EGG ON YOUR FACE: MPs are pelted with dairy missiles 

 

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October protest in Iceland ,and the Wife of president joins protesters 

 

Iceland’s first lady, Dorrit Moussaieff, joined protesters in a bold move to show her sympathy for people hit by the debt crisis. As the Icelandic president and MPs came under fire from angry protesters on Saturday, on their traditional walk to church marking the opening of the parliamentary session, the President’s wife broke away to join the protest. Protesters, demanding that the government do more to help struggling households, had lined the streets in central Reykjavik pelting politicians with eggs and yogurt.

The action happens in this video at the three-minute mark.

The first lady climbs the fence at around the three-minute mark to join the protesters. While the politicians attended mass in Dómkirkjan cathedral, Moussaieff decision to remain with the protesters earned her a lot of admiration amongst the public.

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China's Huang Nubo seeks Iceland land for eco-resort

The area is close to Iceland's 

Vatnajokull National Park

A Chinese business tycoon is hoping to buy a large area of north-east Iceland to build a luxury hotel and eco-resort.

Huang Nubo is reported to have offered a billion krona (£5.4m: $8.8m) for the 300sq km (155 sq mile) Grimsstadir a Fjollum region.

Critics of the plan fear it could be used by China to gain a strategic foothold in Iceland.

But Icelandic officials have welcomed the purchase and the further 20bn krona Mr Huang says he intends to invest.

Mr Huang is the chairman of the Zhongkun investment group, and is also reported to have worked as a minister in the Chinese Central Propaganda Department and Ministry of Construction.

Iceland's Foreign Ministry said Mr Huang's plans involved linking up the Vatnajokull and and Jokulsargljufur national parks, in line with his company's "emphasis on nature conservation and environmental tourism".

Mr Huang had promised to co-operate fully with the Icelandic authorities, said the ministry, and to renounce any claims to water from the Jokulsa a Fjollum river which crosses the property.

Iceland's once booming economy suffered a dramatic crash in 2008 with three of its major banks collapsing and is in urgent need of growth and foreign investment.

'Tread carefully'

While the purchase has been approved by the local landlords, officials said Mr Huang had yet to apply for an exemption from laws barring non-EU nationals from buying land.

Some in Iceland have raised concerns about the long term implications of Icelandic territory entering foreign hands, and that the land could give China future access to deep sea ports in the area.

 

"We face the fact that a foreign tycoon wants to buy 300sq km of Icelandic land. This has to be discussed and not swallowed without chewing," Interior Minister Ogmundur Jonasson wrote on his website.

He said China was known for its "long term thinking alongside buying up the world" and warned against Iceland accepting the purchase without full consideration.

Mr Jonasson said Iceland needed to learn its lesson from the banking crisis and listen to those people cautioning against accepting any investment offered.

"Isn't it necessary to pause and think when we offer Iceland up for sale again?"

However, Iceland's Minister for Industry, Katrin Juliusdottir, told reporters it was clear the country had to "tread carefully".

But she said there was "no reason to get hysterical just because one Chinese man wants to buy some land and invest in tourism in Iceland".

"Foreigners already own quite a bit of land here and I don't think there is anything to fear from that."

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Icelanders hand in draft of world's first 'web' constitution

 

REYKJAVIK — A group of 25 ordinary citizens on Friday presented to Iceland's parliamentary speaker a new constitution draft, which they compiled with the help of hundreds of others who chipped in online.

The group had been working on the draft since April and posted its work on the Internet, allowing hundreds of other citizens to give their feedback on the project via the committee's website and on social networks such as Facebook.

"The reaction from the public was very important. And many of the members were incredibly active in responding to the comment that came through," Salvor Nordal, the head of the elected committee of citizens from all walks of life, told reporters.

Katrin Oddsdottir, a lawyer who had shared her experience on the committee through micro-blogging site Twitter, said she believed the public's input was "what mattered the most" in preparing the draft.

"What I learned is that people can be trusted. We put all our things online and attempted to read, listen and understand and I think that made the biggest difference in our job and made our work so so so much better," she said.

Iceland's constitution was barely adapted from Denmark's when the island nation gained independence from the Scandinavian kingdom in 1944.

"Since then, a holistic re-examination of the constitution has always been on the agenda, but always halted because of political infighting in the parliament," committee member Eirikur Bergmann, a political science professor at Iceland's Bifroest Unioversity who also tweeted his way through the committee's work, told AFP.

