Oddly enough

Oddly enough

Invite mix-up leads Swede to glam dinner

STOCKHOLM

Sweden’s environment minister thought she had asked the country’s former agriculture minister to attend a glam dinner. But the invitation went to the “wrong” Margareta Winberg — an ordinary Swede who jumped at the chance to mingle, even participating in the group photo.

Winberg, a 67-year old retiree from Sundbyberg outside Stockholm, told Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter that although she doesn’t know much about the environment, she didn’t hesitate in taking up Lena Ek on the offer last week.

She told the paper that she wore black trousers and a blouse “with some things on,” and that she met interesting people, “like that guy Blix,” a reference to former chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix.

Ek’s spokesman said the minister found the situation “extremely funny.”

Bears interrupt TV weather report

SCRANTON, Pa.

A mama bear and three of her cubs were caught on camera at a northeastern Pennsylvania television station seconds before a live weather report was to begin.

It happened during the 11 p.m. newscast Monday at WNEP-TV in Scranton. The station has a landscaped outdoor area it calls “the backyard” with trees and a water fountain for its weather segments.

Meteorologist Kurt Aaron said he heard something behind him and when he turned around, a black bear was 10 feet away. He said he ran inside and did his report from indoors while a camera continued to show the bear family exploring.

Ukraine protests Dutch advertisement

KIEV, Ukraine

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry is protesting a Dutch television ad that advises women to keep their husbands from attending the Euro 2012 football championship in June because they are likely to be seduced by Ukraine’s beautiful women.

In the clip titled “Keep Him Home,” the Netherlands Energy Company offers a free beer tap to customers who sign up for its services. If Dutch men were able to tap their own beer, the ad implies, they would be more likely to watch the games at home instead of traveling to Ukraine.

An Internet search of “Ukrainian woman” shown in the clip yields dozens of photos of women in erotic outfits and poses.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Voloshin said Wednesday the ad was “humiliating and discriminatory.”

The Dutch Foreign Ministry declined to comment.

Associated Press