Swedish church sets off on three-mile road trip to new city centre
The world's largest underground iron-ore mine is threatening to swallow the town, meaning the church and the rest of the town need to be moved.
This week, thousands of visitors have descended upon Kiruna, Sweden's northernmost town, at 200 kilometres (124 miles) above the Arctic Circle.
It's home to roughly 23,000 inhabitants, including members of the Sami Indigenous people, spread over nearly 19,500 square kilometres (7,528 square feet).
Vicar Lena Tjarnberg, left, and Bishop Asa Nystrom bless the Kiruna Church shortly before it begins its journey to the new town centre (Malin Haarala/AP)
Lena Tjarnberg, the church's vicar, kicked off the move with a blessing on Tuesday morning.
The church's move is expected to last until Wednesday afternoon.
This week's move has turned into a two-day, highly choreographed media spectacle, run by LKAB, the state-owned mining company, and featuring an appearance by Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf.
The church's relocation has become a media spectacle, with a visit from the king and performances from Eurovision stars (Malin Haarala/AP)
Musical performances will include a set from KAJ, Sweden's 2025 Eurovision entry, who had been the bookies' favourite to win this year's contest.
Known for both the Midnight Sun and the Northern Lights, Kiruna and the surrounding area are a major draw year-round for visitors to Swedish Lapland.
But not everyone is thrilled about LKAB's extravaganza.
Engineers have widened a road to 80 feet and dismantled a viaduct in order to facilitate the move (Malin Haarala/AP)
Lars-Marcus Kuhmunen, chairman of one of the Sami reindeer herding organisations in Kiruna, said LKAB's plans for a new mine could threaten reindeer migration routes and imperil the livelihood of herders in the area.
The move of Kiruna's town centre, including the church, has been in the works since 2004.
As the mine expanded deeper underground, residents began seeing cracks in buildings and roads. In order to reach a new depth of 1,365 meters (4,478 feet) — and to prevent Kiruna from being swallowed up — officials began moving buildings to a new downtown at a safe distance from the mine.
Beams placed on a wheeled structure support the Kiruna Church (Malin Haarala/AP)
As of July, 25 buildings had been lifted up onto beams and wheeled east. Sixteen, including the church, remain.
At approximately 40 meters (131 feet) wide with a weight of 672 metric tons (741 tons), the church required extra effort. Engineers widened a major road from nine metres to 24 metres (30 to 79 feet) and dismantled a viaduct to make way for a new intersection.
A driver, using a large control box, is piloting the church through the route as it travels roughly 12 hours over Tuesday and Wednesday, with a pause each day for fika, the traditional Swedish afternoon coffee break.
Thousands of people have descended on the town to watch the church's relocation (Malin Haarala/AP)
It's expected to move at a varying pace between 0.5 and 1.5 kilometres per hour (0.31 and 0.93 miles per hour).
Stefan Holmblad Johansson, LKAB's project manager for the move, would not say how much it has cost the mining company.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
Arne Slot reveals three conditions that must be met to complete Alexander Isak transfer
Alexander Isak's situation at Newcastle remains unresolved as the end of the summer transfer window moves into sight, but Liverpool haven't given up their hopes of signing him Arne Slot has hinted that Liverpool could still pursue a deal for Newcastle striker Alexander Isak in the final days of the summer transfer window. Isak is desperate to leave the Magpies for Liverpool – and it seems he could still get his wish. The Swedish striker informed Newcastle in late July that he wanted to leave the club, but Liverpool's opening offer of £110million was rejected. He has been stuck in limbo ever since, refusing to play for the Magpies while hoping that the Reds will return with another offer that they can't refuse. Isak accused his employers of breaking a promise over his exit in a major escalation of the saga earlier this week. And in a twist of fate, the two clubs meet in the Premier League on Monday night at St James' Park. Liverpool have already spent over £300m on signings this summer and remain in negotiations with Crystal Palace over Marc Guehi. Slot has sold Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz this summer after the tragic passing of Diogo Jota and hinted that a deal could still be done for Isak. Asked if it would be a busy end to the window for Liverpool, Slot told a pre-match press conference: "I don't think [so], because [that would mean] I would be unhappy with the squad and I am happy with the squad we are having. "I say two players for each position is ideal but sometimes less is more so you are not disappointing players. I am happy with the squad but if we think there is a player who can really make us better then this club has always shown they can bring them in. "But it needs to be everything we want: right transfer fee, right position and the player wants to come to us." Liverpool have two of those conditions in place, with the need for a striker clear and Isak desperate to make the switch. But it remains to be seen whether they can agree the right transfer fee, with Newcastle still publicly insisting that Isak can be reintegrated to the squad. The Magpies' statement, in response to Isak's, suggested they would sell for the right price, believed to be around £150m. It read: 'As explained to Alex and his representatives, we must always take into consideration the best interests of Newcastle United, the team and our supporters in all decisions and we have been clear that the conditions of a sale this summer have not transpired. We do not foresee those conditions being met.' In the meantime, the two clubs have to focus on playing each other on Monday. 'The main thing we have to be ready for is their midfield, their last line,' Slot said. 'I assume Isak is not playing from what I read in the media. 'But they still have Anthony Gordon as a nine, they still have Anthony Elanga as a right-winger and Harvey Barnes from the left. This is the Premier League – we all have options and Newcastle have them as well."
