The battle of 6VDT, as it’s now known, was a historic moment for video games. Four thousand players, representing two of the biggest power blocs in the popular space MMORPG Eve Online, slugged it out Sunday in a gigantic virtual Cannae that resulted in the destruction of more than 2,500 ships and effectively ended a long and bitter conflict.
Just another day at the office for Iceland-based CCP Games, creators of Eve Online, despite the enormous demands placed upon the company’s infrastructure as a result of the clash.
Eve, which launched to minimal fanfare in 2003, is known both for its unforgiving difficulty curve and wide range of available gameplay experiences thanks to an in-game economy driven almost entirely by player activity, everything from industry to finance to exploration to combat is part and parcel of the Eve experience.
Players are even allowed to govern parts of the game world itself which, unlike most other MMOs, is contained within a single instance, meaning that all players are occupying the same virtual realm and coalitions of space-holding players like the CFC (Cluster-[rude word] Coalition) and Test Alliance Please Ignore are among the most powerful entities in the game.
A shipment of 130 tonnes of fin whale meat has been sent back to Iceland, as jubilant animal rights activists on Sunday highlighted the “pointlessness” of the trade. …read more
The number of fiber Internet subscriptions rose 12.7 percent in the countries that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Paris-based group said Thursday.
Just under 49 million fiber Internet connections existed across the 34 countries, according to the data. That represented about 15 percent of all fixed Internet lines, but in several nations the percentage of fiber connections is much higher.
Japan and South Korea lead the pack with fiber penetration of over 60 percent. Sweden, Estonia and Slovakia rounded out the top five with penetration in the 30 percent range. The other nations with above average fiber penetration were Norway, Iceland, Slovenia, Denmark, the Czech Republic and Portugal. Hungary was ranked just slightly below the average.
Penetration rates in the remaining countries, which included the U.S., U.K., France and Germany, were all under 10 percent.
(Phys.org) —The waters off Iceland rank among the world’s most productive fisheries. The reason for the abundance is an ample supply of phytoplankton, the base of the marine food chain. Like any plant, microscopic phytoplankton need sunlight and nutrients to survive. Iceland’s coastal waters offer both during the long days of summer. …read more
At EVE Fanfest in Iceland, CCP showed the first footage of vampire MMO World of Darkness to a roomful of fans. It was more target footage than a representation of what the game looks like right now – it’s still far from release – but it’s the first tangible indication we’ve had of what this long-anticipated game is going to be like.
It looked super-stylish, embracing the sultry swagger and urban grime of modern vampire fiction. The player character – a female vampire – began by sucking a bystander dry in a rainy back alley, before striding past a True Blood-esque bar and leaning up against a railing whilst other vampires leaped across the American-style city rooftops in the background. The movement is agile and fast, almost spider-like; World of Darkness will be a very movement-centric MMO, aiming for something close to Assassin’s Creed’s city free-running.
In a dramatic about-face, Icelandic voters have returned to power the center-right parties that led the national economy to collapse five years ago.
With most votes counted early Sunday, the Independence and Progressive Parties — who governed Iceland for decades before the 2008 crash — each had 19 seats in Iceland‘s 63-seat parliament, the Althingi.
The parties, who promise to ease Icelanders’ economic pain with tax cuts and debt relief, are likely to form a coalition government.
Voters shunned the Social Democrat-led coalition that has spent four years trying to turn the country around with painful austerity measures. The Social Democrats took nine seats and coalition partners the Left-Greens seven.
Independence Party leader Bjarni Benediktsson says voters opted for “a plan that would bring us quicker out of the crisis.”
CCP has announced that Dust 514 will (fittingly) launch on May 14, 2013. The news comes via the Eve Fanfest in Iceland this weekend, and also via the Dust 514 Twitter account.
Dust is a first-person shooter companion to Eve Online, allowing players to participate in battles that have an impact on the Eve universe. It was announced way back in 2009, but a release date has been missing ever since.
