Thursday, August 28, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

More choose abortions for Down’s syndrome

Published 25 September 2024
– By Editorial Staff
2 minute read

The number of abortions related to Down’s syndrome is increasing in the Nordic countries, according to statistics from the Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare. In Finland, one in seven women terminates her pregnancy when she learns that the foetus has Down’s syndrome.

Since Denmark introduced screening for pregnant women in 2004, the number of pregnant women choosing to terminate their pregnancy because of Down’s syndrome has increased significantly. In 2022, 82% of these women chose abortion, compared with 61% when screening was introduced in the country.

A similar trend can be seen in Finland, where abortions have increased since the country started screening all pregnant women in 2010. One in seven pregnant women in the country now choose abortion because of Down’s syndrome, and a similar trend can be seen in Norway.

– I knew there were big differences between the Nordic countries, but it was a bit surprising that they all eventually reach a similar level where more and more people decide to terminate a pregnancy with Down’s syndrome, Mika Gissler, a researcher at the National Institute for Health and Welfare (Institutet för hälsa och välfärd), told the Finnish public broadcaster Yle.

Jessika Sirjala, who has a 1.5-year-old daughter Lia with Down syndrome, felt that health professionals tried to steer the couple towards abortion, even though they both wanted to keep their daughter. According to the parents, the health professionals told them, among other things, that the child was likely to suffer from diseases and would be costly to society, whereas the parents would have preferred to receive information about what it was like to live with a child with Down syndrome.

– It felt like all the official information I received as a pregnant woman was to prove that it was worthwhile to terminate the pregnancy. I was given two options, either to keep the baby and live in the horror scenario that was painted for me, or to choose the death of my child, Sirjala told Yle.

Sweden follows a similar trend to the other Nordic countries, but could not be included in the statistical analysis because the figures were not comparable. However, a report from the National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) published this summer shows that the number of abortions related to Down’s syndrome has almost doubled over the past 20 years. In 2022, 70% of pregnant women in Sweden had an abortion on learning that their foetus had Down syndrome.

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Swedish consumer authority wants to ban all telemarketing

Published today 12:01
– By Editorial Staff
Eight out of ten Swedes actively try to avoid telemarketing calls in various ways, according to a report by the Swedish Consumer Agency.
2 minute read

The Swedish Consumer Agency (Konsumentverket) is proposing a general ban on all telemarketing in Sweden. Six out of ten Swedes no longer answer calls from unknown numbers due to fear of salespeople, causing people to miss important calls from healthcare services and police.

In the report “Telemarketing – an unwanted, inappropriate and deeply problematic business method” submitted to the Swedish government today, the Consumer Agency proposes that all telemarketing should be banned.

As a second alternative, the agency suggests replacing the current Nix registry (Sweden’s do-not-call list) with an opt-in system, where sales calls would only be allowed to consumers who have actively consented to being contacted.

— Telemarketing deprives the consumer of initiative and control over both what should be purchased and when it should happen. The consumer is taken by surprise and unprepared meets an eager salesperson who usually only has a single product to sell, says Cecilia Tisell, consumer ombudsman and director-general of the Swedish Consumer Agency.

The authority’s investigation shows that eight out of ten Swedes avoid calls from telemarketers in various ways. A clear majority do not answer calls from unknown numbers at all, which has serious consequences.

— What are the consequences when we no longer answer the phone out of concern that it’s telemarketers or scammers calling? We see in the survey that people miss important calls from, for example, healthcare services and the police. This is unfortunate for the individual and causes various societal actors much additional work, explains Tisell.

Contributes to debt problems

Complaints to the Swedish Consumer Agency about misleading and aggressive marketing are significantly higher for telemarketing than for other sales methods. Particularly vulnerable are consumers with disabilities and immigrants who do not speak Swedish properly.

A recurring problem is that consumers and companies often disagree about whether any purchase has actually taken place. While consumers claim they only said yes to information or free offers, companies quickly demand payment for subscriptions.

Lotteries/gambling, loans, electricity contracts, insurance, mobile and TV subscriptions, and health supplements are examples of products still often sold by phone.

