Swedish News

Angel healthy - Sins prove it. 

  • A not so sick member of the motorcycle gang, Hell's Angels will have to repay over $200,000 to the Swedish Försäkringskassan.
  • Angel healthy. Sins prove it.
    Crime and sickness don't mix: For more than a decade, a prominent member of the local chapter of the motorcycle gang, Hell's Angels, had collected monthly sickness payments totaling in excess of $200,000. As reported by the regional newspaper, Norrländska Socialdemokraten, the fallen Angel must now pay it all back after it became clear that he did not suffer disablement from back injuries that prevented him from traveling to his job site.
    The proof that was presented in a criminal court in Luleå, Sweden, showed that he had committed numerous crimes while purportedly being prevented from leaving his bedside...or bike side...during a 12 year period. Among physically demanding transgressions for which he was convicted, one instance showed him traveling from the northernmost area of Sweden to Germany, then loading large quantities of liquor, beer and wine onto a truck. He was caught smuggling the goods back into Sweden.
    While no authorities guessed how he would manage to accomplish the restitution, he was given until the end of this month to repay the amount in full to the national workingman's compensation authority, Försäkringskassan.

  • The laughing iguana... exotic reptiles are starting to become more common, even outdoors, in Sweden - for the wrong reasons.
  • Exports, imports show solid growth
    Sweden's exports and imports showed substantial growth in June, Statistics Sweden announced in July. The value of exports in June amounted to 106.7 billion kronor ($14.5 billion), 17 percent more than one year ago, while imports were valued at 95.3 billion kronor ($13 billion), 28 percent higher, the government's agency said in a statement. The net trade surplus was 11.4 billion kronor ($1.56 billion), it said. Trade with countries outside the EU resulted in a surplus of $14. 3 billion kronor ($1.96 billion), while the EU trade resulted in a deficit of $2.9 billion kronor ($397 million), the agency said.

  • Sweden's exports and imports showed substantial growth in June with a net trade surplus of 11.4 billion kronor ($1.56 billion)
  • Iguana gets the last laugh
    A woman carrying a sleepy 5-foot iguana she found while walking in Stockholm, Sweden, panicked when it woke up, officials said.
    "She got scared and called the police when it started to come back to life," police spokeswoman Christina Johansson said.
    Iguanas are herbivores and native to Central American forests. They can live more than 20 years and grow to 8 feet, but an aquarium official said they are becoming a more common sight in Swedish woods during the summer vacation season.
    "There was a time when people would throw out their summer cats. Now people throw out their summer reptiles before going on holiday," Jonas Wahlström at Skansen Aquarium said. The iguana is not the largest animal to end up at the Skansen Aquarium.
    “Two old ladies were out picking berries in Huddinge when they happened upon a 20-foot-long boa constrictor that weighed 185 pounds. We went out and rescued the snake while the police rescued the ladies," Wahlström said.

  • Zlatan Sets Sights on Swedish Soccer Gold. Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Erik Hamrén talk to the Swedish media July 15 during a press conference in Malmö.
  • Zlatan Sets Sights on Swedish Soccer Gold
    Speaking earlier in the week from Stockholm, upon the soccer star’s recent return from his team, Barcelona’s Asian tour, Zlatan Ibrahimovic explained that he is hopeful that the Swedish national team can have a realistic shot of taking home the championship at the 2014 World Soccer Championships. The Swedish soccer wunderkind currently plays alongside many of the members of Spain’s champion team, which took home gold in South Africa earlier this year. The star’s astonishing optimism is coupled only by his happiness for the successes of his Spanish teammates at Barça. Certainly such positive attitudes must inspire hope and pride in the Swedish national team, which has a long way to go yet a talented pool of young players.