Iceland's former Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir is the only world leader to have a same-sex spouse. Her wife, Jónína Leósdóttir, talks to Radhika Sanghani about how coming out is easier when you are a white grandmother and how she used to be scared of lesbians ...
A Swedish family carrying out renovations on their living room got a spooky surprise when they discovered a gravestone from the 1800s beneath the floorboards. The Nilsson family, from Fuglie, southern Sweden, discovered the gravestone, which was around two metres in length, under the floor. Gert Nilsson said he was surprised to find such a […]...
A Swedish Muslim wearing a hijab claims airport security staff tugged on her headscarf in full view of others rather than taking her to a private place. State employee Saama Sarsour explained that the female official at the northern Arvidsjaur airport asked her what was on her head when the metal detector beeped as she […]...
Iceland President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson has invited Indonesia to join the second Arctic Circle Assembly conference in Reykjavik in October. The president made the offer when hosting credentials from Yuwono A. Putranto, the Indonesian Ambassador to Iceland, at his residence in Bessastaðir, Reykjavik. The Indonesian Embassy in Oslo’s second secretary of educational, social and cultural […]...
The Danish government has largely stopped allowing refugees from Muslim countries into Denmark as part of its yearly refugee since 2006, according to a new Justice Ministry report. The report showed that Muslim refugees are almost never among the 500 refugees the Scandinavian country accepts each year as part of its refugee quota list compiled […]...
The Finnish town of Lestijärvi, in the western region of Ostrobothnian, has seen birth rates soar since announcing an initiative offering parents 10,000 euros for new arrivals, so much so that the town is now suffering from a housing shortage. With just 800 residents, the town decided in 2012 to try and come up with […]...
Uganda is to show the Nordic countries the potential it now has for tourism and investment. In May, representatives from the East African country will, for the first time, travel to Denmark to exhibit what the once-troubled nation now has to offer. The Uganda Tourism Board’s chief executive officer Stephen Asiimwe said it will be a […]...
A woman in Sweden has been convicted of assault for slapping a man who allegedly pinched her bum in public. The Norrköping District Council in eastern Sweden ruled that the woman had assaulted the pincher and fined her 1,000 kroner for slapping him in the face in response to the man’s indecent behaviour. However, the […]...
Debt is legacy of Investec's administration of an offshore trust on behalf of corporate raider Robert Tchenguiz Investec, the FTSE 250 banking and asset management group, is preparing to walk away from a debt of about £150m owed by one of its offshore businesses, according to those chasing the money on behalf of creditors to the failed Icelandic bank Kaupthing . The debt, equivalent to almost...
The CEO of budget airline Ryanair, Michael O’Leary, has said they hope to introduce a Helsinki route within the next 12 months – as long as it can come to an agreement with Finnish civil aviation company Finavia. Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, O’Leary claimed Helsinki Airport, which is operated by Finavia, was […]...
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon travelled to Greenland to see the impact of climate change on the autonomous territory’s environment, which he warned is a major threat to local communities’ livelihoods. Ki-moon met with Greenland premier Aleqa Hammond and travelled to the town of Uummannaq in the Arctic Circle. He described Greenland’s “majestic beauty” as “overwhelming” […]...
Carlsberg Sweden is carrying out an investigation after the company sent Pepsi MAX cans containing a citrus-based alcopop rather than Pepsi to German retailer Lidl. In what is an embarrassing situation from the brewer, which licenses the brand and fills the cans in Sweden, it announced that it was recalling all Pepsi MAX 330ml cans […]...
A wealthy Norwegian man has claimed a luxury boat believed to have been left in a Swedish harbor for the past two years, after alleging that he had forgotten about it. The US-made Rinker 342 Fiesta Vee’s Norwegian owner revealed that he planned to sell it in 2012 – and believed that the sale had […]...
Iceland, Norway and the Faroe Islands have reached an agreement with the EU over the total allowable catch (TAC) of blue whiting in the Northeast Atlantic. The new deal will see the TAC increased by 86 per cent for 2014, with the parties agreeing on 1.2m metric tonnes – 557,000 tonnes higher than last year’s […]...
A Danish travel company has launched a competition challenging Danes to have more sex in a bid to tackle the Scandinavian country’s low birth rate. Spies Rejser launched the ‘Do it for Denmark’ advert, which promises Danes who can prove their child was conceived while on holiday, free baby supplies for three years and a […]...
A Swedish woman got the shock of her life when she discovered what she thought was the sound of a scurrying mouse was actually a 40cm-long rat… and that’s without the tail being measured on. The rodent, which Swedish media has dubbed Ratzilla, emerged from under the kitchen sink when Signe Bengtsson went on the […]...
Switzerland, Iceland and the Netherlands also scored well in Social Progress Index, which takes focus off economic output New Zealand has come first in a global index that ranks countries by social and environmental performance rather than economic output in a drive to make social progress a priority for politicians and businesses. The Social Progress Index (SPI) , published on Thursday, rates 132...
Icelandic bank Landsbanki has suffered a setback after its Luxembourg branch lost an appeal against French authorities seizing debts of clients who lost funds in an initiative that saw them mortgage their properties to bet on the stock market. France has been entangled in a legal battle with Landsbanki’s Luxembourg branch about the bank’s efforts […]...
When Björk met Attenborough: The Nature of Music, a nature documentary featuring the famous nature expert and Iceland’s quirky musician, will be released on 5 May, according to Björk’s record label, One Little Indian. The documentary – which looks at the human race’s relationship with music, how music has evolved over the years and how […]...
Icelandic fishing and environmental groups have claimed Norway and the EU have agreed a deal that could have a negative impact on the mackerel stock in the Northeast Atlantic. Iceland and the Faroe Island have been engulfed in a four-year battle with the EU and Norway over the North Atlantic countries’ refusal to comply with […]...