gpt-MT/evaluation/system-outputs/MS-Translator/isen/test.is-en.en

Shouting at the world
The marketing campaign Looks Like You Need Iceland is considered to have been off to a good start, and shouts and shouts in nature are starting to pull people all over the world.
"You have the idea, I need Iceland," says a woman in the big world in comments to an ad from the marketing campaign Looks Like You Need Iceland on the content provider YouTube.
Another observer said she will keep Iceland in her heart for all eternity, and a young woman says she must get to Iceland as soon as possible, as her fiancé lives there.
Unfortunately, however, she is in the U.S., so she expects to have to wait some more months.
Another observer asks if the hike to Iceland is capable, because there are no planes.
It doesn't follow the story of whether he comes from a different time zone.
Egill Thordarson of the advertising agency Peel, who was involved in the creation of the advertisements together with the international advertising agency M&C Saatchi, says that the reception has exceeded expectations.
"I was involved in a lot of Inspired By Iceland campaigns that have gone very well, but this new campaign is already breaking records.
Basically, it's about creating PR values, that is, getting foreign media to cover the campaign, and it's been incredibly successful.
In a relatively short period of time, we have received coverage in around seven hundred media worldwide, totaling over two billion people.
The value of this discussion is priced at ISK 1.8 billion.
It's not a bad thing."
The main market is usually United States and the campaign has been very successful there, even though the US is not heading to the country anytime soon.
According to Egill, well-known markets such as Denmark, United Kingdom and Germany have also been well received, such as Russia, which is a pleasant surprise.
There was also a reaction from foreign regions, such as India, which was not specifically suggested.
"These ads have travelled farther than we expected," says Egill, who has watched it on YouTube by over four million people.
"We couldn't have asked for a better start."
The photos here at the opening were taken by Árni Sæberg, photographer of Morgunblaðið, to shoot advertisements entitled "Let It Out" in the middle of last month.
The filming took place far and wide, such as on Skólavörðustígur in Reykjavík, in Reynisfjörur, by Skógarfoss, on Sólheimajökull glacier and in a cave at Hjörleifshöfði.
The directors were Samúel Bjarki Pétursson and Gunnar Páll Ólafsson at Skot productions and cameraman Óttarr Guðnason.
The roles in these films included Icelandic Anna Jia and Murphy Cardenas, who is from Cuba and Hungary.
Dozens of Icelanders were involved in the creation of the advertisements, but at the same time as recordings were made in South Iceland, there was another group in West Iceland and the Westfjords.
According to Egill, "Let It Out" is only the first part of the Looks Like You Need Iceland campaign, and the aim is to run a winter campaign in collaboration with M&C Saatchi.
"This is just the first phase of this work for Promote Iceland," says Egill, adding that the collaboration with M&C Saatchi has been extremely successful.
"It's great to work with them.
In these types of projects, it is important to have foreign partners with knowledge of the markets we are talking to."
Sprengisandur: Discuss the situation in the labour market, pension funds and much more
Ásmundur Einar Daðason, Minister of Social Affairs and Children, arrives in Sprengisand, which starts at ten o'clock on Bylgjan today.
He is also Minister of the Labour Market and discusses the situation in the labour market as such, the Icelandair case and other issues.
He also discusses rural issues and the relocation of jobs to a country that has gone badly and has been controversial in recent years and decades.
VR Chairman Ragnar Þór Ingólfsson will also attend the show, who will discuss his criticism regarding pension fund investments and propose ideas for the labour movement and employers to withdraw from the boards of the funds in order to reduce the risk of conflicts of interest.
In addition, we will talk to Ívar Ingimarsson, tourist operator in East Iceland, and Árnheiður Jóhannsdóttir, managing director of The Marketing Agency of North Iceland, about the situation in tourism in rural areas.
They will look ahead to the fall and wonder if the success of the summer is a misleading omen of what is to come.
You can listen to the episode below, which starts at ten.
This is what she looks like today 25 years later
Actress Elisa Donovan had a successful career in teen shows of all kinds.
However, she gained world fame for her role as Amber in the film Clueless 25 years ago.
She also starred in Sabrina: The Teenage Witch alongside Melissa Joan Hart, A Night at the Roxbury, and Beverly Hills 90210.
Donovan is now 49 years old, married with one child.
She hasn't had much of a breakthrough lately, but she got to look back and comment on Clueless on Australian television recently.
She speaks eloquently of Brittany Murphy, who died unexpectedly in 2009, and says she was a great person.
"I have to admit that I based my character mostly on girls I met in school who weren't nice to me.
As soon as I read the script, I knew who this character was," Donovan said of his performance in Clueless.
Didn't want to leave the police station after a night's stay
Around fifty cases came to the table of the Reykjavík Metropolitan Police today, and the police diary says that the cases were varied.
The day at the police station on Hverfisgata began with the police having to intervene with a man who had just been released from a holding cell after staying there for drunk driving.
The man did not want to go away after he was released and did not obey the instructions of the police who told him to leave.
The man earned a continued stay at the police station due to his efforts.
A man was arrested in the morning on suspicion of burglary at a company in Kópavogur.
Police also had to intervene with two men in Breiðholt for a report of assault.
It also occurred that a woman who was eating at a shopping mall in Kópavogur was unable to pay for the bill after a meal and was therefore called to the police.
There was also a report of a vehicle theft downtown this morning.
The driver of a white Renault van temporarily looked at her, and she was then taken unawares.
The car hasn't been found.
The Curse of the Happy Band - The Terrible Fate of the Glee Stars
A theory has caught on the Internet that there is a curse over the Happy Band series, but actress Naya Rivera drowned in California recently, becoming the show's third leading actor to die prematurely.
The episode of Glee is a popular series about singing, dancing and joy.
The series featured the so-called high school youth happy squad, their loves and destiny.
Being in the band wasn't always taken out with the bliss, but through singing and dancing, the characters of the show seemed to be able to overcome any circumstances that arose in their lives.
But off the set, the show's cast and employees have been ravaged by a massive disaster, so much so that theories have been raised that the show is cursed.
Naya Marie Rivera played the role of Santana Lopez on the show, a cheerleader who didn't call everything her grandmother.
After the series had run its course, Rivera married actor Ryan Dorsey and had with him her first and only child, Josey.
In 2017, Rivera was arrested for domestic violence against her husband and subsequently divorced.
However, Dorsey refused to press charges, and the domestic violence case was dropped.
On July 8, Rivera was reported missing after her four-year-old son was found alone adrift in a boat on Lake Piru, California.
The boy was found sleeping in a life jacket on board the boat, and he was able to tell police that he and his mother had dived and then Rivera had put him back in the boat but never returned there herself.
An extensive search for Rivera began.
The day after the search began, the local sheriff reported that a search assumed Rivera had drowned.
Five days later, Rivera was found and officially pronounced dead.
It is believed that she encountered a heavy current in the water and used her last claim to save the son.
Cause of death was recorded as accidentally drowned.
Cory Allan Michael Monteith played the role of Finn Hudson on the show, the American football player with the angelic voice who played a key role in bringing the Happy Squad to glory and respect.
Outside of the show, however, Moneith wrestled with personal demons.
Since the age of 13, he had struggled with addiction and found it difficult to escape it.
In 2013, his colleagues on the show felt enough, intervened and urged him to seek help.
Moneith then went to rehab and everything seemed to be looking better.
Just two months after he finished his treatment, Moneith was found dead in a hotel room after going out having fun with friends.
The cause of death turned out to be a lethal combination of drugs and alcohol.
It was not believed to be an act of will.
Moneith had undergone treatment, and his tolerance for intoxication had decreased to such an extent that a dose he had previously tolerated well proved fatal.
He was only 31 years old when he died.
His death weighed heavily on his colleagues, but at the behest of his co-star Lea Michele, it was decided to continue filming the show, dedicating a whole part to the memory of Moneith and his character Finn.
Mark Wayne Salling played the role of Noah "Puck" Puckerman on the show, Puck was an American football player, like Finn, and had little respect for his fellow Joy Squad students, until he gained the courage to admit that he enjoyed singing and dancing.
Two years later, Salling was arrested at his Los Angeles home on suspicion of possession of child pornography.
A search of his home found a massive amount of child pornography and the case soon became public.
It was clear that Salling was finished.
He was subsequently charged and convicted of his offences.
He faced four to seven years in prison, as well as having to be on the sex offenders register and seek treatment for child lust.
Before a judge had determined the punishment, Salling, who was then released on bail, was found dead near his home.
The cause of death was suicide.
It wasn't just the show's actors who passed away far prematurely.
Jim Fuller was the show's assistant director.
He died acutely in his sleep in 2013 at the age of just 41.
The show also featured a woman named Nancy Motes.
She was the younger sister of superstar Julia Roberts and did not bear the beautiful story to her sister, but she accused Roberts of his extreme manipulation and disrespectful demeanor.
Motes took her own life in 2014, but she struggled with major depression.
She left a letter to her fiancé saying that her mother and sister were responsible, among other things, for how she was arranged.
"My mother and my so-called siblings get nothing left of me except the memory that they were the ones that caused my worst depression."
Lea Michel was the star of the show.
She has recently been accused of bullying and bullying her co-stars on set and being extravagantly star-crossed.
Jesse Luken made a guest appearance on the show in 2012.
He was arrested and charged with drunk driving in 2019, which was considered a major scandal.
Actress Heather Morris had a major role on the show.
In 2010, she was exposed to unscrupulous hackers accessing nude photos of her and posting on the Internet.
Actors Melissa Benoist and Blake Jenner both starred in the show and had an affair outside of the show.
Benoist later reported that Jenner had abused her in the relationship.
You can put flowers on almost everything
It increases children's development when they get to play in the garden with their parents growing flowers and getting to watch them grow and thrive.
It can also be done endlessly with flowers, as Swedish photographer Anna Kubel points out.
Just having a moment with the children in the park is something you'll never forget.
They will remember the flowers, the fragrances and, of course, the precious time they had with their parents.
Bought a boat after 10th grade
"I don't think there are many fishermen working in the country's kindergartens," says Axel Örn Guðmundsson, who fishes on the coast in the summer but studies psychology at the University of Iceland during the winter.
Beach fishing is a very comfortable summer job when you are studying.
If successful, you can have a good income and I think it's great to be able to skip taking out student loans.
The income is also good enough for me into the winter," says Axel Örn Guðmundsson, a 25-year-old psychology student who fishes on the coast this summer as in recent summers.
Axel had just docked in Tálknafjörður when a reporter caught up with him late in the evening at the beginning of the week."
"During the winter I was in tenth grade, I took a boatmaster's license for boats under twelve meters long, and I bought my boat the summer after I finished elementary school.
I've been fishing on my boat all summers since.
I bought the boat used by an acquaintance of mine, Hartmann Jónsson, and I named the boat.
Hartmann was grown up when I bought the boat and stopped being at sea, and he was very satisfied when he saw that the boat bore his name.
Hartmann died a few years after I took over the boat," Axel said, adding that he bought the boat for three million.
"I made a deal with Hartmann to pay half, one and a half million, at the beginning of the summer, and the other half at the end of the summer when I had fished.
So I had the boat free of debt at the end of my first summer on it."
But how could a boy have a million and a half to pay out in a boat when he had just finished elementary school?
