Monday, November 10, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

Iceland hit hard by opioid addiction

Published October 3, 2023 – By Editorial staff
Minst 30 personer ska ha avlidit av opioider bara under 2023.

A family counseling organization in Iceland is appealing for more resources from the state to combat the growing opioid use among young people, which is now being compared to the situation in the U.S.

The family counseling organization Foreldrahús in Iceland needs more resources to combat the growing opioid crisis among young people, according to executive director Berglind Gunnarsdóttir Strandberg. She has made a request to the budget committee to include around ISK 127 million per year in the budget for this purpose, as demand for the organization's services has skyrocketed.

Foreldrahús offers a range of services, including family counseling, parenting courses and various forms of support for young people with substance abuse problems.

According to Strandberg, the extent of opioid use among young people in Iceland is comparable to the situation in the United States and she stresses that this crisis requires immediate action.

– According to reliable information, over 30 young people have died this year alone, she said, according to state broadcaster RUV.

Minister of Health Willum Þór Þórsson also presented proposals for measures against opioid addiction, especially among young people in the country, earlier this year, mentioning that Foreldrahús, among others, should be strengthened.

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Danish sperm bank sets minimum IQ requirements for donors

Published today 11:21 am – By Editorial staff

The Danish sperm bank Donor Network rejects men with an IQ below 85 from donating sperm. Those with criminal records are also rejected, meaning nearly one in five potential donors are screened out.

The sperm bank justifies the decision as reducing the risk of children being born with lower cognitive abilities – something that provides customers with greater reassurance. Around 18 percent of potential donors are rejected due to insufficient intelligence.

This is not an elite project, and we haven't done it to position ourselves or exclude 20 percent of donors. I just don't think it's ethically acceptable to sell something I can't stand behind, says director Jakob Schöllhammer Knudsen to Danish public broadcaster DR.

Denmark is a leading country in sperm donation, and the majority of Donor Network's products are sold abroad. Donor profiles have evolved from basic information about ethnicity, hair and eye color to include comprehensive personality descriptions. Donor Network's profiles span 25-30 pages with psychological assessments, cognitive profiles and personality tests.

Daniela Cutas, lecturer in medical ethics at Lund University in southern Sweden, believes it is reasonable to screen donors for certain hereditary diseases. She points to several cases where donors with cancer genes or diseases have affected children, which could have been avoided. But IQ screening and filtering based on criminal records is more problematic, she argues.

A high IQ or a criminal record are in themselves unreliable indicators of a donor's potential or character, she says.

According to DR, an IQ between 80 and 89 indicates an intelligence level below normal, while the average ranges between 90 and 109.

25 years since the murder of Daniel Wretström

Migrant violence

Updated yesterday at 4:02 pm, Published yesterday 1:06 pm – By Editorial staff
The artist Markus Andersson holds up a painting of Daniel Wretström, who became a victim and symbol of anti-Swedish violence.

The young nationalist Daniel Wretström was brutally assaulted and stabbed to death in a ditch on December 9, 2000, in Salem, a suburb of Stockholm, Sweden, by a gang of immigrants.

The murderer Khaled Odeh, who slit the throat of the 17-year-old, and his four accomplices all escaped prison sentences, and the murder has become symbolic of the increased anti-Swedish violence in Sweden.

Now a memorial demonstration is being held on December 6, 25 years after his murder, which aroused strong revulsion among young Swedes.

The murder of Wretström occurred at a time when Swedish media the year before had exposed 62 people as nazis and a "threat to democracy." Prime Minister Göran Persson and other leading Social Democrats promised in major media statements the same year as the murder to "crush" the racists.

Mass immigration to Sweden had at that time seriously begun to affect the country's demographic composition, creating deep ethnic and cultural divisions while the pursued policy was driven in the direction of systematically transforming one of the world's most homogeneous countries into a multicultural society.

The policy, which was declared by Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme as early as 1975 and which from the 1990s was seriously driven from the highest political level, contributed to increased insecurity and became the starting point for the gang violence that has today spiraled out of control and made Sweden one of Europe's most unsafe countries.

The counter-reaction, primarily among Sweden's youth who were earliest affected by the insecurity and societal transformation, became an increased nationalism. The development gained momentum in a national movement that encompassed both politics, culture, music and other expressions with emphasis on patriotism, the preservation of Swedishness and an increased national self-awareness with demands to stop mass immigration.

Swedish mass media were a driving force in the same direction as the government with the transformation of Sweden toward multiculturalism and contributed to demonizing all expressions and reactions against this direction, which promoted subcultures and diminished the legitimacy of all forms of resistance. The mass media's actions also contributed to holding back nationalist parties like the Sweden Democrats in public opinion and drove unserious individuals into organizations working for national self-preservation.

Young Swedes who reacted against the development lacked channels and were demonized as "xenophobic," which strongly drove polarization and spurred young immigrants to threats and acts of violence against Swedes.

The young nationalist Daniel Wretström became a victim of the political and media campaign and was murdered in Salem, a Stockholm suburb, which came to be symbolic of the increased anti-Swedish violence in Sweden. In his memory, a torch-lit procession was organized and the so-called Salem Demonstration gathered thousands of Swedes annually during the early 2000s, primarily younger people.

