Sweden

30 April 2020; AFP: Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has donated a $100,000 prize she won from a Danish foundation to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for use against the COVID-19 pandemic, the world body said Thursday.

"Like the climate crisis, the coronavirus pandemic is a child rights crisis," Thunberg, 17, was quoted as saying in the UNICEF statement.

"It will affect all children, now and in the long term, but vulnerable groups will be impacted the most," she added.

MALMO/COPENHAGEN, March 27 (NNN-Agencies) — Only an 8-kilometre bridge separates neighbours Sweden and Denmark, but while the streets of the Danish capital Copenhagen lie deserted, life in Swedish city Malmo rumbles on as the countries adopt starkly different approaches in fighting the coronavirus outbreak.

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden’s government on Monday said it had decided to send troops to Mali to join French-led special forces that are fighting militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State in the Sahel region of North Africa.

The Social Democrat and Green coalition said that Sweden would contribute a rapid reaction force of up to 150 troops and helicopters as part of international efforts to boost security in the region.

12 March 2020; AFP: Greta Thunberg has urged climate campaigners to avoid mass protests as the new coronavirus spreads, but said her "Fridays for Future" movement would organise online strikes instead.

The Swedish activist warned her followers it was vital they listened to the advice of health experts who have advised people to avoid large public gatherings to slow down the spread of the virus which has infected more than 125,000 people worldwide.

STOCKHOLM, March 9. TASS/: The United States and Russia remained the main exporters in 2014-2019, although the volume of arms sales of Russia decreased compared to 2010-2014 by 18%. That is according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), released on Monday.

The new report on the state of world arms trade notes that in 2015-2019 the trade volume increased by 5.5% compared with the previous five-year period (2010-2014).

STOCKHOLM, February 1. /TASS/: Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde told TASS she had no information so far about plans to hold another round of talks between the United States and North Korea in her country.

"No news for today," she said. "We are trying to create conditions under which the United States and North Korea would be willing to negotiate. We cannot force them, it should be their determination. And, at present, this determination is not particularly strong, especially on behalf of North Korea."

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg said on Instagram on Wednesday she has applied to register her name and that of the Fridays For Future movement she founded in 2018, which has gone global and catapulted her to international fame.

The move would allow legal action against persons or companies trying to use her name or the movement’s which are not in line with its values, she said.

“I assure you, I and the other school strikers have absolutely no interests in trademarks. But unfortunately it needs to be done,” she said on the social network.

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A comprehensive agreement on the future relationship between the European Union and Britain will take longer to agree than the 11-month transition period that begins when the UK leaves the EU at the end of January, the EU’s chief negotiator said on Thursday.

Britain is due to leave the bloc on Jan. 31 and the sides will then have until the end of the year to negotiate a new trade relationship - a short period given the complexity of the discussions.

KIRUNA, Sweden (AP) — Thick reindeer fur boots and a fur hat covering most of his face shielded Niila Inga from minus 20-degree Celsius (minus 4-degree Fahrenheit) winds as he raced his snowmobile up to a mountain top overlooking his reindeer in the Swedish arctic.

His community herds about 8,000 reindeer year-round, moving them between traditional grazing grounds in the high mountains bordering Norway in the summer and the forests farther east in the winter, just as his forebears in the Sami indigenous community have for generations.

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund will examine efforts by Nordic banks and regulators to stop money laundering in the region and the Baltic countries, Sweden’s central bank said on Thursday, following a string of alleged lapses.

Nordic banks have been hit by a steady stream of allegations over failures to combat money laundering in the Baltics, which have sent shares in Sweden’s Swedbank (SWEDa.ST) and SEB (SEBa.ST) and Denmark’s Danske Bank (DANSKE.CO) tumbling.