Finland orders helicopter protection

HALLI, Finland, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- NH90 helicopters flown by the Finnish military are to receive ballistic protection from Patria Aviation.

The Finnish company reported it signed a defense contract to design and manufacture the protective equipment, which can be installed when operations so require.

"The ballistic protection project is a prime example of how Patria's expertise and design knowledge gained during the assembly of NH90 helicopters can be used to improve the NH90 fleet's performance, while ensuring that the fleet can be used in all security situations," said Lassi Matikainen, president of Patria Aviation.

Finnish company FY-Composites Oy will supply the ballistic protection plates. Material technology developed by the company will be used in the protection plates' structures.

The project will be implemented during 2012–2014.

The monetary value of the contract was not disclosed.

Patria is a defense, security and aerospace group with international operations. It is owned by the government of Finland and the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co., EADS N.V.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2011/09/02/Finland-orders-helicopter-protection/UPI-39331314970948/.

Norway Holds National Memorial for Victims

By Alex Johnston
August 21, 2011

Norway on Sunday held a national memorial for the 77 victims who died in the double terrorist attack last month, ending a month-long period of mourning.

Nearly 7,000 people including the Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, King Harald, and the presidents of Finland and Iceland as well as other political luminaries, attended the memorial at the Spektrum concert hall in Oslo, according to media reports.

Stoltenberg called on Norwegians to support the families of victims killed during the shooting on Utoya Island and the bombing in Oslo’s government district, which were allegedly carried out by Norwegian Anders Behring Breivik, a right-wing extremist.

“We must invite in those who have gone astray. We must oppose those who want to use violence," Stoltenberg said, according to a translation of his speech posted on the government’s website. “We must meet them with all the arms of democracy.”

Stoltenberg was widely praised for his handling of the aftermath of the incident, which is considered the worst non-wartime attacks in the country’s history. In his speech, the prime minister said that Norway needs to be alert to signs of extremism and create a culture of safety and kindness to prevent it.

Norway will “make an unbreakable chain of solidarity, democracy, safety and security,” he concluded. “That is our protection against violence.”

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/norway-holds-national-memorial-for-victims-60614.html.

Two Young Chechens Saved the Lives of 23 Teenagers in the Norway Massacre

Aug 18 2011

Two Chechens Movsar Jamaev and Rustam Daudov first met on Wednesday July 19, this year on the island Utøya. They quickly became good friends, and were going to dinner, when the first shots were fired on Friday, July 22 – says on its pages the well-known Norwegian newspaper “Dagbladet”.

With the prior permission of their parents, they told the reporters of this newspaper about the terrible hours spent on the island of Utoya.

“We heard the first shots and saw a group of teenagers standing near an armed man who was shooting them at a point-blank. Three of them were shot in front of us”, – said the young Chechens. “From there the two young men ran towards the woods, pulling a group of terrified Norwegian youth, who did not know how to save themselves.” 16-year-old Norwegian said he was so frightened that he could not move. “Therefore, Movsar took my arm and dragged me into the forest” – he said. From there Movsar called his father, who gave him instructions, how to behave in a similar situation.

“I have witnessed how people were shot earlier in my country by the Russian occupiers, when I was a kid. After talking with my father, I was able to pull myself together. My dad told me that I must possess myself and that I should think not only about themselves, but also about the other children on the island. He told me that I should tried to save as many as possible. “Attack on the offender should be done properly” said dad”- says Movsar.

“The murderer, dressed in the form of a police officer, shouted to us to come to him. At first I thought to do it, until I realized that he was going to kill us. Soon, he began to shoot the children who came to him, believing that he is a policeman. He did calmly and cooldbloodedly kill defenseless children.”- said Movsar. According to his friend, Rustam, they were armed with stones, decided to stop the offender. Rustam states, that both of them with stones in their hands began to move towards Anders Breivik.

“We were maybe a meter away from him and were going to throw stones at him, but he shot one of our friends. Then we threw stones at him and ran to save our lives and the lives of other children who were still alive – said Rustam. Movsar has no doubt that he got the murderer with a stone. He says that after this killer howled and shouted at him “f***ing nigger”.

