No applications from Icelandic organisations or individuals were received by the Nordic Council to meet with its council members before their own meeting which begins in Oslo today.

The public in all the Nordic countries were invited to meet council members to press them on important subjects or get them on board with their causes or points-of-view.

A total of just four meeting requests were received; mostly from Norway. The meetings held were mostly about transportation between Norway and Sweden and citizenship rights in the Nordic countries.

This was the first time the public were invited to interact directly with the Nordic Council in this manner and among the stated goals is to stimulate open debate within the Council and to open the Council up to the people.

Tina Bostrup, an employee of the Nordic Council, told Vísir.is that she hopes Icelanders show the meeting initiative more interest when the Nordic Council meets again in Iceland at the end of March.

Casual research indicates that today’s first attempt failed primarily because most people did not know about it. That is unlikely to be the case next time.

Watched over by caretakers at the Scandinavian Wildlife Park, the bear has accrued millions of views on Youtube. Precious videos of Siku feature the small mammal being bottle fed by zookeepers because Siku’s mother has not yet been able to produce any milk. The tiny bear’s Facebook page already has in excess of 20,000 followers.

Frank Vigh-Larsen, zoo director at the Scandinavian Wildlife Park, said, “Our polar bear female, Ilka, had a cub, but after two days we decided to immobilise her because the cub was constantly screaming and being very unsettled.” He went on to say, “Ilka had absolutely no milk, so instead of leaving the cub to die we decided to try to bottle feed it. It is now 30 days old and weighs 3.2 kilogrammes, 2.4 kilogrammes more than at birth, and is thriving.”

Siku, who is still both deaf and blind, is the latest addition to a global programme working to raise polar bears in captivity. Vigh-Larson said that Siku would soon join other bears in what he said was the largest polar bear facility in the world, at the Scandinavian Wildlife Park near Kolind.
“We are convinced that it will be possible for Siku to become a normal functioning polar bear within a few years, so he can live together with the other polar bears in the park,” Vigh-Larson added.

(Photos for illustration only, not connected to story)

From Nuuk to Helsinki and from Reykjavík to Copenhagen – and not forgetting Tórshavn, Stockholm, Oslo and Marienhamn – New Year’s is a time for fireworks and fun, when people gather with family and friends to eat, drink, explode things, and reflect on the year gone by. Whether it was a good year or a bad year, there is always plenty to talk about — and there are always resolutions to be made and the hope that next year (which is now called ‘this year’) will be the best, most successful and happiest yet. Here’s hoping.

People in Iceland, and indeed around the world, claim that the New Year’s fireworks in Reykjavík are the best in the world. IceNews is far too impartial and upstanding to assert that as fact; instead we ask you to judge for yourself. The live webcam feed website will feature a recorded and edited highlights video for at least the next few days — and possibly all year long.

Wherever you are in the world and however you chose to celebrate the arrival of 2012 (if at all), we at IceNews wish you all the best.

(Photo: New Year’s celebrations in Nuuk, Greenland. Taken a few years ago.)

The company has secured 3.2 megawatts of electricity from HS Orku in Suðurnes for data centre operations but will be able to receive up to 19.2 megawatts of electricity if necessary.

Gestur G. Gestsson, the CEO of Skýrr, commented, “Thor Data Center has actively been involved in the marketing of Iceland’s environmentally friendly options for data centre companies. The data centre has great employees with advanced knowledge of the structure and architecture of data centres. Here at Skýrr, we are very proud of this great addition to the to the family”

Gestsson continued, “We have been looking into developing a data centre here in Iceland for a while now as there are so many great opportunities in this field, especially in foreign markets. We expect that Thor Data Center will help bring in foreign currency and contribute to the overall development of the country’s economy.

The company is based in Iceland but also has a solid position in the Nordic markets through its subsidiaries abroad in Norway and Sweden. The Norway subsidary, Hands, focuses on Microsoft Dynamics AX and vertical markets. In addition to this, Hands owns a subsidiary in Latvia called Aston Baltic.

Skýrr covers all aspects of information technology, offering its customers integrated services in software, consulting, hardware, IT operations and hosting.

New Harbors New Hopes carries on where its predecessor book ends; following Leif Ericsson from his Greenland home on his most famous voyage, west to Vínland; or mainland North America as we might now call it.

The book brings the famous story of Leif’s discovery of the American continent to life in a way history books, and even the Sagas themselves, cannot. Its blending of fiction and non-fiction allows the author to embellish details and give the characters a believable level of depth which helps the reader to appreciate their motives and develop feelings for them that go deeper than simple name recognition.

The book follows three different trips to Vínland, each with very different outcomes and only the first featuring Leif himself.

