Sweden

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Stockholm Apartment for Sale, Stepdad Included

(Newser) - A beautiful apartment for sale in Stockholm comes complete with a balcony that overlooks one of the city's trendiest districts—and the current owner's ornery stepfather. The man is defying a court order by refusing to move out, but that's not stopping his stepdaughter from selling the residence, reports The ...

Big Brother Comes to Sweden
 Big Brother Comes to Sweden 
Opinion
Jul 13, 2008 1:01 PM CDT

Big Brother Comes to Sweden

New surveillance law has country partying like it's 1984

(Newser) - Don’t believe the hype: “Sweden is no cuddly liberal democracy,” writes Nathalie Rothschild for Spiked, berating her home country for “introducing the most Draconian surveillance law in Europe.” Known as the FRA law but nicknamed "Lex Orwell" by opponents, the legislation gives intelligence agencies...

What's Your Salary? In Sweden, It's No Secret

In Scandanavia, everyone's pay is made public

(Newser) - In America, tax information is kept private by law. In Sweden, "you can see what your brother-in-law made, your neighbor made," says one Justice Ministry official. Like its Scandinavian counterparts Norway and Finland, Sweden makes all tax returns public every year—and no one seems to care, reports...

Surveillance Law Gives Sweden Broad Powers

No warrant needed for cross-border phone, e-traffic; foes outraged

(Newser) - Sweden's intelligence service will have broad new powers to intercept cross-border calls and emails, without a warrant, under a law passed yesterday, the BBC reports. Critics, meanwhile, say it is impossible to fully distinguish domestic from international traffic without compromising the transmissions. Protesters handed out copies of George Orwell's 1984...

Kiss Cuddles With Condoleezza
 Kiss Cuddles With Condoleezza 
May 30, 2008 11:34 AM CDT

Kiss Cuddles With Condoleezza

Secretary of state crossed paths with the band in Sweden

(Newser) - In a crossing of paths fit for Madame Tussauds, ‘70s icons Kiss were staying at the same Stockholm hotel as Condoleezza Rice yesterday. Not content to be strangers passing in the Swedish night, the rockers asked if the secretary of state could stop by after dining with the country’...

Pernod Spirits High After $8.3B Absolut Buy

French company pays $8.3B for premium vodka brand

(Newser) - French liquor giant Pernod Ricard's spirits were soaring after its $8.34 billion bid won it ownership of Sweden's state-owned Vin & Spirit, the parent company of Absolut vodka. Pernod topped US-based Fortune Brands in an auction for the purchase, the Wall Street Journal reports, and is now the wine...

Ikea's Names Enrage Danes
Ikea's Names Enrage Danes
Mar 6, 2008 4:34 PM CST

Ikea's Names Enrage Danes

Danish monikers on Swedish outfit's doormats, floor runners wound pride

(Newser) - Danes are hopping mad about a discovery that Swedish furniture giant Ikea uses Danish place names for its doormats and floor coverings, while reserving Swedish and Norwegian monikers for higher-end items, Der Spiegel reports. Some Danish academics argue that this reinforces Sweden’s perception of Denmark as a “doormat”...

Move Over, Heisenberg: Electron Caught on Film

Elusive negative charge stars in Swedish researchers' breakthrough video

(Newser) - Electrons are tiny, fast, and, until recently, impossible to capture on film. But a short, super-slow-mo video offers the first direct look at the wily subatomic particle. Coaxing the reclusive electron into the limelight took major maneuvering by Swedish scientists, LiveScience reports. The paparazzi of physicists caught the negative particle...

Kids' Clothes Give Teacher a Real Headache

Swedish school bans stripes, polka dots to ease migraines

(Newser) - Bad news for Pippi Longstocking wannabes—a Swedish preschool has banned striped and polka-dotted children's clothing because the patterns trigger one teacher's migraine headaches. The ban is driving some fashion-conscious parents dotty, but the school's principal defends the teacher's right to "an appropriate work environment," reports the Local ...

Swedish Police Crack Down on File Sharing Site

But defiant Pirate Bay owners vow that nothing will change

(Newser) - Swedish authorities have taken action to sink Pirate Bay, one of the world's most popular file-sharing site, by leveling charges of copyright infringement against four of its administrators, DailyTech reports. Prosecutors allege the site, which boasts almost 15 million users, exploits copyrighted material like music and movies by collecting some...

