Free Republic

A Swedish professor suggested Israel was behind the bloody terror attacks committed by Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik this past July, stirring up controversy in the country. Research professor Ola Tunander of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) published an article in the Norwegian academic journal Nytt Norsk Tidsskrift in which he called to further examine Brevik's motives. According to Tunander, it is possible that some country was behind the terror attacks, hinting that Israel might be that country.

After sustaining an open chest wound of 10cm long while trimming her horse’s mane, Sweden’s emergency response services refused to send an ambulance, suggesting the 11-year-old girl take aspirin instead. (Snip) The resulting gash to her ribs measured 10cm long, and according to the girl’s mother, was substantially open, reported Sweden’s national newspaper Svenska Dagbladet (SvD). The mother phoned SOS Alarm, the government-backed primary emergency response service, and described the child as shaking because she was in so much pain. She requested an ambulance because she did not have immediate access to a car. The responding nurse refused the dispatch.

Almost 100 years after the great Swedish migration to North America, dialect researchers from Gothenburg are heading across the Atlantic in hopes of learning more about the evolution of the Swedish language, The Local’s Karen Holst explains. Wild myths that solve the mysterious birth of language and its dispersal often include floods, catastrophes or punishment by the gods. In Hindu stories it was a tree being humbled, in North American Indian folklore it was a great flood, in east Africa it was starvation-induced madness, in the Amazon it was stolen hummingbird eggs and in aboriginal Australia it was a goddess’...

STOCKHOLM (AFP) – The whistleblower website WikiLeaks will place several new servers with the Swedish Pirate Party, the group which campaigns for more freedom on the Internet said Tuesday. "The Pirate Party will provide bandwidth and hosting to WikiLeaks free of charge as part of its political mission," the party said in a statement. It said the agreement was reached at a meeting in Stockholm at the weekend with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. "We welcome the help provided by the Pirate Party," Assange was quoted as saying in the statement. "Our organisations share many values and I am looking forward...

Anti-Semites struck for the second time in two weeks Friday and attacked the synagogue in the Swedish city of Malmo, which has suffered a steady exodus of Jews because of anti-Semitism. A written bomb threat had been taped to the synagogue Friday, when an explosion shattered three window panes but caused no injuries. Security at the synagogue was beefed up following the attack. An explosion also struck the house of worship two weeks ago, without causing injuries.

MALMO, SWEDEN — At some point, the shouts of “Heil Hitler” that often greeted Marcus Eilenberg as he walked to the 107-year-old Moorish-style synagogue in this port city forced the 32-year-old attorney to make a difficult, life-changing decision: Fearing for his family’s safety after repeated anti-Semitic incidents, Eilenberg reluctantly uprooted himself and his wife and two children, and moved to Israel in May. Sweden, a country long regarded as a model of tolerance, has, ironically, been a refuge for Eilenberg’s family. His paternal grandparents found a home in Malmo in 1945 after surviving the Holocaust. His wife’s parents came to...

he Swedish Dock Workers Union (Hamnarbetarförbundet) on Wednesday launched a blockade of Israeli cargo in protest against the deadly raid on the Gaza-bound freedom flotilla last month, union representatives have confirmed. The blockade, which also applies to Israeli ships, was launched "because of the assault on the Ship to Gaza (flotilla), that we supported before they took off ... and the blockade of the Gaza strip, which affects the civilian population," union spokesman Rolf Axelsson said.

The Swedish Crown Princess Victoria is set to tie the knot with Daniel Westling, her former personal trainer, in the country's long-awaited royal wedding. More than 1,000 guests, including royalties from around the world, were expected to attend the ceremony in Stockholm Cathedral on Saturday. Security was tight in the capital, with 7,000 security personell deployed, the biggest security operation ever in the Scandinavian country. The future queen's relationship with Westling, a commoner from a small town, has been under close scrutiny since it got known to the public eight years ago.

STOCKHOLM – A Swedish artist who angered Muslims by depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a dog was assaulted Tuesday as furious protesters interrupted his university lecture about the limits of free speech. Lars Vilks told The Associated Press a man leaped from the front row and head-butted him as he was delivering his lecture at Uppsala University, breaking Vilks' glasses but leaving him uninjured. Police later said the attacker was stopped before he could reach Vilks and that the artist may have bumped into plain-clothes officers who briskly evacuated him from the room. Three people were detained, but it wasn't...

