Swedish News:

Trouble with clocks falling back? 'We Are The Best!' wins in Tokyo. Better food in the schools. Swedish help to dismantle chemical weapons. Millions to Arbetsförmedlingen. 

  • Swedish director Lukas Moodysson’s (Above) film ”We Are The Best!” won the top prize at the recent Tokyo International Film Festival. Photo: Teemu Rajala
  • Trouble with clocks falling back?
    For at least half an hour during the long night between Saturday and Sunday, the phones in all of Sweden's police stations were silent. Or rather, they were dead. According to Telia’s Peter Kjellberg it was only the switchboard number 114 14 that was down, 112 still worked. Telia tried, unsuccessfully, to figure out what happened, and promised they’d continue to work on whatever the issue was or is, on Monday. But many police officers were convinced they knew exactly what the problem was: The end of the daylight saving time and the setting back of the clocks. In case you don’t know, your friends and family in Sweden have now set their clocks and watches back one hour. The U.S. will follow suit on November 3.

  • Perhaps Harold Lloyd tried to set the big clock back in the 1923 ”Safety Last!”? Swedes set their clocks back as of Sunday, October 27.
  • 'We Are The Best!' wins in Tokyo
    Swedish director Lukas Moodysson's teen punk film 'We Are The Best!' won the most prestigious prize at the recent Tokyo International Film Festival. The prize, the Tokyo Sakura Grand Prix, includes (on top of the honor), a sum of $50,000. Read Niclas Goldberg’s glowing review of the film, "Vi är Bäst!" here: http://www.nordstjernan.com/news/arts/5841/

  • The meals served in Swedish schools are getting better, and is in some parts of the country made from scratch by local and organic produce.
  • Better food in the schools
    More and more students like the food that's served in Swedish schools. Sure, the food has gotten better, but there's also more focus on what is being served, according to the association Skolmåltidens vänner (the Swedish School Meals Supporters) ”At our school we haven’t seen any great changes lately. The kids here in Umeå have been happy for a long time,” says Kicki Eklund, school chef at Hagaskolan, where for years the food has been made from scratch with organic and local produce. The food the kids in Umeå consume is so good that the municipality received an award for it some years ago. The attitude towards school meals has also changed, and generally gotten more positive lately, according to a study from Jordbruksverket (the Swedish Board of Agriculture). ”The food is better, but it is also that good examples have become more visible,” says Annika Unt Widell, project leader at Skolmatens vänner. ”The food in the schools has nearly gotten a governmental PR agency through all the efforts.” Yet, it could be better. ”I think we’re just at the beginning of the wave that means the municipalities purchase better food. There will be more focus on procurement later on, and the municipalities will also be helped by Miljöstyrningsrådet (the Swedish Environmental Management Council). (And) the voices of the students and the chefs haven’t been heard all that much yet,” Widell adds.

  • Sweden will aid the UN in the dismantlement of Syria’s chemical weapons. ”It is great that Sweden can provide qualified resources to the UN. And with today’s decision, we continue to support the UN’s and OPCW’s important work in safeguarding the dismantling of chemical weapons,”Sweden’s Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, and Sweden’s Minister for Defense, Karin Enström, said in a joint press release. Photo: Janwikifoto
  • Swedish help to dismantle chemical weapons
    An international group of experts has now inspected 18 of 23 chemical weapon factories in Syria and destroyed the equipment in nearly all of them. Sweden will provide the UN and the OPCW (the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) with air transport for what remains of the weapons, according to a decision made by the government. ”It is great that Sweden can provide qualified resources to the UN. And with today’s decision, we continue to support the UN’s and OPCW’s important work in safeguarding the dismantling of chemical weapons,” Karin Enström (Minister for Defense) and Carl Bildt (Foreign Minister of Sweden) said in a joint press release. The transport aircraft will be stationed on Cyprus and will be available to the UN and OPCW until the end of the year. The Syrian government was yesterday expected to hand over a plan on how to rid the country of chemical weapons, according to OPCW. The plan is one part in the Russian-American settlement and the UN resolution that all Syrian chemical weapons and chemical weapon factories be destroyed before the middle of 2014.

  • Sweden's Minister for Defense Karin Enström. Photo: Esquilo
  • Millions to Arbetsförmedlingen
    The government has decided to let Arbetsförmedlingen (the Swedish Public Amployment Service) use 18 million SEK ($2.8 million) for education or training of people who have been unemployed for longer periods in the so-called phase 3. No courses need to be cancelled. Phase 3, or the employment phase, is the name of the last part of the job and development guarantee, the labor market program that the government incorporated in July 2007. The government has justified the phase with the fact that people who have been unemployed for longer periods need a sense of community, and somewhere to go, as well as the possibility to gain new qualifications and contacts that may lead to future work, even though phase 3 itself doesn’t mean a conventional job with a paid salary.