Icelanders were voting Saturday in a parliamentary election that could return to power the center-right parties that led the country into economic collapse five years ago — and stall plans to join the European Union.
Polls show the Progressive and Independence parties, who oppose EU membership, leading the Social Democrat-Left-Green coalition that has governed Iceland during four years of crisis and uneven recovery.
“The government that many people thought was cleaning up the mess is getting severely punished for the last four years,” said political analyst Egill Helgason. “I don’t know whether they deserve it. In many ways I think not. But this is politics — cruel.”
A volcano-dotted North Atlantic nation with a population of just 320,000, Iceland went from economic wunderkind to financial basket case almost overnight when the credit crunch took hold in 2008.
In the first years of this century — under a coalition of the Independence and Progressive parties — Iceland‘s economy experienced a credit-fueled boom that saw its banking sector grow to nine times annual gross domestic product.
Then all three major commercial banks collapsed within a week of one another in October 2008. The value of the country’s currency plummeted, while inflation and unemployment soared. Iceland was forced to seek bailouts from Europe and the International Monetary Fund.
A wave of protest — dubbed the Saucepan Revolution after the pots and pans banged by demonstrators — ended with the government blamed for the crisis replaced with a left-of-center alliance led by Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir, which opened EU membership talks.
Since then, Iceland has in many ways made a strong recovery. Unemployment has fallen and the economy is growing.
But inflation remains naggingly high, and many Icelanders still struggle to repay home and car loans they took out — often in foreign currencies those value soared after the crash — in the years of easy credit.
Both the Progressive and Independence parties are appealing to voters with promises to ease austerity. Progressive Party chief Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson is promising to write off some mortgage debt, taking money from foreign creditors.
Independence Party leader Bjarni Benediktsson is offering lower
Playing Microsoft Game Studio’s Motocross Madness transported me to a happy place. It wasn’t just the nostalgia factor (1998’s original Motocross Madness on PC was one of the first open-sandbox racing games); it was the heady blend of two-wheeled racing action and entertaining arcade mayhem. Available on Xbox Live Arcade for a mere 800 Microsoft points ($10), this is a cheap and engaging two-wheeled experience.
There’s excellent value for the money too. Motocross Madness features nine expansive courses, each of which with multiple paths and shortcuts. Backdropped by three richly detailed versions of Egypt (complete with pyramids, Sphinxes, and archaeological digs), Australia, and Iceland, there’s a visual banquet of attractive scenery. I only wish there were more variety than just those three environments.
Hundreds of jubilant gay-rights advocates celebrated at New Zealand‘s Parliament as the country become the thirteenth in the world and the first in the Asia-Pacific region to legalize same-sex marriage.
Lawmakers voted 77 to 44 Wednesday night in favor of the gay-marriage bill.
People watching from the public gallery immediately broke into song after the result was announced, singing a New Zealand anthem in the indigenous Maori language.
Leaders of most political parties encouraged lawmakers to vote as their consciences dictated rather than along party lines.
Iceland on Tuesday reported unusual seismic activity at Mount Hekla, one of its most active volcanos, and raised its alert level but said no eruption was imminent. …read more Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
Icelandic police say seismic activity near the Hekla volcano has prompted them to declare an “uncertainty phase” — the lowest level of civil warning.
Monitoring of the area in southern Iceland has been increased. Police advise people not to hike in the area, though it is not forbidden.
Vidir Reynisson, the department manager for civil protection, said Tuesday that a swarm of earthquakes prompted the warning but are not necessarily a sign of pending eruption. Scientists worry that Hekla is overdue for an eruption; in recent decades it has erupted roughly every 10 years, most recently in 2000.
Concern about seismic activity in the north Atlantic nation has grown since April 2010, when ash from the Eyjafjallajokul volcano grounded flights across Europe for days, disrupting travel for 10 million people.
