Bildt makes shock Palestinian envoy move
Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt has angered his coalition partners by unilaterally recognising the Palestinian representative in Stockholm as ambassador.
Day: September 8, 2011
Sweden
Norway
Mountain fox back from brink
Conservation efforts to save Norway’s endangered mountain fox may be bringing the species back from the edge of extinction, judging by an explosion of births in the past year.
Germany
What’s on in Germany: September 8 – 14
This Week's Highlights: Breakdancing in Hamburg, an art weekend in Munich, and a music festival sets up at Berlin's Tempelhof Airport.
Norway
Norway IT budgets soar as ‘cloud’ grows
Over half of all Norway’s 335,000 companies hiked their budgets for information technology, or IT, in 2011, according to a study commissioned by some of Norway’s 500 largest private and state companies.
Switzerland
Calmy-Rey’s retirement gets mixed reaction
Swiss president Micheline Calmy-Rey’s impending retirement has elicited mixed reaction from the Swiss press, with some eulogizing an “edgy leader”, while others branded her a destructive “pain in the neck”.
Germany
Facebook signs up to voluntary privacy code
Facebook said Thursday it would sign up to a voluntary code of conduct in Germany to protect user data, the first time the site has agreed to such measures in a nation known for vehemently protecting the privacy of its citizens.
Sweden
Swedish ‘serial killer’ requests new retrial
Convicted serial killer Thomas Quick, who recently retracted confessions for eight murders, has formally petitioned the Court of Appeal for a retrial over the murder of an 11-year-old boy in 2001.
Germany
US ambassador laments ‘racist jerks’ in Germany
Philip Murphy, the US ambassador to Germany, has written an open letter admonishing German ‘jerks’ for racially abusing a black member of his staff in Berlin recently.
Germany
Fewer people abroad learn German
Around 15 million people are learning German as a foreign language overseas, five million fewer than just ten years ago, according to new statistics from the Goethe Institute.
France
9/11 haunts New York fire chief 10 years on
New York City's fire chief on September 11th, 2001 is still haunted by the terrorist attacks that killed hundreds of his men, he revealed on the sidelines of a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the attacks.
Sweden
Swedish court rejects Saab restructuring
Vänersborg district court in western Sweden has rejected beleaguered carmaker Saab Automobile's applications for restructuring. Chairperson and CEO Victor Muller responded by declaring the firm's intention to appeal
France
Galliano found guilty in anti-Semitism trial
Fashion icon John Galliano was Thursday convicted of anti-Semitism for hurling abuse at bar patrons in Paris' Jewish quarter in a career-breaking outburst he has blamed on drink and drugs.
Sweden
Pirated movies traced to Swedish film body
The Swedish Film Institute (SFI) is facing filesharing allegations after an anti-piracy company traced films that had appeared on filesharing site The Pirate Bay to an IP address at the Institute.
Sweden
Greens back Moderate Party cooperation
A vast majority of leading Green Party municipal and county councillors would consider forming a government with either the Moderates and the Social Democrats, according to a new survey by the Dagens Samhälle daily.
Switzerland
Zurich seeks loan for drive-in sex stalls
A Zurich city council committee has agreed to seek a 2.4-million franc loan ($2.8m) to build a new red light district where punters can meet prostitutes at purpose-built stalls away from the city centre.
Germany
Schäuble pressures Greece to tackle debt
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble on Thursday warned of "worrying news" coming from the eurozone and said Greece must fulfil the conditions required if it wants more help to combat its debt crisis.
France
Policeman punished for posting attack footage
A police officer who posted footage of a violent attack by a group of men on a Paris night bus on Facebook has been given a suspended prison sentence of two months.
Germany
Police thwart terror plot
Police on Thursday arrested two men in Berlin for acquiring chemicals amid suspicions they were planning a terrorist bomb attack.
France
President hops aboard new high-speed train
President Sarkozy will launch a new section of the country's high-speed rail network on Thursday when he takes a trip on the new Rhin-Rhône branch.
Sweden
Lund ‘slave auction’ prompts police probe
One person is suspected of hate speech in connection a party at Lund University in April featuring the sale of "slaves" complete with blackened faces and ropes around their necks.
France
Bridesmaids France chase World Cup glory
France's stocks have dived but coach Marc Lievremont remains resolute Les Bleus can break through for their first World Cup triumph starting with Asian champions Japan at North Harbour, New Zealand, on Saturday.
France
Newsman ordered to pay ex-lover over novel
France's best-known newsreader, Patrick Poivre d'Arvor, has been ordered to pay Agathe Borne, his former lover, €33,000 after a court agreed with her that the heroine in a novel he had written was based on her.
Sweden
Worker workouts work: Swedish study
Working out during office hours can lead to higher productivity for companies, according to a Swedish study carried out by researchers at Stockholm University and Karolinska Institutet.
Germany
Infidelity agency ad invokes adulterers Schwarzenegger, Clinton, Seehofer
A Canadian agency that facilitates affairs is causing a stir in Germany by using pictures of famous adulterers former Californian Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former US President Bill Clinton and Bavarian premier Horst Seehofer for an advertising campaign.
France
Galliano awaits ruling over unstylish outburst
Fashion icon, drug addict and alcoholic John Galliano will learn on Thursday whether he will be convicted and punished for a decidedly un-stylish alleged anti-Semitic rant.
France
Lacoste to Norway killer: stop wearing our clothes
A Nowegian newspaper has reported that French clothing brand Lacoste has asked police to prevent the accused mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik from continuing to wear a red jumper featuring the iconic crocodile logo.
Germany
Biotech benefits converting genetic engineering sceptics
Eclipsed in recent years by rivals in the US, UK and Switzerland, Germany’s pharmaceuticals industry is now excelling in an increasingly important sector – medical biotechnology.
Switzerland
‘Unique situation’ led to Swiss franc move: US
Switzerland has been "disproportionately" affected by volatility on the foreign-exchange market due to the eurozone's financial crisis, a US official said Wednesday.
France
French trade deficit deepens
France reported an increased official trade deficit of €6.46 billion ($9.0 billion) in July on an adjusted basis owing to a rise of imports, customs data released on Thursday revealed.
Sweden
Sweden mulls ban on boob job jabs
Swedish medical authorities are considering banning injections to enhance the size of women's breasts due to concerns that the substance used makes it hard to detect breast cancer.
Germany
One killed in bus crash on motorway
A fully-occupied travel bus hit a crane trailer on the A5 motorway in the German state of Hesse on Thursday morning, killing at least one person and injuring six others.
Sweden
Borg: time to ‘pressure’ Italy and Greece
Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg called on Wednesday for more pressure on debt-ridden Greece and Italy to straighten out their floundering public finances.
Sweden
Sweden mourns death of beloved hockey star
Grief stricken Swedish ice hockey players and fans expressed their sorrow over the death of national team goaltender Stefan Liv, who was killed in a plane crash in Russia that decimated the Lokomotiv ice hockey team.
Germany
Siemens pulls out of Bayreuth sponsorship
German engineering giant Siemens said Wednesday it was ending its partnership with the Bayreuth Festival of which it was one of the main sponsors.
Germany
Four abducted children found in Egypt
Four children abducted by their father from Germany have been found alive and well in Egypt, police said Wednesday night. The man, who had no custody of the children, was allegedly motivated by his Christian fundamentalist views.