The Great Nordic Thread

[NewYorkExpress]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44319921

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[NewYorkExpress]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45637386

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Who is the most likely next Prime Minister of Sweden, and if no agreement on a PM is reached, which party is favored in hypothetical elections?

[NewYorkExpress]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53959492

Protesters against the burning of a Koran by far-right supporters in Sweden have clashed with police during several hours of rioting.

Cars were set on fire and shop fronts were damaged in the clashes in the southern city of Malmö which have now been brought under control. There were several arrests.

Earlier in the day, the Swedish Government had banned Danish Politician Rasmus Paludan, head of the Stram Kurs (Hard Line) political Party from entering the country. He had planned to attend the Koran burning.

[NewYorkExpress]

https://www.foxnews.com/world/finnish-teen-takes-over-as-prime-minister-for-a-day-to-raise-awareness-on-gender-equality

A 16-year-old girl ceremoniously assumed the post of Finnish prime minister for one day for the “Girls Takeover” program — part of the U.N. International Day of the Girl to raise more awareness of gender equality.


Aava Murto from the small village of Vaaksy in southern Finland stepped into the shoes of Prime Minister Sanna Marin on Wednesday to highlight the impact of technology on gender equality, this year’s theme for the annual event, the Finnish government said.

[NewYorkExpress]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/13/world/denmark-mink-farms-covid-trnd/index.html

The Danish government has ordered the country's mink farms to cull over 1 million mink due to a series of Covid-19 outbreaks among the animals.

The current outbreak is believed to have started in late June when a Covid-19 patient was associated with a mink farm in North Jutland, according to a report by the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service. The disease was found to have spread to the mink after the Danish Patient Safety Authority had samples taken from 34 of the farm's animals.

The government began to introduce measures in the summer to limit the spread of Covid-19 on mink farms, but the number of cases dramatically increased in September.

By early October, mink on nearly 60 farms in North Jutland alone had tested positive for Covid-19 and another 46 were under suspicion, according to Mogens Jensen, the Danish Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries.

[NewYorkExpress]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/20/europe/iceland-earthquake-interview-scli-intl/index.html

Iceland's Prime Minister was interrupted by an earthquake while filming an interview on Tuesday -- but managed to shrug off the intrusion and finish her answer.

Katrin Jakobsdottir was discussing the impact of the pandemic on tourism with the Washington Post when her house started to shake, visibly startling the Icelandic leader.

"Oh my god, there's an earthquake," she said with a gasp. "Sorry, there was an earthquake right now. Wow."

But Jakobsdottir quickly pivoted back to the matter at hand, laughing: "Well this is Iceland" and continuing her response to the question.

"Yes I'm perfectly fine, the house is still strong, so no worries," she later added.
Jakobsdottir, 44, has been Iceland's Prime Minister since 2017.

The 5.6 magnitude earthquake struck on Tuesday afternoon 10 kilometers southwest of Hafnarfjordur, a coastal town near the capital of Reykjavík, according to the United States Geological Survey, which measures quakes worldwide.

[NewYorkExpress]

Denmark's Food and Agriculture Minister, Mogens Jensen, resigns over a mink-culling plan that the Danish Government didn't get approval for.

Denmark’s minister for food and agriculture resigned Wednesday after the government admitted it did not have the right to order the culling of all farmed mink without having the necessary legislation in place first.

The culling had been ordered after a mutated version of the coronavirus was found in some farms and had infected people.

There is no evidence the mutated version is more dangerous but the country acted quickly out of safety — though it lacked the legal basis to also order the killing of healthy animals.

“I have today informed the prime minister that I want to resign from the government,” said the 57-year-old minister, Mogens Jensen.

[NewYorkExpress]

Former Danish Immigration Minister Inger Stojberg is facing the first political trial in Denmark in three decades.

Denmark will hold its first political trial in three decades after the country's ruling party supported a vote in parliament to try a former immigration minister.

Inger Støjberg served as Denmark's immigration minister from 2015 to 2019.


In 2016, she issued an order to separate asylum-seeking couples where one of the pair was under the age of 18.

The order separated 23 married couples, some of whom had one or more children together, before being halted.


The Danish Parliamentary Ombudsman later found the order was illegal as it did not allow authorities to individually assess or consult those affected.

Støjberg has denied knowingly breaking the law and says the policy was aimed to prevent child marriages in the country. An investigation into the so-called "child bride case" led to her resignation as vice-president of the Liberal Party.


The move by the Social Democrats meant that a majority of the 179-seat Folketing was in favour of Støjberg facing the rarely used Court of Impeachment.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement that the party supported the motion "on the basis of the clear legal assessments".

Now a majority in parliament has decided the minister should face trial, Støjberg cannot appeal. If convicted, she faces a fine or maximum prison sentence of two years.

Earlier this month, lawyers appointed by parliament had said that there was a legal basis to charge Støjberg after a commission report said the order was "clearly illegal".

[NewYorkExpress]

Denmark's Secret Service helped the United States spy on European politiicans, including Angela Merkel from 2012 to 2014.

Denmark's secret service helped the US spy on European politicians including German Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2012 to 2014, Danish media say.

The Defence Intelligence Service (FE) collaborated with the US National Security Agency (NSA) to gather information, according to Danish public service broadcaster DR.

Intelligence was allegedly collected on other officials from Germany, France, Sweden and Norway.

Similar allegations emerged in 2013.

Then, secrets leaked by US whistleblower Edward Snowden alleged tapping of the German chancellor's phone by the NSA.

....

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and a spokesperson for Angela Merkel have said they were not aware of Danish involvement until the DR report, which was shared with other European media over the weekend.

