Finland

The following articles have been tagged with "Finland":

Serial killer investigation 'a scandal'

National: 19 Mar 10
The mother of Therese Johannessen has described the investigation into her daughter's death as scandalous, as an evidence controversy sheds doubt on the conviction of the Swedish serial murderer Thomas Quick. READ »

University massacre threat suspect released

National: 17 Mar 10
The 33-year-old student held on suspicion of the massacre threat at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm on Monday has been released. READ »

Student expresses regret over massacre threat

National: 16 Mar 10
A 33-year-old man arrested in connection with a massacre threat at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm on Monday has expressed "deep regret" over his actions, as a wave of copycat threats spread across the country. READ »

Vattenfall sells German power grid

Business & Money: 12 Mar 10
Swedish energy firm Vattenfall announced the sale on Friday of its German power grid to Belgium's Elia and Australian investment fund IFM for $1.1 billion. READ »

Voddler signs deal with Warner Bros.

Business & Money: 10 Mar 10
Swedish internet movie service Voddler has signed a contract with the US film giant Warner Bros. Entertainment. The deal covers film material from Warner Bros and New Line Cinema. READ »

Reinfeldt: 'Iceland must honour its commitments'

Business & Money: 9 Mar 10
Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has reminded crisis-stricken Iceland that the Swedish portion of a large Nordic country loan is conditional on Reykjavik concluding a compensation deal for the Icesave bank collapse. READ »

Sweden slammed over sexual violence inaction

Society: 8 Mar 10
Sweden and its Nordic neighbours have been slammed by human rights group Amnesty International for failing to combat sexual violence, a new report shows. READ »

Baltic ferries slammed for 'Titanic Syndrome'

National: 6 Mar 10
The Swedish Maritime Administration (Sjöfartsverket) has sharply criticized ferry companies in the Baltic Sea for ignoring warnings and failing to change routes to avoid thick ice sheets. READ »

Ships freed from Baltic Sea ice

National: 5 Mar 10
Dozens of ships have been freed from thick ice in the Baltic Sea on Friday after ice breakers worked diligently to end the ordeal of of thousands of passengers and crew stranded in freezing conditions off the Swedish coast. READ »

Thousands stuck in Baltic Sea freeze

National: 5 Mar 10
The Baltic Sea was dotted with around 50 ships stuck in the ice on Thursday, including one large passenger ferry carrying around 1,000 people. Many will remain where they are until Friday, Swedish maritime authorities said. READ »

Swedes knocked out of Olympic hockey

National: 25 Feb 10
Sweden, the defending Olympic men's hockey champions, has been eliminated from the Vancouver Winter Olympics on Wednesday, losing to Slovakia 4-3 in their quarter-final. READ »

Swedes strike gold in cross country relay

Sport: 25 Feb 10
Sweden claimed the 4x10 kilometres cross country relay gold on Wednesday, for a record fifth time. Norway settled for silver with the Czechs taking the bronze. READ »

Record year in hunt for benefit cheats: agency

Business & Money: 22 Feb 10
The Swedish Social Insurance Agency has reported a record year in its hunt for benefit cheats, reclaiming 930 million kronor ($130 million) in stolen and saved benefits. READ »

Swedes beat Finland to reach hockey last eight

National: 22 Feb 10
Sweden clinched a place in the last eight of the Vancouver Winter Olympic hockey tournament with a 3-0 win over Finland on Sunday evening. READ »

Sweden and Norway in sprint clash

Sport: 22 Feb 10
Old rivals and neighbours Sweden and Norway will meet in both the men's and women's team sprints to decide who gets the cross-country bragging rights at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic games. READ »

Ghostbuster Swedes bag Belarus win

Sport: 19 Feb 10
Reigning Olympic champions Sweden saw off the challenge of Belarus on Friday, eight years on from a defeat at the hands of the same opponents that still haunts the men in blue and yellow. READ »

Forsberg defies age and injury to lead Sweden

Sport: 16 Feb 10
Swedish ice-hockey's talisman, Peter Forsberg, reports that he is winning his fight to be fit to seek his third Olympic crown with the Tre Kronor national team. READ »

Hirvonen beats Loeb to Swedish rally crown

Sport: 15 Feb 10
Finland's Mikko Hirvonen beat the reigning world champion, Frenchman Sebastien Loeb, to win the Rally of Sweden in Värmland on Sunday. READ »

