February 13, 2012
The following articles have been tagged with "Religion":
Society: 13 Feb 12
One in five Swedes believes that people rise from the grave after they've died, a new survey has shown.
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Lifestyle: 1 Feb 12
Is there any truth in the image of Sweden portrayed in the Millennium books and films? Stockholm University ethnologist Jonas Engman argues that the stories have tapped into Swedish fears that their society’s success is not all they had been brought up to believe.
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Analysis & Opinion: 16 Jan 12
Following the unofficial closure of the Christmas holiday season in Sweden, contributor Ruben Brunsveld reflects on the transformation of religious traditions into cultural ones.
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Science & Technology: 5 Jan 12
Zealous file-sharing enthusiasts in Sweden can now take their beliefs to the next level and join the Church of Kopimism, as the widespread practice has now officially been recognized as a religion.
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Society: 6 Dec 11
Sweden’s first veiled police recruit, Donna Eljammal, does not regard her traditional Muslim hijab as a hindrance but rather an asset for her future career within the Swedish police force.
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Society: 19 Oct 11
The highly popular church built near the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi in Northern Sweden might soon be joined by an ice mosque, if all goes according to plan.
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Analysis & Opinion: 26 Sep 11
The problems of a multicultural Swedish society won’t solve themselves if our politicians, in fear of being called a "racist", don't break their silence on the issues, argues equal rights activist Bahareh Andersson.
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Analysis & Opinion: 19 Sep 11
Sweden Democrat leader Jimmy Åkesson's complaint that an imam 'politicised' the religious service that opened the Riksdag last week, raises an interesting point about the place of religion and in Swedish politics, argues contributor Ruben Brunsveld.
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National: 22 Aug 11
The number of xenophobic web sites have almost doubled since 2007 and Jews and Muslims wearing apparent religious symbols are subjected to significant discrimination in Sweden today, according to a new report.
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Politics: 10 Aug 11
Swedish bestselling author and human rights activist Henning Mankell said in an interview on UK television on Monday that mainstream politicians shoulder the responsibility for the rise of the far right.
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National: 10 Aug 11
Sweden is one of the ten countries worldwide where social hostilities related to religion are increasing the most, according to a newly published American study.
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Analysis & Opinion: 26 Jul 11
As Norway comes to terms with Friday's bloody attacks, the Swedish press has been quick to leap to the defence of pan-Scandinavian values of openness, tolerance and democracy, The Local's Peter Vinthagen Simpson discovers.
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Education: 12 Jul 11
The Swedish government plans to boost sexual education in schools, announcing a 10 million kronor ($1.5 million) investment to expand the subject from biology classes into history, social studies and religion.
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Lifestyle: 7 Jul 11
Wandering through endless rows of American cars on a sunny day in June, there is an eerie feeling of having travelled back in time, as The Local's Geoff Mortimore finds out on his visit to a classic car show on the outskirts of Stockholm.
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Lifestyle: 9 May 11
Yusuf Islam, perhaps better known as Cat Stevens, opened his new European tour in Stockholm at the weekend. Contributor Oliver Gee was there to see whether or not fans felt the artist lived up to their expectations.
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Lifestyle: 5 May 11
Yusuf Islam, known to many as singer-songwriter Cat Stevens, is set to kick off his first European tour in 35 years in Sweden, a country he cites as instrumental in shaping his career, contributor Oliver Gee discovers.
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Lifestyle: 20 Apr 11
Known as the ‘Laughing Dalai Lama,’ His Holiness bedazzled southern Sweden with witty quips, magnetic smiles and his contagious giggle while doling out pearls of wisdom and a few personal stories, The Local's Karen Holst reports.
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National: 9 Mar 11
Swedish police have confirmed their view that the suicide bomber who blew himself up in central Stockholm in December was alone at the time, while Scottish police continued to search for further UK-based suspects.
