LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Sweden: Northern Europe
built 634 days ago
Today, Sweden’s reputation for innovation is built on close cooperation between industry and academia. Swedish universities are renowned for their investigative research and independent thinking, and this reputation is cemented with rigorous quality control and nationally certified degrees. Sweden has one of the most ambitious educational evaluation programs in Europe, aimed at maintaining this competitive edge.
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Sweden is considered a relatively expensive country to live in, though you can find cheap alternatives if you look around. Recently opened discount stores such as "Lidl", "Netto" and "Willy's" offer a wide range of items, why not buy a sewing machine while doing the weekend grocery shopping? Accommodation and dining out is cheaper in Stockholm than in most other West European capitals.
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Sweden occupies the greater part of the Scandinavian Peninsula, which it shares with Norway. The land slopes gently from the high mountains along the Norwegian frontier eastward to the Baltic Sea. Geologically, it is one of the oldest and most stable parts of the Earth's crust. Its surface formations and soils were altered by the receding glaciers of the Pleistocene Epoch (about 1,800,000 to 10,000 years ago). Lakes dot the fairly flat landscape, and thousands of islands form archipelagoes along more than 1,300 miles (2,100 km) of jagged, rocky coastline. Like all of northwestern Europe, Sweden has a generally favourable climate relative to its northerly latitude owing to moderate southwesterly winds and the warm North Atlantic Current.
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HSB Turning Torso is a skyscraper in Malmö, Sweden, located on the Swedish side of the Öresund strait. It was designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and officially opened on 27 August 2005. The tower reaches a height of 190 metres (623 feet) with 54 stories. Upon completion, it was the tallest building in Scandinavia, the tallest residential building in the EU and the second tallest in Europe, after the 264-metre-high Triumph-Palace in Moscow. See more
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Sweden long ago disavowed the military aggressiveness that once involved its armies deeply in Europe's centuries of dynastic warfare. It has chosen instead to play a balancing role among the world's conflicting ideological and political systems. It is for this reason that Swedish statesmen have often been sought out to fill major positions in the United Nations. At peace since 1814, Sweden has followed the doctrine, enunciated in every document on foreign policy since World War II, of “nonalignment in peace aiming at neutrality in war.”
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Sweden carries on a large foreign trade, and the value of exports usually slightly exceeds that of imports. The main imports are machinery, manufactured goods, motor vehicles, foodstuffs, petroleum and petroleum products, and chemicals; the chief exports are machinery, manufactured goods, iron ore, iron and steel, motor vehicles, chemicals, and forest products. The principal trade partners are Germany, Great Britain, Denmark, France, Norway, Finland, and the United States. Sweden was a member of the European Free Trade Association from 1960 to 1994; in 1995 it joined the European Union.
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Northern Europe