After that, the young men decided to seek and rescue the remaining children. They found a cave in the rock, where they hid terrified children (a total of 23 people), among whom was even an eight-year boy. Movsar says that he carried him on his shoulders for nearly an hour.

Then they stood on duty at the cave entrance hoping to protect children. From there, they saw several young people drowning in the water. “I could not let them drown, and swam to help them. Three times I did it, but I was totally exhausted due to the cold water. I did not have the strength to save the boy, who was only ten feet from me. He drowned “. – Movsar said.

Source: The Ugly Truth.
Link: http://theuglytruth.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/two-young-chechens-saved-the-lives-of-23-teenagers-in-the-norway-massacre/.

Nordic Holdouts: Sweden and Finland Mull Joining NATO

By Aron Lamm
August 11, 2011

The simmering NATO membership debate in the supposedly neutral Nordic strongholds of Finland and Sweden have come to the fore lately.

In Sweden, a NATO assessment of the Swedish military led to questions about whether the Swedish conservative government is trying to sneak the country into NATO. In neighboring Finland, the minister for defense recently stated that Finland should consider joining NATO for financial reasons.

Officially speaking, neither country has plans to join NATO, but both are members of the Partnership for Peace program. They also both participate in NATO operations in Kosovo and Afghanistan, and Sweden is also participating in the Libya effort. Every now and then, voices in both countries are raised for full membership.

While this would mean the possibility to actually influence the operations in which they participate, as well as guaranteed protection in the case of war, it would also mean that they would lose their status as neutral peace brokers on the international stage.

Some say that this status is in fact already in jeopardy due to the countries’ current close collaboration with NATO. Sweden’s Defense Ministry recently announced that the armed forces have been reviewed by the NATO Planning and Review Process.

In an article in Swedish newspaper DN recently, former Swedish minister for defense, Thage G. Peterson, and a former Swedish United Nations Ambassador Anders Ferm, accused the government of trying to sneak Sweden into NATO.

"Sweden is in a gray area where we can neither reap the full benefits of a NATO membership, nor claim to be unaligned. The rest of the world sees Sweden as a NATO appendage—but only one Swede in five thinks we should join," the article says.

In a direct reply, former commander-in-chief of the Swedish armed forces says that the reality is Sweden has been a silent member of NATO since the end of World War II.

Meanwhile, Finnish Defense Minister Stefan Wallin, told newspaper Salon Seudun Sanomat this week that the recent cutbacks on military spending raises the question if Finland would be able to defend itself effectively if needed, or if NATO membership would be prudent.

His fellow cabinet member, Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, quickly dismissed this idea, however. He told TV station YLE on Wednesday that NATO membership was "not on the table under the current administration."

The official stance in Sweden is similar, with only one party in the Swedish Parliament and less than one Swede in five supporting a NATO membership, according to a 2010 survey by SOM, an organization affiliated with the University of Gothenburg.

Yet, the door to NATO seems wide open for the day the Swedes change their minds.

NATO’s Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in response to a question during his visit at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs in March that Sweden already fulfills all criteria for a full NATO membership.

Rasmussen said, "Our door remains open for all democracies in Europe that fulfill the necessary criteria," a category that would most likely include Finland as well, but he added that he did not wish to interfere with a nation’s domestic policy.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/nordic-holdouts-sweden-and-finland-mull-joining-nato-60297.html.

Libyan exiles occupy Libyan Embassy in Stockholm

By MALIN RISING | AP
Aug 11, 2011

STOCKHOLM: Police stormed the Libyan Embassy in Stockholm on Thursday to arrest seven protesters who had occupied the building, torn down images of Muammar Qaddafi and threatened to commit suicide by jumping out windows.

No injuries were reported, and the embassy was empty of staff members, but it was the third time this year that Libyan exiles living in Sweden had occupied the building since the civil war began in Libya six months ago.

