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Sunday, November 26, 2006
Harmonising divorce rules within the EU...
Sweden has criticised EU plans to harmonise divorce rules, arguing that it could lead to family law from countries such as Iran being applied in Europe. Under the European commission proposal, a person must be 'linked' to the country in which he or she is seeking a divorce. The objective is to close off the possibility of one member of the couple getting an easy divorce decision in a more flexible EU country. But Sweden has pointed out that the proposal does not just apply if the country an individual is linked to is in the European Union.
In a report on the proposal, Sweden's Ministry of Justice gives the example of a Swedish woman married to an Iranian man and who has moved to Iran. 'After a time she wants to end the marriage and move back to Sweden. According to current laws, she would be able to get a divorce under Swedish law. The proposal means that Iranian law will instead be applied by the Swedish court,' said the ministry. The matter has not yet been decided and justice minister is yet to comment. However, the ministry's position is made clear in the report:
'Sweden does not want to introduce rules which mean that the possibility of a divorce in a Swedish court is restricted for certain groups. As the proposal now stands, that could be the case for Swedish citizens residing outside Sweden.' The ministry added that it welcomed the part of the proposal which increased the chances for a couple linked to a certain member state to have the case tested there. However, that is being opposed by southern European Catholic countries, which fear that their more restrictive divorce laws could be undermined.. by the likes of Sweden. 
Posted at 2:18:47 pm by Sophie Cecilie
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Thursday, November 23, 2006
My final essay is up for exposition...
Happy news.. finally, yesterday evening, I handed in my first draft of the essay I've been working on for such a long time now. I feel all drained out and getting up at 05.36 this morning I'm a little restless.. because I can't do anything more until I'll get feedback on the content. Then I need to do the corrections before the final version is off for print. I'm kind of anxious about what respond I'll get.. what if my professor is displeased with the essay. I'm really nervous, but there's nothing I can do right now, to influence her opinion/judgement on my work. I dislike to wait and not knowing what to come or expect... If I would judge myself I wouldn't be pleased, but I'm a perfectionist and is rarely satisfied with myself and the things I do. It would be great when I get my Bachelor of Laws degree.. not that I'm really sure if that's what I want to work with in my life. But that's a secondary question at the moment. It's good to have an education, even though I choose not to use it. Well, I wish you all a nice coming weekend and take care of yourself so you won't catch the winter vomiting disease.
Winter's arrival in Sweden has brought with it an unwelcome visitor.. winter vomiting disease. Around thirty cases of the disease have been reported in the past week by laboratories around the country. This is more than at the same point in 2003, 2004 or 2005, according to the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control (SMI). Winter vomiting disease is caused by an infection of the Small Round Structured Virus, also known as Norwalk-like virus. Its symptoms include projectile vomiting, diarrhoea and fever, which usually last about 48 hours. The disease is usually spread person-to-person by the faecal-oral route, and its spread is best prevented by good hygiene when using the bathroom. It can occur at any time of year, but is most common during the winter. The infection is unpleasant, but rarely dangerous.
Posted at 5:54:38 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Tuesday, November 21, 2006
UN's annual survey of standards of living...
Sweden has climbed one place to fifth in the UN's annual survey of standards of living. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) places each country's life expectancy, literacy, education and standards of living under the microscope. Every year since 1993 the organisation has used the resultant Human Development Index (HDI) to gauge development around the world. Fifth place is a very good result for Sweden. If you look at the top five on the list it was more or less a photo finish. What one needs to focus on is the bottom five.
This year's Human Development Report asserts that the gap between rich and poor is widening. And the most concerned area is about sub-Saharan Africa, where all of the list's bottom five countries are located. Life expectancy in the region is, at 46 years, even lower than it was thirty years ago. Growing water and sanitation problems, combined with HIV and AIDS, have proved debilitating for countries like Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso, Mali, Sierra Leone and, in last place, Niger. The HDI for these countries has been at a practical standstill since the early 1990s.
As in previous years, Norway is top of the bunch. Its inhabitants are 40 times richer and live almost twice as long as the average citizen of Niger. Lowest in terms of life expectancy, at just over 31 years, is Swaziland. A newborn baby in Japan on the other hand can expect to live beyond the age of 82. Another Nordic country, Iceland, held on to its second spot. Finland meanwhile climbed two places to 11th, while Denmark dropped one spot to 15th. Australia and Ireland came in third and fourth positions respectively. Canada fell back one place to finish just behind Sweden, whereas the USA clambered up from 10th to 8th. The United Kingdom tumbled out of the top fifteen and is now 18th, while New Zealand just made the top twenty.
