Sweden

STOCKHOLM, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Several organizations have stepped up to voice their objections to Sweden joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) just days ahead of the military bloc's summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.

The Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society told Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper on Friday that the country would be safer not belonging to a military alliance.

Tehran, IRNA – An informed source has said that the Islamic Republic of Iran is not going to send a new ambassador to Sweden due to the sacrilege of the Holy Quran in the European country.

The informed source at Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs told IRNA on Sunday that despite the fact that administrative procedures for sending a new Iranian ambassador to Sweden have been finished, as a result of the recent insult to the holy Quran in the Swedish capital city Stockholm, the ministry will not send a new envoy for now.

STOCKHOLM, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Sweden's central bank on Thursday announced a 25 basis point hike of its benchmark interest rate to 3.75 percent -- a level not seen since 2008.

It is the seventh consecutive rate hike by the Riksbank since May last year. Before this round of interest rate hikes, the policy rate in Sweden had been at zero or sub-zero for more than seven years.

Another increase is also likely to come before the end of the year, the Riksbank said in a press release.

28 June 2023; MEMO: Swedish police have given the go-ahead for a small demonstration to take place outside a Stockholm mosque on Wednesday at which the organisers said they would "tear up the Koran and burn it", which could further complicate Sweden's bid to join NATO, reports Reuters.

28 June 2023; MEMO: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Wednesday condemned the burning of the Muslim holy book Quran in Sweden on the first day of Muslims' major festival of Eid al-Adha, Anadolu Agency reports.

"I condemn the vile action in #Sweden against our Holy Book, Quran, on the first day of the Eid-al-Adha!," Fidan wrote on Twitter.

"It is unacceptable to allow these islamophobe anti-Muslim actions under the pretext of freedom of expression," he added.

STOCKHOLM, June 28 (Reuters) - A man tore up and burned a Koran outside Stockholm's central mosque on Wednesday, an event that risks angering Turkey as Sweden bids to join NATO, after Swedish police granted permission for the protest to take place.

Police later charged the man with agitation against an ethnic or national group.

A series of demonstrations in Sweden against Islam and for Kurdish rights have offended Ankara, whose backing Sweden needs to gain entry to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

STOCKHOLM (AP) — One person was killed and several others injured when a roller coaster derailed in Stockholm on Sunday, Swedish TV reported.

Park officials told public broadcaster SVT that that one of the carriages on the Jetline rollercoaster derailed and people fell to the ground at the Grona Lund amusement park.

“It is incredibly tragic and shocking,” park spokeswoman Annika Troselius told SVT. “Unfortunately we have been informed that one person is killed and many are injured.”

Police said seven people, both children and adults, were hospitalized.

STOCKHOLM (AP) — A Swedish appeals court on Wednesday increased a prison sentence for an Italian surgeon over experimental stem cell windpipe transplants on three patients who died.

Dr. Paolo Macchiarini made headlines in 2011 for carrying out the world’s first stem cell windpipe transplants at Sweden’s leading hospital and had been sentenced to no prison time by a lower court.

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden is moving closer to another bid to host the Winter Olympics for the first time in what’s shaping up to be a race for the 2030 Games with only one obvious candidate.

Following a four-month feasibility study, Swedish sports officials said Thursday there is a desire for the Nordic country to stage the Olympics in Stockholm. It will be the ninth Winter Olympic bid for the nation that hosted the Summer Olympics in 1912.

13 June 2023; MEMO: Sweden agreed to extradite to Turkiye a man convicted of drug trafficking, who also supported the pro-Kurdish PKK, a first since Stockholm's NATO bid was stalled by Ankara, AFP reports.

According to the report, the Swedish government has decided to "grant an extradition from Sweden regarding a 35-year-old Turkish citizen," Justice Ministry official, Ashraf Ahmed, told AFP.