Green Party puts forward Amanda Lind as new party leader

The Green Party’s election committee has recommended that the party elect Amanda Lind as its new co-leader.

Lind, 43, beat the party’s finance spokesperson Janine Alm Ericson and parliamentary group leader Annika Hirvonen in the race. She has previously represented the party as culture and democracy minister in 2019-2021 and currently chairs parliament’s culture committee.

She will formally be chosen as new leader at a digital party conference on April 28th, filling a spot left empty by Märta Stenevi, who resigned this winter for mental health reasons. The other co-leader is Daniel Helldén, who replaced Per Bolund in November.

“I want our party to grow stronger and gain ground in the future election,” Lind told a press conference.

She’ll have her work cut out for her. The Green Party is polling close to the parliamentary threshold of four percent.

Swedish vocabulary: Green Party – Miljöpartiet

Dad and two children die in house blaze

Three people have been confirmed dead in a house fire at Herrljunga, north-east of Gothenburg, in the early hours of Monday.

“One dad and two children are unfortunately deceased,” a police control room officer told public broadcaster SVT.

A mother and a girl, aged around 10, were able to get out and are physically uninjured.

The fire, which is believed to be non-suspicious, started on the top floor of the house.

Police were called out to the incident at 1.45am.

Swedish vocabulary: a fire – en brand

Chinese journalist banned from returning to Sweden

A Chinese journalist is being deported from Sweden with a lifetime ban on returning to the country.

The middle-aged woman arrived in Sweden almost 20 years ago and is married to a Swedish man. Until October 9th last year she published daily articles on her own news website, but was taken into custody by the Swedish security services, Säpo, the same month.

“The information the authority has is very reliable. The complainant poses a serious threat to the security of the realm,” Säpo told the Migration Court in a statement after the woman appealed a decision by the Migration Agency in November to deport her from the country.

The Migration Court in its ruling on the case recommended the government to uphold the deportation, which it has now done in a decision signed by Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer, reports SVT’s investigative news programme Uppdrag granskning. 

The journalist, who denies the allegations, has for years had close contact with the Chinese embassy and people linked to the Chinese regime in Sweden, according to Uppdrag granskning. Last year she was one of several highlighted in a report by the Swedish National China Centre, run by the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, on Chinese diaspora media and their links to influence operations.

Swedish vocabulary: China – Kina

Swedish property market picks up pace in first quarter

More than 36,000 homes were sold in Sweden in the three first months of the year, an increase of eight percent compared to the same period last year, according to property site Hemnet. Their total value amounted to 114 billion kronor, 11 percent more than last year.

“Now that interest rate cuts are getting closer, buyers dare to act to a greater extent. Sellers got a tailwind, so to speak, in the tug-of-war between sellers and buyers that have characterised the market in the past year,” writes Hemnet analyst Erik Holmberg in a statement.

The northern Jämtland and Norrbotten regions saw the biggest rise in properties changing hands: 36 and 20 percent, respectively.

The only two regions that saw a downturn compared to 2023 were Blekinge and Kronoberg, both in southern Sweden.

Swedish vocabulary: a home – ett hem