NordenBladet – The natural pool Guðlaug on Langisandur beach, in Akranes, West Iceland, has been nominated for the 2022 Mies van der Rohe Award – the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture, mbl.is reports. The prize is awarded every other year by the EU and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, Barcelona.
It recognizes and commends excellence in European architecture in conceptual, social, cultural, technical and constructive terms. In April, 2022, the winners will be announced.
Guðlaug was designed by Basalt architects, while Mannvit was in charge of engineering design.
Admission to the pool is free, and it has proven ideal for sea swimmers. The pool opened to the public on December 8, 2018, and was visited by about 30,000 guests in 2019.
The structure includes an observation deck, reminiscent of the prow of a ship, a warm pool that enjoys shelter from the wind, and a shallow pool, mixed with seawater. The view from the pool of Faxaflói bay and Reykjavík is spectacular.
In the video below, you can see, step by step, how the project developed.
Featured image: From Guðlaug, before COVID-19 spread to Iceland. (Photo/Facebook)
NordenBladet – Some parts of Iceland tremble more than others, and last year, a total of 22,000 tremors registered on the Reykjanes* peninsula, Southwest Iceland, Morgunblaðið reports. Most of those were less than 3 in magnitude. This continuous seismic activity began in the town of Grindavík on January 26 last year. This was followed by an inflation of the surface – first by a couple of centimeter, then more, presumably due to magma accumulating under the surface.
“There is more seismic activity on the Reykjanes peninsula than we’ve seen before,” states Kristín Jónsdóttir, earthquake hazards coordinator at the Icelandic Met Office. It is the largest seismic activity since digital measurements began in 1991.
The activity has for the most part been concentrated in the area from the southwestern tip of Reykjanes to Kleifarvatn lake in the east, but during the past few months, the activity and source of the tremors have been moving farther east, toward Krýsuvík. On October 20 last year, the source of an earthquake of magnitude 5.6 was not far from Djúpavatn lake.
The tectonic plate boundary of the Reykjanes Ridge runs from west to east across the Reykjanes peninsula. This is where the North-American tectonic plate meets the Eurasian one, sparking the idea for the so-called Bridge Between Continents near Sandvík, popular among tourists.
On average, the plates move away from each other by about one cm a year, but during the past semesters, the movement in certain areas in Reykjanes has been up to 16 cm (6 in).
Kristín assumes that pressure is building up in the earth between Kleifarvatn lake and Bláfjöll mountains, which can only be released in a large earthquake. Two such, of magnitude 6.3 and 6, occurred in 1929 and 1968. Their source was near Brennisteinsfjöll mountains, east of Kleifarvatn lake.
Björn Oddsson, geophysicist and program director for the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management, states that the Reykjanes peninsula is constantly being monitored. A phase of uncertainty (the lowest alert phase) will remain in place there while seismic activity is above average.
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*Reykjanes is a small headland on the southwestern tip of Reykjanesskagi in Iceland. The region is about 9 km (5.6 mi) from Iceland’s international airport.
There was a prolonged period of constant volcanic activity on the peninsula, the Reykjanes Fires, from the 10th to the 13th century; between 1210 and 1240 about 50 square km of land were covered in lava. The area is fed by five volcanic systems; geological evidence suggests that they seem to activate in a coordinated way about every 1,000 years.
In the twelve weeks from 21 January 2020, after centuries of relative inactivity, there were more than 8,000 earthquakes and about 10 cm of land uplift due to underground magma intrusions on the peninsula, leading to concerns of a new phase of activity which could cause disruption for centuries.
As the name means “smoking peninsula” connected to volcanic activity, there are also other peninsulas by this name in Iceland, e.g. the peninsula of Reykjanes in Ísafjarðardjúp.
NordenBladet – Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden has attended the EU project DUNC’s digital conference. From her home-office at Haga castle Her Royal Highness gave a speech and closely followed the final day of this conference.
Development of UNESCO Natural and Cultural Assets, also known as DUNC, is an EU-funded collaborative project where the Swedish municipality of Karlskrona municipality has been essential. For three years, the project has worked to increase the commitment to sustainable tourism, as well as strengthen the local business community, at four world heritage sites around the southern part of the Baltic Sea.
In her message for the final day of the conference on January 26th, Her Royal Highness said: “As an alumni ambassador for the Sustainable Development Goals, the future of the ocean, and the Baltic Sea in particular, is a topic very close to my heart. I believe the DUNC project is a great example of how we can come together, around the Baltic, to address the challenges we have in common. And I look very much forward to hearing more about the achievements that have been made over the past three years.”