"I had saved and raised money, I had been working with my dad at sea when I was a boy, I spent all summers fishing with him and got my share.
I also put my bar mitzvah money in my boat fund."
Axel was born in Ísafjörður, where all his mother's people are from, but he has lived in Kópavogur since he was a boy.
"I am allowed to fish here in the west area because I am legally domiciled with my grandmother in Ísafjörður.
I learned about these areas out west from rowing with my dad.
I move between the fjords depending on how I feel, because this fishing area covers the entire Westfjords.
Although I think it's best to stay in the west, I have also fished around the Snæfellsnes peninsula and beyond.
I've also fished in the south, preferably grayling," says Axel, who always rows alone early in the morning and says that he sometimes talks to the seagulls and sings to the sky in the solitude for hours in the bale sea.
"The internet connection at sea is good, so I can call, listen to podcast shows and music.
I don't think it's a big deal to be on my own.
Of course I try to avoid getting into danger, but certainly there has been something wrong with the weather, but never much danger," says Axel, who is lucky that he is never seasick.
He says the length of the workday depends on how the fishing is going at any given time.
"In the coastal fishing I am never more than 14 hours fishing at a time, but I have also been fishing in other systems, for example in the rental quota, in which case I have been grazing at sea continuously for a day and a half fishing."
The coastal fishing regime, he says, is such that he can catch 770 kilograms a day, which he finds inhibitory.
"Other restrictions are that I am not allowed to fish Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and I am only allowed to fish twelve days a month, during the four months of coastal fishing, in May, June, July and August.
In my opinion, fishermen should choose their hunting days depending on the weather and nothing else.
This unnecessary pressure is on people to paddle instead of having 48 days throughout the summer and being able to choose according to their own preferences.
The regionalization could also go because of me and seascapes that are well located near fishing grounds should be able to enjoy it," says Axel, who mostly draws cod from salty seas on its coastal fishing, but also only saithe and occasional other species of rivers.
Axel works during the winter with his university studies at Núpur kindergarten in Kópavogur.
"I don't think there are many sailors working in the country's kindergartens," Axel says proudly, adding that he only intended to work temporarily at the kindergarten.
"I got stuck there because I think it's an awesome job.
I hope that my psychology studies will benefit me at the preschool level in the future," says Axel, who has also come a long way with a degree in business administration.
Registration error prevented repatriation contagion
An error in the registration form that people fill out when they enter the country resulted in a person residing in Iceland not being called back for testing.
It is not a requirement to register an identification number if the person completes the form on English, as is the case when it is done on Icelandic.
"This will be examined this week," says an expert at the Directorate of Health's Disease Prevention Department.
Three domestic infections were diagnosed at the virology department of Landspítali Hospital yesterday.
One of those who tested positive arrived in the country on 15 July, two days after the rules on the so-called return infection came into force.
Those residing in Iceland are then screened upon arrival and again invited for testing four to five days later.
It was stated in the RÚV lunchtime news that the person had, however, followed the old system.
The sampling at the border was negative and he was not called back for screening for the virus.
Kamilla Rut Sigfúsdóttir, an expert at the Directorate of Health's Disease Prevention Department, told the news agency that this can be traced to an error in the electronic registration form.
If people fill out the registration form on English, it is not a requirement to enter an ID number as in the Icelandic version.
After all, it was primarily intended for foreign tourists.
Therefore, the person concerned has not received an automatic invitation to come for sampling.
However, Kamilla says many people have followed the rules for a return infection portal, although they have filled the registration form on English, and in some cases, employers have also been vigilant about sending people for testing again after they arrived in the country.
"This will be looked at this week at how to make it easier for people to do this to draw their attention to the process."
The man is in isolation and six have been quarantined.
They all go for testing, but two were starting to show symptoms.
Contact tracing is currently underway at the three infections diagnosed yesterday, but it is largely complete due to two infections reported on Friday.
In both cases, sequencing Icelandic genetic analysis has revealed that there are variants of the coronavirus that have not been found here before.
In one case, the bond has focused on Israel although it is known that the person who introduced the virus to the country had also travelled to other European countries.
Kamilla says it should be known tomorrow where the other virus was coming from.
A total of 15 are currently in isolation according to the COVID site. is.
135 are in quarantine.
Four out of five infections unrelated
Five domestic infections have been diagnosed in Iceland in recent days.
Of these, four are entirely unrelated and, for example, the origin of the infection that occurred at yesterday's Rey Cup sporting tournament has not been identified.
Contact tracing is still ongoing.
Originally, over three dozen were uniquely sent to quarantine, but they were reduced to sixteen.
A total of 34 are quarantined due to these new infections diagnosed yesterday.
This is the second time in a short period of time that infection has been detected at sporting events and has raised questions about whether to hold such events.
Jóhann K. Jóhannsson, communications manager at the Civil Protection Department of the Icelandic Commissioner of Police, says that this is possible, as long as people follow norms and rules.
"We are constantly urging all those who live here that individual infection control measures need to be upheld.
We also need to urge people who are holding events that there are certain rules going on that need to be followed.
Then you can hold events," says Jóhann.
He says infection can be prevented by maintaining individual infection control.
Moreover, rules and norms are kept under constant review.
"What needs to be done, and what the Department of Civil Protection and the Directorate of Health are constantly urging people, is to consider these individual infection prevention measures.
Both at home and also at service companies.
That people wash their hands and use alcohol.
This prevents infection from spreading," says Jóhann.
"We need to urge people to continue on the good journey we were on, in order to sustain the progress we have made so far."
40% of COVID-19 victims had diabetes 2
Devon Brumfield heard through the phone how hard her father was getting his breath.
Her father had diabetes, so she encouraged him to seek medical help.
The next day, he was dead.
The death was attributed to sudden breathing difficulties due to coronavirus infection.
Diabetes was identified on the death certificate as an underlying problem, and Brumfield, who also has diabetes, is terrified the same is going to happen.
Reuters says Brumfield's fears are not unfounded.
Figures from a new study commissioned by U.S. authorities show that nearly 40% of those who have died had type 2 diabetes as an underlying disease.
When looking at the percentage of those who had not reached the age of 65, the percentage rises to half.
A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) investigation involved more than 10,000 people in 15 states who died of the coronavirus between February and May.
Jonathan Wortham, an infectious disease specialist at the CDC, says the findings are striking, not least for those diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and their loved ones.
Hidden in slow growth, Reuters commissioned a survey, pointing to the responses from the 12 countries that responded to comparable rates.
10 states, including California, Arizona and Colombia, are not yet reporting underlying diseases.
"Diabetes was already an epidemic of slow growth.
Right now, COVID—19 has broken through like a powerful wave," Reuters quoted Elbert Huang, director of the Center for Chronic Disease Research and Policy at the University of Chicago.
Diabetes is more common among blacks and Latino people, who have also been worse affected by the coronavirus.
One of the best protections for those with type 2 diabetes is to control the disease through exercise, a healthy diet and the help of health care professionals.
However, the coronavirus pandemic has made it difficult for many to maintain a routine.
The high price of insulin has forced some to keep coming to work, thereby risking being exposed to the virus.
Reuters notes that U.S. authorities may have been aware of the dangers those with type 2 diabetes could pose from the virus.
When SARS coronavirus passed in 2003, more than 20% of them had the disease, and during the swine flu epidemic in 2009, this group had a three times higher risk of having to be hospitalized.
When MERS did so in 2012, one study showed that 60% of those who died or were admitted to intensive care had diabetes.
Charles S. Dela Cruz, a researcher at Yale University, says that because the effects of the COVID-19 virus could last longer, the pandemic has uncovered a number of previously naughty complications.
"I fear we will see a tsunami of problems when this is over," says Andrew Bolton, chairman of the International Diabetic Association.
Doctors have warned that the coronavirus pandemic may indirectly lead to an increase in diabetes-related complications, including kidney disease and kidney dialysis.
Similarly, new research suggests that the coronavirus may lead to an increase in diabetes cases.
Reuters says researchers are trying to understand the link between the coronavirus and type 2 diabetes.
The virus attacks the heart, lungs and kidneys, organs that are already weak in many people who have diabetes.
A high glucose to lipid ratio in diabetics can also produce a true "cytokine storm," as it is called when the immune system overreacts and attacks the body.
Damaged endothelial cells can also lead to inflammation, which in turn can cause fatal blood clots.
"It's all one big puzzle," says Dela Cruz.
"It's all interrelated."
The story has been corrected.
"We were offered champagne, then they left the room"
The couple Ásrún Magnúsdóttir and Atli Bollason responded to the unusual request from artist Ragnar Kjartansson to have sex in front of a camera for a work the artist was installing in Paris.
"We loved each other so it wasn't complicated."
Atli Bollason will never forget the first time he met his wife and mother of his child, Ásrún Magnúsdóttir.
"I was very fascinated by her.
Naturally, it was just the radiance, but then I also thought it was totally outrageously cute.
And still feel," he says.
Ásrún remembers this too, as her husband recalls the first meeting regularly.
"I'm always hearing that story.
Last time just this weekend," she says, who was also attracted to her husband on first impression.
"I felt and feel so excited around Atli, which I like.
There's a lot going on and a lot going on, and I was fascinated by that."
Atli says that the couple emphasized in their relationship to go their own way.
"We don't tie our bags in the same knots as our fellow passengers.
We avoid routines we analyze around us."
This is possibly why they welcomed the talk from artist Ragnar Kjartansson, although it was unusual to say the least.
"Our mutual friend Kristín Anna contacts us and asks if we can come to eat desert with her, Ragga and Ragnar's wife Ingibjörg, on Snaps."
They accepted the invitation, met the trio on Snaps, and had desert wine and separate desserts.
They listened to Ragnar, who led them through his plans for an art exhibition he was planning to put on at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris in the autumn.
"He had a multi-channel video piece called Scenes from western culture.
He described it in a simple way."
Ásrún says that he described the work as banal and decadent scenes from everyday life of Westerners.
"He had sketches of all the scenes he was going to shoot and last time he told us what he wanted to know if we were interested in getting involved in."
The scene that Ragnar asked the couple to join was supposed to show a young middle-class couple making love in a minimalist room.
"This is intercourse with a beginning and an end," says Atli.
The couple didn't know Ragnar much, although they knew about him and him about them", but they knew us and thought we fit in.
They said they didn't want to advertise for people.
Maybe they thought they wouldn't get the right people but people who would get sexually masturbated from performing for others."
They said goodbye to Ragnar and agreed to think about it, but it didn't take long.
"When we walked out of Snaps, we said, 'Aren't we just up for this?'
That's the way it was.
I trust Ragnar as an artist and his whole team," says Ásrún and Atli.
"It's about love and intimacy"
The scene was filmed in a fancy apartment on Mýrargata.
There was a very small film crew there; cameraman, Ragnar and sound engineer and the couple.
After recording was turned on, everyone left the room to wait in the car except Atli and Ásrún.
"We hadn't decided anything about what we should be like.
We were given some small instructions, but we tried to forget the time and place.
To be unaware of what we were doing and for whom.
Nothing was played, we just loved each other, so it wasn't complicated," says Ásrún.
But was it romantic?
"Yes, it was a bit romantic," Atli says, and Ásrún agrees.
