| Sweden has granted a visa to a Hamas minister, the first by a European country since the militant group took control of the Palestinian Authority, Palestinian officials said on Thursday. Palestinian minister for refugee affairs, Atef Odwan, told Reuters he had been granted a visa by Sweden to attend a conference there on refugees to be held on May 6 to May 8. "I appreciate the position by Sweden which dealt with the issue not on political grounds but on purely academic grounds," he said. Swedish officials were not immediately available for comment. |