Swedish News

Anna Anka splits from Paul. Which tiara will they wear? More Swedes suffer from cancer. Who is Herta Müller? 

• Anna Anka splits from Paul
  Do not tell us it is so! Singer-songwriter Paul Anka has filed for divorce from his Swedish wife Anna following a violent spat at the couple’s Hollywood home last week. The recently crowned queen of Swedish reality television called police last Thursday after she and her husband became embroiled in an argument over Anna’s decision to fire one of the couple’s housekeepers. The following day, the 68-year-old Paul Anka filed for divorce from his 38-year-old Swedish wife, whom he married in 2008. “They’ve been fighting like cats and dogs recently,” said a source with insight into the couple’s relationship. Anna recently catapulted herself into Sweden’s celebrity spotlight through her starring role in the TV3 reality television program “Svenska Hollywoodfruar” (Swedish Hollywood Wives). She then ignited a heated public debate in Sweden by publishing an article on the opinion website Newsmill in which she criticized Swedish dads for “their diaper-changing and equality”. She went on to suggest that a man’s infidelity is ultimately his wife’s fault. “Sexually it is the woman's responsibility to ensure that the man is satisfied, if she does not then she only has herself to blame if he is unfaithful,” she wrote. Anna Anka’s ratings success prompted TV3 to offer her a Christmas-themed special consisting of six episodes, the last of which is set to go head to head with public broadcaster SVT’s annual Christmas Eve broadcast of Kalle Anka (Donald Duck and other Disney cartoons) – one of the most-watched television programs in Sweden. According to the celebrity news site TMZ.com, police arrived at the Anka residence after receiving two calls of a domestic dispute last Thursday. Anna said she felt threatened by her husband, claiming Paul had pointed a gun at her. However, a subsequent review of the mansion’s surveillance tape showed no evidence that such an episode took place.

• Which tiara will they wear?
  Which tiara to wear to the Nobel festivities tonight? You and me will probably not have to ponder such a question – but Queen Silvia and Crown Princess Victoria do. Even though they have a few to select from, they do have certain favorites. Queen Silvia’s favorite tiara is 150 years old, and she has used it for all of 13 Nobel festivities. It’s called the Sofia tiara, and it is a stiff and fairly heavy diamond tiara, unlike some of the queen’s other tiaras, it is not flexible. If it doesn’t fit the head of the bearer, then it would be difficult to wear – luckily it fits our queen very well. It has a central fan patterns. But we might also see her wearing the Leuchtenberg sapphires, another favorite tiara, that comes with a necklace, pin, and earrings as well as hairpins. Crown Princess Victoria also has a personal favorite, the so-called ray tiara, it has gotten its name from 47 ray-shaped diamonds. It’s a tiara the Crown Princess often chooses. Princess Madeleine, on the other hand, has less to choose from so the younger princess will most probably wear her own private, a delicate little diamond tiara that she received for her 18th birthday. Royal jewels are exciting, beautiful and quite flexible. The sapphires in the queen’s sapphire tiara may be interchanged with pearls, a pin can be turned into a belt fastener, and a necklace can be divided into two bracelets. Many tiaras can be bent into crowns. Wearing a tiara is a very old tradition, but it became fashionable among royals during the Napoleon epoch. In order for a royal to wear a tiara, she has to have turned 18 years. And tiaras, an insider reveals, aren’t as uncomfortable to wear as they may seem.

• More Swedes suffer from cancer
  More and more Swedes suffer from cancer. New statistics from Socialstyrelsen show an increase of 1.8% among men and 1.2% of women, all types of cancer included. Last year a total of 51 528 cases of cancer were reported. It’s a gender even statistics, 52% men and 48% women, and the increase is explained by the fact that Swedes are also getting older and that thanks to many campaigns and better diagnosis, many people discover their cancer earlier. The most common type of cancer among women is breast cancer, 29% of all cancer types among women was breast cancer. Among men the most common type of cancer is prostate cancer, which constituted 33% of all men’s cancer types.

• Who is Herta Müller?
  Herta Müller is of course this year’s Nobel Prize Winner in Literature (as Nordstjernan reported earlier on). But who is she, and what will she do once she receives the prize? At a recent press conference in Stockholm’s Börssalen, under 13 twinkling cut-glass chandeliers, Herta Müller held audience .”I was a normal person before I received the prize, and will continue to be so after the prize,” she said, a bit bothered. “The prize is all about my books, although I understand that it also has to do with me as a person. I am very happy about it.” Müller was also asked about her feelings for Romania (she is a Romanian-born German). “What is a home? It depends on how you define it. I was born and bred in Romania, so in that respect it was my home. But I lived there in fear, and you cannot live in fear and call it home. A dictatorship destroys your home, a dictatorship destroys the meaning of home. Home becomes a word that loses its true meaning.” Instead, she says, she found home in her language, a home she can bring with her anywhere. Earlier Nobel Prize winners that she says she feels somewhat related to are Samuel Beckett, Nelly Sachs and Imre Kertesz. But when asked what she will spend the money on she smiles: “I won’t say. But don’t worry, I am not going to buy a yacht!” One of Müller’s more accessible books is “The Appointment” a novel about a woman who, as she rides a tram on her way to an interrogation with the Romanian secret police, ponders upon the past. The book also contains a highly tragic but beautiful love story. Maybe the perfect Christmas gift?