On Thursday, authorities first sent a negotiator into the embassy to talk with the protesters and placed inflatable mattresses around the building after the demonstrators threatened to jump from its windows, officials said.

But police then stormed the embassy after the protesters threatened to start a fire there, said police spokesman Kjell Lindgren.

Police arrested the seven protesters on suspicion of vandalization, trespassing, and preparation of arson, said Lindgren.

The standoff began after an embassy alarm was activated and police closed the road outside the building. The protesters, and small group of supporters standing outside the embassy, waved a flag of the monarchy that ruled Libya before its 1969 coup. It has lately become the symbol of the rebels fighting Qaddafi’s forces and is known as the “independence flag.”

Eyewitness Helmi Alnadori said the demonstrators took control of the building and were shouting and throwing books and pictures of Qaddafi out of the windows. He said the situation was “complete chaos” when police arrived and circled the embassy.

Qaddafi’s opponents in Sweden were permitted to hoist the independence flag at the embassy in February, but it was removed after the appointment of a new ambassador loyal to Qaddafi.

In April, six people were arrested after demonstrators broke in to the embassy to protest the installation of the new ambassador.

Source: Arab News.
Link: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article487052.ece.

Danish zoo raises polar bear cub by hand

December 22, 2011 — COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A Danish zoo says a month-old polar bear cub is being raised by humans after his mother failed to produce enough milk to feed him.

Scandinavian Wildlife Park manager Frank Vigh-Larsen says Siku is doing "really fine." The cub now weighs 7 pounds (3.2 kilograms grams) — against 3 pounds (1.8 kilograms) at birth. Vigh-Larsen said Thursday that the cub was two days old when he was removed from his mother after surveillance video inside the bear cave revealed that he "was moaning and being unruly all the time."

Vigh-Larsen says Siku would have been in danger of death if he had stayed with his mother. Three people are giving round-the-clock care to the cub at the zoo in Kolind, 105 miles (170 kilometers) northwest of Copenhagen.

Iceland recognizes state of Palestine

Thursday 15/12/2011

REYKJAVIK (Reuters) -- Iceland on Thursday became the first west European country to formally recognize a Palestinian state, three months after the Palestinians began to seek full membership of the United Nations with peace talks with Israel frozen indefinitely.

"(This) will surely have positive influence on other states to follow the same steps," Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki told a news conference in Reykjavik.

"Iceland didn't only talk the talk, we walked the walk," Icelandic Foreign Minister Ossur Skarphedinsson said. "We stood by our word, we have supported the Palestinian cause and today will not be the end of that, we will continue to do so."

East European countries that were once part of the old Soviet bloc, as well as Cyprus -- all of them now European Union members -- previously recognized Palestine.

Israel and the United States have opposed any recognition of a Palestinian state not based on the outcome of negotiations. Washington's major west European allies echo this position, but Iceland is outside the EU.

In late September, President Mahmoud Abbas asked the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital. The UN at present classifies Palestine only as an observer "entity".

Iceland led the way in recognizing the independence of the three Baltic states after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

Middle East peace talks have been suspended for more than a year. Abbas refuses to negotiate while Israel goes on expanding settlements on occupied West Bank land and in East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed after a 1967 war in a move not recognized internationally.

Malki said he wanted negotiations to restart.

"We have committed ourselves to the process of negotiations and we continue to commit ourselves to the process of negotiations with the Israelis," he said. But the peace process was "going nowhere at the moment".

Israel has said it is open to resuming negotiations without preconditions, but Palestinian leaders insist they cannot enter talks while Israel continues building settlements on lands Palestinians need for a viable independent state.

"Actually we are only seeing setbacks. The current Israeli government is not interested in peace and the international community is not doing what is needed," Malki said.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=445338.

Deadly Attacks in Norway Bring Sorrow and Solidarity

By Angela Wang
July 24, 2011

“It is nearly two days since Norway was hit by the worst atrocity it has seen since the second world war—On Utoya, and in Oslo. It seems like an eternity. These have been hours, days, and nights filled with shock, despair, anger, and weeping,” said Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg to the victims of Friday’s attacks in an emotional memorial service at Oslo Cathedral on Sunday.