Sweden plays host to World Rally Champs

Sport: 11 Feb 10
The World Rally Championships returns to Sweden on Friday after a two-year long hiatus. Defending champion Sebastien Loeb says he is looking forward to racing in the snow. READ »

A layman's look at cross-country skiing

Sport: 9 Feb 10
A quick primer on cross-country skiing events that see athletes in tight-fitting costumes ski around Vancouver looking desperate to find their way home. READ »

Swedes draw Dutch and Finns in Euro 2012 qualifiers

Sport: 7 Feb 10
Sweden face Holland, Hungary and neighbours Finland in a Euro 2012 qualification group that gives Erik Hamrén's side a chance to settle old scores. READ »

Sweden fares badly in global economic report

National: 7 Feb 10
Swedes by and large have not fared well during the deep recession. The report card comes from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. READ »

'Swedes no longer sickest in EU': report

Society: 4 Feb 10
The established picture of the Swedes being the population with the highest incidence of sick leave in the world has been shaken. Sweden is now close to the European average. READ »

Fifth of Swedish population foreign

National: 29 Jan 10
Latest figures from Statistics Sweden reveal that in the last 50 years the number of foreigners living in Sweden or people with two foreign-born parents has risen from four to nearly 20 percent. READ »

Finland to cede small slice of border territory to Sweden

Society: 28 Jan 10
Sweden is set to undergo a territorial expansion following a government decision on Thursday which will alter the border with Finland to Sweden’s advantage. READ »

'Vast differences' in Swedish schools: study

Education: 21 Jan 10
Some of Sweden’s best primary schools can be found in municipalities along the southeastern coast of the country, according to a new ranking by the country's main teachers union. READ »

Swedes claim surprise double in Nordic skiing World Cup

Sport: 18 Jan 10
Sweden picked up an unexpected pair of victories in the men’s and women’s Nordic skiing World Cup competition in Estonia on Sunday. READ »

'Sweden world's most expensive country': index

National: 8 Jan 10
Sweden's status as a country with high quality living standards for its residents has been questioned in a newly published index, which claims it is the most costly country in the world to live in. READ »

Suspected murder on Finland-Sweden ferry

National: 6 Jan 10
A 39-year-old Finnish man is being held by Swedish police on suspicion of murder after a witness reports seeing him throw a fellow passenger overboard. READ »

Dalarna braces for record-low Siberian chill

Science & Technology: 5 Jan 10
Temperatures in Dalarna in central Sweden are expected to drop below minus 40 degrees Celsius as another cold front sweeps into Sweden from Siberia. READ »

Icebreakers do battle with Swedish waters

National: 4 Jan 10
All but one of Sweden's icebreakers have been called into action as half of the Gulf of Bothnia separating Sweden and Finland freezes over. READ »

Sweden names Olympic men's ice hockey troupe

Sport: 28 Dec 09
Swedish hockey legend Peter Forsberg, who has twice helped his country capture Olympic gold, was among the 23 players provisionally named on Sunday to the squad heading to Vancouver to defend Sweden’s Olympic ice hockey title. READ »

Sweden boasts record high population growth

National: 21 Dec 09
Sweden's population grew more in 2009 than it has in any year since 1946, according to new figures from Statistics Sweden. READ »

Swedish serial killer granted new trial

National: 17 Dec 09
Convicted Swedish serial murderer Thomas Quick has been granted a new trial for the 1988 killing of a tourist in Dalarna in central Sweden after he recanted his confessions to several killings. READ »

Diplomat and wife jailed for smuggling cigarettes

National: 16 Dec 09
A North Korean diplomat and his wife have been sentenced to eight months in prison by a court in Stockholm for attempting to smuggle more than 230,000 cigarettes into Sweden. READ »

Sweden heads toward new wine sales record

Society: 14 Dec 09
More than 170 million litres of wine are expected to fly off the shelves of Sweden’s state-owned alcohol monopoly Systembolaget by the end of 2009, setting a new record. READ »

TeliaSonera launches 4G mobile broadband in Stockholm

Science & Technology: 14 Dec 09
New 4G mobile services are now available for customers of Nordic telecom operator TeliaSonera in Stockholm and Oslo, the company announced on Monday. READ »

'No link between mobile phones and cancer'