By Rob QuinnAuthorities probing the deaths of two men in a skydiving accident in Florida on the weekend hope a helmet camera worn by one of them will provide some clues, Tampa Bay Online reports. The instructor and student, both from Iceland, were found dead in a wooded area about a mile… …read more Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
It should come as no surprise that Iceland, a country that’s happy to prosecute its own prime minister over gross negligence relating to actions leading up to the financial crisis, is also more than happy to put a few former bank CEOs in the dock.
JPMorgan ChaseCEO Jamie Dimon should count his lucky millions he doesn’t live a few thousand miles farther east.
The iceman cometh The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Iceland‘s special prosecutor is indicting two former CEOs for “stock price manipulation and securities fraud” relating to the financial crash, which Iceland experienced as intensely as any other country.
The special prosecutor alleges that the CEOs and other staff lent money to people so they could buy stock and prop up share prices. In March 2012, the tiny country put former prime minister Geir Haarde on trial for “gross negligence” in matters relating to the crash, which caused three of its biggest banks to fail, and sent the country into drastic recession.
Too big too jail Does any of this behavior sound familiar? Irresponsible actions at many of our biggest banks wreaked similar havoc across our own banking system and economy. So why hasn’t the U.S. seen any of its bank CEOs, let alone any of its politicians, go on trial for similar charges?
What everyone has suspected for years was actually confirmed several weeks ago by Attorney General Eric Holder: not only are our biggest banks too big to fail, they’re also too big to jail. In congressional testimony, Holder said that fear of repercussions to the economy have prevented the Justice Department from pursuing criminal cases against top management.
Imagine Jamie Dimon sitting in the dock in federal court, day in and day out for weeks or months, with investors and the country waiting on pins and needles to see whether or not he’s going to go to jail. Would the stock crash? Would depositors pull their money? Would it cause a run that would necessitate the federal government stepping in — again — with bailout money?
The same could be said for a case against Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs. And if you put Ken Lewis, the former CEO of Bank of America on trial, who’s to say how that might affect the solvency of the superbank now, even though Lewis is gone? Because once you open this Pandora’s box of criminal prosecutions, depositors and investors might rightly think, where does it all stop?
Foolish bottom line I hate to say it, but Holder is probably right, at least as far as the system stands right now. There is too much risk to the economy to put current or former top management on trial for crisis-related behavior, though its arguable that jail time is the only way to seriously curb bad-banking culture.
Sure, we’ve seen lots of fines levied, but none big enough to seriously injure any banks. And again, you really can’t …read more Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
ARIAD Announces That Iclusig™ (Ponatinib) Receives Positive CHMP Opinion for Approval in the European Union
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & LAUSANNE, Switzerland–(BUSINESS WIRE)– ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NAS: ARIA) today announced that the Committee for Human Medicinal Products (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has adopted a positive opinion on the marketing authorization application for Iclusig™ (ponatinib) for two indications:
The treatment of adult patients with chronic phase, accelerated phase or blast phase chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) who are resistant to dasatinib or nilotinib; who are intolerant to dasatinib or nilotinib and for whom subsequent treatment with imatinib is not clinically appropriate; or who have the T315I mutation, or
The treatment of adult patients with Philadelphia-chromosome positive acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (Ph+ ALL) who are resistant to dasatinib; who are intolerant to dasatinib and for whom subsequent treatment with imatinib is not clinically appropriate; or who have the T315I mutation.
“The positive recommendation by the CHMP of Iclusig for use in CML and Ph+ALL provides a broad indication statement for Iclusig in resistant and intolerant patients with Philadelphia positive leukaemias, including many patients who have failed only one prior tyrosine kinase inhibitor,” stated Harvey J. Berger, M.D., chairman and chief executive officer of ARIAD. “We appreciate the substantial efforts of the CHMP in reaching this positive opinion so rapidly as a consequence of Iclusig’s accelerated assessment designation, and we look forward to the anticipated marketing authorization by the European Commission around mid-2013.”