New Harbors New Hopes is also very much about life back home in Greenland and events happening there. This gives the story a welcome duality, but also means it contains more characters than the reader can reasonably be expected to remember. The book contained so many births, deaths and marriages that I was often left struggling to remember who the people were.

Just how much of the story is fiction and how much fact, I do not know; but if the seemingly-excessive number of funerals and births in the book relate to real historical figures from the time, then it is clearly quite acceptable. If most of them are fictional characters then I would argue it is a bit of overkill (pun clearly intended).

I got the slight impression that keeping hold of all the characters began to strain the author by the end as well and that bringing all their stories to a satisfactory conclusion was difficult. The resultant feeling was unfortunately that the end of the story was rushed and that too many separate events were described in too-little detail. That was sad, because over the course of the two books I had come to care about several of the characters and wanted to know more about their fates.

At this point I would like to point out that I am deliberately being hyper-critical. Despite the book’s perceived weaknesses I still enjoyed it and would recommend both novels to Viking fans and general readers alike. I would also recommend that Celia Lund might like to consider writing a third book…maybe one about the end of the Norse settlement in Greenland? That is a story shrouded in mystery and nobody really knows what happened to the Vikings who had lived in Greenland for some 500 years. A touch of fictional flair could make for a very interesting, if sad, novel.

New Harbors New Hopes, like its predecessor novel, is about people; their emotions, their lives and their relationships. The story takes place in some impressive places and on some incredible journeys; but they play a supporting rôle to the characters themselves. That, more than anything else, is what makes the book so different from the Sagas and what gives it its real value and inspires empathy.

Celia Lund’s New Harbors New Hopes (Trafford Publishing, first released 2011, ISBN 978-1426948008)

Reviewed by Alëx Elliott, IceNews editor

This page picture: front cover of New Harbors New Hopes
Main page photo: Alëx Elliott // IceNews

The book is available to buy, but its key facts and figures can also be seen online for free at the Nordic Council website, Norden.org.

Among the areas covered in the Nordisk Statistisk Arbog are that the most popular names given to babies in 2010 were Aron and Emilia in Iceland, William and Isabella in Denmark, Jonas and Anna in the Faroe Islands, Malik and Ivaana in Greenland, Elias and Emma in Finland, Leo and Ella in the Aland Islands, Lucas and Emma in Norway and Oscar and Maja in Sweden.

The publication also shows that more women than men in the Nordic region choose to go to university and that the gender imbalance is biggest in Iceland, where 66 percent of university students are female. 63.4 percent of students are female in Sweden and the proportion is least in Denmark, with 58.7 women for every 41.3 men in university.

Around 4,000 ‘trackless’ children entered the Nordic countries in 2010. By far the largest group of them were 15-17 years-old and Sweden was their top destination. That figure is 2,000 lower than in 2009. ‘Trackless’ children are individuals younger than 18 who arrive in the Nordic region unaccompanied by a parent or guardian, or who are later abandoned after arrival.

The book contains comparative statistics for the five Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden; as well as for the independent territories of the Aland Islands, Faroe Islands and Greenland.

There are, apparently, examples of people ‘recommending’ (or ‘liking’) certain products or services and getting paid for doing so.

The Icelandic Consumer Agency is working alongside its counterpart agencies in the other Nordic countries in an investigation into online advertising practices — especially on Facebook. The investigation is said to be at an advanced stage, RUV reports.

The Agency’s director, Tryggvi Axelsson, explains that he and his colleagues have received complaints about online advertising and marketing (especially on Facebook) claiming that products and services are being deliberately mis-sold or advertised in ways that potentially contravene the law.

Many people are familiar with the concept of ‘liking’ or ‘recommending’ all sorts of things on Facebook. “It looks as though it is a simple recommendation by an individual sitting at home, but it might be that he/she is working to advertise the product in question and is being paid for doing so. And of course suspicions are raised in many cases that it is in fact professional (paid) advertising being put across in this manner,” Axelsson says.

He also says that the Consumer Agency has received complaints whereby people point to cases of prizes or other incentives being promised to Facebook users who ‘recommend’ or ‘like’ a given product or service and where the promised prizes are not distributed.

The investigation does not appear to be about Facebook itself; but rather the way other companies and individuals use the website.

The Icelandic Consumer Agency website (here) allows people to submit anonymous complaints and tip-offs in English and Icelandic.

Icelandic politician Siv Friedleifsdottir put the motion forward in her capacity as chairman of the Nordic Council Welfare Committee.  The motion was passed unanimously.

