The wine marketed under the Motörhead name and logo will therefore not be for sale in ÁTVR’s Vínbúðin stores across Iceland. In defence of the move the company cited the fact that the branding is not relevant because the band does not make the wine itself; but that the branding does inevitably promote an unhealthy lifestyle.

The information comes from an article written for Fréttablaðið by Hjörleifur Árnason, the wine’s Icelandic importer. In his article he says he has now appealed the case to the parliamentary ombudsman. Although ÁTVR has a monopoly on alcohol retail in Iceland, importers and distributors are able to deal directly with bars, restaurants and cafés; meaning the Motörhead brand could still be sold in the country and can now expect a higher profile following this controversy.

The rock band, which has been going for 37 years, loaned its name to Motörhead Shiraz, as well as to several other products including vodka and rosé wine.

Last March Hjörleifur decided to import a case of the wine through the company Rokk slf. and apply for a licence to sell it in Vínbúðin outlets. The application was rejected by ÁTVR on the grounds that the band Motörhead had nothing directly to do with the wine and that the message accompanying the product was not a positive one.

The English word ‘Motorhead’ is a slang term for an amphetamine addict and furthermore the band sings about war, abuse of power, irresponsible sex and substance abuse, ÁTVR said.

On the grounds the the band did not make the wine themselves, the importer says he fears that means all celebrity wines will be banned, such as wines by the Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Elvis Presley and others.

The deadline to submit purchase offers for Iceland ran out on Wednesday night and since then the Landsbanki resolution committee has been going over the bids with advisers. Old Landsbanki holds 67 percent of Iceland Foods and the bankrupt estate of Glitnir Bank holds ten percent of the company. The two companies are bidding on the combined shares of the two old banks.

At least two offers were received from two investment funds; BC Partners, a British company, on the one hand and Bain Capital, which is based in Boston, USA, on the other. No word has yet been released about the precise value of the offers, but they are thought to be around the GBP 1.5 billion that Landsbanki was hoping for. That is around ISK 300 billion.

The sale proceeds will largely be spent on repaying the British and Dutch governments for the money they lost in Icesave.

One of the founders of Bain Capital is Mitt Romney – who is now seen as one of the most likely Republican presidential candidates for the US election this autumn. Romney headed Bail Capital until 1999, before turning his attention to other projects. He still receives a cut of the company’s profits and has been paid millions of dollars from the company in recent years. Mitt Romney is one of the richest men ever to have tried to become President. His personal assets are reckoned to be as high as USD 250 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)

A deal has been signed for Statoil to acquire a 30.6 percent stake in one of the British explorer’s Greenland licenses, showing interest in the Arctic remains strong despite recent high-profile failures.

“The exact financial terms of the agreement are confidential,” Cairn said, according to a Reuters report. It added, however, that the Norwegian company would be paying some of the past and future exploration costs and a bonus on signing the deal.

Cairn has spent USD 1.2 billion on projects in the Arctic over the last two years, but has so far failed to get any conclusive shows. It is believed that the company hoped to get funding for all future drilling costs, but their lack of success so far has forced them to offer “attractive” partnership terms to investors.

“Arctic specialist Statoil’s early entry into a part of Cairn’s Greenland acreage, on attractive terms, validates the industry’s and Cairn’s long-held belief in the region’s multi-billion barrel exploration potential,” Morgan Stanley analysts said in a note.

Environmental groups have attempted to disrupt Cairn’s activities in the Arctic several times, pointing out than an oil spill in the pristine region would be detrimental to wildlife and almost impossible to clean up. It is thought, however, that Greenland could hold as many as 20 billion barrels of oil, making the semi-autonomous Danish island one the world’s biggest producers.

(Photos: Anders Peter Amsnæs)

Catco Vín runs an alcoholic drinks plant in Borgarnes and used to be owned by Ölgerðin Egill Skallagrímsson. Among the drinks it produces is the now world-recognised Reyka vodka brand.

The sale price of the company is not public knowledge. Magnús Arnar Arngrímsson, an economist and the company’s new CEO told DV that the plan is to increase exports of spirits made with Icelandic water; especially Martin Miller gin which is quickly gaining a foothold in the British market.

DV has received tip-offs that Lárus Welding, the former director of Glitnir bank who is under criminal investigation following the bank’s collapse, has been involved in the sale of Catco Vín. Magnús confirmed that Lárus has acted as an adviser on behalf of Malcolm Walker; but said that he did not put any money into the deal himself. Magnús and Lárus are good friends who began work at Glitnir Bank around the same time. Magnús ended up as head of investment banking at Glitnir and also worked at its successor, Íslandsbanki after the crash.

The soldiers had set off on foot from Reyðarfjörður over the mountains hoping to reach Eskifjörður. They set off in good weather on the morning of the 20th January 1942. As the day progressed they encountered severe wind and snowfall. A total of 60 British soldiers were on the trek and eight of them died.

The ill-fated walk and the ensuing rescue effort were commemorated yesterday at Veturhús, with flowers, candles and flags; as well as speeches and readings from media and personal accounts from the time.

