A yes to membership would have given Brussels a boost but Icelanders have not voted to isolate themselves

Iceland’s 52.8% to 47.2% vote against reopening EU accession talks is, undeniably, a blow for Brussels. But claiming it as a Brexit-style victory for “national sovereignty” or evidence of broad rejection of the EU misrepresents the reality of the island’s relationship with the bloc.

For the EU, Iceland was a dream candidate: small, stable, prosperous and strategically located in an increasingly contested Arctic. Eager as it is to wield more geopolitical clout and revive flagging momentum around enlargement, a vote in favour would have given Brussels a very welcome boost.

The no campaign was well-funded and accused of scaremongering, but the wording of the question may also have made a difference

It was always going to be a close contest. But on the night, the figures showed just how divided Iceland was on the issue of whether or not to restart negotiations with the European Union.

After a nail-biting overnight count, the well-funded no campaign rejoiced on Sunday morning as the broadcaster RUV declared it the winner with about 52.8% of the vote. Given the size of Iceland’s population – barely 400,000 – the margins were tiny.

Well-funded no camp prevails, winning 52.8% of votes and gaining plaudits from Eurosceptic figures across Europe

• Analysis: Definitely no or maybe yes – what tipped the Icelandic referendum

Voters in Iceland have ⁠rejected ⁠a government proposal ​to reopen ⁠accession talks with ⁠the ​EU after a closely fought referendum campaign that divided the country against a backdrop of global volatility.

After a long and anxious night for those on both sides of the debate, the no camp ended up with 52.8% of votes on Sunday morning and the yes camp with 47.2%. Voter turnout was high at 82.5%.

Country holds a knife-edge referendum that cuts across political divides on taking step closer to Brussels after Trump threats towards Greenland

For a long time, the prospect of becoming the third generation to run his family farm was an exciting one, says Davíð Clausen Pétursson.

Icelandic farmers were starting to get higher prices for their meat and milk, debt was no longer an occupational prerequisite and innovation was on the rise.

Ahead of the Nordic nation’s EU referendum, the Icelandic flag has been co-opted by the far right

To enter Reykjavik’s Grafarvogur Lutheran church, worshippers and visitors are invited to make their way down 16 steps painted in the rainbow stripes and the white, pink, blue, brown and black chevrons of the Progress Pride flag. The artwork, which can even be seen on satellite pictures, was originally a project of former head pastor Guðrún Karls Helgudóttir, now the bishop of Iceland, and her colleagues. The point was to show support for the LGBTQ+ community’s “need to be visible and accepted”, the church’s current head pastor, Arna Sigurðardóttir, told me.

And then some time in between the barely faded midnight sun of 7 July and the early morning light of 8 July, someone painted over all those colours with just three: blue on the outside, and two thin strips of white encasing a thicker strip of red in the centre.

Beginning in Russia’s remote Arctic north, the eclipse traced an arc over much of western Europe – with the best views in Spain, Iceland and Greenland

It was a moment of awe shared by millions across Europe: an eclipse that blocked out the sun, plunging parts of the continent into a daytime darkness in which temperatures dropped and birds suddenly went quiet.

Wednesday’s eclipse began in Russia’s remote Arctic north, going on to trace an arc over much of western Europe. From the UK to northern Italy, tens of millions of people turned to the sky as the light of the setting sun was almost completely blocked out.

Eclipse witnessed by tens of millions across western Europe as enthusiasts gather along path of totality

in Land’s End, Cornwall

The roads and car parks of west and north Cornwall are clogged as people gather to watch the solar eclipse.

Reykjavík, Iceland, falls into complete darkness as the solar eclipse reaches totality on 12 August

Rooms in Icelandic capital Reykjavík cost double usual rate and Spain also enjoying strong bookings

• Europe’s total solar eclipse: the best place to see it

Hotel prices have surged in key European cities as hundreds of thousands of tourists flock to see the first total eclipse visible from the continent this century.

Iceland’s capital, Reykjavík, has seen one of the biggest jumps in hotel room prices, being one of the few accessible locations to see the full eclipse before evening on Wednesday.

Two aviators will take off from Iceland to photograph the sun while flying at high altitude along solar eclipse’s path

After lunch on Wednesday, two Nasa aviators will climb into a research plane and take off from Keflavik airport on a western tip of Iceland. They will climb north towards Greenland and then bank to head south on a gently curving course 40 miles (64km) off the Icelandic coast.

Their mission can be described as chasing an eclipse, but in reality the eclipse is chasing them. As the plane cruises at 50,000ft (15,000 metres), the shadow of the moon will race up from behind, crossing the ocean below at more than 2,000mph (3,200km/h). The pilot will aim to reach the point of greatest eclipse, when the largest fraction of the sun is obscured by the moon, at the moment the shadow catches up with them.

A volcanologist and a photographer try to save Reykjavik in impressive and plausible drama

This scientifically plausible, CGI-tastic disaster film will either do wonders for Iceland’s tourist industry or destroy it completely. Vigdís Hrefna Pálsdóttir stars as a volcanologist called Anna, who is descended from a short line of volcanologists (just her dad). When mini volcanos start erupting and earthquakes get more frequent, Anna begins to suspect the subterranean systems everyone thought were separate might all be fed from one big magma lake deep underground. Great gaseous clouds of geologic mumbo jumbo get spewed into the dialogue, backed up with sombre graphs on computer screens and people drawing stuff on blackboards. But the gist is that Reykjavik is in danger.