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Analysis & Opinion: 2 Mar 11
As religious tensions continue to cause friction in Sweden and elsewhere, Lutherans, Catholics, and Muslims near Stockholm have come together to present a new model for religious tolerance, The Local's Geoff Mortimore discovers.
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Society: 10 Feb 11
Sweden's Equality Ombudsman has filed a lawsuit against parcel delivery company United Parcel Service (UPS) after the company dismissed a Muslim driver who refused to shave his beard.
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National: 13 Jan 11
Sweden’s integration minister Erik Ullenhag is meeting on Thursday with representatives from the Swedish Muslim community to develop a strategy for combating Islamophobia in the wake of the Stockholm suicide bombing.
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Analysis & Opinion: 21 Dec 10
While Sweden is left asking why after experiencing its first suicide bombing, Fulbright scholar and US Muslim Dr. Abdul-Majeed Azad calls on the country to deploy its history of neutrality to build bridges across Europe to defeat the radicalisation of Muslim youth.
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Politics: 21 Dec 10
Sweden's prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt used his Christmas speech on Monday to condemn the suicide bombing in Stockholm as "an attack on Swedish society", praising Muslim leaders for standing up for freedom and openness.
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Lifestyle: 17 Dec 10
American-born Swedish opera singer Barbara Hendricks is set to spread the spirit of her “favourite time of year” in a novel Christmas concert simulcast across the country, contributor San Malmström explains.
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National: 13 Dec 10
The man suspected of being the suicide bomber behind two Stockholm bombings on Saturday was described on Monday as an ordinary friendly young immigrant to Sweden who drastically changed after moving to the UK to study.
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Analysis & Opinion: 7 Dec 10
Nobel literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa spoke of the power of writing and the need to defend liberal democracy during his Nobel lecture on Tuesday at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm, writes contributor Charlotte West.
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Education: 25 Nov 10
The Swedish Schools Inspectorate has criticised Borås municipality in western Sweden for breaching regulations banning religious services at end of term celebrations.
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Education: 11 Oct 10
Sweden's education minister Jan Björklund on Monday presented a new school curriculum promising clearer goals for teachers and pupils, with the introduction of grades from year six.
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Education: 10 Oct 10
Sweden’s schools agency wants all religions to receive equal treatment when taught in Swedish schools, but government maintains that Christianity should continue to have special status.
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Analysis & Opinion: 6 Oct 10
While Sweden’s 'free schools' have inspired education authorities in other countries to explore similar approaches, the Swedish model is not without its problems, explains contributor Nils Adler.
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Sport: 3 Oct 10
Players, coaches and referees plying their trade in the Swedish Allsvenskan top flight are increasingly becoming the target of threats from supporters, often from their own clubs.
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Politics: 29 Sep 10
Active Sweden Democrats will not be allowed to be members in one of Sweden's main healthcare professionals unions, the chair of the labour group said on Wednesday, prompting claims from the party that they are "politically corrupt."
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National: 17 Sep 10
An Islamic revolution akin to the one that swept through Iran in 1979 could easily take place in Sweden, claims the second highest ranking member of the far-right Sweden Democrats.
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Education: 6 Sep 10
A student wearing the niqab has begun attending a teacher training course in Stockholm, more than one and a half years after another woman reported a school that would not allow her to wear the headscarf in class.
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Politics: 31 Aug 10
Representatives of the governing parties in Denmark have argued that freedom of speech is threatened in Sweden after a media ban on a campaign advert for the far-right Sweden Democrats, calling for observers to monitor the election.
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Politics: 28 Aug 10
The far-right Sweden Democrats have submitted their own election film for review by one of the country's top legal officials after TV4 refused to broadcast the advert on grounds that it promoted religious hatred.
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Politics: 27 Aug 10
Swedish TV channel TV4 announced on Friday that it has refused to broadcast a campaign advert by the far-right Sweden Democrats because it claims it contains racial hatred.
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Society: 25 Aug 10
Sweden’s highest court has refused to hear a last-ditch plea by the Madonna of the Orgasm church to be recognized.