But after Iceland's economic collapse in 2008, which triggered massive social movements, pressure mounted for a revamp of the constitution and for the process to be led by ordinary citizens, he said.

The committee's website (www.stjornlagarad.is, in Icelandic and English) quickly became an incubator for comments, with more than 1,600 propositions and comments on the suggested text.

Moreover, the council was present on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr, allowing Iceland -- and the world -- to follow its progress.

Most of the suggestions had to do with an economic model for the island nation of 320,000, committee member Silja Omarsdottir told AFP.

"The other proposals ... that form a noticeable trend have to do with the Internet, web neutrality, transparency and freedom of access to the Internet," she said.

Some citizens also gave specific suggestions.

"It would be be more natural that a parliamentarian would have to resign from parliament should he take on the position of a minister," Bjarni Kristinn Torfason suggested on the council's webpage.

Helgi Johann Hauksson thought the council should be more specific: "who we 'all' are needs to be defined when it is written 'all of us are equal in the eyes of the law," he posted.

The comments of international observers ranged from admiration to the occasional bizarre idea.

"Iceland, you are truly a BIG small country! You bring hope to the hearts of people who are gathering on the squares and streets of Europe these days," said Greek university student Charalampos Krekoukiotis, while others from abroad suggested Iceland "kill all capitalists" or "legalise marijuana."

"It is messy. It is completely messy," Bergmann said of ploughing through the public's comments.

"But take your average legislation in your average parliament in your average country," he said. "That's messy as well."

Parliament's speaker Asta Ragnheidur Johannesdottir said the draft would be examined by a parliamentary committee starting October 1.

"I'm grateful for your work," she told the members. "It is my hope, that in time, Icelanders won't only have a constitution that they accept, but one which they are proud of," she added.

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Iceland Massive Flash Flood from Super Volcano : Will Affect Oceans Currents 

Greenland massive runoff causing desalination of North Atlantic
Shutdown of thermohaline circulation

  

Every so often the earth chooses to remind us that we really aren't in control of this planet.
 
A shutdown or slowdown of the thermohaline circulation, trigger localised cooling in the North Atlantic and lead to cooling, or lesser warming, in that region. This would particularly affect areas such as Ireland, Britain and Nordic countries that are warmed by the North Atlantic drift. The chances of this occurring are unclear; there is some evidence for the stability of the Gulf Stream but a possible weakening of the North Atlantic drift; and there is evidence of warming in northern Europe and nearby seas, rather than the reverse. The future is undecided, as studies of the Florida Current suggest that the Gulf Stream weakens with cooling and strengthens with warming, being weakest


Sub polar gyre, has weakened in the past in connection with certain phases of a large-scale atmospheric pressure system known as the North Atlantic Oscillation

It is a signal of large climate variability in the high latitudes," Hakkinen said. "If this trend continues, it could indicate reorganization of the ocean climate system, perhaps with changes in the whole climate system, but we need another good five to 10 years to say something like that is happening." Rhines said, "The subpolar zone of the Earth is a key site for studying the climate. It's like Grand Central Station there, as many of the major ocean water masses pass through from the Arctic and from warmer latitudes. They are modified in this basin. Computer models have shown the slowing and speeding up of the subpolar gyre can influence the entire ocean circulation system

satellite sea-surface height data to velocities of the subpolar gyre. The subpolar gyre can take 20 years to complete its route. Warm water runs northward through the Gulf Stream, past Ireland, before it turns westward near Iceland and the tip of Greenland.


The current loses heat to the atmosphere as it moves north. Westerly winds pick up that lost heat, creating warmer, milder European winters. After frigid Labrador Sea winters, the water in the current becomes cold, salty and dense, plunges beneath the surface, and heads slowly southward back to the equator. The cycle is sensitive to the paths of winter storms and to the buoyant fresh water from glacial melting and precipitation, all of which are experiencing great change.

While previous studies have proposed winds resulting from the NAO have influenced the subpolar gyre's currents, this study found heat exchanges from the ocean to the atmosphere may be playing a bigger role in the weakening current. Using Topex/Poseidon sea-surface height data, the researchers inferred Labrador Sea water in the core of the gyre warmed during the 1990s. This warming reduces the contrast with water from warmer southern latitudes, which is part of the driving force for ocean circulation.