Via Michael Moynihan at Reason. Remember Lars Vilks? A few years ago he decided to draw Mohammed as a pooch and has been dodging killers ever since, from garden variety Islamist nuts like “Jihad Jane” all the way up to the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq. Funny thing, though: Not only wasn’t he intimidated, he practically dared the mujahedeen to come and get him, letting CNN cameras film his home and even booby-trapping the place in case the soldiers of Allah paid him an unexpected visit. Quote: Vilks has faced numerous death threats over the controversial cartoon, but said...

Lars Vilks, the Swedish cartoonist who drew Mohammed as a dog, was recently told that a scheduled lecture on free speech, to be held at Jönköping Högskolan, would be canceled due to "security concerns." This, of course, is a common evasion, intended to protect the brittle sensibilities of Muslim students while supposedly standing four square behind the right of free speech. Alas, the administrators in Jönköping had a point. During a lecture in Uppsala today Vilks was attacked by a pack of feral fundamentalists, one of whom managed to headbutt the artist and break his glasses. Police intervened and waged...

SNIPPET: "An al-Qaeda-linked extremist group in Somalia has recruited more than 20 young people from Sweden to fight in the war-torn African country, the Swedish Security Service (Säpo) fears. Somali Islamic insurgency group Harakat al-Shabab Mujahideen ("Movement of Warrior Youth"), better known as Al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaeda, is thought to have recruited dozens of Swedish youth to engage in terrorist acts, according to Göteborgs-Tidningen." SNIPPET: "Gothenburg was identified by several sources as the largest recruitment base in the country, the report said. Sweden is also a fundraising hub for the group, according to Svenska Dagbladet editorial writer Per...

"STOCKHOLM -- Princess Madeleine of Sweden has broken off her engagement with attorney Jonas Bergstrom, the Royal Court announced Saturday. "The reasons for the break up were not disclosed, but Norwegian magazine Se og Hoer published an interview this week with a woman named Tora Uppstroem Berg who claimed she had spent a night with the princess' fiance at a popular Swedish skiing resort last year."

A Greek man has sued a dairy firm in southern Sweden after his picture ended up on a Turkish yoghurt product. The man whose picture adorns the Turkish yoghurt product, manufactured by Lindahls dairy in Jönköping, argues that the company does not have permission to use his image. He has now sued Lindahls for 50 million kronor ($6.9 million), according to Sveriges Radio (SR) Jönköping.

The biggest Swedish pension fund has barred Israeli defense electronics company Elbit Systems from its investment portfolios on ethical grounds, Israel Radio reported Monday. Following the lead of Norway's state oil fund, the Första AP-Fonden pension fund said it had banned investment in Elbit because the Israeli company had built and is operating a surveillance system for the much debated West Bank separation barrier. Critics of the controversial barrier argue that it is an illegal attempt to annex Palestinian land under the guise of security and that it severely restricts Palestinians who live nearby, particularly their ability to travel freely...

"Part of Sweden’s problem overseas is that everyone thinks we’re like Abba and Ikea,” says Stockholm-based stand-up comedian Magnus Betner. “We’re a nation of beautiful people singing happy songs in stylish modernist apartments. But that’s not how we Swedes see ourselves. We have a very, very dark side, and I think you’re only just finding out about it now.”

Seven Muslims were arrested in the Irish Republic today over an alleged plot to assassinate a Swedish cartoonist who depicted the Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog, police said. Al Qaida put a 100,000-dollar bounty on the head of cartoonist Lars Vilks after a newspaper published his cartoon. The four men and three women were detained after an investigation involving European security agencies and the United States' CIA and FBI.

Daily Independent (Lagos) "Nigeria: Police Arrest Suspected Terrorist At Abuja Airport - Probe Al-Jazeera Report On Extra-Judicial Killings" Maxwell Oditta And Abel Orukpe 26 February 2010 SNIPPET: "Lagos — Barely two months after Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian was arrested by U.S. authorities for attempting to blow up a Northwest Airlines Flight 253 flying from Amsterdam, Netherlands to Detroit, Michigan, with 289 passengers on December 25, 2009, the Police at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, has arrested a 36-year-old suspected terrorist Ahmed Ibrahim Muhammad from Eritrea. A highly dependable source in the Abuja airport told our correspondent...

Hi! New member here. Just wanted to see if there are any interesting questions about Sweden. I'll answer them all as best as I possibly can.

(IsraelNN.com) Violent anti-Semitism has become increasingly commonplace in Sweden’s southern city of Malmö, leading many Jewish residents to leave out of fear for their safety. “Threats against Jews have increased steadily in Malmö in recent years and many young Jewish families are choosing to leave the city,” said Fredrik Sieradzki of the Jewish Community of Malmö. Last year, 79 crimes against Jewish residents were reported to the Malmö police, roughly double the number reported in 2008. In addition, Jewish cemeteries and synagogues have been repeatedly defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti, and a chapel at another Jewish burial site in Malmö was...

