Swedish Interior Minister Mikael Damberg condemned the gangs for acting with impunity and stressed that no criminals should be allowed to decide what others should and shouldn’t do. Inhabitants in the Stockholm suburb of Tensta have been told to stay indoors after 6 pm – not by the police or the authorities, but by criminal gangs who call the shots in the area. The police initially noticed that there were unusually few people in Tensta in the evenings in late August. Later, they received tips that gangsters had threatened people with weapons and violence to force them indoors. “There were people, […]
Swedish
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Riksbank Governor Stevan Ingves sees a Swedish digital currency as an imperative for the central bank. Source link
The Swedish Armed Forces have in recent years been betting on diversity, inclusivity, and equality, embracing mottos like “Our strength consists of differences”, “Come as you are”, and “We don’t always march straight”. Increasing the share of women is seen as another important milestone in “breaking up the male monopoly”. Despite numerous initiatives including costly ads and awareness-raising campaigns, the Swedish Armed Forces have failed to meet this year’s goal of having at least 20 percent of its conscripts be women. While some units in the Air Force and the Navy have effectively met the target, the Armed Forces in general […]
A recent report by the Swedish Defence Research Agency has indicated an incidence of “anti-Semitic stereotypes and tropes” on social media. Thirty-five percent of the posts about Jews turned out to be negative, and a lot of them deal specifically with Jews in power. Following a report by the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) indicating a proliferation of online theories about Jews wielding influence and power in world politics, the Jewish Central Council has demanded that internet giants ensure such posts are not spread by timely deleting them. According to the new report from the Swedish Defence Research Agency, “anti-Semitic stereotypes […]
As Sweden has long enjoyed the reputation of having some of Europe’s most liberal policies toward immigration, asylum and family integration, the share of residents with a foreign background now exceeds a quarter of the population. The Swedish Migration Committee has submitted a new report with proposals on the country’s future immigration policy, national broadcaster SVT reported. The committee’s 600-page report includes a mixed bag of 26 proposals and features the strengthening of some measures as well as the relaxing of others. For instance, it wants time-limited residence permits instead of permanent ones to be the basic option for those seeking […]
Russia was forced to scrambled an Su-27 fighter jet on Tuesday to intercept two Western military aircraft approaching its airspace over the Baltic Sea, the National Defense Control Center has said. The Sukhoi jet approached the two planes and shadowed them for some time, the Russian military reported. They were identified as a US Air Force RC-125 reconnaissance plane and a Swedish Gulfstream jet designed for the same type of missions. Footage of the intercepts shot from inside the Su-27 cockpit was shown by Zvezda TV, the official television channel of the Russian military. The encounters happened in international airspace. The […]
Late last year, Swedish Police reportedly raided former Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt’s apartment, where they found cocaine and arrested his heavily intoxicated son, Erik. Erik Reinfeldt, the son of Sweden’s former PM Fredrik Reinfeldt, has been fined for drug offences; late last year he was arrested during a humiliating drug raid on his father’s apartment on Eastmansvägen in central Stockholm, the news outlet Fria Tider reported. The scandal has been kept quiet since, but the details emerged during the sentencing. In the raid, which happened on 7 November 2019, the police found 25-year-old Erik heavily under the influence of drugs, the […]
The flag-burning is intended as a reaction to the high-profile Quran burning in Malmö and anti-Islamic demonstration in Norway, where a copy of the Quran was ripped. A Muslim leader linked to a terrorist organisation in Syria has trampled on the Swedish and Norwegian flags and then set them afire in a videoclip claiming that “Allah is the Lord of the world”, the news outlet Samhällsnytt reported. The flag-burning video is intended as a reaction to the high-profile Quran burning in Malmö and anti-Islamic demonstration in Norway, where a copy of the Quran was ripped. In the video, reportedly recorded in […]
Former senior Social Democrat Nalin Pekgul, Sweden’s first Muslim woman to serve as MP, has unleashed harsh criticism over her own party and their sidekicks, the Greens, for allowing Islamists to gain traction in Swedish politics. Nalin Pekgul, a former MP who chaired the Social Democrats Women’s Union, has castigated the Swedish ruling “red-green” coalition for betraying its values and siding with Islamists in exchange for votes. In an interview with the website Kvartal, Pekgul suggested that “Islamists had gained influence everywhere” in Swedish politics. The Social Democrats, the party that led Sweden for the most of the 20th century and […]