"We were offered champagne before they left the room.
It was a bit like being on vacation in a nice hotel in Paris."
The team was pleased with the couple's performance in the work that moved them.
"When Tommi the cameraman looked at it, he cried, he thought it was so beautiful," Atli says.
"It's as much about love and intimacy as it is about sexual intercourse itself," Ásrún says.
The couple's parents have seen the piece and Atli says that his mother heard the voice of the son at the Reykjavík Art Museum and realised that he was part of the work.
"Then she turns around and starts thinking about it," Atli says.
"Mom and Dad saw it in Paris.
We hadn't told anyone that way, but then my dad just texted me and said, 'Nice to run into the little family in the Palais de Tokyo,'" Ásrún recalls.
And I wonder if the participation in the work has deepened the relationship between Ásrún and Atli.
"At least we're still together, so maybe it deepened somewhat.
At least it deepened my relationship with my family-in-law," says Ásrún with a laugh.
Ásrún herself saw the work in Copenhagen with her colleague.
"I found it a little hard not to be with you but with someone else," she says, turning to her husband.
"But it was nice to see it because it's just one scene in a much bigger piece and when you saw it with the other pieces, it's really cool.
I could kind of break away from it and I was just proud.
And there was the little pea in my stomach," says Ásrún, who was pregnant with the couple's second child when the scene was filmed.
"It was just beautiful."
Anna Marsibil Clausen talked to Ásrún and Atli in Love Stories on Channel 1.
Swansea winning the first semi-final
Swansea defeated Brentford 1-0 in a dramatic match.
This was the first game between the teams in the semi-finals of the playoffs to qualify for the English Premier League.
The game took place at Swansea's home ground in Wales.
The score at half-time was 0–0.
The Swansea visitors were awarded a penalty in the 64th minute but Andre Ayew reacted from the penalty spot and let himself be defended.
Just two minutes later, Brentford's Rico Henry received the red card.
So Brentford played the rest of the game a man fewer and in the 82nd minute Swansea players took advantage of the team difference.
Andre Ayew made up for the penalty kick by scoring a brilliant goal, giving Swansea a 1-0 victory.
Swansea lead it 1-0 in the duel, with the second game taking place next Wednesday at Brentford's home ground.
Ambassadorless for five years from 2009
Jeffrey Gunter Ross, the US ambassador to Iceland, is in the spotlight of the media after CBS announced this morning that he wanted an armed bodyguard because he feared for his life.
However, it has not been without difficulty for the President of the United States to appoint an ambassador in this country.
Since Carol Van Voorst stepped down as U.S. Ambassador at the end of April 2009, she has been ambassador-free for 62 months, more than five years.
Van Voorst left office under peculiar circumstances, but Spotlight reported in 2009 that she should have received the Falcon Medal.
On her way to a farewell meeting with the President of Iceland, she received a call from the Oval Office stating that she would not be honored with the medal.
After she left Iceland, she taught international relations at Army War College.
Sixteen months passed before Van Voorst's successor came into office, in September 2010.
This can be attributed to some extent to the fact that Robert S. Connan had been appointed as ambassador, but then dropped out.
The job was finally taken over by Loius Ariega, having worked in the foreign service for decades.
He retired in the fall of 2013 and assumed the post of ambassador in Guatemala.
Then another ambassador-free period took over.
Robert Barber was approved by the US Congress in January 2015 and came to office shortly thereafter, after which no ambassador had been present for 13 months.
Barber was politically appointed, not a diplomat, but had worked as a lawyer and supported Barack Obama's campaign fund.
He retired as soon as Donald Trump assumed the presidency on January 20, 2017, as is customary with politically appointed ambassadors.
The Trump administration took an unusual amount of time to appoint both ambassadors and senior officials in Washington's administration.
It took two years before the United States Congress convened Jeffrey Ross Gunter to question him and confirm him as ambassador to Iceland.
In his parliamentary testimony he said that he had never been to Iceland but often to Western Europe, but his wife, who has passed away, had been of Dutch origin.
Gunter is politically appointed, formerly a California dermatologist, and has been a prominent member of the Republican Jewish Coalition.
Casino owner Sheldon Adelson founded that organization, while Adelson is an enthusiastic supporter of Donald Trump.
Gunter joined Iceland in May 2019, when there had been no ambassador since early 2017, for two years and four months, which is the longest in Iceland.
This is due both to the length of time the Trump administration was nominating key officials, as well as the fact that in recent years the work of the US Congress has been greatly delayed, including the confirmation of ambassadors to office.
Since 2009, it has been a total ambassador in Iceland for over five years.
However, this has not prevented the construction of the embassy, which recently opened its headquarters at Engjateig.
The project is estimated to have cost about ISK 6.5 billion, but the building is surrounded by thick security walls and bulletproof glass is in all windows.
However, that doesn't seem to have been enough to fill the current ambassador with a sense of security because he is said to fear for his life and has requested an armed bodyguard.
Former ÍBV player suffered racism in Iceland - "It was a mistake to come to Iceland"
Tonny Mawejje, a former IBV player, says that he suffered racism when he was in Iceland and that he regrets coming to the country.
This is revealed in an interview with Tonny that appeared on the Ugandan Daily Monitor.
Tonny recently joined Uganda Police FC playing in the Uganda Top League.
In the interview with the Daily Monitor, Tonny discusses many things, including his time in Iceland, playing with ÍBV, Valur and Thórðr in Iceland.
"When I came to Iceland I didn't play midfield like I used to play.
The captain of the team was in that position but he also had the jersey number I wanted so I didn't get either of what I wanted," says Tonny, who played on the right side during the season with IBV.
Among the things Tonny discusses is the racism he suffered in Iceland.
He says it's a problem that many black players face when playing in Europe.
"It happened to me once, but since I didn't understand the language, I just ignored what was said to me.
Later, I heard about the case, and then I asked my friend what it was all about.
He then told me that my opponent made racist comments about me after I tackled him."
In 2014 Tonny left Iceland for Norway, where he joined Haugesund.
In it, he claims to have made the mistakes he regrets the most.
Tonny hadn't been able to make it to the starting line-up at Haugesund, but he wanted to play more to make the national team.
Then he asked to go back to Iceland on loan, but he joined Valur.
"It was a mistake to come back to Iceland on loan.
I think if I had stayed in Norway longer I would have had the opportunity I wanted," says Tonny, who hoped that if he played well in Norway he would probably go further.
He insists that his loan to Iceland has destroyed his dreams of making it to a major league in Europe.
Found a worm in a woman's throat
Doctors at St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo found a 3.8-centimeter-long black worm in the tonsils of a woman looking there.
Doctors managed to pull the worm out with tweezers.
Investigation revealed that it was a parasite.
CNN is reporting this.
The woman had a few days before eaten sashimi, which are thin slices of meat.
The woman recovered quickly after the worm was removed, but parasites like this are often contained in raw meat or fish.
After sushi broke ground in the West, the number of cases of parasites being introduced to people has increased, CNN reported.
Fears that a second wave is about to begin in Europe
Spain is now in the spotlight amid concerns over the second wave of the coronavirus in Europe, where governments have taken action to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic again.
In Catalonia, all entertainment has been put on ice for two weeks, but there are more cities than Barcelona where infections are on the rise.
Other European countries have also taken action on the rise in infections in Spain, but in the UK everyone has to quarantine upon their return from Spain, as in Norway, and France has been warned against travelling to Spain.
Infections are also rising again in France and Germany, as governments try to find a balance to curb the spread of the virus and restart the economy.
However, the situation in Europe is good compared to the rest of the world, with the global incidence approaching 300,000 per day, with the highest infections in the Americas and South Asia.
The number of confirmed infections has reached 16 million globally, according to the Johns Hopkins University census, bringing the number of deaths confirmed to be related to the virus to 644 thousand.
Gerður's mosaics finally get to the fullest
In front of the Customs House in Reykjavík is a large and deep hole.
In it are men with orange helmets.
There is also a large grave.
And more smaller machines.
The street is closed to traffic.
But the sidewalk is capable, and now many people pause to look at the artwork made of millions of mosaic tiles — as if they've never seen it before.
Maybe they've never seen it before.
At least not respected.
The work has so far been somewhat hidden, right in front of it were parking spaces that were always besieged.
People parked there, locked the car in a hurry, and then jumped off to run their errands in the city centre.
"Lively and diverse public spaces" and "attractive city vibes" are guiding principles in the restoration of the current Tryggvagata.
The goal is to beautify the area and allow Gerður Helgadóttir's mosaic work at the Customs House to enjoy the vision better.
In front of the project there will be a square and as the area is well close to the sun, it is considered suitable as a residence area for pedestrians.
The artwork will be illuminated and the material will now be enjoyed more than before on this 142 square meter surface.
The area will also feature small "fog sprayers", a kind of water sculptures, that offer play and provide a certain mystique to the area.
In this way, the renovations are described by the City of Reykjavík, which is currently undergoing construction along with Veitur Utilities.
The pipes of the water supply, district heating and electricity supply will be renewed.
Many of them have come to their years, but the sewage and cold water pipes date back to 1925 and have therefore served downtown residents and businesses for nearly a century.
When the street is reopened after construction, cars can drive around it again.
However, it will become a one-way street, while creating a quieter and more accessible space for walking.
Information about the Customs House on the customs director's website says that the building was opened in 1971, but its architect was Gísli Halldórsson.
Because a harbour shed reached through the house, a 250-square-metre windowless wall surface was created out to the street.
The building committee and the architect agreed that such a surface would adversely affect the overall street picture, if no special measures were taken to adorn the appearance of the building.
The parties therefore agreed to expect to have a permanent artwork installed there.
At this time, a lot of talk went from Gerður Helgadóttir, an artist, says in the summary.
She had worked extensively on mosaic art in Germany and elsewhere.
It was decided to contact her first before deciding whether to compete for the work.
It had often been discussed that the work needed to mirror life at the harbour, as the harbour had been the lifeblood of Reykjavík since it was made.
When talking to the artist, she had to trample into such a work.
It was agreed that she would receive drawings and other assistance before leaving the country again, where she would work on the proposals abroad.
Gerður was given the time she decided she needed for herself, and when she returned home, she made a few suggestions for discussion.
It was agreed without delay to ask her to do the work.
At the same time, it was requested to enter into a comprehensive contract with her and the famous German art company, The Brothers Oidtmann, who had long worked with them on the installation of famous works of art around Europe.
A deal was reached and Gerður worked on the artwork for the installation of the workshop of the brothers, who then took care of the installation of the Customs House.
The whole work was done exceptionally well, both by Gerður Helgadóttir and the Oidtmann brothers, the summary says.
It has ever since withstood the harsh Icelandic weather.
It took Gerður about two years to do the work, which was carried out and installed in 1972 and 1973.
The artist died two years after the Customs House work was completed, aged just 47.
Preparing to move more agencies out to the country
Minister of Social Affairs Ásmundur Einar Daðason announces that more public institutions will be exported to Iceland in the near future.
That's what the minister said on The Explosion on The Wave at noon.
It was recently announced that the Fire Department of the Housing and Construction Authority will be moved north to Sauðárkrókur in the autumn.
Six fire experts work for the agency, but none of them intend to accompany the agency north, and the National Association of Firefighters and Ambulance Workers has criticized the resettlement.