Science & Technology: 5 Dec 09
A large, 30-year study, covering virtually everyone in Scandinavia, shows no link between mobile phone use and brain tumours. READ »

Swedish archaeologists celebrate ancient find

Science & Technology: 29 Nov 09
People lived in the Torne River Valley on the border with Sweden and Finland some 11,000 years ago, a 'sensational' new archaeological find has shown. READ »

Swedes scramble to join new online movie service

Science & Technology: 11 Nov 09
A new service for watching movies over the internet for free has attracted more than a quarter of a million Swedes since its launch two weeks ago. READ »

Sweden lagging behind in equality for women professionals

Analysis & Opinion: 10 Nov 09
Sweden's much-vaunted gender equality statistics do not stretch as far as the boardrooms of private companies, an area in which the country has fallen way off the international pace, argues Nima Sanandaji. READ »

Social Democrats slam Nord Stream approval

Business & Money: 6 Nov 09
Sweden’s decision to allow the Russian-led Nord Stream gas pipeline to pass through its territorial waters has prompted a scathing response from the political opposition. READ »

Sweden gives all clear to Baltic Sea gas pipeline

National: 5 Nov 09
The Swedish government on Thursday gave its permission for German firm Nord Stream AG to lay down pipelines for transporting natural gas from Russia to Germany through the Swedish economic zone of the Baltic Sea. READ »

School in swine flu jab drive after young girl dies

National: 5 Nov 09
Medical authorities in Haparanda in northern Sweden have begun vaccinating all pupils at a school in the town following the swine flu-related death of an 8-year-old Finnish girl. READ »

Anglicans snub Swedish lesbian bishop

Society: 4 Nov 09
Anglican bishops from England and Northern Ireland have rebuffed invitations to attend the ordination of the openly gay Eva Brunne to be the next Bishop of Stockholm. READ »

How Aussie dad beat Swedish police to find kidnapped sons

Analysis & Opinion: 28 Oct 09
When Australian George Pesor's children were abducted by their mother on a visit to Sweden, police searched for six months without success. But when Pesor took matters into his own hands, he solved the case in just a week. READ »

Swedish historian touts Nordic power bloc

Politics: 27 Oct 09
Sweden and its four Nordic neighbours should consider forming a federation in order to increase the region’s international weight, a Swedish historian proposes. The 'bloc of ice' would be headed by Denmark's Queen Margrethe. READ »

TeliaSonera's Baltic acquisitions move forward

Business & Money: 13 Oct 09
TeliaSonera has yet to take over full control of Lithuania’s TEO LT as planned, the Nordic telecommunications operator said on Tuesday, but it has acquired nearly all of Estonia's Eesti Telekom. READ »

Arrest made in ferry terminal robbery

National: 10 Oct 09
Ferries from Stockholm to Finland were delayed on Friday after two armed men stormed the Viking Line terminal in the Swedish capital. Police have arrested one of the suspects. READ »

Arctic Sea sister ship runs aground off Sweden

National: 4 Oct 09
A freighter belonging to the owners of the hijacked cargo vessel Arctic Sea has run aground off Sweden, a Swedish coastguard official said on Saturday. READ »

What's on in Sweden: October 2 - 8

Lifestyle: 1 Oct 09
What's on in Sweden: International poetry festival & American football in Stockholm; International art biennial & World music festival in Gothenburg; Kings of Convenience (NO) in Malmö/Lund. READ »

Growth hormones 'could repair brain damage': Swedish study

Science & Technology: 30 Sep 09
Brain damage due to alcohol abuse, previously considered irreversible, may by repairable with the help of growth hormones, Swedish researchers have learned. READ »

Budget bill sees Sweden shedding more jobs

Business & Money: 21 Sep 09
Sweden's unemployment will climb above 11 percent, according to the 2010 budget bill presented by the government to the Riksdag on Monday, requiring measures focused on job creation and jump-starting growth. READ »

Swedes snap up tickets as second 'Millennium' film opens

Society: 18 Sep 09
The film adaptation of the second installment of Swedish author Stieg Larsson's cult "Millennium" crime trilogy opened on Friday in theatres across Scandinavia. READ »

Baltic bliss: boating in the Stockholm archipelago

Travel: 14 Sep 09
Having lived for some time in a city so dominated by waterways and islands, Alannah Eames decides it's high time to take the plunge and join the boat set. READ »

