Franek Rozwadowski, the permanent representative of the International Monetary Fund in Iceland, has completely denied claims the the IMF asked Iceland to close cultural centres following the banking crash and the country’s subsequent international bailout.

The claims were made by Minister of Education and Culture, Katrín Jakobsdóttir to the Alþingi parliament last Friday. Roswadowski this week responded with a press statement saying that the IMF was only ever interested in the overall size of Iceland’s budget deficit and not the individual components making it up.

“The cornerstone of the recovery plan was the main rule that the government was completely independent in how it intended to reach its goals to close the deficit; how taxation should be organised and where the cutbacks needed to be made,” Roswadowski said — adding that it is simply not true that the IMF recommended cutbacks to the government at any specific cultural institutions or even any individual sector of the national budget.

The interest rate of 4.75 percent will not change this period, despite continuing inflational pressure calling for rate rises. The last rate decision was in December, when the Central Bank also decided to keep the rate the same. The Bank warned it will likely have to raise the rate slightly soon if economic conditions remain the same.

The Central Bank of Iceland predicts 2.5 percent economic growth in the country this year and for the next two years. The global economic situation continues to worsen and as a result the terms of trade will be worse this year than had previously been thought.

The Icelandic exports market remains lively, though; and continues to beat expectations. The Bank’s economic forecast is similar to the one it gave out in November.

If the forecast proves correct, inflation in Iceland will reach a peak of around six percent in the first quarter of this year before falling back again. The Bank’s inflation target is 2.5 percent and the forecast predicts the country will reach that rate again early in 2014. It predicts and average annual inflation rate of 4.6 percent this year — which is half-a-percent higher than in the November forecast.

Jón brought the case after the Data Protection Authority requested information from the Central Bank of Iceland about how personal information on currency purchases was being dealt with; including how the information was processed, who had access to the information, how securely it was held and how long it would be held for.

In a Fréttablaðið interview in October, Jón said: “The Data Protection Authority allowed the Central Bank of Iceland to look at international transfers by credit card made by everyone in Iceland. That was done with no sort of minimum or provisos. I believe that that is a breach of my rights to permit unreasonable prying into my personal affairs.”

He added that he did not want “Big Brother” sticking its nose into all his business and said he would start proceedings against the governor of the Central Bank and other people to draw attention to the matter.

It is now clear that that will not happen — but it is clear, on the other hand, that Jón has to pay ISK 100,000 (EUR 617) to the Data Protection Authority in legal fees.

The buildings will be assembled in an area by the sea shore in the village and the project is the biggest project by the heritage preservation company Minjavernd outside of the capital region. The project involves rebuilding and/or renovating all the main buildings associated with serving the French fishermen whose presence still lingers strongly in local culture today. The centrepiece of the new heritage ‘village’ will be the French Hospital.

The ‘village’ within a village will become a tourist attraction, organisers hope — and they hope to help by opening a museum about Fáskrúðsfjörður’s French ties, as well as a hotel, RÚV reports.

The French Hospital was built in 1903 and later moved to Hafnarnes, outside of the village. The building has stood on that site for several decades and was in a considerable state of disrepair when it was taken apart and returned to the village for renovation.

The planned opening of the new project is spring 2014 and the planned cost is in the region of ISK 580 million (EUR 3.57 million).

Cartographers for the Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World, last released in September 2011, have admitted they were wrong to omit around 300,000 square kilometres of polar ice from sea surrounding Greenland.

British Publishers HarperCollins originally defended the accuracy of the map, which was released with promotional material about the fast acceleration of global warming. The blunder was exposed by scientists however, who said that the chart contradicted the most recent satellite images.

Publishing editor Jethro Lennox told the Scotsman, “After publication of the 13th edition of The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World, it became apparent that we had not represented the permanent ice cover in Greenland fully and clearly.

“In failing to do that, this section of the map did not meet the usual high standards of accuracy and reliability that the atlas strives to uphold. To correct this, we decided to produce a new, more detailed map using the latest information available,” he added.

The updated section, which will be inserted into any remaining copies, was put together after consultation with a number of experts. Liz Morris from the Polar Research Institute at Cambridge University said, “This was a really bad mapping error. If 15 percent of ice was lost, then sea levels would have risen by one metre, and that hasn’t happened.”

(Photo: Anders Peter Amsnæs)

By Brian Mallon:

At their core Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit are fighters. Unlike some former wrestlers or ju-jitsu aces looking for a medium to compete as professional athletes, both these fearsome scrappers fight because it’s in their blood. The fact that they are facing mirror images of each other merely adds to the intrigue of this unpredictable bout. With both being high octane strikers, boasting slick ground games and exceptional cardio few observers are predicting a winner in UFC 143’s main event.

As if meeting inside the octagon for a potential twenty five minute war isn’t enough to fully occupy their minds, the shadow of GSP looms large for both men. Both have been slated to lock horns with the UFC’s most high profile star in recent months and they do battle next weekend knowing that whilst a belt is on the line it will only be when they share the octagon with Canada’s favourite son that they can truly claim to be world champion at 170lbs.

