Iraq

The following articles have been tagged with "Iraq":

Blogger profile: Patrick Reilly

Analysis & Opinion: 8 Mar 10
New arrival and active blogger Patrick Reilly speaks to Peter Vinthagen Simpson about his nascent attempts to become a fully-fledged Swedetalker. READ »

Swede claims two Oscars

National: 8 Mar 10
Swedish sound technician Paul Ottosson claimed two Oscars at Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony - for work with the evening's big winner Hurt Locker. READ »

Iraqi expats flock to polling booths in Sweden

National: 7 Mar 10
At least 26,000 Iraqis living in Sweden cast their absentee ballots at the weekend, ahead of the Iraqi general elections on Sunday. Some 80,000 Iraqis live in Sweden. READ »

Sharp increase in asylum seeker deportations

National: 9 Feb 10
The number of asylum seekers deported from Sweden rose by 1,300 during 2009, according to new figures from the Swedish Migration Agency. READ »

February in Sweden: No sex please, we're cold

Lifestyle: 4 Feb 10
The Year in Sweden - February: Journalist Kim Loughran sketches a month by month account of the country he has called home ever since his accidental migration in 1966. 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 »

Swede awarded UN top job in Afghanistan

National: 28 Jan 10
Long-serving Swedish diplomat Staffan de Mistura has been appointed by UN chief Ban Ki-moon as his new envoy to Afghanistan. READ »

'Auschwitz wasn't on another planet'

Analysis & Opinion: 27 Jan 10
On the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Stockholm-based Israeli journalist David Stavrou reflects on the importance of memory and self-examination, in Sweden and beyond, if we are to avoid recurrences of a catastrophe that was entirely man-made. 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 »

Sweden shifts priorities for resettling UN refugees

National: 21 Jan 10
Sweden plans to give priority to refugees from Somalia and Eritrea, rather than Iraq, in its efforts to resettle an estimated 1,700 to 1,900 United Nations (UN) refugees this year. READ »

Norwegian mafia tied to car trunk murder case

National: 11 Jan 10
Police in Oslo are to investigate suspicions that Norwegian drug gangs may be connected to the grisly find of two burned bodies in the boot of a car in western Sweden last week. READ »

Swede offered top UN Afghanistan role

Politics: 9 Jan 10
Veteran Swedish diplomat and former UN envoy to Iraq, Steffan de Mistura, has been offered the job of top UN representative to Afghanistan according to the US pointman for the country. READ »

Missing Malmö girl alive and well in Iraq: police

National: 3 Jan 10
Four-year-old Maryam Ali Abdulhadi, who disappeared on New Year's Eve in Malmö in southern Sweden, is with all likelihood alive and well in Iraq, the Skåne police said in a statement. READ »

Swine flu named year's top Swedish news story

National: 30 Dec 09
Swine flu beat out both the June death of Michael Jackson and the Stockholm helicopter heist in September as the top Swedish news story of 2009, according to a new study. 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 »

Thousands of Iraqis granted Swedish asylum

National: 8 Dec 09
Sweden granted protection to 8,700 asylum seekers in 2008, with Iraqis accounting for almost half the total, according to new figures from EU statistics office Eurostat. READ »

Residence permits for sale on black market

National: 26 Nov 09
Swedish residence permits can be purchased on the black market for €2,000 ($3,020) apiece, allowing buyers to travel freely throughout Europe. READ »

November in Sweden: Shoes at the door for dinner party season

Lifestyle: 23 Nov 09
The Year in Sweden - November: Journalist Kim Loughran sketches a month by month account of the country he has called home ever since his accidental migration in 1966. READ »

Teen girls convicted for harassing refugees

National: 19 Nov 09
Two teenage girls have been convicted for their role in terrorizing refugees in Vännäs in northern Sweden last May in what was described at the time as a “lynch mob”. READ »

Reinfeldt pushes for consensus on EU leader

Politics: 19 Nov 09
Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt made a last ditch effort on Wednesday night to get EU leaders to agree on a candidate to become the European Union’s first president. READ »

Teens sign up for jihad at Stockholm youth centre

National: 11 Nov 09
Swedish taxpayers helped fund a youth recreation centre in the north Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby which served as a recruiting station for the Somalia-based Islamist group al-Shabaab. READ »

Sweden calls summit over EU top jobs

Politics: 11 Nov 09
Sweden, which currently hold the rotating EU presidency, has called an extraordinary meeting in Brussels next week with the aim of presenting candidates for the new positions of president and foreign policy chief. READ »