Study to assess values of Swedish police cadets

National: 14 Sep 09
The attitudes and values of Swedish police cadets are to be assessed before and after they complete their training, following a number of noteworthy racist comments by police officers in recent months. READ »

Spotify launches iPhone app

Business & Money: 7 Sep 09
Swedish music streaming service Spotify announced the launch of the Spotify App for iPhone and iPod touch at the Apple iTunes App Store on Monday. READ »

Paul Simon speaks out on Swedish theatre ban

National: 7 Sep 09
Paul Simon has said he had nothing to do with steps taken by Universal Music to block a Stockholm performance of The Sound of Silence, a play by a Latvian theatre company based around the music of Simon & Garfunkel. READ »

Sweden's first swine flu death confirmed

Science & Technology: 31 Aug 09
Medical officials at Uppsala University Hospital in eastern Sweden confirmed on Monday evening that a man in the town has died after contracting the swine flu virus. READ »

Sweden score three in dream Euro 2009 opener

Sport: 26 Aug 09
Sweden's women stamped their intentions on Euro 2009 in Finland with an impressive 3-0 win over Russia in their group C opener. READ »

What's on in Sweden: August 28 - September 3

Lifestyle: 25 Aug 09
What's on in Sweden: International comedy & classical music festivals in Stockholm; Aero show & international athletics in Gothenburg; Dinosaur Jr in Malmö. READ »

Sweden's recovery gathering pace: Borg

Politics: 21 Aug 09
Sweden's government has revised its gloomy economic prognosis upwards, announcing on Friday that it expects the country's GDP to increase by 0.6 percent in 2010, before making greater strides towards a full recovery in 2011 and 2012. READ »

'Arctic Sea hijackers in custody': Russia

National: 18 Aug 09
The Russian navy has arrested eight men who allegedly hijacked the Maltese-registered freighter the Arctic Sea off the coast of Öland in Swedish waters in July, according to the Russian defence minister. READ »

Population up despite financial crisis: report

Society: 17 Aug 09
Sweden's population increased to almost 9.3 million people during the first half of 2009 due to a higher birthrate, new figures indicate. READ »

Sales up at Swedish state liquor stores

Business & Money: 14 Aug 09
Sales at Sweden's state-run alcohol retail monopoly Systembolaget, measured in terms of the amount of goods sold, increased by 9.2 percent in the first seven months of 2009 compared to the same period last year. READ »

Swedes defeat Finland in World Cup warm up

Sport: 13 Aug 09
The Swedish men's football team received a confidence boosting 1-0 win over Finland in Stockholm on Wednesday ahead of a crucial World Cup qualifier against Hungary onext month. READ »

August in Sweden: drinking shots, sinking ships and stinking fish

Lifestyle: 3 Aug 09
The Year in Sweden - August: Journalist Kim Loughran sketches a month by month account of the country he has called home ever since his accidental migration in 1966. READ »

Spotify aims for iPhone exposure

Business & Money: 27 Jul 09
The Swedish streaming music provider Spotify has applied for its software to be made available on Apple's iPhone. READ »

Lesbian couples cause run on Swedish sperm banks

Science & Technology: 23 Jul 09
A shortage of healthy sperm and a spike in demand from lesbian couples has caused a backlog of artificial insemination applications at Swedish fertility clinics. READ »

Åland: a gem in Stockholm's back yard

Travel: 21 Jul 09
Alannah Eames visits Finland's Swedish-speaking Åland islands, and finds gorgeous scenery, great food and a fascinating history. READ »

Sony Ericsson profits take a dive

Business & Money: 16 Jul 09
Sony Ericsson’s CEO said on Thursday that his company faced “difficult” times, as falling handset sales dented the mobile phone maker’s second quarter earnings. READ »

Spies, lies and Swedish ties

Lifestyle: 13 Jul 09
The Local's Laura Xiao meets Stockholm-based novelist Jeremy Duns to catch up on the recent publication of the first part of a thrilling new Cold War trilogy. READ »

Swedish arms maker battles for lost contract

Politics: 8 Jul 09
Controversy is mounting following the Swedish military’s recent decision to pass over a local supplier of armoured vehicles in favour of a Finnish company, a move resulting in major job losses for Swedish firm Hägglunds. READ »