"I think we should take further steps to this end.
I'm preparing for further steps to this effect.
Further transportation," said Ásmundur.
He says he is convinced that the vast majority of the population wants to see more distribution of public institutions across the country.
"I think further political decisions need to be made about the transfer of public jobs to the rest of the country, as I was doing with the Housing and Construction Authority," said Ásmundur, who also gave examples of other institutions that have been exported to the country and were of great importance to communities in the country, such as the relocation of the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority to Selfoss,  The National Land Survey of Iceland to Akranes and unemployment insurance in Skagaströnd.
All the highlights from the second day of the Championship
94. The Icelandic Athletics Championships ended at Þórsvellir in Akureyri today.
Several tournament records were set on the second day of competition.
An exciting competition in the women's sledgehammer event was expected at Þórsvellir, but Vigdís Jónsdóttir from FH set an Icelandic record in sledgehammers in 2014, which lasted until Elísabet Rut Rúnarsdóttir from ÍR improved the record in May last year.
Vigdís won the Icelandic record back earlier this summer and has been in fantasy form lately, but she has tripled the Icelandic record so far this summer.
Elizabeth Ruth has been dealing with injuries and did not recover today.
She had only one qualifying throw out of five, throwing 25.69 meters, which is far from her best.
Vigdís threw the longest of all today, 60.08 metres in her last attempt and also set a tournament record.
Her Icelandic record set earlier in July is 62.69 metres, so she was quite a bit away from it.
Guðrún Karítas Hallgrímsdóttir from ÍR had the second-best throw of the day, but she improved her best result with a throw of 50.18 metres.
In the men's category, FH player Hilmar Örn Jónsson, the Icelandic record holder in a sledgehammer, won a sure victory, throwing 73.84 metres in his second last throw and setting a tournament record.
His Icelandic record in the event is 75.26 meters.
Guðni Valur Guðnason, an Olympian and Icelandic record holder in the round, won a ballpark competition at Þórsvöllur yesterday, but today he competed in a roundabout, which is his main event.
Guðni Valur's Icelandic record is 65.53 metres, but he threw the longest 59.13 metres today and claimed the victory.
Valdimar Hjalti Erlendsson threw the second longest today, but he had one valid throw that lasted 2nd place, 49.43 meters.
Hafdís Sigurðardóttir, the Icelandic record holder in the long jump, won the long jump competition with excellence, while Hafdís jumped the longest 6.25 metres today, which is just under 40 cm from her Icelandic record.
In the women's 200m race it was ÍR-inginn Guðbjörg Jóna Bjarnadóttir who was the fastest runner-up, finishing in 24.04 seconds, while her Icelandic record in the event is 23.45 seconds.
Guðbjörg Jóna was victorious in Akureyri, but she won two gold medals yesterday, in the 100m and in the 4 x 100m relay, and also in the 4 x 400m relay today.
In the men's category, Kolbeinn Höður Gunnarsson from FH was first in the 200m race in 21.57 seconds, 0.3 seconds ahead of Ármann's Óliver Máni Samúelsson.
Like Guðbjörg Jóna, Kolbeinn Höður won gold in the 100m yesterday, as well as in the 400m.
Doesn't get a fine for a $27 million Bitcoin harvest
The Internal Revenue Service has rejected a claim by the IRS that demanded a fine on a person for under-reporting his capital gains that were generated from the sale of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin.
The panel concludes that the IRS had not clearly argued why it was necessary to fine the man.
The committee's ruling states that the IRS believed the man had filed materially incorrect tax returns for the income years 2016 and 2017.
He would have under-reported his capital gains resulting from the sale of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin of 27 million, either intentionally or out of gross negligence.
The man should be fined for his conduct.
The man rejected it in a letter to the committee.
However, he admitted that in 2016 he sold cryptocurrencies for 27 million.
He would have acquired it by burial in 2009 and 2010, when it would have been both easy and uneasy with a regular home computer.
He then pointed out that when he sold the cryptocurrency, the tax execution for such a sale was significantly unclear and unpredictable.
Citizens could hardly have been expected to be aware of such measures on their tax returns.
He would not have intended to avoid paying tax on the harvest and would have accounted for his property on the tax return as a deposit in the foreign exchange account.
He would have inquired from both connoisseurs and the IRS about how this was done, but to no avail.
He also believed that it needed to be taken into account that he was neither born nor raised in Iceland and had only lived here for a few years when he began digging for Bitcoin.
He would therefore have been in a worse position than others to study complex rules on which the tax authorities had not formed a clear opinion.
The man therefore considered it appropriate that his taxes for these two income years should be recalibrated and the burden applied, but otherwise not punished.
He reiterated that he worked in Iceland and had paid taxes in Iceland since 2012.
He would never have intended to evade his duties unduly.
The demand for a fine would be out of proportion and would plunge him into debt.
Brynjólfur raises the issue: "This man understands what football is about"
Brynjólfur Andersen Willumsson has been quite a bit between people's teeth but has also been impressed by his efforts so far this season with Breiðablik in the Pepsi Max League.
The Blues will be in the line of fire tonight when they receive ÍA live on Channel 2 Sport.
Brynjólfur then takes out the suspension due to four reminders during the season and therefore does not show up with a new haircut, as in summer games so far.
He had "blah, blah, blah" written on his head before last Thursday's match with HK, which HK won 1–0.
"I don't know who exactly he was answering with the payment, but speaking of character, this one was definitely trying in the game.
He didn't go into hiding.
He wants to get the ball every single time and if anyone was going to tie this game, I thought he would do it or make it," said Guðmundur Benediktsson in the Pepsi Max box when it came to Brynjólfur.
"I'm supposed to be here for the people."
"It's hard at times to know what position he's in.
He looks a little bit out on the left side as the games go by, but he has a very free hand in the team," Hjörvar Hafliðason said.
Þorkell Máni Pétursson tells Brynjólfur a real entertainer and celebrates having such a colourful man in the league: "No one disputes that this is character.
It's a fun type, and I love the hair thing, and always being ready to show up and respond in interviews.
There's an incredible amount of people busy with him, who tell me that this man understands what football is about.
"I'm an entertainer.
I'm supposed to be here for the people and enjoy it."
The people are reading the interviews with Brynjólfur, people are paying in and watching what's next on his hair.
This man is just a genius," Moon said.
Kr player says he wants to leave the club - "I've been in contact with several teams in the B-League"
KR's Tobias Thomsen in the Pepsi Max League appears to be leaving the team.
According to Danish medium Bold, Tobias is ready to return home to Denmark.
Fótbolti.net also reported on the case.
Tobias wants to get the start of the season in his home country, but for that he must first cancel his contract at KR, where the Danish league starts before the Icelandic ends.
The club knows I miss Denmark and has shown a lot of understanding to me," Tobias told Bold.
"I've been in contact with a few B-League teams and will probably switch over before the Icelandic season ends.
There are not many teams in Denmark that can afford to pay off my contract with KR."
He also says that he will probably have to take a pay cut in Denmark.
"Companies in Denmark have probably felt more of the economic impact of the virus than in Iceland."
Bike whisperer Bjartmar has recovered bikes for millions - Now responding after DV coverage
For over a year, Bjartmar Leósson has had a hobby unlike most others.
He sniffs and saves lost and stolen bicycles, e-bikes and scooters.
Bjartmar has earned the name "bike whisperer" as a result.
Yesterday there was quite a bit of fuss when a man published an account of his dealings with Bjartmar.
DV then referred to a discussion on the Vesturbær Facebook group, where it was stated that Bjartmar had taken the man to talk in Austurvellir and said the scooter was possibly stolen.
The original writings of the electric shuttle man could only be read that Bjartmar thieved him.
That text has now been changed on Facebook and the headline of the original DV news story updated accordingly.
Bjartmar says the original news on the case is not at all representative of what actually went on yesterday in the EastFjords.
Bjartmar said he was informed by the victim of an electric shuttle that these were indeed their electric shuttles.
That information was received by the alleged owner from others, but the information turned out to be wrong, says Bjartmar.
"I saw the guy and I recognized the shuttle, having information that there was an electric shuttle that had been missing for a very long time and had been searched for.
I certainly hesitated at first, but when I saw him getting ready to drive off on the shuttle, I decided to punch talking to the man.
The owner was sure, so I decided to have a conversation with the man.
In general, I do very fine things like this, but before I could finish what I had to say, the man had taken the word from me."
Bjartmar says the man on the electric shuttle immediately invited him to show him the receipt for the bike and called the police himself.
"yes, cool," Bjartmar said, "let's just get this straight."
Eventually, the owner of the electric shuttle proved ownership of his electric shuttle and drove off.
Later, the right owner of the electric shuttle shared his story on Facebook, as reported in a previous story.
During the more than a year that Bjartmar has pursued this practice, he says he can count the times he encountered people on one hand.
"I have had peaceful relations with Reykjavík's most difficult people," Bjartmar said, pointing out that bicycle thieves are by far the smallest brothers and sisters in society, addicts, mentally disabled people and other people who for some reason are on the streets.
"The addiction is a hard master and somehow the next dose has to be financed, unfortunately theft of such movables is an easy way to achieve that goal," says Bjartmar.
"My interactions with these people are really so good that I've brought a lot of the good people on my side.
There are examples of people going to rehab and getting their act together and then reaching out to me and helping me with what I'm doing," he says.
In general, Bjartmar's interactions with cyclists are on a polite level.
Some people know about him and what he's doing and peacefully offer to show him receipts, bike stall numbers, and so on.
Bike theft is a major problem that has been little addressed.
Furthermore, Bjartmar says that the police have even begun to suggest people to talk to him about stolen bicycles.
Bjartmar is dissatisfied with DV's earlier reporting and says he is not some kind of self-proclaimed police in a personal search for justice.
When asked whether he has not yet arrived on slippery ice with his actions, and whether this is not primarily the role of the police, Bjartmar says it certainly is.
"Of course the cops are supposed to do this, but the fact of the matter is that the cops just aren't doing it.
For example, I've watched police officers drive away from a large pile of stolen bikes.
She is frankly powerless in these matters."
"When the cops aren't doing anything about it, and it's just right under your nose, and experience has shown that I can succeed in this area, then why not?" asks Bjartmar.
He claims to have been so successful in tracking down stolen bikes that sometimes he bumps into his "clients" on the street that they just handed the Bjartmari bikes they had previously picked up.
On occasions when Bjartmar has called for police assistance, there have been occasions when she just doesn't show up.
"It's just not working with the police, and it's not my fault, and it's not the owners of the bicycles," Bjartmar said, and I'm sorry that the victims of bike theft have to suffer from police indifference in this area.
Bjartmar's success is not disputed.
In many places you can find stories of people thanking Bjartmar for getting their belongings back to them.
Bjartmar himself says he has long lost count of the number of bicycles he has returned, but the amounts probably run into millions, if not millions.
Electric scooters, e-bikes and electric shuttles weigh heavily, but e-bikes can cost upwards of half a million.
Bjartmar works during the day in kindergarten and every other weekend he works in a community.
His bike search is therefore unpaid work that he does in his spare time.
Pension funds and long shadows
The year 2019 was a big anniversary year in the history of pension funds in Iceland.
