Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Wednesday
Swedish party leaders discuss national security, gap between rich and poor highest in almost five decades, and much more in the latest news in Sweden.
Swede freed by Ecuadorian court after almost four years
Swedish coder Ola Bini has been cleared of all charges after a long court battle.
Bini, described at the time of his arrest as being a friend of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, was detained in Ecuador in 2019, accused of leaking confidential information about the country. He was released from detention but was banned from leaving Ecuador while the investigation and, later, the trial were still ongoing.
Swedish vocabulary: a trial – en rättegång
Were criminal gangs involved in deposing local Social Democrat leader?
The leader of the Social Democrats in the Stockholm suburb of Botkyrka was voted out last weekend, with reports in Swedish media claiming that her opponents had recruited new members ahead of the vote – including some with connections to criminal gangs.
Ebba Östlin had previously caused a stir when she closed down youth community centres run by ABF, after a report showed among other things that drugs had been found and that people with criminal convictions had been hired to work with youngsters.
However, the chair of the Social Democrats’ Stockholm party district told Swedish news agency TT that the party had not been able to prove that any rules were broken at the vote, nor that people with links to criminal gangs took part in the meeting.
“I hope that if anyone has such information they will make it available to us,” she said. “We’ve heard similar things before, and asked for proof, without being able to find it.”
Swedish vocabulary: a meeting – ett möte
Swedish party leaders meet to discuss national security
The leaders of Sweden’s eight main parties met late on Tuesday afternoon to receive information from Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson about national and global security.
The meeting came after a series of protests and disinformation campaigns against Sweden in the wake of the country’s conflict with Turkey over its Nato application, following a pro-Kurdish group’s burning of an effigy of the Turkish president and a far-right extremist’s burning of the Koran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.
“The most important thing we can do is to make it clear around the world that it is not Sweden as a country that has done things, it’s not Sweden as a country that executes dummies of other countries’ leaders or burns the Koran to offend people who see it as a holy book,” Kristersson told TT after the meeting, when asked what Sweden is doing to try to get talks started with Turkey again, after the latter postponed them indefinitely.
Swedish vocabulary: eight – åtta
Income inequality in Sweden higher than at any time in nearly 50 years
Income inequality in Sweden rose sharply in 2021, hitting the highest level since records began nearly 50 years ago, according to a report from the country's statistics agency.
According to Statistics Sweden’s latest income report, Sweden’s Gini-coefficient rose from 0.31 in 2020 to 0.34 in 2021, overtaking the levels seen in the run-up to the 2007 global financial crisis, and higher than at time since the agency started tracking income inequality in 1975. The Gini coefficient starts at 0 for perfect equality and rises to 1 in the most unequal distribution of incomes possible.
The sharp jump in income for the most well-off could be explained mainly by them selling shares, property, and other assets after the exceptional rises in prices that year. Read more in The Local’s article.
Swedish vocabulary: inequality – ojämlikhet
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Swede freed by Ecuadorian court after almost four years
Swedish coder Ola Bini has been cleared of all charges after a long court battle.
Bini, described at the time of his arrest as being a friend of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, was detained in Ecuador in 2019, accused of leaking confidential information about the country. He was released from detention but was banned from leaving Ecuador while the investigation and, later, the trial were still ongoing.
Swedish vocabulary: a trial – en rättegång
Were criminal gangs involved in deposing local Social Democrat leader?
The leader of the Social Democrats in the Stockholm suburb of Botkyrka was voted out last weekend, with reports in Swedish media claiming that her opponents had recruited new members ahead of the vote – including some with connections to criminal gangs.
Ebba Östlin had previously caused a stir when she closed down youth community centres run by ABF, after a report showed among other things that drugs had been found and that people with criminal convictions had been hired to work with youngsters.
However, the chair of the Social Democrats’ Stockholm party district told Swedish news agency TT that the party had not been able to prove that any rules were broken at the vote, nor that people with links to criminal gangs took part in the meeting.
“I hope that if anyone has such information they will make it available to us,” she said. “We’ve heard similar things before, and asked for proof, without being able to find it.”
Swedish vocabulary: a meeting – ett möte
Swedish party leaders meet to discuss national security
The leaders of Sweden’s eight main parties met late on Tuesday afternoon to receive information from Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson about national and global security.
The meeting came after a series of protests and disinformation campaigns against Sweden in the wake of the country’s conflict with Turkey over its Nato application, following a pro-Kurdish group’s burning of an effigy of the Turkish president and a far-right extremist’s burning of the Koran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.
“The most important thing we can do is to make it clear around the world that it is not Sweden as a country that has done things, it’s not Sweden as a country that executes dummies of other countries’ leaders or burns the Koran to offend people who see it as a holy book,” Kristersson told TT after the meeting, when asked what Sweden is doing to try to get talks started with Turkey again, after the latter postponed them indefinitely.
Swedish vocabulary: eight – åtta
Income inequality in Sweden higher than at any time in nearly 50 years
Income inequality in Sweden rose sharply in 2021, hitting the highest level since records began nearly 50 years ago, according to a report from the country's statistics agency.
According to Statistics Sweden’s latest income report, Sweden’s Gini-coefficient rose from 0.31 in 2020 to 0.34 in 2021, overtaking the levels seen in the run-up to the 2007 global financial crisis, and higher than at time since the agency started tracking income inequality in 1975. The Gini coefficient starts at 0 for perfect equality and rises to 1 in the most unequal distribution of incomes possible.
The sharp jump in income for the most well-off could be explained mainly by them selling shares, property, and other assets after the exceptional rises in prices that year. Read more in The Local’s article.
Swedish vocabulary: inequality – ojämlikhet
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