The sixth in a regular series of columns by Chay Lemoine: ‘California’, in which Chay revisits the state he used to call home and introduces a little bit of Iceland to Sunday brunch. Read the full story

Telecommunication market analysts have labelled Nokia’s three-year attempt to come up with a suitable rival to the iPhone a failure. Read the full story

David Moses Jassy, the Swedish hip-hop and rap artist known as Monopoly, has been sentenced to a minimum of 15 years in jail by a Los Angeles court for his role in the 2008 murder of a Hollywood jazz pianist. Read the full story

The Danish utility company Dong Energy announced that it has signed an agreement with California-based electric battery charging company, Better Place, to implement a nationwide electric car-charging network in Denmark by 2011. The two groups have lined up nearly USD 103 million to build charging stations where drivers of electric vehicles can swap out or top up their depleted batteries. Read the full story

Anna Anka, former Swedish beauty queen and current wife of American singer Paul Anka was arrested in the US for assault after she threw a piece of ice at her husband’s head and made solid contact. The 69 year-old Paul Anka, who is 29 years older than Anna, had to be taken to hospital and received two staples in his head to close the wound. Read the full story

Nordic bank Glitnir won second prize for ‘Sustainable Deal of the Year‘ at the Financial Times Sustainable Banking awards in London last week.

Glitnir was presented with the award by the CEO of FT, John Ridding, for a deal brokered with US geothermal energy company Hudson Ranch. In it the Nordic bank provided a $15 million loan to develop a new geothermal generating facility in the Salton Sea geothermal field in California.

“The US Geothermal market is very interesting for us as we foresee considerable developments in the energy market especially regarding alternative energy resources,“ said Alexander Richter, Director of Global Industry Research and Communication at Glitnir.

Mr Richter said that Glitnir Bank was among the first financial institution to offer this sort of financial product in the US after last year providing Nevada Geothermal with a similar loan.

“We have a very strong position in the US geothermal market and we intend to strengthen it even further”, said Mr. Richter.

Also speaking at the FT event were the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson and Barclays Chairman, Marcus Agius. Morgan Stanley and BlueOrchard Finance jointly won the Sustainable Deal category.

Visit Glitnir’s website for more information on Glitnir and geothermal energy.

Geothermal energy, found in abundance in Iceland’s volcanic landscape, could provide a significant contribution to world energy needs if the investment and will-power were in place.

The super-heated steam that rises from deep in the earth is a prime source of energy, as demonstrated by the Krafla power plant which was built in Iceland in the 1970’s. Manmade bore-holes now surround the area, supplying nearby turbines with steam which in turn generate clean and cheap electricity.

In Iceland, water from hot underground rock provides around 90 percent of the island’s inhabitants with hot water in their homes. Geothermal sources also provide around 30% of the country’s electricity (with the remaining 70% coming from hydroelectric plants).

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