The deadline to submit purchase offers for Iceland ran out on Wednesday night and since then the Landsbanki resolution committee has been going over the bids with advisers. Old Landsbanki holds 67 percent of Iceland Foods and the bankrupt estate of Glitnir Bank holds ten percent of the company. The two companies are bidding on the combined shares of the two old banks.

At least two offers were received from two investment funds; BC Partners, a British company, on the one hand and Bain Capital, which is based in Boston, USA, on the other. No word has yet been released about the precise value of the offers, but they are thought to be around the GBP 1.5 billion that Landsbanki was hoping for. That is around ISK 300 billion.

The sale proceeds will largely be spent on repaying the British and Dutch governments for the money they lost in Icesave.

One of the founders of Bain Capital is Mitt Romney – who is now seen as one of the most likely Republican presidential candidates for the US election this autumn. Romney headed Bail Capital until 1999, before turning his attention to other projects. He still receives a cut of the company’s profits and has been paid millions of dollars from the company in recent years. Mitt Romney is one of the richest men ever to have tried to become President. His personal assets are reckoned to be as high as USD 250 million.

It is thought that nine kidnappers were killed and another six arrested when Navy Seals parachuted into a compound in the village of Hiimo Gaabo.

Dane Poul Hagen Thisted, 60, and American Jessica Buchanan, 32, were rescued unscathed after being held by the pirates for three months. The two aid workers were taken hostage in Galkayo on 25th October last year when attending a seminar. At least one of their bodyguards had a hand in the kidnapping, according to the local police chief.

The decision to storm the pirates’ stronghold was apparently made because the health of one of the captives was failing. Talking to TV2, Denmark’s foreign minister Villy Soevndal, said Miss Buchanan “has a disease that was very serious and that had to be solved”.

US forces secured Galkayo Airport before heading out with several helicopters to Hiimo Gaabo, 100km away. According to one source, the Somalis had been chewing on coca leaves and were asleep when the raid began. Heavy fire between both sides was exchanged, but there are no reported US casualties.

“There are some 12 American helicopters right now at Galkayo. Our thanks go to the United States. The pirates have wrecked our peace and morale. They are a mafia,” President of Galmudug, Mohamed Ahmed Alim, told Reuters.

According a report by NBC News, when American President Barack Obama stepped into the House Chambers to deliver his State of the Union address last Tuesday, he pointed to Defence Secretary Leon E Panetta and said, “Leon. Good job tonight. Good job tonight,” in what is thought to be a reference to the raid.

According to RÚV the Presidential couple sailed out of the Argentinian port of Ushuaia yesterday and their trip will take them along the Drake Passage all the way to Antarctica. The party plans to go ashore three times, if weather allows. The trip ends on the 6th February.

The trip includes European and American scientists, the Canadian film director James Cameron, the American journalist Ted Turner and Christiana Figures, the president of the United Nations climate agency.

Al Gore’s climate change organisation, the Climate Reality Project, and National Geographic together organised the expedition.

A press release from Bessastaðir, the Icelandic head of state’s official residence, states that the goal of the expedition is to investigate the fast melting ice and to discuss how the nations of the world can best be encouraged to unite behind realistic and tangible action to fight global warming.

Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson has become known as a strong climate change campaigner among world leaders and regularly gives speeches at environmental conferences.

Jóhann Straumfjord Sigurdson and David Collette, whose ancestral grandmother was Guðríður Þorbjarnardóttir, the mother of Snorri, the first European child born in North America, will sail from Canada to Iceland along a route that was old before Christopher Columbus was born.

“We’ve named the expedition Fara Heim”, said Jóhann Sigurdson. “In Old Norse, “að fara heim” means “to go home”. We are searching for Norse presence in the Arctic between Hudson Bay and west of Greenland to investigate how far West the Vikings explored”. The team will use non-damaging modern techniques to collect data and do no harm to artefacts or locations found. All information and any discoveries will be digitally recorded and shared with government agencies for formal archaeological investigation.

The expedition will work closely with the Inuit people and Nordic countries as Fara Heim is a story of many Arctic cultures. “We have begun reaching out to everyone we can in the North to ask for local knowledge and stories. Incredible things have been found, like the Viking settlement in Newfoundland, by just asking. We plan to make the Fara Heim website the nexus for information on Viking exploration in North America”, said Collette.

