Sweden

IMHO, a sad day for Europe. The Lisbon treaty will "federalize" Europe and take away a lot of the powers from sovereign nations .. RIP Europe!

Europe’s elite celebrated the imminent arrival of its first president last night as the last lingering resistance to the Lisbon treaty fell away with the stroke of a pen in Prague.

European leaders wasted no time in starting the process to choose their new president from a range of names including Tony Blair. Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Prime Minister of Sweden, which holds the EU presidency, began a round of telephone diplomacy to determine a shortlist of names.

The Most Shocking Laws Overseas
Seasoned travelers know to watch out for the accidents, illnesses and delays that can ruin a vacation. But a few laws are so unexpected that they can catch even the biggest travel junkies off guard.
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Top 20 countries on the Human Development Index:

1. Norway

2. Australia

3. Iceland

4. Canada

5. Ireland

6. Netherlands

7. Sweden

8. France

9. Switzerland

10. Japan

11. Luxembourg

12. Finland

13. United States

14. Austria

15. Spain

16. Denmark

17. Belgium

18. Italy

19. Liechtenstein

20. New Zealand

Source: UN Human Development Report 2009

If the recent genome study denying the Aryan-Dravidian divide has established the antiquity of caste segregations in marriage, the ongoing session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva looks set to recognize caste-based discrimination as a human rights violation. This, despite India's opposition and following Nepal's breaking ranks on the culturally sensitive issue.

Nepal has emerged as the first country from South Asia -- the region where untouchability has been traditionally practiced -- to declare support for the draft principles and guidelines published by UNHRC four months ago for ``effective elimination of discrimination based on work and descent'' -- the UN terminology for caste inequities.

Doha Hockey club has announced plans to further develop hockey in Qatar. Last year saw the formation of Qatar’s first women’s hockey team. It consisted of ladies from 9 different countries (England, Scotland, Netherlands, Spain, Argentina, South Africa, Kenya, Australia and Sweden) with varying degrees of experience, from ex European National League players to beginners. The ladies took on the Qatar Hockey Academy junior boys in a friendly series which saw both teams improve greatly over the course of the 4 competitive matches.

DEFINITION: Total recorded intentional homicides, completed. Crime statistics are often better indicators of prevalence of law enforcement and willingness to report crime, than actual prevalence.

SOURCE: The Eighth United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (2002) (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Centre for International Crime Prevention)

(Mod Update : Qatar is ranked 81 on the list with only 1 homicide. That's one list we're glad that Qatar is on the bottom of! Full list here)

by Andy Sambidge on Tuesday, 08 September 2009

Qatar has edged ahead of the UAE to claim the title of the Gulf region's most competitive country, according to a new ranking published by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Tuesday.

Qatar was rated 22nd overall in the list of 133 countries which was topped by Switzerland.

The world's largest producer of liquefied natural gas pipped the UAE to the best in the Gulf title with the emirates coming in 23rd.

Both countries have moved up the global list since 2008 with Qatar jumping four places and the UAE up eight places.

And you thought I was strange .....

A MAN is taking part in a bizarre experiment in an attempt to breastfeed his future kids.
University student Ragnar Bengtsson, 26, will stimulate his nipples with a breast pump every three hours.

And he hopes that by December he will start to produce milk.

Bengtsson, from Stockholm, Sweden, said: "Anything that doesn't do any harm is worth trying.

"If it works it could prove very important for men's ability to get closer to their children at an early stage.

"If the milk turns out to have a high nutritional value it could be a real breakthrough. But some people think it's completely sick."

The South Pacific island of Samoa will be the first nation in decades to switch traffic flow from one side of the road to another, though drivers predict chaos next week when they make the move.

The prime minister said Monday a special Cabinet meeting had decided the switch to the left side will go ahead as planned, despite earlier protests where 30,000 marched through the streets. Around 500 people protested again Monday in the capital, Apia, saying drivers have not been properly prepared.

The government wants to bring Samoa in line with driving customs in Australia and New Zealand, where steering wheels are on the right side of vehicles, to encourage some of the 170,000 expatriate Samoans living there to ship used cars back to relatives.