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Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Tuesday

TT/AFP/The Local
TT/AFP/The Local - [email protected]
Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Tuesday
The 16-year-old boy who carried out a stabbing attack at a school in Kristianstad in January goes on trial today. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

School attack trial, Turkish resistance, and Sweden to join Nato: find out what's going on in Sweden with The Local's roundup.

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Kristianstad school attacker goes on trial
 
The 16-year-old boy who injured a teacher and a pupil in a stabbing at a school in Kristianstad goes on trial today. The boy had packed four knives into his bag before coming to the school. 
 
According to the prosecution's investigation, the 16-year-old started planning the attack a week before it happened on January 10th, and had been in contact with his friend, who had been found guilty of carrying out a similar attack at another school in Eslöv last year. 

The trial in Kristianstad will last five days. 

Swedish vocab:att skada – to injure 

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Turkey 'will not say yes' to Nato membership for Sweden, Finland: Erdogan

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday confirmed Turkey's opposition to Nato membership for Finland and Sweden, again accusing them of failing to take a clear stance against terrorism. "We will not say 'yes' to those (countries) who apply sanctions to Turkey to join security organisation Nato," Erdogan said.

Sweden has suspended any arms sales to Turkey since 2019 over Ankara's military operation in neighbouring Syria. Referring to the Swedish and Finnish delegations' intentions to meet with Turkish officials, Erdogan said: "They say they will come to Turkey on Monday. Will they come to persuade us? Excuse us, but they shouldn't bother."

Any membership bid must be unanimously approved by NATO's 30 members. 

Swedish vocab: att bemöda sig – to bother oneself

Sweden to join Nato: ‘We are leaving one era and entering another”

Sweden on Monday officially announced it will apply for Nato membership as a deterrent against Russian aggression, entering a "new era" as it reverses two centuries of military non-alignment.

At a joint press conference held with Ulf Kristersson, leader of the opposition Moderate Party, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said joining the alliance would act as a deterrent against Russian aggression. 

“The government has decided to inform Nato that Sweden wants to become a member of the alliance,” she told reporters, a day after neighbouring Finland made a similar announcement.

“We are leaving one era and beginning another,” she said, adding that Sweden’s Nato ambassador would “shortly” inform Nato.

Ulf Kristersson, whose party has long supported membership of the alliance, said that he wanted to put party political differences aside to support the government in its decision.  

Swedish Vocab: att lämna en era – to leave one era 

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Sweden’s Nato bid ‘no immediate threat to Russia’, says Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Sweden and Finland joining Nato represented "no immediate threat to Russia", but that if Nato begins to site military infrastructure on their territories Russia would respond.

Speaking at a meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, which groups Russia with Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Putin seemed to tone down the threats to Sweden and Finland which have come in recent days from Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and from his spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. 

“Russia has no problems with these states. There is no immediate threat to Russia,” he said at a meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, which groups Russia with Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. “But the expansion of military infrastructure into this territory would certainly provoke our response.” 

Swedish vocab:ett omedelbart hot – an immediate threat 

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