tagged w/ Iceland
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Icelandic volcanic ash alert grounds UK flights
The Icelandic eruption - airport officials say the ash represents a very serious risk to aircraft
Airline passengers are facing massive disruption across the UK after an ash cloud from a volcanic eruption in Iceland grounded planes.
The Air Traffic Control Service (Nats) said no flights would be allowed in or out of UK airspace from midday to 1800BST amid fears of engine damage.
Airports operator BAA confirmed all flights at Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick would be suspended from midday.
And in Scotland, authorities have already shut all their airports.
The restrictions, in accordance with international civil aviation policy, were imposed after the Met Office warned ash could clog engines.
Passengers were advised to contact their carriers prior to travel.
'Significant disruption'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8621407.stmIcelandic volcanic ash alert grounds UK flights
The Icelandic eruption - airport... more
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Airline passengers are facing massive disruption across the UK after an ash cloud from a volcanic eruption in Iceland grounded planes.
Airports operator BAA said all flights in and out of Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick would be suspended from midday.
In Scotland all airports are shut and most others around the UK have cancelled or suspended flights.
All seems rather crazy that a volcanic eruption in Iceland can effect us in the UK...but better safe than sorry I guess.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8621407.stmAirline passengers are facing massive disruption across the UK after an ash cloud from... more
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The Associated Press:
REYKJAVIK, Iceland — A volcano under a glacier in Iceland erupted Wednesday for the second time in less than a month, melting ice, spewing smoke and steam, closing a major road and forcing hundreds of people to flee rising floodwaters.
Authorities evacuated 800 residents from around the Eyjafjallajokull glacier as rivers rose by up to 10 feet (3 meters).
Emergency officials and scientists said the eruption under the ice cap was 10 to 20 times more powerful than one last month, and carried a much greater risk of widespread flooding.
"This is a very much more violent eruption, because it's interacting with ice and water," said Andy Russell, an expert in glacial flooding at the University of Newcastle in northern England. "It becomes much more explosive, instead of a nice lava flow oozing out of the ground."
Rognvaldur Olafsson, a chief inspector for the Icelandic Civil Protection Agency, said no lives or properties were in immediate danger. Scientists said there was no sign of increased activity at the much larger Katla volcano nearby.
Iceland's Meteorological Office said a plume of steam rose at least five miles (eight kilometers) into the air. Scientists aboard a Coast Guard plane that flew over the volcano said the new fissure appeared to be up to 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) long.
There were no immediate signs of large clouds of volcanic ash, which could disrupt air travel between Europe and North America. Some domestic flights were canceled, but Iceland's international airport remained open.
The volcano, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) east of Reykjavik, erupted March 20 after almost 200 years of silence.
The original eruption petered out earlier this week. But Gunnar Gudmundsson, a geophysicist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, said there were a series of tremors overnight, and rivers in the area began rising Wednesday morning — strong evidence of a new eruption under the glacier.
Last month's eruption struck near the glacier in an area that had no ice. Gudmundsson said the new eruption appeared to be about eight or nine kilometers (five to six miles) west of the original fissure.
"Most probably this eruption is taking place at the summit ... under the ice," he said.
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jh7lQ-qBxQMPzPd3Iap7_s3YDBfQD9F2TDIG0The Associated Press:
REYKJAVIK, Iceland — A volcano under a glacier in... more
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Tuesday's edition of my three times a week talk show.Watch
the show here on CURRENT TV on Tues, Thurs & Sats.
JOIN ME ON MONDAY'S @ 12pm in the afternoon FOR THE LIVE
SHOW at : http://www.unitedkingdomradio.co.uk . You can join
in LIVE by SKYPE,email or telephone.
My LIVE music a talk show is on Mon - Fri 10am - 11am UK time at :
http://www.heartheswish.com/digitalpl...
In today's show :
From the garden.
Are Easter Eggs getting smaller ?
Becoming part of the animals ?
A twirl.
You are looking rather tasty.
I might have to let something go.
Life - NOT as we know it.
As much exposure as possible.
What "On Location" places would you like to visit ?
Do you keep going ?
The most expensive items in my wardrobe.
DVD's in their wrappers.
Where's Robert in Iceland ?