The country known to the world as one of the most peaceful is still reeling from the act of right-wing extremist, Anders Breivik, who blew apart the main government building, housing the prime minister’s office among others, and opened fire on members of the governing party’s youth league at their yearly summer camp on an island two hours later. His plan to bomb two more buildings was foiled after police arrested him on the island.

So far, 93 deaths have been confirmed, 7 from the bombing and 86 from the shooting spree. Thirty people are still in critical condition at the nation’s leading Oslo University Hospital. With several people still listed as missing, the death toll it is feared will rise.

’Pure Evilness’

The man who carried out the gruesome killings, described by the prime minister as acts of “pure evilness,” has been identified as 32-year-old Norwegian citizen Anders Behring Breivik. Breivik is currently in detention and is scheduled to attend a closed meeting with the police at Oslo City Court on Monday.

A far-right extremist who believes that what he did was “necessary,” Breivik’s target was the governing leftist and pro-immigration Labor Party. In a YouTube video and a 1,500-page manifesto published online the same day as the attacks, Breivik expressed hatred toward the Muslim presence in Europe, leftists, and multiculturalists.

Breivik describes his ideology as cultural conservatism, seeing it as his goal to “influence the society and the way it is governed,” said lawyer Geir Lippestad according to newspaper VG. Parts of the writings were copied from those of the unabomber Ted Kaczynski.

Adrian Pracon, a 21-year-old who survived the Utoya Island with a gunshot wound in the shoulder, said during the ordeal he came across a teary 11-year-old on his desperate run to escape from the island. “He came and told me that his father died,” Pracon told national broadcaster NRK.

“The situation was so chaotic that he just walked further.” Pracon soon overheard a heartbreaking cry from the child and a plea, “Do not shoot at me. You have shot enough. You already killed my father. I am too young to die,” he said in a direct encounter with the perpetrator. Miraculously, his words saved his life.

With no boats to escape the island, trapped youths took off their colorful clothes, hid in the bushes, under cliffs, or ran toward the beach to try to swim away. According to reports from survivors, Breivik kept shooting and shouting, “You are going to die.”

“He started shooting at us, and shot and shot until no one moved. I was shot in the thigh, but acted like I was dead. I heard him refill ammunition, and that’s the worst moment in my life,” said 16-year-old Ingvild Stensrud who played dead while lying between dead friends, reported NRK.

A Small But Strong Nation

In the face of tragedy, Norwegians are standing in solidarity.

After news of the shooting broke, Norwegian Facebook users set up a group to call for volunteers. Thousands of wall posts offered bedrooms for sleepovers, transportation in private cars and boats, and blood donations.

The city of Oslo, almost emptied for an entire day after authorities ordered people to keep away on Friday, but Sunday was a gathering point for tearful citizens lightening up the town with candles, flowers, and cards.

“I strongly believe that freedom is stronger than fear. I strongly believe in an open Norwegian democracy and society. I strongly believe in the opportunity to live freely and safely in our nation,” King Harald told the nation, as broadcast by NRK.

At the ceremony at Oslo Cathedral, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, fighting back tears, helped 7-year-old Princess Ingrid Alexandra and 5-year-old Prince Sverre Magnus light candles.

Sunday night, tens of thousands people gathered in front of Oslo City Hall for a parade, a rally and a night to stand together in solidarity.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/deadly-attacks-in-norway-bring-sorrow-and-solidarity-59483-all.html.

Two Americans investigated for spying

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, June 7 (UPI) -- Sweden's top prosecutor revealed Tuesday that his office opened a preliminary investigation of two Americans suspected of spying in 2009.

Tomas Lindstrand said the men, believed to be working for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, were discovered conducting illegal undercover terror investigations, the Swedish news agency TT reported.

The Swedish intelligence service Sapo reported the two were tracking people under investigation by Sapo for suspected terror links.

Lindstrand said the investigation of the Americans was dropped when they left the country after their spying was reported by a Swedish newspaper.

