Iceland

(Reuters) - Iceland's leaders will not attend the soccer World Cup in Russia this year as part of an international response to punish the Kremlin for a nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in England that the British government has blamed on Moscow.

Watching the Northern Lights is an incredible experience. And British photographer Ollie Taylor was lucky to see it against the backdrop of a great landscape.

While he was in Iceland, Taylor took a picture of a lake, a waterfall, a rainbow and the lights of the Northern Light in one frame.

A new law making it illegal to pay men more than women has taken effect in Iceland.

The legislation, which came into force on Monday, the first day of 2018, makes Iceland the first country in the world to legalise equal pay between men and women.

Chinese investors have an enormous desire to invest in tourism in Iceland. But the problem is that local residents are not at all friendly, Bloomberg writes.

Since the North Atlantic nation has fully reintegrated into the international community since the financial crisis, its center-right government now wants to tighten the rules and restrict foreign ownership.

The declining birth rates in the western countries is a well documented problem with many ramifications for local societies in all walks of life.

Norway, Switzerland and Iceland top the list of countries where it is best to get a retirement. This is shown by the Global Pension Index, compiled by the Natixis financial corporation. Reports BGNES. 

Crystal clear ice caves, glacial lakes, spewing volcanoes and crashing waterfalls framed by dark lava columns: Iceland's breathtaking landscapes have become a magnet for Hollywood moviemakers looking to conjure up otherworldly scenery.

They were heady, historic days in the sporting history of Iceland.

A small Nordic nation of 300,000 people toppling World Cup winners and footballing lawmakers England in a major tournament doesn’t happen every week. Not yet, at least.

Greece has been ranked 87th out of 155 countries listed in the United Nations annual World Happiness Report.

According to the report, which factors in income, life expectancy, social support, and levels of generosity, freedom and trust, Greece, the Central African Republic and Venezuela experienced the biggest happiness drops in the period stretching from 2014 to 2016.

Valgerour Halla came into the world under unusual circumstances. The 4-month-old was born in Reykjavik to Syrian asylum seekers who were so thankful they gave her an Icelandic name.