Western Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Western Telegraph
Appeal court throws out massive civil fraud penalty against Donald Trump
The decision came seven months after the Republican returned to the White House. A panel of five judges in New York's mid-level Appellate Division said the verdict, which stood to cost the president more than 515 million dollars (£382 million) and rock his property empire, was 'excessive'. The president, in a social media post, claimed 'total victory', adding: 'I greatly respect the fact that the Court had the Courage to throw out this unlawful and disgraceful Decision that was hurting Business all throughout New York State.' After finding that Mr Trump engaged in fraud by flagrantly padding financial statements that went to lenders and insurers, Judge Arthur Engoron ordered him last year to pay 355 million dollars (£263 million) in penalties. With interest, the sum has topped 515 million dollars. The total — combined with penalties levied on some other Trump Organisation executives including Mr Trump's sons Eric and Donald Jr — now exceeds 527 million dollars (£391 million), with interest. Judge Arthur Engoron (Shannon Stapleton/AP) 'While the injunctive relief ordered by the court is well crafted to curb defendants' business culture, the court's disgorgement order, which directs that defendants pay nearly half a billion dollars to the State of New York, is an excessive fine that violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution,' Judges Dianne T Renwick and Peter H Moulton wrote in one of several opinions shaping the appeals court's ruling. Judge Engoron had also imposed other punishments, such as banning Mr Trump and his two eldest sons from serving in corporate leadership for a few years. Those provisions have been on pause during the appeal, and Mr Trump was able to hold off collection of the money by posting a 175 million dollar (£130 million) bond. The court, which was split on the merits of the lawsuit and the lower court's fraud finding, dismissed the penalty Judge Engoron imposed in its entirety while leaving a pathway for further appeals to the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals. The appeals court, the Appellate Division of the state's trial court, took an unusually long time to rule, weighing Mr Trump's appeal for nearly 11 months after oral arguments last autumn. Normally, appeals are decided in a matter of weeks or a few months. New York attorney general Letitia James, who brought the suit on the state's behalf, has said the businessman-turned-politician engaged in 'lying, cheating and staggering fraud'. The president and his co-defendants denied wrongdoing. In a six-minute summation of sorts after a months-long trial, Mr Trump said in January last year that he was 'an innocent man' and the case was a 'fraud on me'. He has repeatedly maintained that the case and verdict were political moves by Ms James and Judge Engoron, who are both Democrats. The Justice Department has subpoenaed Ms James for records related to the lawsuit, among other documents, as part of an investigation into whether she violated the president's civil rights. New York attorney general Letitia James (Yuki Iwamura/AP) Her lawyer Abbe D Lowell has said that investigating the fraud case is 'the most blatant and desperate example of this administration carrying out the president's political retribution campaign'. Mr Trump and his lawyers said his financial statements were not deceptive because they came with disclaimers noting they had not been audited. The defence also noted that bankers and insurers independently evaluated the numbers and the loans were repaid. Despite such discrepancies as tripling the size of his Trump Tower penthouse, he said the financial statements were, if anything, low estimates of his fortune. During an appellate court hearing in September, the president's lawyers said many of the case's allegations were too old, a claim they made unsuccessfully before trial. The defence also says Ms James misused a consumer protection law to sue Mr Trump and improperly policed private business transactions that were satisfactory to those involved. State attorneys said the law in question applies to fraudulent or illegal business conduct, whether it targets everyday consumers or big corporations. Though Mr Trump insists no one was harmed by the financial statements, the state says the numbers led lenders to make riskier loans than they knew, and that honest borrowers lose out when others boost their net-worth numbers. The state has argued that the verdict rested on ample evidence and that the scale of the penalty comported with Mr Trump's gains, including his profits on properties financed with the loans and the interest he saved by getting favourable terms offered to wealthy borrowers. The civil fraud case was one of several legal obstacles for Mr Trump as he campaigned, won and started a second term as president.
