Swedish News

Buy the Royal Volvo. Sweden biotech gets $625 million US contract. 'Living Dead' verified in Sweden. Attack of killer snails. 

  • Royal Volvo for sale. This, and 64 other cars used during the recent royal wedding, is now for sale.
  • Buy the Royal Volvo
    Volvo was the official car of the recent royal wedding. All guests were transported in 85 white Volvo cars with a unique design, created in collaboration with the bride and groom themselves. Now 65 of the cars that hauled royalties from all over the world are for sale. The models used were Volvo S80 and Volvo V70, both environmentally friendly, which means they are tax-exempt for five years. And all special details have been approved by Victoria and Daniel. “It’s been a meticulous collaboration between us and the Royal Court in order for all parts involved to be happy with these cars,” said Volvo editor and press manager, Annika Bjerstaf. The cars are white with official wedding seal emblems on the sides, and the same seal can be found on the headrests. Only a handful of cities and towns are selling these cars―Upplands Väsby, Lidköping, Varberg, Sundsvall and Halmstad are among them.

  • The wedding seal that can be found in the royal Volvos.
  • Sweden biotech gets $625 million US contract
    Deal with Johnson & Johnson subsidiary covers type 1 diabetes treatment, prevention. Aimed at developing a diabetes therapy, a contract for $625 million has been signed between the Swedish biotech firm, Diamyd Medical, and Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.
    The agreement, signed in late June, relates to the GAD65 antigen-based therapy for the treatment and prevention of type 1 diabetes and associated conditions.
    "This agreement will allow Diamyd to expand and become a significant player as a specialty pharma company in the Nordic region, but most importantly it should make this transformational beta cell preserving therapy available to patients around the world," said Elisabeth Lindner, chief executive officer of Diamyd Medical.
    After an initial payment of $45 million by the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, Diamyd can receive additional development and sales payments of up to $580 million, as well as tiered royalties on future sales. The parties will equally share costs for the development program until results arrive from the ongoing EU Phase III study, expected in the first half of 2011.
    Shares in Diamyd Medical rose 28% when the news was announced. "OMJPI is an ideal partner for Diamyd with their significant global resources and strong commitment to diabetes," said Lindner.

  • 'Mördarsnigeln' - not a welcome guest in your vegetable garden for sure but increasingly common in Sweden.
  • 'Living Dead' verified in Sweden
    Mixup leaves survivor deceased, while the dead's still among the living. Apparently as potent as black magic, voodoo or witchcraft - the Swedish bureaucracy kept a dead man alive, but verified that a 98 year old woman who was active and kicking among the living was herself, in fact, deceased.
    Nearly a centenarian, the unlucky lady was issued a death certificate last April, according to information supplied by the Sweden's authority that is responsible for health and hospital care, HSAN (Hälso & Sjukvårdens Ansvars Nämnd). Because any bureaucratic entity, and accompanying bureaucrats throughout the world are prohibited by self-disciplinary habits from blaming themselves, the scapegoat selected for the incident is a local physician near the West Sweden city of Trollhätten who mixed up the woman's personal information with her husband's dossier.
    In fact, her husband had succumbed last spring, but the mistaken termination did succeed in killing all the woman's old age benefits, medical coverage, financial matters and other important factors that are vital to the quick, but not the dead. After extensive help from her nearest of kin, most of the lady's benefits were restored, but still not all of her financial accounts. Meanwhile, her deceased mate was presumably listed in good health and credit standing, although at the time of writing this it was not clear whether social security payments were being delivered to the address of his new graveyard residence.
    Bit for bit, the complicated mess is being rectified, although the elderly woman insists that the confused doctor be professionally disciplined. For the trials and tribulations through which she has been forced to weather, the "living dead" lady is also demanding a tidy sum of money that can ease her remaining twilight years.

  • Attack of killer snails*
    Angered man assaults neighbor's garden with pesky creatures. As revenge for a restraining order that a harassed woman had obtained against her 59 year old male neighbor, the man in question dumped a bucket of "killer snails" onto her lawn. The animals, who only appeared in Sweden in the last decade, have no natural enemies and plague gardens while devouring plants, other snails and making a general nuisance due to their size and abundance.
    The events transpired in Alingsås, a quaint and otherwise sedate town in Västergotland in south central Sweden, and were reported in the local newspaper, Alingsås Tidning. The man, whom witnesses testified also threw a firecracker onto the lady's lawn, was fined by the local court in the amount of $1,220 in court costs and ordered to pay the lady $635 in damages. He was also prohibited from coming near to her property and, of course, from releasing any more of the killer snails into her garden.

  • * The in Sweden new species of Spanish forest snail commonly called - Mördarsnigeln (Arion lusitanicus) - 'Killer snail' in a direct translation, has gotten its Swedish nickname for its ferocious appetite and capacity of breeding and spreading out over large areas. The 'Arion lusitanicus' will invade and devour your vegetable garden almost overnight if you don't make the necessary precautions. It is not what we usually call Killer snails (Anentome helena), which are freshwater aquatic snails. They are not as bad as their name may sound. Also known as assassin snails, Killer snails supposedly eat other snails only if nothing else is available and that's why they have the name "killer".