Västerbotten

The following articles have been tagged with "Västerbotten":

'Every wasted krona amounts to theft'

Analysis & Opinion: 18 Mar 10
Recognizing frustration among a heavily taxed electorate, the Swedish Taxpayers Association has joined hands with the free-market think tank Timbro to appoint a special ombudsman to which citizens can report wasteful government spending. READ »

Baptism of fire for 'horny' church's new name

Society: 23 Jan 10
Church leaders in Storuman, northern Sweden, are facing a barrage of protests from local worshippers after deciding a sexual connotation linked to the name Kåtakyrkan was no longer fitting and should be changed after 30 years. READ »

Repairman's vacation keeps Swedish town off the internet

Society: 29 Dec 09
An internet technician’s holiday travels have left a remote mountain village in northern Sweden cut off from the internet, causing a dent in the town’s winter tourism bookings. READ »

Calm weather expected for Christmas Day

Science & Technology: 25 Dec 09
A yuletide calm has settled over Sweden for Christmas, both on the roads and in the skies. READ »

Workers pick Sweden's shrubs and data hubs

Jobs: 15 Dec 09
Thai berry pickers and Indian IT experts have been the primary recipients of work permits since Sweden's new labour force immigration laws came into force a year ago. READ »

Stockholm prison island hostel lands tourist group's top prize

Society: 25 Nov 09
A former prison on the outskirts of downtown Stockholm has been honoured as the 2009 hostel of the year by the Swedish Tourist Association. 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 »

Nurses's moist wipe helps drunken driver escape conviction

Society: 21 Oct 09
A 36-year-old Swedish man who confessed to driving while drunk has been acquitted because of uncertainty caused by the way a nurse took a blood sample. READ »

Swine flu vaccinations underway in Sweden

National: 12 Oct 09
The largest vaccination programme in Swedish history got underway on Monday as health workers in the south of the country received the first shots to protect against the swine flu. READ »

Flying logs crush Swedish man's home - again

Society: 18 Sep 09
Erold Sigurdsson, a 65-year-old man from northern Sweden, is once again counting his blessings and picking up the pieces after a truckload of timber slammed into his house on Thursday – for the third time. READ »

Stranded Thai berry pickers on their way home

National: 28 Aug 09
Some 200 Thai berry pickers left stranded in Sweden after staking their life savings to travel have had their return trips arranged for them through donations. The first of the berry pickers returned to Thailand yesterday. READ »

Man bashed by urinating gang

National: 4 Jul 09
A man was seriously assaulted by a gang of urinating youths in Umeå on Friday night, sustaining serious injuries. READ »

Grenades retrieved from popular swimming spot

Society: 27 Jun 09
Six thousand grenades rest at the bottom of a lake in northern Sweden in boxes originally dumped there in 1954. Two of the boxes have now been retrieved by the Swedish navy for analysis. READ »

Animal rights activists force restaurant closure

Society: 25 Jun 09
Threats and vandalism allegedly carried out by animal rights activists have forced a restaurant in Umeå in northern Sweden to close its doors. READ »

Outrage over teens' two-month detention without charges

National: 9 Jun 09
Two months after five teenagers were placed in a remand centre in Umeå in northern Sweden, the attorney for one of the youths is speaking out about the prolonged detention. READ »

Sweden set for sunny weekend weather

Science & Technology: 29 May 09
Swedes are gearing up unseasonably warm weather during the final weekend in May, with temperatures expected to reach as high as 30 degrees Celsius. READ »

Police foil Umeå security depot heist

National: 24 May 09
A dramatic shoot out after a robbery at a security depot in Umeå in northern Sweden left one of the robbers with gunshot wounds as four of the gang were arrested. READ »

Man dies following balcony crash

National: 23 May 09
A 30-year-old man died, while another man was injured, when a balcony fell off the side of an apartment building in the northern Swedish town of Skellefteå on Friday night. 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 »

Boyfriend blames ADHD for genital tattoo abuse

National: 5 May 09
A Swedish man has claimed that his attention deficit disorder (ADHD) is to blame for the aggravated assault of his girlfriend which extended to tattooing his name and ID number on her sexual organs. READ »

An uncommonly calm Valborg

National: 1 May 09
Beefed up security efforts on Walpurgis Night paid off this year. Police and parents on patrol, piles of confiscated liquor and teenagers escorted home resulted in a Valborg without major incident. READ »

Rare owl convalescing in southern Sweden

Science & Technology: 26 Apr 09
A Lapland Owl was found injured in a ditch in southern Sweden in March. The species is very rare in these parts and the bird is now convalescing after receiving hospital treatment. READ »