Despite being allies, the US Republicans and the Swedish Moderates appear to have conflicting opinions about Donald Trump and his ways, as both former and current Moderate party leaders have endorsed his Democrat rival Joe Biden. Former Swedish Prime Minister and long-time Moderate Party leader Fredrik Reinfeldt has ventured that US President Donald Trump is a threat to American democracy, underscoring a risk that the country will turn into a full-blown dictatorship if Trump gets re-elected. In a televised debate by national broadcaster SVT with Christian Democrat Johan Ingerö, who is also critical of Donald Trump, Reinfeldt suggested that Donald Trump […]
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Swedish researchers have successfully created an out-of-body experience in which they “swapped participants’” bodies, drastically changing their perceptions of themselves while also interfering with their ability to make memories. The team from the Brain, Body, and Self Laboratory led by Henrik Ehrsson took 33 pairs of friends and “swapped” their bodies using VR headsets, which allowed participants to see themselves in their friend’s body. “Body swapping is not a domain reserved for science fiction movies anymore,” said neuroscientist Pawel Tacikowski from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. The team also included a tactile element to the experiment so the participants could feel what […]
The riots in Malmö, Sweden’s third-largest city and one of the country’s most ethnically diverse communities, erupted after a Quran-burning staged by members of the anti-Islamic Danish Hard Line party in what was claimed to be a gesture of solidarity with the “brotherly” Swedish people. During the violent riots in Malmö that broke out on Friday, slogans against Jews were shouted by the crowd. Now the police will investigate the incident that may be classified as “incitement against ethnic groups”, the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet reported. Following the riots, clips were posted on social media with protesters clenching their fists and shouting […]
Numerous topics are set to be discussed, including design for ethical artificial intelligence (AI) systems, European digital sovereignty and social media, the circular economy, cross-domain hubs and decentralised governance, among many others. The “Cities, Design and Innovation” conference will take place 2-3 September and discuss the future of the cultural and creative industries (CCI) post-COVID, the city of Umeå announced on Friday. Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth will lead talks on the future of the industries and will be followed by keynote speeches and forums. Michela Magas, founder and creative director of Music Tech Fest and Industry […]
Singer and influencer Zara Larsson, an avowed feminist, is no stranger to controversy and has been criticised before for misandrist posts, tweeting “ACAB” (All cops are bastards) in connection with the Black Lives Matter protests in the US, and maintaining a relationship with Chinese mobile giant Huawei. Award-winning pop singer Zara Larsson has landed in hot water over lending support to the embattled TikTok app. “Because D*nald Tr*mp hates TikTok, I love it even more”, Larsson wrote in a since-deleted tweet filled with heart emojis. This was a nod to Donald Trump’s recent announcement that TikTok will be banned in the […]
The four horsemen of COVID-19 will ensure that tourists visiting one of Sweden’s most popular summer destinations “behave well”. In an unorthodox move, local authorities on Sweden’s Baltic island of Gotland have recruited equestrians posing as medieval knights on horseback to halt the coronavirus in its tracks amid the height of the summer tourist season. The four horsemen, or so-called “COVID Knights” from the regional medieval reenactment group Torneamentum, Sweden’s oldest, will visit some of Gotland’s most popular tourist attractions this summer, such as its numerous beaches and the medieval town of Visby. To drive the point home, they will be […]
The Church of Sweden, Europe’s largest Lutheran denomination, is known today for its overtly liberal position in many theological and secular issues, such as the question of homosexuality, yet has been steadily losing 1-2 percent of its worshippers every year over the past decades. For the first time in history, the number of female clergy in the Church of Sweden has surpassed that of their male counterparts, the church newspaper Kyrkans tidning reported. The share of women is now up to 50.1 percent, or 1,533, compared to 49.9 percent men or 1,527, the employers’s organisation Skao reported. Among the deacons, however, […]
