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Social Democrat leader Stefan Löfven has been flooded with thousands of negative comments after he posted on Facebook that "Israel has the right to defend itself" in a post about the ongoing Gaza crisis. The election favourite posted the comment on Saturday night and within minutes he was on the receiving end of angry replies from users of the social network. "Israel must respect international law but obviously has the right to defend itself. It is a huge tragedy that the violence escalates," Löfven wrote. Most of the comments were critical of the political party leader's stance with one user...

How can anyone be a bystander while someone is stabbed? By Mark Steyn (Filed: 13/09/2003) On September 11, 2001, the first individual to be named among the dead was the wife of the US Solicitor-General, Barbara Olson, whom I'd sat next to at dinner a couple of months earlier. On September 11, 2003, I woke to the news of the death of the Swedish foreign minister, Anna Lindh, whom I also sat next to a couple of months ago, at a conference. I can't claim anything other than the most casual acquaintance with either lady, but even an accidental proximity...

The Swedish Supreme Court has sentenced the confessed killer of foreign minister Anna Lindh to life imprisonment. In doing so, the panel over-ruled an appeals court which had ordered psychiatric care for Mijailo Mijailovic. The son of Serbian immigrants had confessed to stabbing Lindh to death last year, but had claimed he was responding to voices in his head. His lawyer, Mikael Nilsson, says Mijailovic will now apply to serve his sentence in Serbia. Nilsson told Swedish Television news that Mijailovic ”realises the potential threat against him is great in Sweden, both in jail and in society at large, so...

Mijailovic has "significant psychiatric problems" An appeals court in Sweden has thrown out the life prison sentence imposed on the man who killed the Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh last year. Mijailo Mijailovic will now be taken from prison to a closed psychiatric ward after tests concluded he was suffering a mental illness. An initial psychiatric assessment after his arrest concluded he was not mentally ill when he killed Miss Lindh. Miss Lindh was a hugely popular minister and her death shocked Sweden. Murder conviction upheld She died of her injuries on 11 September last year, a day after Mijailovic...

The man convicted of the murder of Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh last year has appeared in court to appeal against the verdict. Mijailo Mijailovic has admitted stabbing Anna Lindh but says he did not intend to kill her, a vital element in a murder conviction in Sweden. He is also arguing that he was mentally ill at the time of the attack. Mijailovic, 25, says he should be receiving psychiatric care rather than serving a prison sentence. The defendant did not speak at the appeal. He shook his head as he sat beside his lawyer, Peter Althin. Mr Althin...

The sentencing of Mijailo Mijailovic for the murder of Anna Lindh features prominently in Wednesday's Swedish papers but does not attract the blanket coverage given to her death or the subsequent police investigation. Stockholm's Aftonbladet reports that Mijailovic was completely silent as he was sentenced. It quotes a source saying he said almost nothing as he started his sentence on Tuesday evening and will meet his solicitor today, when they will discuss the possibility of appealing. Expressen concentrates on the time Mijailovic will spend in prison. The paper says he will serve at least 10 or 11 years and be...

The man who admitted knifing Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh in a Stockholm department store has been jailed for life for murder. Mijailo Mijailovic had denied murder, insisting he carried out the attack because of "voices in his head". But psychiatric tests ruled he was sane when he carried out the attack last September. A court in Stockholm ruled on Tuesday that he was guilty of murder not manslaughter. He will serve at least 10 years before his sentence can be reviewed. Mijailovic had confessed to repeatedly stabbing the popular minister while she was out shopping, but insisted he did...

 Closing Arguments in Swedish Foreign Minister Murder CaseJanuary 19, 2004 ROGER F. GAY FOR MND NEWSWIRE After two and a half days of testimony and arguments from both sides, five days after the trial began, closing arguments were given this morning in the case against Mijailo Mijailovic, the man being tried for the murder of Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh. The court announced its decision, made last Friday, that Mijailovic will undergo psychiatric evaluation. Deliberations have been suspended pending completion of the evaluation, which is estimated to take four to five weeks. After release of results, it is possible...

The man who has admitted killing Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh in September will go on trial for murder today, when he is expected to tell the court that Jesus told him to do it but that he had no political motive. Mijailo Mijailovic, 25, a Swede born to Serbian parents, confessed last week to fatally stabbing Lindh, one of the country's most popular politicians, at Stockholm's upmarket NK department store on September 10. The trial, which millions of Swedes are expected to follow via a live radio broadcast, is expected to conclude on January 19. If convicted, Mijailovic faces...

On the evening of September 11th, Rosemary Righter, the senior leader writer (“leader” is British for “editorial”) at The Times of London, was due at a dinner party. She arrived late, and found the tone, after a hard day at the office, oddly smug and triumphalist. Leaving early, she gave a lift to another guest. “Rosemary,” he said, “isn’t it marvelous to think that the arrogant bloody Americans have finally got it in the neck?” Involuntarily, she braked. Hard. Though not hard enough to precipitate him through the windshield, sadly. Miss Righter was one of the first to experience an admittedly...