True, officials had received pensions from the King of Denmark since the 19th century, but in 1919 a pension fund for civil servants was established, which eventually became the pension fund for all civil servants.
The basis for the current pension funds of general wage earners was then laid by a comprehensive collective bargaining agreement in the labour market in 1969, which provided for employment-related pension funds with compulsory membership and full-fledged fund-raising from the beginning of 1970.
In 1974, laws were passed on the basis of these agreements, and the pension system continued to grow stronger thereafter.
The workers' pension system was not the only radical change driven by the 20th-century labor movement through its collective struggle.
Unemployment insurance had been obtained in a similar way during a historic strike in 1955, and the organization also gradually advanced its claims for sickness rights and sickness funds, significant vacation entitlements, shortening of the working hours, housing reforms, and other important things.
All these rights cost a great and rigorous struggle but, in retrospect, proved to be a much greater and more lasting benefit than the increase in the amount of money in the wage envelope, which disappeared equally hard in the pit of inflation that characterized the period after the war and into the 1990s, as many remember.
The run-up to the establishment of general pension funds in 1969 was both long and complex.
Although it was eventually agreed that the funds would in fact be the property of fund members, the labor movement had to agree that their boards should be composed of representatives of employers and fund members on an equal basis.
In the years following the establishment of the funds, the demand for the majority of workers on the board of the funds was often discussed in workers' organisations, but it never materialised, and so we are still stuck with the abnormal arrangement that the representatives of the fund members do not have a majority on the boards of the funds.
Article 36 of Act No. 129/1997 on Compulsory Pension Insurance and on the Activities of Pension Funds discusses the investment policy of the funds.
It states in item 1 that "a pension fund shall have the best interests of its members at heart."
Item 5 also states: "A pension fund shall set ethical standards for investments."
The shareholders' policy of the Pension Fund of Commerce includes the following provisions, following the aforementioned legal provisions:
The Pension Fund is a member of the United Nations (UN PRI) Rules on Responsible Investments, along with many of the largest pension funds and professional investors in the West and in Europe.
The rules discuss how a focus on environmental and societal issues as well as good corporate governance can contribute to improving the investment performance of portfolios.
In this way, the interests of investors coincide with the aims of society in a wider context.
LV considers it important that companies, especially those listed on the stock market, establish a public policy on: maintaining good corporate governance terms of social responsibility and the environment.
The Pension Fund Value, which has the largest funds in Iceland, has established a "policy on responsible investments" and there are provisions of a similar nature.
This is all recalled here as an introduction to Icelandic latest buzzword, "shadow management".
Since the word is new to the matter, there is no hope that it has been fully defined, but it now seems to me that the following definition is "most taken": Shadow management is when a union leader says in the media that he intends to send recommendations or instructions to the union's representatives on the pension fund board on how to take a position on a particular matter.
If they do not follow the recommendation, they will be removed from the board at the earliest opportunity.
If the leader doesn't take this to the media and doesn't talk about dismissal, then it is not "shadow management", as such human-to-human relations are, of course, omnipresent in the financial world as elsewhere.
I leave it to the reader to consider which way they find "more sinister."
There are two people in particular who have tried to formulate this definition at the time of writing, on the morning of Saturday, July 25, 2020.
These are Hörður Ægisson journalist at Fréttablaðið and Ásgeir Jónsson, Governor of the Central Bank.
The occasion for both sides arose after Bogi Nils Bogason, CEO of Icelandair, had announced his intention to terminate the company's agreements with flight attendants and flight attendants (terminating them), and Ragnar Þór Ingólfsson, chairman of the Reykjavík Chamber of Commerce, sent out a recommendation to the company's representatives on the board of the Pension Fund of Commerce not to support the Fund's possible purchase of shares in the company,  Otherwise, they might be dismissed.
Some time later, Bogi Nils withdrew his decision, as a result of which Ragnar Thor followed the same path with his recommendations, which were, of course, based on Bogi's decision.
Nevertheless, Hörður and Ásgeir saw reason to expand on the matter in Fréttablaðið's Friday newspaper with big words about shadow management, law violations and a strong need for changes in the law.
A small pile was indeed supposed to roll over a heavy load, though the blessed meadow had been in subjunctive mode and, moreover, been wiped out quickly.
Since the issue is important, let's consider the topic itself at the end.
I raised above the points in the Pension Funds Act that pertain to this matter.
These imply that fund managers are required to protect the interests of members and have ethical standards in investments, and these points are further elaborated in the articles of association of both Value and the Pension Fund of Commerce as I mentioned.
Pension funds, on the other hand, should NOT look only at short-term profitability considerations in their investments.
Such a policy would be extremely dangerous and do not have to look long for examples of this in the past, where large loans from banks and funds have flowed to immoral adventurers and environmental messes, with disastrous consequences.
The CEO of Icelandair was obviously on slippery ice when he thought of wiping out an entire group of employees, thereby significantly reducing the goodwill that the company has enjoyed in Icelandic market and weakening its position vis-à-vis investors.
Fortunately, he came to his senses and pulled it back.
Time will tell whether this is sufficient for pension funds' investment in the company to be considered liable to members in the end.
The author is a former professor of physics and the history of science.
One of the infected did not use a return contagion
One of the three people diagnosed with Covid-19 in the country yesterday arrived from the Baltic state on 15 July, about a week and a half ago.
However, he is an Icelander who does not reside here on a regular basis and therefore did not receive clear instructions to use a so-called return infection procedure after arriving in Iceland and undergo a second test a few days after arrival.
He got negative from screening at the border.
"But he's in Icelandic community and really should go to that resort," Kamilla Jósepsdóttir, a specialist in the Disease Prevention Department at the Directorate of Health and deputy chief epidemiologist while on summer vacation, told Fréttablaðið today.
"He did English use the registration form and there is no obligation to register the ID number and if the ID number is not registered then you are not automatically invited to the second sample."
She says that the man was able to use English the registration form because he actually resides abroad, but because of his network in Iceland as an Icelander, he should have used it Icelandic.
But he didn't realize it.
"When the ID number is not registered, you have to seek to come for the second test yourself.
Neither he nor his employer seem to have realized that it was the right way," says Kamilla.
"So it's clear that we need to strengthen the information on this while we find some way to automate the messaging system even if Icelanders don't register their social security number.
Or somehow make it more obvious who is involved in Icelandic community in the registries system," she explains.
Fortunately, few people got along on arrival in Iceland, although he is defined as a participant in Icelandic society, being an Icelander.
Only six have been sent to quarantine after he was diagnosed yesterday, and these six were all in contact with him.
They are yet to be tested, but two of them have begun to show symptoms of Covid-19 infection.
The man tested negative at the border on 15 July.
Kamilla says it's likely he was so recently infected with the virus that she was not yet able to detect it when the sample was taken at the border.
She does not want to rule out the possibility that the man was infected here in Iceland but did not carry the virus with her to the country.
"You can't quite argue that this is definitely an imported infection because it's been so long since he came to the country that he might have been exposed here like these two that have caused a bit of a stir in relation to the sporting events."
But that's what she says is highly unlikely because of how few people hung out here.
"It's actually highly unlikely," says Kamilla, but notes that it can't be ruled out until Icelandic genetic analysis has sequenced the human virus.
"If we get a virus type that hasn't been seen here before, it's almost certain that he carried it to the country."
Pepper spray and bombs used against protesters
Clashes erupted between police and protesters in Seattle last night.
Police used pepper sprays and non-lethal grenades, while protesters smashed windows and set fire.
45 protesters were arrested and 21 police officers were injured.
Police violence and racism were protested across the U.S. last night, while the Seattle protests were in support of protesters in Portland, Oregon.
In Austin, Texas, one protester was shot dead.
As revealed by the BBC, the attacker has been arrested.
In Seattle, thousands gathered in peaceful protests.
A group of people then set fire to a construction site and smashed windows in the city's courthouse.
Police said the protest was a riot and clashes erupted between groups of protesters and police.
Demanding justice In Aurora, Colorado, Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old black man killed by police in August last year, was remembered by protesters.
A car drove through a group of protesters in the city, but no one was injured.
In Louisville, Kentucky, hundreds of black National Guard troops gathered and demanded justice for Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old black woman killed by police at her home last March.
The group carried firearms and marched in formation to a closed intersection where police separated the group from a group of people protesting the protest and also carrying firearms.
Meanwhile, 75 were arrested in Omaha, Nebraska, where protesters remembered James Scurlock, a 22-year-old black man killed by a white bar owner in May.
Solskjær: Not the game that defines our season
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær does not want to overstate the importance of today's match with Leicester in the final round of the Premier League English.
If United lose the game, and Chelsea do not lose against Wolves, Solskjær and his men finish 5th, thereby missing a Champions League place.
However, they would still have hopes of reaching the Champions League by winning the Europa League next month.
"We're not at the end of the line yet.
If we get a point against Leicester, I think people will say we haven't had a bad season," he said.
"But whatever happens, it's not the end of our journey because we still have a lot to do to get the two teams above us," Solskjær said.
It is clear that human nerves will be stretched at 15 today, but Solskjær tried to pretend that it was any other game.
"If you want to be part of Manchester United, you have to get used to being under pressure in the last game of the season.
This is nothing new, and this is what the company builds on.
We have created a great opportunity to end the season well and now it is up to us to take advantage of that," said Solskjær.
"It's not the most important game of the season, it's just the next game.
You can ask anyone in football, the next game is always the most important.
The results don't define our season, we've already had a lot of moments that define this season."
"The arrival of Bruno Fernandes changed a lot for us and I think overall we are in better shape and much stronger mentally than last season," Solskjær said.
65,000 infections a day
65,490 new coronavirus cases were diagnosed in the U.S. yesterday, according to John Hopkins University.
A total of 4,178,021 infections have been confirmed in the West since the start of the pandemic in that country.
900 people died from the virus yesterday, but in the four days leading up to the virus, deaths from the virus were more than 1,000 a day.
In total, 146,460 deaths from the virus have been confirmed in the United States.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's forecasting model, the number of deaths from the virus will reach 175,000 on August 15.
Fearing the second wave of the pandemic
Spain's government is now trying weakly to contain the country's increased spread of COVID-19.
Spanish health authorities reported over 920 new cases of COVID—19, both on Thursday and Friday.
No more people have been detected in a day since the beginning of May, and the reports come as Spain begins lifting one of the strictest curfews in Europe.
The backlash led to British authorities now obliging passengers arriving from Spain to quarantine upon their return.
A week earlier, Spain was on the British list of safe states.
The situation is worst in Catalonia in northeastern Spain, where the government has imposed broader restrictions in an attempt to stem growth.
In the capital Barcelona, entertainment venues will be closed for the next two weeks and wavehouses will be ordered to close at midnight.
The curfew is now in effect for 200,000 residents in Segria County in western Catalonia.
It is believed that the UK's decision will have a negative impact on the Spanish economy, which relies heavily on the arrival of foreign tourists and is badly affected by the pandemic.
Tui, Britain's largest travel agency, cancelled all flights planned today to Spain and the Canary Islands.
Governments around the world are said to be preparing for the second wave of the pandemic, but there seems to be little interest in re-imposing a massive curfew that has widely devastated the economy.
For example, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has taken great pain, likening it to nuclear weapons he does not want to use.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex has also said the nation "would not survive, economically or socially," if a nationwide curfew were reinstated.
