"This just in..."

In other news today...

Sweden's Scandal-hit King denies all allegations (that he frequently visits strip-clubs and mingles with organized crime figures). He also denounces his life-long friend, Anders Lettström, for his involvement in a shady deal that was supposedly intended to buy back photos of His Royal Highness in "compromising situations". As an old scholar in Constitutional Economics and the Constitution of Sweden, Kim would like to point out that, under the Swedish Order of Succession (the oldest of Sweden's four charters in the constitution, established in 1810), the monarch can not be prosecuted for any crime or misdemeanor whatsoever. This is real, people! If you are into fairy-tales - read Rapunzel! Today's version of "kings and castles" is more like a sleazy Penthouse version of a Brothers Grimm story... and - if we are to believe even just a tiny bit of the news reportings about the affairs going on in the Royal Estate - apparently there are no fair maidens left.

Also in the news today: The US Ambassador to Sweden, Matthew Barzun, is called home to the US after two years on his post in Stockholm. He is now supposed to be heading Obama's fundraising for the re-election campaign in 2012. Barzun has become a very popular figure in Sweden during his short tenure, probably due to his way of reaching out to the Swedish public. And he has even picked up a little Swedish. Whether he is going to make use of the Swedish glossary - in particular the word "Lagom" (which has no literal translation in English) - once he gets back to the US is a still unanswered question.

In order for our friends and family overseas to better keep up with daily news from over here, we are hereby including a link to the online newspaper, The Local, on the right side of our blog. Swedish daily news - in English.