Tag • #sweden

EU ‘very worried’ about Swedish official Johan Floderus jailed in Iran

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Monday, 11 September - 10:25

Ylva Johansson says EU is supporting Swedish government in attempt to get 33-year-old home after 512 days

The European Commission has said it is “very worried” about the plight of a Swedish EU official who has spent more than 500 days in jail in Iran.

Ylva Johansson, the home affairs commissioner, who was previously in charge of the work of the detained Johan Floderus, said every effort was being made to get him released as she spoke publicly for the first time on Monday since the veil of secrecy about his case was lifted.

Switching off: Sweden says back-to-basics schooling works on paper

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Monday, 11 September - 03:30

Schools minister Lotta Edholm moves students off digital devices and on to books and handwriting, with teachers and experts debating the pros and cons

Since young children went back to school across Sweden recently, many of their teachers have been putting a new emphasis on printed books, quiet reading time and handwriting practice, and devoting less time to tablets, independent online research and keyboarding skills.

The return to more traditional ways of learning is a response to politicians and experts questioning whether Sweden’s hyper-digitalised approach to education, including the introduction of tablets in nursery schools, had led to a decline in basic skills.

Swedish criminal gangs using fake Spotify streams to launder money

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Tuesday, 5 September - 17:44

Investigation claims networks convert illicit cash to bitcoin to pay people who sell false streams on the platform

Criminal gangs behind a rise of bombings and shootings in Sweden in recent years are using fake Spotify streams to launder money, a Swedish newspaper reported Tuesday.

Criminal networks have for several years been using money from drug deals, robberies, fraud and contract killings to pay for false Spotify streams of songs published by artists with ties to the gangs, an investigative report in Svenska Dagbladet claimed.

Sudan war crime trial of former oil firm executives starts in Sweden

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Tuesday, 5 September - 07:33

Prosecutors say ex-chair and CEO were complicit in atrocities by Sudanese army and militias

The former CEO and the chair of a Swedish oil firm go on trial in Sweden on Tuesday, accused of complicity in war crimes in Sudan between 1999 and 2003.

Prosecutors say the then-Lundin Oil – which has since changed name several times and in 2022 sold most of its business – asked Khartoum to secure a potential oilfield in what is now South Sudan, knowing this would mean seizing the area by force.

Nobel Foundation reverses decision to invite Russian ambassador to awards

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Saturday, 2 September - 14:12

Foundation backtracks on earlier announcement that representatives from Russia, Belarus and Iran would be invited

The Nobel Foundation has reversed its decision to invite ambassadors from Russia and Belarus to this year’s Nobel awards ceremony in Stockholm after the move sparked anger.

In 2022, the Nobel Foundation, which organises the annual Nobel prize ceremony and banquet in Stockholm, decided not to invite the Russian and Belarusian ambassadors to the awards event because of the war in Ukraine .

Buy now, pay later firm Klarna reports first month of profit in three years

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Thursday, 31 August - 12:20

Fintech company still made second-quarter operating loss of £150m as calls grow for sector to be regulated

Klarna, a buy now, pay later firm, has reported a profitable month for the first time in three years.

The Swedish firm, which allows shoppers to defer and split the cost of items but has been accused of tipping people into debt, has struggled to make money in recent years amid rising bad debts and weak consumer confidence.

Swedish cities hit by four residential explosions in an hour

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Thursday, 31 August - 11:20

No one reported injured in blasts which came as country struggles to rein in gang-related violence

Bomb squad experts have been called in after Swedish cities were rocked by four explosions in an hour, police have said, with the country struggling to rein in a rise of gang-related violence .

Just after 1am local time (midnight BST), police in Gothenburg received reports of two explosions at separate addresses, 10 minutes apart.

Swedish man charged with passing hi-tech equipment to Russia

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Monday, 28 August - 16:59

Russian-born man in his 60s suspected of transferring Swedish and US technology with potential military use

A man in his 60s whose arrest in a residential area near Stockholm last year prompted shock has been charged with gross illegal intelligence activities against Sweden and gross illegal intelligence activities against a foreign power.

The man, who has lived in Sweden for 25 years after emigrating from Russia and has had Swedish citizenship since 2012, is suspected of having transferred advanced technology with potential military use to Russia.

‘We don’t want you to be killed’: Sweden seeks to stem deadly rise in youth crime

news.movim.eu / TheGuardian · Sunday, 27 August - 14:12

Illegal guns are relatively accessible, with younger and younger children being drawn into serious crime

In the small Swedish city of Örebro, guns are so easy to come by that social services say most of the high-risk young people they work with in relation to youth crime could get hold of one in a day.

“The contacts are there if you want them. Drugs they could get even faster,” said Sabrina Farlblad at the city’s social services’ offices, where two years ago her team formed support groups for young people deemed at risk of becoming involved in violence.