PRESS RELEASE FROM THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS IN ICELAND:

Össur Skarphéðinsson, Minister for Foreign Affairs today received, on behalf of his Nordic colleagues, a report by Thorvald Stoltenberg, former Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence of Norway, on Nordic foreign and security policy cooperation. The report was launched at an extraordinary meeting of the Nordic foreign ministers in Oslo. Read the full story

Jon Danielsson, Gylfi Zoega

Some view Iceland’s crisis as holding lessons for any country with an outsized financial sector, e.g. the UK. This column disagrees, arguing that Iceland’s downfall is explained by the way its unique history, inappropriate policy responses, and weaknesses in EU banking regulations created a perfect storm, unlikely to happen elsewhere.

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Press release from the Prime Minister of Iceland

Mr Speaker, fellow Icelanders.

It can have escaped no one that our country is passing through a deep economic downturn. Within a very brief period, the government has had to act responsibly and determinedly, to keep the wheels of business and industry turning and to reinforce the security net for the nation’s households and families. Read the full story

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE CENTRAL BANK OF ICELAND:

Ingimundur Fridriksson Governor of the Central Bank of Iceland has prepared a paper about the banking crisis in Iceland in 2008. Read the full story

Current Minister of Social Affairs and Social Security, Johanna Sigurdardottir, is to become the interim Prime Minister of Iceland until new elections are held (probably) in May this year. Social Democrat Sigurdardottir will lead the government in coalition with the Left-Green Movement after the preceeding PM, Geir H. Haarde, stepped down. Her new administration is to be sworn this Saturday. Read the full story

Bjorgvin G. Sigurdsson, Iceland’s Minister of Commerce has resigned from his post. At the same time he announced that the director of the Icelandic Financial Supervisory Authority, Jonas Fr. Jonsson and the board of the institution are stepping down also. Sigurdsson stated that with this he is shouldering his share of the responsibility for the financial crisis. He also acknowledged that others bear responsibility as well.

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Bjorgvin Sigurdsson, the Icelandic Minister of Commerce has stepped down. The minister has decided to take responsibility for his part of the economic and political turmoil now enveloping Iceland, his last act as a minister was to fire the head of the Icelandic financial supervisory authority. Read the full story

Icelanders are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the current situation going on in Iceland. Petitions for the Movement for a New Republic of Iceland are spreading around and carefully released figures are bringing shivers not only to those that feel for Iceland. Read the full story

As IceNews reported yesterday, protesters succeeded in preventing Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde from appearing on a Stod 2 television show broadcasting live from a hotel in downtown Reykjavik on the 31st of January.

Today, a group of protesters called „The People’s Voice“ will attempt to hand Arni M. Mathiesen, Minister of Finance, a declaration prepared by the group. The content of the document has not been disclosed, but it’s very likely to be related to events related to the financial crisis and Mr. Mathiesen’s decision to appoint as a judge, the son of a prominent figure within the Minster of Finance’s own political party, The Independence Party. Read the full story

The Prime Minister’s Office has enlisted the services of Swedish banking expert Mats Josefsson, on a temporary basis. Mats Josefsson will succeed the previously appointed Ásmundur Stefánsson as advisor on rebuilding Iceland’s banking system. Read the full story