Madeleine's wedding on TV
Princess Madeleine reassures the Swedish people: "Of course you'll take part in our wedding," she says to daily Expressen. As Nordstjernan has stated, the wedding of Princess Madeleine and Chris O’Neill will take place in Slottskyrkan, Stockholm, on June 8. As this is a private wedding, paid for by the royal family itself and not by Swedish taxpayers, it could very well be just that: private. And no decision regarding a live television broadcast has yet been made. Said Bertil Ternert, director of the Information and Press Department at the Royal Court: “It is the princess decision in the end.” However, according to the princess herself it is not all up to her. To Expressen she said it is something they discuss within the family. “At the end it is Pappa who decides with us.” When Expressen pushed a little bit, by telling the princess that the Swedish people really want to watch the wedding on TV, she turned silent: “You have to understand that I don’t want you to make a big deal of this. But of course the Swedish people will take part in our wedding. I feel strongly for that. I think that goes without saying. But I don’t know how big deal that will be, if it’ll only be the ceremony in the church or the entire evening. But of course, part of it will be broadcast.”

TV-license for your computer
When SVT (Swedish Television) starts sending programs via Internet, Radiotjanst (a part of Swedish public service as the company is partly owned by SVT and Sveriges Radio) in Kiruna will ask for a TV license to include computers and tablets, according to Computer Sweden, a magazine. The deal is based on the law of financing of radio and TV, which is neutral technology wise, which in turn means that it’s the viewing per se you pay for, regardless of what equipment you use. “This is nothing new, since 2006 there’s a law that says that whoever can receive an entire TV channel via some contraption is obliged to pay TV license. Since TV4 put their channels on Internet, I believe that was last fall, the law includes that,” says the President of SVT, Eva Hamilton. People who view programs on mobile phones with Internet connections will not be charged however, though the TV license will be applied to computer tablets. But as long as a political discussion regarding how SVT is to be financed in the future is ongoing, Radiotjänst will refrain from actively hunting down tablet owners who don’t pay their TV fee. They will also not begin to map out tablet owners any time soon. Whilst TV licensing is rare in the Americas, half of the countries of Asia and Africa, and two-thirds of the countries in Europe use television licences to fund public television.

Apples and pears against stroke
Those who eat apples and pears often decrease their risks of getting a stroke. This is confirmed by a study at Uppsala University. In the study, where scientists looked at the relationship between food habits and cardiovascular diseases, 75000 people participated. Those who ate fruit and vegetables five to eight times a day decreased their risk of stroke 20%. “Our results speak for themselves: There are great reasons to consume lots of pears and apples. This also supports the recommendation from Livsmedelsverket (the National Food Agency) to eat fruit and vegetables at least five times a day,” says Professor Alicja Wolk at the Karolinska Institute to Upsala Nya Tidning. A Dutch study, published in the magazine Stroke last year, showed that people who ate lots of apples and pears, fruit with white flesh, cut their risk of stroke in half. Not into these particular fruits? There are others that also lessen the risk for stroke. In a Finnish study, also from last year, researchers found that those who ate lots of tomatoes (which contain the powerful antioxidant lycopene, decreased their stroke risk with 55%. This study, published in the magazine Neurology, included over 1000 middle-aged men.

Huge bid against cannabis
Smoking cannabis is something that has increased a lot among young Stockholmers, and this year 10 million SEK ($1,550,490) of the city’s budget has been set aside in an attempt to curb it. A conference will be held on February 21, where among others 14 prevention coordinators from Stockholm’s district administrators, as well as representatives from Maria Ungdom (a service for youth under 20 years of age with alcohol/drug problems) have been invited to draw up guidelines for a plan of action. “The purpose of the conference is to find solutions. This will be reached by joint discussions and the sharing of experiences and good ideas,” says Marie Ljungberg Schött, the ordained social commissioner (from the Moderate Party). According to metro.se, the number of material analyses of seized cannabis has increased heavily in Stockholm as well as in the rest of Sweden, and it is mostly homegrown marijuana that has skyrocketed. According to Ljungberg Schött, the statistics is worrisome, and she believes that the next step in fighting the problem will be better preventative work while also having more field assistants and personnel from Maria Ungdom out where the youth with problems can be found. “We will do whatever we can to prevent this. At the same time it’s a balance; how to inform without glorifying,” she says.