Content about Sweden

The fulfilled promise of Hollande for a gender-balanced cabinet with 17 women out of 34 ministers inspired AFP to analyse the ratio between men and women also in the governments of other European states.

According to the survey by the Cybernorms project at Lund University, some 700,000 Swedes currently actively seek to hide their identity online by making use of anonymiser services.

The survey shows that around 200,000 Swedes aged 15-25-years-old habitually surf anonymously, making use of proxy services such as Relakks, Ipredator and Mullvad.

The researchers conclude that as internet usage and file-sharing is most common among younger Swedes, then the proportion of older users surfing anonymously is likely to be lower.

Chinese premier Wen Jiabao was to visit Stockholm on 24 April to secure a handful of bilateral trade deals, including a major investment agreement with China-owned Swedish brand Volvo Cars, The Local reported.

The financial daily Dagens Industri (DI) said five trade deals were to be signed during Wen's visit to the Scandinavian country, in the automotive, telecom, railway, financial and environmental technology sectors.

Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth, Sweden's Minister for Culture has caused outrage after photographs of her on World Art Day were posted on Facebook showing the Minister with a cake in the form of a grotesque parody of an African woman.

The Minister was photographed laughing and smiling as she posed with the cake, designed by artist Makode Aj Linde, whose head formed part of the display, described the object as a 'genital mutilation cake'.

Pirate parties in over 29 countries agreed last weekend, at their annual conference in Prague, to join forces and fight the 2014 elections to the European Parliament on a joint platform and form a pan-european party.

The internet activists, who advocate a reform of copyright law, electronic freedoms and a more transparent political system, were founded in Sweden in 2006 and have had electoral success recently, polling at 11% in Germany, winning seats in regional parliaments. Austrian pirates are also polling at 7% ahead of elections.

Eight countries (Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Wales and the Flemish part of Belgium) have launched specific strategies to promote entrepreneurship education, while 13 others (Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey) included it as part of their national lifelong learning, youth or growth strategies.

This was revealed in a report published by the European Commission.

Dr Wolfgang Schäuble, the German Federal Minister of Finance last week came up with a completely watered down proposal for the much advertised European tax on financial transactions: The famous 'Tobin tax'.

Dr Wolfgang Schäuble, the German Federal Minister of Finance last week came up with a completely watered down proposal for the much advertised European tax on financial transactions.

The initial proposal was drafted by the European Commission and followed the broad lines of a 'Tobin tax' principle. It was aired in September 2011 and provided for a levy on all transactions on financial products including bonds and derivatives (0.01%) and stocks (0.1%).

Sweden‘s defence minister resigned on 29 March after criticism of government plans to help Saudi Arabia set up an arms factory.

Sten Tolgfors said:"I felt that I had lost the energy and joy you need for the job."

Swedish Radio this month revealed that the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) had been involved since 2007 in planning a factory in Saudi Arabia to make explosives and fuel for anti-tank missiles.