom Fleet, trying to get aid to Gaza by way of the sea. A ceasefire has been declared in Gaza. Also, the foreign minister of Palestine, Dr. Varsen Aghabekian, happened to be in Iceland when the ceasefire was announced.

00:39:30 Two Thirds Of Icelanders Think Iceland Should Not Participate In Eurovision, If Israel Is Allow To Participate
A recent poll, conducted this September, 67% of participants said Iceland should rather stay out of Eurovision next year if Israel participates. Younger people were less likely to want Iceland to withdraw in that scenario, while people from outside Reykjavík were likelier than the inhabitants of Reykjavík, to want Iceland to boycott the competition.

00:41:00 The Murder Case That Never Rests
In 1974, two men disappeared within 10 months of each other. These men were named Guðmundur and Geirfinnur. The case led to numerous arrests, and finally long time prison sentences. Much doubt has been cast on whether those charged and sentenced were actually guilty. 

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SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

You can also support the Grapevine by shopping in our online store: https://shop.grapevine.is

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a Reykjavík Grapevine podcast.
The Reykjavík Grapevine is a free alternative magazine in English published 18 times per year, biweekly during the spring and summer, and monthly during the autumn and winter.

The magazine covers everything Iceland-related, with a special focus culture, music, food and travel. The Reykjavík Grapevine’s goal is to serve as a trustworthy and reliable source of information for those living in Iceland, visiting Iceland or interested in Iceland. Thanks to our dedicated readership and excellent distribution network, the Reykjavík Grapevine is Iceland’s most read English-language publication.

You may not agree with what we write or publish, but at least it’s not sponsored content.
www.grapevine.is

Are you enjoying this? Are you not? Tell us what to do more of, and what you'd like to hear less of.

The Reykjavík Grapevine's Iceland Roundup brings you the top news with a healthy dash of local views. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by Heimildin journalist Aðalsteinn Kjartansson, and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to roundup the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week are: 

00:00:01 Fly Play Bankrupt

Fly Play went bankrupt on Monday September 29 leaving thousands stranded, including one of this shows host. We discuss the tumultuous history of Icelandic low fare airlines since 2002, including Iceland Express and WOW Air, and discuss the Icelandic habit of moving businesses between different holding companies, leaving the debts, but keeping the assets. 

00:30:00 Paid Parking Strikes Again

We cover the story of a woman who parked in a free parking space near local swimming pool Sundhöllin, yet got fined by a privately owned parking business. The woman managed to get the fine revoked, but has in turn sent the parking business a bill for the time it took her to deal with the fine.

00:34:00 The Return Of The Business Tycoon

We discuss Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson’s return to prominence in the Icelandic business environment. Jón Ásgeir, whose persona was well known during the boom and bust of the 2008 economic collapse is again very much at large, probably acquiring shares in the same bank that he lost during the collapse. We also mention that the economic collapse is exactly 17 years old today.

00:44:00 Human Trafficking In Iceland

A couple of weeks ago, the authorities raided numerous beauty salons and found out that some of them had been engaging in human trafficking. We discuss the first such story that broke a few years back in Iceland and how the legal environment makes human trafficking  easier in Iceland than it should be. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

You can also support the Grapevine by shopping in our online store: https://shop.grapevine.is

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a Reykjavík Grapevine podcast.
The Reykjavík Grapevine is a free alternative magazine in English published 18 times per year, biweekly during the spring and summer, and monthly during the autumn and winter.

The magazine covers everything Iceland-related, with a special focus culture, music, food and travel. The Reykjavík Grapevine’s goal is to serve as a trustworthy and reliable source of information for those living in Iceland, visiting Iceland or interested in Iceland. Thanks to our dedicated readership and excellent distribution network, the Reykjavík Grapevine is Iceland’s most read English-language publication.

You may not agree with what we write or publish, but at least it’s not sponsored content.
www.grapevine.is

Are you enjoying this? Are you not? Tell us what to do more of, and what you'd like to hear less of.