The National
4 hours ago
- The National
Skye wind farm fight shows Scotland's national injustice over energy
Good evening! This week's edition of the In Common newsletter comes from Craig Dalzell, head of policy and research at Common Weal. I WAS up in Skye this week to give one of my regular talks to activists and campaign groups around Scotland. It's one of the aspects of my role at Common Weal that I enjoy the most, even though it often means a lot of travelling. I'm very grateful to my hosts for not just organising the meeting but also putting me up for the night. The evening was organised by the Breakish Windfarm Action Group who are currently concerned by plans for a large wind farm development on a visually prominent part of the island. The estate owner, Lady Lucilla Noble, stands to profit massively from the site as will the Swedish developers Arise – while tenant farmers are likely to see their livelihoods disrupted and restricted on what has been up till now land held as common grazings. They asked me to give a broader overview of how and why this is happening in Scotland and I duly prepared a presentation based around our proposals for how Scotland can publicly own our energy generation despite the Scottish Government's excuse that 'it's reserved'. READ MORE: SNP under fire over public energy firm as Welsh Labour launch wind projects Shortest possible version: It's only reserved if we want Government ministers to own the energy. If we allow local authorities or communities to own it, it's perfectly possible. It could even be funded in the same way. The only 'downside' is that the Scottish Government wouldn't get to control it (See Common Weal's policy paper 'How to own Scottish energy' for more details). What I heard during the night though had both myself and my partner shaking our heads in disbelief. The story in Skye is that a landowner has contracted with a foreign company to extract vast profit from the resources of Scotland over the objections of the local community, without adequately compensating or benefiting said community. This happened while obfuscating the planning process and making it as difficult as possible for the community to 'properly' object as processes such as environmental studies and public inquiries cost tens to hundreds of thousands of pounds to complete – trivial amounts for the corporations but far beyond the reach of ordinary people to compete with. Everyone involved fully expects that even if the community is able to punch above its weight in terms of negotiating and bargaining power, Scottish ministers will just override any objections because the Government's primary goals are to make the Scottish GDP line go up by means of encouraging 'inwards investment' – if doing that pushes climate goals too, then they suppose that's fine too. Former Tory councillor Ross Lambie has defected to Reform UK (Image: Reform UK) This is precisely the same story that is happening in my village, where a French company is negotiating with a local land owner to build a massive solar farm and battery park. Just about the only thing that differs are the names of some of the people (and even then only some of them. It turns out that Ross Lambie, one of the local councillors for the ward I live in and who sits on our local Planning Committee, is an absentee landlord bidding to use some land he owns in Skye to host temporary housing for the construction workers being shipped in to install the turbines). We're not the only two communities facing this. Scotland is awash with largely foreign capital flooding places with applications for developments that even at their best won't benefit communities nearly as much as they should (the £5000 per Megawatt of community benefit funding that some of these developments offer is a shadow of the 30 to 100 times as much local revenue retained by full community ownership). Local planning offices report being completely overwhelmed trying to properly scrutinise applications and that goes double for areas with active community councils where volunteer councillors are expected to scrutinise highly technical documents without the resources to do so. Scottish ministers are far too prone to allow projects to move up to the Energy Consents Unit to ensure that they can make the decisions – overriding local democracy as they do so – but this just concentrates the problem further. The ECU is similarly overwhelmed with more than 4500 projects having been passed to them since December 2018. An average of almost two new applications per day. Ministers could not be expected to properly scrutinise these projects even if it was their only full-time job. READ MORE: Scottish estate's £145 million sale sparks concerns over 'opaque' ownership And what happens if a dodgy developer does, by chance or fortune, get their application denied or made conditional to the point that they decide the profit margins aren't high enough? Well, they just resubmit the application and try again or move on to the next community and hope they can't pay as much attention. Communities need to be lucky every time. Corporations only need to get lucky once. I'm not against renewable energy as a rule. We need more of it. What I'm asking for is for the Scottish Government to start abiding by its own party-approved policies. We need a Scottish Energy Development Agency (SEDA) to start producing a proper strategic map of Scotland. A map not just of where Scotland's renewable resources are but where our actual demand is too. The overflow of development without coordination (compounded by frankly idiotic policies from Westminster such as blocking policies like zonal pricing) is leading to millions of pounds of consumer's money being paid to energy generators in constraint payments. Wind turbines already generate profit almost for free once they're built – the only way to make them more profitable for the multinationals and foreign public energy companies who own them is for them to make the profit without even generating the energy. In addition to the SEDA we urgently need the Scottish Government to stop its opposition to public ownership of energy and to start allowing Scottish communities to be the owners of these developments. Communities have been left alone to fight each application individually when it turns out that they are all facing the same spin everywhere. I am very happy to see that communities are increasingly banding together – such as the 9CC group in Ayrshire or the recent conference of Community Councils in Inverness – but it's clear that these groups themselves need support to start talking together, across local authority lines. Maybe that's what it'll take for ministers to start paying proper attention. Maybe the next conference has to happen outside Holyrood itself. The injustice of situations like where I live, or in Skye, or in hundreds of other communities is going to seriously harm public support for the renewable transition that we need. I'm not against renewable energy. I am against being screwed over by the people who own it. I'm against the injustice of communities not being given a stake in that transition and being told that their voice is irrelevant or a nuisance. But if my experience this week in Skye tells me anything, it's that communities are ready to make that voice exactly as loud as it needs to be, especially as the elections approach. I hope ministers will be listening. Or that their replacements might be.