Department store cancels sale of Swedish jeans made in N.Korea Jeans confiscated because of 'working conditions in North Korea'. -AFP Sun, Dec 06, 2009 AFP STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN - A Swedish department store on Saturday cancelled what was to be the sale of the "first ever" brand of jeans made in North Korea, the Swedish company behind the communist-made dark denims said. "Apparently PUB has censored our exhibition/store by shutting it down and 'confiscating' the jeans because of the 'working conditions in North Korea'," Jakob Ohlsson of company Noko Jeans told AFP in an email. "At first i thought it was...

The Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society (Svenska Freds) has classified as "shameful" the decision by the Nobel Committee in Oslo to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 to Barack Obama. "The choice of Barack Obama as the recipient of the world's foremost peace prize is shocking," said the group's chairwoman Anna Ek in a statement. Ek conceded that the US president had sent "positive signals" with regard to his future commitment to global peace. "But at the same time Obama is the president of the biggest military power in the world and is waging two wars in the world....

The article in Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet accusing Israeli soldiers of stealing and selling the organs of Palestinians is not a surprise or isolated aberration, but rather the result of a long campaign of anti-Israeli demonization, based on manufactured "evidence" repeated by Palestinian "eyewitnesses". A screen capture showing the... A screen capture showing the article in Aftonbladet, with a picture of a dead Palestinian next to a picture of a New Jersey rabbi. Applying the strategy adopted at the NGO forum of the 2001 UN Durban conference, the well-financed network of radical non-governmental organizations (NGOs) plays a major role in this...

A Swedish newspaper provoked outrage in Israel and drew condemnation from Sweden's ambassador on Wednesday after it ran a story on transplant organ theft, a report an Israeli official branded anti-Semitic "hate porn". The editor of Aftonbladet, Sweden's largest daily newspaper, hit back hard, at both Israel and at the Swedish envoy for attacking his paper's coverage.

Health authorities in Sweden have decided not to punish two doctors who mistakenly stitched a 65-year-old patient’s bladder to his large intestine. The faulty operation took place in January at Malmö University Hospital on a patient who had previously had surgery for an inflamed rectum following treatment for prostate cancer.

Note: The following text is a quote: Swedish National Charged with Hacking and Theft of Trade Secrets Related to Alleged Computer Intrusions at NASA and Cisco Philip Gabriel Pettersson, aka "Stakkato," 21, a Swedish national, was indicted today on intrusion and trade secret theft charges. The five-count indictment includes one intrusion count and two trade secret misappropriation counts involving Cisco Systems Inc. (Cisco), of San Jose, Calif., which is a provider of computer network equipment and producer of Internet routers. According to the allegations in the indictment Pettersson intentionally committed an intrusion between May 12, 2004, and May 13, 2004,...

Oussama Abdullah Kassir, 43, who was extradited from the Czech Republic on terrorism charges in 2007, faces multiple charges including supporting al-Qaeda by attempting to set up the camp in rural Oregon from 1999 to early 2000 and later setting up websites on explosives and poisons.

(IsraelNN.com) Islamists reached new heights of audacity in a face-off with pro-Israel demonstrators in Malmö, Sweden on Sunday, firing rockets and throwing pipe bombs at the pro-Israel group in broad daylight and under police's noses. No one was hurt. The incident was videotaped by Swedish blogger Ted Ekeroth, whose blog contains videos showing the attack. Between 400 and 500 people gathered in Stortorget Square for a peaceful pro-Israeli protest. The police sealed off the entire square and only allowed in the protesters, as well as a smaller group of Islamists, and separated the two groups from each other. Blogger Ekeroth...

Immigrants to Sweden should be able to become citizens within two years if they learn Swedish quickly, a new report has proposed. While current regulations stipulate a five year minimum for anyone wishing to become a citizen, researchers Dan-Olof Rooth and Per Strömblad recommend shortening the waiting period for newcomers who manage to become proficient in Swedish at an earlier stage. In a report commissioned by the government's Globalisation Council, the researchers stress that the proposal would not lead to stricter rules for anyone seeking a passport, but would provide an incentive for those wishing to speed up the process....

"More teenage girls than boys have had sex with someone of the same gender, according to a new dissertation from the Sahlgrenska Academy in Gothenburg. ... Altogether 440 girls and boys aged 17 were questioned for the study. “It was 6.1 percent of the girls who answered that they had had sex with someone of the same gender, while 1.7 percent of boys said the same thing,” Rembeck explained."

