Iceland

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Iceland Toasts 30 Years Since End of an Odd Ban

March 1 is National Beer Day

(Newser) - Thirty years ago, a sobering dry spell in Iceland's history came to an end. On Friday, the country celebrates the anniversary of the lifting of a decades-long ban on beer with—what else?—a nationwide Beer Day. The drink was outlawed in Iceland for 74 years, while all other...

30 Years After They Vanished on the Mountain, &#39;Closure&#39;
30 Years After They
Vanished on the
Mountain, 'Closure'
in case you missed it
Dec 15, 2018 4:00 PM CST

30 Years After They Vanished on the Mountain, 'Closure'

Steve Aisthorpe grateful that 2 friends who disappeared in Himalayas in 1988 have been found

(Newser) - The bodies of those who succumb to the Himalayan mountains likely stay on the slopes forever—it's often too difficult, dangerous, and costly to retrieve them. That fact didn't stop Steve Aisthorpe of Scotland from his recent mission on the Nepal-Tibet border: to get "closure" on the...

Story of Man Who Fled Prison in Iceland Gets Weirder

It wasn't illegal, and he likely shouldn't have been in custody anyway

(Newser) - That an inmate escaped from an Iceland prison and fled the country on a plane that Iceland's prime minister happened to be aboard turns out to not be the wildest part of Sindri Stefansson's story. The 31-year-old is suspected of being one of a group of thieves who...

Airline Contest: Hole Up in Iceland, Travel, Get Paid

You'll have to win Wow Air's contest, though, and do quite a bit of content creation

(Newser) - If you have a BFF and no big summer plans, an Icelandic airline is making a tempting offer. Per Business Insider , Wow Air will set up one lucky duo in a fully furnished apartment in downtown Reykjavik, which will serve as home base from June 1 to Aug. 15, with...

In Iceland, a Prison-Break Story With a Twist

Sindri Thor Stefansson fled prison, made it 59 miles to the airport

(Newser) - It's a prison-break story with a twist: Officials in Iceland say a man suspected of stealing $2 million worth of computer servers used to mine bitcoin broke out of the low-security prison he was being kept in and fled to Sweden on a commercial plane using someone else's...

She Vanished From Reykjavik&#39;s &#39;Best-Known Street,&#39; Turned Up Dead
Inside the 2017
Murder Mystery
That Rocked
Iceland
longform
Apr 16, 2018 11:54 AM CDT

Inside the 2017 Murder Mystery That Rocked Iceland

Xan Rice looks at the case of Birna Brjánsdóttir for the 'Guardian'

(Newser) - Laugavegur is Reykjavík's "best-known street" and a well-lit one, a place where a single woman walking alone at 5am would not be considered endangered. Except Birna Brjánsdóttir was . After having gone clubbing, the 20-year-old vanished from that street in Iceland's capital in the early...

World's 5 Most Unequal Countries on Same Continent

Effects of South Africa's apartheid still felt

(Newser) - Inequality was embedded in South African culture through its apartheid system. Nearly a quarter century after its end, the country still has a long way to go. "Inequality is high, persistent, and has increased since 1994" in South Africa, which is the most unequal country in the world when...

Iceland Poised to Ban Circumcision of Boys

Children's rights trump religious rights, advocates say

(Newser) - The world's oldest parliament will soon be debating Europe's first ban on circumcising male children for non-medical reasons—a tradition campaigners call "male genital mutilation." The bill before Iceland's parliament proposes a six-year prison sentence for anybody removing part or all of a child's...

10 Countries That Have Never Won a Winter Olympics Medal

Including a country with the word 'ice' in it

(Newser) - When you think "Winter Olympics," a country with the word "ice" as part of its name would seem to be a shoo-in for the event's medal podium. Yet Iceland, which has been competing in the winter version of the Games since 1948, has yet to take...

This Country Made It Illegal to Pay Women Less Than Men

Iceland is 1st country in world to do so

(Newser) - Iceland just made it illegal to pay women less than men for the same work, becoming the first country to do so, HuffPost reports. According to Quartz , the new law was passed following little opposition and went into effect Jan. 1. Now public and private employers with more than 25...