Sweden to pay more asylum seekers to leave

National: 6 Nov 09
Sweden has decided to expand a programme which gives unsuccessful asylum seekers money to voluntarily return to their homelands, at the same time as the number of refugee applications continues to drop. READ »

'I won’t let my country be taken over by xenophobes'

Analysis & Opinion: 4 Nov 09
Curiosity is the most effective weapon against xenophobia, writes journalist and head of think tank FORES Martin Ådahl, as a comment on the Sweden Democrats’ future role in Swedish politics. READ »

Man forced to re-apply for asylum after boarding wrong train

National: 28 Oct 09
A mistake which put an Iraqi asylum seeker on the wrong train in Malmö in southern Sweden has forced him to start the asylum process all over again. READ »

Obama Nobel win shocks Swedish peace group

Politics: 9 Oct 09
The Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society has classified as "shameful" the decision by the Nobel Committee in Oslo to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 to Barack Obama. READ »

Sweden agrees to accept camp refugees

National: 27 Sep 09
Sweden and a dozen other European countries have agreed to accept Somali and Eritrean refugees from camps in Kenya and Sudan. Three further camps on Iraq's border with Syria will also be emptied. READ »

'Saddam's body guard' to be deported from Sweden

National: 21 Sep 09
An Iraqi man who claimed to have worked as a bodyguard for Saddam Hussein is to be deported from Sweden despite concerns that he may be killed upon returning to Iraq. READ »

Transgender belly dancer helps launch Arab gay initiative

Lifestyle: 21 Aug 09
As a human rights group publishes details of a bloody campaign of hate being waged against gays in Iraq, Rami Abdelrahman speaks to members of a recently founded initiative for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Arabs in Sweden. READ »

UN to monitor Swedish migration board

National: 20 Aug 09
The United Nations refugee organ, the UNHCR, which is a regular critic of Swedish migration policies, plans to spend nine months closely monitoring the work of the Migration Board. READ »

Sweden refuses asylum to gay Iraqis

National: 18 Aug 09
A Swedish gay rights organisation has called on the government not to deport any homosexual Iraqi asylum seekers in the light of a shocking new report categorising an extermination campaign against gay men in the Middle Eastern country. READ »

Fewer seeking asylum in Sweden

National: 16 Aug 09
The number of foreigners seeking asylum in Sweden has fallen by 17 percent in the first half of 2009, compared to the same period last year. READ »

Probe of attack in Iraq on Swedish politician

Politics: 30 Jun 09
The stabbing in Iraq of a local Swedish politician has prompted an investigation into whether or not the attack was paid for by the woman’s relatives back in Sweden. READ »

Global arms spending hits new heights: Swedish think tank

Society: 8 Jun 09
World arms spending reached record levels in 2008, with the United States, China and Russia all upping their military budgets, Swedish think tank SIPRI reports. READ »

Amnesty slams Sweden over refugee policies

National: 28 May 09
Shortcomings in Sweden’s refugee policies and the country’s dismal record at bringing reported rapes to trial have come in for criticism by Amnesty International in its 2008 annual report. READ »

Swedish teen tackles centuries-old numbers challenge

Science & Technology: 28 May 09
A 16-year-old Iraqi immigrant in central Sweden has single-handedly figured out a formula with Bernoulli numbers that is normally reserved for much more seasoned mathematicians. READ »

Sweden offers asylum to Iraqi who aided US military

National: 23 May 09
An Iraqi man who assisted the United States military during the war in Iraq has been granted asylum in Sweden. READ »

'Lynch mob' prompts refugees to flee town in northern Sweden

National: 22 May 09
Nearly half of the predominantly Iraqi-refugees residing in Vännäs in northern Sweden have decided to permanently move out of the area after being terrorized by what police called “a lynch mob” in early May. READ »

'Clamp down on fake universities': Agency

Education: 20 May 09
The Swedish National Agency for Higher Education has appealed to the government to take steps to protect the terms "university" and "college" from abuse following recent revelations that two fake universities have set up shop in Sweden. READ »

Still no charges for US-held Swede in Iraq

National: 14 May 09
Sweden’s foreign ministry is still waiting for details about the charges against a 40-year-old Swedish citizen who has been held by American authorities in Iraq for nearly one year. READ »

Five charged over Iraqi human smuggling ring

Society: 30 Mar 09
Three men and two women were formally charged on Monday for human smuggling on suspicions they helped transport 24 Iraqis into Sweden in return for large sums of money. READ »

