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My Icelandic Experience in a Week

Eva Firicka is an editorial intern at the Reykjavík Grapevine. She will be spending the next four months with us. Here you can read some random reflections from her first week.

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Fréttamynd

Biggest Support for a Leftist Government

According to a new Capacent Gallup poll published in Morgunblaðið today, 28,1% of those who answered the question, which two political parties they would you like to see form the next government, named the Left-Green Movement in coalition with the Social Democrats. The poll showed a 24,2% support for the ruling coalition parties. An alliance between the Independence Party and the Left-Green Movement received a 22,4% support while only 9,6% would like to see the Independence Party in coalition with the Social Alliance after the elections in May. When asked which party the participants would like to see in government, 61,3% of those questioned named the Independence Party. The Left-Green Movement ranked second with 59,5% while 44,1% supported the Social Alliance. The Progressive Party received 28,7% and the Liberal Party 8,6%. The poll was undertaken on March 8 to 13. The poll reached 61,7% of 1,230 people and 65,7% of them answered the questions. 26,7% of those questioned were still undecided and 7,5% refused to answer.

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Iceland Welcomes 20 to 30 Refugees

According to Morgunblaðið, the government decided earlier today that instead of welcoming a group of refugees every second year, Iceland would now welcome approximately 25 to 30 refugees every year. The Ministry of Foreign Affaires and the Ministry of Social Affairs have been working on the proposal in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The Ministries will work in cooperation with the municipalities and the Red Cross in Iceland so to strengthen the country’s refugee policy in the future. For the past ten years, 217 refugees have resettled in Iceland. In 2005 the group consisted of children and mothers from Kosovo and Columbia.

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Fréttamynd

Pornographers’ Convention CANCELLED!

The SnowGathering 2007 pornographers’ convention, set to take place in Reykjavík early next month has been cancelled. The convention’s organizers, FreeOnes.com, announced their decision yesterday after receiving word from Hótel Saga – where they had booked several rooms – that their reservations were being cancelled. In an earlier statement from the Icelandic Farmers’ Association, Hótel Saga’s owners, they announced that they would not be hosting the convention due to announcements from various politicians, feminist groups and they mayor of Reykjavík. The statement also said that the decision was backed up by Rezidor Hotel Group, the proprietors of Radisson SAS hotels. A later announcement stated that the hotel planned to stop showing lite-porn on their Pay Per View channels.

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