The idea to call upon the Nordic Council for support came from Audur Gudjonsdottir, an O.R. nurse and founder of the Icelandic Institute of Spinal Cord Injury. Siv Friedleifsdottir and the Icelandic delegation to the Nordic Council have been involved from an early stage in promoting the idea on the Nordic stage; and the idea has even garnered direct support from Icelandic Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir and her entire government. Before this week’s vote Friedleifsdottir handed a petition, signed by 8,500 Icelandic women calling for Nordic co-operation in curing spinal cord injuries, over to President of the Nordic Council, Bertel Haarder.

The Council vote means that a pan-Nordic working group of doctors and scientists will now be set up to investigate current Nordic and international research into, and treatment  of, spinal cord injuries and to then make recommendations for improvement. The goal of the working group will be to gather current world knowledge and expertise in the field and investigate ways of de-fragmenting the knowledge into a more holistic approach to spinal cord injury, which is so far lacking.

Audur Gudjonsdottir, whose daughter suffers from a spinal cord injury, said after the Nordic Council vote that if all goes according to plan, the Nordic nations will do humankind a great favour by pushing for the unification of knowledge in the field which will benefit not only those suffering from painful and debilitating spinal cord injuries, but also all nervous system research. Gudjonsdottir said she is very proud that Icelanders (and Icelandic women in particular) have taken a leading role in giving spinal cord injury sufferers a voice on the international stage. To speak out on behalf of sometimes-overlooked groups is precisely the international role small nations should be taking, she believes.

The proposal for an organised search to find a cure for spinal cord injuries will be addressed at the Copenhagen meeting of the Nordic Council, which takes place at the end of the month.

ISCI, founded by Icelandic O.R. nurse Audur Gudjonsdottir, recently gained support from the Icelandic Government, which decided to make Iceland a spokesperson for finding a cure for spinal cord injuries.

Siv Fridleifsottir, a member of the Icelandic Parilament and Head of the Welfare Committee of the Nordic Council, will speak on behalf of the proposal and deliver a petition signed by 8,500 Icelandic women. Icelandic women are asking the Nordic Council to aid medical science by voting in favour of the proposal.

The proposal recommends that the Nordic Council create a team of specialist doctors and scientists to research treatments for spinal cord injuries and deliver proposals for continuation.

The objective for the team would be to examine current scientific knowledge and consider whether it is possible to integrate that knowledge so that treatments for spinal cord injury can be developed.

For further information about the Institute of Spinal Cord Injury, visit www.isci.is.

The summit is designed to inspire conversation and exploration between master professionals, industry leaders, emerging designers, fashion students and trend setters.

Key themes that are woven throughout the summit include slow fashion, sustainability and design, cultural heritage, and the business of fashion.

This unprecedented gathering in Seattle of top international fashion experts and designers will feature key presenters including:

Áslaug Magnúsdottir, Iceland, Founder of Moda Operandi who has been dubbed ‘fashion’s fairy godmother’ by Vogue and ‘one of the most influential people in British retail by Draper’s

Henrik Vibskov, Denmark, Founder of his self-named label and a sought-after international performer and drummer

Orlando Palacios, United States, Owner and head-designer of the renowned New York haberdashery Worth & Worth.

Annika Axelsson, Sweden, One of the founders of DEM Collective

Yvan Mispelaere, France, Creative Designer for Diane Von Furstenberg

Additional highlights from the two-day program include:

Day 1: September 30
The first day will include a series of presentations covering, among other topics, forecasting fashion trends, slow fashion, ethics of fashion, and how to build a brand. The day will conclude with a screening of “Rabbit Hole,” Icelandic designer Mundi’s first foray into film which premiered at Paris Fashion Week 2010. From 6- 8 pm, summit participants are invited to join VIPs at the Grand Opening of the Nordic Fashion Biennale.

Day 2: October 1
Day two will focus on the business of fashion, highlighting the personal journeys of success from some of fashion’s most respected experts including Pauline Brown, Steinunn Sigurdardottir, Aslaug Magnusdottir and Yvan Mispelaere. The day will conclude with a thrilling performance by the mesmerizing Henrik Vibskov.
Nicole Marion Miller, Owner and Creative Director of Blackbird, will moderate the summit along with New York-based Icelandic stylist and designer Edda Gudmundsdottir.

A complete list of topics, speakers and presenters, as well as registration information, is available at: www.nordicfashionbiennale.com.

The Nordic Fashion Biennale 2011
The Nordic Fashion Biennale 2011—produced by the Nordic House, Reykjavik, and the Nordic Heritage Museum, Seattle— will run from September 30 – November 13 and will feature an exhibition of works from international designers from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, with a special focus on the Western Nordic regions of Iceland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands.

(Sourced from a press release)