Sweden has decided not to ban sexist advertising, saying it would risk undermining the country's cherished right to freedom of speech.

But the decision puts the country at odds with its Nordic neighbours. Norway and Denmark have strict limits on the use of such images for commercial gain.

In Norway, sexist advertising has been banned since 2003. The ban forms part of a much broader package of legal limits on advertising, protecting the depiction of religion, sexuality, race and gender.

Basically, if something is offensive or it makes the viewer feel uncomfortable when they look at it, it shouldn't be done, explained Sol Olving, head of Norway's Kreativt Forum, an association of the country's top advertising agencies: Naked people are wonderful, of course, but they have to be relevant to the product. You could have a naked person advertising shower gel or a cream, but not a woman in a bikini draped across a car."

Norwegian firms that refuse to remove or alter offensive adverts after having a complaint upheld face a hefty fine of 500,000 Norwegian kroner (£49,000; 62,500 euros).

Both Norway and Denmark are keen to emphasise that their advertising limits do not prevent freedom of speech, stifle creativity or mean that there is never a beautiful naked human form on display.

Denmark's advertising ombudsman Henrik Oe says many advertisers are becoming increasingly creative, using humour to stretch the boundaries and appeal to Danish consumers. He says he receives only around 10 complaints about sexist advertising each year and that firms normally remove the offending images quickly.

Sweden, however, despite commissioning a special government rapporteur to look into the matter, is not following the legal professor's advice that freedom of speech does not extend to commercial messages and limits are needed.

This law would be against freedom of speech, which is protected by the constitution, said Malin Engstedt, spokesperson for Equality Minister Nyamko Sabuni: The minister is not convinced that this law would improve things.

See Also:

• Sexist ice cream enrages Swedish consumer watchdog
  
  The Swedish Consumers Association (Sveriges Konsumentråd) has reacted angrily to one of the ice pops in GB's new line. 'Girlie', a star-shaped, pink ice-cream with glitter make-up stored inside the stick, is entirely inappropriate, according to the association...
   
• Jägermeister - Sexist advertising?
   
• Sweden mulls ban on sexist ads
   
• Underwear ads slammed as 'too sexy'
   
• Swedish transport bosses ban boobs
   
• Underwear campaign bottoms out in Sweden
   
• Swedish school stops topless hockey pics
   
• Female road sign rejected

EU Information Society and Media Commissioner Vivianne Reding has told the industry that a code of conduct for retailers must be in place within two years, so that existing ratings systems are better known.

The Commission has found that 20 of the EU's 27 countries use the Pan European Games Information (PEGI) system for classifying games by age.

Only four of the EU's member nations have banned violent computer games. These are the UK, Ireland, Germany and Italy.

There are 4 countries with no classification system in place at all are: Cyprus, Luxembourg, Romania and Slovenia.

PEGI, as an example of responsible industry self-regulation and the only such system with almost pan-European coverage, is certainly a very good first step, said Reding. However, I believe it can be greatly improved, in Europe and beyond, by making the public more aware about its existence and fully implementing PEGI Online. I also call on Member States and the industry to govern the sale of video games in shops to respect the fundamental need to protect minors.

Reding wants the industry to do more to promote and raise awareness of PEGI, for EU countries to make PEGI a part of their own classification systems, for countries to co-operate on age verification systems, and for the industry to create the code of conduct for retailers within two years.

Update: Manhunt 2 in Ireland

The Film Censor's Office (IFCO) banned Manhunt 2 last year after finding the gross, unrelenting and gratuitous violence unacceptable. It is the only video game banned in Ireland.

Deputy Irish censor, Ger Connolly told The Irish Times today that the ban on Manhunt 2 remains in place and that the publisher Rockstar Games has not sought to appeal the decision.

Someone buying the game online or importing it from another country would be committing a criminal offence, he said.

Legendary French actress Brigitte Bardot has gone on trial facing a charge of inciting racial hatred after making comments concerning the religion of Islam.

She faces a possible two-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of €15,000 if she is found guilty.

The star, who is pursuing career as an animal rights activist, has faced similar charges of inciting racial hate on four prior occasions.

The latest charges came about after the star publicly published a letter she sent to French president Nicolas Sarkozy last year lambasting the Muslim religious festival of Eid al-Adha - due to its traditions of slaughtering a sheep.

In the letter she says: I am fed up with being under the thumb of this population which is destroying us, destroying our country and imposing its acts.

Prosecutor Anne de Fonette told the court she was seeking a tougher sentence than on previous occasions, stating: I am a little tired of prosecuting Mrs Bardot.

The verdict is expected in several weeks.

European Union ministers have agreed to punish incitement to terrorism through the internet.

At a meeting in Luxembourg, EU justice and interior ministers tightened existing laws. Public provocation to commit terrorist attacks, as well as recruiting and training people for terrorism will be punishable offences throughout the EU.

EU officials said the decision to punish propaganda, recruitment and training for terrorism through the internet filled an important gap in European legislation.

They described the internet as a virtual training camp for militants, used to inspire and mobilise local groups.

Earlier this month, the EU anti-terrorism co-ordinator, Gilles de Kerchove, said the threat of terrorism in Europe had not diminished and about 5,000 internet sites were being used to radicalise young people.