Stockholm flight re-opens Iraqi air links with the EU

National: 28 Mar 09
The first flight in 19 years to take off from Iraq bound for the European Union touched down in Stockholm on Friday evening. READ »

Rosengård: Integration in the eye of the storm

Analysis & Opinion: 27 Mar 09
Malmö suburb Rosengård has come to symbolise Sweden's struggles with integration. AFP's Marc Preel examines a community grappling with its identity after a winter marred by rioting and clashes with the police. READ »

Terror Swede to finish jail time in Sweden

National: 26 Mar 09
A 21-year-old Swede convicted for terror offences in Bosnia will serve out the rest of his sentence in Sweden. READ »

Leftist politician attacked in Stockholm

National: 23 Mar 09
A 29-year-old leftist politician from the Stockholm suburbs was beaten and attacked with a knife in Jordro south of Stockholm on Sunday night. READ »

Sharp drop in asylum applications to Sweden

National: 20 Mar 09
Fewer people are seeking asylum in Sweden, with the number of applications dropping 33 percent last year, according to new statistics. READ »

Activists jailed for weapons sabotage

National: 16 Mar 09
A man and a woman have each been sentenced to four months in prison for the sabotage of 14 grenade launchers during a raid on the premises of Saab Bofors Dynamics in Eskilstuna in central Sweden. READ »

'Fake' universities operating in Sweden

Education: 10 Mar 09
The Swedish National Agency for Higher Education has issued a warning about two so-called fake universities operating in Sweden. Both universities offer courses up to and including doctoral level. READ »

Volvo execs charged for Saddam-era bribes

Business & Money: 6 Mar 09
Three executives from Volvo’s construction equipment subsidiary have been charged for paying bribes to the regime of Saddam Hussein to skirt restrictions related to the United Nations’ Oil-for-Food Programme. READ »

Sweden's annual immigrant tally hit six figures in 2008

Society: 18 Feb 09
More than 100,000 people emigrated to Sweden in 2008, marking the first time the country’s annual immigrant count hit six figures, according to new statistics. READ »

'Anti-Semitism on the rise in Sweden'

Analysis & Opinion: 9 Feb 09
An ugly wave of anti-Semitism is on the rise in Sweden, and politicians who compare Israel with Nazi Germany or apartheid-era South Africa cannot claim to be free of responsibility, writes David Stavrou, a freelance Israeli journalist based in Sweden. READ »

'Tap the potential of immigrant entrepreneurs'

Analysis & Opinion: 3 Feb 09
Sweden could learn a lot from Canada and the UK when it comes to leveraging the power of entrepreneurship to help integrate immigrants, writes Nima Sanandaji of the Captus think tank. READ »

A royal mess: Why Sweden can’t have its own Obama

Analysis & Opinion: 27 Jan 09
At a time when the United States has just elected its first black president, Noel McCarthy wishes Sweden would reconsider its constitution in order to enable greater diversity when choosing a head of state. READ »

Passengers stranded as airline loses licence

Society: 25 Jan 09
Nordic Airways, a carrier operating flights between Sweden and Iraq, has had its licence revoked by the Swedish Transport Agency. READ »

Reinfeldt: 'US responsible for Guantanamo inmates'

Politics: 24 Jan 09
Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt reiterated Friday his government's reluctance to accept former Guantanamo Bay detainees after US President Barack Obama pledged to close the prison. READ »

More Iraqis at risk of losing asylum appeals in Sweden

Politics: 14 Jan 09
Most of the thousands of Iraqis waiting for asylum in Sweden will likely have their applications rejected because of improved security conditions in the country. READ »

Swedish plane ends Baghdad Euro drought

Travel: 2 Jan 09
The first passenger flight from Europe in 18 years landed at Baghdad airport on Saturday, when a Swedish charter aircraft touched down. READ »

2008: The year in review

Lifestyle: 31 Dec 08
As 2008 draws to a close, The Local takes a look back at some of the stories that caught our attention over the last twelve months. READ »

Swede detained by US forces in Iraq

National: 29 Dec 08
Swedish authorities have confirmed that a 40-year-old man from Norrköping is being held prisoner at a US detainment camp in Iraq. READ »

SAS to ditch Spanair and airBaltic

Business & Money: 19 Dec 08
Embattled carrier Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) has unveiled plans to sell off subsidiaries Spanair and airBaltic. READ »

Segregation 'widespread' for Swedish immigrants

Politics: 18 Dec 08
A study released on Thursday by Statistics Sweden (SCB) reports widespread segregation in the fields of education, housing, employment and politics. READ »

Immigrants central to swelling population

National: 18 Dec 08
Sweden’s foreign-born population is expected to reach 14 percent by the end of 2008, a year in which the country’s overall population had its greatest increase since 1970. READ »

Sweden to prioritize deportations in 2009

Politics: 17 Dec 08
Swedish police are mulling chartering special planes in anticipation of the government’s wishes to step up the pace of deportations of the thousands of unsuccessful asylum seekers estimated to be in the country. READ »

Sweden – a new melting pot?