Although Iclusig was studied in Ph+ ALL patients who were resistant or intolerant to dasatinib or nilotinib, nilotinib is not approved for the treatment of Ph+ ALL.
The CHMP granted ARIAD accelerated assessment for its review of the Iclusig marketing authorization application last summer. Accelerated assessment was introduced by the European Union in 2005. Its aim is to help speed access for patients to new medicines of major public-health interest. Companies can request accelerated assessment provided they are able to demonstrate that their product responds to an unmet medical need and is expected to have a major impact on medical practice.
The CHMP is a scientific committee composed of representatives from the 27-member states of the European Union (EU), and Iceland and Norway. The CHMP reviews medical product applications on their scientific and clinical merit and provides advice to the European Commission, which has the authority to approve medicines for the European …read more Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Tim Worstall, Contributor Paul Krugman points out today that one potential solution to the Cypriot problems is to “do an Iceland“. Let the banks go bust, honor the deposit insurance and let everyone else go hang. Oh, and bring back the Cypriot Pound of course: So then what? As a number of people have pointed out, Cyprus is arguably better positioned than Iceland to do an Iceland, because devaluing a reintroduced Cypriot currency could bring in a lot of tourism. But will the Cypriots — who haven’t even reconciled themselves to the end of their round-tripping business — be willing to go there? Matt Yglesias makes much the same point: The key reason not to leave the eurozone is that doing so would destroy the Cypriot banking system and wipe out lots of people’s savings. But if ELA is withdrawn, the Cypriot banking system will die anyway and everyone’s savings will be lost anyway. Having already lived through the downside, the only path to recovery will be to introduce a new currency. And if that were to happen, then even though Cyprus is small it would be a historic event with reverberations in much larger and more important countries. They’re both correct, so far as they go. And they don’t go quite far enough. For they’ve not quite grasped the religious fervor with which the euro itself is viewed in certain European political quarters (what we might politely call “federast” quarters). …read more Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
(Nikolas Giakoumidis/AP) Customers of Bank of Cyprus wait in line Tuesday to use the ATM as the bank will remain closed for two days.
By SARAH DiLORENZO
PARIS — Lawmakers in Cyprus are still scrambling for a way to raise €5.8 billion ($7.5 billion) to help pay for an international bailout of the country’s banks and government.
A plan to seize up to 10 percent of people’s savings has been met with fury and it has raised concern, if not panic, in the rest of Europe about the security of bank deposits in times of financial turmoil.
On Tuesday, Cypriot lawmakers are scheduled to vote on a revised plan that wouldn’t be so burdensome for people with less than €100,000 in the bank. Any plan must be approved by the other eurozone countries, which would then commit €10 billion in rescue loans to Cyprus.
Banks in Cyprus will remain shut until Thursday to give political leaders time to hash out a deal.
Here’s a look at the plan and the problems it may pose.
Hey, How Can They Do That?
Cyprus can raise or lower taxes whenever it wants. It wouldn’t be the first time that a eurozone nation has raised taxes to cope with mounting debt and to prop up struggling banks. Residents of Greece, Portugal and Ireland — all bailout recipients — have seen their tax bills skyrocket in recent years as those countries tried to reduce their debts. But Cyprus is charting new ground here. As a member of the euro currency, Cyprus offers insurance on deposits up to €100,000 ($129,000) in cases of bank failures; some feel that by seizing money from insured deposits, the country had effectively reneged on that promise.
And How Exactly Will it Work?
Banks have already acted to seal off a 6.75 percent tax on deposits under €100,000 and 9.9 percent on those above, so depositors can’t access the money. Banks will remain closed until Thursday to avoid a rush of withdrawals. Lawmakers will vote on Tuesday, but some are opposed to the plan or seeking modifications. The government has offered a revised plan that would leave savings up to €20,000 untouched. The government‘s critics, including the central bank, say that is not enough and that deposits up to €100,000 should be exempt. However the seizures are spread, the overall scheme has to raise a total of about €5.8 billion.
