What’s on in Sweden: July 3 – 9
What's on in Sweden: Millennium trilogy tour and roots festival in Stockholm; BB King in Gothenburg; Anthony Joseph & The Spasm Band (UK) in Malmö.
Day: July 1, 2009
Sweden
Sweden
Russia snubs Sweden summit plans
Sweden's fraught relationship with Moscow has come to the fore on the first day of the Swedish EU presidency as Russia objects to plans to hold a major summit in Stockholm.
Sweden
Swedish becomes official ‘main language’
Swedish is now officially considered the main language in Sweden, according to a new language law which, along with more than two dozen other laws, took effect on Wednesday.
Germany
Parliament to fast-track reform for Lisbon Treaty
After the constitutional court’s ruling that reforms in parliamentary law will be necessary to green-light the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, the German parliament agreed on Wednesday to speed up the process in time for Ireland’s referendum on October 4.
Sweden
German firm plans 100 pharmacies in Sweden
German pharmaceutical company Celesio has revealed plans to open a chain of more than 100 pharmacies in Sweden in an announcement that coincides with the introduction of a new law bringing an end to Sweden's pharmacy retail monopoly.
Sweden
Sweden chips in for Iceland bailout
Sweden has joined neighbours Denmark, Norway and Finland in signing loan deals worth €1.78 billion ($2.52 billion) for crisis ridden Iceland.
Sweden
Sweden’s pharmacy monopoly finished
Sweden’s state-run pharmacy monopoly ended on Wednesday, paving the way for new entrants into the market for drug sales and for the eventual sale of non-prescription drugs in other retail outlets.
Germany
Germany tops G8 climate action ranking
Germany is performing ahead of other G8 nations in the fight against climate change according to the World Wildlife Fund’s G8 Climate Scorecard released on Wednesday. But the country barely got a passing grade.
Sweden
July in Sweden: Clock off, tune in, chill out
The Year in Sweden - July: Journalist Kim Loughran sketches a month by month account of the country he has called home ever since his accidental migration in 1966.
Germany
Defendant kills witness in Dresden court
A 32-year-old woman was killed in a Dresden court on Wednesday after being stabbed by the defendant. Meanwhile bystanders were injured as the 28-year-old man was overpowered.
Germany
‘Explosive’ biker gang war grips Germany
The northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein is in the midst of a biker gang war as the Bandidos move into the Hells Angels territory. Police have conducted raids in recent days, daily Hamburger Abendblatt reported on Wednesday.
Germany
German Woolworth chain on verge of bankruptcy
The Frankfurt district court has opened insolvency proceedings against the retail chain Woolworth.
Germany
Austrian coin trick confounds German border control
German investors have found a cunning way to get large amounts of money across the border from Austria, news magazine Der Spiegel reported on Wednesday. It's all down to a silver collector’s coin.
Germany
Expert finds identity of Beethoven’s mysterious Elise
A German musicologist claims he has discovered the identity of the woman for whom Ludwig van Beethoven wrote his famous song, "Für Elise."
Sweden
Swedish docs cleared over misplaced colon
Health authorities in Sweden have decided not to punish two doctors who mistakenly stitched a 65-year-old patient’s bladder to his large intestine.
Germany
Outgoing NATO head pans Germany’s policy in Afghanistan
Outgoing NATO commander General John Craddock has criticised Germany’s policy on the war in Afghanistan on Wednesday in an interview published daily Stuttgarter Zeitung.
Germany
DHL planning major expansion in Chinese operations
German logistics giant DHL plans to open 10 new regional transportation hubs in China this year, state media said Wednesday, tripling the number of such centres it operates in the country.
Sweden
Ex-model brings feminine touch to fashion week
Fashion Week by Berns in Stockholm was in full swing on Tuesday, with several well-known Swedish designers displaying their work.
Sweden
Sweden urges EU states to tighten belts
Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has said the country's EU presidency will push member states to curtail spending and work towards sustaining public finances across the union.
Germany
Unstable WWII bomb detonated in Hannover
Police detonated an unstable 250-kilogramme bomb from World War II early on Wednesday morning at a military facility in Hannover after evacuating thousands of residents from the area, authorities reported.
Sweden
CEO gives board members a pornographic surprise
The CEO of a municipal housing company in Dalarna in central Sweden has been reprimanded after pornographic pictures popped up during a recent presentation to the company’s board.
Sweden
Umeå’s women footballers to challenge American all-stars
The reigning champions of the Swedish women’s professional football league, Umeå IK, are heading to the United States to play a team of stars from the American Women's Professional Soccer (WPS).
Germany
‘Politically precarious’ banned East German film premieres
The last reel to be dug out of East Germany's banned film vault premieres for the first time in Dresden on Wednesday, 43 years after it got the censor’s ax.
Sweden
Sweden takes over EU presidency
Sweden on Wednesday assumed the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union, promising to combat climate change as well as the rising joblessness in the wake of the global economic crisis.