For a more balanced index.. visit Dave's blog... click here. 
Posted at 6:15:55 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Saturday, November 18, 2006
Scientists and their alarming reports bad or good information.. for the public...
According to a new opinion poll, 23 per cent of Swedes consider astrology a science, while 14 per cent regard intelligent design as a scientific theory. Working with pollster Synovate Temo, Vetenskap & Allmänhet (VA), an association that works with establishing trust between researchers and the general public, interviewed more than 1 000 Swedes to find out their views on science and research. The organisation has carried out similar polls every year since 2002.
A full 36 per cent of young women and 16 per cent of young men between the ages of 16 and 19 answered in the affirmative when asked if they believed astrology to be a science. Of all those surveyed 23 per cent classified astrology as a science, which is six percentage points higher than last year. The results show that people have an insufficient grasp of what science is. That is why there need to be more contact and meetings between researchers and the general public, said the head of VA.
The level of confidence in researchers at universities and colleges has slowly decreased over the years, but they still enjoy a high level of trust from 70 per cent of Swedes. On the whole, Swedes have a positive opinion of science. Almost 9 out of 10 believe that scientific developments have improved the lives of ordinary people. An equally high proportion of those surveyed felt that more care should be taken to corroborate the results of scientific studies before they are presented to the general public.
Two thirds of Swedes would like to see fewer alarming reports in the media. Who wouldn't want to see less of those, but it still doesn't mean that they won't exist. Sometime it's better to get them out for debate and discussions.. than hide them away. Alarming reports on different subjects won't go away or solve themself by trying to ignore their existance. Look for an example about the environment.. suddenly the media been putting lots of exposure on how animals is endangered, ice at the north pole is melting.. our planet is going down and so forth... Enlighted people have known all this for a very long time and tried to put focus on the problems and how or what should be done to at least stop the bad development we are facing. All that should have been taken more seriously ten twenty or even thirty years ago, when the first scientist came with alarming reports on what's happing to our planet. Last week a channel started to air a documentary called 'Planeten' and one of the things they showed was that we need five planets like earth if we people continue to live and consume the way we do today. When I was a child my mother had an epression.. 'don't overload' no matter if it was food, electricity, water and so on... That's what we human are doing to our planet.. with garbage, nuclear waste etc. and pull out all the natural resources like oil, fish, plants, oxygen etc. If we continue like this.. there won't even be a future for people in my age when we are old and certainly no future for our children... We might as well lay us down and die now, if we don't start to do anything to repair/restore the damages we have done. It's been time to wake up a long time ago.. but better now than never...
Posted at 6:06:51 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Friday, November 17, 2006
Begging, stealing and trafficking linked to.. organised crime...
A rising tide of begging on Swedish streets is being linked to a rise in organised crime, according to police. A criminal investigator stresses that begging in itself is not a crime. But there has been seen enough to indicate ties with the crime world. There are more children under 18 than ever before begging on the streets. Then there are lots of young people in their twenties acting in groups.
The police have noticed that they use a similar way to beg. The UK has already seen a similar trend.. and the police have felt that it was only a matter of time before these groups reached Sweden. In the same groups there are often young men, but also several young women, who are used for prostitution. This sort of combination is not just here to beg. They cannot make money from that alone. They beg, but they also steal.. and then there is the prostitution.
According to the criminal investigator, most of the groups come from behind the old iron curtain. The police have found groups from Romania, the former Yugoslavia, Moldavia and the former Soviet Union, as well some of the new EU countries. Police in Stockholm yesterday arrested nine people suspected of human trafficking. Both the suspects and the prostitutes came from Romania. The police were praised for doing 'a great job' but he also adds that they really have no idea how many such groups are currently active in Sweden. Sweden have a national police unit that has worked with these issues for three years. But it is possible that some of these groups were here even before that.
Trafficking is something that's getting more and more common here in Sweden.. mainly due to the open EU borders. It's much easier to travel between the member states in the EU and also makes it less difficult to 'import' young girls to sell. The sex buyers don't even need to go abroad.. they can stay within the country and still get their dirty habits satisfied. They are a bunch of loosers that take advantage of others destitution.. because I believe there are no girls that choose to be prostitutes based on their free mind. They are either forced into prostitution or look upon it as the only way to get away from penury.. or something like that. Whichever, trafficking should get combatted and the young girls should get help to have decent lifes.
Posted at 5:09:45 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Thursday, November 16, 2006
Banish boose ad proposal.. failed...
