Säpo raises terror alert in Sweden
The threat to Sweden of a terrorist attack has recently changed, the security service Säpo said in a statement today. Responding to the situation, Säpo thus raised the terror alert from “low” to “elevated”. Sweden has never before had a terror threat on this level. Säpo said that "the assessment is based on intelligence indicating a shift in activities among certain groups in Sweden, judged to be targeted at Sweden." The Director General of Säpo explained that the threat to Sweden "is not currently assessed to be imminent". But he refused to comment on who might be behind the threat – or if any specific part of Sweden is being threatened. The decision to raise the threat level by one step is based on an assessment produced by the National Centre for Terrorist Threat Assessment, NCT. “According to their analysis, there is currently an elevated threat of a terrorist attack against Sweden. The NCT have previously assessed the terrorist threat to Sweden as low, but now make an adjustment,” the security service said. The agency also pointed out that "compared to the situation in several other European countries, the threat level to Sweden is still low." The decision was made in the middle of September, but not announced until October 1st. The threat level scale: 1. No threat 2. Low threat 3. Elevated threat 4. High threat 5. Very high threat

Stockholm lacks more than 70 000 homes
More than 70,000 homes need to be built in Stockholm in the next four years, believes the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce. During the election campaign, both the Social Democrats and the Moderates promised to build around 50,000 homes. But according to the Chamber of Commerce that would be far from sufficient to cover the major housing shortages that exist today.

Christopher Plummer is Henrik Vanger
Great actor Christopher Plummer will play Henrik Vanger in the American remake of “The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo”. Vanger is the character who sets the plot in motion by hiring Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) to ferret out the truth behind a family member’s disappearance. In earlier talks, it seemed as if Max von Sydow was scheduled for the part, but now Plummer is in and von Sydow is out. Among other actors cast for the Vanger family are Robin Wright and Stellan Skarsgård. There are still a few big roles to cast, notably Nils Bjurman, the corrupt lawyer, who has a few interesting scenes with Lisbeth Salander.

Cardrivers don’t use blinkers
According to a study done by Motormännen (the Swedish Automobile Association), more than every second car driver in Sweden fails to use the signal blinkers on the car when making a turn. 55% of the 10,000 drivers that were controlled, did not use the blinkers. There were no significant differences between smaller and bigger cities. Women were slightly better than men, and used them a bit more often. The drivers were checked while making left turns, lane changes and in traffic circles.