The Reykjavík Grapevine's Iceland Roundup brings you the top news with a healthy dash of local views. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by Heimildin journalist Aðalsteinn Kjartansson, and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to roundup the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week are: 

✨ Three AI robots have started “working” for the Icelandic container company. Their job is to sort garbage. 
✨ Morgunblaðið has been  going nuts about the profitability of drilling for oil on the ocean floor north east of Iceland, in an area generally referred to as “Drekasvæðið” or the Dragon Zone. What do you guys think is driving this discussion, and does it really make sense to drill for oil — underwater — at this point in history?
✨ Four out of ten Icelanders say they have faith. Down from just over half of the population 10 years ago. 25% claim to be atheist, compared to about 15% in 2014. We see the trend of young men being more religious that women, with a third of men saying they have faith, while only a fifth of women report the same. 
✨ A Reykjavík city council member of Viðreisn, suggested during a city council meeting last week, that the school summer recess would be shortened. The minister of education announced he’d be willing to discuss the proposition. 
✨ On Friday, Estonia announced they were putting article 4 of the NATO charter into effect, initiating a consultation among the member states. This happened after Russian airplanes entered Estonian airspace.
✨ Political parties meet over the weekend. Viðreisn, one of the three political parties of the majority coalition government was re-elected chairman of that party over the weekend. The Pirate party also met over, decided to take up the status of chair and co-chairman as a part of their party’s hierarchy, but nobody really seemed interested in becoming chairman of the party.








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SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

You can also support the Grapevine by shopping in our online store: https://shop.grapevine.is

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WHO ARE WE?
The Reykjavík Grapevine is an alternative monthly magazine, bringing you all the news and views on Ice

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

You can also support the Grapevine by shopping in our online store: https://shop.grapevine.is

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a Reykjavík Grapevine podcast.
The Reykjavík Grapevine is a free alternative magazine in English published 18 times per year, biweekly during the spring and summer, and monthly during the autumn and winter.

The magazine covers everything Iceland-related, with a special focus culture, music, food and travel. The Reykjavík Grapevine’s goal is to serve as a trustworthy and reliable source of information for those living in Iceland, visiting Iceland or interested in Iceland. Thanks to our dedicated readership and excellent distribution network, the Reykjavík Grapevine is Iceland’s most read English-language publication.

You may not agree with what we write or publish, but at least it’s not sponsored content.
www.grapevine.is

Are you enjoying this? Are you not? Tell us what to do more of, and what you'd like to hear less of.

The Reykjavík Grapevine's Iceland Roundup brings you the top news with a healthy dash of local views. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by Heimildin journalist Aðalsteinn Kjartansson, and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to roundup the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week are: 

✨ Migratory criminal birds

On Saturday night, the police and their special forces arrested three persons at a Hells Angels party in Kópavogur. A Hells Angel was first spotted in Iceland in 2009 and the police worry that this special kind of criminal migratory bird, might start taking up wintering grounds in Iceland, or god forbid; breeding grounds.

✨No football for air traffic controllers on shift 

Isavia, a public company responsible for managing and servicing Icelandic airports, has changed their rules to make sure air traffic controllers can not watch football games while on the job. Subsequent to an air traffic incident in February 2024, when two airplanes almost collided near Reykjavík airport – it came to light that the air traffic controllers on shift during the incident were busy watching a Premier League game between Liverpool and Chelsea. The changed rules state that air traffic controllers are prohibited from using "an electronic device through which material intended for entertainment is transmitted” while on shift.

✨ Douglas Dakota revisited

Man who crash-landed the most famous airplane hulk in Iceland, revisits site of crash. Gregh Fletcher, who crash-landed a Douglas Dakota DC-3 C-47 on Sólheimasandur back in 1973, came back to visit the site of the crash. The landing, which was skillfully conducted by Fletcher, saving himself and his crew of 6. Greg also got to meet the President of Iceland.