"Women will continue to be barred from bathing topless at an indoor pool in the central Swedish town of Enköping following a decision by the town council’s recreation committee on Tuesday. Prior to the decision, committee member Stefan Brandberg cited concerns about the health of young girls in his opposition to the proposed lifting of the ban. “We believe that it can contribute to anorexia—there is a risk for that,” he said to the newspaper Expressen. Monica Hällgren, chair of the Enköping recreation committee, confirmed that one of the central arguments for leaving the ban in place was concern over...

"A teenage student in possession of sexually explicit photos of his Swedish school teacher claims the woman was trying to seduce him, reports the Göteborgs Tidning (GT) newspaper. The photos, which depict the teacher in sexually provocative positions, have now been circulated to several students at a school in Kungsbacka outside of Gothenburg, landing the teacher at the centre of a school-wide sex scandal. The woman denies accusations that she sent the photos to the student or that she was trying to seduce him, claiming that the boy could have easily downloaded the pictures himself."

Financial crisis rocks Swedish military Published: 12 Jan 08 10:35 CET Online: http://www.thelocal.se/9635/ Sweden's armed forces are mulling extensive cutbacks as a deepening economic crisis looms in 2008. The cost of running the Armed Forces is expected to exceed the military budget by between 1 and 1.5 billion kronor, Svenska Dagbladet reports. Lietenant General Jan Salestrand confirmed that the military was experiencing considerable financial problems. "I want to underline the fact that we are sticking to our allocation and looking after our finances - but this also means that we have to put measures in place to reduce our ambitions...

PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- A Swedish citizen wanted in the U.S. on suspicion of plotting to set up a terrorist camp there was extradited Tuesday from the Czech Republic, officials said. Czech Justice minister Jiri Pospisil ruled on Sept 18 there was no reason to refuse a U.S. extradition request for Oussama Kassir, spokeswoman Zuzana Kuncova said. Kassir left the country by plane on Tuesday bound for the United States, said Kuncova. Kassir was arrested on Dec. 11, 2005, at Prague's Ruzyne international airport while flying from Stockholm, Sweden, to Beirut, Lebanon. He has been held in a Czech prison...

CAIRO — The Sweden's Muslim Council has lodged a lawsuit against an illustrator and a local newspaper that recently published an offensive Prophet Muhammad cartoon, which has inflamed Muslims worldwide. "Our (legal) action is targeting the newspaper; the Swedish government is not party in this crisis," Sheikh Zuhri Barhamon, the Secretary General of the Muslim Association of Sweden, told IslamOnline.net Sunday, September 2, over the phone from Stockholm. Barhamon said relevant Swedish laws do not criminalize the publication of cartoons. "But judges could rule in our favor if they found the caption offensive or immoral," he added. On August 18,...

Darwin's theory of evolution has been dealt a stinging blow by a group of Swedish-Norwegian researchers. The group, led by Professor Per Jensen from Linköping University, has launched a challenge to Darwin's notion that behaviour cannot be inherited. In a study published by scientific journal PLoS ONE, the group found that the young of domestic hens exposed to high levels of stress displayed similar behavioral anomalies despite growing up in a stress free environment. Furthermore, genetic modifications in the young chickens' brains were similar to those developed by their parents as a result of stress. Per Jensen is keen to...

"A 44-year-old woman is suspected of having set fire to the bed she shared with her 28-year-old girlfriend after she found the younger woman having sex with a male acquaintance. Later on the night of February 16th, the 28-year-old awoke to find their bed engulfed in flames. The 44-year-old woman has spent the last two weeks in police custody in Mjölby in southern Sweden. She denies the charge of arson. "

Let me start black history month a few weeks early. Barack Obama has plans of running for President of the United States, But will he be the first Black President or the 8th Black President? I know this posting will stir controversty but George Washington was not the first President of the U.S. Let's take a look at history. A "Black" Man, A Moor, John Hanson Was the First President of the United States! 1781-1782 A.D.??? George Washington was really the 8th President of the United States! George Washington was not the first President of the United States. In fact,...

The newspaper “Aftonbladet� reports that Sweden’s Prince Carl Philip was taken in for questioning by American immigration officials when he arrived in Miami recently. The 27 year old prince has been working with a Swedish documentary team, and after filming in Venezuela, they flew to the United States. The prince’s security police guards reportedly decided the U.S. was safe, and returned to Sweden, while Prince Carl Philip not only flew on a separate flight from the other members of the film team, he also left his passport behind at a Venezuelan hotel. When he arrived in Miami he presented a...