 

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Iceland to Debate Prescription-Only Cigarettes

Iceland is considering banning the shop sale of cigarettes 

to help society 'wake up' to the dangers of smoking.

Tobacco bill proposes outlawing shop sales, with only doctors allowed to prescribe cigarettes to addicts unable to kick habit

Iceland is considering banning the sale of cigarettes and making them a prescription-only product.

The parliament in Reykjavik is to debate a proposal that would outlaw the sale of cigarettes in normal shops. Only pharmacies would be allowed to dispense them – initially to those aged 20 and up, and eventually only to those with a valid medical certificate.

The radical initiative is part of a 10-year plan that also aims to ban smoking in all public places, including pavements and parks, and in cars where children are present. Iceland also wants to follow Australia's lead by forcing tobacco manufacturers to sell cigarettes in plain, brown packaging plastered with health warnings rather than branding.

Under the mooted law, doctors will be encouraged to help addicts kick the habit with treatments and education programs. If these do not work, they may prescribe cigarettes.

The private member's bill is sponsored by former health minister Siv Fridleifsdottir, who worked with the Icelandic Medical Association as well as a coalition of anti-tobacco groups to come up with the proposal. "The aim is to protect children and youngsters and stop them from starting to smoke," she said on Monday. The proposal would initially result in an increase in cigarette prices, said Fridleifsdottir, of "10% per year, in line with World Health Organization proposals – evidence shows that a 10% increase results in a 4-8% reduction in consumption".

But by the end of the 10-year plan, prescription-only cigarettes should actually be cheaper than ever, according to Thorarinn Gudnason, president of the Icelandic Society of Cardiology, who helped draw up the proposal.

"Under our plan, smokers who are given prescriptions will be diagnosed as addicts, and we don't think the government should tax addicts."

Gudnason said current cigarette pricing in Iceland did not take into account the huge costs imposed on society by smokers. "A packet currently costs around 1,000 krona [£5.50], but if you factor in the cost of sick leave, reduced productivity due to smoking breaks and premature retirement on health grounds, it should really be 3,000 krona," he said.

The tobacco proposal also says that nicotine should be classed as an addictive substance. "It's as hard to give up nicotine as heroin, not in terms of the side effects, but in terms of the cravings and how quickly one becomes addicted," said Gudnason.

"We also want the government to license cigarettes like a medicine, which would mean they would have to go through the same rigorous trials as any other drug. I doubt cigarettes would ever get on the market now that we know the side-effects – lung cancer, heart attacks, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease."

Gudnason said 300 out of the 1,500 deaths in Iceland each year were caused by one of those three conditions.

"That's 20% of all deaths. We think that our proposals could lead to a significant reduction in smoking-related deaths – perhaps down to just 100 annually."

The proposal also suggests that tobacco smoke should be treated as a carcinogenic substance, and that it should be restricted in a similar way to other known carcinogens, because of the known effects of passive smoking.

Gudnason did a study five months after Iceland introduced a smoking ban in restaurants and pubs in 2007 and found a 21% reduction in acute coronary syndrome (heart attacks and near heart attacks) among non-smoking men, compared to five months before the ban.

A spokeswoman from the Icelandic ministry of welfare said on Monday that the proposal was "very serious" but had limited chances of success.

"Siv Fridleifsdottir is a very serious politician and this is a very serious proposal," said Anna Baldursdottir, political adviser to the minister of welfare, Gudbjartur Hannesson.

"Whether it not it eventually becomes law, I do not know. I seriously doubt it."

The idea will be debated in the Althing, Iceland's parliament, in the autumn, when politicians return from recess, she added.

Iceland has successfully halved smoking rates over the past 20 years. In 1991, 30% of the population smoked; today, only about 15% light up regularly, according to Baldursdottir, giving it the lowest smoking rates in Europe.

This success is attributed to huge increases in tobacco tax, which accounts for about 25% of the pack price, as well as the drop in disposable income among islanders since the financial crash of 2008.

Other countries have gone further. Bhutan has completely outlawed smoking and Finland hopes to follow suit by 2040.

Swedish surgeons now refuse to operate on smokers until they give up, because of the deleterious effect smoking has on the healing process, Gudnason added.

As an isolated island, Iceland arguably stands a greater chance of success with such draconian measures than other nations.

With no neighboring countries and rigid customs controls at ports and airports, it will be difficult for anyone to smuggle in contraband cigarettes

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