— Being enticed and pressured to take loans you may not need and cannot afford is unacceptable. Aggressive marketing of credit contributes to the problematic debt situation we see in society today, states Cecilia Tisell.

Danish media: American agents infiltrating Greenland

Donald Trump's USA

Published today 9:14
– By Editorial Staff
Donald Trump has repeatedly stated that Greenland should become American.
3 minute read

At least three Americans with ties to President Donald Trump are conducting influence operations in Greenland aimed at undermining the relationship between Denmark and Greenland.

The men are mapping Trump-friendly Greenlanders and gathering information that could be used to damage Denmark’s reputation, according to sources speaking to Danish media.

Actors with direct connections to the White House are conducting systematic attempts to infiltrate Greenlandic society. The goal is to create a pro-American independence movement and weaken ties to Denmark, reveal several anonymous sources with insight into the matter to Danish public broadcaster DR.

One of the men, who has often been seen publicly with President Trump and recently received a role with influence over US security policy, landed earlier this year in snow-covered Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, with a clear mission. He established lists of both Trump sympathizers and opponents among Greenlandic citizens, it is reported.

At the same time, he is said to have collected material about controversial Danish affairs – such as forced removals of Greenlandic children and the so-called spiral affair where Danish doctors inserted contraceptives into Greenlandic women without consent.

— What we see is the use of soft power, influence and attempts to create internal division, says a source to the channel.

Danish security service confirms influence campaigns

Both Danish authorities and the country’s government are now closely monitoring the Americans’ movements on the Arctic island. Two of the men, both with backgrounds in the Trump administration, have regularly traveled between the US and Greenland in recent years to build networks among politicians and businessmen.

— We are all worried about this. Of course we are, confirms a government source.

The Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) also confirms that Greenland is being subjected to influence campaigns and that they are in “ongoing and close dialogue with the Greenlandic authorities about developments in the threat picture”.

According to PET’s assessment, the campaigns aim to “create division in the relationship between Greenland and Denmark” by exploiting real or fabricated conflicts.

American strategy in three phases

Sources within the government describe the Trump administration’s Greenland strategy as divided into three distinct phases since the president declared in December 2024 that American “ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity”.

First came the charm offensive, symbolized by Donald Trump Jr.’s high-profile visit to Nuuk in January. This was followed by pressure on Denmark, when Vice President J.D. Vance visited the American Pituffik base in March and accused Denmark of betraying the Greenlanders. Now the strategy is in its third phase according to sources: infiltration of Greenlandic society.

One source warns that the summer’s calmer activity may be misleading:

— Perhaps what we are experiencing right now is the calm before the storm. And perhaps the fewer activities in Greenland are an expression that professional institutions have begun to operate, which they will be better at hiding, he speculates.

Concerns were heightened after the Wall Street Journal’s reporting in May that American intelligence services had been ordered to intensify espionage in Greenland, focusing on the independence movement and mapping Trump sympathizers.

Sensitive for Denmark

The American activities also place Danish power holders in a delicate position. While they want to alert Greenlanders to the influence attempts and prevent them, they are simultaneously concerned for political reasons about not being perceived as interfering in Greenland’s internal affairs.

— Greenlanders are welcome to work for independence, and the US is welcome to invest and work for stronger ties to Greenland, explains one source, but emphasizes that there are limits that must not be crossed.

— No one is allowed to spy – not even the Americans.

The White House has declined to comment on the allegations from Danish media, and the US embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark refers to the fact that “the American government does not control or direct the actions of private citizens” and that they “respect the Greenlandic people’s right to determine their own future”.

Police warn of persistently high violence in Sweden

organized crime

Published yesterday 13:35
– By Editorial Staff
The current extensive gang-related violence is now to be considered a permanent feature in Sweden, according to police.
3 minute read

After a series of shootings and explosions in the Stockholm area in recent weeks, police do not want to speak of a temporary wave of violence. Instead, the regional police chief describes the situation as a “constantly high level of violence in Sweden”.

