Swedish News

New exploration for minerals in Swedish mines. A Sami case goes to the Supreme Court. Refugee children cope with PTSD  

  • Swedish photographer Magnus Wennman, winner of two World Press Photo Awards, has partnered with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency to raise awareness about refugee children. His exhibit "Where Children Sleep" continues to travel around the U.S.

  • New exploration for minerals
    Sweden is charging forward with a search for more precious minerals such as cobalt and lithium, key battery components among makers of electric vehicles. The Swedish government will invest SEK10m over the next two years in mapping locations of minerals deemed important for future growth. The Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU) has a collection of 18,000 core samples to be analyzed for traces of materials that have previously been overlooked; it will also look at waste material from existing base metals mines. “Historically we have mainly explored minerals such as copper, iron, silver and gold. But the shift to green technologies means there’s an increased need for other minerals,” said Enterprise Minister Mikael Damberg.

  • Many reindeer keepers in the Sami minority in north Sweden are unhappy with the border treaty between Sweden and Norway which was signed in October last year. Now they are taking it to the EU court.

  • Sami case goes to the Supreme Court
    In a confusing case between a Sami village and the Swedish state, confusing language that the Sami village of Girjas has a "better right" than the Swedish state to control the small game hunting and fishing on reindeer herding land – but not the sole right – is now being analyzed in the supreme court. The village, which is an administrative entity in the Sami community, referred to their more than 1,000 years of presence and use of the land, long before the Swedish state formally became owners of the land in the end of the 19th century. A district court granted Girjas exclusive rights to control the hunting and fishing permits in the area a year ago, but the state appealed it.

  • Sweden is charging forward with a search for more precious minerals such as cobalt and lithium, key battery components among makers of electric vehicles. According to some surveys the interest in electric and plug-in hybrid cars is now on par with that of pickup trucks. Here, the new Volvo XC90 T8 is "filled up."

  • Refugee children cope with PTSD
    Group sessions for refugee minors who came to Sweden without their families have proved successful in their start in helping them cope with PTSD. Group therapy can be effective, according to an Uppsala University evaluation, though it doesn’t work for everyone. Suffering trauma in the countries they fled and during their journey – not always knowing the fate of family members and often having endured sexual abuse – has affected the lives of tens of thousands of unaccompanied refugee minors who have sought asylum in Sweden in the last few years. Of the 208 minors in the study, 76 percent screened positive for PTSD. The overall results indicate that therapy offered in a community setting is a promising intervention for refugee minors with PTSD symptoms.