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Iceland asks for state mediation
Iceland has approached several governments about the possibility of mediating talks over $5bn its owes to Britain and the Netherlands after the island’s banking crisis, Icelandic media reported yesterday. Local television said Norway was the most likely candidate for such a role. Oslo is seen as sympathetic to Iceland’s plight and mediated between London and Reykjavik in the 1970s “cod wars” over fishing rights. Iceland owes the British and Dutch governments the money for losses related to the collapse of Icesave online bank accounts in late 2008.