✨ Alþingi is back from vacation!

Alþingi convened again after summer on Tuesday. President of Iceland, Halla Tómasdóttir, addressed the parliament during the opening ceremony. 

✨ And more stuff

Where we also discuss the identity crisis of the Independence Party, the fact that the chairman of the Center Party is the only Icelandic political figure to bring up Charlie Kirk publicly. We discuss the history of political assassinations in Iceland (the last one was in 1550) and how so many trends on show up in Iceland, years or decades after they do in the rest of the world.

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SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

You can also support the Grapevine by shopping in our online store: https://shop.grapevine.is

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a Reykjavík Grapevine podcast.
The Reykjavík Grapevine is a free alternative magazine in English published 18 times per year, biweekly during the spring and summer, and monthly during the autumn and winter.

The magazine covers everything Iceland-related, with a special focus culture, music, food and travel. The Reykjavík Grapevine’s goal is to serve as a trustworthy and reliable source of information for those living in Iceland, visiting Iceland or interested in Iceland. Thanks to our dedicated readership and excellent distribution network, the Reykjavík Grapevine is Iceland’s most read English-language publication.

You may not agree with what we write or publish, but at least it’s not sponsored content.
www.grapevine.is

Are you enjoying this? Are you not? Tell us what to do more of, and what you'd like to hear less of.

The Reykjavík Grapevine's Iceland Roundup brings you the top news with a healthy dash of local views. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by Heimildin journalist Aðalsteinn Kjartansson, and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to roundup the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week are: 

✨ An Italian academic, Roberto Luigi Pagani who has taught Icelandic, and how to read old Icelandic manuscripts at the University of Iceland and lived here since 2014, was refused citizenship because he hasn’t passed a test in Icelandic.

✨The minister of finance, Daði Mar Kristófersson, is introducing next year’s budget this morning. The plan is to run a 15 billion ISK deficit next year, but the plan is to end the deficit in 2027.

✨Morgunblaðið reported this morning that the 40% increase in applications of foreign students who also need a residence permit, may be linked to numerous TikTok videos, promoting the fact that it is free to attend university in Iceland, and furthermore that students can bring their families with them while attending studies in Iceland. The Grapevine has received numerous emails from students who applied to study at the University of Iceland this semester, but whose residence permit was not processed in time for them to attend. ✨On Monday last week, RÚV decided it was time to platform MP and former podcast bro, Snorri Másson, who’s been maintaining in interviews that there is no freedom of speech with regards to discussing trans-rights and policies in Iceland. RÚV brought him on to debate Þorbjörg Þorvaldsdóttir, the spokesperson for Iceland’s National Queer Organizations. What followed were 20 minutes of Snorri playing victim, while making no solid points in the debate and constantly interrupting Þorbjörg. The following day it was reported that the Police’s special forces had kept a watch on Snorri’s house that night, for security reasons, and Snorri then issued a statement that the whole thing “proved” his point that no freedom of speech existed regarding the discussion of trans issues in Iceland.

Totally unrelated, RÚV premiered a new documentary series called Hate. Which is about “the rise of hate speech in Iceland and the backlash that has occurred in the struggles of various minority groups in recent years.”

✨Saturday saw a protest against “genocide” take place all over Iceland; in Reykjavík, Ísafjörður, Egilsstaðir, Akureyri, Stykkishólmur, Húsavík and Hólmavík. About 185 different organizations were behind the

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SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

You can also support the Grapevine by shopping in our online store: https://shop.grapevine.is

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a Reykjavík Grapevine podcast.
The Reykjavík Grapevine is a free alternative magazine in English published 18 times per year, biweekly during the spring and summer, and monthly during the autumn and winter.

The magazine covers everything Iceland-related, with a special focus culture, music, food and travel. The Reykjavík Grapevine’s goal is to serve as a trustworthy and reliable source of information for those living in Iceland, visiting Iceland or interested in Iceland. Thanks to our dedicated readership and excellent distribution network, the Reykjavík Grapevine is Iceland’s most read English-language publication.