Swedish press: file sharing still ahead of the law

National: 18 Apr 09
The Swedish press weighs in on prosecutorial victory yesterday in the Pirate Bay case. Although the guilty verdict was not surprising, they write, the harsh sentencing was. READ »

Avalanche risk in the north, grass fires in the south

National: 12 Apr 09
Sweden is a country divided by extremes of weather over the Easter weekend. There is a large risk for avalanches in the north at the same time as grass fires threaten in a dry south. READ »

Sweden's chicken glass mystery thickens

National: 30 Mar 09
Bits of glass have been found in a package of Ivar’s brand frozen chicken in northern Sweden as well as a package of fresh chicken sold in a Coop supermarket in Ystad in the south of the country. READ »

Enjoying bourgeois buns in the home of functionalist architecture

Analysis & Opinion: 26 Mar 09
There's no better place in Stockholm to savour croissants and cappucino than Petite France, an award-winning cafe and bakery located on the ground floor of Sweden's most Utopian apartment block, writes Jeanne Rudbeck. READ »

Regular tobacco use falling in Sweden: study

Society: 16 Mar 09
The number of regular smokers in Sweden has fallen by 200,000 in the last five years, with women comprising the largest part of the drop. READ »

Warbling opera singer mistaken for assault victim

Society: 11 Feb 09
Police in northern Sweden broke open the door of a hostel on Friday night after they mistook the sound of an opera singer practising her scales for the heartrending screams of a woman under attack. READ »

Temperatures plunge to new winter low

National: 16 Jan 09
Temperatures of -37.7 degrees Celsius were recorded on Thursday night in a small town in northern Sweden, making it the coldest night of the winter so far. READ »

Alphabet soup: Sweden’s many languages

Analysis & Opinion: 8 Jan 09
Learning Swedish is a noble pursuit. When in Rome and all that. But mastering the majority mother tongue is only the beginning, as many more languages loom large on the horizon, writes Alec Forss. READ »

Gävle goat survives to Christmas

Society: 24 Dec 08
Despite vandals managing to get to and burn some of its smaller siblings, the traditional Gävle goat has managed to survive until Christmas. READ »

Erectile aid found to enhance spruce tree roots

Science & Technology: 20 Dec 08
Swedish researchers have found that a common erectile dysfunction aid also has an enhancing effect on the common spruce tree. READ »

City officals' 'boxing' party sends two to hospital

Society: 20 Dec 08
A holiday activity held at a local boxing club for 15 city officials from Umeå in northern Sweden ended prematurely after two of them were rushed to the emergency room. READ »

Thousands still without electricity

National: 14 Dec 08
Thousands of households in areas of northern Sweden were still without electricity on Sunday morning. Heavy snow and thick layers of ice are hampering repair work. READ »

Thousands lack power after heavy snow

National: 13 Dec 08
After heavy snowfalls across Sweden on Friday thousands of people were left without electricity on Saturday morning. Icy road conditions were forecast for Saturday in Stockholm and northern areas. READ »

Man stuck in tree after botched cat rescue

Society: 11 Dec 08
A man in northern Sweden got stuck attempting to rescue his cat from a tree, eventually needing the fire department to bring both him and his cat down safely. READ »

Warning for icy roads across Sweden

National: 4 Dec 08
Weather forecasters in Sweden are warning drivers for slippery roads throughout the country on Thursday, with snow to blame in the north and ice in the south. READ »

What's on in Sweden: November 28 - December 4

Lifestyle: 27 Nov 08
What’s on: Frida Hyvönen & International Film Festival in Stockholm; Melissa Auf der Maur and Sami dance in Gothenburg; Manhattan Transfer and Ibsen in Malmö/Lund. READ »

Sweden taking in record numbers of immigrants

National: 18 Nov 08
As the flow of immigrants into Sweden reaches record levels, growing numbers are choosing to live in communities featuring universities rather than in cities traditionally known for their large immigrant populations. READ »

Arsenic leak at Swedish gold mine

National: 22 Oct 08
Large quantities of arsenic have leaked out into a fresh water repository near a gold mine operated by Dragon Mining in Västerbotten in northern Sweden. READ »

Swedish court to rule on school lunch fingerprinting

Education: 20 Oct 08
Hungry students at a school in Västerbotten in northern Sweden must give a fingerprint in order to eat in the school’s cafeteria, a practice which bothers data privacy officials seeking to ban the measure. READ »

'Elk hunting is no child's play'

National: 18 Oct 08
Animal rights campaigners are in uproar over reports that a pre-school in northern Sweden took its children out elk hunting. It was all pretend but campaigners allege that an ulterior motive lay behind the brutal game. READ »