Swedish police have found a pair of trousers covered in the blood of the country's foreign minister Anna Lindh which could belong to her killer, a newspaper has reported. The revelation comes just five days before prosecutors are due to bring formal charges against Mijailo Mijailovic, the key suspect for the September 10 knife attack against the popular Lindh. The Swedish police laboratory confirmed that the trousers, found in a forest, were soaked with Lindh's blood, the Expressen daily said. "In a precise place in the trousers there was also an object that allows us to say technically that the...

Stockholm - British DNA tests on traces from the knife used to kill Sweden's foreign minister Anna Lindh have strengthened the case against a suspect held in connection with the murder, press reports said Wednesday. Police refused to disclose the results of a video-conference on Tuesday, in which experts from Britain's Forensic Science Service briefed Swedish prosecutors, investigators, forensic scientists and police technicians. But reports say the DNA found on the knife matched that of 24-year-old Mijailo Mijailovic, who is being held in connection with the case. "The result strengthens the suspicion against the 24-year old," the TT news agency...

By KARL RITTER, Associated Press Writer STOCKHOLM, Sweden - A judge on Friday identified a Swedish man of Yugoslav origin as the main suspect in the murder of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh and ordered him held for at least two more weeks while investigators gather more evidence. Judge Goeran Nilsson called Mijailo Mijailovic, 24, a flight risk and said he could jeopardize the investigation if freed from police custody. The decision gives authorities two weeks to investigate and prepare charges. Mijailovic, who was arrested Wednesday but not charged, was escorted into the courtroom by four guards, a yellow, jail-issue prison...

Two story-lines going on: The murder suspect and the memorial ceremony. This is today's thread for articles, pictures, etc., for events in Sweden. This first story deals primarily with the murder suspect: Swedish prosecutor moves against key suspect in Lindh murder case 1 hour, 34 minutes ago STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Swedish prosecutors requested the continued detention of a suspect, arrested earlier this week in connection with the murder of foreign minister Anna Lindh, increasing the chances of his indictment. Per Olof Svensson "is suspected of murder at NK, Hamngatan in Stockholm, on the 10th of September 2003," district court actuary...

STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Swedish police said that the hunt for the killer of the country's foreign minister Anna Lindh was now focused on a man whose face was caught on video near the crime scene. This development came amid media reports that investigators had actually identified him a day after his photos were released to the public. The police, however, said they had not yet made a positive identification. "We haven't identified him. We are getting closer," police spokeswoman Stina Wessling told AFP, adding the man's identification was "a priority" and would be a breakthrough in the case. "Interrogations strengthen...

<p>On September 11, 2001, the first individual to be named among the dead was the wife of the U.S. solicitor-general, Barbara Olson, whom I had sat next to at dinner a couple of months earlier. On Sept. 11 this year, I woke to the news of the death of Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, whom I also sat next to a couple of months ago, at a conference. I can't claim anything other than the most casual acquaintance with either lady, but even an accidental proximity to the victims of terrible murder is sobering.</p>

Swede as a nut We won ... Swedes celebrate last night By GEORGE PASCOE-WATSON Deputy Political Editorand MICHAEL LEA in Stockholm RELATED STORIES • Sun Says VIKING voters last night gave the euro a giant V-sign in a national referendum. Swedes stood up to EU bosses, their own government and business chiefs to say No overwhelmingly to the single currency. The “Nej” vote was huge despite a late wave of sympathy for pro-euro foreign minister Anna Lindh, murdered in Stockholm last week. And it dealt a severe blow to Tony Blair’s dream of persuading Britain to dump the Pound for...

A prominent British Eurosceptic has described the murder of the Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh as the act of a "patriot" and called upon other anti-euro campaigners to be prepared to take similar action against government figures here. Police are investigating whether Greg Lance-Watkins, who runs EuroRealist, an internet site which is virulently against Britain's membership of the EU, has acted illegally. Ms Lindh, 46, a leading proponent of the pro-euro campaign in Sweden which culminates today in a referendum on whether to join the currency, was stabbed by an unknown assailant four days ago. Mr Lance-Watkins has issued a...

<p>Swedes Reject Euro in Referendum, Official Results Show Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Swedes voted against adopting the euro, halting the expansion of the currency union in western Europe as the largest Nordic economy outperforms single-currency countries including Germany and France.</p>

On Sept. 11, 2001, the first individual to be named among the dead was the wife of the solicitor general, Barbara Olson, whom I'd sat next to at dinner a couple of months earlier. On Sept. 11, 2003, I woke to the news of the death of the Swedish foreign minister, Anna Lindh, whom I also sat next to a couple of months ago, at a conference. I can't claim anything other than the most casual acquaintance with either lady, but even an accidental proximity to the victims of terrible murder is sobering. Lindh was a charmer, even if you...