Denmark:
Educated minorities better at finding jobs than their white classmates
13.12.2007Statistics show well-educated people with an immigrant background have good employment chances.
When it comes to the post-graduation job hunt, minority students at the nation’s universities are outscoring their white classmates, new statistics show.
According to Statistics Denmark’s 2007 yearbook, 66 percent of white post-secondary students work in jobs that meet their qualifications. For immigrants, the number was 73 percent. For the children of immigrants, it was 70 percent.
‘Immigrants who have graduated from a Danish school have an easier time of finding a job than those who were educated in their home country,’ said Torben Tranæs, head of research for the Rockwool Foundation, which has conducted a number of studies about minorities and work.
Finland:
More Dads Take Parental Leaves
Published 17.12.2007, 18.49Fresh annual statistics from the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, Kela, show that last year a good 70% of new fathers used their right to take leave to spend time with a newborn.
A decade ago only 55% of fathers took advantage of the opportunity.
Fathers living in Finland who take a leave from work to participate in child care are entitled to a total of up to 18 weekdays in up to 4 segments during the maternity or parental allowance period.
Netherlands:
10 million speeding tickets issued
Friday 14 December 2007The police have issued a record 10 million speeding fines this year – 828,000 more than they did in 2006, reports the Telegraaf.
The number of drivers caught by speed cameras rose to 2.4 million this year, up from 1.9 million in 2006.
Norway:
Norway’s emissions up 80%
First published: 17 Dec 2007, 15:12Just as Norwegian delegates to the UN’s conference on climate change started heading home from Bali, came news that Norway’s own carbon emissions rose 80 percent from 1990 to 2004. Statoil’s refinery at Mongstad is the biggest contributor.
Environmental group Zero has made a list of the 25 largest generators of emissions in Norway. Not surprisingly, the country’s oil and gas industry figures heavily on the list.
The Mongstad refinery on Norway’s west coast spews out the most carbon, followed by the new gas power plant Naturkraft at Kårstø in Rogaland County.
Then comes the Statfjord oil platform in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, now operated by StatoilHydro. Gassco’s gas terminal is in fourth place.
The first non-oil offender landed in 10th place, the Norcem Brevik cement plant at Grenland on the coast of Telemark County. Yara’s fertilizer plant at Porsgrunn was 12th and Hydro’s aluminium plants at Sunndalsøra and Karmøy in 14th and 15th place respectively.
Sweden:
Swedish women put on weight
Published: 17 Dec 07 10:50 CETSwedish women have becoming progressively heavier over the last few years, a new study has shown.
Since 2004. some 100,000 women have joined the ranks of the obese, according to figures from the National Institute of Public Health (Folkhälsoinstitutet).
Three years ago, 378,000 women – or 11 percent of the adult female population – were classified as obese.
But by late 2007, 490,000 women (14 percent) were found to have a Body Mass Index (BMI) over 30, which is the cut-off point for obesity
