February 14, 2012
The following articles have been tagged with "Religious":
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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Society: 2 Feb 12
A post on Facebook as well as a 42 cannon salute are among the ways the next heir to the Swedish throne will be welcomed into the world, as the Royal Court readies for Crown Princess Victoria to give birth in early March.
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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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Politics: 16 Jan 12
The government plans to launch an inquiry to study Swedish citizenship in hopes of finding ways to boost its value and use it as a tool for integration.
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Education: 11 Jan 12
Teachers in Swedish schools can, in certain situations, prohibit students from wearing Islamic veils that reveal only their eyes, the country's school's agency has ruled.
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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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Analysis & Opinion: 19 Dec 11
Rampant holiday consumerism is hard to avoid, writes US-native and parent Rebecca Ahlfeldt, as she struggles to reconcile competing Swedish and American Christmas traditions in finding gifts for her children.
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Lifestyle: 12 Dec 11
Contributor Lola Akinmade-Åkerström offers up five tell-tale signs that Swedes have truly been gripped by the holiday spirit.
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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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Business & Money: 24 Nov 11
The manager of an Ikea store in Germany, who had Facebook friends belonging to a neo-Nazi political party, has been dismissed for posting offensive opinions on the social networking site.
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Analysis & Opinion: 14 Nov 11
Contributor Ruben Brunsveld reflects on what reactions to a recent article about a Muslim man being thrown from a train in Sweden may say about shifting definitions of xenophobic behaviour.
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Society: 11 Nov 11
A new reality television show offering Swedish-Americans the chance to meet their long-lost Swedish relatives has some critics crying foul, but has been described by participants as the chance of a lifetime, The Local's Joel Linde explains.
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Lifestyle: 27 Oct 11
While "Slumdog Millionaire" brought Bollywood music to the movie-going masses, the Indian embassy is aiming to broaden Swedes' appreciation of the culture of the sub-continent with a programme of classical dance.
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Politics: 11 Oct 11
A secretive network of Swedish MPs has been formed to push for a legalisation of assisted suicide with the group's founder comparing the issue to the abortion debate in the 1970s.
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Society: 7 Oct 11
Swedish women's rights activists and peace groups hailed the awarding of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize to three women who have been instrumental in promoting women's role in peace-building activities in Africa and the Middle East.
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Politics: 22 Sep 11
Sweden's top legal official has given backing to the decision to reassign the integration ministry civil servant who compared Islam to totalitarian ideologies.
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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: 18 Sep 11
The National Security Service (Säpo) has confirmed it searched a mosque in Gothenburg as part of an investigation into a suspected terrorist plot against a local art gallery, a charge later changed to attempted murder.
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Analysis & Opinion: 12 Sep 11
Despite being drawn from a slew of different cultures, ethnicities and linguistic groups, immigrants in Sweden are treated as one homogeneous group with defined characteristics distinct from static Swedish norms, writes Salam Zandi.
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Analysis & Opinion: 9 Sep 11
On the tenth anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 terror attacks, The Local reaches out to a few Swedes and Americans for their thoughts about the attacks and their impact.
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Society: 5 Sep 11
The Swedish government has promised new funds to help boost security around the country's synagogues following accusations that Sweden hasn't done enough to protect it's Jewish population.
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Politics: 26 Aug 11
The Moderate Party has announced that it will not stand in the next church elections which take place in 2013, signalling an intention to cut political ties with the Church of Sweden.
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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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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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Politics: 5 Aug 11
In the wake of the terror attacks in Norway last month, the Swedish government is planning to present its own action plan to combat violent extremism.
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Society: 1 Aug 11
A number of Sweden's faith communities that refuse to accept homosexuals as members continue to receive state support despite regulations requiring them to uphold the country's “social values”.
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Society: 7 Jul 11
Copying, remixing and spreading information cannot be considered an act of worship, even if participants fall into a meditative trance during the act, ruled Swedish authorities, thus rejecting The Missionary Church of Kopimism as a religious faith.
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National: 23 Jun 11
Most Swedes think that the church should look out for the vulnerable in society and join in the societal debate but not get involved politically, according to a new Swedish study.
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Society: 15 Jun 11
Only 15 percent of members of the Church of Sweden say they believe in Jesus, and an equal number claim to be atheists according to the results of a recent survey.
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Lifestyle: 13 Jun 11
A century 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.
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Lifestyle: 10 Jun 11
Las Vegas it isn’t, and chances are Elvis won't be anywhere in sight, but this weekend's mass 'drop-in' wedding at Stockholm's Skansen wildlife park is expected to draw hundreds ready to say "I do", The Local's Geoff Mortimore discovers.
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Lifestyle: 8 Jun 11
American funnyman Stephen Lynch, the self-professed "musician trapped in the body of a comedian", is all revved to bring his "Beefy Burrito" back to Sweden, The Local's Geoff Mortimore discovers.
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Society: 9 May 11
Leading members of the Salvation Army in Sweden told an undercover journalist that “homosexual sex is a sin” and offered to ask God to help "free" the reporter from the condition.
