Swedish News:

Queen Silvia in ski accident. Sweden gets the blame. Sweden to give Ukraine $100 million loan. 

  • Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström says Saudi Arabia has blocked her from speaking to an Arab League meeting in Cairo. Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador from Sweden.
  • Queen Silvia in ski accident
    March 11, 2015 — H.R.H. Queen Silvia was injured during a ski trip in Switzerland on Wednesday. Under cloudy skies and with poor visibility on the slopes, the Swedish Queen fell hard into a ski run, hitting her shoulder. She was transported to the hospital where x-rays identified a severe fracture in her right shoulder, and it remains unclear whether she will require an operation. Under the circumstances, she is managing all right; the royal couple plans to continue their vacation, although the Queen will have to take it easy for a while.

  • Sweden gets the blame
    While Russia's embassy in Sweden is blaming its host country for being party to provoking Russia into seizing part of its neighbor’s territory by offering Ukraine a pathway to membership in the European Union, Saudi Arabia is accusing Sweden's Foreign Minister Margot Wallström of interfering in its internal affairs after she criticized the country's human rights record. After Wallström was blocked from speaking at an Arab League meeting later this month, Sweden scrapped a long-standing military deal with Saudi Arabia. The deal involved exchanges of military products, logistics, technology and training; the Swedish defense minister said only cooperation in medicine and gender studies would remain on offer. Meanwhile Saudi Arabia has recalled its ambassador from Stockholm, officially saying the move was prompted by remarks by the Swedish Foreign Minister that amounted to "an interference in its internal affairs" in violation of international covenants and diplomatic conventions.

  • Sweden to give Ukraine $100 million loan
    Sweden has offered Ukraine a bilateral loan of $100 million to help shore up its finances, the Swedish government said on March 11. "Ukraine is in a very vulnerable situation. The Russian aggression in the East and the infighting going on for the past year has added to an already difficult economic crisis," Sweden's government said in a press release.
    The loan was brought up by the Ukrainian president during a joint press conference in Kiev with visiting Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven: "The Swedish government is taking care of the interest on this loan themselves," Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said, thanking Löfven for the decision and calling Sweden "a true friend of Ukraine."