You may not agree with what we write or publish, but at least it’s not sponsored content.
www.grapevine.is

Are you enjoying this? Are you not? Tell us what to do more of, and what you'd like to hear less of.

The Reykjavík Grapevine's Iceland Roundup brings you the top news with a healthy dash of local views. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by Heimildin journalist Aðalsteinn Kjartansson, and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to roundup the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week are: 

✨Independence Party members in Reykjavík city council suggested that Reykjavík should design it’s own “Peace Flag” and use that instead of flags such as the Ukrainian flag or the Palestinian flag when condemning war and showing support. Sólveig Anna Jónsdóttir, the chairman of Efling, the largest union in Iceland called the suggestion “woke” and useless, and went on to talk about Yoko Ono’s artwork in Viðey Island, the Peace Tower, as also woke and useless. 

✨The ATM heist in Mosfellsbær has been solved. The perpetrator — a man in his forties — has confessed to stealing the ATM, which was found late last week near where it was stolen, in Hólmsheiði. The 22 million ISK in cash in the ATM were still there. The man in question also confessed to stealing bags of cash in Kópavogur last year, and is furthermore a witness in the so called Þorlákshöfn case.

✨The Independence Party has put forth a new chairman of their parliamentary party. The new chairman is Ólafur Adolfsson, a new MP. He’ll be replacing Hildur Sverrisdóttir, who oversaw this springs historical filibuster. This change has been publicly celebrated by members of the ruling coalition. The new chairman has said that the public is “tired of filibustering”. 

✨A cat was rescued from a Tesla in Seltjarnarnes this weekend. The owner of the car had apparently locked himself out of the car, and the cat in the car, and was — when the police arrived on the scene — trying to open up the Tesla using different methods. The police helped the owner to open up the back of the car and getting to the cat by removing parts of the front of the car to get to the luggage storage, gave the cat some dried fish to calm it down, and finally rescued it.

✨The coast guard’s helicopter picked up a woman with a broken bone, by Glymur waterfall in Hvalfjöður, west Iceland, on Saturday. Furthermore, on Saturday, the SARS conducted an extensive search in Grímsnes looking for a 12 year old boy, who was visiting Iceland with his family. The boy was found. 

✨ The potential collapse of the Atlantic AMOC system was back in the news last week. The AMOC is an abbreviation of the phrase “Atlantic meridional overturning cir

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SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

You can also support the Grapevine by shopping in our online store: https://shop.grapevine.is

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a Reykjavík Grapevine podcast.
The Reykjavík Grapevine is a free alternative magazine in English published 18 times per year, biweekly during the spring and summer, and monthly during the autumn and winter.

The magazine covers everything Iceland-related, with a special focus culture, music, food and travel. The Reykjavík Grapevine’s goal is to serve as a trustworthy and reliable source of information for those living in Iceland, visiting Iceland or interested in Iceland. Thanks to our dedicated readership and excellent distribution network, the Reykjavík Grapevine is Iceland’s most read English-language publication.

You may not agree with what we write or publish, but at least it’s not sponsored content.
www.grapevine.is

Are you enjoying this? Are you not? Tell us what to do more of, and what you'd like to hear less of.

The Reykjavík Grapevine's Iceland Roundup brings you the top news with a healthy dash of local views. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by Heimildin journalist Aðalsteinn Kjartansson, and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to roundup the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week are: 

✨Two young women, who were working at the Icelandic championships in Rallycross on Krýsuvík road on Saturday, were injured when one of the participating cars flipped over, upp a small hill, and ran them over. Their injuries were not reported as critical.

✨An ATM was stolen in the Reykjavik suburb of Mosfellsbær on Tuesday. Two are in custody, a woman in her thirties and a man in his forties. Around 20 million ISK were in the ATM. The ATM was stolen with the help of an excavator, but the ATM itself is yet to be located, along with the cash.

