Sunday, June 1, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

Norwegian princess’ husband accused of sexual assault

Published 2 November 2024
– By Editorial Staff
Durek Verrett and Märtha Louise married earlier this year - despite strong public opposition.

A Swedish man has reported Princess Märtha Louise’s husband, shaman Durek Verrett, to the police for sexual abuse.

I asked him to stop but he didn’t give in, the man says.

The incident allegedly took place during one of the shaman’s “treatment sessions” in the 2010s. The complainant says he chose to take the matter to court in the hope that “others who have been sexually abused will also dare to come forward, regardless of who the perpetrator is”, according to the Norwegian magazine Se & Hør.

– He seemed absolutely determined to persuade me to have sex, the Swede continues.

Verrett’s spokesperson claims the allegations are false and has reported the Norwegian newspaper to the police and to the Norwegian Board of Media Ethics.

Since his work involves various healing methods, including touch, Durek has a legal document in place that must be signed by everyone who uses his services, to protect themselves against people with evil intentions”, it states, further claiming that the complainant is one of the shaman’s former employees who was fired and therefore wants revenge.

Deeply unpopular couple

Durek Verrett, who has been widely described as a sun-and-weather man and charlatan, married Märtha Louise earlier this year something the Norwegian people viewed with great disapproval, and according to surveys conducted shortly after the wedding, almost seven out of ten Norwegians want Märtha Louise to be stripped of her princess title.

Many believe that Verrett, who has claimed that children get cancer because they “want” it and that spirits cause sexually transmitted diseases, is not a suitable husband for a Norwegian princess. The couple has also been heavily criticized for using their connection to the royal family to make money, promote commercial products and gain media attention.

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Tests reveal imported honey in Sweden is fake

Published today 11:34
– By Editorial Staff
According to EU rules, real honey should only contain honey - and nothing else.

All honey imported into Sweden is fake, new tests show. Instead, the “honey” contains mostly sugar and syrup.

The industry organization Biodlingsföretagarna has tested 40 honey products available on the Swedish market. A new form of DNA technology was used to test the honey.

36 of the products, all imported, did not contain real honey, the tests showed. Instead, the products contained sugar and syrup. Only four of the products tested contained real honey and all were produced in Sweden.

We consider this to be extremely serious. We knew there were fake products on the market, but we are shocked by the scale of it, says Yngve Kihlberg, chairman of the Swedish Beekeepers’ Association, to the tax-funded SVT.

“Must await EU decision”

In the EU, a product called “honey” must contain only honey. It is okay to mix honey from different origins, but not to add other ingredients. According to the trade association, most of the imported “honey” comes from China, where they have found ways to cheat to allow products to pass controls even though they contain very little honey.

Swedish grocery retailers will not replace the honey products identified as fake at this stage, as they have passed the current controls.

We would like to replace the current testing methods if they do not work. But we have to wait for the EU’s decision on the accreditation of the DNA tests, says Martin Andersson, who is responsible for industrial policy at the Swedish grocery trade, to SVT.

Fines increased for killing protected species in Finland

Biodiversity

Published 30 May 2025
– By Editorial Staff
The fine for killing an Arctic fox in Finland is €17,656.

The Finnish Ministry of the Environment has significantly increased the fines for killing protected animals. For example, killing a freshwater pearl mussel is now three times more expensive than before.

Recently, it was decided to update the list of protected animals and the penalty for killing one of them. In Finland, the list was last updated in 2002, when a total of 286 animal species were included.

The new updated list now includes 320 animal species as well as 158 plant species that are protected and therefore illegal to kill or harm. Among others, the viper has been added.

The fines for killing a protected species have also been increased. For example, the fine for killing a Arctic fox has increased from €7,400 to €17,656. For the species black tern, it has increased from €185 to €9,865. The freshwater pearl mussel has increased from €589 to €1,496.

Some species on the list have received smaller fines, such as the white-tailed eagle, which has gone from €7,400 to just €407.

The value of a species is assessed on a number of criteria. These include the size of the population, how threatened the species is and how fast it is reproducing.

Worrying trend: More people driving under the influence of drugs

Published 30 May 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Genre image - traffic accident. There is no information that drugs are related to this particular incident.

In Sweden, it is now more common for drivers to be under the influence of drugs than alcohol, while in Finland it is still more common to drive drunk than under the influence of drugs.

Between 2018 and 2022, 81 people died in Finland in traffic accidents where the driver who caused the accident was under the influence of at least one drug. This corresponds to 11 percent of all fatal traffic accidents during the period when drug testing was possible.

– Alcohol is still the most common intoxicant in fatal traffic accidents, but drugs are becoming increasingly common. This is particularly true of amphetamines, which are often linked to high speeds and risky decisions. Cannabis is also common among those who drive while intoxicated, says Kalle Parkkari, Director of Traffic Safety at the Finnish Accident Investigation Board, to Swedish Yle.

Statistics show that drivers under the influence of drugs are more likely to collide with other vehicles, while drivers under the influence of alcohol tend to drive off the road or crash in off-road terrain. However, Parkkari points out that the number of cases is so limited that it is difficult to draw firm conclusions.