"A woman who filmed while her husband raped their teenage daughter has been sentenced to two years imprisonment by Helsingborg district court. The woman was found guilty of being an accessory to child rape and sexual exploitation of a child. "

Benefits agency closes 309 offices The Swedish Social Insurance Administration, which handles all Swedish pension and sick benefit payments, plans to close 309 of its 330 offices. Customers are to be encouraged to use the Internet and telephone to communicate with the organization. "Many of our customers have been dissatisfied with long telephone waiting times and long waits for their cases to be dealt with," said Maivor Isaksson, production director at the organization, known in Swedish as Försäkringskassan. It is planned for Försäkringskassan to cooperate with other state authorities in many 280 communities in Sweden, in order to provide some...

"Swedish glam pop star Ola Salo rubbed Washington up the wrong way when performing at the gala opening of Sweden's new US embassy on Sunday. When The Ark's lead singer caught sight of some planes preparing to land at the nearby airport, he decided to remind the audience of the events of 9/11. "In this country, you don't know where those planes are headed," he said. According to Expressen Salo then added: "I hope they fly into the White House rather than here". "

Swedish centre-right alliance wins wafer-thin election victory Sweden's centre-right opposition secured a narrow victory in yesterday's general election, ending 12 years of rule by the Social Democrats, who have governed for 65 of the last 74 years. Fredrik Reinfeldt, the next prime minister, declared victory shortly before 11pm after a nail-biting finish which gave his four-party Alliance for Sweden a wafer-thin parliamentary majority. His group was on course to win 178 seats in the 349-seat parliament - seven ahead of the Social Democrats and its allies on the left. With 99.7% of Sweden's districts counted, Mr Reinfeldt's alliance led with...

Alliance wins - Persson concedes Fredrik Reinfeldt is to be Sweden's new prime minister. He has declared victory, Göran Persson has said he will resign as prime minister and as leader of the Social Democrats. Reinfeldt claimed victory in his first adress to the crowds gathered at the Moderates' election party. Arriving on stage at 10.50 to a rousing first-name chorus, chants and flag-waving. It was an emphatic speech where he did all but declare himself as Sweden's new Prime Minister. "The Swedish people have voted," he began. "We have won as the new Moderates; we dared to challenge ourselves,...

Sweden's centre-right opposition bloc has defeated the ruling Social Democrat party in the country's closest-fought general election for decades. Moderate party leader Fredrik Reinfeldt gave a jubilant declaration of victory as near-complete results gave him a 1% lead. Prime Minister Goran Persson conceded defeat, saying he and his government would resign. The Social Democrat party has ruled for all but 10 of the past 89 years.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) Sweden's center-right opposition alliance has declared victory after nearly complete official results show it narrowly defeating the governing Social Democrats.

Exit poll: Alliance on the path to victory Exit polls released by Swedish TV companies predict that the centre-right Alliance is on its way to power, ending Göran Persson's 12-year period as prime minister SVT's poll gave the Alliance the bigger lead, with 49.7 percent against 45.6 percent for the Social Democrats' and allies. TV4's poll showed the Social Democrats and allies slightly closer behind the Alliance, with figures at 48.6 against 46.7 percent. "This sounds fantastic, and it's a result of a strong campaign which we are proud of. The way things look, it could well be that the...

A young, right-wing politician emerges from nowhere, captures the centre ground and ousts a discredited government after more than a decade in power. On Sunday, the dream of every conservative may be realised, not in Britain but in Sweden. The land of Volvo, Ikea and the much-vaunted Swedish social model may be on the threshold of a political earthquake. For the past 10 years, Göran Persson has been Prime Minister, leading one of the most formidable vote-winning machines in democratic politics. But opinion polls show Sunday's election is on a knife-edge. The remodelled, centrist, Swedish conservative party, known as the...

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - The letter 'W' has entered the mainstream of the Swedish language, getting its own section for the first time in the country's most respected dictionary. While 'W' has long been a letter in its own right in other Nordic languages, Swedish linguists have always viewed it as a lesser sibling of the letter 'V,' as the two letters are pronounced identically in Swedish. The few Swedish words that use 'W' have generally been borrowed from other languages — such as "watt," "walkie-talkie" and the "World Wide Web" — and have so far always been lumped under the...

Swedish automobiles have long been known as safe and steady, not fast and furious. It's no accident you've never heard the phrase "Swede speed." Right now, you're thinking about boxy, safe Volvo wagons, handy in the snow and adept with the kids and groceries, not high performance roadsters. Enter Christian von Koenigsegg, a 33-year-old Swede with fast dreams. And he's got a former fighter jet assembly plant to bring them to life. Clocking in at 245 miles per hour, Koenigsegg Automotive broke the world speed record for a production car last year with the Koenigsegg CCR. Since the first production...