He said the CIA had diplomatic immunity which means its employees can be investigated but not charged.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said the suspected U.S. spies were not formally kicked out of Sweden.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/06/07/Two-Americans-investigated-for-spying/UPI-25861307453325/.

Sikorsky supplying Sweden with Black Hawks

STRATFORD, Conn., May 20 (UPI) -- Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. reports the U.S. government has agreed to sell 15 Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters to Sweden.

The Swedish armed forces will use the aircraft for medical evacuation, utility, and search-and-rescue missions.

Sikorsky is slated to deliver six of the helicopters in 2011 and the remaining nine in 2012 under an accelerated production schedule.

"We're honored to support the Swedish Armed Forces, and we congratulate them for being the first European Union nation to choose this highly evolved UH-60M aircraft, which is part of a lineage of aircraft that have proven themselves countless times under the most extreme conditions all over the world," said Mick Maurer, president of Sikorsky Military Systems.

The UH-60M helicopter is the latest version of the Black Hawk, providing additional payload and range, advanced digital avionics, improved handling qualities and situational awareness, active vibration control, and improved survivability compared with the predecessor UH-60L model.

The company said about 2,700 Black Hawks are in operation today. Sweden will become the 26th nation to operate the aircraft and only the second in Europe, where Austria operates UH-60L models.

U.S. forces have flown various Black Hawk models for 1.2 million flight hours to date in Afghanistan and Iraq without a single material failure.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2011/05/20/Sikorsky-supplying-Sweden-with-Black-Hawks/UPI-20701305898626/.

Denmark recognizes Libyan rebels

2011-06-23

Denmark on Wednesday (June 22nd) became the latest country to recognize Libya's National Transitional Council (TNC). "Our fears that competing groups will try to take over the country have been shown to be unfounded," Politiken quoted Danish Foreign Minister Lene Espersen as saying after talks with TNC chief Mustafa Abdul Jalil in the rebel-controlled city of Benghazi.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/06/23/newsbrief-02.

Jordan court starts trial of Danish journalists

By ABDUL JALIL MUSTAFA | ARAB NEWS
Apr 25, 2011

AMMAN: A Jordanian court on Monday started trial of cartoonist Kurt Westergaard and 19 other Danish journalists and newspapers charged with "blasphemy" for publishing Prophet Muhammad's (peace be upon him) cartoons six years ago.

None of the defendants appeared in the court and the judge, Nathir Shehadah, decided to conduct the trial in absentia after he considered the publication of the warrants and the indictment sheets in local press as legal notification, judicial sources said.

The court adjourned the session until May 8, when the tribunal is scheduled to hear witnesses.

The lawsuit was filed by the "God's Prophet Unites us Campaign," a coalition of Jordanian academics, lawmakers, unionists, journalists, lawyers and politicians.

Westergaard published 12 cartoons of the Prophet (pbuh) in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on Sept. 30, 2005, inciting outrage in the Muslim world as well as a boycott of Danish products.

The charges, which have already been approved by the Jordanian public prosecutor, include "blasphemy against the Prophet and humiliation of Islam and Muslims," which are punishable under the Jordanian penal code, the campaign's lawyer Tareq Hawamdeh said.

Source: Arab News.
Link: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article372637.ece.

Spain, Norway, Denmark join war party

Sun Mar 20, 2011

Spain, Norway, and Denmark have announced that they are joining the large-scale military intervention into Libya.

The Spanish Defense Ministry said on Saturday that the country has sent four F-18 fighter jets and a refueling aircraft to Italy to take part in the operation over Libya starting on Sunday, AFP reported.

"These planes will carry out patrol missions and will be operational from tomorrow (Sunday)," a statement issued by the Spanish Defense Ministry read.

On Saturday, Norway announced that six Norwegian F-16 fighter jets will be joining the Western-led military operations against Libya over the next few days.

The warplanes will take off right at the beginning of next week and will be based in Sicily, Italy, according to the announcement.

Denmark has announced that it will be contributing up to six F-16 warplanes and a transport plane for the Western-led intervention into Libya.