Sweden has lost the fight in Brussels to get adverts for alcohol and commercials aimed at children banished from TV screens across Europe. Swedish law already bans alcohol adverts and ads aimed at youngsters. These rules are circumvented, by two of the largest Swedish commercial TV channels.. TV3 and Kanal 5... which broadcast from Britain, which has less stringent rules.
Sweden had wanted a new EU directive to ban booze ads and commercials aimed at children across the 25-member bloc. It has also argued that the new directive should force broadcasters to take account of regulations in the receiving country.. something that could have forced not just TV3 and Kanal 5, but also a host of international broadcasters, to adapt themselves to Swedish laws.
Sweden and a handful of other countries voted against the proposal, put forward by media commissioner Vivianne Reading, but they were defeated. According to the culture minister.. Sweden didn't get as far as we would have liked, and that's why Sweden voted no and made this protest.
If the current proposal makes it through the European Parliament, Sweden will be able to keep its current rules, but other countries will not have to pay attention to them when broadcasting programmes here. British minister Shaun Woodward made clear that the UK would not force TV companies to obey Swedish rules, and vowed to fight the Swedish proposals. The failure of the culture minister to push the changes through means that TV4 will remain the only Swedish channel subject to Swedish rules. But TV4 insists that it will not move abroad, and also says that it has no desire to broadcast ads for children or alcohol commercials.
TV4's thinks the problem is the injustice over the amount of time allowed for adverts. The companies that broadcast from the UK can allow 15 percent of broadcasting time to go to advertising, while here in Sweden are only allowed to broadcast ten percent of the time. They would like to see the Swedish rules changed to allow this. I think there are more than enough of ads or commercials interupting when one is watching something on the TV.. so things should be like they are now or improved... not the other way around.
Posted at 7:18:01 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Another weapons amnesty.. expected in March 2007...
For six months next year anyone with a gun and a guilty conscience will be able to dispose of their weapons without needing to answer any tricky questions. Sweden's justice department is currently putting the finishing touches to a weapons amnesty scheme expected to come into force in March 2007.
Criminals, or anybody else in possession of illegal weapons, will be able to hand them over to the police without risking punishment. It is important that the police are prepared because taking care of these weapons in the appropriate manner is a major undertaking, said the justice minister. The former government did much of the preparatory work for the scheme, having received a request from parliament last year to put in place a temporary amnesty. When a similar weapons amnesty was introduced for a three-month period in 1993 the police received 17 000 firearms. Police were satisfied with the solution as it meant that people who did not have licences for their weapons could hand them over without answering difficult questions or facing legal repercussions.
During the 1993 amnesty police received over 10 000 rifles and almost 7 000 pistols and revolvers as well as 54 semi-automatic weapons. According to police, most of the weapons handed over were old firearms left lying about in wardrobes and attics. Only a small proportion of the weapons had been used in a criminal context.
This kind of weapons amnesty may sound weird, especially if you are an american.. where you can buy and own one or several guns... Here in Sweden it's different. As far as I know Sweden hasn't had any gun shooting tragedies like in the states, like for an example when teenagers walks into a school and gun down other students, teachers and then commit suicide.. or get arrested. Where did they get hold of the weapon/s..? Sure, we got teenages with illegal weapons too and all that.. but it has not developed in the same way and I think one big reason is that it's not one of the rights in our constitution, to own a gun. Whether then if one may think that is right or wrong.. is another question.
Posted at 6:53:34 pm by Sophie Cecilie
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Saturday, November 11, 2006
World climate protest.. hits Sweden...
Participants in several demonstrations in Sweden last weekend joined others around the world calling for action against climate change. The protests were organised as a precurser to climate talks in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, starting on Monday 5th and running until November 17th. In Stockholm hundreds of people marched through the town and congregated in Medborgarplatsen. They carried banners with slogans such as 'Change lifestyle - not the climate'.
The demonstrations were organised by a number of groups including the student organisation Cemus, Greenpeace, and the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC). One of the speakers at Medborgarplatsen was the secretary general of SSNC. He noted that a strong demonstration of public feeling can create major changes and pointed to the fall of the Soviet and apartheid regimes. 'We can change the world if we get onto the streets and squares,' he said.
It's extra important for Sweden and the EU to act against climate change. We must lead by example. If we don't solve this there's no way we can go to poor countries and ask them to change their energy systems. In Lund around 150 people gathered while several hundred joined a demonstration in Gothenburg's Bältesspännarparken. There were many who joined in by making a climate promise, said Klingberg from Gothenburg's environmental group. For example, people promised to cut their energy use, drive their cars less or 'to eat more vegetarian food'. In return they also want politicians to do something to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. 