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Politics: 8 May 11
Social Democrat party secretary Carin Jämtin has backtracked on the idea of giving Swedes a day off work to celebrate a Muslim holiday after her controversial proposal provoked a storm of criticism.
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Society: 7 May 11
Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf became the first Swedish monarch to visit the world's largest wooden church in Poland, a UNESCO site funded by the King's ancestors more than 300 years ago.
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Analysis & Opinion: 6 May 11
While football hooliganism has all but disappeared in the UK, Sweden continues to struggle with how to deal with the problem, turning it into a political hot potato, The Local's Geoff Mortimore discovers.
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Education: 4 May 11
A independently-run Christian school in Stockholm has been criticised by the Swedish Schools Inspectorate after being reported for presenting homosexuality as a sin in its teaching.
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Society: 2 May 11
Sweden's Social Democrats argued on Monday for a review of Sweden's public holidays, arguing that as a multicultural country, the Muslim community should also be recognised.
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National: 26 Apr 11
Swedish citizen Mehdi Ghezali was held at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, not because he had committed a crime, but to provide information about terrorist recruiting methods, according to documents made public by WikiLeaks.
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Analysis & Opinion: 21 Apr 11
The abortion issue, long largely dormant in the Swedish popular discourse, has reemerged as a point of contention after two researchers called for a review of legislation framed in the 1970s, The Local's Peter Vinthagen Simpson explains.
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Lifestyle: 21 Apr 11
What do you associate with Easter: eggs, lambs and church? Sweden has these too, but it also features bonfires and witches on broomsticks off to dance with the devil at Blåkulla. Elizabeth Dacey-Fondelius investigates.
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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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Society: 12 Apr 11
In the middle of Sunday service a man jumped up on the altar in a Hässleholm church in southern Sweden and began preaching his own faith in English.
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National: 3 Apr 11
The Church of Sweden has advised pastors to avoid christening asylum seekers that have converted to Christianity due to the risk of reprisals in the case of repatriation.
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Politics: 31 Mar 11
Sweden's government has announced plans to chart the extent of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in the country, as it attempts to counteract the spread of intolerance towards minorities.
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Society: 15 Mar 11
An influential US Jewish group criticised Sweden for imposing the equivalent of a "Jewish tax" on the country's Jewish community, saying it had no plans to lift its advisory warning Jews against traveling in the south of the country.
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Analysis & Opinion: 14 Mar 11
The newly-formed Swedish Fatwa Council sets out to help Muslims in Sweden seeking advice about how to live in accordance with Islam, but not everyone is convinced the group is necessary, The Local's Karen Holst discovers.
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Politics: 11 Mar 11
To decline to come to the assistance of another person whose life may be in danger could lead to a prison sentence, according to recommendations in a report to be presented to the Swedish government on Friday.
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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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National: 16 Feb 11
Swedish police arrested 16 protesters on Tuesday night outside the Swedish Migration Board's asylum seeker detention centre in Kållered outside Gothenburg demonstrating against the expulsion of a group of Iraqis.
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Business & Money: 11 Feb 11
Pär Kjellin, the CEO of a leading Swedish travel package operator, has argued that travel and tourism to countries with authoritarian regimes helps to undermine them.
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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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Politics: 26 Jan 11
Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson kicked off Wednesday's Riksdag debate about violent extremism with a reference to the Stockholm suicide bombing in December.
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National: 20 Jan 11
Despite widespread protests, Sweden deported 20 people back to Iraq on Wednesday after they had been denied asylum, police said.
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National: 19 Jan 11
Swedish police said they have released 24 of the 25 people who had protested outside an asylum seeker detention centre Stockholm early Wednesday, where they were reportedly trying to stop a mass deportation to Iraq.
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Politics: 18 Jan 11
The United Nations refugee agency on Tuesday criticised Sweden’s decision to deport 25 Iraqis back to their home country despite warnings about unsafe conditions there.
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National: 18 Jan 11
Police have arrested about 70 demonstrators who gathered outside the Swedish National Migration Board's (Migrationsverket) offices south of Gothenburg to prevent a group of Iraqis from being deported on Wednesday.
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National: 3 Jan 11
The wife of the man who blew himself up in a busy shopping district in Stockholm said in an interview on Sunday she had no idea her husband was plotting a terror attack.
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Politics: 1 Jan 11
Helena Benaouda, the chair of the Muslim Council of Sweden, has issued a statement saying all forms of extremism are unacceptable.
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National: 30 Dec 10
The 37-year-old Swede arrested in connection with a terror plot against a Danish newspaper was remanded in custody by a Stockholm court on Thursday on suspicion of preparing terror crimes.
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Society: 30 Dec 10
Tibetan Buddhism's highest leader, the Dalai Lama, is set to visit Sweden in April and has been booked in to take part in a service in Lund Cathedral in southern Sweden.
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National: 22 Dec 10
Following recent criticism of the Sweden's decision to deport Christian Iraqis to Iraq, the government is set to demand that the Migration Board expand its knowledge of the conditions faced by religious minorities.
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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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Society: 20 Dec 10
The Swedish Fatwa Council (Svenska Fatwarådet) condemned on Sunday the recent suicide bombing in central Stockholm, while the Swedish Security Service (Säpo) has confirmed that it believes the attacker was acting alone.