Vikki spots a fault.
Looking chavvy.
Does anything eat us ?
We are all recycled..
Spitting on the ground.
chris@unitedkingdomtalk.co.uk
WWW.UNITEDKINGDOMTALKL.CO.UKTuesday's edition of my three times a week talk show.Watch
the show here on... more
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April 7, 2010 -- Photographer Albert Jakobsson knows how to be in the right place at the right time. He was on hand at the latest eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjajokull volcano over the weekend just as Earth was being slammed with the strongest geomagnetic storm in three years. The result: lava meets heavenly bliss as a ribbon of green aurora ripples above Eyjafjajokull's fire fountains.
A shot like that is one in a million, but Jakobsson's been lingering around the volcano for a while now, documenting the incredible juxtaposition of fire, ice, and celestial beauty. In an image taken last week, he captured the full moon as it cast a silvery pall over the proceedings:
http://news.discovery.com/earth/iceland-volcano-aurora.htmlApril 7, 2010 -- Photographer Albert Jakobsson knows how to be in the right place at... more
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Scrabble is releasing a new version of the classic word game.
This edition will allow players to use proper names. The board game is scheduled for UK release in July.
ForeignPolicy.com reports that you get a minimum of 30 points with words like Central Asian nation "Kyrgystan" or Icelandic capital "Reykjavik."
My only question is: Why do you need a new board to play by these rules? Can't you just play proper nouns on the classic edition of Scrabble?
Need some help with Scrabble? Moby had some pointers on this Embedded Tour Stop.
("Know the two letter words!")
Scrabble is releasing a new version of the classic word game.
This edition will... more
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Some people are claiming that Iceland, with its openly gay prime minister and high number of female politicians, is the most feminist country in the world. And this news seems only to bolster their claims. Earlier this week, Iceland passed a law that will ban all strip clubs and make it illegal for any business to "profit from the nudity of its employees." So that means no topless waitresses, either. Hooters franchises in Iceland are history.
Kolbrún Halldórsdóttir, the politician who first proposed the ban, firmly told the national press on Wednesday: "It is not acceptable that women or people in general are a product to be sold."Some people are claiming that Iceland, with its openly gay prime minister and high... more
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SOMETHING IS ROTTEN IN THE STATE OF ICELAND
Over the last few years, WikiLeaks has been subject to a number of actionsaround the world by public and private security organizations. They rangefrom the appalling assassination of two related human rights lawyers in Nairobilast March and an armed attack on my compound in 2007, to, in the West,an ambush by an apparent British intelligence agent in a Luxembourg carpark, which merely ended with "we think it would be in your interest to.."
Developing world violence aside, we've become used to the level ofsecurity service interest in us and have established procedures to dealwith that interest.
But the escalation of surveillance activities over the last month,most of which appears to be the result of U.S. "interests", althoughsome may be unrelated, deserves comment. These actions include manyattempts at covert following, hidden photography and the detention & questioning of a WikiLeaks' volunteer in Iceland on Monday night.
WikiLeaks' staff have been in Iceland to advise Icelandic parliamentarianson the a package of laws, the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative, designedto protect investigative journalists and internet services from spyingand censorship.
Possible triggers for the surveillance actions are (1) our release of aclassified US intelligence report on how to fatally marginalize WikiLeaks(expose our sources, destroy our reputation for integrity, hack us),(2) our release of a classified cable from the U.S. embassy in Reykjavikreporting on contact between the U.S. and the U.K. over billions of eurosin claimed loan guarantees and, most significantly, (3) our ongoing workon a classified film revealing civilian casualties occurring under thecommand of the U.S, general, David Petraeus. U.S. sources told Icelandicstate media's deputy head of news, that the U.S. State Department wasaggressively investigating the leak from the U.S. Embassy in Reykjavik. Iwas seen at a private U.S Embassy party at the Ambassador's house,late last year.
Then on Thursday March 18, 2010, I was followed on the 2.15 PMflight out of Reykjavik to Copenhagen--on the way to speak at theSKUP investigative journalism conference in Norway. According toairline records, two individuals, brandishing diplomatic credentialsand registered under the name of "US State Department", collectedboarding passes for the same flight within three minutes of eachother. They are not recorded as having checked in any luggage
Iceland doesn't have a separate security service. It folds itsintelligence function into its police forces, leading to an uneasyoverlap of policing and intelligence functions and values.