National courts will now be able to ask internet service providers to remove such sites. But under pressure from Nordic countries and civil rights campaigners, ministers made clear that the new provisions may not be used to restrict freedom of expression.

Britain, Spain and Italy already punish public incitement to terrorism.

And as if to make the point

See full article from the Independent

A Muslim activist who became known for his publicly expressed extremist views was jailed for four and a half years yesterday for terrorism-related offences committed during a series of inflammatory speeches at a London mosque.

Judge Nicholas Price said that Abu Izzadeen a British-born convert to Islam, was a "leading light" in a group of men who used a gathering at the Regent's Park mosque in November 2004 to call for volunteers to fight British troops in Iraq and appeal for funds to finance insurgents abroad.

The judge said Izzadeen and his co-defendants had abused the right to freedom of expression. Izzadeen and Simon Keeler, another British-born convert from Whitechapel in east London, were singled out as having led the incitement. They were sentenced to serve four and a half years.

Judge Martin told Izzadeen: I am left in no doubt that your speeches were used by you as self-aggrandisement and not as an expression of sincerely held religious views. I find that you are arrogant, contemptuous and utterly devoid of any sign of remorse.

Abdul Muhid, also from Whitechapel, was sentenced to two years for fundraising for terrorism abroad. He will serve the term once he finishes a four-year sentence for soliciting murder during protests against the publication of cartoons in a Danish newspaper depicting the Prophet Mohamed. The other defendants were given prison terms between two years and three years nine months.

European Commissioner for External Relations and Neighborhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, said in Saudi Arabia that the EU would not develop new laws against blasphemy.

Ferrero-Waldner was speaking in reference to the recent release of Fitna, a short film by Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, and Mohammed cartoons published in European newspapers in 2005 and 2006.

There are two principles involved in this matter: freedom of press and freedom of religion. Every individual has a right to express what he thinks is correct. Similarly, the other individual, who is not in agreement, can rebut in the same way, she said.

Ferrero-Waldner said that the Dutch government was quick to stress that the opinion made in the stupid film is not that of the government or its people: It is an individual opinion. We practice freedom of religion. You have to understand that Muslims have freedom to practice their religion in our country.

UNHuman Rights Council

Based on an article from myTELUS

Islamic countries have used a meeting of the United Nations' top human rights body to demand the prosecution of a Dutch politician whose anti-Qur'an movie has sparked Muslim protests.

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and other members of the UNHuman Rights Council said the Netherlands should adopt laws against religious defamation.

We recommend to the government of the Netherlands that it must ... initiate prosecution against the author of the movie Fitna, Pakistan's representative Masood Khan told the 47-member council.

Nebahat Albayrak of the Dutch delegation told council members that the public prosecutor was investigating whether the film breaks any laws.

Internet sites and blogs which assert an anorexic lifestyle to teenage girls were outlawed by the French parliament yesterday.

The law is the first attempt anywhere in the world to stamp out the "pro-ana" movement, a cult-like attempt to promote anorexia as a lifestyle which began in the United States eight years ago.

If, as expected, the legislation is also approved by the Senate, it will become a criminal offence in France to encourage another person to seek excessive thinness... which could expose them to a risk of death or endanger their health. Offenders risk two years in prison or a €30,000 (£24,000) fine.

Although the law would also apply to magazines, it is mostly aimed at internet sites and blogs which have sprung up in France in the past two years. These sites, which also exist in the UK, worship extremely thin female celebrities, including Nicole Richie and Victoria Beckham.

The French Health Minister, Roselyne Bachelot, told parliament: Giving young girls advice about how to lie to their doctors, telling them what kinds of food are easiest to vomit, encouraging them to torture themselves whenever they take any kind of food is not part of liberty of expression. The messages sent out here are messages of death.

A typical French blog, Be Perfect, Be Pro Ana, carries a long letter signed your future best friend Ana. It encourages teenage girls to refuse food, to make themselves sick and to take laxatives in order to match the body shape of their "thinspirations" such as Richie and Beckham.

The law's author, the centre-right deputy Valerie Boyer, says that between 30,000 and 40,000 people in France have anorexia.  She says this kills more people in France each year than any other mental disorder.

At the same time, Mme Boyer and the Health Minister have drawn up a voluntary charter on bodily image and anorexia. French advertisers, model agencies and pret-a-porter fashion houses have agreed to sign the charter and to refuse to publish images, especially of young people, which could promote an ideal of extreme thinness

President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pottering, said that he was against the anti-Islam film Fitna.

Talking to reporters in Doha on the sidelines of the eighth Forum on Democracy, Development and Free Trade, he said that he understood the cultural differences between the Islamic world and Europe and that he was committed to dialogue based on partnership.

If there are people who commit acts of terrorism in the name of Islam, we do not believe they represented the mainstream of Muslim thinking… we [the EU] will not accept that Islam and terrorism are identical. We are not in favour of descriptions and pictures that identify violence with Islam. We are against any cartoons that could instigate violence, he said.

We are committed to the freedom of the press...BUT...I am against publishing cartoons that hurt the feelings of others.

As a Catholic, I would feel insulted if someone derides the Pope. We might disagree with others but we have to respect them.