According to scientist and board member of the Swedish Humanist society Patrik Lindenfors, the centuries-old Swedish flag is rife with Christian heritage and should be replaced with something more inclusive. In the wake of the massive protests around the world, purportedly against racism and colonialism, calls have been made to do away with the cross on the Swedish flag, because it represents the nation’s Christian heritage and the oppression it allegedly stands for. In his opinion piece in the newspaper Göteborgs-Posten, board member of the Humanist Society Patrik Lindenfors called the flag “problematic” and compared the Swedish cross to the Saudi […]
At barely 4.4 percent of the vote, the Green Party, the smallest in the Swedish parliament, appears to have imposed its will on its senior allies the Social Democrats, effectively quashing the opposition’s push for a more strenuous immigration policy. The talks on Sweden’s future immigration policy, intended to pave the way for broad cross-party agreement, have ended in disarray. The Sweden Democrats party leader Jimmie Åkesson announced that his party is leaving the talks and proceeding with its own proposal. Later, negotiations between the ruling Social Democrats and the Moderates, the largest opposition party, also broke down. “The Social Democrats […]
The cover art of Aron Flam’s much-talked-about book features a poignant remake of a cult WWII-era poster, which according to copyright holders constitutes disfigurement. In Flam’s version, the Swedish tiger, a wartime symbol of secrecy, wears an Nazi armband and makes a Nazi salute. The Swedish authorities have pivoted on a book by Jewish comedian, journalist, and writer Aron Flam about Sweden’s problematic relations with Nazi Germany during World War II. All the remaining copies have been confiscated at the warehouse of the publisher, and now Swedish prosecutors are seeking permission to destroy the books, including copies already sold, the news […]
Anti-racist protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement were held simultaneously in two Nordic capitals yielded dramatically different outcomes. While the demonstration in Helsinki wrapped up peacefully, Stockholm police had to use teargas. Thousands of protestors gathered at Helsinki’s Senate Square on Wednesday evening to demonstrate against racism and police brutality against blacks, inspired by the protests over the death of African-American George Floyd that have gripped the US. The protests gathered people of all ages and backgrounds, including speakers from local activist groups, academics, entrepreneurs, and artists. At the start of the protest, those present were invited to […]
Up to 1.5 million Swedes in a nation of 10 million are employed by exports to other countries, the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce has emphasised. Up to 1.5 million Swedes in a nation of 10 million are employed by exports to other countries, the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce emphasised. Exports of Swedish goods have dwindled sharply due to the novel coronavirus crisis, and this could have far-reaching consequences for the country, the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce has warned. In April alone, Swedish foreign trade plummeted by 17 percent compared to the same month last year. “For a small and export-dependent country […]
Low vitamin D levels could explain why African Americans and even African immigrants in Sweden appear to be disproportionately hard-hit by the coronavirus, regardless of socio-economic factors, researchers have suggested. Vitamin D can protect against getting a severe case of COVID-19, a group of Swedish researchers and doctors have suggested in an article in the medical magazine Läkartidningen. Given that known risk factors for COVID-19 are obesity, diabetes, and being institutionalised, low levels of vitamin D, which are dependent on sun exposure, are common to all of them, the doctors emphasised. “Vitamin D deficiency increases the risk of a severe course […]
Unlike its European neighbours Sweden has not opted for a strict COVID lockdown: and although all public gatherings of more than 50 people are banned and people are largely encouraged to stay home, restaurants and bars are open and children are still attending schools. Swedish academics have weighed up the pros and the cons of Stockholm’s model. Despite opting for flexible quarantine measures Sweden has been trailing far behind Spain, Italy and the UK in terms of confirmed COVID-19 cases and related deaths with just 23,216 infected and 2,854 fatalities. However, at the same time, the Nordic country has substantially outpaced […]
Earlier, the Committee on Finance in Sweden’s Riksdagen made a plea to prohibit dividends for companies that have been appealing for state aid during COVID-19 health crisis in a bid to stay afloat during economic turmoil. This measure, however, still was not introduced Swedish manufacturing giants, including luxury car-maker Volvo, bearing manufacturer SKF AB and Assa Abloy conglomerate, are still paying out around 15 billions of kronor (or $1.5 billion in total) to their shareholders despite applying for state aid during the coronavirus pandemic and laying off thousands of workers who are now also seeking financial support, Bloomberg revealed. Volvo is […]