Sweden passes divisive wiretapping law
An amended version of Sweden's controversial new signals intelligence law was passed in the Riksdag on Wednesday, with 158 members voting in favour and 153 against.
Day: October 14, 2009
Sweden
Germany
‘They said it would be better if I stayed here’
Iranian filmmaker Narges Kalhor made a last-minute decision to seek asylum in Germany on Monday after she was warned she might be arrested back home for showing a film critical of the regime’s human rights abuses. The daughter of a top advisor to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke to The Local about what comes next.
Germany
Website offers unprecedented glimpse at Berlin Wall
A new website launched on Wednesday offers users an interactive way to discover over 1,000 remaining bits of the Berlin Wall some 20 years after it fell.
Germany
Germany sets up online portal and hotline for swine flu
The German Health Ministry on Wednesday set up a new online portal offering information about swine flu to compliment its no longer free telephone hotline.
Sweden
Gender trouble – time to bury the feminist hatchet?
It may be the first time that celebrity housewife Anna Anka has been called a feminist, as my colleague Jeanne Rudbeck labelled her this week, but it is not the first time that the equality movement has been blamed for a renewed bout of gender trouble.
Sweden
Masturbating truck driver convicted of careless driving
A German truck driver charged for masturbating while behind the wheel of his truck when it crashed has been ordered to undergo psychiatric care.
Germany
Women working part-time jobs up 16 percent in last decade
The number of women working part-time jobs in Germany has increased significantly in the last decade, a new study by the Federal Statistics Office (Destatis) showed on Wednesday.
Germany
Surviving Berlin’s art jungle
Creative minds from all over the world flock to Berlin in search of their own artistic haven, but being able to stay afloat financially can often be an enormous challenge. Exberliner magazine takes a look at some of their schemes for survival.
Sweden
Greens and Left best for business: survey
Sweden’s Green Party has the best ideas to help the country’s small business owners, a new survey reveals, with the Left Party ranking a close second.
Sweden
Sweden-based UK artist draws on Darwin for Stockholm exhibition
An exhibition of British artist Richard Sexton’s latest images is currently in the Mornington Hotel lobby in Stockholm.
Germany
Southern cities revoke driving privileges from brawling youths
Two German cities say they have found a new deterrent to increasing youth violence – confiscating driver’s licences, daily Süddeutsche Zeitung reported this week.
Sweden
Gothenburg woman injured in surprise elk attack
A woman in western Sweden is recovering after being bowled over by an elk early on Wednesday morning while she was out walking her dog.
Sweden
Eriksson turns down North Korea offer: report
A source close to Sven-Göran Eriksson has poured cold water on reports that the Swedish football coach is set to take over as manager of North Korea ahead of the 2010 World Cup.
Germany
Multiple witnesses spot UFO in northern Germany
Police and fire departments in northern Germany received dozens of phone calls on Tuesday evening from people claiming they saw a mysterious burning orb in the night sky.
Sweden
Eriksson to take on North Korea job: report
Swedish football coach Sven Göran Eriksson is being hotly tipped as the next coach of the North Korean team that has already secured qualification for next summer's World Cup.
Sweden
‘Who am I?’ – Mystery foreigner pleads for help
A man who woke up in a Malmö hospital bed four weeks ago without any recollection of who he is or how he got there has turned to the Swedish public for help in determining his identity.
Sweden
Two die of legal drug overdose
Two young men in Linköping in south-east Sweden have died after overdosing on the psychoactive drug methedrone, a substance that is not yet illegal in Sweden and can be bought on the internet, local news website Corren.se reports.
Sweden
Rejected women sue Swedish university
A group of women who are suing a Swedish university for gender discrimination have also reported Sweden’s Equality Ombudsman (Diskrimineringsombudsmannen – DO) to the Ombudsman of Justice (Justitieombudsmännen – JO), charging the equality agency failed to take up their case.
Germany
Germany to send Kosovar refugees home
Some 10 years after the Kosovo conflict, thousands of Kosovar refugees – most of them from the Roma community – are set to return home, daily Süddeutsche Zeitung reported this week.
Germany
Löw insists on victory over Finland in final World Cup qualifier
Coach Joachim Löw has insisted Germany must finish their World Cup qualification campaign in Hamburg on Wednesday night with a victory over Finland with places at South Africa 2010 still up for grabs.
Germany
Eight-year-old tries to buy candy with €1,680
An eight-year-old boy in Viersen, North Rhine-Westphalia tried to buy a large amount of candy at a kiosk with a bundle of cash he swiped from his parents, police reported late on Tuesday.
Sweden
Card firm hacking hits thousands of Swedes
Debit card information for tens of thousands of Swedish banking customers may have fallen into the wrong hands following a security breach at card manufacturers MasterCard and Visa.
Sweden
Placido Domingo accepts Swedish opera prize
The first Birgit Nilsson prize was awarded on Tuesday to Spanish tenor Placido Domingo, who claimed the award amounted to the "Nobel prize of music."