On Monday 22, March, at approximately 8.30pm, a WikiLeaks volunteerwas detained by Icelandic police for approximately 21 hours after policeattended the volunteer's fathers place of work on an unrelated matter. Thevolunteer was inexplicably detained over night. The next day, duringthe course of interrogation, the volunteer was shown covert photosof WikiLeaks' editor Julian Assange outside a Reykjavik restaurant,the back room of was used last week to hold a production meeting on aclassified U.S. military video exposing civilian kills by U.S. pilots.Specific references were made to the subject of video and "important"Icelandic figures. No charges were filed. The names of well knownjournalists involved in the production were referred to in the policequestions.
Who are the Icelandic security services loyal to? The new governmentof April 2009, or the old pro-Iraq war government of the Independenceparty, or perhaps their connections with another country entirely?Often when a bold new government arises, bureaucratic institutionsremain loyal to the old regime and it can take time to change theguard. Former regime loyalists must be discovered, dissuaded andremoved. But for security services, the first step, discovery, isawry. Congenitally scared of the light, such services hide theiractivities; if it is not known what they are doing, then it issurely impossible to know who they are doing it for.
We have written to both U.S. and Icelandic authorities to demandan explanation.SOMETHING IS ROTTEN IN THE STATE OF ICELAND
Over the last few years, WikiLeaks has... more
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Volcano erupts in Iceland, hundreds evacuated-
REYKJAVIK, Iceland – A volcano erupted near a glacier in southern Iceland, shooting ash and molten lava into the air and forcing the evacuation Sunday of hundreds of people from nearby villages.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, but a state of emergency was declared and scientists feared the eruption could trigger a larger and potentially more dangerous eruption at the Katla volcano.
Saturday's eruption, which occurred just before midnight (2000 EDT, 8 p.m. EDT), came weeks after a series of small earthquakes. Television footage showed lava flows along the fissure.
"This was a rather small and peaceful eruption but we are concerned that it could trigger an eruption at the nearby Katla volcano, a vicious volcano that could cause both local and global damage," said Pall Einarsson, a geophysicist at the University of Iceland's Institute of Earth Science.
Authorities evacuated 450 people between the farming village of Hvolsvollur and the fishing village of Vik, some 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of the capital, Reykjavik, said Vidir Reynisson of the Icelandic Civil Protection Department.
Evacuation centers were set up near the town of Hella. The most immediate threat was to livestock because of the caustic gases.
"We had to leave all our animals behind," Elin Ragnarsdottir, a 47-year-old farmer, told RUV, Iceland's national broadcaster from an evacuation center. "We got a call and a text message ... and we just went."
Iceland sits on a large volcanic hot spot in the Atlantic's mid-oceanic ridge. Volcanic eruptions, common throughout Iceland's history, are often triggered by seismic activity when the Earth's plates move and when magma from deep underground pushes its way to the surface.
Scientists in Iceland have been monitoring the recent activity using seismometers and global positioning instruments. Like earthquakes, however, it is difficult to predict the exact timing of eruptions.
More---
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100321/ap_on_sc/eu_iceland_volcanoVolcano erupts in Iceland, hundreds evacuated-
REYKJAVIK, Iceland – A volcano... more
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REYKJAVIK, Iceland - Authorities evacuated hundreds of people after a volcano erupted beneath a glacier in southern Iceland, Iceland's civil protection agency said Sunday.
Aviation officials said the nation's main airport was closed because of risk to aircraft flying through any ash plume, aviation officials told BNO News. Two Icelandair flights from the United States were diverted to Boston Logan International Airport, and another flight didn't leave Boston, BNO News reported.
The eruption occurred around 11:30 p.m. Saturday (1930 EDT) beneath the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, the fifth-largest glacier in Iceland. The volcano is covered by an ice cap.
Fearing flooding from the glacier melt, authorities evacuated some 400 people in the area 100 miles southeast of the capital, Reykjavik, as a precaution but no damage or injuries have been reported, said Vidir Reynisson, the department manager for the Icelandic Civil Protection Department.