– There is nevertheless a slight trend indicating an increase in drug-related driving under the influence. Traffic is part of society, and drug use in society appears to be on the rise. It is therefore inevitable that drugs will also begin to appear more frequently in traffic, Parkkari notes.

Sweden stands out in the statistics

In Sweden, the trend is more alarming. Between 2012 and 2022, 23 percent of drivers who died in traffic accidents were under the influence of drugs, compared to 11 percent who had alcohol in their system. Drug-related drunk driving has thus overtaken alcohol as the most common cause.

Lars-Olov Sjöström, traffic safety manager at the Swedish Motorists’ Sobriety Association, points to a change in attitude among young people as a possible explanation.

– For a hundred years, we have taught people not to drive with alcohol in their system, but the surveys we have conducted in collaboration with authorities in Norway show that the same young people who refrain from driving when under the influence of alcohol do not think as carefully when it comes to cannabis. We are lagging behind in providing information about cannabis and other drugs.

“We can learn from each other”

He believes that a more liberal and permissive view of “recreational drugs” among young people makes the work more difficult, but still sees hope for change within five to ten years. Both Parkkari and Sjöström emphasize the importance of cross-border cooperation to manage the development.

– It would be enormously helpful if we could learn from other countries’ experiences in this area. While the situation in Finland is still under control, it is very important to ensure that it does not get worse, says Parkkari.

Sjöström agrees, adding:

– We are seeing the same pattern in Finland as we have seen in Sweden, so we can learn from each other and discuss methods for dealing with the problem.

Swedish journalist files police report against major bank for theft

The crisis of confidence in banks

Published 29 May 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Mattias Albinsson doesn't think he'll get his banking services back - but he'd like the bank to give back the money they took.

Samnytt reporter Mattias Albinsson has reported the Wallenberg-owned bank SEB for theft after the bank not only closed his account and blocked his Bank ID, but also seized the journalist’s own money on unclear grounds.

Albinsson suspects that he has been subjected to repression by the bank because he works for a newspaper whose reporting and editorial stance are disliked by SEB’s management.

In recent years, the Nordic Times has highlighted a very worrying trend in which people with regime-critical or otherwise inconvenient views are reporting that their accounts are being suddenly and arbitrarily closed – something that also happened earlier this month to Samnytt journalist Mattias Albinsson.

One day, he discovered that his Bank ID no longer worked and that he could not access his own money in his bank account.

According to the reporter, a bank official confirmed that the bank had moved his assets to one of its own “internal accounts”.

Simply stolen, in plain Swedish. I can’t claim it was a huge amount of money. But it would have been enough for a month’s worth of groceries, at least. Now it will probably end up in the bank managers’ golf fund”, he writes in a column.

“An excuse to shut me down”

Albinsson has been a customer of SEB for 24 years but has been living abroad for several years. Last fall, the Wallenberg bank contacted him and asked him to fill out a “customer knowledge” form, which he did, together with a female bank employee over the phone.

The journalist explains to the bank that he needs Bank ID in order to access official mail and other important services, and they agree that other “risky banking services” such as cards, Swish, and international payments will be deactivated – precisely to avoid problems with the bank in the future.

Despite the fact that one of the bank’s own employees helped Albinsson fill out the document, the bank is not satisfied and soon sends out a new “customer knowledge” form, demanding an explanation as to why the journalist wants a bank account in Sweden in the first place. This is also filled out, but new forms continue to arrive.

Customer knowledge, customer knowledge, customer knowledge, customer knowledge, customer knowledge. In the end, I can’t reasonably respond any further to SEB’s demands for ‘customer knowledge’. I’ve already responded several times. I’m starting to get an idea of what they’re after. They want an excuse to shut me down”, he says.

“I feel that they have support from Rosenbad”

His fears proved to be well-founded, as SEB soon kicked out the Swedish expat – even though he had already answered their questions on several occasions.

SEB did not allow him to get his own money back in a straightforward manner with the help of a relative who visited one of the bank’s offices with power of attorney. Instead, they demanded that he fly to Sweden himself and appear in person to get his seized assets back. A trip that would likely be more expensive than the money he had lost.

He himself believes that it is very likely that the reason he was targeted is because he works for a newspaper that SEB’s managers disapprove of, and points out that they have acted in a similar way towards others in the past.

The situation is complicated by the fact that Sweden, regardless of the political color of the government, is moving in an increasingly totalitarian direction where freedom of the press is being stifled step by step. In more ways than one. It’s not just about ‘alternative media’. The ‘Foreign Espionage Act’, for example, can be seen as primarily targeting so-called established media”, he argues, continuing:

So SEB probably feels that it has the support of Rosenbad (Swedish government) when it cracks down on Swedish journalists abroad. In particular, those who write about the wrong things, are suspected of harboring the wrong opinions, or whatever else they choose to focus on”.

To protest the bank’s actions, Albinsson has decided to report SEB to the police for theft or fraud. He does not believe that this will lead anywhere, but sees it as “a way of showing that we will not silently accept theft”.

For my part, I don’t think I’ll get my Bank ID back. Or my bank account. But I am more than happy to get back the money that SEB has stolen”, he emphasizes.

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