Free Republic

The Swedish EV brand, which is majority-owned by China’s Geely, was authorization by the Commerce Department authorization under the connected vehicles rule. The U.S. Commerce Department won’t allow Polestar to sell vehicles in the United States beginning with its 2027 model year, in the latest restriction targeting connected vehicle technology tied to China. Polestar, a Sweden-based electric vehicle maker majority-owned by Chinese conglomerate Geely Holding, said Thursday it would not appeal the decision. The denial falls under the Connected Vehicles Rule, which bans the import and sale of vehicles featuring certain connected technologies, including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, cellular connectivity, and certain...

STOCKHOLM, June 15 (Reuters) - Sweden's parliament passed a law on Monday allowing authorities to revoke immigrants' residency permits based ‌on bad behaviour, such as having unpaid debts, doing ‌undeclared work or links to extremist organisations. The law, which covers pending permits but also ​retroactively already granted permits, is part of a wider tightening of immigration rules by the right-wing government and its support party, the nationalist Sweden Democrats, ahead of a parliamentary election in September. The law ‌has been criticised by ⁠the opposition and human rights advocacy groups as arbitrary because decisions would be taken on behaviour that ⁠has...

Early on a Sunday evening last year, Anneli Berg said "see you later!" to her 16-year-old son Rio as he headed out to the gym with his friends. She expected him to arrive back at their home in Stockholm, Sweden, in just a couple of hours. But Berg would never speak to her son again. Just after 9 p.m. that night in March 2025, a hooded stranger emerged from the dark, came up behind the group that had just left the gym, pulled a gun and opened fire. One teen was shot in the thigh. Rio was killed. "It's still...

In an unprecedented move, 22 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, and Australia, issued a joint statement condemning the Islamic Republic of Iran for what they called “hostile actions and extraterritorial operations against individuals on the soil of other countries,” and demanded the immediate cessation of such actions. In the statement, published on Thursday, June 11, the Islamic Republic’s security services were accused of using local and international criminal networks to carry out assassination plots, kidnappings, intimidation, and harassment against dissidents, journalists, and citizens in Europe, North America, and Oceania. The signatories emphasized that attempts...

According to a report by Arkeologerna, six shipwrecks were discovered near Varberg's original shoreline and medieval harbour defences, dating from the Middle Ages to the 17th century.Varbergsvraken (wreck) 2 is a clinker-built sailing ship constructed during the 1530's using locally sourced oak timbers. Clinker ships had overlapped planks giving the vessels a ridged or stepped appearance along the hull, one of the oldest boatbuilding techniques in northern Europe.One key feature of this wreck are the remains of a berghult, a reinforcing strip on the hull that protected the ship during docking. Traces of burning on the berghult suggest that it...

MEP Charlie Weimers told Euronews’ flagship morning show Europe Today that an “era of deportations” has begun in the EU, following a deal on what is described as the strictest-ever migration law, which includes return hubs outside the bloc. The “era of deportations” has begun in the European Union, according to Charlie Weimers, a Swedish conservative MEP and one of the negotiators of the bloc’s strictest-ever migration law, which was agreed on Monday and marked the most significant shift in the EU’s migration policy in decades. Speaking to Euronews's Europe Today show, Weimers — who is a member of the...

A crazed knifeman shouted “Allahu Akbar” and stabbed three men in front of schoolchildren at a Swiss train station Thursday morning – and authorities labeled the attacker’s rampage a “heinous act of terrorism.” The madman, a 31-year-old Turkish-Swiss citizen, stabbed three men with a “bladed weapon” just after 8:30 a.m. at the Winterthur train station outside Zurich, the Zurich Cantonal Police said. One witness told local outlet Blick that the man shouted “Allahu Akbar five or six times in a very emotional and agitated manner” and three men, age 28, 43, and 52, were injured in the rampage. SNIP

Swedish professional protester Greta Thunberg and supporters now traveling in a 51-vessel convoy to Hamas-terrorist controlled Gaza have a problem. Opponents have hijacked their radios and communications systems to play ABBA on repeat and block out any other comms within the anti-Israel fleet. The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) alleges the ongoing radio jamming incidents using the mellifluous tones of the legendary Swedish super group to be the work of an Israeli attack. Mamma Mia! Greta’s Gaza Flotilla Flooded with ABBA Music on Repeat as Radios Hijacked 2 BARCELONA, SPAIN - AUGUST 31: Greta Thunberg waves as she greets people while...

Examples of podomorphs interacting with the microtopography of the rock. Credit: Oxford Journal of Archaeology (2026). DOI: 10.1111/ojoa.7002 Etched into the ancient rocky outcrops of southern Scandinavia and large boulders left behind by retreating glaciers are footprints, also called podomorphic petroglyphs. Some are barefoot with every toe visible, while others carry the imprint of strapped sandals. A recent study argues that these human footprints created during the Scandinavian Bronze Age, roughly 3,700 to 2,500 years ago, were not mere art or decorative symbols because the petroglyphs weren't placed at random. They were deliberately arranged around water sources and shallow depressions...

Sweden, together with the European Commission, will hold talks with the Taliban. The goal is to enable deportations to Afghanistan - but the announcement is being criticized. "A deal with extremists," says Annika Hirvonen (MP). Migration Minister Johan Forssell (M) tells TT that the Swedish government has been "very proactive" in the EU on securing deportations to Afghanistan. The issue of being able to carry out more criminal deportations, i.e. of people who have been convicted of crimes in Sweden or who pose a threat to Sweden's security, is one of my most important priorities, he says. According to Forssell,...

