The International Investment company FL Group is to publish first quarter 2008 results on the 8th of May. A presentation for shareholders and market participants will be held in Reykjavik Iceland at the Hilton Nordica hotel at 16:30 GMT, May the eighth. More information can be found at the FL Group website About the group: FL Group is an international investment company with core investments in financials and insurance. The company maintains a flexible approach to value creating investments in private equity with a special focus on property companies, along with capital markets activities. FL Group invests using the company's balance sheet, bringing flexibility in asset allocation and horizons.

The Danish public are currently divided over whether to support a boycott of the Olympic Games in China, according to the Copenhagen Post. Denmark has not yet formally made a decision on boycotting the Beijing Olympics which are scheduled to take place in August this year. The Minister for Culture, Brian Mikkelsen, recently made a public statement declaring his indecision regarding participation at the opening ceremony of the games. A Gallup poll of residents of Denmark shows that half the population feels that a boycott is appropriate. Of those surveyed, 39 per cent opposed a boycott, while 11 per cent were undecided. The Culture Minister has placed conditions on his participation in the opening ceremonies. These conditions include monitoring developments in Tibet and the Chinese government’s reaction to protests there. Some suggest that if the minister makes the decision not to attend the event, he will be supported by Crown Prince Frederik. Meanwhile Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has made a public statement against the boycott, attesting that sports and politics should not mix. Pernille Frahm, member of the Socialist People's Party, told a local newspaper; “Officially, Denmark should not back the games. Nor should we take part in the opening ceremonies in order to emphasise that China's human rights efforts are going in the wrong direction.”

Lansdowne Partners, one of the four hedge funds named by Chairman of Kaupthing Bank for the recent ‘attack’ on the Icelandic market, has denied the bank´s allegations according to a number of reports in the Icelandic media. Andrew Honnor, spokesman for Lansdowne Partners, said “Such allegations – that we are manipulating share prices – are extremely serious. We absolutely deny it.” His comments appeared on the Icelandic news sites visir.is and Iceland Review on Thursday. Chairman of Kaupthing bank, Sigurdur Einarsson, told visir.is on Wednesday that four hedge funds based in London had instigated a systematic attack on the Icelandic financial market and Icelandic banks, and had gone to great lengths to profit from taking short positions in stocks and credit default swaps (CDS). Einarsson named the hedge funds involved as Trafalgar Fund, Ako Capital, Cheney Capital and Lansdowne Partners. According to Einarsson, these funds systematically contacted the UK media and analysts from UK banks in an attempt to widen CDS spreads and bring down the share price of the banks. Einarsson said that although the funds’ plans have succeeded in the short term, they will inevitably fail in the long term. He believes that foreign media and analysts are now approaching financial news on Iceland with more caution than before. “You can’t fool people over and over again,” he said. The denial by Lansdowne Partners follows comments made by the Central Bank of Iceland which attributed the recent rapid devaluation of the Icelandic currency to a speculative 'attack' by 'unscrupulous dealers'. The Icelandic krona (ISK) has fallen by as much as 25 percent against the euro this year. The Prime Minister of Iceland, Geir Haarde, said at a meeting of Nordic political leaders in Sweden on Wednesday: “It's clear that there are people out there trying to make money at our expense, and we want to get them off our backs.'' The Central Bank has already asked the Icelandic Financial Services Authority to investigate whether or not investors had deliberately spread false rumours to the media in order to bring turmoil to the Icelandic financial markets. Meanwhile the Central Bank raised its key interest rate to 15.5% on Thursday in order to protect the currency and control mounting inflation.

Finland’s indigenous people, the Sami, are expressing a growing concern that their traditional way of life may soon disappear, reports IPS. According to Martin Scheinin, who is a professor of international law at the Åbo Academy in Turku, the constitutional rights of the Sami are being ignored by sections of the state administration. "They keep treating the Samis as a linguistic minority," Prof. Scheinin said. As the Sami are accorded a status in the Finnish Constitution as indigenous people, they have the right to elect their own parliament. "The difficulty facing us is that we are facing comprehensive and complete assimilation all the time," said Pekka Aikio, former president of the Sami Parliament. There are approximately 8,000 Sami in Finland and a total of 100,000 Sami in Sweden, Norway, Finland and other parts of Northern Europe. The Sami traditionally gain their livelihood through the herding of reindeer but more and more Sami are turning away from this practice and living like other Finns. According to Prof. Scheinin, problems over land use is one of the main threats to the Sami way of life, with the government itself often responsible for deforestation of areas used for pasture by the Sami who have no land rights of their own. "Nobody knows how the government got this land, from whom they bought it. They simply took it," said Prof. Scheinin.

Nordic bank Glitnir will release up to 1 billion Euros ($1.6 billion) in liquidity when it exits its commercial property financing business based in Luxembourg. The bank, which is known for its expertise in sustainable energy and the seafood industry, will focus its Luxembourg office on servicing its investment management business and other customers. Glitnir will also run down a large part of its real-estate loan portfolio in Luxembourg and at the same time strengthen its liquidity position. The restructuring of Glitnir's European banking business is part of the bank´s efforts to consolidate operations around its core business this year, efforts which included the closure of its Danish operations earlier this year. "These moves represent an important step in consolidating and aligning Glitnir's European business, thus creating cost synergies and increasing efficiency at the same time,” said Executive Vice President of Glitnir Europe, Helgi Anton Eriksson. “It furthermore shows our flexibility in managing our balance sheet in the current market environment. With these changes, we will run a more focused and aligned banking operation in Europe in the future", he added. For more information on Glitnir, visit www.glitnirbank.com