Energy transition cheaper than expected
Grid operators vastly overestimated the cost of developing Germany's electricity grid to cope with the planned switch from nuclear to renewable energy, it emerged Sunday.
Day: July 9, 2012
Germany
Switzerland
Jorge, 30, missing near Matterhorn
The family of a 30-year-old Costa Rican man who disappeared on July 4th has appealed to anyone who may have seen the missing tourist to contact the police.
Sweden
Swedish woman kills 14,000 ‘revolting’ slugs
A woman in eastern Sweden has taken matters into her own hands after an army of Spanish "killer" slugs threatened to take over her garden – having personally killed 14,000 of the marauding creatures since May.
Sweden
Crisis, conservatism, and China: the centre-right jockeys for position
Correspondent and commentator David Linden looks at whether leaders of Sweden's three centre-right political parties – which sometimes struggle in the shadow of the Moderates – managed to put their parties in the Almedalen spotlight.
Switzerland
Swiss nuke watchdog gives plants the all-clear
Switzerland's four nuclear power stations are fit to withstand a major earthquake and pose no threat to the population and the environment, inspectors said on Monday.
Germany
Divorce lawyer launches chainsaw massacre ad
A German divorce lawyer is scaring - and outraging – cinema-goers in Dresden with an advert that features a beautiful woman who has apparently just attacked her husband with a chainsaw.
Norway
Match-fixing scandal rocks Norway
Norway’s football association (NFF) reported match-fixing allegations to the police on Monday amid suspicions that players have teamed with organized criminals to rig results for betting reasons.
Sweden
‘Exploding iPhone’ leaves Swedish man in shock
An ex-Volvo engineer in Sweden who recently tried to change the battery on his iPhone got a shock and lost a tooth after the popular Apple smartphone exploded and caught fire.
Sweden
Sweden warns heroin users after anthrax death
The death of a drug user in Denmark from what is believed to be a batch of heroin contaminated by anthrax has prompted a warning from Swedish health authorities to the country's heroin users.
Sweden
Police cordon off hospital after mystery powder find
Police cordoned off the entrance to a hospital in Gothenburg after a man arrived with an unknown powder on his body on Monday morning.
Norway
World oil prices rise before Norway lockout
World oil prices advanced on Monday, rebounding from recent losses ahead of a looming lockout of Norwegian production.
Sweden
Swedish fraud figures double: report
The number fraud cases reported in Sweden has doubled in the past ten years, with people born outside of Sweden among those most often targeted, according to new statistics.
Norway
Norway and Japan block UN role on whales
Norway, Japan and their allies blocked a bid on Friday to give the United Nations a greater role in protecting whales, as sought by conservationists frustrated by deep polarization over whaling.
Germany
Castration only way out of prison for child abuser
A German judge told a convicted child sex abuser who attacked boys aged between eight months and four years old, he would never be released unless he underwent chemical castration.
France
French get stressed booking cheap flights
51 percent of French perople say that looking for the cheapest flights online is the most stressful part of their holiday experience.
Germany
Fears of violence as Berlin biker war escalates
Berlin police have warned that biker gangs could use more guns and explosives as they fight for survival after a crackdown by authorities. Police also fear that Scandinavian organised crime networks may get involved.
Switzerland
Recruit collapses after military training
A 19-year-old army recruit suffered cardiac arrest after completing an eight-kilometre walk.
Germany
Merck to Portugal: pay bills or lose investment
German pharma giant Merck is threatening to withdraw millions of euros of investment from Portugal – because the state-run hospitals are on average more than 500 days behind in paying their bills.
France
Ten injured in nightclub shooting
Ten people were wounded when a man opened fire on clients inside a nightclub in the town of Bertry in the north of France.
Switzerland
Warhol thief gets 18 months
A 29-year-old heating engineer is set to spend 18 months in prison after stealing ten original Andy Warhol paintings from a residence in Thalwil, canton Zurich.
Sweden
New flood warnings: ‘it’s going to get worse’
Heavy rains caused flooding in parts of south central Sweden, prompting the country's weather agency to issue warnings Sunday night that a number of rivers may burst their banks.
France
Pregnant bride has baby at wedding
In a first for the village's startled mayor, an expectant bride surpassed all expectations by giving birth on Saturday just moments after getting hitched in Jallais, western France.
Switzerland
Far-right party seeks to limit development aid
The far-right Swiss People's Party wants to launch an initiative to limit the amount of development aid paid out to poorer countries.
Germany
Young teens in party ban to fight binge-drinking
Young German teenagers could be banned from public events where alcohol is sold – even though they cannot legally buy it – after 8pm if not with a parent, according to new plans to stop teen binge drinking.
Germany
Gun club open day leaves two injured
Organisers of a public relations event at a German gun club were left red-faced on Sunday, after a woman accidentally shot a man in the foot. Both had to be treated for injuries.
Sweden
Fans divided as Malmö to host Eurovision 2013
The 2013 Eurovision Song Contest will take place in the southern Swedish city of Malmö organizers confirmed Sunday, with the news angering some fans who were set for a Stockholm final.
Switzerland
Test Arafat for poisoning: Abbas to Swiss experts
The Palestinian president will call on Swiss experts who probed Yasser Arafat's death to take
samples from his body for further tests, a Palestinian official said on Sunday.
Germany
Government disowns new info-selling law
The German government has disowned a law passed by its own parties in parliament in less than a minute which enables local authorities to sell people’s personal information even without their permission.
France
Deschamps named new France coach
France's World Cup and Euro winning captain Didier Deschamps was named coach of the national side on Sunday, the French Football Federation (FFF) announced on its website.
Norway
Oil lockout looms large as strike talks fail
A costly shutdown in oil output in Norway, Western Europe's top producer, looks set to go ahead next week after talks between striking workers and employers failed, the employers' group OLF said on Sunday.
Sweden
Diabetes numbers rise among young Swedes
As obesity numbers in Sweden expand, more and more Swedes are suffering from diabetes and at least half of them don’t even know it, according to new statistics.
Germany
Brokeback rider heads for Olympic bike sprints
Three years after surviving an horrific accident, German cyclist Kristina Vogel will arrive at the Olympics as the world team sprint champion and record holder.
Germany
Merkel: Europe more than a currency
France and Germany marked 50 years of reconciliation on Sunday, their leaders stressing the ties that unite the two countries and condemning news of the desecration of dozens of German war graves.
Sweden
Man survives after car plunges into ravine
A 65-year-old man who failed to return from a shopping errand late on Sunday night was found stuck inside his car which had plunged headfirst into a six-metre ravine and had stuck fast.
Sweden
Teary air hostess causes panic on Swedish flight
After smoke started to billow from the cockpit of a Malmö Aviation plane bound for Spain, a crash landing warning from a teary air hostess caused mass hysteria among passengers.