The head of the Social Democrats Mona Sahlin has attacked the centre-right government for what she calls “a slide into a Swedish NATO membership”. In an open letter to Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, Sahlin and her spokesperson on foreign issues Urban Ahlin accused the governing four-party coalition of not having a clear stand on the question whether or not Sweden ought to become a full member of the military alliance.

The planned mass vaccinations of girls against cervical cancer will be significantly cheaper than previously expected. Swedish Radio news reports that the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions has been granted a discount of 80 percent on the vaccine.

Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, two of the four members of the former Swedish pop band ABBA have accepted their inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at a New York City ceremony on Monday. The other two members of the band, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Faltskog did not attend the ceremony. During their successful period, the Swedish hitmakers sold more than 100 million records worldwide.

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has spent Monday fending off criticism for his statements that the government won't adopt the resolution on Turkish genocide as part of its foreign policy.

Social Democrat Sven-Erik Österberg has now reported Reinfeldt's comments to the Committee on the Constitution to force the sitting government to adopt the parliament's new line on the alleged Turkish genocide in 1915, when over a million Armenians and other ethnic groups were killed.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) published new data on international arms transfers on Monday that point to concerns about brewing arms races in a number of regions mired in conflict and tension. Pieter Wezeman, a researcher at SIPRI and co-author of this year’s report, speaks to Radio Sweden’s Linda Nyberg about the implications of the data.

The sitting government has put forth a proposition that would make it legal to drug-test children under the age of 15 without parents’ permission. In direct opposition to an earlier opinion expressed by the Council on Legislation, Justice Minister Beatrice Ask holds that the importance of identifying potential drug abusers early in life trumps issues of integrity.

“Early action against young people who abuse drugs is absolutely crucial,” she told news agency TT.

Swedish and Finnish troops part of a NATO peacekeeping force came under fire on Monday while patrolling in an area west of Sar-e-Pol in Afghanistan. The Swedish Armed Forces reports that no one was injured in the incident.

Newspaper Dagens Nyheter writes that the soldiers were forced to take cover when the shooting began, later using their protected position to call in air support. The shooters dispersed as the planes began firing at them from the air.

Politicians are good at promising, especially in election campaigns but how good are they in delivering? Sweden is ruled by a four-party coalition of centre-right parties which won the last election in 2006 calling itself the Alliance and promising to lower taxes, plans to revamp the social security system and to fight nepotism. As Sweden prepares for parliamentary elections in September, we ask how much of its promises the Alliance has managed to deliver.

SAS will lay off another 300 employees, TT reports. The news comes after a Thursday agreement with the ailing airline’s unions to reduce costs in order to keep the company afloat.

That settlement called for measures to freeze wages, reduce perks and allowances, and cut down on pensions, all with the aim of saving a half billion kronor (70 million USD) per year.

Now another 300 people in the jointly-owned Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish consortium will receive pink slips, adding to the 4,300 employees who were already slated for lay-offs this year.

It is illegal to prohibit people from wearing vests marked by motorcycle gang symbols in bars because it infringes upon freedom of speech, an administrative court in the region of Södermanland has decided.

With the melting of the winter snow, it’s time for a new season in Sweden of soccer, as it’s known in America, or football, as it’s called in most of the rest of the world.

It’s Sweden’s number two sport, after ice hockey. But while the Swedes stand at the very top of the hockey elite, the soccer world is different. It’s been ten years now since a Swedish team was in the Champions League, that’s the European competition for the best teams from various countries.

Can Swedish club soccer return to the international arena?