On Saturday, Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen said parliament supports the decision to deploy warplanes to Libya.

Foreign forces launched airstrikes against Libya after officials of a number countries meeting in Paris on Saturday ordered a large-scale military intervention into the country in order to end the assaults on civilians launched by Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi's forces.

Representatives of the United States, Britain, France, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar attended the meeting.

There have been reports that French warplanes have begun firing on Libyan government troops in the eastern city of Benghazi, which is the stronghold of anti-government forces.

The French intervention came after forces loyal to the 68-year-old Libyan ruler began closing in on revolutionaries in eastern Libya, despite a ceasefire declared by Gaddafi on Friday.

In addition, US and British forces fired a barrage of at least 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Libya targeting Gaddafi's air defenses on Saturday. The missiles reportedly struck pro-government forces.

Libyan anti-government forces, inspired by revolutions that toppled authoritarian rulers in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt, are fighting to unseat Gaddafi after suffering under his despotic rule for over 41 years.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/170829.html.

Assange to be extradited to Sweden

Fri Feb 25, 2011

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be extradited to Sweden to respond to accusations of rape and sexual assault, a UK judge has ruled.

Assange must now appear in a Swedish court to face the charges.

He was arrested in Britain in December 2010 and had made serious legal efforts to fight extradition to Sweden.

District Judge Howard Riddle said at Belmarsh Magistrates' Court in south London on Thursday that the extradition would not violate Mr. Assange's human rights.

Assange dismissed the three charges of rape and sexual assault, saying the accusations were “politically motivated” since WikiLeaks has published information on some very sensitive political issues.

The WikiLeaks founder also said that the extradition ruling was the result of a "European arrest warrant system run amok.”

He stated, "What we saw today at Belmarsh was a rubber-stamping process. It comes as no surprise, but is nonetheless wrong. There was no consideration during this entire process as to the merits of the allegations made against me, no consideration or examination of even the complaints made in Sweden."

"We have always known that in all likelihood we would have to appeal," he added.

Judge Riddle rejected the assertion of Assange's lawyer that he would not face a fair trial in Sweden since Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt had previously said that Julian Assange is "public enemy number one" in Sweden.

"The defense refers to the alleged denigration of the defendant by the Swedish prime minister. For this reason and other reasons it is said Mr. Assange will not receive a fair trial. I don't accept this was the purpose of the comment or the effect," the judge said.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/167054.html.

Leaked cables: Sweden raised Iraqi refugee flow with US officials

Fri, 21 Jan 2011

Stockholm - Two Swedish cabinet members raised concerns over the flow of refugees from Iraq in 2007 during talks with US officials, a Swedish daily said Friday, citing leaked US diplomatic cables.

While Sweden was prepared to receive asylum seekers there was need for "a return agreement" with Iraq for refugees whose applications were rejected the ministers said, according to US diplomatic cables leaked by whistle-blower site WikiLeaks and quoted by the daily Svenska Dagbladet.

During a September 2007 visit to Iraq, Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and Tobias Billstrom, minister for migration and asylum policy, met with Iraqi officials and US embassy officials in Baghdad.

According to the US cable, Bildt and Billstrom mentioned concerns that many arrivals after 2003 were "more difficult to assimilate."

Contributing factors were that the asylum seekers were destitute, and often had poor education or lacked language or professional skills.

Iraq and Sweden in early 2008 agreed on a repatriation agreement stipulating that Iraqis whose applications were rejected should voluntarily be sent back to Iraq. Baghdad would guarantee their security.

Sweden in 2007 expected some 20,000 asylum seekers from Iraq and about three in four applications were likely to be approved, Bildt said according to the US cable.

In 2007 there were some 100,000 Iraqis in Sweden, a country of 9 million.

Bildt and Billstrom have declined to comment on the remarks attributed to them.

However, Bodil Ceballos of the opposition Greens said she would request parliament's Committee on the Constitution to summon them.

