Swedish News:

Crazy about ABBA? Swedish super satellite. Far right extremist groups on the rise. Immigrant cat. The richer the municipality, the fewer the refugees.

Men living in Sweden who have sex with other men (MSM), have unprotected sex and sell sexual favors more often than the European average, a new report shows. Chairwoman of RFSL, Ulrika Westerlund, says HIV-information aimed specifically at this group, is needed.
The richer the municipality, the fewer the refugees
Sweden's 20 poorest municipalities receive five times as many refugees, counted per inhabitant, as the 20 municipalities where residents have the highest income level. Minister for Integration Erik Ullenhag calls it “provocative.” Also, municipalities led by the Moderate Party (“Moderaterna”) have the lowest number of refugees, according to an investigation by daily Svenska Dagbladet about how the reception of refugees has been divided among different Swedish municipalities during the past five years.
A tuxedo cat similar to this one, was found in Portland, Oregon. However, the cat is originally Swedish. Thanks to a “Wanted” ad on Facebook, the cat has been reunited with its family.
Swedish super satellite
Parts of a new super satellite are currently being built in Kiruna. Swedish scientists are building them, and according to TT the satellite will be sent to Jupiter, a planet that is 365 to 601 million miles away, depending on where it and Earth are in their elliptical paths around the sun. The project is called “Juice” and will explore Jupiter and its moons. The new satellite will measure the particles circulating the planet in order to get a clear image of the planet and the moons. “It’s not like I’m thinking about my travel insurance, but we are on our way to Jupiter and it feels good,” says Gabriella Stenberg, scientist at the Institute for Space Physics. Stenberg is working on the project. It is the European space organization ESA that has given the Swedish institute the mission to produce these parts of the satellite. In the year 2022, scientists believe that the satellite will be launched from the space center in Kourou, French Guiana. After that, a long trip of hundreds of millions of miles is waiting, which will probably take eight years. However, several difficult obstacles are expected. Around Jupiter there is dangerous radiation that can kill and destroy, and if worse comes to worst, could destroy the satellite. The radiation can also affect the measuring tools, which may be compromised by it. “Instead of a real particle, it may be the radiation that gets measured,” Stenberg tells TT. The space scientists must also work on the problem that it takes half an hour to send steering signals to the satellite once it’s up in space. That means they will have to wait half an hour to find out whether or not the satellite performed according to their wishes. “That’s something you have to live with. Nothing that we know can move faster than the speed of light,” Stenberg says.
Jupiter, the fifth planet from the sun and the largest in the solar system, is about to be explored by a satellite partly made in Kiruna. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Together, these four planets are sometimes referred to as the Jovian or outer planets. A prominent result is the Great Red Spot, a giant storm that is known to have existed since at least the 17th century when it was first seen by telescope. Surrounding Jupiter is a faint planetary ring system and a powerful magnetosphere. There are also at least 67 moons, including the four large moons called the Galilean moons that were first discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610. Ganymede, the largest of these moons, has a diameter greater than that of the planet Mercury. Photo: NASA
Crazy about ABBA?
Are you a diehard ABBA fan? Then perhaps this is for you: Stockholms auktionsverk is auctioning off the "biggest collection of ABBA memorabilia ever sold at an auction," online August 10-11. The seller is a tailor named Thomas Nordin, who at age 9 fell for the pop group and their shiny outfits when they won the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton in 1974 with “Waterloo.” Among the items can be found the cute Japanese record “Ring ring” from 1973, as well as the maxi single “Sång till Görel,” as well as kitschy merchandise like tour jackets in satin, a pair of brown Abba clogs (made for the U.S. market), ABBA soaps, Russian nesting dolls featuring Björn, Benny, Agnetha and Frida, as well as more Barbie models of the four of them, piles and piles of newspaper clippings, hard to find ABBA posters and a canary yellow sports bag. Most expensive? A collection of autographed singles. Starting prices were revealed on www.stadsauktion.se on June 28.
Do you like ABBA? Get ready for the auction of ABBA memorabilia when Stockholms auktionsverk opens their online ABBA auction on August 10-11. Starting prices are posted on www.stadsauktion.se.
Far right extremist groups on the rise
Far right and xenophobic groups in Sweden increased their activities last year, according to a report by Expo (a privately-owned research foundation with the aim of studying and mapping anti-democratic, right-wing extremist and racist tendencies in society). Expo mapped the far-right extremists’ activities during 2012, and in comparison with the year before, their activities increased 24 percent during 2012. The activities are mostly spreading information, manifestations, and organizing parties or speeches. The bigger cities are the places where the far-right extremists most often act, especially the Stockholm area. The new-Nazi party Svenskarnas parti (the Party of the Swedes), which was previously known as Nationalsocialistisk front, accounts for the greatest increase in activities. The party has also taken on a dominating part in the racial ideological environment as well, according to Expo’s report. Also, the party has recruited people from Sverigedemokraterna (the Sweden Democrats) and Nationaldemokraterna. One of the reasons behind the increased activity may have to do with Sweden nearing election time. Expo believes that the report can be seen as a trend indicator of the societal situation in Sweden. Hans Brun, who studies extremist groups at Försvarshögskolan (the Swedish National Defense College) is also of the opinion that the activities within racist groups have increased but also changed; the violent elements have been toned down. “They are trying to copy the successful concept of the Sweden Democrats,” he says to Ekot.
Sweden’s richest 20 municipalities do not receive more than a fifth as many refugees as the 20 poorest ones, something Minister for Integration Erik Ullenhag calls “provocative.” Photo: Janwikifoto
Immigrant cat
A tuxedo cat found in Oregon caused major headache and detective work, since the microchip it carried showed a strange set of numbers. With the help of some detective work, it turned out the cat is Swedish. The cat was found near the city of Portland, Oregon, and was brought to an animal shelter. The personnel at Multnomah County Animal Services realized the cat wasn’t wild, since it was both friendly and affectionate. They named the cat Sasha. After figuring out the cat's microchip was Swedish, they put out a “Wanted” message on their Facebook page, and after 700 shares and 40,000 likes, they finally found the cat’s owner. “I’m so moved by all the work that’s been done to find me,” said Catherine Roebuck, of Portland. “The cat’s name is Kairi, she has been a member of my family since a kitten in Sweden, and has moved numerous times with us.” That the cat was lost may be explained by the fact that it was born in Sweden in 2004, moved with its family to Austria in 2008, and has after that lived in both Alabama and Portland. Kairi has now been reunited with its family.
Swedish men and unsafe sex
According to a new report published in the Göteborgs-Posten, men living in Sweden who have sex with other men (MSM), have unprotected sex and sell sexual favors more often than the European average. Nearly one out of three Swedish men who answered the web-based poll declared he had had unprotected sex during the past year, in spite of knowledge of HIV. During the same period, 11 percent also received payment for sex. 3,089 boys and men living in Sweden were part of the report material. Researchers from Göteborg University and Malmö College, among other places, have worked on the Swedish part of the report, which is included in the project, The European MSM Internet Survey (Emis), which is financed in part by the European Union commission. According to Ulrika Westerlund, chairwoman of RFSL (the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights), the presence of the HIV virus in the MSM group is higher than in the rest of the population, and the group is therefore vulnerable to getting and transmitting HIV. Young men who still won’t use protection are those who don’t want to talk about the risks involved, Westerlund believes. She adds that the prevention of HIV must get better. “More information targeting this particular group is needed,” she says. “General information is not enough.”