Has This Ever Happened Before?
So far in the euro crisis, depositors have been protected. But European countries have taxed bank deposits before. In the 1990s, Italy taxed every bank account to stave off the collapse of its lire currency. The rate, however, was miniscule — 0.06 percent — compared to what Cyprus is enacting. Iceland — another island with an outsized financial sector, although …read more Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
(Mark Lennihan/AP) A new anti-smoking proposal would make New York the first city in the nation to keep tobacco products out of sight in retail stores.
By JENNIFER PELTZ and MEGHAN BARR
NEW YORK — Anti-smoking advocates and health experts hailed proposals from Mayor Michael Bloomberg that would keep cigarettes out of sight in New York City stores, while tobacco companies and smokers called it an overreach.
The ban, which would be the first of its kind in the U.S., is aimed at discouraging young people from smoking.
Keeping cigarettes under wraps could help, anti-smoking advocates say, citing studies that link exposure to smoking with starting it. Shops from corner stores to supermarkets would have to keep tobacco products in cabinets, drawers, under the counter, behind a curtain or in other concealed spots. Officials also want to stop shops from taking cigarette coupons and honoring discounts, and are proposing a minimum price for cigarettes, though it’s below what the going rate is in much of the city now.
While some of the research focuses on cigarette advertising, an English study of 11-to-15-year-olds published last month in the journal Tobacco Control found that simply noticing tobacco products on display every time a youth visited a shop raised the odds he or she would at least try smoking by threefold, compared to peers who never noticed the products.
“What’s exciting about this [New York City proposal] is that this is the most comprehensive set of tobacco-control regulations that affect stores or the retail outlets,” said Kurt Ribisi, a professor of public health and cancer prevention specialist at the University of North Carolina. Moreover, cigarettes’ visibility can trigger impulse buys by smokers who are trying to quit, he and city officials say.
The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Lung Association, other anti-smoking groups and several City Council members applauded Bloomberg’s announcement, made at a Queens hospital on Monday. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who largely controls what goes to a vote, said through her office that she “supports the goal of these bills” but noted they would get a full review.
The ban on displaying cigarettes follows similar laws in Iceland, Canada, England and Ireland, but it would be the first such measure in the U.S. It’s aimed at discouraging young people from smoking. According to the Rockland County Times, the Village of Haverstraw in Rockland County passed such a ban last April, but rescinded it four months later because it couldn’t afford to fight a lawsuit brought by tobacco companies and convenience stores.
“Such displays suggest that smoking is a normal activity,” Bloomberg said. “And they invite young people to experiment with tobacco.”
Cyprus‘ eurozone partners and the IMF agreed early Saturday to bail out Cyprus to the tune of €10 billion ($13 billion) — largely to prop up its flailing banking industry. But the deal, as usual, comes with strings attached. The one causing the most consternation is a levy on bank deposits held in Cypriot accounts. Here’s a look at how that will work — and the problems it may pose.
HEY, HOW CAN THEY DO THAT?
Currently, all 17 European Union countries that use the euro offer deposit insurance to protect customers if their bank fails. But the measure in the Cyprus deal is a tax — not losses incurred because of a bank failure. In fact, it’s meant to hold off a bank collapse. Countries have the right to raise or lower taxes whenever they want. Just ask the residents of Greece, Portugal and Ireland — all bailout recipients — who saw their tax bills skyrocket as those countries tried to reduce their debts. But Cyprus is charting new ground here, and there could be legal — and political — challenges.
AND HOW EXACTLY WILL THEY DO THAT?
