‘Chaos’ at Swedish high school students’ graduation in Stockholm

Police have opened an investigation into littering after graduating students left heaps of broken bottles and flour spread across the Medborgarplatsen square in Stockholm, after they had their graduation ceremony at the square on Thursday.

“It was chaos in the whole square. On our chairs, tables, everything. A lot of it is broken,” restaurant owner Preslav Nikolov told Swedish public broadcaster SVT, saying he had been forced to close for lunch and instead had to spend those hours tidying up outside his venue. 

“It’s insane that it was allowed to go this far,” he said. 

Principal Malin Bragnér, at Thoren Business School which was one of the schools that organised its graduation ceremony at Medborgarplatsen, said the mess wasn’t caused by the school’s students, but their friends who showed up to celebrate them.

Swedish vocabulary: littering – nedskräpning

Striking nurses and midwives given deadline to respond to new proposal

The parties of an ongoing healthcare strike have until 1pm today to respond to a proposal put forward by mediators.

The industrial action, organised by the Swedish Association of Health Professionals (which represents nurses, midwives, biomedical scientists and radiographers), has been ongoing since April 25th, when a ban on overtime and new hires was rolled out across the country as the union demanded shorter working hours.

It expanded to a full-blown strike on June 4th, with around 2,000 members walking out in Stockholm, Västra Götaland, Skåne, Östergötland and Västerbotten, although some of the strike action has been lifted or partially lifted since then to ensure lives are not in danger.

Another region, Värmland, joined the strike on Monday.

The Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SKR) is blaming the strike on the union, accusing it of risking the lives of patients. The union refutes this, saying that healthcare was already endangered before it threatened to strike.

Swedish vocabulary: a mediator – en medlare

Swedish man handed death sentence in Iraq

At least one Swedish man has been sentenced to death in Iraq in connection with the murder of a gang criminal, reports Aftonbladet.

Iraq’s chargé d’affaires was called to a meeting at the Swedish foreign ministry, at which Sweden requested more information and demanded that the death penalty should not be carried out. There’s unconfirmed information that more than one have been sentenced.

“Even if a lot remains unclear, it’s still a serious situation. Sweden’s and the EU’s position on the death penalty is very clear. We condemn the death penalty. We are always opposed to it, everywhere and regardless of the circumstances,” said Foreign Minister Tobias Billström.

Swedish vocabulary: death penalty – dödsstraff

Swedish businesses hone in on India despite global pessimism

Swedish businesses are less optimistic than last year about the global business scene, due to a struggling European economy and escalating trade wars between the US and China, according to a new Global Business Climate Survey 2024 by Business Sweden.

But 65 percent of businesses still expect revenue to grow and plan to increase their global investments in the year ahead.

India, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are among the hottest countries on the list.

“The stars are aligned for India. They have got a lot of internal investment programmes started, have acquired internal stability and managed to navigate the geopolitical situation in such a way that no one has any doubts any longer,” said Business Sweden CEO Jan Larsson.

Interest in investing in giant markets such as China and Germany on the other hand appears to be on the wane.

Swedish vocabulary: India – Indien