In January 2016, the Crown Princess was appointed by the then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as one of 17 ambassadors for work on the UN’s global sustainability goals. The ambassadors’ task is to promote in various ways the UN’s goals for sustainable development, Agenda 2030. From 2019, the Crown Princess has been included in the alumni group. As an alumni, the Crown Princess continues to focus in particular on sustainability, maritime and fisheries issues.
The royals in Denmark and Norway have also been deeply involved in sustainable development. In October last year, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark attended the World Hour in Copenhagen, an event that teaches young people about the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Crown Prince Haakon has for many years been a goodwill ambassador for the UN Development Program UNDP.
NordenBladet – Crown Prince Haakon has commemorated the murder of Benjamin Hermansen, twenty years after his racial killing shocked Norway. The Crown Prince sent a digital message on the 20th anniversary of his death.
Benjamin Hermansen was killed in the infamous “Holmila-murder” on January 26 in 2001. He was just 15 years old and he was killed because he was black. Two Norwegian neo-Nazis were later convicted of the murder. Benjamin’s death had a deep impact across Norway and is considered to have had a major effect the on the Norwegian anti-racism movement.
Despite strict infection control measures, several hundred candles had been lit by a bust of the killed 15-year-old which has been erected at the place where he was killed. The Crown Prince wanted to participate in person in the commemoration but due to the strict infection control rules he had to take part remotely. In his digital message, Crown Prince Haakon said: “I want to thank all of you who every day stand up for a better society. A society that is safe and inclusive for all.”
The murder of Benjamin made a deep impression on an entire nation. Following the murder in 2001, Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Princess Martha Louise, along with many thousands of others, took part in torchlight processions through the streets of Oslo to commemorate the young boy and to show that Norway will not accept racism and violence. More than 40.000 people participated in the torchlight procession in 2001. In 2002, Crown Prince Haakon met Marit Hermansen, Benjamin’s mother.
After the murder of Benjamin Hermansen at Holmlia at the end of January 2001, King Harald was asked what we should all do now to avoid a similar killing in the future. Of course, no precise answer could be given, but he encouraged everyone “to look at their own actions”, to think about whether there is something each and every one has done that could have contributed directly or indirectly to the basis of hate, and to ask ourselves what we can do to remove the basis for something similar to happen again. In 2011, His Majesty King Harald visited Holmlia School during events to remember Benjamin on the 10th anniversary of his murder in 2011.
NordenBladet – From the Swedish monarch’s lockdown residence Stenhammar Palace just outside Stockholm, King Carl XVI Gustaf attended a digital event entitled The Forest Day on Wednesday. The King of Sweden has a deep commitment to issues concerning nature, the environment and forests. His Majesty participated in the conference and opened the digital event with a speech.
In his speech, the King said: “I am sitting here on Stenhammar and looking out over the Sörmland forest, and thinking about how important the forest is to our country. The fact is that it is the income from those who have built up Sweden’s prosperity. And still does, with an annual export worth 150 billion Swedish crowns. At the same time, growing forests play a key role in slowing down and counteracting global climate change. Here in Sweden alone, it binds over 140 million tonnes of carbon every year.”
The conference was arranged for the seventh year in a row, this time completely digitally. The purpose of the conference is to strengthen the knowledge about Sweden’s forest and focus on the work that is done with the forests. Following the speech of the King, politician, academics and experts spoke and discussed, among other things, the role of the forest in a sustainable society.
In advance of the conference, King Carl Gustaf had a private visit to the forest near Stenhammar Palace – a residence recently attacked by an infestation of bark beetles. Here, and in many other similar areas in Sweden, work is now underway to get eliminate the bark beetles and rebuild the forest – job that will take a long time.
The forests in Sweden consists of about 75% cultural forest and just under 25% natural forest. In the south, deciduous forest is relatively more common, while central and northern Sweden are completely dominated by coniferous forest consisting of spruce and pine stands.
In Sweden, planned forestry has been conducted since the turn of the century in 1900, with the aim of supplying the forest industry with high-quality raw materials, while at the same time not jeopardising the long-term regrowth.
NordenBladet – King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden has received the vaccination against coronavirus. Underlining his belief in the importance of the jab, the monarch was photographed as he was given the injection.
King Carl Gustaf received the vaccination on January 15th at Stenhammar where he has been staying through this latest phase of the pandemic with Queen Silvia. Her Majesty also received the jab although no image was released.
The Swedish king released a short statement following his vaccination, saying ”the great vaccination programme against Covid-19 is now underway around our country. It is my hope that everyone who has the opportunity to be vaccinated in these coming months chooses to do so, so that together we can get through this difficult time.”
