STOCKHOLM — Sweden's chief epidemiologist on Wednesday defended his country's controversial coronavirus strategy, which avoided a lockdown but resulted in one of the highest per capita COVID-19 death rates in the world. Anders Tegnell of the Public Health Agency denied that “the Swedish strategy was wrong and should be changed....
In Sweden's Arctic, Ice Atop Snow Leaves Reindeer Starving
KIRUNA, Sweden — Thick reindeer fur boots and a fur hat covering most of his face shielded Niila Inga from freezing winds as he raced his snowmobile up to a mountain top overlooking his reindeer in the Swedish arctic. His community herds about 8,000 reindeer year-round, moving them between traditional...
3 Get Nobel Medicine Prize for Learning How Cells Use Oxygen
LONDON — Two Americans and a British scientist won the 2019 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discovering how the body's cells sense and react to oxygen levels, work that has paved the way for new strategies to fight anemia, cancer and other diseases, the Nobel Committee said. Drs....
US Presidential Envoy Sent to Sweden for A$AP Rocky's Trial
HELSINKI — American rapper A$AP Rocky pleaded not guilty to assault as his trial in Sweden opened Tuesday, a month after a street fight that landed him in jail and became a topic of U.S.-Swedish diplomacy. Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, is accused with two others of beating...
WikiLeaks’ Assange Gets 50 Weeks in Prison for Jumping Bail
LONDON — A British judge sentenced WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Wednesday to 50 weeks in prison for skipping bail seven years ago and holing up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. Judge Deborah Taylor appeared unimpressed by Assange's written apology and his lawyer's argument that he sought refuge in...
Expectations Low as Yemen's Warring Parties Meet for Talks
CAIRO — Yemen's warring parties will meet in Sweden this week for another attempt at talks aimed at halting their catastrophic 3-year-old war, but there are few incentives for major compromises, and the focus is likely to be on firming up a shaky de-escalation. U.N. officials say they don't expect...