Analysis & Opinion: 16 Dec 08
As Sweden opens its borders to a new wave of labour migration, the country is becoming more diverse than ever before, writes Olle Wästberg, director-general of the Swedish Institute. READ »

Migration Board sets new principle in Congo ruling

National: 22 Nov 08
The Swedish Migration Board (Migrationsverket) has established a new guiding principle in awarding residency to a woman from war-torn DR Congo. READ »

'Every Swede has a cousin in America'

Analysis & Opinion: 20 Nov 08
Sweden has deep historic ties with the United states, writes Olle Wästberg, director-general of the Swedish Institute. And even though some Americans mistakenly associate Sweden with the cuckoo clock, the relationship remains largely one of mutual understanding and respect. READ »

Scania to open production facility in Iraq

Business & Money: 19 Nov 08
Truck and bus maker Scania announced on Wednesday that it has signed an agreement with the government of Iraq to open an assembly plant in the country in 2009. READ »

Hate crimes plague Södertälje refugees

National: 18 Nov 08
Muslims and newly arrived refugees in Södertälje, just south of Stockholm, are being subjected to harassment and hate crimes, according to police. READ »

Scania dodged UN sanctions in Iraq

National: 13 Nov 08
Swedish government agencies allowed truck maker Scania to ignore United Nations sanctions in order to sell buses and trucks in Iraq in the early 2000s, Sveriges Radio reports. READ »

US teacher in trouble over comments in Swedish film

National: 12 Nov 08
A Swedish television documentary has landed a North Carolina school teacher in hot water for politically-biased comments she made to her students. READ »

Prison sentences for people smugglers

National: 12 Nov 08
Two men at the heart of a massive people smuggling operation were each sentenced to three years in prison by a Swedish court on Wednesday. READ »

What's on in Sweden: November 7 - 13

Lifestyle: 6 Nov 08
What’s on: Al Green, The Levellers and Monster truck extravaganza in Stockholm; Martial Arts and Kazem Al Saher in Gothenburg; Michael Bolton in Malmö. READ »

Sweden welcomes Obama

Politics: 5 Nov 08
Swedish politicians welcomed the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States on Wednesday morning, following the Democratic candidate’s defeat of rival John McCain. READ »

Iraqis go underground in greater numbers

National: 2 Nov 08
The number of Iraqi asylum seekers going into hiding has increased seven-fold since 2006. A ruling by the Migration Court that Iraq is not in a state of civil war has made it harder for Iraqis to gain asylum. READ »

US election watch: The case for McCain

Analysis & Opinion: 30 Oct 08
As Americans everywhere prepare to go to the polls, Swedish politician Mathias Sundin - who spent a month this summer working as a volunteer for John McCain - explains why he’s rooting for the Republican candidate. READ »

'Little Baghdad' hosts US relocation fair

Society: 16 Oct 08
A Swedish town with a large concentration of Iraqi immigrants played host on Thursday to a unique fair designed to provide information about the United States to prospective job seekers. READ »

Terrorist linked to Stockholm mosque

National: 16 Oct 08
Abu Qaswara, the Swedish citizen killed by US forces in Iraq in early October and thought to be a high-ranking member of Al-Qaeda’s Iraq operations, has been connected to a Stockholm-area mosque. READ »

Swedish 'al-Qaeda leader' killed in Iraq

National: 15 Oct 08
The Swedish citizen who on Wednesday evening was reported to have been killed by US forces in Iraq was Abu Qaswara - named on UN and EU terror lists as one of the most senior al-Qaeda leaders in the country. READ »

Stockholm exchange down sharply

Business & Money: 10 Oct 08
After approximately five minutes of trading on the Stockholm stock exchange on Friday, the OMXS index had fallen 8.2 percent. READ »

Fewer Iraqi children granted asylum

National: 5 Oct 08
Migrationsverket (Swedish Migration Board) has turned down 111 of 297 residence permit applications for Iraqi children, marking a sharp increase from two years ago. READ »