Many councillors hope that local measures that reach residents of individual towns, cities or regions will be enough to contain the virus in the next round if it does.
Five new infections in Iceland - Three domestic
Three domestic infections were diagnosed yesterday, plus two more at the border.
Thus, five people were diagnosed with a positive Covid-19 infection yesterday in Iceland.
The civil protection announcement says one of the infections is linked to the infection reported yesterday at the ReyCUP football tournament.
The person has been sent to solitary confinement and sixteen who were in close contact with him in quarantine.
The infected person was a participant in the social activities of a sports club in Reykjavík and, according to the announcement, "only part of the sports team" is in quarantine.
Others sent to quarantine relate to the man in a different way.
The origin of this infection is undiscovered and contact tracing is in full swing by the National Commissioner of Police's contact tracing team.
ReyCUP tournament organisers have followed the guidelines and rules of the Chief Epidemiologist and Civil Protection that are still in force and appropriate measures have been taken.
However, pictures of the tournament yesterday attracted attention, as one could see in a very close communion celebrating the success of his team out on the pitch.
Just before 11 a.m. today, motorists posted the following announcement on their Facebook page.
It reads "NOTE: Parents please respect the rules that contestants pick up their own stuff at school.
Parents are NOT allowed to do that.
Thank you for your understanding."
Another infection was diagnosed yesterday, but is related to the infection reported the day before.
The announcement reads, "Icelandic genetic analysis has sequenced the infection and a new type of virus has been identified that has not been detected here before."
Contact tracing is underway in that case as well, and the infected person is in isolation and 12 are in quarantine due to the infection.
The third infection in question is from a man who came to Iceland 11 days ago on 15 July.
He was diagnosed in the southwest corner of the country.
The man is now in isolation and six people who were in close contact with him in quarantine.
Two of them are already showing symptoms of viral transmission.
In addition, two people were identified at the border and the results of further investigations are pending as provided for by the border infection procedure.
Finally, the announcement reads: The Civil Protection Department of the National Commissioner of Police and the Office of the Medical Director of Health urge people to take precautions and pay close attention to individual infection prevention.
If there is the slightest doubt as to whether symptoms of the Covid-19 virus are present, the same person is asked to go for testing at the nearest health care centre.
Patreksfjörður says the campsite is booked during the bank holiday weekend - Directs guests elsewhere
The camp site in Patreksfjörður is fully booked this weekend, according to a statement from Vesturbyggð.
Guests are advised to explore other accommodation options.
Mentions Vesturbyggð Bíldudalur, Tálknafjörður, Melanes in Rauðasandur, Hotel Flókalundur and Hotel Breiðavík as alternatives.
There is plenty to do in Patreksfjörður this weekend, because like previous years, Skjaldborg, a festival Icelandic documentaries will be held in the town.
It has been held since 2007 and has become a strong tradition in the town.
Judging from the attack on the campsite, good attendance can be expected this year, if the weather does not set in, but DV earlier today reported a bad forecast.
However, expect the worst weather in the south, and hope for the Patreksfjordurs.
The site bb.is first reported, saying that all other accommodations in town were already fully booked.
An entire apartment building decays to the best location in the city
Romanian workers live free at Dunhaga 18–20.
Meanwhile, the owners are seeking a building permit for renovations, but their business has been successful in the system for a third year.
In one of the oldest, greenest and most expensive districts of the City of Reykjavík stands a generous apartment building on three floors.
On the ground floor of the house there is about 600 square meters of commercial space.
Behind the house are the doors of two stairwells, each of which holds four fairly generous apartments.
They range from 93 to 130 square meters, although most are over 100.
The house has quite a history.
It was built in 1959 and has, among other things, housed a video store, the Shoe Salon, a dairy shop at Mjólkursamsalan, Jóa gunsmith, fish sales and, most recently, University Print.
The house has, to put it mildly, remembered its finer beauty.
The house is now heavily damaged, as can be seen in the attached photos.
The owner of the building is D18 ehf.
Owners of D18 ehf. are according to the register of companies among others Magnús Magnússon and Guðrún Helga Lárusdóttir.
Magnús led the ownership group of Borgun and was the head of the holding company Borgun.
Among the owners of the holding company Borgun is Stálskip ehf.
Steel ship ehf. is an investment company of Guðrún Helga Lárusdóttir and her children.
Guðrún is also the owner of a third share in D18 ehf.
Guðrún and her husband, Ágúst Guðmundur Sigurðsson, once ran the fishing company Stálskip.
D18 ehf. bought the house in the summer of 2009 and has therefore had little or no maintenance since then.
Neighbors say that the condition of the house has deteriorated steadily since, though most in recent years.
On the Facebook page of neighborhood residents, one resident says the house "hasn't been particularly lively in recent years."
This may play into the fact that the owners have for several years sought to change the house and land.
Other neighbors say the house has long been not in order.
"It's high time to do something decent with this spot, and I'm sorry it dragged on like this."
He also says that he is furious at the owners of the house for not rushing to finish it, finding some common ground with the neighbors of the house and stopping this "legal stunt".
"Just do it in consultation with the surrounding community so you can get on with it and get it done."
The "legal staple" the resident refers to is the plot planning process that has been going on at least since 2017.
The owners of Dunhaga 18 and 20 sought permission to build a floor on top of the existing apartment building and behind the house, a new elevator building and an extension on one floor, as well as a basement.
The building permit granted for that project was appealed to the Environmental and Natural Resources Complaints Committee, and the committee repealed it as the project was not based on the site plan and the local announcement was not satisfactory.
The City of Reykjavík then started with subdivision work and concluded it with an advertisement in the Official Journal in July last year.
That structure was also appealed, and the committee repealed it in March 2020.
At this point, therefore, nearly three years had passed since the original application for a building permit and the owners of the building at the beginning.
The house had by this time been dragged down considerably, and neighbors began to tire.
When DV asked the neighbors of the house about the situation and the response of neighbors, the answers were in various ways.
Some had an understanding of the intentions of the owners of the house, others did not at all.
Others turned their anger at the city, others did not.
Others were just angry, but not necessarily at anyone.
Still others said the parking lot was contentious, but neighbors have used the unused Dunhaga 18–20 parking lot for their vehicles.
One complainant in the case said he was weary of the administration:
"For us to have to go through the process on three occasions is just unbelievable.
It's like the City of Reykjavík can't read."
Today the house stands empty, abandoned and neglected.
A monument to the city's suspended administration and the noble intentions of the owner and their many years of work that is now at the beginning.
When a reporter arrived at a park on Dunhaga 18, he blasted open doors and piles of rubbish.
A Playstation and a recent TV lay among other debris on the planet — victims Icelandic summer wet.
It was open to the old University Print office, judging by the smell of.
It is clear that someone has nested in one corner but none are visible.
Stacks of sofas and beds, and a few pallets of geological pages, which were no doubt to become a book, blew up.
The stairwells of the apartment building were also open and life in both of them.
A journalist was lucky enough to run into the inhabitants of one of them.
Were there Romanians boiling a potato dish for dinner and inviting a journalist in.
The Romanians work for the temporary-work agency Ztrongforce ehf.
They have been there for some time, and DV sources say that the company paid nothing for the premises except heat and electricity.
Due to the condition of the building, it is not considered justifiable to collect rent.
Judging from the posts in the lobby of the building, it is clear that there have been a number of foreign workers living there in recent months.
The operation of temporary-work agencies has not been affected by the Covid-19 situation, as the decline in tourism led to a recession in the construction sector and these two businesses have been most diligent in using temporary agency services.
Nevertheless, the household members at Dunhaga 18 seemed to have plenty to do, and the work suits and gloves in the common area hung to dry after a long day of work in the rain.
It should be noted that despite the miserable condition of the house, the apartment shared by the boys seemed to be nicely maintained.
When a journalist said goodbye to the Romanian boys, the irony suddenly became clear: In the best location in Reykjavík, a 1,500 square meter property stands dilapidated.
The owners want to change the house for the better, and neighbors want an improved condition but dispute the definition of "improved."
In between, the city's planning department sits at the beginning, victim to endless appeals and appeal options in the planning process and the suspended resolution of the Environmental and Natural Resources Complaints Committee.
The house is occupied by Romanian workers, perhaps precisely those who go to improve the situation, when the Icelanders stop arguing.
The article originally appeared in the DV weekend newspaper on July 17.
In an effort to combat overweight in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic
Britain's Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, will give £10m to an anti-obesity campaign, which will include a ban on fast food advertising, following his serious illness, partly due to his weight.
Johnson is scheduled to launch the campaign, which has been titled Better Health, tomorrow, Monday, but the campaign will encourage doctors to prescribe cycling for their overweight clients, as well as launching an effort to increase the number of cycling paths.
Meanwhile, the advertising of fast food restaurants on television will be banned by 21 p.m., according to British media sources.
"COVID—19 has raised us to the short- and long-term risks of being overweight, and the prime minister is determined that we must use the time to become healthier, more active and eat a healthier diet," a government spokesman said.
Johnson himself has had weight problems, but he was admitted to intensive care when he contracted the coronavirus in the spring, partly due to his weight that he is believed to have become so seriously ill.
Women better suited to lead the change
She said that the new constitution is the biggest step the nation can take towards greater decentralisation, transparency and in working against corruption and in the interests of the whole.
"We need to start shifting gears a little bit now, and who is better suited to lead that kind of change than the group of society that is more comfortable in these values.
There are women," Helga said.
"Women in Iceland are famous for their women's solidarity.
To stand together and be together in leading change.
So now it's just our turn to lead these changes."
She said she was a little apprehensive about the emphasis on Iceland as "the best in the world" on both gender equality and human rights.
"Then we're not as ready to look at what needs to be done.
As the Germans are very aware of their history and look at everything that needs to be done.
It's a lot.
We need to know where we're coming from and know the story and listen.
Listen to the voices of marginalized groups.
We don't have the same rules all here," Helga said.
When asked, she said that women are in many ways in good shape in Iceland, but added that, as in many other places, Icelanders have extremely masculine values.
She said that politics, for example, revolves around self-interest, dominance and power, which are the forces that perpetuated inequality in all societies.
"Women have now formed this group and come together and are just getting a little annoyed that Parliament is going to fail to ignore this 2012 referendum," she said.
"It's these feminine values that we're thinking this through.
From human rights and nature conservation, cooperation and that we all really sit at the same table," she said, adding that the aforementioned values are the core values of the new constitution.
"We are a very rich country of natural capitalism and it is ridiculous that there are people living in poverty here.
It's ridiculous, we can switch differently," helga said.
"It's absurd that there's any natural law that women's jobs are always paid lower.
It's absurd that flight attendants and nurses have to fight endlessly just to get a decent salary."
The petition for a new constitution can be signed here via electronic Iceland.
Tried to rob a pedestrian downtown
A man was arrested downtown last night after he threatened pedestrians and tried to get money from him.
Police also stopped the production of drugs in Árbær, where two people were arrested in connection with the case.
Police also stopped the driver of a motorcycle in the Hills where its driver was moving at 146 km/h with a top speed of 60 km/h.
Moreover, he had previously been disqualified.
