Tag: Iceland

• Saturday, September 2nd 2023 - 10:08 UTC

  Iceland resumes whaling after temporary ban

  

  The government of Iceland announced whaling was to resume effective Sept. 1 after banning the practice two months ago. The new measure sparked rage among environmentalists concerned about the endangered species. However, more effective hunting methods and equipment need to be used, the authorities said.

• Wednesday, June 21st 2023 - 10:12 UTC

  Iceland suspends whale hunting until August 32; public opinion supports decision

  

  The Iceland government suspended whale hunting for the rest of the summer on Tuesday, following a report that found the practice contravenes the country's animal welfare standards.

• Saturday, February 5th 2022 - 09:33 UTC

  Iceland to end commercial whaling by 2024 and plans to further promote whales' sightseeing

  

  Iceland will end commercial whaling by 2024, announced Fisheries minister Svandis Svavarsdottir in a piece published in the Reykjavik daily Morgunbladid. The lawmaker representing the ruling coalition led by the Left Greens said, “there are few justifications to authorize the whale hunt beyond 2024,” adding “there is little proof that there is any economic advantage to this activity”.

• Saturday, March 20th 2021 - 08:58 UTC

  Volcano erupts in Iceland with lava spewing fountains of up to 100 meters high

  

  A volcano erupted near Iceland's capital Reykjavik on Friday, shooting lava high into the night sky after thousands of small earthquakes in recent weeks.

• Monday, August 19th 2019 - 09:19 UTC

  Iceland unveils a plaque to the loss of the first of the country's glaciers

  

  Iceland unveiled a plaque to its Okjokull ice sheet on Sunday, the first of the country's hundreds of glaciers to melt away due to climate change. Scientists see the shrinking of glaciers as one of many warning signs that the earth's climate is lurching towards dangerous tipping points.

• Monday, August 5th 2019 - 09:24 UTC

  Some 20 pilot whales die stranded in Iceland in mysterious circumstances

  

  Some 20 pilot whales have died stranded in mysterious circumstances on the south-western coast of Iceland, emergency services said on Saturday, only two weeks after a similarly unexplained mass stranding had already killed dozens of the long-finned cetaceans.

• Friday, February 9th 2018 - 20:00 UTC

  Five European countries have become a top travel destination for the US

  

  Europe is once again a top travel destination for Americans. Five European countries, Italy, Ireland, France, Iceland and the United Kingdom, comprised half of the top 10 spots for vacation plans in 2018.

• Wednesday, April 6th 2016 - 07:23 UTC

  Panama Papers: Head of Chile's Transparency International has to step down

  

  In another unexpected to come from this Panama Papers scandal, the head of the Chile office of the corruption watchdog group Transparency International has resigned after his name appeared in the data leak.

• Friday, February 26th 2016 - 06:19 UTC

  Greenpeace celebrates and supports cancellation of Icelandic fin whale hunt

  

  Greenpeace celebrates the 'incredible' news that Iceland has cancelled the fin whale hunt for the current season and underlines that nowadays “there is simply no place for commercial whaling” plus the fact that Iceland and Japan have stockpiles of unwanted whale meat.

• Friday, March 13th 2015 - 14:35 UTC

  Iceland drops EU membership request; it had suspended the bid in 2013

  

  The government of Iceland has announced it is no longer seeking EU membership for the North Atlantic state. Foreign Minister Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson said he had already informed current EU president Latvia and the European Commission about the cabinet's move.