Millions of people are likely to have watched coverage of the Fagradalsfjall eruption in Southwest Iceland on the American television news magazine 60 Minutes on CBS last weekend.
Lava Flows Over Both Protective Walls Photo/Einar Falur Lava is now flowing over both protective walls that had been built near the eruption site by Fagradalsfjall mountain, Southwest Iceland, mbl.is reports. The walls had been built to slow down the lava flow, which is headed into Nátthagi valley. (See our earlier report here ). Should the lava continue flowing that way, it will eventually threaten a fiber optic cable for the Reykjanes peninsula and, finally, Suðurstrandarvegur road, which lies along the south coast of the peninsula. Ármann Höskuldsson, volcanologist at the University of Iceland, believes it will take a few weeks before Nátthagi valley fills up with lava, opening the way for the lava stream toward Suðurstrandarvegur road.
Charges Filed in Rauðagerði Murder Case The crime scene on Rauðagerði, Reykjavík. mbl.is/Eggert Jóhannesson Vala Hafstað
mbl.is reports. The court case was filed this morning in the Reykjavík District Court.
Three men in their 30s and 40s and one woman in her 20s are charged in the case. One man has confessed to shooting Armando. He claims to have acted alone. The other three individuals deny charges.
One of the men charged appeared in court. He denied all charges. The other two men attended the court session online from Hólmsheiði Prison. The woman charged in the case did not show up in court, but had a letter submitted in which she denied all charges.
How Iceland Changed the World - Book ‘Full of Farce and Joy’ Vala Hafstað
A new book by journalist and teacher Egill Helgason,
How Iceland Changed the World: The Big History of a Small Island, has just been published by Penguin Books.
It is the untold story of how one tiny island in the middle of the Atlantic has shaped the world for centuries.
The book was reviewed by The New York Times, where it was highly praised:
“What Egill Bjarnason sets out to explain in
How Iceland Changed the World, his joyously peculiar book, is why it is also so full of farce and drive why Iceland is a country with the soul of a very small town and yet can sometimes shut down the world. Bjarnason balances pride and realism so casually that you can almost take for granted a nation whose Parliament once voted to abolish the letter “z” (except in a few words such as “pizza”),” the review reads. You can read the full review here.
Surrogate Mares Give Birth to Twin Foals The twin foals, in the company of one of the surrogate mares, Rauðka from Barð. Vala Hafstað
Two surrogate mares recently gave birth to foals that are twins,
Morgunblaðið reports. The father is the champion Álfaskeggur from Kjarnholt 1, and the biological mother is the mare Kló from Einhamar 2.
Embryos were transferred to the surrogate mothers to ensure a healthy pregnancy and the mares’ health. It is rare for mares to be able to give birth to twin foals, which is why this technology was employed. According to Sigríður Björnsdóttir, veterinarian for MAST, the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority, no data are available regarding how often twin foals have been born in Iceland. As embryos are being transferred, what has been revealed is that the frequency of two eggs having been fertilized has increased. Rarely, though, do they survive the pregnancy.