"Our government has talked a lot about human rights, but this violates them," Ceballos told broadcaster TV4, adding that asylum applications were individual and not based on whether it was easy to assimilate someone.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/363485,refugee-flow-us-officials.html.

Arrests at protest against Swedish deportation of Iraqi refugees

Wed, 19 Jan 2011

Stockholm - Swedish police Wednesday briefly detained 25 activists who attempted to block the entrance to an asylum center to prevent a pending repatriation of some 20 Iraqi refugees.

About 50 activists took part in the protest, police said. The Iraqi asylum seekers were taken to Stockholm's Arlanda Airport.

The border police unit declined to say when the plane was due to depart for Iraq, citing security procedures.

The plans have been criticized by various international agencies including the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, citing fears that the refugees would be returned to areas where Christians and other minorities have recently come under attack.

Swedish churches, human rights groups, and members of the opposition have also protested the move.

Swedish courts and the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights have however not intervened in these cases, Mikael Ribbenvik, head of the Migration Board's legal division, told broadcaster TV4.

"Some 50 per cent of Iraqi asylum seekers were allowed to stay in 2010," Ribbenvik added.

Lise Bergh, secretary general of the Swedish section of rights group Amnesty International, said the organization was "very concerned" over the decision. At least 14 refugees were to be sent to five regions were there were grave security concerns, she said.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/363058,swedish-deportation-iraqi-refugees.html.

Danish Conservatives leader steps down as backing fades - Summary

Thu, 13 Jan 2011

Copenhagen- Danish Foreign Minister Lene Espersen gave up her position as leader of the country's Conservative party Thursday as it became clear the party's mood was turning against her.

Broadcaster TV2 News reported earlier in the day that parliament members at a meeting had said they did not support her as leader, and would seek to persuade her to step down. Similar calls have recently been made by party faithful in various districts.

Likely contenders to replace Espersen, who was abroad, were Justice Minister Lars Barfoed or Brian Mikkelsen, minister for economics. A party vote is expected for Friday.

However, Espersen plans to keep her ministerial position, which she only assumed 11 months ago, until national elections, which must be held no later than November.

Judging from recent polls, the Conservatives risk losing half their voter support, compared to the 2007 polls when they garnered 10 per cent.

Espersen, 45, was named party leader in 2008. She is Denmark's first female foreign minister.

She was roundly criticized for opting to go on holiday with her family instead of attending an Arctic summit in March 2010, missing an opportunity to meet with US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The Liberal Party and the Conservative Party have cooperated since 2001. The minority government has relied on support from the populist Danish People's Party ever since the two parties formed their coalition.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/362220,backing-fades-summary.html.

Denmark minister probes banning Islamist party

Dissolving Danish branch of Hizb-ut-Tahrir considered
Denmark minister probes banning Islamist party

Thursday, 30 December 2010
COPENHAGEN (AFP)

Danish Justice Minister Lars Barfoed said Thursday he had asked the attorney general to examine whether it was legally possible to dissolve the Danish branch of an international Islamist party.

"I am now asking the attorney general to reconsider whether it is possible to bring a case to trial to dissolve Hizb-ut-Tahrir," Barfoed told the Ritzau news agency, speaking of a pan-Islamist group whose goal is to establish a global Islamic caliphate.

When contacted by AFP, his spokesman Emil Melchior confirmed the information, saying the minister made his request following an invitation sent out by Hizb-ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation) Tuesday to a meeting in Copenhagen.

The invitation reportedly hailed armed battle against Danish soldiers in Afghanistan, and portrayed pictures of coffins draped with Danish, Swedish and Norwegian flags on a map of the war-torn country.

All three Scandinavian countries have troops stationed in Afghanistan as part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), and proportionally Denmark has suffered the heaviest losses of all participating nations, with 39 Danish soldiers killed since they arrived in 2002.

After the invitation appeared, the far-right anti-immigrant Danish People's Party, a key ally of the center-right government, immediately called for the organization to be banned, while other parties called for a probe of its activities.

Melchior would not say whether Barfoed's request for a probe was linked to the dramatic arrests of five men in Denmark and Sweden Wednesday suspected of planning an imminent massacre of staff at a Danish newspaper that first published controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed five years ago.