The Reykjavík Metropolitan Police had their hands full last night and more than 80 cases were recorded in the police diary from five yesterday to five this morning.
Back then, there was a particularly high level of noise reporting for parties.
On Saturday night, reports of eleven noisy parties were received, which was considered a great deal in the police diary.
Last night, however, there were 22 noise cases on the police table.
Six people were detained in a holding cell last night.
In Árbær, police were called last night when parties launched fireworks.
However, they had gotten out of the way by the time officers arrived.
Nine drivers were then stopped for drunk and or drug driving.
Four people were arrested for a fight downtown last night, one of whom was detained in a holding cell.
Two people were taken to an emergency room after they fell on their faces, one downtown and the other in the West Village.
One was taken to the emergency room after he was injured jumping on a trampoline in Kopavogur.
In addition, officers stopped a driver who pulled a trailer at Kjalarnes yesterday.
The caravan's bicycle gear, according to the police diary, was in "very bad condition" and it was detained.
You can stay at Monet's house on the bank holiday weekend
The house, where impressionist Claude Monet spent the last forty years of his practice, is now available for rent on the Airbnb site.
The next available nights in the house are on the bank holiday weekend.
The house is small and adorable, located in the town of Givenry in Normandie, France.
The world famous painter lived in the house from 1883 until his death in 1926.
The house has three bedrooms, two lounges and three bathrooms.
Monet was first inspired to paint his famous gardens in this house.
If someone intends to rent the house, they must rent at least two nights.
Based on Airbnb's site, it's next available in a week, on Sunday of the shopping weekend, so it might be a good idea for some shopkeepers on vacation to get on with booking the painter's house.
The two nights over the bank holiday weekend cost no more than US$964 or just over $130,000 Icelandic as the newspaper gets closer.
Dozens in quarantine and several of them beginning to show symptoms of the disease caused by the coronavirus
Five people have been diagnosed with the coronavirus domestically in the last three days, with most of the infected unconnected.
Dozens have been quarantined because of this, and several of them have begun to show symptoms of the disease caused by the virus.
Three were diagnosed with the coronavirus domestically yesterday and two during border screenings.
An expert at the Directorate of Health says that the growing number of domestic infections does not necessarily mean that the virus is spreading more widely into the community.
"The previous domestic infection has been sequenced and there is a virus that hasn't been seen here before so we have no particular reason to think it has been hidden in society for some time.
This is probably something that has just arrived in Iceland, but of course we need to be very vigilant now," said Kamilla Sigríður Jósefsdóttir, expert at the Directorate of Health's Disease Prevention Department.
Most of the infected have been in contact with individuals who came from abroad.
Further testing will take place in the near future, but some who were in contact with the infected have begun to show symptoms of the coronavirus.
"Right now, there's no influenza going on and less about other respiratory infections, so we can be pretty liberal about doing these tests on individuals who, during influenza time, would have found a reason to do something else first," Kamilla said.
Contact tracing is mostly complete, but there is no way more people will need to quarantine.
Two of the infected were diagnosed after attending sporting events.
This has raised questions as to whether it is justifiable to hold such events.
The civil protection communications director says it's possible as long as people follow norms and rules.
Kamilla says it's almost impossible for the infected to have been infected at the sporting events.
"If there aren't more people in isolation from these individuals after hanging out with them at these sporting events, then we can argue that our quarantine at the tournaments worked.
But that's not yet revealed," said Kamilla.
The procedures of the Civil Protection Department are under constant review.
"We need to be ready to intervene with further advice or restrictions if it seems warranted," Kamilla said.
In just over a week, the number restrictions are scheduled to be extended to a thousand people.
This new situation could have an impact on relaxations.
"Certain meditation to cook" - See Eliza Viðar's menu
Elísa Viðarsdóttir is an accomplished footballer who plays for Valur.
She is also a master's student in nutrition, mother, and works as a food scientist.
She needs a lot of energy for the routine of the day and usually takes the time to cook good and nutritious food.
My normal day starts with coming to work from eight," Elisha says.
"After work, I go to the store to be able to prepare dinner before picking up my girl from kindergarten around three o'clock."
Eliza finds it very nurturing to pick up her daughter early in kindergarten.
"It's good to have time with her before I go to training in the afternoon.
After training, it's good to come home and just have to warm up your food.
At night, when the girl is asleep, we like to watch one episode to clear our minds."
Elisha does not follow any particular diet.
She is completing her master's thesis in nutrition, so she knows very well what is right for her to eat to have enough energy to do work, school, family and exercise.
"What suits me is eating a variety of foods that are well composed of proteins, carbohydrates and fats.
However, I think the most important thing is to have a healthy relationship with food and not categorize food as bad or good, rather nutritious or nutritious.
You see, it's OK to eat everything, just not all of a sudden and not always."
Elisha is very interested in cooking.
"I think there's a certain meditation in standing in the kitchen cooking, so I'm very interested in it.
I have to say that my confidence is with me in the kitchen and I sincerely believe that I am a good cook."
Breakfast: Oats, chia seeds, hemp seeds, salt, a little lemon juice, leave in almond milk overnight.
Then top this meal off with what you have at any given time.
Most often it is banana and crispy muesli & COFFEE.
I'm a big coffee lady.
Snacks: Incredibly uneven, but fruits or vegetables, flatbread, pure skyr with bananas and muesli, bread with toppings, and then I could eat hummus with a spoon out of a box if that's the case.
Lunch: I often make all kinds of hearty salads from what's available in the fridge, quinoa or barley, falafel buns, rocket salad, oven-baked vegetables with good dressing is a bit of what I'm working with.
If the organization gets completely out of hand (which often happens), then the egg machine at work has come to my rescue quite often, and then it's 2 slices of bread with butter, cheese and boiled egg, don't put any more effort into you.
Snack: Get something carbohydrate-rich for exercise, bread with toppings, cereals or fruit.
Dinner: Fish will very often be chosen in my home, otherwise some delicious vegetarian dishes.
Clashes between police and protesters in Seattle
Seattle city officials in Washington have declared a state of insurgency following mass protests in the city centre.
Police yesterday resorted to flash bombs and pepper spray in an attempt to clear a large area occupied by protesters, stretching across multiple blocks in the vicinity of the city's Parliament Building.
Police announced on Twitter that at least eleven protesters had been arrested and that an investigation was ongoing into the vandalism carried out at a police station in the city yesterday, possibly with some kind of bomb.
City and police officials say protesters stoned police with stones, bottles, detonators and other loose items, and one officer was taken to a hospital where his injuries were repaired.
However, the protests in Seattle were peaceful for a long time.
They were called on to show solidarity with protesters in Portland, Oregon, where the city has repeatedly faced fierce clashes between protesters and heavily armed federal forces.
There, as in other U.S. cities, people gather under the banner of Black Lives Matter, remembers Georges Floyd, who was killed by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25, protests systematic racism in American society and demands remedial action.
Not revoked until after voting
It is not yet clear whether the cancellations of Icelandair's flight attendants, which are due to take effect at the end of the month, will be revoked.
The electronic vote on the Icelandic Cabin Crew Association's collective wage agreement on behalf of Icelandair's flight attendants ends at noon tomorrow.
Guðlaug Líney Jóhannsdóttir, chairman of the company, says that he is confident that Icelandair will not make a decision on the cancellations until the outcome of the vote is known.
"It definitely hangs together," says Guðlaug Líney.
"There have been no redundancies revoked, this has to start being in place so that the machines can be manned.
Then, of course, people are anxious to know if they will have a job after the end of the month."
A deal signed a week ago is voted on the night of July 19.
It is expected to remain in force until the end of September 2025 and is based on a contract previously voted on by flight attendants.
On 17 July, the Board of Directors and the Board of Trustees of the Icelandic Cabin Crew Association agreed to call an all-military work stoppage at Icelandair, the members agreed in a vote.
This was never the case, but this was decided following Icelandair's decision to discontinue negotiations with the Cabin Crew Association, terminate all its flight attendants and seek agreements with another union.
In addition, the company's pilots were to temporarily take on the duties of security crews on board.
Asked how she thinks the vote will go, Guðlaug Líney says it's hard to say.
"People are hurting from Icelandair's attack, when all the airline's flight attendants were laid off and informed that an agreement would be reached with another union.
Now we'll see if it's having an impact," she says.
940 flight attendants worked for Icelandair at the end of April, when 900 of them, approximately 95%, were laid off.
Their notice period varies in length, for those with the shortest working lives it is three months and therefore ends at the end of July-August.
This group includes 90% of Icelandair's flight attendants.
What will happen if the contract is not approved?
"Then we request continued discussions with our counterparts.
With this agreement, we are meeting Icelandair's demands.
If he is rejected, it is clear that the flight attendants feel that they have gone too far."
Voting on the collective wage agreement ends and Icelandair announces its second quarter results tomorrow
The stewardess' vote on the new collective bargaining agreement ends at 12 noon tomorrow.
Icelandair's results for the second quarter will also be published tomorrow, but preliminary operating results indicate that the Company's revenue has decreased by 85% from the same period last year.
Electronic voting on the collective bargaining agreement between the Icelandic Cabin Crew Association and the Confederation of Icelandic Employers for Icelandair began on Wednesday, July 22nd, and ends tomorrow, Monday 27 July, at 12 noon.
Those who may vote on the agreement are Icelandair employees who pay membership fees to the Icelandic Cabin Crew Association.
Icelandair and FFÍ signed a new collective wage agreement on Sunday 19 July, but on the previous Friday Icelandair had ended negotiations with the company after the airline hostesses cancelled the previous agreement in a vote in early July.
At that time, Icelandair had dismissed all the airline's flight attendants and flight crew on Friday, but they were withdrawn after the new collective wage agreement was signed.
Under the new collective wage agreement, flight attendants must fly five hours more per month for the same basic salary.
The collective wage agreement is valid until 2025, which has integrated the provisions of pilots and flight attendants on how long they can fly on one shift.
The agreement was presented to FFÍ members at a meeting at the Hilton Nordica Hotel last Monday, and many flight attendants interviewed by the news agency expressed dissatisfaction over the deal.
Most of them, however, seemed to agree that the deal had to be approved to keep the FFI alive.
Icelandair's results for the second quarter will be announced tomorrow, but the Company's EBIT, its operating results for financial items and taxes, according to preliminary operating results, are negative by USD 100 to 110 million, or approximately Icelandic ISK 15 billion.
Icelandair sent preliminary calculations to the Stock Exchange last Wednesday, which said that the company's revenues amounted to approximately USD 60 million in the quarter, or around ISK 8.3 billion.
Cash and its equivalent were approximately USD 154 million at the end of the quarter, around ISK 21 billion.
Icelandair also plans to auction the company's share capital in August.
Icelandair plans to complete agreements with fifteen creditors, the government and the Boeing aircraft manufacturer by the end of the month before the share offering.
A new variant rather than a new type of virus
"A new virus just means that this has been an individual who came from abroad.
This is not something that has been simmering in Iceland," says Már Kristjánsson, chief medical officer at the infectious diseases department at Landspítali University Hospital, about reports that a "new type of virus" has been detected in Iceland.
Three domestic infections were diagnosed yesterday and two at the border.
One who was diagnosed had participated in the social activities of a sports club at the Rey Cup football tournament, but the origin of the infection remains undiscovered and contact tracing is ongoing.