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Society: 16 Dec 10
A US-based Jewish group has issued a travel warning urging Jews to exercise "extreme caution" when traveling in southern Sweden.
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Analysis & Opinion: 15 Dec 10
As Sweden struggles to come to grips with the suicide bomb attack that shook central Stockholm on Saturday, Sweden-based Bangladeshi journalist Tasneem Khalil argues that the defence of freedom involves raising questions rather than throwing bombs in retaliation.
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Science & Technology: 14 Dec 10
A Swedish court has sentenced a man to prison for performing illegal circumcisions, the first-ever conviction under the country's laws on the circumcision of boys.
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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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National: 13 Dec 10
British police are continuing the search of a home northwest of London on Monday in connection with Saturday's bombings in Stockholm in light of reports that the perpetrator used to live in the area.
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Society: 12 Dec 10
A Stockholm-based imam on Sunday condemned the two explosions which targeted holiday shoppers in the Swedish capital, killing one person in a what has been called a terrorist crime.
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National: 1 Dec 10
Banning a student from class for wearing a headscarf is a violation of Sweden’s anti-discrimination laws, the country’s Equality Ombudsman has ruled.
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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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Society: 4 Nov 10
A Church of Sweden pastor could lose his job over comments regarding the suitability of women priests to spread the word of God, including the assertion that there were worse "grades of punishment in hell" for female bishops.
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Science & Technology: 29 Oct 10
A 50-year-old man has been charged in Sweden on suspicions of performing illegal circumcisions, the first such case in the country to go to trial.
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Society: 28 Oct 10
A generous gift from a mysterious Swedish-American benefactor has sent officials in a small Swedish municipality scurrying for clues about a previously unknown native daughter who died in the United States in 1993.
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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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National: 10 Oct 10
Swedish police have issued a nationwide alert after two young children and their estranged father went missing on Saturday during a supervised visit to a popular Stockholm tourist attraction.
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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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Society: 23 Sep 10
As the Alliance government stands to miss out on an overall majority by a whisker, handwritten ballots for parties such as Joy Division, Pull Yourself Together and Djingis Cat have had an unlikely impact on Swedish politics.
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National: 18 Sep 10
A Uighur previously convicted of passing information to China about other members of Sweden’s Uighur community had his sentence prolonged by a Swedish appeals court Friday.
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Analysis & Opinion: 14 Sep 10
With record numbers of first time Swedish voters heading to the polls on September 19th, politicians continue to struggle to reach both young Swedes and their parents, explains the AFP’s Rita Devlin Marier.
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Analysis & Opinion: 10 Sep 10
Here's a look at the Christian Democrats, bidding to retain power as one of the smaller parties within the centre-right Alliance coalition.
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Society: 5 Sep 10
By refusing to perform circumcisions on boys who lack specific medical grounds for the operation, several county and regional health authorities in Sweden continue to contravene national guidelines on the procedure.
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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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National: 25 Aug 10
Eight people were charged on Wednesday for trafficking and pimping 10 African women, intimidating the victims into prostitution by using means including voodoo.
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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: 11 Aug 10
Sweden’s long summer days are presenting a challenge to Muslims fasting for Ramadan, which starts on Wednesday. Things are set to get even more challenging in 2015, when the fast will fall in June.
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Science & Technology: 22 Jul 10
Many Swedes are being bombarded by unwanted calls from politicians ahead of September's election despite being registered on Sweden's national so-called "do-not-call" list.
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Society: 15 Jul 10
Comedy Central, the US TV channel which broadcasts South Park, has shown that it is not afraid of further controversy after buying in a Swedish idea for a show about Jesus living a regular life in New York, angering US Christian groups.
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National: 2 Jul 10
The number of anti-Semitic crimes reported in Sweden rose 57 percent last year, mainly in the southern region of Skåne, the national crime prevention council said on Thursday.
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National: 26 Jun 10
The City of Stockholm is to pay 35,000 kronor ($4,500) in compensation to a woman who was forced to leave a municipal training course for wearing a long headscarf.
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Society: 14 Jun 10
As the royal wedding nears, the Swedish Republican Association has invited representatives from republican associations across the EU to Stockholm, claiming that focus on the wedding has boosted their cause.
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National: 13 Jun 10
An estimated 200 couples took the opportunity to get hitched at a popular Stockholm park’s first ever drop-in wedding day on Saturday.
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Business & Money: 8 Jun 10
Swedish oil company Lundin Petroleum and the consortium it belonged to in the Sudan were involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to a new report.
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Politics: 4 Jun 10
The far-right Sweden Democrats have proposed forcing schools to offer a church service sing-song at the end of term, expressing concern over the secular trend among Swedish schools.
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National: 3 Jun 10
The Swedish organizer of the Ship to Gaza, Mattias Gardell, told journalists on his return to Stockholm that the Israelis had committed “premeditated murder” and were guilty of piracy.
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National: 29 May 10
A cleric based in Sweden has been accused by Uzbek state television of instigating a suicide attack on the US embassy in 2004, as well as directing a series of high-profile killings last year.
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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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