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Politics: 19 Aug 10
A civil servant working under Integration Minister Nyamko Sabuni will be assigned new duties after writing a blog saying that there are no good adherents of Islam and comparing the religion to Communism or Nazism.
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Society: 17 Aug 10
Sweden has come in third in a ranking of "Best Countries" compiled by US magazine Newsweek, trailing behind Finland and Switzerland.
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Society: 22 Jul 10
A Swedish lesbian couple who wanted a mortgage were told by a bank clerk that they should change their lifestyle and think about living apart.
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Lifestyle: 21 Jul 10
What’s on in Sweden: Pride steps out in Stockholm, PINK plays Gothenburg and Bad Religion comes to Malmö.
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Society: 27 May 10
Swedes continue to turn their backs on the Church of Sweden with new figures indicating that the longer term fall in members has now started to hit baptisms and weddings.
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Society: 24 May 10
Swedish attitudes to immigration and refugee centres have become more positive, with urbanites, women and young people among the most favourable, a new report shows.
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National: 8 May 10
A law firm is suing the Swedish state for discrimination after one if its lawyers, a Muslim woman, was removed from a case following a complaint from a Christian asylum seeker.
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Education: 15 Apr 10
A school in northern Sweden has been criticised by education authorites for holding prayer and psalm readings during classes after children from a conservative Lutheran offshoot joined the school.
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Analysis & Opinion: 14 Apr 10
The Catholic Church in Sweden must demand that the Vatican abolish celibacy for priests, allow women to be ordained, stop oppressing homosexuals, and reverse its ban on contraception, argues Swedish Catholic and poet Marcus Birro.
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National: 10 Mar 10
The American woman known as "Jihad Jane", charged by US authorities on Tuesday with conspiring to kill Swedish Muhammad cartoonist Lars Vilks, is reported to have paid a visit to Sweden in August.
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National: 10 Mar 10
Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks said he was undaunted by revelations of a plot on his life after seven people were arrested in Ireland on Tuesday.
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National: 9 Mar 10
Seven Muslims were arrested by Irish police on Tuesday on suspicions of conspiracy to murder a Swedish cartoonist who drew the prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog.
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Society: 3 Mar 10
Sweden’s National Public Employment Agency (Arbetsförmedlingen) has decided not to appeal its fine for discriminating against a Muslim man who had his benefits withdrawn after refusing to shake the hand of a female CEO.
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Society: 8 Feb 10
Sweden’s National Public Employment Agency has been fined for discriminating against a Muslim man who had his benefits withdrawn after refusing to shake the hand of a female CEO.
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Business & Money: 5 Jan 10
Workers in Sweden have only had two days to return to life on the job following their Christmas vacations before gearing up for yet another paid holiday on Wednesday.
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National: 3 Dec 09
One in four Swedes is in favour of prohibiting the building of more minarets in the country, a new poll shows.
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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.
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National: 22 Oct 09
The Synod of the Lutheran Church of Sweden has come down in favour of church weddings for homosexuals in a vote held on Thursday morning.
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Analysis & Opinion: 21 Oct 09
Anna Waara, chairperson of Swedish Muslims for Peace and Justice, calls for politicians and the media to reject the views expressed in an opinion piece by Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson, in which he refers to Muslims as the greatest threat to Sweden since World War II.
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National: 20 Oct 09
Police in western Sweden may soon be able to close their files on a daring four-year old bank robbery after one of the thieves experienced a religious salvation during his time on the run.
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Politics: 19 Oct 09
An article by the leader of the far-right Sweden Democrats claiming that Islam is the biggest threat to Sweden since World War II is tantamount to hate speech, according to legal experts.
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Analysis & Opinion: 28 Aug 09
As the Aftonbladet organ harvesting scandal rumbles to the end of its second week, Stockholm-based Israeli writer David Stavrou calls on policy makers in Sweden and Israel to shed light on the situation rather than turning up the heat.
