Saab secures short term funding, pays wages
Saab's owner Swedish Automobile announced Wednesday it had secured more short-term funding with a 25-million-euro ($36-million) loan and that it has started paying out staff's salaries for June.
Day: June 29, 2011
Sweden
Germany
Anti-terror laws extended for four years
The German authorities will be able to more easily obtain information on bank account transfers and airline passengers, but will have other powers curtailed under an overhaul of anti-terrorism laws announced on Wednesday.
Germany
Policewoman jailed for killing her baby
A former police officer in Lower Saxony was sentenced Wednesday to four-and-a-half years in prison for killing her newborn baby last year and burying it in order to avoid shocking her new boyfriend.
Germany
Merkel tells bankers to help bailout Greece
German Chancellor Angela Merkel Wednesday called on bankers to help bailout Greece, saying they "should lend a hand" to eurozone governments trying to hammer out a new rescue package for the debt-ridden country.
Sweden
‘Have an affair’ ad cleared by industry watchdog
An ad campaign by a Swedish dating site urging people to cheat on their spouses and which shattered the record for consumer complaints, has been cleared by Sweden's advertising watchdog.
Sweden
Israel rejects Gaza ship claims as ‘Bond-esque’
Israeli authorities have rejected claims of the Swedish Ship to Gaza movement that "foreign agents" were behind the damage to their boat, which was reported sabotaged on Monday.
Switzerland
Stricter rules for euthanasia rejected
The Swiss government on Wednesday rejected proposals to tighten rules on assisted suicide, saying that they could inadvertently legitimise organisations offering assisted suicide.
Germany
Greens’ campaign manager fired after drink-driving arrest
The Green party campaign manager for Berlin's upcoming state election in September has been fired after a newspaper reported that he had been arrested on suspicion of drink-driving and assaulting police.
Germany
Media roundup: Berlin’s dance with the dragon
A by-the-numbers exchange on human rights. Mutual praise and admiration. New deals worth billions. The Chinese juggernaut has passed through Berlin, leaving German commentators pondering the implications in The Local's media roundup on Wednesday.
Sweden
Agency ‘lacks tools’ to assess exorcist killer
Sweden's National Board of Forensic Medicine (Rättsmedicinalverket) has admitted that it lacks the tools to fully assess the risk of relapse for the 52-year-old man convicted of killing his seven-year-old stepdaughter during an "exorcism".
France
French TV viewers shun X Factor final
As the singing contest reached its climax on Tuesday night, French audiences gave a Gallic shrug to the X Factor reality television programme.
Sweden
Swedish police backtrack on ‘ethnic’ profiling
Police in Stockholm have been forced to apologize after singling out three nationalities in a letter to a local neighbourhood watch group warning them against organised crime, according to Swedish media reports.
Sweden
‘Swedish shipments to Nazis may have been ransom for captured Swedes’
Historical documents related to the capture of seven Swedes by the Gestapo in Poland in 1942 puts Sweden's subsequent ball bearing deliveries to Nazi Germany in a new light, argue historians Susanne Berger and Ingela Magner.
Germany
Lisicki hailed as new Steffi Graf
German newspapers on Wednesday hailed homegrown tennis star Sabine Lisicki after she made it into the Wimbledon semifinals, wondering if the country at last has a new Steffi Graf.
Switzerland
Plan for foreign criminal expulsions hits impasse
A controversial plan to deport foreign criminals from Switzerland hit an impasse this week after a governmental working group indicated it cannot agree on how to implement the measure.
Germany
Animal park welcomes ‘terror bird’ cousin hatchling
An animal park near Germany’s northern border with Denmark is hoping a freakish-looking hatchling related to ancient “terror birds” will become a new star attraction.
France
France supplying arms to Libya rebels: report
France has begun parachuting arms shipments to Berber rebels fighting Libyan leader Moamar Qaddafi's forces in the highlands south of Tripoli, the French daily Le Figaro reported on Wednesday.
Sweden
Female caregiver suspected of selling sex to elderly patient
A female caregiver is suspected of having sold sex to an 85-year-old man, who was known to the authorities for having shown a large appetite for sex, according to a report in the local Borås Tidning (BT) daily.
France
Strauss Kahn’s wife: disgraced IMF head ‘a good man’
Anne Sinclair, the wife of Dominique Strauss Kahn, defended her husband in an interview on the eve of the publication of a book about the former IMF boss in her firsrt public comments since his arrest on sexual assault accusations.
Sweden
Sweden tops Scandinavia tourism ranking
While visitor numbers to Sweden continue to climb and the country is the most visited among the Nordic nations, Swedes elect to retreat to their country cottages for their holidays, new figures from two tourist organisations show.
France
France’s jobless figure rises in May
For the first time this year, the unemployment rate in France edged up in May, according to new statistics.
Switzerland
Nuclear plant shuts down for extra safety checks
The Mühleberg nuclear power station near Bern will shut down five weeks before a scheduled annual inspection to allow for extra safety measures.
France
‘Bad maths’ behind French minister’s faulty immigrant claims
The Interior Minister, Claude Guéant, has been corrected on an assertion he made that 66 percent of the children of immigrant families leave school without qualifications.
Switzerland
Truck blocks motorway after losing a tonne of cherries
A truck dropped one tonne of cherries on a Swiss motorway near Basel, spreading a sticky fruit film over a kilometre and disrupting traffic for hours, a report on Wednesday said.
France
Lagarde named as first female IMF chief
France's Christine Lagarde was named Tuesday the first-ever female chief of the IMF, faced with an immediate crisis as violent Greek protests rocked the stability of the eurozone.
Germany
Former Merkel advisor’s tax plan unfair, CSU says
A radical tax reform plan by a former advisor of Chancellor Angela Merkel has been dismissed as unfair by her conservative coalition partners the Christian Social Union.
Sweden
Sweden in sprouts recall after new EHEC scare
Swedish grocers stepped up a nationwide recall of raw sprouts after new reports that a Swedish man had been infected with the same deadly E. coli bacteria strain that has claimed dozens of lives across Europe.
Sweden
Sweden coach defends squad’s ‘bully girl’ tactics
Sweden coach Thomas Dennerby on Tuesday defended his team amid gibes of bully girl tactics in their 1-0 Group C opener against newcomers Colombia at the Women's World Cup.
Sweden
Three injured in ‘gang-related’ shootout
Three people were seriously injured in what police suspect may have been a gang-related shooting in Norrköping in eastern Sweden on Tuesday night.
Germany
North Korean players struck by lightning, coach claims
North Korea's women's football coach has claimed several players played in the opening 2-0 World Cup loss to the United States on Tuesday suffering from the effects of being struck by lightning at a training camp.
Germany
Chinese cyber attacks target German ministers
Chinese cyber attacks on German computers rose sharply in number last year and included attempted penetrations of government ministers’ PCs, according to a Wednesday media report.