Of course, the powers that be are sceptical about Anna’s theories and don’t want to cut off the island’s supply of sweet, sweet tourist money. Pretty soon, though, the signs are too numerous to ignore. And a big eruption either could last a day or two, or as Anna points out, for 30 years, like a volcano that erupted in the 9th century. (Good thing Icelandic history goes back that far.)

Negotiations with Reykjavík risk being bogged down by rigid accession rules. For strategic reasons, Brussels has to learn how to bend a little

Iceland is preparing for a referendum this summer on whether to restart negotiations with the EU about joining the bloc. If voters approve, the government in Reykjavík could complete talks for the country to become the EU’s 28th member state. Iceland is already part of the Schengen passport-free area, and has access to the EU single market through the European Economic Area, meaning that much of the regulatory groundwork for its integration is already done.

Yet the conversation about a possible Icelandic application for EU membership reveals a deeper issue: the European Union must rethink its own future admission of like-minded democracies as a geopolitical necessity.

Valérie Hayer is a French MEP and leader of the Renew Europe parliamentary group

A 1,000-year-old vampire obsessed with removing men’s genitals is the main storyline in this body horror, filmed in trashy 1980s synth-heavy style

Wibbling willies! This gore fest from Iceland starts as it means to go on: parked on a quiet back road, where a balding 1,000-year-old vampire has lured a middle-aged man into his car with the promise of a quickie. The vampire’s head lowers into his poor victim’s lap. “Not quite so hard,” the man implores, unheeded. Just three minutes into the film, we get sight of a dismembered member – the first of many to come. Filmed in trashy 1980s style, with plenty of red smoke and a synth-heavy soundtrack, Thirst is over-the-top and deliberately ridiculous, though I couldn’t stop myself yelping at one or two moments.

This is not a film graced by first (or even second) rate acting, though Hjörtur Sævar Steinason gives an entertaining performance as the vampire Hjörtur, all weary nihilism with the occasional wrench of spiritual anguish. One night, he takes a shine to a young woman called Hulda (Hulda Lind Kristinsdóttir), who is being harassed by local cops over the death of her brother from a drug overdose. After watching him split the skull of a local thug in two, Hulda is understandably petrified. But Hjörtur reassures her that he is only interested in men. One of the cops pursuing Hulda is Jens (Jens Jensson), a uniformed officer of retirement age. His wife is a religious crank in a tracksuit who makes broadcasts for TV warning that the end is nigh – which it certainly is for some of Reykjavík’s residents.

This study of author Andri Snær Magnason is somewhat indulgent, with endless musings where piercing climate crisis commentary should be

Is Iceland dying? Is the world dying? These would appear to be the very relevant questions behind this well-intentioned but ultimately exasperating and obtuse documentary from National Geographic, which is burdened with tasteful NatGeo stateliness and visually pleasing production values.

It is directed by film-maker Sara Dosa, whose earlier documentary Fire of Love was about doomed vulcanologists Maurice and Katia Krafft, who in 1991 perished in the eruption they were studying. Now Dosa has made a study of award-winning Icelandic climate author Andri Snær Magnason, whose book on climate change Of Time And Water was published in 2019 and who wrote a piercingly sad “obituary” of the Ok glacier, the first Icelandic glacier completely to disappear. It very clearly won’t be the last.

Twin threats from east and west have clearly made the bloc more appealing – but its rule-bound institutions need urgent attention

Giant butter mountains, wine lakes and an apocryphal EU ban on bendy bananas formed the mythological backdrop to Britain’s 2016 Brexit referendum debacle. Yet while many Vote Leave claims were exaggerated, inaccurate or blatantly untrue, the EU’s capacity for laying itself open to ridicule is undiminished 10 years on. Take the strange case of the whingeing EU commissioners, annoyed that their officially provided electric vehicles cannot manage the time-consuming 280-mile journey between Brussels and Strasbourg without stopping to recharge.

This important issue, first reported by Politico, raises vital questions. Do these highly paid bureaucrats really need chauffeur-driven “company cars”? Surely they could catch a train, or fly, or cycle. EV use is mandatory for road trips. The vehicles are supplied in line with the EU’s Green Deal emissions-cutting policy, which commissioners might be expected to support, not carp about. So why is the commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, allowed a petrol engine? The biggest question of all is why make these tedious Brussels-Strasbourg journeys in the first place?

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator

Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir accuses opponents of fearmongering amid warnings over misinformation and AI

Iceland’s foreign minister has said she fears her country faces a “Brexit moment” in its looming EU referendum amid warnings over misinformation, foreign interference and AI.

With just over three months to go until Iceland votes on whether or not to continue accession talks with the EU, developments are being closely watched by Washington, Moscow and Brussels.

Ukraine police investigating what foreign ministry calls a ‘hostage’ situation involving seven employees of Oschadbank stopped by Hungary

Icelandic foreign minister Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir submitted a government motion for a referendum on resuming accession talks with the European Union, proposing the vote should take place on 29 August, state broadcaster RUV has reported.

The draft resolution will be put to Icelandic parliament for approval next week.

Company promises ‘rapprochement discount’ for shoppers from country after decade-long action in EU court

The UK supermarket chain Iceland has abandoned its decade-long trademark battle with Iceland and instead promised a “rapprochement discount” for shoppers in the country.

After the budget grocery chain suffered its third legal loss last year, its executive chair, Richard Walker, said on Wednesday that it would draw a line under the dispute.