A state of emergency has been declared in communities near the 100-square-mile glacier.
"We do not at this moment know the full extent of the eruption but a team is flying over the site now to evaluate the situation," said Reynisson.
A European volcanic island in the North Atlantic, Iceland is largely an arctic desert with mountains, glaciers and volcanoes and agricultural areas in the lowlands close to the coastline.
The last time the volcano erupted was in the 1820s.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35968232/ns/world_news-europe/REYKJAVIK, Iceland - Authorities evacuated hundreds of people after a volcano erupted... more
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Iceland’s voters expressed their outrage this past weekend against bankers, the government and what they saw as foreign bullying, overwhelmingly rejecting a plan to pay $5.3 billion to Britain and the Netherlands to reimburse customers of a failed Icelandic bank. A staggering 93 percent voted "no" in the first public referendum ever held on any subject in Iceland.Iceland’s voters expressed their outrage this past weekend against bankers, the... more
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Picked by the vimeo staff, a video compilation of shots taken by Gunnar Konradsson.
"Music by Steindór Andersen
Camera 5D Mark II
Lenses 70-200L f/4 and 24-105L f/4"Picked by the vimeo staff, a video compilation of shots taken by Gunnar Konradsson.... more
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Voters in Iceland have been celebrating, after overwhelmingly rejecting proposals to pay the UK and the Netherlands in the wake of collapse of the Icesave bank.
With a third of results counted, 93% of voters said "No" in a referendum.
The celebrating Icelanders put it this way:
"I don't think that we're supposed to pay the money a few idiots got us into."
"I think it's the same kind of message people all over the world would like to give to their government about the bailouts: we don't want to pay for a system that isn't working."
"I think what's happened is that people have said that they are not willing to accept being put into any sort of debt slavery."
I, for one, celebrate with the people of Iceland who refused to pay for a broken system. I wonder if we could do the same thing here in the US.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8554020.stmVoters in Iceland have been celebrating, after overwhelmingly rejecting proposals to... more
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Saturday's edition of my three times a week talk show.Watch the show here on CURRENT TV on Tues, Thurs & Sats.
JOIN ME ON MONDAY'S @ 12pm in the afternoon FOR THE LIVE SHOW at : http://www.unitedkingdomradio.co.uk . You can join in LIVE by SKYPE,email or telephone.
In today's show :
Obsessed by branding.
Three new friends.
Everyone wants to do it.
Students can owe thousands of pounds.
Money problems in then Eurozone.
Money for doing nothing.
People are not being fair to the Icelanders.
Too many restrictions.
Proving the worth of family.
How do we find the new Kenny Everett ?
More excitement stacking shelves.
Do you have a job you really love ?
He is on the inside.
Borrowing a bit here and a bit there.
How do you get on the BBC ?
I'd love to drive a bus.
They don't want your talent.
No electricity.
£50 per show.
chris@unitedkingdomtalk.co.uk
WWW.UNITEDKINGDOMTALK.CO.UKSaturday's edition of my three times a week talk show.Watch the show here on... more
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The huge 50ft humpback – one of the world’s largest creatures at – is under threat.
In fact, thousands of whales worldwide could soon be condemned to a brutal death.
A 24-year ban on commercial whaling is at risk of being overturned, allowing Japan and other whaling nations to resume hunting later this year.
The plan to end the ban imposed in 1986 will be unveiled tomorrow at a Florida meeting of the International Whaling Commission.
The draft proposals, dubbed “shameful” by critics, aim to close a loophole that has allowed Japan, Norway and Iceland to continue to kill 1,900 whales a year.
These include whaling under the guise of scientific research.
The IWC is now seeking to set a cap on the number of whales hunted over a 10-year period but so far has not revealed the quotas.
In return, the IWC would create a South Atlantic whale sanctuary.
But last night conservationists said the deal would merely reward states which have defied the ban.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare said it could pave the way for a massive expansion of whaling once the initial 10-year period ends. IFAW spokesman Patrick Ramage said: “This is a proposal for the long-term conservation of whaling, not whales.