Upplands Väsby, Kallhäll, Viksjö, Bromma and Sätra – the list of places in the Stockholm area that have been hit by shootings and bombings recently continues to grow.

Most recently, during the night leading to Wednesday, an extensive police operation was underway in Viksjö, northwest of Stockholm, after a shooting at a gas station where two people were injured. Shortly before, on August 25, two people were shot dead in a car in a parking lot in nearby Kallhäll. Police cannot yet answer whether there are connections between the various incidents.

Despite the recent concentration of violent crimes in northern Stockholm, police do not want to use the term “wave of violence” to describe the development.

— I would rather say that we have seen a number of completed crimes in a short time and with a clear geographical limitation to northern Stockholm, says Magnus Mowitz, regional police chief for Stockholm north, on Swedish public television SVT’s morning show.

He emphasizes that police have simultaneously succeeded in preventing a series of planned violent crimes, but acknowledges the grim reality:

— The term wave of violence is not something we use, however we can see that there are violent crimes that continuously occur. We have a constantly high level of violence in Sweden, he states.

Thousands of gang criminals

Before the 1990s, gang crime was essentially an unknown phenomenon in Sweden, where the organized crime that did exist was mainly linked to motorcycle gangs and where violent confrontations with firearms and explosives on open streets were virtually non-existent. Sweden was long one of Europe’s safest countries with one of the world’s lowest murder rates.

Over the past three decades, however, the situation has changed dramatically. In pace with unlimited mass immigration from conflict-affected areas in the Third World, criminal networks have been established in suburbs around the country.

From being concentrated in the metropolitan areas’ vulnerable neighborhoods, gang crime has now spread to virtually all Swedish cities of any size, and police estimate that today the number of active individuals in the criminal networks amounts to more than 14,000 individuals – from Malmö in the south to Kiruna in the north.

Turning over multi-billion amounts annually

The criminal networks are not only engaged in spectacular bombings and murders. Drug trafficking still forms the backbone of the operations, but the gangs have significantly diversified their criminal activities. Extortion of business owners, particularly in the suburbs, has become increasingly common, and welfare fraud through fake assistance companies and other schemes drain billions from taxpayers every year.

Human trafficking, arms smuggling, theft gangs and receiving stolen goods are also part of the repertoire, while money laundering occurs through real estate investments, currency exchange offices and cryptocurrencies.

Exactly how much money organized crime turns over each year is impossible to answer, but estimates from police suggest it amounts to approximately €9-14 billion annually.

Finnish horses will soon be required to have a companion

Published yesterday 9:55
– By Editorial Staff
Horses need muzzle-to-muzzle contact.
2 minute read

Finnish horses will soon be required to have larger stalls and a companion present in the stable, according to a new regulation. The companion can be another horse, mule, or donkey.

Finland has decided to promote horse welfare with a new regulation. Horses should, for example, have better opportunities to move around in larger areas and have daily outdoor time. In newly built stables, the paddock must be at least 300 square meters.

Stalls must also be expanded for horses with a withers height over 170 centimeters, and stables must have natural light. Water must always be available and during winter it must be changed every six hours. Horses may not be without hay for more than six hours.

New requirements also stipulate that horses must have a companion on site that they can see, hear, and feel daily. Horses are herd animals and loneliness can negatively affect their health.

Particularly the fact that it is now clearly prescribed that equines may not be kept alone is, in my opinion, one of the most important reforms for improving equine welfare”, writes Terhi Simonen-Jokinen, a specialist expert at Finland’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, in an email to Finnish public broadcaster Yle.

Muzzle contact

The horse’s companion must be either another horse, donkey, or mule. However, donkeys must have another donkey as company in the stable. One detail included in the regulation is that horses must be able to have daily muzzle-to-muzzle interaction, something that horse owner Anna Tujulin, who owns 22 horses herself, considers particularly important.

There is research showing that this is even more important than them seeing each other. I have also seen stallions that during periods haven’t received that touch and they can quite quickly develop even aggressive behavior, she says.

The regulation also states that foals may not be weaned before six months of age, and that young horses under two years old must be allowed to live in herds.

The changes will take effect at the turn of the year.

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