Earthquake hits northern Sweden

National: 17 Oct 08
An earthquake rumbled through northern Sweden on Thursday night, according to local media reports. READ »

Budgetary woes plague many Swedish counties

Society: 9 Oct 08
A new report shows that about half of Sweden’s county councils will post a loss this year, with widespread lay offs also expected. READ »

Sami youth shine light on suicide problems

Society: 6 Oct 08
Young people from Sweden’s indigenous Sami community are demanding that more be done to reduce the number of suicides within the community, READ »

Swedish court allows boy to be named November

Society: 23 Sep 08
The parents of a boy in Västerbotten in northern Sweden are rejoicing after the country administrative court found there was nothing wrong with them naming their child November. READ »

'Killer' slugs make journey north

Science & Technology: 20 Sep 08
'Killer' slugs which have previously only been a pest in southern Sweden have now been found in the northern reaches of the country. Umeå is the furthest north the voracious pests have been spotted. READ »

Family bedevilled by girl's beastly ID number

Society: 8 Sep 08
A couple from Umeå in northern Sweden is upset about state authorities branding their newborn baby girl with the sign of the devil. READ »

Swedish lesbian couple sues over fertility treatment rules

Society: 2 Sep 08
The ombudsman against discrimination due to sexual orientation (HomO) is taking the case of a lesbian couple from northern Sweden who claim they don’t have equal access to artificial insemination procedures. READ »

Bus strike over

National: 15 Jul 08
The bus drivers and their employers announced late Tuesday night that they had each signed off on a new agreement, ending the bus strike. READ »

Thief: 'I was just testing the bank's security'

Society: 15 Jul 08
A remorseful thief returned the money he stole from a bank in Ånäset in northern Sweden. The thief claimed to have been testing bank security. READ »

'If you have sick children, move out of Stockholm'

Society: 13 Jul 08
Child healthcare in Stockholm has declined to the levels of the 1950s, according to a leading paediatrician, who advises families with sick children to move out of the Swedish capital. READ »

Bus strike enters second round

National: 10 Jul 08
Sweden's ongoing bus strike has entered its second round, with buses in Stockholm and Västerbotten coming to a halt at midnight on Wednesday. READ »

Bus driver lock-out in northern Sweden

National: 9 Jul 08
Veolia Transport has said it will lock out 67 bus drivers and conductors to coincide with the start of a bus strike in northern Sweden at midnight on Wednesday. READ »

Record-chasing snowmobile driver in Finnish flop

Society: 9 Jul 08
Joel Rehnberg's attempt to become the first person to cross the Gulf of Bothnia on a snowmobile came to a grinding halt in the early hours of Wednesday morning. READ »

Bus strike set to spread

National: 8 Jul 08
A strike by bus drivers is set to spread beyond central Stockholm to other parts of the country and to airport shuttle buses after talks between employers and unions failed. READ »

Bus strike to go national as talks falter

National: 8 Jul 08
Sweden's ongoing bus strike, which came to an uneasy halt on Friday, will resume at midnight on Wednesday in Stockholm and Västerbotten after unions and employers failed to negotiate a settlement. READ »

Swedish filmmakers stranded in Palestinian territories

Politics: 6 Jul 08
A group of six Swedes have been left stranded in a village in the West Bank. Israeli military road blocks will seal off the town for a further week, the UN reports. READ »

Cremain spreading angers Sami herders

Society: 5 Jul 08
Sami reindeer herders in northern Sweden have complained at the growing trend of spreading the cremated remains of dead relatives in the mountains. READ »

Bus strike underway in Stockholm

National: 1 Jul 08
More than 6,000 Stockholm-area bus drivers went on strike at midnight, causing commuting headaches for thousands of area residents. READ »

Stockholm bus strike looms

National: 30 Jun 08
Buses in Stockholm County will come to a standstill at midnight on Monday as bus drivers plan to follow through on their threat to go on strike. READ »

Drunken officer drove with bottle of Jägermeister in his lap

National: 11 Jun 08
A police officer from Umeå in northern Sweden has been indicted on suspicion of driving while heavily intoxicated after being stopped with an open bottle of Jägermeister in his lap. READ »

Green cars hit record highs

Business & Money: 16 May 08
Green is the new black as sales of environmentally friendly cars hit the roof in Sweden. READ »

A northern adventure: Europe’s last wilderness

Travel: 14 May 08
From hikes across mountains with Sami reindeer herders to tours of Europe's only civilian space centre, northern Sweden offers new experiences for adventurous travellers. READ »