Whales were hunted to near-extinction in the 20th century but have now been brought back from the brink thanks to the IWC ban.The huge 50ft humpback – one of the world’s largest creatures at –... more
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Iceland’s proposal to become a free speech haven has just passed its first discussion in parliament, unopposed. The Icelandic Modern Media Initiative instructs the government to draft and enact a collection of laws relating to press freedom, source protection, immunity for carriers such as ISPs, and provisions against libel tourism.
While local legislation cannot provide complete protection for journalistic organizations even if their servers are located in Iceland, local assets and records could be immune to foreign judegments. In any case, the initiative is intended to create the strongest combination of journalism and whistleblower protection laws in the world. The proposal now moves to committee, after which there will be a second discussion and a final binding vote, according to Smári McCarthy of the Icelandic Digital Freedom Society, who was involved in drafting the initiative. That could happen as soon as a week from now, but more likely several weeks.
Member of Parliament and proposal sponsor Birgitta Jónsdóttir has promised that “all of my effort will be to get it out of committee.” The full text of the proposal is available here, and the machine translation into English is fairly readable.
http://www.niemanlab.org/2010/02/iceland-update-media-freedom-bill-advances/
Photo of Iceland by Trey Ratcliff used under a Creative Commons license.Iceland’s proposal to become a free speech haven has just passed its first... more
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myhead
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International Whaling Commission officials, including representatives from the U.S., Australia and Japan, proposed lifting a 24-year ban on commercial whaling in exchange for reducing the number killed each year.
The 88-member commission will discuss the proposal at its annual general meeting in Morocco in June, according to a draft on the IWC’s Web Site. Members of 12 countries endorsed the proposal in three closed-door meetings aimed at ending a stand- off between whaling and non-whaling nations.
The proposal, which needs approval from member governments and a two-thirds majority in the commission to pass, recommends quotas for commercial whaling that will be lower than the estimated 1,900 whales killed annually under scientific permits and other clauses in the moratorium.
“It’s sort of a whalers’ wish list,” Patrick Ramage, director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s Whale Program, said in a telephone interview today. “We’re taken aback by the apparent willingness of at least some of the countries to concede pretty much everything in return for what is alleged to be incremental reductions in overall whaling by Japan, Iceland and Norway.”
Japan and Iceland hunt whales using scientific permits they issue themselves, using a clause in the moratorium that allows “lethal research.” Norway opposes the ban and hunts outside IWC jurisdiction. The new proposal would bring all forms of whaling under IWC control and end the use of scientific permits, according to the draft.
Japan’s hunts in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary near Antarctica have led to clashes with environmental activists from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in recent years. Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said last week he will take Japan to the International Court of Justice this year unless it agrees to stop killing whales in Antarctica.
“Our organizations will publicly oppose any arrangement, whether interim or otherwise, that legitimizes a continuing catch in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, for any purpose other than catches allowed for a short phase-out” ahead of a total ban, the letter said.International Whaling Commission officials, including representatives from the U.S.,... more
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Whales are a symbol of world environmentalism. They were brought to near extinction by the indiscriminate hunting of 1800 and 1900, banned in 1986 with a moratorium respected by almost every country in the world, except Iceland, Norway and Japan. The latter country in particular has often been criticized by environmentalists because it is the world's largest market for whale meat.
http://www.inaltreparole.net/en/nature/balenegiappone180210.htmlWhales are a symbol of world environmentalism. They were brought to near extinction by... more
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How to make bread with only 3 ingredients – and one of them is Beer!
Bruce McToose The Celebrity Traveler and Explorer show you how.
And attempts to hike across Iceland.How to make bread with only 3 ingredients – and one of them is Beer!
Bruce... more
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Iceland is aiming to become a global haven for investigative journalism, with the country's parliament expected to vote through legislation protecting sources, guaranteeing freedom of speech and ending libel tourism.
Supporters liken the initiative to the offshore financial havens that corporations use to avoid government tax regimes – only for free speech.
The Icelandic Modern Media Initiative is due to go before the country's parliament on Tuesday, according to Jonathan Stray – a blogger for Harvard University's Nieman Journalism Lab. And the people behind Wikileaks have been involved in drafting the law.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2010/feb/12/iceland-investigative-journalismIceland is aiming to become a global haven for investigative journalism, with the... more
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