An individual who arrived in the country on July 15 was also diagnosed, and two people who were in contact with him have started showing symptoms of COVID—19.
Then, yesterday, an infection related to an infection reported the day before was diagnosed, and after sequencing by Icelandic genetic analysis, "a new type of virus has not been detected here before."
Contact tracing is complete in relation to that infection.
Már states that it is not a new virus, but that it is the same virus that has spread around the world, i.e. the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.
It is more accurate to talk about a new variant of that virus than it is about a new type of virus.
Asked what that means and if it could say anything about the start of the second wave of the pandemic, Már says that currently it is a single case and it may turn out to be no more.
"But on the other hand, if there are cases domestically that do not have links from abroad and have the same genotype as this particular variant, then that conclusion could be drawn [about the second wave], but it is premature at this time," explains Már.
Happiness in the hot tub
Is the secret to Icelanders' happiness hidden in the hot tubs?
BBC programmers lead to the odds in an entertaining video that highlights the country's pool and hot tub culture.
Icelandic the bathing culture is unique globally and it is claimed that there are nowhere in the world as many bathing places per inhabitant.
Natural geothermal energy is its foundation, but also the tradition of swimming that prevails here.
Children's swimming lessons were mandatory in 1940, but seniors are equally diligent in using the hot water for their health.
Swimming is described as a permanent part of the general well-being of the country.
In the pot, everyone is equal, regardless of class and status.
Free of mobile phones, people talk on a personal level about home and space or enjoy the palliative power of water: meditate and charge the batteries of soul and body.
On the brink of a hundred days in elections
It is a hundred days before Americans go to elections and choose a four-year president.
Donald Trump is seeking re-election, but he is on the brink.
Joe Biden, the upcoming Democratic Party candidate, has a big lead over Trump nationwide, based on polls.
According to a new AP survey, a record number of Americans believe the nation is on the wrong track.
Trump's response to the novel coronavirus pandemic is also very unpopular, and moreover, more Americans than before believe that the president has held the economy poorly.
Specifically, only two out of ten Americans say United States are on the right track.
32 percent say they support Trump's response to the pandemic and 48 percent say he has kept the economy well.
In March, that rate was 56 percent and in January it was 67 percent.
According to the FiveThirtyEight average, Biden's support is 49.9 percent nationwide, while Trump's support is 41.9 percent.
Trump himself has tried to shift attention away from his performance against the pandemic to Biden, promote so-called cultural disputes and proclaim policies designed to address law and order.
Biden's candidacy, however, is making great efforts to keep focus on Trump and believe there is a high likelihood of winning if the election is really about how Trump has done his job in the last four years.
Trump's unpopularity also seems to come down to Republican congressmen, with progressives fearing that Democrats could even gain a majority in the U.S. Senate, which so far has been considered very questionable.
Politico announced recently that if party and candidate remain comparable to what it is now, the Republican Party would receive its biggest disaster in decades.
Suburbs have proved particularly bad for the party in the 2016 parliamentary elections, and now it looks like this trend will continue.
Trump has in recent days tried to scare suburban residents into following him, including saying that if Biden becomes President, he will destroy America's suburbs and spur racial strife.
Among other things, Trump has repealed a regulation since Barack Obama's time in the White House designed to diversify suburbs.
He then urged the "housewives" of the suburbs of the United States to read an article by the former lieutenant governor of New York, in which she claimed Biden would destroy the suburbs of the United States, and accepted Trump.
"Biden will destroy your neighborhoods and the American dream.
I will preserve it, and even make it even better!" the president said.
The population of suburban America is an ever-growing group of voters.
According to NPR, they make up about half of all voters in the United States.
Ever since George W. Bush was re-elected in 2004, the candidate who has received the majority of this group's votes has become president.
Except in 2012, when Mitt Romney got the majority of votes from this group but lost to Barack Obama.
Opinion polls have shown that although Trump secured a narrow majority in the suburbs in 2016, his support there has fallen sharply.
While it varies between polls, Biden has measured about a fifteen percentage point lead over Trump in the exodus recently.
Regis Philbin is dead
American television presenter Regis Philbin has died at the age of 88.
Philbin worked as an actor, showrunner, presenter, and singer for about six decades.
He is best known for managing the popular talk show Live! with Regis between 1988 and 2011 with Kathie Lee Gifford and later Kelly Ripa.
He has also hosted shows such as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and America's Got Talent.
According to Guinness World Records, Philbin is the person who has spent the most hours on American television, and he has been recognized to that effect.
He received six Emmy Awards in his professional life and was nominated a total of 37 times.
According to a statement from his family, Philbin died of natural orcs.
A number of colleagues, friends and fans have remembered him on social media in the last 24 hours.
Will the Olympic fire be the light at the end of the tunnel?
After a final decision was made to postpone the Olympics, an event hailed only by world wars so far, the president of the International Olympic Committee said the famous Olympic flame would be "the light at the end of the tunnel," referring presumably to the coronavirus pandemic through which the world is now moving together.
Achievers have another year to prepare, and authorities in Japan add to the cost of the delay.
At least everyone keeps their heads up, as there's a lot at stake.
When it was announced that Tokyo in Japan would be the venue for this year's Olympics, the celebrations of the Japanese representatives were genuine.
They cried and laughed alternately, as Tokyo had applied to host the 2016 Games, but this time bowed down to Rio in Brazil.
This time, Tokyo city and Japan would bathe in the world's attention.
The Games were scheduled to take place from July 24 to August 9, but have been postponed for a year, starting instead on July 23, 2021 and ending on August 8.
If the Games cannot be held then, if the coronavirus still becomes too much of a threat, the Games will be cancelled.
However, no one wants to think that thought through.
The Olympics are no ordinary sporting competition.
Nothing is spared, the show should always be spectacular and strive to top the last games.
The selection of a city for the Olympic Games is based on a selection committee's assessment of the cities' presentations.
The more spectacular the presentation is — the greater the chance of receiving the prize.
Tokyo spent $150 million trying to host the 2016 Olympics, roughly $20 billion.
The second time, when applying for the 2020 Games, $75 million, around ten billion ISK, was put into the presentation.
In 2013, when it was decided that Tokyo would receive the Games this year, the Japanese authorities had already spent the equivalent of ISK 30 billion on the project.
But that amount is just a drop in the ocean compared to how much it costs to build Olympic villages, stadiums and generally to strengthen the country's infrastructure to handle such tournaments, prepare it and host the Games themselves.
Organisers in Japan have said the Tokyo Olympics, which should have been running these days but have been postponed for a year due to the coronavirus, would have cost $12.6 billion.
However, a report from the Auditor General in Japan released at the end of last year stated that the cost was almost double that number.
It will probably not be possible to fully estimate the cost of postponing the Games, but it has been estimated that it may cost between two and six billion dollars in addition to the original costs.
The total cost to the Japanese Olympic Committee and Japanese taxpayers could therefore run between $15 and $30 billion.
That's so high that all tax revenue Icelandic the state would only cover about half of the Olympics, at the lowest possible cost.
The Olympics are an event of such magnitude that they have often become the subject of economists, who try to look at numbers and look at the benefits and benefits of the Games.
In short, quite a lot of people seem to have come to the conclusion that the impact of the Olympics is less than positive for the economy of the cities that host them.
There are some short-term effects, for example, jobs increase dramatically in the short term, but in the long run cities tend to be left with debt and the alarmingly high operating costs of little-used infrastructure.
Rio in Brazil is left with significant debt for the 2016 Games and has been struggling to sponsor maintenance of all the large sports facilities built for the Games.
Figures have been reviewed after the 2012 London Games, which found that only 10 per cent of those who got employment linked to the city's Olympic Games were unemployed before.
This means that there were no new jobs except to a small extent.
In general, cities haven't come out very well financially to host the Olympics due to the slippery costs associated with the structures built for the Games.
However, benefits are often thought to be due to the increased traffic of tourists wishing to visit the Olympic cities following the Games, which, however, is highly uncertain regarding the 2021 Games.
It is also unclear whether it will be possible to accept the entire number of spectators who usually attend the Games.
The main issue, however, is the honor that the cities must be chosen, but it is difficult to quantify for money.
Because despite the enormous costs, it can also be said that the joy that the games bring is not such that a price tag can be put on it.
But while the show is often grand and nowhere to be spared, of course it's not just about money.
It's the sporting heroes that are in the foreground.
For some accomplished people, postponing the Games is inadvertently just welcome.
Australian five-time medalist and gold medalist in her late Olympic event, Chloe Esposito, for example, is casual and would have been far from fun this summer, but has hopes of being in competition shape for the 2021 Games.
She is therefore among those athletes who are just rather happy with the postponement, for understandable reasons.
For those athletes who planned to retire after this year's Games, had they been held on time, the postponement of the Games means in some cases that they will retire before the Games take place.
Simply don't trust their bodies to go through another year of rigorous exercise.
Few athletes established themselves as thoroughly in the hearts of spectators at the 2016 Rio Olympics as gymnastics star Simone Biles.
She came home with four gold around her neck and one bronze.
Biles has attended several interviews in his home country of the United States recently to discuss the Olympics.
She is planning to attend the 2021 Games, but she is not necessarily sure that she will still be at the top of the Games next year, as she will be 24 by then.
Although not generally considered to be of advanced age, it is higher for a front-row gymnast.
"It's a delicate issue," Biles says, but smiles at another in an interview posted on the Olympic Committee's Instagram page asked if she intends to reach as far at the 2021 Games as she did in Rio 2016.
"I honestly don't know if I'll still be at the top after another year of training," Biles says.
She has previously talked about how her body can't withstand the stress of gymnastics training for much longer.
Nevertheless, she trains hard for the 2021 Olympics.
Biles admits it was an unpleasant feeling to have to suddenly stop practicing during the height of the pandemic and the gymnasium was closed.
There were no exemptions for Biles more than others while all sports facilities were closed for seven weeks.
All her Olympic gold couldn't buy any access beyond the others, she had to find various ways to stay in shape like others.
The basic form certainly a bit better than most people.
"We have a rigid plan now.
It was difficult to start training first again after the gymnasium opened.
We started slowly but are back in full swing and I will be increasing my training steadily as the year progresses.
Of course, we don't know exactly how these games will be held or if they will be held, but we still practice assuming they will be, can't help it.
I've worked too hard to leave the sport now," says Biles.
With her, like others, there is doubt or perhaps rather awareness that there may be a situation where the Games will not be held in 2021 at all either.
Predicting it, however, is hopeless.
No one can know what the coronavirus pandemic situation will be like in July 2021, and nothing to do but prepare for the Olympics considering they will be held this year.
Maybe the Olympic fire will be the light at the end of the Covid tunnel.
Postponed wedding due to pandemic
Modern Family actress Sarah Hyland has decided to postpone her wedding due to the coronavirus.
She was supposed to marry former Bachelorette contestant Wells Adams this summer.
"I think there are other more important things to think about right now," the actress told People.
"We really want to get married someday and then have the dream wedding and have everyone present who is dear to us.
But we decided to delay it and focus on what's important right now, and that is to help share information about the importance of wearing masks and staying at home.
I'm more concerned with world affairs than weddings these days.
There is a lot going on and we should focus our attention on what is happening in the world."