The National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) believes the number of workplace drug checks has now hit 100,000 a year.

The practice is particularly popular in the transport sector and in jobs within the healthcare, security or surveillance industries.

The law surrounding drug testing in the workplace, which has been in force since 2004, permits both the screening of new recruits as well as of long-term employees if there is reason for suspicion.

When the practice was first made legal, only around 10,000 workers a year were tested. However, this number has now shot up tenfold according to Kimmo Kuoppasalmi, Chief Physician at THL’s Drug Research Unit.

He believes the current rate has almost reached its peak, however. “I think that the number will not increase much from this point. A very small proportion of these tests turn up positive in practice—about 1-2 percent. The preventive effect and the message that the workplace does not tolerate substance abuse are perhaps the most important factors,” Kuoppasalmi said in a YLE report.

The ‘Skara Cannibal’, who killed and ate parts of his girlfriend, and the ‘Vampire Woman’, who stabbed a father of four to death, met in Karsuddens psychiatric facility near Katrineholm and found plenty in common after chatting online.

”We got together on November 13th,” ‘Vampire Woman’ Michelle Gustafsson told Expressen. “’Do you want to be my girlfriend?’ he asked on MSN. Then we decided to get engaged, which we did on December 9th,” she added.

Both of the inmates made headlines in Sweden for their highly unusual crimes. Gustafsson claimed she did not remember murdering a father of four in Stockholm in 2010, but wrote on her personal blog about killing people and posed for pictures with a bloody mouth and weapons.

Isakin Jonsson, the ‘Skara Cannibal’, was convicted in 2011 for stabbing his girlfriend to death, cutting off her head and then eating parts of her body. He showed no remorse during his trial and could not explain why he had killed her.

“That’s something I also wonder about. I trust the doctors. There was no motive whatsoever. We were a couple with a future together. I’ve never felt this way with a girl before,” Expressen reported him saying during the trial. However, he apparently told the newspaper later that he only ate his ex to secure psychiatric treatment instead of jail time.

Speaking about his new romance, Jonsson said, “I love Michelle. I have never met anyone like her. I’d like to lead a non-criminal life.”

The engagement may be a long one, as both inmates are serving non-fixed sentences, but the uncertainty has not prevented the couple from planning their future. “We want to get to live together, keep dogs and spend time on our hobbies, piercing and tattoos,” Gustafsson told Expressen.

According to RÚV the Presidential couple sailed out of the Argentinian port of Ushuaia yesterday and their trip will take them along the Drake Passage all the way to Antarctica. The party plans to go ashore three times, if weather allows. The trip ends on the 6th February.

The trip includes European and American scientists, the Canadian film director James Cameron, the American journalist Ted Turner and Christiana Figures, the president of the United Nations climate agency.

Al Gore’s climate change organisation, the Climate Reality Project, and National Geographic together organised the expedition.

A press release from Bessastaðir, the Icelandic head of state’s official residence, states that the goal of the expedition is to investigate the fast melting ice and to discuss how the nations of the world can best be encouraged to unite behind realistic and tangible action to fight global warming.

Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson has become known as a strong climate change campaigner among world leaders and regularly gives speeches at environmental conferences.

The bus trip, organised by Allt åt Alla (Everything for Everyone), aims to debunk the myth that Sweden is a classless nation by driving through the capital’s most densely populated area, Fisksätra, before taking their passengers to Saltsjöbaden to see how the other half live.

Not all of Saltsjöbaden’s well-to-do residents are happy about being a tourist attraction, however, and one has apparently filed an official complaint with the local police.

Not feeling much sympathy for the well-to-do, Ulla Krogh of Nacka Police told the local newspaper, Näcka-Värmdö Posten, that “Anyone is free to organise something like this”.

Highlights of the tour include a visit to the Grand Hotel, an ogle at the sea views from “Oscar’s” house, which featured in the comedy series Solsidan, and an audience with Rolf, the owner of Sweden’s most expensive home.

On its website, Allt åt Alla describes itself as a “revolutionary organisation” with an aim of developing a hate of the class system in sightseers. The Saltsjöbaden tours are proving popular and selling out quickly, according to the group.

The Télé Matin show on France 2 on Saturday morning extensively covered the range of skin drops from Sif Cosmetics. The female presenter personally endorsed the product, saying that she has seen a noticeable positive effect from the product in both herself and her friends, Vísir.is reported.

The broadcast had an immediate impact and the product sold out completely at the Colette fashion shop in Paris. In addition to this, the French distributor’s website crashed under the pressure.

The segment included interviews with the president of Sif Cosmetics, and also with Iceland’s First Lady, Dorrit Moussaieff.

The segment can be seen on the France 2 website, here. Press ‘Play’ at the top left of the screen and select ’28/01/2012′. The segment begins at around 1 hour and 45 minutes. The programme is (of course) in French.

The Indian children, aged one and three, were put in foster care last May because Norway’s Child Welfare group deemed that their parents were not taking “adequate responsibility”.

The couple, Anurup and Sagarika Bhattacharya, say they are “devastated” and that the decision was based on cultural differences such as sleeping in the same bed as the children and feeding them when they cry rather than at set meal times.