Iceland's Government Implodes Over Pedophile Scandal

Prime minister's father wrote letter in support of convicted child rapist

(Newser) - The prime minister of Iceland is out after it was alleged he tried to hide the fact that his father was seeking to clear the name of a convicted pedophile, Deutsche Welle reports. According to the AP , Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson's government ended when his resignation was accepted by...

The Murder Captivated Iceland. 190 Years Later, It Will Again

Mock trial revisits 1828 case resulting in executions

(Newser) - Residents on Iceland's remote farm of Stapakot were jolted awake on March 14, 1828, when a maid from a neighboring property burst in to tell them that a fire was raging and two men were trapped inside. It was a lie. The men were already dead—clubbed with a...

CBS Story on Down Syndrome Causes Ruckus Over Abortion
Story About Iceland Sets Off
Angry Debate Over Abortion
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Aug 20, 2017 11:00 AM CDT

Story About Iceland Sets Off Angry Debate Over Abortion

CBS explored the declining number of Down syndrome births

(Newser) - A story by CBS News about the declining number of Down syndrome births in Iceland has caused an uproar, with conservative critics accusing the story of celebrating abortion and others lashing out at Iceland itself. There's so much to unpack that even the myth-busting site Snopes has weighed in...

Europe's Ancient Ports Have New Infestation: Tourists

Cruise ships bring in visitors by the tens of thousands daily

(Newser) - It all started with Venice. The Italian port city on the Adriatic Sea has seen its population dwindle since the 1950s as locals are forced out by what the BBC calls "hordes of cruise-ship visitors." Nowadays, the problem of cruise ship tourist invasion has spilled over to many...

Iceland's Tourism Is Booming. Tourists Are Ruining Iceland

2.3M people will swarm the island this year in a boom that's straining infrastructure

(Newser) - Some 2.3 million Earthlings who are not Icelandic will trek through Iceland this year, armed with selfie sticks in search of the island's breathtaking fjords, waterfalls, volcanoes, and Game of Thrones backdrops. That's nearly five times the foot traffic Iceland saw seven years ago and it's...

Inaugural Icelandair Flight Ruined by Bad Smell

'Rubber smell' gets celebratory flight diverted

(Newser) - Icelandair was supposed to fly its first flight from Philadelphia to Reykjavik overnight. Instead, the flight ended up being diverted to Boston early Wednesday thanks to what the airline is calling an "unusual" smell, ABC News reports. Pilots decided to land after they couldn't determine what was causing...

Tourist Sneaks Cat Into Iceland, and Iceland Kills the Cat
Tourist Sneaks Cat Into Iceland,
and Iceland Kills the Cat
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Apr 30, 2017 10:33 AM CDT

Tourist Sneaks Cat Into Iceland, and Iceland Kills the Cat

Swiss woman also gets billed for disinfecting her camper

(Newser) - Iceland's beauty attracts more than a million travelers from around the world every year, and a tourist just learned the hard way that the country doesn't mess around when it comes to protecting its turf. A Swiss woman in her 60s entered the country in her camper by...

Icelandic Language's Problem: Computers Don't Get It

Language spoken by fewer than 400K has the deck somewhat stacked against it

(Newser) - When an Icelander arrives at an office building and sees "Solarfri" posted, they need no further explanation for the empty premises: The word means "when staff get an unexpected afternoon off to enjoy good weather." But the revered Icelandic language, seen by many as a source of...

Flight Stops in Iceland, Leaves Unruly Passenger There

Woman was deemed a danger to the plane

(Newser) - A Lufthansa flight from Los Angeles to Munich had to make an unscheduled stop in Iceland after a passenger became so unruly that the crew decided she was a danger to the plane, the AP reports. Lufthansa told the dpa news agency Saturday that after the woman had been taken...

Guess How Icelandic Couples Celebrated Surprise Soccer Win 9 Months Ago?

Hubba hubba

(Newser) - How long ago was it that Iceland's soccer team, in a "stunning" upset, beat England's at Euro 2016? Well, just about nine months. And, as goal.com humorously points out, over this past weekend—which marked almost exactly nine months from Iceland's June 27 win—an...

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