The modern Vikings will voyage via the far travelled “Glory of the Sea”, a purpose-built aluminium polar expedition sailing boat. “Glory” has been to both Poles, circumnavigated the globe twice and travelled the Northwest Passage in 2011. “The deck of a small sailing vessel is the perfect platform to see the Arctic as the Vikings saw it. “Glory” will get us to locations that aren’t normally visited”, said Sigurdson.

Fara Heim’s advisory board includes Captain Norm Baker, the First Mate and Navigator for several of Thor Heyerdahl’s expeditions and a current Director of the Explorers Club, Guy Maddin, film Director and Producer, and Charles Hedrich, global explorer and founder of “Respectons La Terre” a European organisation dedicated to exploration with an environmental focus. Key archaeologists and historians are joining the board to develop the field data collection protocols, aid in historical research and ensure all field investigations maintain the integrity of the site for further field work.

The team and sailing boat will be based on Lake Winnipeg for the summer of 2012 for crew training and boat preparation and depart from Churchill in May 2013. To support the non-profit Fara Heim organisation corporate sponsorships are being developed. “Travel with a purpose” opportunities for individuals to participate on the journey are available in both 2012 and 2013.

Join in the adventure by visiting http://www.faraheim.com.
“Like” the project on Facebook at http://www.facebook/faraheim

(Press release)

Luis E. Arreaga, the American ambassador to Iceland, signed a contract with Reykjavik Art Museum, the Icelandic Art Center and the Icelandic Academy of the Arts who are initiating a collaborative lecture program under the title TALK Lecture & Visitor Series. The program is intended to offer an ongoing platform for encounters with art professionals on an international level. Comprising visits by leading figures in the visual arts, this program initiative will bring to the Icelandic art community and to the public at large the burgeoning ideas and diverse practices that shape the dialogue within the international contemporary art scene. The American Embassy in Iceland is the main sponsor for TALK Series 2012.

Dorothe Kirsch Director of the Icelandic Art Center, US ambassador to Iceland, Luis E. Arreaga, Hafþór Yngvason Reykjavik Art Museum Director and Hulda Stefánsdóttir professor at the Iceland Academy of the Arts.

“The US Embassy is pleased to sponsor this program bringing together the American and Icelandic arts communities” said Ambassador Arreaga. “Art is a universal language and we can all learn from each other.”

TALK Transfers

Each series will have a thematic focus, where speakers offer a specific insight to the field. For spring 2012, under the title TALK Transfers, the series places its focus on topics such as work and ethics of the artist, his role and responsibility; and how he transfers roles with different intentions. Participants are Americans Eleanor Heartney, Helen Molesworth and Alanna Heiss, and America based Briton Claire Bishop.

First guest arriving in January
Eleanor Heartney is the first participant in the TALK Series. She will give a lecture on Thursday 26 January 8 p.m, on the topic of art and labour with reference to the exhibition of Santiago Sierra at Reykjavik Art Museum. Heartney is a Contributing Editor to Art in America and Artpress and has written extensively on contemporary art issues for such other publications as Artnews, Art and Auction, The New Art Examiner, the Washington Post and The New York Times. She received the College Art Association’s Frank Jewett Mather Award for distinction in art criticism in 1992.

Events will take place at Hafnarhús – Reykjavik Art Museum and are open to everyone, free of charge. Further information about the program can be found on the Reykjavik Art Museum website.

Kim Schmitz, who legally changed his name to Kim Dotcom, is being held without bail in Auckland, where he is known for his lavish lifestyle.

A dual citizen of Germany and Finland but a resident of both New Zealand and Hong Kong, 37 year-old Dotcom is the chief innovation officer and former CEO of Megaupload. He was arrested with three employees on Thursday, while three others are said to still be ‘at large’. US authorities also closed down the website in their controversial battle against online piracy of movies and music.

Megaupload made more than USD 42 million (EUR 33 million) in 2010 alone, according to the indictment, and several expensive cars and artworks were seized at ‘Dotcom Mansion’. A further NZD 11 million (EUR 6.9 million) has been frozen in Dotcom’s New Zealand bank account pending the outcome of proceedings.

Dotcom was a well-known hacker when he was just a teenager and has been convicted for insider trading in Germany. His mother and siblings live in Turku, but he has not been to Finland in several years.