Sweden chips in for Iceland bailout

Business & Money: 1 Jul 09
Sweden has joined neighbours Denmark, Norway and Finland in signing loan deals worth €1.78 billion ($2.52 billion) for crisis ridden Iceland. READ »

What's on in Sweden: June 19 - 25

Lifestyle: 18 Jun 09
What's on in Sweden: Morrissey & Midsummer fun in Stockholm; AC/DC & Euro 2009 U-21 football in Gothenburg; Yasmina Reza's ART in Malmö. READ »

Child porn suspect commits suicide

National: 17 Jun 09
One of the men arrested in Sweden following Tuesday’s pan-Scandinavian child porn raid has killed himself. READ »

Swedish docs investigated for medical errors in the UK

Science & Technology: 16 Jun 09
Revelations that patients in the UK treated by Swedish doctors were more than ten times more likely to suffer from post-operative complications has prompted medical groups in Sweden to launch an investigation. READ »

Web pioneer to be next US ambassador

National: 16 Jun 09
A 38-year-old internet entrepreneur who went on to become one of Barack Obama’s top fundraisers will soon be nominated to become the United States’ next ambassador to Sweden. READ »

Dozens questioned in Nordic child porn raid

National: 16 Jun 09
Police in four Nordic countries carried out a join action on Tuesday morning to break up a suspected child pornography ring. READ »

What's on in Sweden: June 12 - 18

Lifestyle: 11 Jun 09
What's on in Sweden: Neil Young & Ikea exhibition in Stockholm; Euro 2009 U-21 football in Gothenburg; Orchestra Baobab in Malmö. READ »

Soviet sub wreck found near Åland islands

Science & Technology: 9 Jun 09
The remains of a World War II-era Soviet submarine have been found by a team of Swedish divers near the Åland islands in the Baltic Sea. READ »

Police fear disruption at NATO military exercise

National: 8 Jun 09
Swedish police have asked the military for assistance as peace activists from across Europe head to Swedish Lapland to demonstrate against a NATO aerial exercise. READ »

Sören Wibe: The economics of a eurosceptic

Analysis & Opinion: 5 Jun 09
As a fully fledged eurosceptic, the June List's Sören Wibe is pushing to stop the EU becoming an increasingly federalist project. READ »

Östhammar wins bid to store nuclear waste

Science & Technology: 3 Jun 09
The eastern Swedish town of Östhammar has seen off rival bidder Oskarshamn and secured a lucrative deal to store nuclear waste for the next 100,000 years. READ »

Sweden poised to bury nuclear waste for 100,000 years

Analysis & Opinion: 2 Jun 09
Two towns in eastern Sweden are competing to be the first in the world to store nuclear waste for hundreds of thousands of years, writes AFP's Pia Ohlin. READ »

Axe attack feud 'not as simple as it seems'

National: 18 May 09
A neighbourhood feud in northern Sweden has captivated the media for several years - the accepted story being that a Roma family terrorized a whole village. But new details suggest that the truth may be quite different. READ »

Liberals: Sweden must join NATO

Politics: 13 May 09
The Swedish Liberal Party has demanded that Sweden become a full member of NATO and argues that an open debate over the issue is needed. READ »

'Isolationism is passé - Sweden needs to join NATO': Liberals

Analysis & Opinion: 12 May 09
With neutrality outdated and Sweden unable to effectively defend it's borders, the country needs to set aside its hang-ups and start thinking seriously about joining NATO, argues Birgitta Ohlsson, foreign policy spokesperson for the Liberal Party. READ »

Is rape rampant in gender-equal Sweden?

Analysis & Opinion: 11 May 09
A recent European Commission report identifying Sweden as the rape capital of Europe should be treated with a healthy dose of scepticism, argues sociologist Laura Agustín. READ »

Swedish paper maker SCA to slash 2,200 jobs in Europe

Business & Money: 28 Apr 09
Swedish paper maker SCA planned to shutter 11 factories and cut 2,200 European jobs, the company announced on Tuesday. READ »

Swedish rapists ‘enjoy impunity’: Amnesty International

Analysis & Opinion: 28 Apr 09
Sweden needs to do much more to clamp down on rapists, according to reports from Amnesty International and the United Nations. Jennifer Heape examines the disparity between the country's high incidence of rape and its low conviction rate. READ »