IMF Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn has claimed that that global recession still has not ended despite the recent signs of a recovery, and that global issues required global solutions. Read the full story

A new protest movement has been started in Iceland, MBL.is reports: the Orange Protesters. A statement from the group says that Orange is a peaceful group of protesters, made up of people opposed to the violence of the last few days.

An Orange representative met with a police representative on Thursday to explain that protesters wearing orange clothes will be peaceful and oppose violence. Orange clothes will be the equivalent of a white flag to mark out peaceful protesters, the movement says. Read the full story

Around 30 people are currently protesting outside the Icelandic parliament building. The protesters are angry that Iceland has not been outspoken in its criticism of Israel’s current military operations in the Gaza Strip, according to MBL.is. Read the full story

Icelandic foreign minister Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir is an honorary member of the International Women’s Commission (IWC) for a Just and Sustainable Palestinian-Israeli Peace. On her request, the Icelandic government has forwarded the following press release on behalf of the organisation. Read the full story

IceNews would like to wish readers a very merry Christmas and a happy and successful New Year.

We would also like to thank you for your support over 2008 – a year that has seen immense changes in the economy, and in many other areas of Northern life. Read the full story

The 2008 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to former Finnish President Martii Ahtisaari by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for his “important efforts” in resolving global conflicts. Ahtisaari is rumoured to have been a candidate for the past few years, and has finally received his deserved recognition as a peacemaker.

According to sources Read the full story

The first Lennon-Ono Peace Prize was awarded this afternoon in a ceremony in Reykjavik on John Lennon’s birthday. Yoko is in Iceland to light the Imagine Peace Tower which will shine until 8 December, the day Lennon was shot.

In a rare piece of good news for Iceland, the entire country was chosen to receive the award in light of its many hundreds of years at peace. President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson received the award on Read the full story

Denmark’s Art Council has initiated a two-year project designed to attract talented foreign artists to live and work in the country. DKK 6 million (USD 1,188,059 EUR 804,169) have been allocated for the plan, which is hoped will inject some creative energy into Denmark’s art scene.

The chairman of the Art Council, Mads Ovilsen, told the Politiken newspaper that the project will hopefully lure exciting Read the full story

The President of Finland recently expressed her desire for Finland to continue assisting Sri Lanka, according to reports in the Asian Tribune. Tarja Halonen expressed her desire to see a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Sri Lanka to Ambassador Jayasooriya.

The Sri Lankan ambassador to Sweden, R.P. Jayasooriya is also the ambassador to Finland. On 5th June, Jayasooriya presented his credentials to the Finnish President at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki.

Following the ceremony, in the discussion that ensued, President Halonen showed her interest in the most recent political developments in Sri Lanka. Ambassador Jayasooriya described the course of this year’s two elections as well as the new development projects in the Eastern Province, an area which was ruled by the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) for the last 20 years.

The President shared the difficult periods in Finland’s history. She described Finland’s difficult transition to a developed peaceful country in the wake of the Second World War.

In conclusion, the Finnish President expressed her desire for a peaceful resolution of the on-going conflict in Sri Lanka and hoped to be able to continue assisting the South East Asian nation in its development.

A new index created by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies has ranked 140 countries around the world in terms of their peacefulness in the hopes of promoting a more scientific approach to achieving global peace. Scandinavian countries did well in the rankings, with Iceland scoring first place.

“Peace building is tough,” said Rick Barton of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. He said that ‘peace building’ could be facilitated by using the Global Peace Index (GPI) as a tool for understanding contributing factors to peace, including both political and cultural elements.

The GPI uses 24 indicators to rank 98 per cent of the world’s population. The GPI takes into account art exports, military expenditure, prison population, political instability, internal conflict, human rights adherence, displaced persons, UN deployments and the potential for terrorist acts.

According to Barton, the results are intended to “help countries, businesses, and international organisations move towards peace.”

Iceland led the rankings while Iraq came in last place. Clyde McConaghy, president and CEO of GPI, explained the findings. He said the “profile of a peaceful nation – and this is characteristic of the top quartile of the countries [in the Index] – is the country tends to have a well-functioning government, low violence within its borders, low corruption, and good relations with its neighbours.”

Of the top 20 countries on the list, 16 are democracies in western or central Europe and the majority belong to the European Union. Denmark came in second place and the United States, with its high levels of military spending and troops abroad, was ranked 97 out of 140 countries.