Posted at 5:36:24 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Wednesday, November 08, 2006
A right verdict for Saddam.. but was it a right sentence?
In response to the death sentence passed on Saddam Hussein on Sunday morning, Sweden's foreign minister has said that it is extremely satisfying that the former dictator has been made to answer for his crimes and that the first verdict has now been handed down. Because it's of the utmost importance that those who bear the highest responsibility for the serious and massive abuses of human rights of the previous regime now answer for their actions. But at the same time, he expressed regret that Iraq has not chosen to abolish the death penalty. Sweden and the European Union's position on the matter is well-known and our rejection of the death penalty is without exception.
He also added that the judicial process and the verdict against Saddam would not solve Iraq's political problems. The Swedish judge Aspegren was not surprised by the verdict. Unfortunately he had expected that Saddam would be sentenced to death, but he consider it to be extremely unfortunate that the death sentence has been applied, he said. He thinks it may cause problems. Above all, the court's legitimacy is questionable.. since it does not have the backing of the UN security council. Aspegren helped to train Iraq's most senior judges, prosecutors and lawyers. He said that they spoke a lot about both torture and the death penalty, which those who delivered the training considered to be reprehensible, inhumane and ineffective methods. Aspegren also said that in his view the trial of Saddam Hussein had not been handled well.
'One has a right to a fair trial and that can be questioned here when it comes to the formalities. It appears to have been messy, with constant breaks, throwing people out and changing lawyers and judges. It hasn't really been dealt with in a way that can one could expect for such a serious trial.'
Nevertheless, many Iraqis in Sweden were said to be jubliant over the verdict. It's very positive. It shows that dictators cannot escape justice, the secretary general of the National Iraqi Association Hussein said. He told the paper that there were no qualms over the death sentence. 'Everyone is satisfied, the families who lost their loved ones as a result of the horrific crimes which Saddam Hussein committed against the Iraqi people.'
Posted at 7:03:48 pm by Sophie Cecilie
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Sunday, November 05, 2006
Fined 80 days' wages.. for filesharing...
Two men who made music and films available for download over the Internet have been fined by courts in two separate cases in Sweden. One of the men, aged 44 from western Sweden, was prosecuted for making four musical recordings available online. The man was found to have shared the music of Roxette, Eurythmics, Mauro Scocco and Jakob Hellman. He had used the file-sharing programme DC++. The man is the first person to be prosecuted in Sweden for sharing music online. Previous cases have involved sharing of films. He was reported to police by music industry organization IFPI. Borås district court fined the man eighty days' wages.
In a separate case, a 32-year old man has been convicted of making Swedish film Rånarna available online. He was also fined 80 days' income, which in his case was calculated at 2 400 kronor. A similar case in Västerås a few months ago also ended with a fine of 80 days' income, which in that case landed at 16 000 kronor. The convicted man won an appeal, after appeals judges decided that there was insufficient evidence to convict him. Judges in that house said that searches are needed to prove that file sharing has been carried out from a particular person's computer. Swedish law does not allow for searches in cases for crimes punishable by fines.
The court in Norrköping wrote in its judgment that there should not be a higher burden of proof in file-sharing cases than in other types of case. A lawyer at anti-piracy organization IFPIS, welcomed the judgments.. this is a step forward, which shows that we can stop mystifying this kind of crime, the lawyer said. The man convicted in Borås was reported to the police by IFPI. The organization's CEO said that more severe punishments could be on the cards for future file sharers. The defendant was fined 80 days' income for on one occasion making three pieces of music available to the public on a non-commercial basis. This should imply that in a case involving more musical works on more occasions, a prison sentence could be passed. IFPI had told the police that the 44-year old had made 13 000 songs available for download, but prosecutors decided to press charges on four counts.
Posted at 7:14:55 am by Sophie Cecilie
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Blog Owner » Sophie Cecilie
Yogini » Suryananda
Location » Sweden
Hobbies » Yoga, music, litterature, TV/Movies, blogging...
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All other love is like the moon,
Which grows and shrinks like flower on plain;
Like bud that blooms and withers soon;
Like passing day that ends in rain.
All other love begins in bliss,
And ends in tears and suffering:
No love can salve us all but this,
The love that rests in heaven's King.
For ever green, renewed again,
For ever full, it never pales.
It ever sweetens, free from pain,
Continues always, never fails.
'You can close your eyes to the things you don't wanna see, but you can't close your heart to the things you don't wanna feel...'
Sophie Cecilie © 2006
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