✨Last weekend saw both Culture Night happening in Reykjavík, and the annual Reykjavík Marathon with a record of over 16.000 participants. 

✨A couple, living in Laugardalur, Reykjavík, woke up with a rat in their bed on Tuesday morning. The woman who lives whose apartment the rat raided, said that her partner had woken her up told her there was a rat in the house, asked her to take their kids outside, and then finished off the rat with a cutting board. An exterminator interviewed in relations to the story said it was very uncommon for rats do crawl into people beds, and said he’d only heard of two such cases in Iceland in the past 13 years.

✨The Reykjavík Grapevine reported on trouble that international students were having with having their resident permits cleared with the Directorate of Immigration in Iceland. The explanation for this seems to be first, that there is a 40% increase in foreign students who’ve been admitted for University studies in Iceland, who need a resident permit to begin the studies. A third of the applications were submitted after a 1. June deadline, and the explanation for that is, that many students were only admitted by universities in late May, giving them a limited timeframe to get their residents permit applications in order.

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SHOW SUPPORT

Support the Grapevine's reporting by becoming a member of our High Five Club: https://steadyhq.com/en/rvkgrapevine/

You can also support the Grapevine by shopping in our online store: https://shop.grapevine.is

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a Reykjavík Grapevine podcast.
The Reykjavík Grapevine is a free alternative magazine in English published 18 times per year, biweekly during the spring and summer, and monthly during the autumn and winter.

The magazine covers everything Iceland-related, with a special focus culture, music, food and travel. The Reykjavík Grapevine’s goal is to serve as a trustworthy and reliable source of information for those living in Iceland, visiting Iceland or interested in Iceland. Thanks to our dedicated readership and excellent distribution network, the Reykjavík Grapevine is Iceland’s most read English-language publication.

You may not agree with what we write or publish, but at least it’s not sponsored content.
www.grapevine.is

Are you enjoying this? Are you not? Tell us what to do more of, and what you'd like to hear less of.

The Reykjavík Grapevine's Iceland Roundup brings you the top news with a healthy dash of local views. In this episode, Grapevine publisher Jón Trausti Sigurðarson is joined by Heimildin journalist Aðalsteinn Kjartansson, and Grapevine friend and contributor Sindri Eldon to roundup the stories making headlines in recent weeks. On the docket this week are: 

✨Three caravans/trailers were blown up by strong winds on Holtavörðuheiði, a mountain road between the north and west of Iceland. Nobody was hurt, but SARS also had to help a group of motorcyclists off the mountain road, due to heavy winds. The weather on Friday also brought a thunderstorm to the west of Iceland. A rarity. 

✨Egilsstaðir, a town in east Iceland saw the the thermostat reach 29,8 celsius on Saturday. That is the highest temperature recorded in Iceland this century, though it still does not pass the all time record of just over 30 degrees, recorded - also in the east - in 1939.

✨A boulder fell on the the ring road road south of Eyjafjallajökull, in south of Iceland on Sunday. This spring, in the same area, a boulder hit a car, killing a woman who was visiting Iceland. The locals have for long complained about the safety of that stretch of road, but so far nothing has been done to amend it.

✨Third of Icelanders pay for Spotify and the platform is almost responsible for 100% of streaming in Iceland. The Chairman of STEF (Composers’ Rights Society of Iceland), Páll Ragnar Pálsson says STEF is not planning on withdrawing the the catalog of Icelandic music from the service, and points out individual artists can do that. He says that STEF is working with other composers’ rights societies abroad in order to try to put some pressure on Spotify. But because of what? There are three reasons, first, the extremely low revenues that artists get for streaming. Second, the numerous fake artists that also skim money from streaming on Spotify, and which in some cases seems to have happened with Spotify’s consent, and third, the recent move of Spotify’s CEO into weapons development and manufacturing. 

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