King Carl Gustaf will celebrate his 75th birthday in April while Queen Silvia turned 77 in December. At the end of last year, they tested negative for coronavius after underdoing checks when it was confirmed that their son, Prince Carl Philip, and his wife, Princess Sofia, had both contracted the illness. They have since made a full recovery and announced soon afterwards that they are expecting a baby in the spring.
In recent months, the King of Sweden has been critical of his government’s approach to the pandemic, saying ”I think we have failed. We have a large number who have died and that is terrible.”
Sweden has taken one of the most notably relaxed approaches in the world to dealing with the pandemic. The country has never held a full lockdown and most measures to control the spread are advisory rather than compulsory. Since the outbreak began, Sweden has recorded over 7,800 deaths, a much higher toll than neighbouring Scandinavian nations. Speaking after the comments became public, Sweden’s Prime Minister, Stefan Lofven, said ”the fact that so many have died can’t be considered as anything other than a failure” but continued that a proper verdict on the strategy wouldn’t possible until after the pandemic was over.
NordenBladet — The 2020 study shows that the volume of annual private copying among people aged between 15 and 79 is approximately 258-276 million music and video files. This total number (258 million files) includes only the legal private copying as defined in the Copyright Act. In the 2019 survey, the corresponding estimate of private copying was 275–297 million files. Similar information was gathered by Taloustutkimus in 2019. In 2020, children aged between 12 and 14 were also included in the study alongside people aged between 15 and 79.
In 2020 music covered by legal private copying was copied by 203 000 and video material by over 757 000 Finns between 15–79 years of age. There were all in all over 900 000 copiers of music and video material. The number of people making copies has been in decline for the last couple of years. In 2014 there were still over 1.6 million people making private copies.
The 2020 study also investigated copying by 12–14 year old children. When copies made by them were added, the amount of private legal copying in 2020 among 12–79 year olds is 259–278 million files (400–451 million files in 2016).
The most often used sources for copying music are streaming services (offline saving), freely downloadable files from the internet (e.g. artists’ own web pages) and original CD discs. Of these, only the music copied from original CD’s is included in the figures of private copying. Copies of videos are most often copies of TV programmes.
Over half of those who had copied music would have acquired the copied material from some other source, if the possibility of copying did not exist. Almost a third of those who copied music would have used chargeable sources for acquiring the music. The share of those who used a chargeable source was slightly lower than in the 2019 study. Over a third of those who had copied video files would have acquired the copied video material in some other way, if the possibility of copying did not exist. Chargeable source for acquiring video files would have been used by almost a fifth of the respondents. Regarding video files, the shares are at the same level as in the 2019 study.
Three out of four of the Finns have printed, saved, photocopied or scanned graphic material for private use during the past year. The most frequently used ways of copying are printing and saving. They also comprise the largest number of copies (number of pages). Photocopied or scanned materials are most often official forms or invoices/bank statements, printed materials in turn are most often photographs, official forms, recipes or educational materials. Publishers of the printed or saved graphic materials are most often private persons (webpages or blogs), a company (e.g. Valio), or public administration. The estimate of the number of pages covered by remuneration of private copying is 535–613 million pages (based on the material type classification of Kopiosto).
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The main objective of the survey was to determine the amount of private copying regarding music and video material in Finland. The survey also gives a comprehensive view into the use of entertainment electronics by the Finnish population, as well as their consumer behaviour regarding music and video content. The study also investigated the harm caused by copying of music and video material. In addition, the private copying of graphic material was investigated.
NordenBladet – Prince Daniel has opened a brand new organisation “Anti-doping Sweden”. The body is a newly formed independent organization which from 2021 is Sweden’s national anti-doping organization. Previously, the responsibility lay with the Swedish Sports Confederation. Prince Daniel inaugurated the organization’s activities on January 11th 2021.
For many years, Prince Daniel has been heavily involved in sports and the fight for a more healthy and active society. He has had a passion for sports all his life, and following a brief time in the army after graduating from school, he became a fitness instructor and personal trainer before meeting Crown Princess Victoria.
His Royal Highness opened the organization in a digital ceremony. In his speech Prince Daniel said: “Sport is for everyone. There, everyone should have the opportunity to participate and compete, on equal terms. If you break the rules, you have to take the consequences – and those consequences must also be on equal terms. No matter who or where you are. We all want a clean, neat and fair sport. And if we are to get there, we must have effective anti-doping work everywhere in the world. The new world anti-doping code is another step towards that goal.“
Prince Daniel continued: “I am both proud and grateful that the Swedish sports movement has so many leaders and activists who push this issue, at all levels. I believe that it is absolutely crucial for the credibility of sport. Sweden has long been at the forefront of the fight against doping, and we will continue to do so. I hereby declare Anti-Doping Sweden inaugurated. I wish you the best of luck and I look forward to following your work in the future!”
