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☆ Women in Iceland go on strike for a day to protest pay gap and violence
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-23 | by ( Morgan Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Tens of thousands of women across Iceland — including the prime minister — are expected to participate in a one-day strike Tuesday in protest of the ongoing gender pay gap and gender-based violence. It is expected to be the largest walkout by Icelandic women in almost 50 years, according to the strike's official website. Close to 90% of Iceland's female population went on strike on October 24, 1975, to demand gender equality. Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir told the Icelandic news site Iceland Monitor that she will refuse to work on the strike day and expects other women in government to join her "in solidarity with Icelandic women." In 2018, a University of Iceland study found that 40% of Icelandic women experience gender-based and sexual violence in their lifetime.

Persons: —, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Jakobsdóttir, We're, Freyja, BSRB, That's, Steingrímsdóttir Organizations: Federation of, Public Workers Union, Iceland Monitor, New York Times, Iceland's, RÚV, World Economic, OECD, University, Times, CNBC, Global Locations: Iceland, Landspitali, Belgium, Italy

☆ Iceland resumes fin whale hunting, but killing needs to be faster
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

REUTERS/Sigtryggur Johannsson/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsOSLO, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Iceland's government said on Thursday it will resume hunting fin whales after a two-month halt, but with new guidelines aimed at killing them as quickly as possible to reduce suffering. Iceland resumed hunting fin whales, which can reach lengths of over 20 metres (65 feet), in 2006 after a 20-year pause. Although several are still endangered or even on the brink of extinction, Iceland, along with Norway and Japan, have resumed commercial whaling. The hunting will be resumed after a government working group concluded that it was possible to improve the hunting methods. Iceland's public broadcaster said whale hunters would be required to complete a course in whale biology, pain perception and stress.

Persons: Sigtryggur, Nerijus, Sandra Maler Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, International Whaling Commission, Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Fisheries, Thomson Locations: Reykjavik, Rights OSLO, Iceland, Norway, Japan

☆ Exclusive: UK probes Novo's Ozempic, weight-loss drug Saxenda over suicidal, self-harming thoughts
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Maggie Fick | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Saxenda is Novo's older GLP-1 drug and has lower effectiveness than its newer obesity treatment Wegovy, which contains semaglutide. Novo told Reuters it had received a request on Monday from the MHRA about the agency's review of potential suicidal and self-harming thoughts related to GLP-1 drugs. The MHRA said AstraZeneca's GLP-1 drug for type 2 diabetes, called exenatide and marketed as Bydureon, was also included in the review. The MHRA said that two other GLP-1 drugs, Sanofi's (SASY.PA) lixisenatide and Eli Lilly's (LLY.N) dulaglutide, were also included. It is also investigating GLP-1 drugs for possible risk of thyroid cancer.

Persons: Novo, AstraZeneca's GLP, lixisenatide, Eli Lilly's, Sanofi, Eli Lilly, liraglutide, Alison Cave, Novo's, MHRA, Ozempic, GLP, Maggie Fick, Josephine Mason, Mark Potter, Jane Merriman Organizations: Novo Nordisk, European Union, The Medicines, Healthcare, Agency, Reuters, AstraZeneca, European Medicines Agency, Thomson Locations: Britain, Europe, United States

☆ EU probes Novo Nordisk drugs after reports of suicidal thoughts
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Suicidal thoughts are not currently listed as a side effect in the EU product information of these treatments. Side effects have hobbled several previous attempts by the drug industry to develop lucrative weight-loss drugs. Sanofi's (SASY.PA) Acomplia, which never won a U.S. approval, was withdrawn in Europe in 2008 after being linked to suicidal thoughts. New weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy, however, regulate appetite by mimicking a gut hormone, and not directly interfere with brain chemistry. Safety data did not show any "causal association" between the suicidal or self-harming thoughts and the drugs, it added.

Persons: Acomplia, Bhanvi, Ludwig Burger, Savio D'Souza, Nivedita Organizations: European Medicines Agency, EMA, Icelandic Medicines Agency, Novo Nordisk, Thomson Locations: Danish, United States, Europe, Novo, Bengaluru, Frankfurt

☆ British Air Force to guard Iceland during Council of Europe summit
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The May 15-19 airspace protection agreement signed by the two countries will provide security before, during and after a summit of the Council of Europe, the continent's leading human rights watchdog, which is meeting in Iceland on May 16 and 17. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is among the government leaders expected to attend the meeting of the 46-nation council. The summit will be the largest international event held in Iceland, according to the government. The island nation situated in the North Atlantic ocean has a population of fewer than 400,000 people and no standing army or air force of its own. Reporting by Terje Solsvik in Oslo Editing by Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The US Navy is putting its submarines on rare public display in a message to Russia's growing undersea force
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Christopher Woody | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The US Navy has announced several visits by its subs to North Atlantic ports in recent years. Since 2020, when Norway allowed NATO subs to use a port near Tromsø, announcements of such visits appear to have increased. 'We're in your backyard'British Royal Navy attack submarine HMS Astute sails to the base at Faslane in November 2009. Russian Navy Yasen-class submarine Kazan at its base in Severomorsk on Russia's Arctic coast in June 2021. During the Cold War, US attack subs operated in the high north to get the Soviets to keep their attack subs close by to protect their ballistic-missile subs.