The only question is, 'Is it in time?'The warning bells were clanging like crazy back in 2024 when immigrant numbers had reached 20% of the general population, and the gentle rhythms of Scandinavian life seemed to be slipping rapidly away forever. ...After staying out of World War II, Sweden had evolved into a high-performing export-oriented economy, based on a stable parliamentary democracy and social consensus. The country had top-notch health care and education. It enjoyed social and gender equality, had low crime rates and little ethnic conflict. While grounds remain for optimism about some of these indicators, especially in the...

Liza Rosen @LizaRosen0000: Muslims all over Europe are freaking out after Sweden made a historic and courageous decision: it will no longer use the term “Islamophobia,” coined by the Muslim Brotherhood, because it is a politically manipulated concept aimed at silencing criticism of Islam. Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard announced that her government will push the European Union and the United Nations to stop using this fraudulent term. The concept of “Islamophobia” was deliberately designed to equate legitimate criticism of Islamic doctrine with racism. It was weaponized to shut down discussion about core Islamic texts containing commands to wage...

Police said ‌the bomb squad had detonated what ​they assessed ​to be a ⁠hand grenade in ​a controlled ​explosion, rendering it harmless, after cordoning off ​several streets ​in Malmo, southern Sweden, ‌on ⁠Friday. Police had asked residents, as well as people ​in ​restaurants, ⁠stores and other establishments ​to remain ​inside ⁠after the object was found. SNIP

A café recently opened in a residential neighborhood of Stockholm that, with its avocado toast and frothy lattes, looks like a conventional spot, except for one distinctive feature: it is managed by artificial intelligence. At Andon Café, some tables are decorated with small plants, the walls are gray, and the décor is minimalist. There is a counter, and behind it works Kajetan Grzelczak, who was hired by “Mona,” an AI agent powered by Google Gemini. “Supply orders are not her strong point,” the young man says, pointing to the shelves behind him. The “wall of shame,” as he calls it,...

In February, workers at the company, Sama, told two Swedish newspapers they had witnessed glasses users going to the toilet and having sex. Less than two months later, Meta ended its contract with Sama, which Sama said would result in 1,108 workers being made redundant. Meta says it's because Sama did not meet its standards, a criticism Sama rejects. A Kenyan workers' organisation alleges Meta's decision was caused by the staff speaking out. Meta has not addressed that allegation but told BBC News in a statement it had "decided to end our work with Sama because they don't meet our...

Ukraine on the attack...Rostov Region an 'air attack' killed one person and wounded four...Explosions reported in Kiev... The notes of FBI agents from their 2019 interview with a woman alleging sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein in the 1980's... Trump's budget cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services... An Iranian drone attack...US Embassy Riyadh...extensive damage... much touted mediation effort...Iran War...not happening... Justice Samuel Alito fell ill while in Philadelphia recently... 5.8 magnitude earthquake...Afghanistan and Pakistan... Paris 31 now former after-school care employees are suspected of 'sexual violence'... Israel tank firing on a 'suspect' who approached... New Israeli air attacks...southern...

In Cuba, the locals are in absolute revolt against a 67-year communist tyranny and all its economic failures. Expectations -- a critical element in igniting a revolution -- are rising, and locals are no longer afraid of the state. They are shouting 'libertad' in their hundreds of thousands: Stop romanticizing socialism. None of that aid will get to the Cuban people. The dictatorship steals it and sells it to them in dollars, currency which they don't get paid. What the Cuban people need is freedom. Cuba will be free soon thanks to Donald Trump. Clock is ticking.… pic.twitter.com/FfaVkuqB4R — Libertad...

Swedish authorities claim attending church 3 times a week is evidence of 'religious extremism' A Swedish couple that have been separated from their two eldest daughters for nearly four years due to alleged “religious extremism” have had an appeal rejected by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Daniel and Bianca Samson’s ordeal began in late 2022 when government authorities took the daughters into their care. The intervention was prompted by an allegation by the eldest daughter that her parents would not allow them to wear makeup or own a phone due to their purported “religious extremism.”

The U.S. Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden has issued a security advisory urging American citizens to exercise increased caution after an explosion occurred outside the U.S. Embassy in Oslo, Norway in the early hours of Sunday. The advisory was published on the embassy’s official website on March 8, following reports of the overnight incident. The embassy guidance is aimed at U.S. nationals residing in or travelling through Sweden. It asks Americans to maintain good personal security, avoid large gatherings, keep a low profile and exercise vigilance in public spaces, particularly near foreign diplomatic facilities. The advisory also refers to existing travel...

In May 2025, a 15-year-old migrant gunned down a 52-year-old father in Sweden, after being paid almost twenty thousand euros in a murder-for-hire plot; the killer is currently in prison, sentenced to a brief three years and six months, meaning he should be out some time in 2029. Upon his release, prosecutors were asking that the “boy” be repatriated back to his country of origin, but the judges with the power to decide rejected the request, “ruling that expulsion would be disproportionate given the boy’s personal circumstances.” (The “boy” had come to Sweden as a child.) Mind you, the “boy”...