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Lifestyle: 26 Aug 09
Sweden's capital will this weekend welcome a host of international comedy stars when the very first Stockholm Comedy Festival opens on Friday.
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National: 7 Aug 09
The Swedish Equality Ombudsman has launched a probe into a case of alleged discrimination after two women who wear veils revealing only the eyes claim they were not allowed to attend adult education classes.
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Analysis & Opinion: 25 Jun 09
"Freedom from indoctrination ought to be a basic human right for all children," argues ABBA star Björn Ulvaeus in a passionate plea for Sweden to rethink its policy on faith-based schools.
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National: 24 Jun 09
A lawyer contracted by the Swedish Migration Board to represent asylum seekers has a personal blog in which he refers to Islam as a “psychosocial disease”.
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Society: 18 Jun 09
A high school principal who used Facebook to air his zest for sex has been forced to resign from his post.
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Society: 10 Jun 09
The role of religion in public life in Sweden has been brought into sharp relief by a provocative ad campaign questioning the existence of God.
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National: 31 May 09
Liberal party ministers Jan Björklund and Nyamko Sabuni have proposed a new schools law which removes the right to seek exemption from sexual education and swimming classes.
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Lifestyle: 20 May 09
What's on in Sweden: Ingmar Bergman theatre festival in Stockholm; International performance art in Gothenburg; Ghostface Killah and Funda Arar in Malmö/Lund.
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Dating: 16 May 09
Couples visiting Casino Comopol in Malmö may soon be able to gamble and walk down the aisle in one fell swoop, possibly turning the city into a sort of "Las Vegas of Sweden".
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Lifestyle: 7 May 09
Art critic Katarina Wadstein MacLeod slips into the suburbs and side streets of Stockholm in search of hidden gems outside the mainstream.
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Society: 12 Feb 09
A Stockholm woman has reported an adult education college in Spånga to the Equality Ombudsman (DO) after being told that she could not wear an Islamic headscarf in class.
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Society: 22 Jan 09
Cherin Awad, known for her work on a controversial Sveriges Television (SVT) programme, may well become the first practising attorney in Sweden to wear a headscarf.
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National: 19 Dec 08
It has become something of a Swedish Christmas tradition for the famous Gävle goat to be burned by vandals. Now its smaller counterpart has suffered a similar fate.
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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.
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Analysis & Opinion: 15 Dec 08
Doug Lansky takes a look at how Swedish tradition, technology, sick leave, vacations, public holidays and a new management style mean many 'full-time' Swedish workers get 130 days off per year.
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Analysis & Opinion: 7 Dec 08
Nobel literature laureate Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio explores the paradoxes of his profession and argues that the eradication of hunger and illiteracy go hand-in-hand, writes Charlotte West.
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Society: 23 Nov 08
Swedish artist Lars Vilks is at the centre of a new controversy as his new musical Dogs premiered in Stockholm on Saturday.
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Lifestyle: 20 Nov 08
What’s on: International Film Festival & Mali Bluesman in Stockholm; the search for Lucia & Lambchop in Gothenburg; Jose Carrerras in Malmö.
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Society: 19 Nov 08
The Madonna of Orgasm Church took an important step toward official recognition in Sweden last week when a court ruled it had the right to be registered as a faith community.
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Lifestyle: 13 Nov 08
What’s on: Ron Sexsmith & DV8 Physical Theatre in Stockholm; Cirkus Cirkör & English farce in Gothenburg; Lambchop & Dirty Pretty Things in Malmö.
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Society: 4 Nov 08
A new programme launched on Monday by Sveriges Television (SVT) featuring three young Swedish Muslim women has sparked a heated debate about cultural norms and integration.
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Analysis & Opinion: 29 Oct 08
With the US election just around the corner, we ask people living in Sweden to outline their reasons for supporting either of the candidates. First up, Peter Dahlen of Democrats Abroad explains why he believes Barack Obama is the right man for the job.
