2 WW2 stories.

There's really not much news at the moment, so i'll post 2 links, to stories which are related to the Faroe Islands, during World War 2.

Story 1

Story 2

Cypriotic cargo-ship hits land.

Today, a cargo-ship, registered in Limasol, Cyprus, hit land in Fuglafjørður, when the bow bulb made impact with land. Reports indicate, that the ship had to much speed. This is also combined with, that it's been rather windy and rainy, throughout the most of the Faroe Islands today.

Pictures of the ship are here.

Teitur (and others), banned in China.

Downloading music from iTunes, is now banned in China, all because of this CD. The government has found out, that "more than 40 atheletes", have downloaded songs from that CD.

Read much more about the story here.

Portugal vs. Faroe Islands: 5 - 0

I've just witnessed Portugal maul the Faroe Islands, 5 goals to nil. We had one chance at goal I think, a pretty mediocre one I might add, didn't nerve the portugese goalkeeper.

Our team was pretty new, many rookies on the field, and it was displayed in their game. I'm sorry, but I don't have many positive things to say. Maybe we saw some sparks here and there, nothing more than that though, and one wonders why Portugal didn't score on some very open opportunities.

Portugal vs. Faroe Islands

Tomorrow evening. Portugal will go head to head, against the Faroe Islands, in a friendly game, played in Portugal.

This will be the first portugese match, with Carlos Queiroz as manager.

The match will be shown, on various stations, and there will probably be some pages with live-scores. But, after the match, i'll give my thoughts on the match.

Checking the political terrain

The Prime Minister has held informal negotiations with the Unionist Party. As of now, the signal is positive. Their leader, Kaj Leo Johannesen, said it has worked well with the Social Democrats in the past, and he wouldn't rule out, working together with the Republican Party.

The political conclusion

The Republican Party has now announced, that they will continue in the coalition, but want a large party in the opposition to enter the coalition, because being one mandate ahead of the opposition, is a too small lead to have.

The Prime Minister, will initiate negotiations with other parties, as soon as possible.

Political standstill in the Faroe Islands.

Things are waiting mode here at the moment in the Faroe Islands. The Prime Minister, is awaiting word from the Republican Party, whether they're a part of the coalition or not. The Party, has 8, of the 15 people(+2, they're not a direct part of the coalition. Only in a supporting role), in the coalition.

The reasons for this situation, are too complicated to get into details about, so i'll give the short version. A very important bill, concerning the future of our fishery industry (about reducing the fishing-days of most vessels, by 20%. It's also got some other technicalities), was to be voted on. A member of the Party, didn't agree with this, and he put forward a supplemental draft, which said the days should only be reduced by 10%. All of the Republican Party, except this one guy, voted for the 20%. When that supplemental draft, was voted, at made it through, and thus, there's to be a 10% reduction, instead of the 20%.

The leader of the Party, Høgni Hoydal, said before all this. That if his (Heine O. Heinesen) 10%, were voted through, the Party would no longer be a part of the coalition.

As it is now, there's been no formal announcement made, whether this holds up or not. And we're kind of in a waiting-zone.

Atlantic Petroleum has struck oil!

The Faroese based oil-company, Atlantic Petroleum, has found oil, in a field, outside Aberdeen, Scotland, called Blackbird. AP owns a 8.27% share of this field.

Read the press release here.

Faroese U21 goalkeeper in Motherwell

Faroese goalkeeper, Gunnar Nielsen, who's been with Blackburn Rovers, as a goalkeeper, trying to break into the first ranks, has now been loaned out to Scottish side, Motherwell, in a six months deal.

Read more about it here.

He's gotten many plaudits, during his stay with Blackburn Rovers, but hasn't really broken the barrier into the first team line-up.

On a personal note, I only see this as a new challenge for Gunnar. This is not a step down the ladder. He's very young still, and has got many years ahead of him.

POST 200: Kayakers rescued

The kayakers, which I told about in this article, didn't make it any way near the Faroe Islands, and thus, had to be rescued.

Read the story here.

48.678 inhabitants on the Faroe Islands

The 1 July, there lived 48.678 people here. That's 274 people more than the year prior, and 231 more than there were at the start of 2008.

Statistics Faroe Islands, also says that the population has risen at the beginning of the year, but then declined at the latter part of the year.

This has led to, that the population has only risen by 250 people, from 1 July, 2004 to 1 July 2008.

Miami Herald article about the Faroe Islands

An interesting article in the Miami Herald. It's written for Lonely Planet.

There are also some trip tips.

Summerfestival in progress...

The annual Summerfestival in Klaksvík, started last night, and the feedback so far, is mainly positive.

Pictures from the event can be found here:

Gallery 1

Gallery 2

Gallery 3

Gallery 4

Gallery 5

Kayakers enroute to the Faroe Islands

Two brave adventurers set off today in an attempt to be the first to paddle kayaks from Scotland to the Faroe Islands.

Patrick Winterton and Mick Berwick hope northerly winds will have calmed enough to allow them to set off on the 255-mile voyage from Stornoway on what has been labelled the “Mount Everest of kayak trips”...

read more...

Wonderful story - Cheeseman in the Faroes

When Manchester City was here, to play against EB/Streymur. BBC Radio sent sports broadcaster, Ian Cheeseman along, and he's got this wonderful story:

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Faroese membership in WTO

The Ministry of Foreigh Affairs, here in the Faroe Islands, is working on being a full member of the WTO. This is because Denmarks WTO membership, is handled through the EU. So, in a way, does the EU represent Faroe Islands.

Memorial monument, inaugurated in Mykines

In the island of Mykines, there is this memorial monument, which was built, to remember the fallen people of the island. On the plaque, there are 37 names. 27 of these, are people, lost at sea, and 10, who are been in accidents, in the mountains of the island.

Yesterday (Aug. 3), the monument, which was built for the first time, in the 1930's, was inaugurated. This because, it's been fully restored last year, and now, the plaques have been renewed.

I helped in the restoration of this monument.

Pictures from the event are here.

Songs for Tibet - The Art of Peace ... (feat. Teitur and others)

Songs for Tibet - The Art of Peace, is this CD called. Among the list of very famous artists, we find the Faroese singer, Teitur Lassen.

I think one has taken many steps up the ladder, when one finds himself, in such company as Sting, Alanis Morisette, Suzanne Vega, Moby, and several more.

I could tell you more about this project, but it's explained very well at this link.

European swimming Champion

Tripe gold winner at the competition. The last event, was 800m Freestyle. He set a new European track-record.

As I mentioned, the US-based swimsuit-maker, TYR, has contacted Pál Joensen, and offered him, to provide him with free swim-gear. They have this super-suit, which they will provide him with. They see a large marketing potential in Pál.

Pál hasn't decided yet, whether to go by this offer or not, but he's been given a free suit though, which he used, when he won the 400m Freestyle gold. It's called Tracer Light.
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Here is a photogallery from the event.
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Here's a YouTube-clip from when the medals were given, in the 400m Freestyle event.
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The Faroese Prime Minister, has sent Pál Joensen, a congratulatory letter, in which he says, that Pál Joensen has achieved the highest Faroese sporting endeavour ever. And he also thanks him, for giving Faroe Islands, international recognition.

Pál Joensen - European swimming Champion x 3

Indeed, he did it again. For the third time, he won gold in this tournament.

I will tell more about this later. For example, that he's gotten a sponsorship offer from the swimmingsuit-maker TYR.