News stories by Ida Karlsson, page 2

BRUSSELS, Jul 14 (IPS) - The European Investment Bank, the largest institutional bank in the world, is facing criticism for its funding of fossil fuel projects and for weaker standards for lending to coal plants than currently proposed in both the U.S. and Canada.

The home furnishing giant Ikea, founded in Sweden in 1943, is facing heavy criticism for the logging and clear-cutting of old-growth forests in the north of Russian Karelia by its wholly owned subsidiary Swedwood.

Confidential documents revealed this week show how Sweden has in secret been helping Saudi Arabia to plan the construction of an advanced arms factory to produce anti-tank missiles.

United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon is under fire again. Inga-Britt Ahlenius - until recently one of the highest-ranking officials at the U.N. - explains to IPS her blistering attacks on Ban’s leadership.

Both the United Nations and Amnesty International have criticized Sweden for its latest expulsion of Iraqi migrants who fled their home country to seek shelter in the European nation, citing concerns that violence in Iraq continues to threaten the lives of deported migrants.

Rebiya Kadeer has taken up a campaign for the rights of a people usually far from world headlines: the Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim minority in China.

Aid organisations perpetuate humanitarian disasters. That is one of the conclusions made by war correspondent Linda Polman in her latest book as she describes the world of humanitarian aid.

After the United States senate’s move to stem the flow of money from mineral mines fuelling the brutal civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the watchdog group Global Witness (GW) is calling on Europe to follow suit.

After a spell of sleeping rough at the railway station, Farid has a roof over his head, by way of a small room he shares with five other students.

Patients in Stockholm can now be rushed to hospital in an ambulance that runs on processed sewage.