☆ 4 countries that are embracing—or experimenting with—the 4-day workweek
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Morgan Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Dozens of countries including Ireland, Spain and the UK have tested a 4-day workweek, with overwhelmingly positive results: Businesses that participated in a six-month trial in the UK, which ended in December 2022, said switching to a 4-day workweek improved productivity, morale and team culture. Although no country has fully adopted a 4-day workweek, some countries are experimenting with one or have policies that allow workers to request a shorter schedule. Here are four countries where the 4-day workweek has been widely adopted, or is being tested:South AfricaMore than 500 employees at 28 companies are participating in South Africa's 4-day workweek trial, which began in March and will continue until September. IcelandBetween 2015 and 2019, Iceland led one of the largest 4-day workweek pilots to date, with close to 2,500 people participating. However, uptake of the 4-day workweek among businesses in Iceland's private sector "seems to be slow," he adds, as many employers are placing the onus on individuals to negotiate for worktime reductions instead of offering a 4-day workweek as an automatic benefit to all employees.

☆ These are 5 of the world's best countries for working parents — and the U.S. isn’t on the list
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Tom Huddleston Jr. | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Working parents need all of the help they can get. Iceland, for example, is one of the best countries in the world for working parents, according to a new report from Bloomberg, which looks at how nations' policies affect the quality and affordability of child care for working parents. These problems exist everywhere to some degree, but some countries appear more committed than others to providing working parents with enough resources to lighten that heavy load. Canada, for example, committed in 2021 to spending $22 billion over five years to bring down early education and child care costs. Similarly, Iceland's policies benefiting working parents are one reason why the country has the highest female labor force participation rate among the countries tracked by the OECD, according to Bloomberg.

☆ See the photos that won National Geographic’s ‘Pictures of the Year’ contest
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Audrey Wan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

National Geographic announced the winning photographs from its first "Pictures of the Year" photo competition. The photo will be featured in an upcoming issue of National Geographic's U.S. magazine. Their photos will be published on National Geographic's Your Shot Instagram page, which has some 6.5 million followers. Salt wells on a hillside in the Salt Mines of Maras in Peru. An LiThe mines comprise around 4,500 salt wells, each of which produces some 400 pounds of salt per month.

☆ When a weather balloon went rogue almost 25 years ago, fighter jets fired 1,000 rounds at it and couldn't bring it down
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

About 25 years ago, a rogue weather balloon wouldn't come down after over 1,000 rounds were fired at it. Balloons, like the suspected Chinese "spy balloon" over the US, don't always pop or explode when shot. Two Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18 fighter aircraft spotted the balloon over Newfoundland and fired more than 1,000 rounds at it. The balloon, BBC reported, also survived encounters with British and American aircraft. According to BBC reports from the time of the incident, the 300-ft helium balloon prompted air traffic controllers to divert and delay transatlantic flights.

☆ Holiday travelers are trapped in an Iceland airport because snow-covered roads prevented them from getting to their hotels — or out of the country
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Rebecca Cohen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Travelers are stuck in an Icelandic airport after a blizzard dumped snow on the country. Keflavík Airport, easyJet, and Icelandair did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment. Despite multiple warnings from The Icelandic Meteorological Office, Iceland's government, and The Foreign Office, passengers told NBC that the airlines seemed under-prepared and barely communicated through the chaotic weekend of cancelations. Ryan Stevens, a traveler from London who is still stuck in Iceland, told Insider that Icelandair poorly handled the situation. Stevens is out 1,500 euros due to three nights in a hotel and two additional booked flights and said he hasn't heard anything about reimbursements or assistance.

☆ Transformers, air defences needed, Ukraine tells visiting ministers
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/4] Foreign ministers of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba, Lithuania's Gabrielius Landsbergis, Iceland's Thordis Gylfadottir and Sweden's Tobias Billstrom attend a joint news conference, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine November 28, 2022. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko/PoolKYIV, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba told a gathering of seven Nordic and Baltic foreign ministers on Monday that his country needed transformers and improved air defences to stave off Russian air strikes on energy infrastructure. Kuleba was flanked by officials from Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden ahead of a meeting of NATO military alliance foreign ministers in Bucharest on Tuesday and Wednesday. And we need air defence that will allow us to shoot down Russian missiles targeting our infrastructure." The ministers issued a joint statement after their talks calling for efforts to improve Ukrainian air defences.

☆ An airline CEO says that airports were to blame for the summer travel chaos because they were not ready to welcome passengers
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Stephen Jones | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Airports are to blame for flight cancellations and delays this summer, an airline CEO said. Icelandair's CEO told Insider that some airports were not ready to welcome passengers. The CEO of transatlantic airline Icelandair told Insider that he believed the blame for the disruption rested with airports. "Some airports were not ready to welcome passengers," Bogi Nils Bogason said. Despite the challenges this summer, Bogason said he "firmly believes" that the industry should be back to normal, pre-COVID-19 levels, by next summer.

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