Anti-Doping Sweden says in a statement that they will defend the obvious right of all athletes to participate in a sport free from doping. To achieve the goal, the fight against doping is waged by various means at all levels of sport. In several interviews, Prince Daniel has said that he wants to fight to make a change. During an interview, he said: “I think that we have to understand that changing public health trends is not easy. I think that all stakeholders have to come together and do what they can and see the potential and see their own responsibility in this matter.”
NordenBladet – King Carl Gustaf of Sweden has been joined by Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel at the annual Swedish Defence conference. The conference was this year digital due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the King kept up his tradition of his attendance on the conference. This years conference was also broadcasted live on Swedish TV on the channel SVT2.
At the opening of the national conference on January 11th 2021, the King gave with a live greeting to this year’s participants and audience. In his greeting, the King said: “I have had the opportunity to attend the conference for a number of years. I believe that this conference will be as good as ever. I look forward to it and wish you all the best of luck and prosperity.”
While the King was at his office at the Royal Palace in Stockholm, the Crown Princess and Prince Daniel attended the conference from Haga castle. King Carl Gustaf, Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel will also attend the conference on January 12th.
The seminar is run by the organisation “People and Defence” and is regarded as Sweden’s most important forum for discussions on security politics, defence and Swedish war preparedness. It is not just military participating in the seminar. In addition, politicians, civil organisations, professional organisations, the Swedish business community and representatives of several youth organisations were present along with the King at the seminar.
King Carl XVI Gustaf has a special role in Swedish defence. As most monarchs worldwide, he is his nation’s top military commander. The King completed his military service in 1968 when he graduated as a naval officer in the Royal Swedish Navy. Afterwards, he took leadership courses and became a Lieutenant in the Svea bodyguards, Navy, Air Force and the Jemtland regiment. After the King ascended the throne when his grandfather died, he achieved the rank of Captain for both the Swedish fleet, army and air force through military education. He was automatically General and Admiral when he became King.
NordenBladet — A total of 314,500 unemployed jobseekers were registered at Employment and Economic Development Offices at the end of November. This was 86,000 more than a year earlier. The number of unemployed jobseekers increased by 1,800 from the previous month. The number of unemployed jobseekers also includes those fully laid off. These figures are from the Employment Bulletin of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.
At the end of November, the number of people laid off was 76,400 in the whole country, which was 55,700 more than at the same time the year before. The number of people fully laid off totalled 58,000, representing an increase of 43,400 from November the year before. The number of people fully laid off increased by 800 from October.
The number of long-term unemployed — that is those who had been unemployed without interruption for at least a year — amounted to 85,300, up 24,200 on the previous year. The number of unemployed jobseekers aged over 50 was 115,900, representing an increase of 28,000 on the year before.
The number of unemployed jobseekers aged under 25 was 36,000, representing an increase of 9,400 from November last year. Among unemployed young people, the period of unemployment ended within three months on average in 64.1% of cases between January and November, which is 4.1 percentage points less than the year before.
Decrease in new vacancies
The number of new vacancies reported to Employment and Economic Development Offices during November totalled 49,400, or 7,200 fewer than in November the previous year. In all, the number of unfilled vacancies at Employment and Economic Development Offices in November amounted to 91,400, showing a decrease of 19,500 from last year.
At the end of November, the number of persons covered by services included in the activation rate amounted to 120,200, down 5,000 on the previous year. These services include pay subsidies, labour market training, work trials and self-motivated studies.
Statistics Finland: Unemployment rate 6.9%
According to the Labour Force Survey issued by Statistics Finland, in November the number of people in employment was 4,000 less than on the previous year. The employment rate was 71.8%, which was 0.1 percentage points higher than in November the year before. According to the Survey, the unemployment total was 187,000, which is 27,000 more than a year ago. The unemployment rate was 6.9%, or 0.9 percentage points higher than the previous year.
Key differences between Employment Service Statistics and the Labour Force SurveyThis information is based on the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment’s Employment Service Statistics and the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland. The Employment Service Statistics of the Ministry are compiled on the basis of the information in the Employment and Economic Development Offices’ customer register, while the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland is based on sampling.
In the Ministry’s Employment Service Statistics, people that are not in an employment relationship or employed in business are listed as unemployed. Persons fully laid-off but not full-time students are also categorised as unemployed in the Employment Service Statistics. The Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland has a stricter definition for being unemployed: a person is unemployed if he or she has actively sought employment during the preceding four weeks and is available for work over the coming two weeks. The figures of the Labour Force Survey of Statistics Finland are internationally comparable and thus they are the official Finnish unemployment statistics.