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Dating: 28 Oct 08
Judging by the number of column inches devoted to the subject in recent months, one would be forgiven for thinking that partner-swapping had become the noughties equivalent of the Tupperware party, writes Jennifer Heape. But is swinging really Sweden’s new favourite hobby?
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Lifestyle: 2 Oct 08
What’s on: NHL hockey, Open tennis and Aussie comedy in Stockholm; Ane Brun in Gothenburg; Steve Wynn and naked Jesus shock in Malmö.
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Analysis & Opinion: 19 Sep 08
Anti-globalization activists have warned of a downward turn for women's rights across Europe, citing growing religious extremism and neo-liberalism as contributory factors.
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Society: 1 Sep 08
Sweden’s ombudsman for ethnic discrimination (DO) has sued a cleaning company after it dismissed a Muslim woman for not dressing appropriately on the job.
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Society: 1 Aug 08
Sweden's Muslim population could soon have their very own bank. A British bank is looking to expand its business and has been in contact with the Swedish authorities.
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Society: 16 Jul 08
Every third Swede believes in reincarnation and every fifth believes that the movements of the stars dictate our lives, a new survey shows.
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Education: 15 Jul 08
The Social Democrat youth organization is planning to open a new independent school in Borås in western Sweden.
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National: 15 Jul 08
The head of Sweden’s Evangelical Free Church has slammed the National Defence Radio Establishment (FRA) upon learning that the agency spied on Word of Life pastor Ulf Ekman (left) in the 1990s.
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Society: 2 Jul 08
Censorship was the main focus of debate as Bangladeshi novelist-in-hiding Taslima Nasreen (left) joined international writers at a literary conference in Stockholm on Tuesday.
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Lifestyle: 26 Jun 08
Where to go out in Gothenburg this weekend? Monthly Magazine has the answers.
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Lifestyle: 5 May 08
In an age when even hard-up musicians can create studio quality from a bedroom, successful Gothenburg-based songwriter José González stands out for his raw simplicity.
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Politics: 13 Mar 08
Sweden's government has presented a proposal for a new discrimination law.
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Lifestyle: 10 Mar 08
Swedish artist Lars Vilks sparked international controversy last summer when several Swedish newspapers published his drawings portraying the Muslim prophet Muhammad as a so-called roundabout dog. Rami Abdelrahman caught up with him at a seminar on International Women's Day.
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Analysis & Opinion: 7 Mar 08
Parents, students, or the state: who knows best? David Landes looks at the thorny issue of sex education and editorial reactions to a Liberal Party proposal aiming to bar parents from exempting their children, particularly girls, from classes.
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Education: 6 Mar 08
The Liberal Party wants to remove the option for parents to request exemptions from sex education classes for their children.
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National: 27 Feb 08
The City of Gothenburg has appealed to Sweden’s highest court to avoid paying damages to two Muslim women who accuse the city of discrimination.
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Lifestyle: 15 Feb 08
Something for the weekend: Marilyn exhibition in Gothenburg, Lykke Li in Stockholm, Erwin Wurm in Malmö.
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Lifestyle: 14 Feb 08
Almost anything goes for death notices in Swedish newspapers, where personalized drawings are a growing trend.
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As diverse as Sweden is, there are a few societal norms that are distinctly Swedish. Understanding a handful of them will hopefully prepare you culturally before you relocate. When you're invited home to a Swede, you better be on time and take your shoes off, writes expat Lola Akinmade-Åkerström. Read more »
Sweden is a country where almost everyone can speak English. So why bother to learn Swedish? Edina Varnagy from Hungary managed with English for a whole year but then found that Swedish could open doors – to a job, a social life and greater understanding. Read more »
"The ice dripped in the winter sun. It was the first day when the light had been intense enough to cause dripping in the sunlight. To hear it was an extraordinary wakeup call. The cycle was happening again as it always does, always will (or so we think). I imagined that on my summer island, the bees..." READ »
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fin
adjective
Fin means anyhting from sweet to proper. When someone says, Du är så fin it's quite a compliment.
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