Magnús Pálsson, one of the rescuers from 70 years ago, was invited to the British embassy in Reykjavík, where he received official recognition and tribute from the British military.

Mayor of Fjarðabyggð (where Veturhús is located) Jens Garðar Helgason, told Vísir.is that the recognition was more than deserved following the bravery and selflessness shown by the young Magnús, his siblings and their mother on that fateful day.

The ten-month-old hooded grey pup, known as Eve, most recently paid a visit to Skegness after previously being spotted in Germany, where she was fitted with a GPS tracker, followed by Scotland and the south of England.

The Natureland sanctuary in Skegness is now caring for the intrepid pup and appealing for donations to help pay for her flight back to the Arctic region. Seals from Greenland, Iceland and Canada rarely make it as far as the North Sea.

“No one knows why Eve got lost and travelled so far,” said Cheryl Yeadon from Naturland in a Daily Mail report. “She is still a baby and we think she hasn’t learnt how to cope on her own away from her mum.

“Seals only feed on their mother’s milk for four days before they have to learn to fend for themselves. We are keeping Eve with other seals to teach her about competition for food. Our best option is to get her closer to where she would come from in the wild.

“It is not unusual for seals to travel long distances, but we have never known one to travel as far – and in the wrong direction – as Eve,” Ms Yeadon added.

With Stephen Fry were the actor Brian Blessed and the comedians Sean Lock and Ross Noble – alongside Alan Davies, who is in every show and has a reputation for finishing in last place.

Among the things the contestants needed to do was to pronounce Eyjafjallajökull, guess what necropants are and answer why the Icelandic phonebook is so different from the British one. The programme was broadcast on Friday and was a special Christmas episode, themed on Iceland.

The contestants all knew some things about Iceland, but none of them could pronounce Eyjafjallajökull properly; although Brian Blessed gave it a jolly good try with very exaggerated pronunciation.

QI is short for “Quite Interesting” and the programme has been shown on the BBC since 2003. Each series is named after a letter in the alphabet. The current series is all about the letter ‘I’ and producers hope there will eventually be 26 series made of the popular show. Alan Davies is the only permanent guest on the show and Stephen Fry has been quizmaster since the beginning. The QI concept is the brainchild of the programme’s director and producer John Lloyd; who has written for some of the BBC’s most popular comedy shows, including Spitting Image, Have I Got News For You, Blackadder and more.

A previously undisclosed report, written by Colonel John Dalby, documents how the Danish battalion was involved in the arrests of 36 people on 24th November 2004, despite his previous claims that it was only British and Iraqi troops involved.

If Denmark is found to have handed the civilians over, the military could be held responsible for their treatment in prison, as the 1949 Geneva Convention states that the prisoners’ safety is the responsibility of those who arrested them.

In an interview with Politken, two of the arrested Iraqis gave their account of events.
“Everyone in town was used to seeing soldiers,” one of the Iraqis said. “And the soldiers who arrested me had Danish flags on the shoulders of their uniforms, and on their vehicles it stated they were from Denmark,” he added.

The men went on to explain that after they were handed over to Iraqi forces, they were electrocuted, beaten and hung from hooks.

The Danish military has continued to deny the claims, however, with Dalby telling Politiken, “We were supporting an Iraqi operation. They were responsible for the arrests and afterwards we searched for weapons with the British. My people could have been inside the houses, but I’m very sure that none of my people arrested anyone. Nor did we interrogate anyone, the Brits were responsible for that before the Iraqis took away the prisoners,” he said.

Össur Skarphéðinsson

The Icelandic foreign minister will take control of the country’s Icesave defence preparations at the EFTA court; despite loud calls from the opposition to keep the case in the hands of the business and commerce minister.

Össur Skarphéðinsson, Minister for Foreign Affairs, has been given political oversight of Iceland’s defence case being prepared after the EFTA decided to take the country to court over its handling of the failed Icesave accounts in the Netherlands and the UK. The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting today.

The decision has been widely discussed in recent days, including in Alþingi, among opposition parties and in the Alþingi foreign affairs committee — which itself voted to keep the case in the hands of Minister of Economic Affairs, Árni Páll Árnason; who was in charge of all things Icesave before the EFTA decided to take the matter to court last week.

The foreign affairs committee vote was won by the two Independence Party MPs, two Progressive Party MPs and one from the ruling Left Green Movement. Meanwhile the four remaining government committee members from the Social Democrats and the Left Greens voted to transfer the matter to the foreign minister. The Movememt’s Birgitta Jónsdóttir agreed with the government stance, but she only holds observer status. It was therefore 5-4.

The committee meeting last night was also attended by permanent secretaries from the Prime Ministry and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs; as well as an expert adviser in matters related to the EFTA court. They all agreed that the case belongs with Össur Skarphéðinsson.

The committee’s main concern when voting for Árni was that the EFTA court case should not be put in the same hands as the Icelandic European Union accession negotiations. Also the committee stated that all parties and members of Alþingi need to unite behind the minister in this case and the majority of its members felt that unifying minister should be Árni Páll Árnason.

The government was duty bound to consider the committee’s suggestion carefully, but eventually this morning decided to go with the non-political experts’ recommendation.