On December 6, 25 years after the murder, a demonstration is once again being arranged to honor the memory of the murdered young nationalist. The organizer writes on their website that the demonstration is politically independent. As with the demonstrations of the 2000s, participants gather at Rönninge commuter train station to march to the place where Wretström lost his life.

Bullying doubled in Sweden – one in six girls affected

Published November 8, 2025 – By Editorial staff

Three students in every classroom are estimated to be victims of bullying, according to a new report from Friends, a Swedish anti-bullying organization. The organization is now raising the alarm that Sweden has the worst record in the Nordic region and argues that the government's school reform lacks the preventive measures needed to reverse the trend.

The new Friends report is based on a survey conducted by Novus during spring, in which 1,026 students aged 9-16 (grades 4-9) participated. The findings show that bullying continues to be a widespread problem in Swedish schools. Six out of ten students report having experienced some form of harassment, threats, or violence this year.

On average, three students per class are victims of bullying, and four out of ten do not feel comfortable at school. Although the majority of students believe that teachers take action against bullying, one in three still feel that adults turn a blind eye. One in four affected students also report that they lack a trusted adult at school.

According to Maja Frankel, secretary general of Friends, bullying in Sweden has doubled over the past decade.

We have the worst record in the Nordic region. We don't prioritize children's rights highly enough. If we want to turn this around, schools need resources to invest time in prevention – before something happens, not when it's too late. That costs money. We need more trusted adults in schools, says Maja Frankel in Nyhetsmorgon, a Swedish morning news program.

Girls most affected

Girls are particularly affected, with one in six girls experiencing bullying compared to one in nine boys. There are also differences in how they are affected: girls are more exposed to relational bullying – such as social exclusion, spreading rumors, peer pressure, or harassment of a sexual nature. Boys are more exposed to physical violence.

The Swedish government is currently implementing one of the largest reforms in the country's education system in thirty years, but Friends argues that the proposals fall short and lack preventive measures.

The proposals we're seeing right now are truly a betrayal of children. It's not about forcing safety through punishment or achieving better results through stricter measures. It's about protecting children and building warm, secure relationships, says Frankel.

Swedish gang charged with serious crimes against people with disabilities

Deteriorating safety

Published November 7, 2025 – By Editorial staff
Six people are being prosecuted at Värmland District Court in Sweden for serious crimes including aggravated rape.

Six young men and women are being prosecuted at Värmland District Court in Sweden, suspected of systematically exploiting and abusing people with intellectual disabilities. The charges include serious sexual offenses and extensive fraud.

The prosecutor describes the crimes as planned and characterized by particular ruthlessness and brutality. The indictment covers three men and three women aged 20–25, residing in the Swedish cities of Karlstad, Eskilstuna, Örebro, and Örnsköldsvik.

They are suspected of jointly contacting their victims via the internet, forcing them to perform sexual acts on themselves, and then filming, distributing, and ridiculing the material.

According to Senior Prosecutor Lena Bohlin, the crimes were not committed for personal sexual gratification, but with the intent to sexually humiliate. She states that the victims were in a particularly vulnerable situation due to their disabilities, and that the abuse was both repeated and degrading.

The indictment reveals that several of the accused participated simultaneously in each incident and encouraged the victims to perform acts such as penetrating themselves with various objects.

The videos were then shared within the group, often accompanied by laughter and derogatory comments.

— I have classified several incidents as serious crimes, partly because there are multiple perpetrators and because the criminality was part of a systematic violation of the victims' sexual integrity. Many of the acts also contain degrading elements, says prosecutor Lena Bohlin in a press release.

Systematic and well-planned

In addition to the sexual offenses, several of the suspects are charged with serious fraud. Through so-called romance scams, the victims were manipulated into transferring large sums of money – sometimes over €85,000 – under the pretense of being in a romantic relationship.

The scheme is described as well-planned and part of a larger systematic pattern. According to the indictment, the victims lacked the ability to understand the seriousness of the situation and to protect themselves from the manipulation.

Initially, investigators suspected a connection between the fraud crimes and the sexual offenses.

— But as the investigation has progressed, we can see that the connection is weak. There is a connection between one of the plaintiffs in the sexual crimes and one fraud case, but otherwise there are no connections, says Lena Bohlin.

In the extensive preliminary investigation, police have secured videos, chats, and other digital evidence showing how the victims were instructed, threatened, and ridiculed.

The investigation began in Eskilstuna in March 2025, after a phone containing the material was found by police. All six suspects deny the charges, despite what the prosecutor describes as strong evidence.

The main trial will begin on November 13 at Värmland District Court and is expected to last 13 days. Several of the hearings with the plaintiffs will be conducted via video link due to their special needs.

Case number at Värmland District Court: B 1434-25.

The defendants

Three women, aged 24–25, and three men, aged 21–24.
Suspected of, among other things:

  • Aggravated rape
  • Aggravated sexual assault
  • Aggravated sexual molestation
  • Aggravated fraud

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