Sweden tops new transparency ranking

National: 23 Sep 08
Sweden, along with Denmark and New Zealand, achieved the highest score in a new survey ranking 180 countries on perceived levels of public-sector corruption. READ »

Demonstrators raid Malmö arms firm

National: 19 Sep 08
Around a hundred peace activists demonstrated in Malmö on Friday afternoon against a Swedish arms components manufacturer’s contracts with the US military, with some of the protesters eventually breaking into the office grounds. READ »

What's on in Sweden: September 19 - 25

Lifestyle: 18 Sep 08
What’s on: Stevie Wonder, Beer & Whisky festival and American Football in Stockholm; Japanese tattoo art and Masters golf in Gothenburg; Prince and Tibet tributes in Malmö; Puppet theatre in Lund. READ »

US embassy helps with Södertälje youth integration efforts

National: 16 Sep 08
The US embassy in Sweden has announced a unique partnership with the city of Södertälje to help the town’s young people learn more about opportunities for work and study in the United States. READ »

Sweden plays host to anti-globalization activists

Analysis & Opinion: 16 Sep 08
More than 20,000 anti-globalization activists are due in Malmö this week to take part in the European Social Forum, hoping to breathe new life into a movement many say is rapidly losing speed, writes AFP's Delphine Touitou. READ »

Failed asylum seekers going underground

Politics: 25 Aug 08
More unsuccessful asylum seekers are going into hiding in Sweden, new figures from the Migration Board show. Tighter rules permitting authorities to send back more refugees from war-torn countries are given the blame. READ »

Swedish missile among US army's favourites in Iraq

Science & Technology: 22 Aug 08
A precision control projectile co-developed by a Swedish company has been listed as one of the US army's prestigious 'Top 10 inventions of 2007'. READ »

Iraqis in suspected repatriation grant racket

Society: 19 Aug 08
A financial incentive scheme encouraging asylum seekers to return to their homelands has been abused by hundreds of Iraqi refugees, Swedish authorities believe. READ »

Stockholm population reaches highest level since 1960s

Society: 14 Aug 08
High immigration figures have contributed to increased population figures across Sweden. READ »

Palestinians from Iraq granted shelter in Sweden and Iceland

Society: 5 Aug 08
Palestinian refugees stranded for two years on the Iraq-Syria border will be resettled in Iceland and Sweden in the coming weeks, the United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday. READ »

Sweden's welfare programmes hinder Iraqi integration

Analysis & Opinion: 15 Jul 08
By emphasizing welfare programmes over work and entrepreneurship, Sweden makes it harder for Iraqi immigrants to achieve success in their new country, argues Nima Sanandaji of the Captus think tank. READ »

Steep drop in Iraqi asylum claims

National: 14 Jul 08
The number of Iraqi asylum requests in Sweden plunged by half in the first six months of 2008, due primarily to stricter asylum criteria, the Swedish Migration Board said on Monday. READ »

War criminals face fresh Swedish probes

National: 4 Jul 08
Sweden's National Investigation Department has intensified the hunt for war criminals living withing the country's borders. READ »

Inequality thrives in Stockholm's embassy world

Society: 18 Jun 08
Stockholm's diplomatic community is shot through with gender inequality, according to an analysis of official figures carried out by The Local. READ »

Convicted terrorists released from custody

National: 18 Jun 08
Two Iraqi Kurds who were in safe custody after doing time for terrorist crimes have been released. READ »

Investigation into Iraqi agent murder suspect dropped

National: 13 Jun 08
The police investigation into a 57-year-old man suspected of killing a former Iraqi agent in Stockholm in 1985 has been closed. READ »

Moroccan Swede jailed on terror charges

National: 11 Jun 08
A Swedish citizen of Moroccan origin accused of terror-related crimes was sentenced on Tuesday to three years in prison by a court in Morocco. READ »

Churches vital for Christian Iraqis in Sweden

Analysis & Opinion: 2 Jun 08
For many Christian Iraqis who have found a safe haven in Sweden, integrating into a strange new culture is a trying process. But their churches, present in Sweden for decades, play a big role in easing the way, writes AFP's Sophie Mongalvy. READ »

Swedish companies keen on Iraqi business

Politics: 31 May 08
Swedish companies have indicated that they are interested in doing business in Iraq. 18 firms met with the Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki in Stockholm on Friday. READ »

Iraqis leave Sweden

National: 31 May 08
300 Iraqi citizens left Sweden in the first four months of 2008. This represents an increase on the 233 Iraqis who returned home in the corresponding period of 2007. READ »

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