Sweden

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden is holding an election Sunday expected to boost a populist anti-immigration party that promises to crack down on shootings and other gang violence that have shaken many people’s sense of security.

The Sweden Democrats entered parliament in 2010 and have steadily gained more votes with each election. The party’s fortunes have risen following massive migration in recent years, particularly in Europe’s crisis year of 2015, and as crime has grown in segregated neighborhoods.

09 Sep 2022; MEMO: A mosque in Sweden affiliated with Turkiye's Presidency of Religious Affairs was pelted with stones in an attack on the place of worship, an official said on Friday, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Mehmet Ozer, an official from the Jonkoping Mosque in southern Sweden, told Anadolu Agency that they noticed the attack when they went for Friday prayers.

STOCKHOLM, September 9. /TASS/: Russian nationals will be allowed to enter the European Union only because of family situation and for humanitarian reasons. Apart from that, entry to the European Union will be possible for journalists, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said on Friday.

According to Johansson, restrictions will come in force from Monday.

It is not yet clear whether his words mean an agreed refusal from the simplified visa issuance procedures or any extra restrictions.

STOCKHOLM, Aug 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A porpoise found stranded on a Swedish beach in June died of bird flu, the first time the virus has been detected in a porpoise, Sweden’s National Veterinary Institute said Wednesday.

“As far as we know this is the first confirmed case in the world of bird flu in a porpoise,” veterinarian Elina Thorsson said in a statement.

“It is likely that the porpoise somehow came into contact with infected birds,” she said.

STOCKHOLM, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Swedish and Finnish rescue services began evacuating families and elderly passengers from a fire-stricken Swedish ferry in the Baltic sea late on Monday, but said the situation was calm and that no one had been injured.

About 70 out of around 300 people onboard were scheduled to be evacuated by helicopter as the powerless vessel was drifting toward the island of Gotland and risked running aground later on Monday, at roughly 2100 GMT.

26 August 2022; MEMO: Turkiye's Communications Directorate, on Thursday, organised the sixth panel in a series on UN Security Council reforms in the Swedish capital city Stockholm, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The Council needs to be reformed in order to make the UN more democratic and better-functioning, political scientist, Hans Agne, said at the event, titled "United Nations Security Council Reform: A New Approach to Reconstruction of the International Order".

STOCKHOLM, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Sweden's government has decided to extradite a man to Turkey wanted for fraud, it said on Thursday, the first case since Turkey demanded a number of people extradited in return for allowing Stockholm to formally apply for NATO membership.

NATO ally Turkey lifted its veto over Finland and Sweden's bid to join the Western alliance in June after weeks of tense negotiations where Ankara accused the two Nordic countries of harbouring what Turkey says are militants of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

STOCKHOLM, August 7. /TASS/: Europe will face an economic slump due to the conflict in Ukraine, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said in an interview with Sunday’s issue of Finland’s Maaseudun Tulevaisuus newspaper.

"People in Finland and in other EU countries will have to put up with the fact that the economy will not be growing year after year. It may tell adversely on Europe’s unity, because development stops abruptly and the number of challenges increases," he noted.

STOCKHOLM, July 30. /TASS/: Norwegian Foreign Ministry regrets the incident involving an employee of the Norwegian consulate in Murmansk Elisabeth Ellingsen that took place in a Russian hotel, the Ministry told TASS Saturday.

The Ministry deeply regrets the incident, Ministry spokeswoman Tuva Raanes Bogsnes said, adding that the emotions expressed by the consulate employee does not reflect the Norwegian policy or attitude of Norwegians towards the Russian people in any way. She added that the Ministry is working on the incident via corresponding channels.

STOCKHOLM, July 28. /TASS/: The European Union’s rules do not allow a complete ban on the issuance of Schengen visas to Russian nationals, Finland’s Helsingin Sanomat newspaper reported on Thursday, citing a response from the European Commission.

"Visas should always be available to certain categories of applicants. Processing visa applications is the responsibility of [EU] member states who are obliged to make decisions on a case-by-case basis," the newspaper quoted the European Commission as saying.