This is the third time Denmark's top prosecutor is pressured to take a stand on the legality of the Islamist party, which has already been banned in a number of countries, mainly in Central Asia and the Middle East.

In 2004, public prosecutor Henning Fode ruled there was no legal reason to ban the party, and his finding was echoed four years later by his successor, current attorney general Joergen Steen Soerensen.

The party, Soerensen said at the time, aims to "establish a Caliphate (Islamic state) notably in the Muslim countries. But that is not illegal in and of itself."

"As long as it does not use violence or other punishable methods, there is nothing illegal in advocating a system that is fundamentally different from the one we have in Denmark," he said.

Source: Al-Arabiya.
Link: http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/12/30/131600.html.

Assange: Swedish accusers may be 'victims' in 'successful smear'

Tue, 21 Dec 2010

London - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange claimed Tuesday that the sexual offenses allegations against him in Sweden were a "very successful smear" - and he would not receive "natural justice" if he was extradited from Britain.

He suggested that the two women who made the allegations against him in Sweden were themselves "maybe victims" in the process of smearing him and his organization, WikiLeaks.

Assange, 39, was speaking to a BBC reporter at the mansion in East Anglia, south-east England, where he is virtually kept under house arrest, pending the extradition proceedings.

He said he felt "emasculated" by the electronic tag he has to wear under bail conditions. Assange, freed on bail by a British court Friday, is subject to a curfew and has to report to the police every day.

"I don't need to go back to Sweden. The law says I ... have certain rights, and these rights mean that I do not need to speak to random prosecutors around the world who simply want to have a chat, and won't do it in any other standard way."

The Swedish authorities had asked, as part of their extradition application, that he and his Swedish lawyer be gagged from speaking about the case, said Assange.

"What is requested is that I be taken by force to Sweden and once there, be held incommunicado: that is not a circumstance under which natural justice can occur," Assange said.

He said the two women who have accused him of sexual assault had got into a "tizzy".

He said "one description" of what had occurred in Sweden was that, after having discovered they had each been sexually involved with him, the women had got into a "tizzy" about the possibility of sexually transmitted diseases.

They had gone to the police for advice "and then the police jumped in on this and bamboozled the women," he alleged.

But he also said there were "other people making descriptions" that the women had deliberately abused a loophole in Swedish law, whereby if they went to the police for advice, they could not be charged with filing a false report.

The same loophole also existed for approaching the police about sexually transmitted diseases, Assange said.

He said that after the "successful smear" there would be an "immunization" when people would "start to see what is really going on."

Asked whether he considered himself to be a martyr, Assange said: "If you can be a martyr without dying." But his mission was to promote justice through the method of transparency of journalism".

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/359116,be-victims-successful-smear.html.

Sweden prolongs Afghan troop mission

Wed, 15 Dec 2010

Stockholm - Sweden's parliament Wednesday extended to 2013 the Swedish troop deployment in Afghanistan in line with a previous agreement between the government and two opposition parties.

In all 290 members of the 349-seat legislature voted to extend the life of the mission. The current mandate expires at the end of this year.

At present Sweden has a 500-strong force. The decision allowed it to be increased by some 385 extra troops next year, if necessary.

Other components were that Sweden would add two rescue helicopters. A gradual handover to Afghan authorities would begin during 2011. The following year a civilian was to head the Swedish mission that includes civilian aid.

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt's government is two seats shy of a majority in parliament and needed backing from the opposition.

Over the weekend Sweden experienced its first suicide attack. Two bystanders were injured while the suspected bomber, a 28-year-old Iraqi-born man was the only fatality. The man, a Swedish citizen, sent a threatening email just minutes before the blasts.

The email included audio files with statements in several languages condemning Sweden's involvement in Afghanistan.

Several politicians said during the debate that Sweden should not bow to pressure, including Karin Enstrom, who chairs the joint committee on foreign affairs and defense.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/358344,prolongs-afghan-troop-mission.html.