[NewYorkExpress]

A new Norweigan law mandates Social Media influencers disclose photo editing.

Norway has passed a law targeting photo editing in an attempt to address body image issues in society.

The new law mandates that content creators disclose when they've retouched or added a filter to a photo.

Any photo where "a body's shape, size or skin has been changed by retouching or other manipulation" must be marked as edited, the legislation declares.


In addition to advertisers, the law also stipulates that celebrities and social media influencers must label altered images if they are paid or benefit in some way from the post.

The legislation in question

[NewYorkExpress]

Denmark telling some migrants to work 37 hours per week for benefits.

Some migrants in Denmark will now be required to work 37 hours a week in order to receive welfare benefits.

It will be a requirement for those who have been on benefits for three to four years, and who have not reached a certain level of proficiency in Danish.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said the rules were directly aimed at women from "non-Western backgrounds" living on benefits.

Denmark has repeatedly tightened its immigration policies in recent years.

It now has some of the toughest rules in Europe, and has set a target of zero asylum applications.

The government said the new plan was designed to help migrants assimilate into Danish society, but some have said the rules are misguided and unfair.

[NewYorkExpress]

Former Finnish Minister of the Interior Pavi Rasanen is on trial for statements in a 2004 article that called homosexuality a developmental disorder, a radio interview, and a 2019 tweet which included a photograph of an extract of the bible.

A former Finnish interior minister has gone on trial for hate speech against gay people, following comments which she says were based on the Bible.

Prosecutors accuse Paivi Rasanen of making derogatory comments on three occasions, including in a 2019 tweet showing verses from the Bible.

Ms Rasanen denies the charges and says she stands behind her words.

The case is being seen as a test of whether personal religious beliefs can justify controversial language.

Announcing the charges in April last year, Finland's state prosecutor said Ms Rasanen had made comments likely to cause intolerance, contempt and hatred towards homosexuals.

The charges relate to comments she made on three separate occasions: in an article published online, in a radio interview and in a 2019 tweet which included a photograph of an extract from the Bible.


In the tweet, she questioned why the Finnish Lutheran Church was officially supporting Finland's Pride week. The attached photograph contained verses from the Bible which appear to describe homosexual acts as shameful.

The court will have to decide whether citing the Bible can be considered a crime in some cases in Finland.




According to prosecutors, an online article by Ms Rasanen which was published in 2004 described homosexuality as a psychosexual development disorder.

[NewYorkExpress]

Finland's Prime Party Animal Minister Sanna Marin making the headlines again:

https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1560015797367488517
Some think it's sexist to criticize her for this stuff, but Alexander Stubb (PM 2014-2015) was called "un-prime-ministerial" for wearing shorts and loafers in summer.

Another clip shows one of the other people shout what sounds like "jauhojengi" which means "flour gang" -- this was interpreted as a slang reference to cocaine. Others claim to hear "jallujengi" -- jallu being slang for a booze brand. [Edit: voice analysis confirms that it was the first one.] Some politicians have suggested that Marin take a drug test -- though that would be useless now, as the footage is weeks old.

Unless she's in violation of some social distancing requirement in Finland that I'm not aware of, who the hell cares? Sure, it's not a good look for the Prime Minister to go around partying, and all, but if she wants to do that, why should we give a damn?

[NewYorkExpress]

Vilhelm Junnila is out as Finland's Economy Minister over repeated Nazi jokes.

Finland's economy minister, Vilhelm Junnila, has resigned his post after sustained allegations of ties to right-wing extremists as well as a series of distasteful Nazi jokes.

Junnila is a member of the anti-immigrant Finns Party, which is part of Finland's new four-party center-right ruling coalition.

Though he survived a vote of no-confidence called by opposition politicians in Finland's Parliament on June 28, Junnila announced he was stepping down Friday, saying, "For the continuation of the government and the reputation of Finland, I see that it is impossible for me to continue as a minister in a satisfactory way."

Junnila had come under fire for, among other things, a public speech that he had given in 2019 related to a far-right memorial in the western Finnish town of Turku. He was also criticized for repeated Nazi jokes.

The populist apparently joked with a fellow Finns Party politician in a campaign speech on March 10, calling his candidate number — 88 — a good omen.

"First of all, congratulations for the excellent candidate number. I know it's a winning card. Obviously, this '88' refers to two H letters which we won't say more about." The number is a popular cipher among neo-Nazis who use it as code for the phrase Heil Hitler.

Media reports said Junnila had repeatedly joked about the number in the past.

[NewYorkExpress]

Finnish Finance Minister Riikka Purra is under fire for racist comments made in 2008 on social media.

Finnish finance minister Riikka Purra has apologized after she made racist comments in 2008 that were recently discovered online.

The leader of the far-right Finns Party said her old comments were “stupid” and that she was sorry for the harm they had caused.

“I apologise for the stupid comments I made 15 years ago on social media and the harm and upset they understandably caused, I am not a perfect person, I have made mistakes,” Purra said in a series of tweets on Tuesday.


“Taken out of context and judged in the present, some of the texts seem even worse. I do not accept violence, racism or discrimination of any kind,” she added.

One post captured in the digital archive website “Wayback Machine” under the username “Riikka” used racist language and made anti-immigrant slurs to describe multiculturalism in Spain.

[NewYorkExpress]

Sanna Marin is quitting politics and joining a nonprofit based in London.

Former Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin, who was one of Europe’s youngest leaders and a strong voice in supporting Ukraine, said Thursday she’s quitting politics and will join a London-based nonprofit organization.

....
Marin will join the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and earlier this month, the nonprofit organization said she would become “strategic counsellor.”