Swedish News:

Sofia and Carl Philip. Swedish Church against profit. Customs warn against new China drug. Six of ten get HIV diagnosis too late. No tombstone for the poor and lonely. Young women suffer stroke from fat diet.  

  • A new, highly potent drug from China, has reached Sweden.

  • Sofia and Carl Philip
    Wonder what's going on with Prince Carl Philip and his live in girlfriend Sofia Hellqvist? Svensk Damtidning reveals that the prince and his Sofia began their summer by packing, as on June 1st they moved onto the first floor of the green wood house in which they live on Djurgården. They simply moved from one apartment to another in the same building. The move means they have access to a garden, which is perfect for Siri, the couple’s dog. A garden and a little dog, doesn’t that sound like a stable relation? Perhaps engagement is next? Following Princess Madeleine’s wedding, the couple took a much-needed vacation and went to Ulvön, near Örnsköldsvik. But they have also spent many days apart from each other: Carl Philip went alone to Monaco, where he was present at the meeting with IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Sofia remained in Stockholm. Carl Philip was also alone during Victoria’s birthday celebration on Öland as well as during the tennis week in Båstad. However, that Sofia is accepted as a member of the royal family is a fact, since she was part of the family photo that was taken when Princess Madeleine and Chris O’Neill’s banns were published earlier in the year.

  • Although the Church of Sweden is losing members, it is making a lot of money of the members it still has, thanks to a special church tax.

  • Swedish Church against profit
    In spite of losing a lot of members, the Church of Sweden counts on a profit of millions this year. The revenue increases as the members' salaries go up, and last year the result was 1.3 billion SEK (or $196 million), according to Ekot on the Swedish Radio. The church’s profit comes from the so-called “kyrkoavgift”, a church tax based on the salary of the members of the church. As salaries increase the church also gets more members even though they’ve lost 700,000 members since the church “divorced” the state in the year 2000. But even if the church in general profits, many parishes are preparing for lean years to come.

  • Sofia Hellqvist, the girlfriend of Prince Carl-Philip. Has she finally been accepted by the Swedish Royal Court? Photo: Frankie Fouganthin

  • Customs warn against new China drug
    While Swedish customs' confiscation of ecstasy and LSD increases sharply, Sweden has also become the market, via Internet, for a new, dangerous drug from China. The drug is comparable to LSD and based on the substance NBOM. As little as one gram can yield up to one thousand doses. “All drugs are dangerous, but this is very risky. It’s highly potent,” says Lars Hansson, drug specialist at the Customs Department to daily Dagens Nyheter. The new drug was classified as narcotics in Sweden on August first.

  • 60% of HIV-infected Swedes receive their diagnosis too late for treatment.

  • Six of ten get HIV diagnosis too late
    HIV is discovered too late in 60 percent of infected Swedes. This according to a new study from the Karolinska Institute, reports Swedish Television. According to the study, six out of ten people received their HIV diagnosis too late the last two years. At that time their immune system was so weakened that they ought to have begun their treatment much earlier, Swedish Television writes. Many of the patients had sought treatment for prior HIV-related diseases without having HIV discovered.10,332 cases of HIV have been reported in Sweden between 1983 and 2012. And last year, 441 new cases of HIV were diagnosed, according to statistics from Smittskyddsinstitutet (the Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease Control).

  • Södertälje municipality puts a stopper on the burial support for poor people who receive income support, a decision the Church of Sweden calls "sad".

  • No tombstone for the poor and lonely
    The municipality of Södertälje discontinues their burial support for the poor. The municipality stops the support for persons who receive income support, according to Sveriges Radio. The Church of Sweden is reacting strongly against this decision, calling it sad. The decision will save Södertälje municipality around 50, 000 SEK ($7,600) a year. This is to be compared to the total cost for income support, which amounts to around 300 million SEK ($45 million) a year. “These cuts will hardly save the municipality’s finances,” says Tommy Jernert, at Södertälje income support, to daily Länstidningen in Södertälje. “Even the person without financial support has relatives, friends, and family who are in mourning and want to gave to go to,” says Elisabeth Linde to Sveriges Radio.

  • Medical researchers in Sweden believe the popular LCHF (Low Carb High Fat) diet is partly to blame for the fact that the number of heart attacks in women and men between the ages 35 and 44 is increasing, and many young women suffer stroke.

  • Young women suffer stroke from fat diet
    The number of heart attacks in women and men between the ages 35 and 44 is increasing. As is the number of young women suffering stroke, according to the annual report from Socialstyrelsen (the National Board of Health and Welfare). In daily Dagens Nyheter, a string of medical researchers state that the increase has to do with the popular LCHF (Low Carb High Fat) diet. The number of people suffering cardiovascular diseases has steadily been going down since the 1980’s, when an intense health effort was put in motion in Sweden. Because of this, according to the debate article in DN, Sweden has had a morbidity of cardiovascular diseases the same level as that of people in the Mediterranean countries. The new break in the trend, the researchers believe, has to do with the fact that people who want to lose weight use the LCHF-method to do so, which means they consume a high level of fatty foods like cream, bacon, and crème fraîche, as well as fewer carbs and less sugar. According to Socialstyrelsen’s dietary advice, it is important to keep the sugar levels down, but it is equally important to include slow carbs (such as grains, seeds, nuts, beans, peas, legumes and most vegetables) and low-fat products in the diet. “Since the beginning of the 21st century, the fat intake, mostly from animal fats from butter, cream, and other high fat dairy products, has increased sharply again, and the intake of carbs has gone down. (…) The weight has continued to increase during the entire time period,” the researchers write in their article. They put some blame on the development on Swedish doctors and “others without medical background” who make money on popular science books on the ‘fat diet’.”