Come fight time Diaz will seek to use his slightly superior boxing ability to keep Condit guessing. Condit will look to prove that he will not wilt under the striking onslaught that has simply ground down the Stockton native’s most recent opponents. Whilst Condit has high profile victories over Rory MacDonald and Dan Hardy on an already glittering CV, I believe Diaz’ superior stand-up may be the telling factor in what will be an all out war. I expect Diaz to emerge victorious after four gruelling rounds of hectic action.

For analysis of last weekend’s pivotal Chicago fight card check out my review piece in The Independent

This column is brought to you by the author’s personal sponsor, Quality Fridge Filters Global

Summer events in Reykjavik draw hundreds of visitors every year to experience Iceland’s great atmosphere and cultural practices.

The Reykjavik Art Festival, taking place May 18th – June 3rd, is Iceland’s premier cultural festival bringing together the best in local and international theatre, dance, music and visual art. The programme offers a variety of curated exhibitions, concerts, dance, theatre, and opera performances across downtown Reykjavik.

The National Day of Iceland has been celebrated on June 17th since 1944. The festivities in Reykjavik include colourful parades, street theatre and music, sideshows, and dancing.

Hotel Odinsve is located just a few minutes walk away from downtown Reykjavik’s main shopping street, Laugavegur, where over 100 bars, restaurants and cafes are situated, alongside numerous boutiques and retailers.

All of its rooms have wooden floors, comfortable beds and high quality duvets and pillows from Kronborg of Denmark.  Each room includes a shower, minibar, complimentary coffee and tea, satellite TV, radio, telephone, and hair dryer.

The hotel holds a range of amenities for its guests, including a restaurant, a coffee shop, a café, a bar lounge, all located on-site – it also boasts free wireless Internet for its customers.

For more information regarding the hotel in downtown Reykjavik, visit http://www.hotelodinsve.is.

Figures have been kept by Keflavík International Airport for over a decade and the Icelandic Tourist Board says that this January tops all before it.

Some 26,000 foreign citizens departed from Keflavík last month; which is 3,900 more than in 2011. Foreign guests in Iceland increased therefore by 17.5 percent between years. The biggest number of visitors in January came from the UK; 26.6 percent of the total number. There was a 53.7 percent rise in the number of Britons visiting Iceland in January compared to the previous January. The next biggest group were people from the USA; followed by Danes, Swedes, French and Germans.

Around 23,000 Icelandic citizens flew out of Keflavík in January, which is a similar number to January 2011.

Hotel occupancy figures for January are not yet available, but there were around a quarter more hotel nights used in December 2011 than in December 2010. 69,200 hotel nights compared with 54,300 the December before — or 27 percent more. 76 percent of hotel guests were foreign citizens. Over the whole of 2011 there were 14 percent more hotel nights used than in 2010.

The Icelandic tourism industry has put an explicit emphasis on winter tourism and trying to even out visitor numbers across the whole year, as an annual summer boom and winter bust in the industry is not seen as a sustainable model. The figures from December and January offer some indication that the marketing campaign is working.

The dispute is thought to surround Blod, sved og T-Shirts (Blood, Sweat and T-shirts), a programme which followed a group of young Danes as they struggled to survive while working in clothes factories in India.

Confirming reports of the ban to Jyllands-Posten newspaper, the Indian Embassy in Copenhagen said, “We had a very bad experience with DR, so they are excluded. All other Danish journalists are welcome.”

In a similar vain to documentaries produced by the BBC, Blod, sved og T-Shirts showed the group arguing with employers in order to receive their pay, living in squalid conditions and struggling a buy even a few pieces a fruit each day.

Although the BBC has not been banned from reporting in the country, the un-named source at the embassy suggested that the DR ban is unlikely to end soon.”It will take some time. At the moment, we have not decided to let them back in,” he told Jyllands-Posten.

According to the conservative Danish foreign affairs spokesman Stig Møller, the move is undemocratic and violates an agreement between the two countries. “We must protest. It must be made clear to India that they do not have the right to impede the freedom of the press,” he said.

“They have a right to be dissatisfied, but they should either refute DR’s claims or report them to the Pressenævnet [Danish press council],” he added.

Several attempts have been made to correct the unusual vibration in one of the Rolls Royce engines aboard Þór. Engineers from Rolls Royce have been working on the ship in Iceland to rectify the problem without success.

It now seems likely the ship will have to go to Norway for repairs, according to a recent statement on the Icelandic Coastguard’s website.

It first came to light in December that vibration from one of the ship’s main engines was at a higher level than Rolls Royce recommends. The engines are still under manufacturer’s guarantee, as Þór was only handed over to the Icelandic Coastguard last autumn. Attempts to correct the problem in Iceland have so far failed.

If Þór is sent to Norway for repairs, the ship can expect to be absent for several weeks.