US imposes sanctions on Foxtrot Network, 18-year-old sentenced for draft-dodging, and other news from Sweden on Thursday.
US imposes sanctions on Foxtrot Network, 18-year-old sentenced for draft-dodging, and other news from Sweden on Thursday.
US imposes sanctions on Foxtrot Network, 18-year-old sentenced for draft-dodging, and other news from Sweden on Thursday.
US imposes sanctions on Foxtrot Network
The US Treasury has announced that it is imposing sanctions on the Foxtrot Network, the Swedish gang led by Rawa Majid, that has been at the centre of a violent gang feud in Sweden in 2023 and 2024.
In an announcement on its website, the US Treasury justified the sanctions by citing the gang’s involvement in an attack on the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm in January 2024, which it said had been carried out at the behest of Iran.
“Iran’s brazen use of transnational criminal organizations and narcotics traffickers underscores the regime’s attempts to achieve its aims through any means, with no regard for the cost to communities across Europe,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.
Sweden’s justice minister, Gunnar Strömmer said the decision was a “positive step” which would ideally hinder the group’s ability to operate internationally.
Swedish vocabulary: att hindra – to hinder
18-year-old sentenced for draft-dodging
An 18-year-old in Sweden has been found guilty of not coming forward and presenting himself to Sweden’s armed forces when he was called up as a conscript last October, the Dagens Juridik legal newspaper has reported.
The 18-year-old told the court that he was worried about conscription because he was unvaccinated and had an issue with his shoulder.
He has been found guilty of breaking Sweden’s total defence laws and has been given an undisclosed fine.
The Swedish Defence Conscription and Assessment Agency states that everyone called up has a duty to turn up for muster on the day assigned to them, with anyone who feels unable to do so as a result of health or other issues required to contact the agency ahead of time to warn them.
According to the agency, 600 people did not come to muster in 2024, of whom 85 could give no valid reason. All of them have been reported for breaking the law.
Swedish vocabulary: en bot – fine
Unusual Viking bracelet found on Öland
An unusual armband from the Viking era has been found on Öland, Sweden’s state broadcaster SR has reported. “It’s unusual because it’s made of iron,” Karl-Oskar Erlandsson, archaeologist with the local county authority told the broadcaster.
Only three out of 1,000 bracelets in the collections managed by Sweden’s state museums are iron.
Swedish vocabulary: ovanlig – unusual
Battery maker Northvolt files for bankruptcy
Swedish electric car battery maker Northvolt has filed for bankruptcy in Sweden, dealing a blow to European efforts to challenge Asia’s dominance in the key sector.
Founded in 2016, Northvolt has struggled under a mountain of debt, slow demand and production delays.
The company had filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States in November to buy time to find new investors, but its efforts ultimately failed, leaving its 5,000 employees with an uncertain future.
Northvolt said in a statement Wednesday that despite pursuing “all available options to negotiate and implement a financial restructuring … the company was unable to secure the necessary financial conditions to continue in its current form”.
“Clearly, this is not an outcome we had hoped for,” Northvolt interim chairman Tom Johnstone told a press conference.
The battery maker said in its US Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings that it owed $5.8 billion.
“With limited time and financial resources available, the company was unable to conclude the necessary agreements to secure its future,” Northvolt said.
Swedish vocabulary: konkurs – bankruptcy
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