Banks have already acted to seal off the amount of the levy — a 6.75 percent tax on deposits under €100,000 and 9.9 percent on those above — so depositors can’t access it. Bank customers still can draw on the rest of their funds via ATM machines this weekend, and nervous depositors did that on Saturday to drain their accounts. But the few banks that opened on Saturdays did so only briefly, and no international transfers will be able to go through until Tuesday, since Monday is a holiday. Cyprus‘ Parliament is expected to meet Sunday to pass the required legislation. The deal also needs the approval of several eurozone parliaments; it’s unclear how fast they can act and what will happen to bank deposits in the meantime.
HAS THIS EVER HAPPENED BEFORE?
So far in the euro crisis, depositors have been protected. But in the 1990s, Italy levied a tax on every bank account to stave off the collapse of its lire currency. The rate, however, was minuscule — 0.06 percent — compared to what Cyprus is enacting. Iceland — another island with an outsized financial sector, although worse weather — also relied on depositors to prop up its banks. When the crisis hit there in 2008, …read more Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
LONDON — It’s time to go shopping for shares again, but where to start? There are loads of great stocks to choose from, and I’ve got my wallet out. So should I buy WM.Morrison Supermarkets?
Supermarket purchase When dividend maestro Neil Woodford takes a major position in a FTSE 100 stock, it is worth taking notice. He has just bought a fat slice of WM.Morrison Supermarkets, making him the company’s largest investor at 7.69% (up from 5.33%). So what’s so special about Morrisons? And should I buy it as well?
Woodford is picking and choosing his supermarkets carefully these days. Last year, he sold out of the U.K.’s biggest supermarket chain Tesco , complaining that it wasn’t the defensive stock he had hoped. But is Morrisons? Is any U.K. retailer defensive in these troubled times? Life is tough for U.K. grocery chains as their customers’ wages fall behind inflation, but it has been particularly tough for Morrisons, which has come off worse in a dogfight with discount chains Aldi and Lidl. Its most recent trading update, published in January, showed a 2.5% drop in like-for-like sales. That was enough for fund manager BlackRock, which ditched more than half its 10% stake. Enter Woodford.
Horses for courses It has been a dismal five years for Morrisons, the U.K.’s fourth-largest supermarket. Its share price is still down 10% on five years ago, although Tesco also posted a 5% drop, whileSainsbury’s barely managed 1% growth. Morrisons is struggling to reverse its recent slide in sales this year, although at least it avoided the horsemeat scandal, unlike rivals Tesco, Asda, Lidl, Iceland, the Co-Op, and Aldi, who were all forced to withdraw products. Yet Sainsbury‘s was the only supermarket to race ahead as a result, registering a 4.6% rise in sales in the 12 weeks to Feb. 17, according to data from Kantar Worldpanel. Blameless Morrisons suffered a 1.3% sales drop, losing yet more ground on its rivals. So what does Woodford see in it?
As a value investor, he may be impressed by Morrison’s turnaround potential. Management has blamed the recent slide on its lack of smaller convenience stores and Internet no-show, and is working to reverse both omissions and has claimed some success for its 10,000-product Own Brand relaunch. Its financial position is strong, with net debt of around 2.1 billion pounds, and it is running a share buyback program. Morrison currently yields 4.1%, covered 2.4 times, and management has a progressive dividend policy. That is a more generous return than Tesco, which yields 3.9% covered 2.4 times, but less than Sainsbury’s, which yields a meaty (but not horsemeaty) 4.7%, covered 1.7 times.
A reason to buy Morrisons Given its recent travails, Morrisons is trading on a tempting valuation of 10.3 times earnings, roughly in line with Tesco but cheaper than admired rival Sainsbury’s at 12.2 times. An undemanding valuation and attractive dividend are the most tempting reasons to buy Morrisons. But with projected earnings-per-share growth of …read more Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
Authorities probing the deaths of two men in a skydiving accident in Florida on the weekend hope a helmet camera worn by one of them will provide some clues, Tampa Bay Online reports. The instructor and student, both from 