Flooding threatens northern Sweden

National: 7 May 08
The national weather service, SMHI, has issued a warning for extremely strong currents in streams near the coast in southern Norrbotten in northern Sweden. READ »

Researchers doubt charcoal's carbon storage potential

Science & Technology: 2 May 08
According to the latest research done at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, charcoal´s potential as an environmentally friendly mechanism for storing carbon waste is overrated. READ »

High school students ignorant of their geography

Society: 26 Apr 08
High school students in Umeå were unable to name Finland's capital city in a recent survey which showed an alarming ignorance of basic geography. READ »

Health workers union steps up strike pressure

Business & Money: 16 Apr 08
The Swedish Association of Health Professionals (Vårdförbundet) approved an additional round of industrial action on Wednesday. READ »

Swedish nurses strike looms

Business & Money: 4 Apr 08
The Swedish Association of Health Professionals (Vårdförbundet) announced industrial action affecting 3,500 members employed by both municipalities and county councils. READ »

Seals block motorway traffic

National: 1 Apr 08
A number of young seals are reported to have left the sea and wandered onto dry land in Västerbotten in northern Sweden. READ »

Reindeer dies of snowmobile stress

National: 31 Mar 08
A reindeer has died from stress-related injuries after being tormented by one or more snowmobile drivers in northern Sweden READ »

Säpo bodyguard 'shot and missed' reindeer

National: 25 Feb 08
Deputy Prime Minister Maud Olofsson’s bodyguards made a failed attempt on Monday afternoon to put down two reindeer that had been injured in a collision with a car. READ »

Environmental activists block E4 in Umeå

National: 10 Feb 08
Environmental activists blocked the E4 main road in central Umeå on Saturday. Car traffic was help up for half an hour. READ »

Teacher convicted for flashing breasts

National: 8 Feb 08
A teacher who flashed her breasts at a high school pupil has been found guilty of sexual harassment. READ »

Green king plans cottages in nature reserve

National: 4 Jan 08
King Carl Gustaf wants to build guest cottages for his children near his house in northern Sweden. READ »

Landowners halt world's largest elk

Society: 13 Dec 07
Two local landowners have halted the march of the world's largest elk by submitting an appeal to Sweden's Environmental Court. READ »

'World's largest elk' to be built in Sweden

Society: 26 Nov 07
Officials in northern Sweden have just given the all-clear for the construction of the world's largest elk. READ »

Swede jailed for drug smuggling in Morocco

National: 19 Oct 07
A 20-year-old man from Umeå in northern Sweden has been sentenced to one year in prison in Morocco on drug offences. READ »

Tabloid tricked by Deputy Prime Minister

Politics: 9 Oct 07
Deputy Prime Minister Maud Olofsson has incurred the ire of tabloid Aftonbladet after allowing her press secretary to take her place for a live online chat session with the newspaper's readers. READ »

Bridezilla breaks into shop to 'steal' her own bouquet

National: 9 Oct 07
Don't get in the way of a Bridezilla on her wedding day. That is the lesson for a florist in northern Sweden after a bride broke into her closed shop to pick up the bouquet she had ordered. READ »

Salesman eats accounts to avoid taxman

National: 27 Sep 07
What to do when police raid your home and demand to see your accounts? Shove the pages in your mouth and start chewing, was one man's response. READ »

Dogs search for Swedish mass graves

Science & Technology: 30 Aug 07
Police dogs have been recruited to solve a mystery that has puzzled historians for two hundred years: how did the bodies of four hundred Russian and Swedish soldiers killed in battle in northern Sweden just disappear. READ »

First bear killed in hunting season

National: 21 Aug 07
The first bear has been killed in Sweden's bear hunting season, which got underway on Tuesday morning. A rising bear population in Sweden has led to raised hunting quotas this year. READ »

Horny elks give Asia 'Swedish Viagra'

National: 17 Jul 07
Antlers from Swedish reindeer, elks and deer are being marketed in Asia as a 'Swedish Viagra'. The potency medicine is produced at a hotel in Fredrika in Västerbotten county, northern Sweden. READ »

Vattenfall to invest 100m kronor in new power plant

Business & Money: 5 Jul 07
Vattenfall has been given the go-ahead by Sweden's environmental court to build a new power station by the Abelvattnet lake in Västerbotten, in the north of Sweden. READ »

Fewer new companies in Sweden

Business & Money: 25 Jun 07
The rate at which new companies are being started in Sweden is declining. The reason, according to ALMI Företagspartner, is that the labour market is improving and more people choose to take jobs rather than go it alone. READ »