Swedish News

The Swedish film “Miss Kicki” with Pernilla August to Korea. Swedish children breakfast alone. Hunting helicopter robbers. Inspiring breakfasts: Breakfast scones with apricots, Breakfast keso. Occupations where Swedish women make more than men (very few!).  

  • Hunting helicopter robbers.
    Swedish police continue to hunt for suspects and faced criticism following the well-orchestrated, helicopter-aided theft at a cash depot in Västberga south of Stockholm on Wednesday. So far no one has been arrested for direct involvement in the daring pre-dawn raid. The two people arrested on Wednesday afternoon during the initial phases of the investigation are suspected of receiving stolen goods in crimes unrelated to the heist. One of the men was released late Wednesday night, while the other remains in police custody. He was wanted for having failed to serve out the entirely of a previous prison sentence. Police estimate that there are no more than 25 career criminals in Sweden capable of carrying out such a unique and professionally executed robbery. Officially, police don’t want to publicize exact estimates of how many people may have participated in the stunning heist. “But we’re probably talking about a figure in the two digits,” said Christian Agdur of the Stockholm police. Police intelligence units are now working furiously to determine how many of Sweden's most-capable criminals are currently out of prison, where they are, and whether or not there have been any rumors circulating in criminal networks about a major planned crime. The possibility that the theft was an inside job is also being explored. Police sources believe that one or several of the robbers likely had military training. “The complicated logistics are comparable to something from the military. It’s not just anyone who can get themselves up and down in a helicopter like that. It requires something like infantry or operations training,” a police source said.
    Related story: www.nordstjernan.com/news/sweden/1672/

  • Miss Kicki to South Korea.
    The Swedish film “Miss Kicki” has been chosen to compete in Asia’s most important film festival, the Pusan International Film Festival in a category called Flash Forward. “Miss Kicki” is a relationship drama about a mother – Kicki – and her son who are trying to patch up some lost years by going on vacation to Taiwan. What the son is not aware of is that Kicki is really going there to meet with businessman Mr. Chang, a man she has met online. The film is the first cinematic collaboration ever between Scandinavia and Taiwan. It was directed by Håkan Liu and it is his directorial debut and Pernilla August plays the part of Kicki. “Miss Kicki” will premiere in Taiwan in December 2009 and in Sweden in the spring of 2010. The Pusen Film Festival in South Korea takes place on October 8-16. For more information: www.piff.org See www.nordstjernan.com/news/people/1682/ for our earlier interview with Pernilla August, one of Sweden's most beloved actresses.

  • Swedish children breakfast alone.
    The most important meal of the day – breakfast – is a meal many Swedish children have to eat alone. A new survey shows that more than 50% of all parents don’t care to have breakfast with their kids. Christina Stenhammar, doctoral candidate at Uppsala University, think it is disastrous. Stenhammar is focusing her studies on the lifestyle of children from a parental perspective, however a cereal brand conducted the survey. “It shows that we underestimate parents influence on children’s habits,” Stenhammar says. “Especially a bit older children. It shows that the older the children get, the worse it gets. Especially among teenage parents, where 82% said they did not eat breakfast with their children.” Stenhammar said she conducted her own study in 2003 on how much breakfast means for children. She studied a school in Uppsala where breakfast was served during one year. “Around 50% of all children came to school without having had anything to eat first. After the school began serving breakfast the concentration among the children in the classroom was greatly improved.” Stenhammar further said that it is also important what children are eating for breakfast, a lot of breakfast products out there contain insufficient amounts of fiber and are much too high on sugar. “That’s why it’s important that parents are around, so they know what their kids are putting in their mouths.”

  • Breakfast scones with apricots.
    Swedish journal Allt om Mat gave us some inspiration for breakfasts other than oatmeal and cereal, breakfasts that are nutritious as well as delicious so we would like to share them here. Orange and apricot scones, good as both breakfast and snack. Eat as they are or with a bit of butter or cottage cheese. Ingredients: 21/3 cups flour, 2 Tablespoons baking powder, 0.5 cup sugar, 0.5 cup dried apricots cut in small pieces, 65 g butter, 1 orange, finely grated peel, 8 oz freshly squeezed orange juice. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Mix all dry ingredients including the apricot pieces. Cut the butter in small cubes and blend into the flour mixture. Add the finely grated orange peel and the orange juice. Work quickly into a sticky batter. Put on a baking sheet and put in oven for 15-18 minutes.

  • Breakfast keso.
    If you don’t much like having a heavy breakfast, then this might be for you. Breakfast keso, or cottage cheese. Ingredients: 250 g cottage cheese, 1 Tablespoon flaxseed (not crushed), 1 Tablespoon sunflower seeds, cinnamon, 6 strawberries (or half a cup of frozen berries), flaked almonds. Put all the ingredients in a bowl, in the order they are written down here, and enjoy. This, too, is a perfect snack. You can exchange the flaked almonds with hazelnuts.

  • Where women make more.
    The gap between men’s and women’s salaries in Sweden hasn’t changed much since 1992, and it’s worst for those in the service department, where the gap between the sexes’ salaries is 10%. A male CEO makes an average of 74 800 SEK ($ 10,804) – a woman CEO makes 61 000 SEK ($8,811). They do exist, the jobs where women actually make more money than men. But not in abundance. If you are a woman who wants a salary as good as your male colleagues, these are the careers you should look into: Construction directors that are female make more money than their male counterparts, more specifically 2% more. A woman construction director makes about 47 900 SEK ($6.919), whereas a man makes 47 100 SEK ($6,802). Women politicians make the same, no more no less, as male politicians. Directors within the care sector also make more if they’re women, around 33 600 SEK ($4,852) compared to 32 600 SEK ($4,709) for men. As a special education teacher you’ll make more if you’re a woman, 27 300 SEK ($3,943) compared to 25 700 SEK ($3,712) for a man. Finally, you’ll also make more if you’re a female biomedical analyst, 24 700 SEK ($3,568) to a man’s 24 400 SEK ($3,525).