Football underwear explosives attacker jailed
A man who injured 33 people including five children when he threw explosives he had smuggled in his underwear, into the crowd at a German football match was jailed for five years on Friday.
Day: March 23, 2012
Germany
Germany
Germany cools on finance industry tax idea
Germany will look for an alternative to the cross-border tax on financial transactions – backing away from the French-backed idea which has run into fierce opposition from the finance sector and European governments.
Germany
Giant wasp ‘discovered in Berlin museum’
American scientists who found a new species of giant wasp in the jungle of Indonesia reported their find – only to discover a specimen had been sitting in a German museum for more than 70 years.
Sweden
Swedish retailer H&M’s new ‘secret’ luxury brand
The world of Swedish fashion is humming with the buzz of a new, yet officially unconfirmed, luxury brand being planned by retail giant H&M.
Sweden
Prince Charles shoots hoops with Swedish PM
Prince Charles locked horns with Swedish prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt on a basketball court in Stockholm on Thursday, before lunching with Princess Victoria on Friday for her first royal engagement since the birth of Princess Estelle.
Germany
US airlines fight ‘cash-grab’ ticket tax
American airlines have launched a legal bid to strike out a tax which adds up to €45 onto every transatlantic plane ticket leaving German soil.
Sweden
Malmö mayor in new row with Sweden’s Jews
Sweden's Jewish community has railed anew against Malmö mayor Ilmar Reepalu after comments suggesting the city's Jewish community had been "infiltrated" by Sweden Democrats to foment anti-Muslim sentiments.
Sweden
Sweden ‘ignores’ child sex abuse claims: report
Children in Sweden who suffer violence and sexual abuse aren't prioritized by social services according to a new report, which blames “ignorant” social service staff who are not able to pick up victims’ signals.
Sweden
An Expats guide to retirement planning in Sweden
Saving for your financial future has never been more important - particularly for expatriates. But what options are open to you in Sweden?
Sweden
‘The child I nearly hit could have been my own’
While experienced expat drivers – especially Americans – may whine about the hassle of getting a Swedish licence, a near miss has convinced US-native and parent Rebecca Ahlfeldt that it was worth the trouble.
Germany
Germany sits on ‘terror’ data collection law
A European data collection law apparently used in France to track down the Toulouse terrorist – is being sat on by the German government.
Sweden
Bildt wary of ‘blow up’ in Iranian nuke talks
Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, hailing plans to resume talks between global powers and Iran on its suspect nuclear drive, warned Friday against a "blow up" of the negotiations.
Norway
Norwegian Yara reports suspect Libya payments
Norwegian fertiliser giant Yara International said on Friday it had uncovered "unacceptable payments" in Switzerland in connection with a corruption probe into its activities in Libya.
Norway
Stoltenberg presents cabinet shake-up
Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg on Friday appointed three new ministers to the cabinet in a reshuffle prompted by upheavals in the Socialist Left party, a junior member in the three-party red-green coalition government.
France
Big jump in French business confidence
French business confidence improved sharply in March, with the composite business climate index jumping four points from the level in February to 95, the INSEE national statistics institute said on Friday.
Germany
New president: dare to have more Europe
Joachim Gauck used his first speech as German President on Friday morning to call for the country to “dare to have more Europe” in times of crisis, and for determination in facing down extremists.
Germany
Doherty’s drunken car smash costs him €30,000
Scandal-plagued British pop star Pete Doherty is paying off a fine for smashing up a car in Berlin during a drunken rampage in monthly instalments – and will not be finished until the end of 2016.
Sweden
‘Give ’em Viagra’: politician’s joke flops
Another week of unusual news in Sweden, featuring Viagra, sheep heads, smelly guinea-pigs and octogenarians on the "run", we present a light-hearted look at Swedish news that didn't make the front page.
Switzerland
Pig head thrower was politician’s nephew
A man arrested in Luzern this week for hurling pig heads at chocolate displays was the mentally ill nephew of Swiss parliamentarian Otto Ineichen, it has emerged.
France
‘Burned out’ man chains himself to job centre
A job centre worker chained himself up to protest against his working conditions on Thursday. The man is partially deaf and says his employers are not taking his handicap into account.
France
‘My name is Mohamed Merah and my life is hell’
Several Frenchmen who bear the same name as gunman Mohamed Merah have been targetted and harassed after the identity of the Toulouse killer was released.
Norway
Business Brief: Casas do Barlavento – luxury villas in Portugal
Do you fancy heading to Portugal's beautiful Algarve? Casas do Barlavento can help find you somewhere to rent for a holiday - or to buy.
France
Great pussy purge puzzles French town
In 2011, several hundred cats disappeared in the town of Angers. Animal protection groups suspect that a fur trafficker or a madmen might be attacking the cats.
Switzerland
Intercom banter lands train conductor in trouble
A renegade train conductor prompted an on-board manhunt on Tuesday after his announcements began to go somewhat off-piste on the intercity from Bern to Zurich.
Sweden
Swedish soldier injured by Aghanistan bomb
A Swedish soldier on duty in Afghanistan was seriously injured by a roadside bomb on Friday while on patrol west of the Swedish military base in Mazar-i-Sharif.
Switzerland
Jealous Swiss pensioner shoots estranged wife
A 68-year-old man from canton Luzern, referred to only as Kurt K, shot his estranged wife, 39-year-old Melanie K, in the stomach on Thursday.
Germany
The German who ‘bought a Greek island’
German politicians may have called for Greece to sell its islands to solve its financial crisis as a joke – but one German man seized the initiative, bought a slice of one and is selling his Porsche to build a house. Jenny Hoff met him.
France
Facebook removes Merah tribute page
Facebook on Thursday removed a page that paid homage to the young Frenchman who died in a shootout with police after killing seven people, officials said.
Sweden
Sleeping man rapes sleeping woman
A 27-year-old man from northern Sweden charged with raping a sleeping woman has defended himself by claiming he too was asleep at the time.
Switzerland
Credit Suisse bosses see wages halved
Executives at Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse saw their pay packet shrink by about half in 2011, according to the bank's annual compensation report which was published on Friday.
Germany
Germany set to ban extreme right party
Germany is going to try again to ban the extreme right National Democratic Party, which has been linked to a neo-Nazi cell accused of nine racially-motivated killings and the murder of a policewoman.
France
Gunman ‘could not have been arrested’ – PM
French police had no grounds to detain a self-proclaimed Islamic extremist before he went on a killing spree, Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Friday.
Norway
Breivik ‘meets’ Dutch right-wing MP on stage
A chance encounter between a Norwegian gunman on a crusade against multiculturalism and a Dutch anti-Islamist right-wing politician takes place in a controversial play presented on Thursday at an Amsterdam theatre.
Sweden
Man dies after twenty doctors ‘miss’ his cancer
Some twenty physicians in northwestern Sweden failed for months to realize that a patient was suffering from cancer of the larynx for months until a few weeks before he died.
Sweden
Thief steals front door, made to mount it
While driving home from work on Thursday evening a man in county Värmland, northwestern Sweden, was shocked to see his front door zoom past the other way strapped to the roof of another car, local paper Värmlands Folkblad reports.
Germany
Police arrest Brit over rhino horn theft
Police have arrested a British man on suspicion of helping to steal rhino horns worth around €50,000 from a German museum last month.
Sweden
Babies mature faster with both parents home: study
Babies develop the ability to discern between their mother’s, father’s and strangers’ emotional expression faster if both parents stay home for the first few months, a new Swedish study shows.