Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir, Icelandic Minister of Social Affairs, formally launched a Polish news Web site Friday. The new site, with all the main stories translated to Polish, was a subsection of dv.is, the news Web site for Icelandic daily DV.

According to editor of DV Thórarinn Thórarinsson, the news site provides service for the over 6,000-strong Polish community in Iceland. "Easy access to the main news stories from the Icelandic society strengthens the position of those who are trying to gain footing in a foreign community, foreign because of language barriers," he said.

First on the main page will be the Icelandic news stories, but the Web site also covers various information for Polish citizens living in Iceland and the news stories from Poland.

"This is certainly a much-needed initiative," Helga Ólafs, information officer of Althjódahús, the inter-cultural center in Reykjaví­k, told the Iceland Review. "Immigrants have increased steadily and now account for about seven percent of the Icelandic nation. Poles make up the largest community within that group, almost one third of it."