Thursday, September 26, 2013 Tuesday, World Bank released the 2012 World Development Report on Gender Equality and Development. In discussing Iceland, it suggests mandatory paid parental leave for mother and father have played an important role in changing norms in the country. Parents have a government mandated nine months leave, three for the mother, three for the father and three to to distribute between the two. Leave is paid at 80% of their wages. The report describes the changes in gender relations in Iceland as “promising” in terms of impact at work and at home. Iceland’s boys and girls mean scores for the Programme for International Student Assessment mathematics test…

Wednesday, March 1, 2006 A suspected case of BSE, better known as mad cow disease, has been discovered in Sweden at a farm near Västerås some 80 kilometres west of Stockholm. The affected farm has been quarantined and no ruminants from the farm are allowed to be sold or transported. The cow was destroyed earlier after symptoms of calving paralysis had been discovered, and the tests where carried out in accordance to rules set by the European Union (EU). The Swedish Board of Agriculture (Jordbruksverket) analysed a specimen from the cow at the farm this weekend. The tests confirmed the presence of BSE and the specimen was sent for further…