US Blunts Arctic Oil Warning
US Blunts Arctic Oil Warning
Jan 23, 2008 2:18 PM CST

US Blunts Arctic Oil Warning

Report's recommendations cut on US, Swedish objections

(Newser) - A top researcher for the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was poised this week to deliver a stern warning against the oil drilling operations sweeping the Arctic—until politicians pulled the teeth from his report, Der Spiegel reports. The report needed approval from the Arctic council that commissioned it—...

Pirate Bay Prepares for P2P Legal Battle

Copyright holders will finally get a shot at Swedish site

(Newser) - Wildly popular BitTorrent site The Pirate Bay will soon defend itself in court, after years of eluding international copyright interests, the Wall Street Journal reports. Swedish prosecutors will charge the site with “conspiracy to breach copyrights,” a technically-nuanced accusation that is heatedly disputed. The site itself hosts no...

Pippi Longstocking Heirs Battle Pirate Products

Sexy dolls mar spunky redhead's legacy

(Newser) - The heirs of beloved "Pippi Longstocking" author Astrid Lindgren are fighting an infuriating legal battle to block a legion of pirate products that have cashed in on the popularity of the Swedish girl hero. Some of the products—like an Italian Barbie-ized doll that fitted Longstocking with breasts and...

Sweden Law Rids Streets of 'Johns'
Sweden Law Rids Streets
of 'Johns'
Nov 8, 2007 7:50 PM CST

Sweden Law Rids Streets of 'Johns'

Crackdown on men soliciting prostitutes hailed as success

(Newser) - A Swedish law that penalizes men who solicit sex with prostitutes rather than the women themselves has been a huge success in cleaning up the streets and reducing human trafficking, proponents say. But Swedish sex workers see the ban as an undue burden on an already burdensome job and argue...

Sweden Serves Up a New Pop Sensation

Jens Lekman is the real deal, raves Slate critic

(Newser) - Get ready for a new Swedish invasion—Slate writer Stephen Metcalf says pop musician Jens Lekman is about the best thing ever (and his 4-year-old daughter thinks so, too). Lekman is strongly influenced by Stephin Merritt, Morrissey, and Belle and Sebastian, but he is still "a different bird,"...

TJX Data Breach Exposed 94M Credit Cards

Still no arrests after up to $83M is spent with stolen numbers

(Newser) - Cyber thieves have pinched 94 million credit cards from a discount retailer—double the last estimate—and spent up to $83 million as far as Hong Kong and Sweden, the AP reports. Banks are now suing the retailer, TJX Cos., to recover their losses. But those losses keep growing: "...

Art Vandals Post Video of Raid on YouTube

Camera-wielding neo-Nazis trash Serrano exhibit in Sweden

(Newser) - Andres Serrano, no stranger to controversy, has seen his current photography exhibition in a Swedish university town vandalized with crowbars and axes. But the latest incident of destruction had a new twist: The vandals who ran through Serrano's exhibition "The History of Sex" last week filmed their act of...

An Absolut Blockbuster
An Absolut Blockbuster
Sep 20, 2007 11:35 AM CDT

An Absolut Blockbuster

Maker of top-selling Smirnoff eyes second-place Swedish brand

(Newser) - British beverage conglomerate Diageo, maker of best-selling vodka Smirnoff, is “very interested” in acquiring Sweden’s Absolut, the world’s second-largest vodka. Diageo says it isn’t worried about anti-trust problems, although its CEO tells Reuters “complexity will vary from market to market.” One easy market would...

Al-Qaeda Puts Price on Head of Cartoonist

$100,000 for murder of Swede who drew offensive image

(Newser) - An al-Qaeda affiliate is offering a reward to slaughter a Swedish cartoonist who drew an image offensive to Muslims. In an online statement, Islamic State in Iraq offered $100,000 for Lars Vilks' murder and $50,000 for that of the newspaper editor who published the cartoon. The reward escalated...

Richards Throws Stones at Swedish Critics

Reviews of 'superdrunk,' 'confused' performance get guitarist riled up

(Newser) - Keith Richards, the man who ate a cigarette onstage and snorted his father’s ashes, has reached his limit. The 63-year-old Rolling Stones guitarist wants Swedish newspaper critics to apologize for scathing reviews of a concert this month in which they called Richards “superdrunk” and “a bit confused,...

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