The “typical” couple visit Gullfoss waterfall and Geysir and they purchase goods and services to the tune of ISK 370,000 (EUR 2,296). Furthermore, they intend to visit the country again; if the survey results are to be believed. The Icelandic Tourist Board conducted the research last summer among foreign tourists, Vísir.is reports.

The results of the survey were published on the website of the Ministry of Industry, Energy & Tourism yesterday and the data suggests that 565,000 tourists visited Iceland last year; which is a 15.8 percent increase on the year before. “The importance of the tourism industry is steadily growing for [Icelandic] society and it has reached similar significance to fisheries and heavy industry when it comes to the generation of foreign revenue,” the statement reads.

The hypothetical American couple representing the archetypal visitors to the country organised their trip themselves and used the internet to get information on the country and its people. It was mostly the Icelandic nature and culture which drew them to the country. They hired a car and took trips outside of Reykjavík; for example to the south. They were also enthusiastic about visiting swimming pools and nature baths; as well as going to exhibitions, going whale watching and horse riding. The couple are well educated and earn good money. On their approximately ten-day trip they spend ISK 370,000 (EUR 2,296) on all sorts of goods and services, the research says.

The hypothetical American couple were pleased with their holiday in Iceland and particularly enjoyed Icelandic nature, the Blue Lagoon, Reykjavík and Icelandic hospitality. It therefore comes as little surprise that they hope to return to the country.

Alison Fournier, a businesswoman from New York, said in a statement on Monday that she was sexually assaulted at the Hotel Kämp in Helsinki, Finland, on the night of 15th January of 2011 by a man who had made advances toward her earlier in the evening.

The lawsuit, in which Fournier accuses the company of negligence for allegedly providing the “visibly intoxicated” stranger with the key to her room, has been filed with the help of women’s rights lawyer Gloria Allred as well as New York law firm Cuti Hecker Wang LLP. The suit claims that Starwood Hotels and Resorts has not followed up on the incident nor has it opted to disassociate itself from the Hotel Kämp.

Fournier said in an official statement, “Starwood is the go-to brand for business travellers and I expected a certain level of security from their hotels,” ABC News reports. She added, “To this day, I still suffer from the memories of that night and I am still not able to put it behind me.”

According to ABC News, Starwood Resorts has issued an official statement saying, “The safety and security of our guests is our first and foremost priority. It is company-wide policy to ensure proper identification is shown and verified before distributing a key to a registered guest’s room. We are taking this allegation seriously and are working with the hotel in question to understand the facts and any breach of security that may have contributed to this very unfortunate event.”

According to initial figures from BoxOffice.com Contraband took USD 24 million in its first weekend in cinemas; which is not far short of ISK 3 billion.

The film is an English-language remake of the Icelandic film Reykjavík-Rotterdam, which was directed by Óskar Jónasson and produced by and starring Baltasar Kormákur. Contraband stars Mark Wahlberg and Kate Beckinsale and was premièred in the USA on Friday, taking USD 8.7 million on its first day.

Contraband has received mixed reviews from critics; but that does not appear to have impacted upon ticket sales. Critics’ general opinion seems to be that it is good for a January thriller movie and keeps the viewer engaged; but that it is not especially memorable or original. According to BoxOffice.com, Contraband grossed USD 24 million over the weekend, beating number two film Beauty and the Beast by USD 2.5 million. The next highest grossing film of the weekend was Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol on USD 11.5 million.

According to the figures so far, Contraband has already covered its expected production costs of USD 25 million. But the film’s actual cost to produce was reportedly closer to USD 41 million. There are, however, great hopes that it will cover its costs very quickly, and much more besides, based on its excellent first weekend, Vísir.is reported.

According to later figures reported by RÚV the weekend gross figures for Contraband might be closer to USD 28 million and are an all-time record for Working Title Productions; bumping Notting Hill (1999) into second place.

Björk plans to give ten performances in the American city this February.

According to Vísir.is, six shows will take place at the New York Hall of Science and the last four will happen at the Roseland Ballroom in Manhattan. No other shows in the United States of America are planned at the moment, the singer says.

Biophilia has received glowing reviews from critics and fans alike. In the show Björk is supported by a 24-strong girls’ choir and an array of brand new instruments which were invented and made personally by Björk and her friends.