Anurup Bhattacharya, who has worked as a geo-scientist in Stavanger since 2007, told the BBC, “We have been honest and perfect parents. There could be upbringing issues because of cultural differences.” He added, “They asked the mother to breast feed baby Aishwariya at scheduled times as a routine instead of feeding her when she cried as is the practice in India.”

Barnevarne, the Norwegian Child Welfare Services, however, claims the couple were emotionally disconnected.

The controversial decision has caused the Indian government to seek an “amicable” solution. It is believed that SM Krishna, the Indian Foreign Minister, is hoping to meet with Jonas Gahr Støre, his Norwegian counterpart, to arrange the release of Abhigyan Bhattacharya and his younger sister Aishwarya.

“We are in touch with the Norwegian government and we are hopeful that an amicable settlement of this question could be arrived at,” Mr Krishna told reporters. “Whatever support is needed under the circumstances will be provided to the Indian couple,” he added.

Head of Child Welfare services in Stavanger, Gunnar Toresen, said the group has “a responsibility to intervene if measures at the home are not sufficient to meet a child’s needs. Examples are when there is every probability that the child’s health or development may be seriously harmed because the parents are incapable of taking adequate responsibility for their child,” he said.

The Indian embassy is calling for the children to be returned to India to live with extended family, where it says they will benefit from being in familiar surroundings with their own linguistic and cultural heritage.

The webcam, set up by Icelandic telecommunications company Míla, captured the attention of hundreds of thousands wishing to experience New Year’s Eve in Reykjavík, watching night turn to day as the fireworks light up the city’s skyline.
Each year, thousands of tourists visit Iceland to see in the New Year and witness the spectacular firework display. Visitors describe the event as something everybody should experience at least once.

Thanks to Míla, viewers were able to experience the exploding rockets and dancing lights as it happened from the comfort of their own homes.

In addition to the New Year’s Eve 2011 webcam feed, Mila also maintains many other webcams situated around Iceland, all of which can be viewed live 24/7 via its website. Webcams are located at the Blue Lagoon, Gullfoss, Jökulsárlón, Geysir, Katla, Hekla, Eyjafjallajökull, Akureyri, and Austurvöllur in downtown Reykjavík.

To view the other webcam feeds and to see reruns of News Year’s Eve in Iceland, visit http://live.mila.is/english/.

Photo: Óli Kristinn – http://flickr.com/olafur.

The Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights (RFSL) has petitioned the country’s National Board of Health and Welfare, citing a strong correlation between an “alarmingly high suicide rate” and transgender people who are denied surgery.

“Breast implants for transgender women are, in many cases, a very important measure for them to function with their new identity and allow them to fit in as women in everyday life,” RFSL wrote. “Plastic surgery for transsexual patients, to a large extent, saves lives,” it added.

The organisation pointed out that the suicide rate among patients denied the procedure is 30 to 40 percent, compare with 1.6 percent in the general population. It also claims that there are inconsistencies in how the issue is handled in different parts of the country, citing Södra Älvsborgs hospital in Alingsås, western Sweden, which recently denied a transgender woman’s application for the surgery.

“It’s not acceptable that a small and vulnerable group of transgender people such as this transsexual group is given different rights to care depending on where in the country they live,” RFSL wrote. The organisation is calling for national guidelines, emphasising “an individual’s value and right to decide over their identity”.

“RFSL demands that care for transgender people be given under the same conditions regardless of where one lives in Sweden,” the group wrote, according to a report by The Local.

Several dead felines were also found in the garage, along with a small kitten that could only use its front legs.

Inspectors reported that most of the animals they came across stunk of urine and were malnourished or neglected in some way. The district court could not prove, however, that the couple intended to torment the cats.

The pair both denied the allegations, with the man claiming that most of the cats had been let into the house by visitors and did not belong to them. “It is drivel that we have owned 53 cats,” he allegedly told interrogators at the time.

“It was a serious offence,” prosecutor Ida Arnell told the Metro newspaper. She added that she was happy with the verdict, even though the couple only received probationary sentences and small fines. “Although it was a serious offence I didn’t really think that a prison sentence was necessary,” Arnell said.

The problem at hand is the identification between industrial salt and road salt. Contrary to news stories in the international media, industrial salt is nothing like road salt, and road salt has never been delivered or used in any consumer products in Iceland.

In an official statement, Olgerdin, the importer of the salt in question, and AkzoNobel, the manufacturer of the salt, made it absolutely clear that industrial salt (or non-food grade salt) is nothing like road salt. According to both companies, road salt is not only manufactured in a separate facility, it is also processed, finished and handled in a completely different manner.

However, Olgerdin has admitted to the mistake of delivering non-food-grade salt to companies in the Icelandic food industry, instead of supplying the mandated food-grade salt. According to Olgerdin, this non-food-grade salt is labeled industrial salt, but the only difference between the two is a difference in attested quality standards, not in content – both products are delivered in 25kg plastic bags, with a similar grain size.

AkzoNobel officially states that “non-food-grade (industrial salt) and food grade salt are made from the same source and in the same manner. The difference between the two is the formality and amount of standardised quality inspections on the food grade salt, in accordance with the food safety standard HACCP.”

The statement continues, “The food grade and the non-food grade have identical content, almost to the milligram and both are manufactured under the ISO 9001 and 14001 standards, in the highly modern AkzoNobel salt-factory in Mariager in Denmark.”

The original story published by IceNews can be read here.