Radio Sweden's coverage of Sweden and international events

Swedish telecom giant Ericsson is suspected of bribing Romanian ministers before securing the contract to operate the country's emergency phone number ten years ago.

Swedish police deport children directly from some mental health clinics, although others will not allow the police to enter, reports Swedish Radio News.

Ahmed, aged 15, from Afghanistan, says he was confined in a clinic in Jönköping for three weeks, mostly sedated.

"I woke and there were four police by my bed, two either side of me, and they picked me up and took me to an ambulance."

Ahmed was put on a plane to Italy, where he lives on the street.

A 20-year-old Swedish man died Saturday night after falling off a roof-top terrace in Oslo, reports news agency TT.

The former dictator of Argentina has died in prison aged 87, and a Swedish man says he has now lost the chance to look his daughter's killer in the eye.

Ragnar Hagelin's daughter Dagmar was one of the thousands killed during the "dirty war" under the dictatorship of Jorge Videla, who ran Argentina between 1976 and 1983.

Police in Sweden want to see a new law of "virtual rape" introduced following the investigation of several Swedish men suspected of having ordered live child rapes over the internet, reports newspaper Svenska Dagbladet. A majority of parliamentary parties are thought to be open to reviewing the law and sentences.

One Swedish film will be competing in the Semaine de la Critique at the Cannes Film Festival, which rolled out Wednesday, in the south of France. "Pleasure", a short film about the porn industry, is directed by Ninja Thyberg, and will screen Saturday, competing against nine other films selected from around the world.

Sweden’s Finance Minister Anders Borg has called for tax cuts and spending on education to stimulate the European Union's faltering economy.

“We have high unemployment in Europe – it’s at 12 percent in the eurozone,” Borg told Swedish Radio, as he was in Brussels for a finance minister summit.

“We have to start giving a little better growth stimulus to the economy.”

Updated 11:00

Foreign Minister Carl Bildt has rejected criticism from environmentalists and indigenous groups over Sweden’s failure to push for an oil exploration ban in the Arctic.

Ahead of today’s meeting of the Arctic Council in Kiruna, which ends Sweden’s two-year chairmanship of the group, Bildt wrote in Dagens Nyheter newspaper that an anti-oil stance would have been futile.

The gap between rich and poor has grown the fastest in Sweden in the last decade, compared to any other country of the 34-nation group, the OECD, according to the new report from the organization.

John Kerry held a press conference in Sweden, as he arrives to take part in the last Swedish-run meeting of the Arctic Council.

The US Secretary of State, who handles foreign affairs, is meeting the Swedish prime minister and foreign minister and then will travel to the meeting, to be held in Arctic town of Kiruna.

The Swedish clothing retailer H&M says it is backing a proposal to improve working conditions in Bangladesh, 19 days after a factory collapse in that country killed more than 1,100 workers.

While H&M was not operating in that particular factory, the company is one of the top producers of clothing in Bangladesh, together with US chain Wal-Mart.

There’s confusion over whether the flag used by the Belarusian opposition can be waved at the World Ice Hockey Championships, currently underway at Stockholm’s Globe Arena. Last week the flags were banned because they made a political statement. Now the organizers seem to be turning a blind eye.

The top official for the America’s Cup has not ruled out the cancellation of this year’s event, following the death of a British sailor when the Swedish entry overturned in San Francisco Bay Thursday.

Speaking to reporters, Stephen Barclay, CEO of the America’s Cup Event Authority,  said all aspects of the high-stakes regatta will undergo a full review before organizers decide how to proceed. “Nothing’s off the table”, he replied when asked if his organization is considering using vessels other than the 72 foot twin-hulled catamarans currently favored for the competition.