Stockholm, Sweden | AFP | Data guru Hans Rosling, a Swedish public health expert famous for combating scientific ignorance with catchy YouTube videos in his mission to promote a “fact-based world”, has died at the age of 68, his foundation announced. Rosling, who described himself as an “edutainer”, was diagnosed …
Read More »WikiLeaks urges leaks of departing Obama White House docs
Washington, United States | AFP | WikiLeaks appealed Tuesday for leaked White House documents before President Barack Obama leaves office, as its founder Julian Assange again denied Russia was the source of hacked Democratic party emails that hurt Hillary Clinton’s bid for the US presidency. “System admins: Don’t let the …
Read More »Sweden slaughters 200,000 hens on bird flu fears
Stockholm, Sweden | AFP | Sweden on Friday said 200,000 chickens were being slaughtered at a farm where bird flu has been detected, following a resurgence in the virus across Europe. Traces of the H5N8 virus were found at the Aniagra farm in Morarp, southwest Sweden, on Thursday. The discovery …
Read More »Trump is ‘just the president’, says defiant fugitive Snowden
Stockholm, Sweden | AFP | Former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden on Monday downplayed the importance of President-elect Donald Trump and again defended his decision to leak documents showing massive surveillance of US citizens’ communications. “Donald Trump is just the president. It’s an important position. But it’s one …
Read More »Pope takes Christian unity bid to Protestant heartland
Rome, Italy | AFP | Pope Francis flies to Sweden Monday on the latest leg of his mission to promote reconciliation and unity within the wider Christian family. The Argentine pontiff is due in the southern city of Lund for an ecumenical service marking the start of a year of …
Read More »October 31, 1517: What is a Protestant?
Paris, France | AFP | Protestants form a branch of the Christian faith that broke away from the Roman Catholic Church during the Reformation 500 years ago. Pope Francis has nonetheless strengthened ties with several Protestant denominations, and his trip to Sweden to take part in events marking the anniversary …
Read More »Study shows record-shattering birds stay in air for 10 months
Miami, United States | AFP | A small, dark-feathered bird known as the common swift flies for 10 months on end without ever landing, the longest time spent aloft of any known bird, scientists said Thursday. The findings in the US journal Current Biology confirmed a 46-year-old hypothesis, first offered …
Read More »Rwandan genocide suspect arrested in Sweden
Stockholm, Sweden | AFP | Swedish police on Tuesday arrested a 48-year-old man suspected of involvement in the 1994 Rwandan genocide which claimed 800,000 lives, police and prosecutors said. The man, whose identity was not revealed, was arrested at dawn in his house at Orebro, about 160 kilometres (100 miles) …
Read More »Egypt’s Morsi receives first final prison sentence
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | An Egyptian appeals court upheld on Saturday a 20-year sentence for ousted president Mohamed Morsi, the first final ruling in a string of trials for the deposed Islamist leader. The Court of Cassation also upheld sentences against eight of his codefendants, including seven who received …
Read More »Ericsson to end manufacturing in Sweden, cut 3,000 jobs
Stockholm, Sweden | AFP | Telecoms equipment maker Ericsson plans to end manufacturing in Sweden with the loss of around 3,000 jobs, Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet reported late Wednesday. The daily said it had obtained “confidential documents” outlining a three billion kronor (313-million-euro, $350-million) cost-cutting programme. According to Svenska Dagbladet, …
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