Swedish News

Swedes go for the gold in LA. Superstar won't come back to Sweden. Migrants get free transportation in southeast Sweden. O'Neill puts family first.  

  • Christopher O'Neill and son Prince Nicolas in July after his June 15th birth. Photo Brigitte Grenfeldt, Kungahuset.se
  • Superstar won't come back to Sweden
    After being stopped by the police following a concert in Uppsala, American superstar rapper Snoop Dogg is boycotting future appearances in Sweden. Police said the car in which Snoop Dogg was a passenger got stopped at a vehicle control point between Uppsala and Stockholm. This isn’t the first time Snoop Dogg has been stopped by police in Sweden, and the superstar calls it racial profiling, but Swedish police insist it was a coincidence that he was in the car. The rapper reacted with scathing criticism but went to the police station. Police spokesperson Christer Nordström doesn’t agree with the criticism. “It was a random check on vehicles after the concert, and Snoop Dogg was a passenger in one of the cars. Police stopped them, perceiving that they were under the influence of drugs, and therefore took them to the station,” he said. The behavior that aroused those suspicions hasn’t been made public, though drugs have been found in the superstar’s hotel and he sings about drugs. Snoop Dogg released videos of the encounter which have been seen around the world through major entertainment sites and social media; he has 5.8 million followers on Instagram and 12.6 million on Twitter. "To all my Swedish fans. You can blame your police, you will never see me again in your beautiful country.”

  • Emily and Lolo from SACC-LA help with the preparations for a special welcome event on July 26, 2015 for the Swedish Special Olympics team.
  • Swedes go for the gold in LA
    The 2015 Special Olympics are taking place in Los Angeles, California, the largest event in Los Angeles since the 1984 Olympics.
 The Swedish American Chamber of Commerce made a point to honor the entire Swedish team which is well represented by 60 athletes and 30 coaches. Sweden’s sport and health minister Gabriel Wikström is also attending the Games and was at the special welcome event given by SACC-LA on Sunday, July 26. http://www.specialolympics.org. Follow Sweden's results at #HejaSpecial, twitter.com/specialsverige and facebook.com/specialolympicssweden.

  • Team Sweden at the 2015 Special Olympics
  • Migrants get free transportation
    All asylum seekers in Kalmar County, Sweden can ride the bus for free. The new initiative is aimed at improving integration in Kalmar, of mobilizing migrants who live far from larger communities and reducing their isolation. Kalmar is the first area in Sweden to offer this the program, a collaboration between Migrationsverket (the Swedish Migration Board), the County Council and Kalmar County Transport costing SEK 500,000 ($58,700) each month; the program will continue and be evaluated for one year. Sweden currently receives more refugees per capita than any other EU country, but Migrationsverket is predicting the number of asylum seekers may be down across the country from the predicted 90,000 to 74,000 this year.

  • Team Sweden in the Special Olympics Parade of Nations in LA.
  • O'Neill puts family first
    Princess Madeleine’s husband, Chris O’Neill has been in Swedish media a lot lately. And not only because he married a princess two years ago and now has a prince and princess of his own. O’Neill, 41, who chose not to accept a royal title when he married into the Swedish royal family, kept his job as a businessman … which has also kept him from some royal engagements. But he has been at as many as possible, especially this summer while his family is temporarily based in Stockholm before they move to London this fall. Princess Madeleine, 33, Princess Leonore, 1, and newborn Prince Nicolas, will join O’Neill, who has already started his new job in London helping large companies in Europe secure new businesses at lower costs. "I have a job where I can not always decide months in advance that I will be on an official mission,” said O'Neill. “Madeleine and I have made the decision that we are going to live in London for me to do my job. I want to come home to my family and eat dinner together. I must first and foremost think of our little family.” Of course the family will still travel to Sweden to visit, and Madeleine will often have official business there as well. O’Neill, who isn’t very well known in Sweden, regrets being so private. “I would be more open, but at the same time I do not have the same official role as Madeleine. It is not my role to explain myself. However, I must get used to being a public figure.” He doesn’t, however, regret his commitment to his family. “If I were to do it again and become part of the family? Of course. A million times again. They are the most generous people I have met.”