Iceland is Headed for a Snap Election  10/14 06:04

   

   LONDON (AP) -- Iceland appears headed for a snap election after Prime 
Minister Bjarni Benediktsson pulled the plug on the Nordic nation's fragile 
governing coalition.

   The prime minister is expected to ask President Halla Tmasdttir on Monday 
to formally dissolve Iceland's parliament, the Althingi, for an election on 
Nov. 30, national broadcaster RUV reported.

   Benediktsson's center-right Independence Party has governed since April with 
the centrist Progressive Party and the Left Green Movement. He said the 
coalition partners disagreed over issues including immigration, energy policy 
and the economy.

   Iceland is a wind-lashed island near the Arctic Circle with a population of 
about 385,000. The country suffered through years of economic upheaval after 
its debt-swollen banks collapsed during the 2008 financial crisis, but has 
become a major draw for tourists eager to see its glaciers and waterfalls, the 
Northern Lights and its frequently active volcanoes.

   Repeated eruptions on the Reykjanes Peninsula in the country's southwest 
have displaced several thousand people and strained public finances.