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NEW YEAR

Rowdy start to the new year in Sweden

Police were kept busy during the last evening of 2011 with celebrations all over Sweden getting out of hand and resulting in brawling and firework accidents.

Rowdy start to the new year in Sweden

At least five people were severely injured by fireworks as they celebrated New Year’s Eve. In Stockholm an inebriated man was trapped under a tram which had to be lifted before he could be taken to hospital.

A 13-year-old boy was brought to hospital as he was severely injured in the leg when a firework piece exploded in Limhamn outside of Malmö in southern Sweden. Within a few minutes another four people were injured in the Skåne region.

A 25-year-old man was injured in the face by a firework in Teckomatorp, and a person in Ängelholm was taken to hospital with damages to the face and hand. Another two people were brought to hospital after being injured by fireworks.

Despite intense firework displays, no one was reported injured by fireworks in Sweden’s two biggest cities Stockholm and Gothenburg.

However, many cases of assault, fights and drunkenness were reported in Skåne, Blekinge and Gothenburg, where police had a busy night.

In the Västra Götaland region, twice as many reports were filed compared to a regular night of the weekend. 400 emergency calls were made.

There were also 39 fires in the region, three cases of rape, 57 cases of assault, and 50 people were arrested for drunkenness.

In the Gävleborg region three dogs went missing, running off as a result of the frightening bangs of the fireworks.

Two people were taken to the hospital in Kalmar with facial injuries following a brawl in which they were hit by fireworks.

In the Stockholm suburb of Hökarängen, a man was stabbed and in Husby, the metro station was closed off after youths threw in fireworks.

However, the rowdiness all across Sweden came as no surprise to authorities.

“It’s all in the name of alcohol. Drunkenness, fights and fuss. Totally according to our expectations,” the police chief in Norrbotten told news agency TT.

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RUSSIA

Russia announces no New Year’s greetings for France, US, Germany

US President Joe Biden, France's Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will not be receiving New Year's greetings from Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said on Friday.

Russia announces no New Year's greetings for France, US, Germany

As the world gears up to ring in the New Year this weekend, Putin sent congratulatory messages to the leaders of Kremlin-friendly countries including Turkey, Syria, Venezuela and China.

But Putin will not wish a happy New Year to the leaders of the United States, France and Germany, countries that have piled unprecedented sanctions on Moscow over Putin’s assault on Ukraine.

“We currently have no contact with them,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“And the president will not congratulate them given the unfriendly actions that they are taking on a continuous basis,” he added.

Putin shocked the world by sending troops to pro-Western Ukraine on February 24.

While Kyiv’s Western allies refused to send troops to Ukraine, they have been supplying the ex-Soviet country with weapons in a show of support that has seen Moscow suffer humiliating setbacks on the battlefield.

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