Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Tuesday
Swedish police shoot two men at homeless shelter, Erdogan sends Sweden's Nato application to parliament, Sweden expects fewer labour migrants and refugees this year despite crisis, and more in the latest news.
Two men injured after being shot by police
Two men were taken to hospital with serious injures after being shot by police at a homeless shelter in Malmö shortly after 10pm on Monday.
"We went to the scene to assist ambulance staff, who had been dispatched there due to mental illness. A threatening situation arose at the scene which made police feel forced to fire shots," Rickard Lundqvist, police press spokesperson, told the TT news agency.
The men are said to be in their 30s and 40s and the incident is being investigated as unlawful threats against a public servant.
"We can't offer more details at the moment, because the prosecutor first needs to assess what's happened," said Lundqvist.
Swedish vocabulary: a threat – ett hot
Turkish president sends Sweden's Nato application to parliament
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has signed the protocol on Sweden's accession to Nato and sent it to the country's parliament for ratification, the country's government announced on X.
The protocol will now go to the Turkish parliament's foreign policy and defence committees for assessment, and then back to the foreign policy committee for a vote, after which it will be sent to be voted on in parliament. It then returns to Erdogan for the final, formal approval.
Erdogan said at Nato's summit in Vilnius in July that Sweden's Nato membership would be put before his parliament in October, meaning he had only a week to go before his own deadline.
Turkey and Hungary have delayed Sweden's accession to the alliance for more than a year, with Erdogan and Hungary's President Viktor Orban the only leaders from among its 31 member states not to have put the accession before their parliaments.
In a statement on X, Sweden's prime minister, Ulf Kristersson celebrated the "happy news".
"Now all that remains is for the parliament to handle the issue. We are looking forward to being a member of Nato."
Swedish vocabulary: to look forward to – att se fram emot
Sweden expects fewer labour migrants and refugees this year despite crisis
The number of people applying for work permits in Sweden is expected to drop over the next two years. The Migration Agency predicts in a new prognosis that it will receive around 49,000 first-time work permit applications this year, compared to just under 65,000 in 2022.
The agency puts the decrease in work permit applications down to a worsening labour market.
It also predicts that 13,000 people will seek asylum in Sweden this year, with the same prediction for 2024. Previous predictions were slightly higher at 14,000 applicants.
If the new prognosis is correct, it would represent a considerable drop since last year, when 16,700 people came to Sweden seeking asylum.
In Europe overall, the number of asylum seekers has reached a new record – over half a million in the first half of the year, which is an increase of almost 30 percent compared to the same period last year, as well as the highest figure since the 2015 refugee crisis.
Swedish vocabulary: to seek asylum – att söka asyl
Swedish-Estonian cable likely damaged by 'external forces'
A telecommunication cable in the Batlic Sea between Sweden and Estonia was damaged by "external forces", defence minister Pål Jonson said in a press conference.
"The Swedish Defence Forces informed us today that dives have shown that damages to the cable are a result of external forces of some form," he said. "The ongoing investigation will determine if that's due to an accident or sabotage."
The cable was discovered last Tuesday, with a preliminary investigation by Estonia concluding that it was damaged by force. The Swedish government's investigation has now come to the same conclusion.
Swedish vocabulary: the Baltic Sea – Östersjön
France arrests two over possible Brussels attacker link
French police are holding two people suspected of being associated with the Islamist gunman who shot dead two Swedish football fans in Brussels earlier this month, anti-terror prosecutors said Monday.
The suspects were presented to a judge on Monday with a view to bringing potential charges for membership in a terrorist organisation, they told AFP.
The two suspects, who reside in the Paris region, were among four people arrested last week as part of an investigation into possible accomplices of Abdesalem Lassoued who killed the fans just before the start of a Belgium-Sweden international football match and was himself fatally shot in a police operation later.
The two other suspects were released without charges.
French prosecutors said they opened a formal investigation into a suspected "criminal terrorist conspiracy" after receiving information on the case from the Belgian judiciary.
The investigation into the exact nature of the two suspects' links with Lassoued was ongoing, said the prosecutors, who recommended they be held in custody pending the outcome of the probe.
Swedish vocabulary: membership – medlemskap
Comments
See Also
Two men injured after being shot by police
Two men were taken to hospital with serious injures after being shot by police at a homeless shelter in Malmö shortly after 10pm on Monday.
"We went to the scene to assist ambulance staff, who had been dispatched there due to mental illness. A threatening situation arose at the scene which made police feel forced to fire shots," Rickard Lundqvist, police press spokesperson, told the TT news agency.
The men are said to be in their 30s and 40s and the incident is being investigated as unlawful threats against a public servant.
"We can't offer more details at the moment, because the prosecutor first needs to assess what's happened," said Lundqvist.
Swedish vocabulary: a threat – ett hot
Turkish president sends Sweden's Nato application to parliament
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has signed the protocol on Sweden's accession to Nato and sent it to the country's parliament for ratification, the country's government announced on X.
The protocol will now go to the Turkish parliament's foreign policy and defence committees for assessment, and then back to the foreign policy committee for a vote, after which it will be sent to be voted on in parliament. It then returns to Erdogan for the final, formal approval.
Erdogan said at Nato's summit in Vilnius in July that Sweden's Nato membership would be put before his parliament in October, meaning he had only a week to go before his own deadline.
Turkey and Hungary have delayed Sweden's accession to the alliance for more than a year, with Erdogan and Hungary's President Viktor Orban the only leaders from among its 31 member states not to have put the accession before their parliaments.
In a statement on X, Sweden's prime minister, Ulf Kristersson celebrated the "happy news".
"Now all that remains is for the parliament to handle the issue. We are looking forward to being a member of Nato."
Swedish vocabulary: to look forward to – att se fram emot
Sweden expects fewer labour migrants and refugees this year despite crisis
The number of people applying for work permits in Sweden is expected to drop over the next two years. The Migration Agency predicts in a new prognosis that it will receive around 49,000 first-time work permit applications this year, compared to just under 65,000 in 2022.
The agency puts the decrease in work permit applications down to a worsening labour market.
It also predicts that 13,000 people will seek asylum in Sweden this year, with the same prediction for 2024. Previous predictions were slightly higher at 14,000 applicants.
If the new prognosis is correct, it would represent a considerable drop since last year, when 16,700 people came to Sweden seeking asylum.
In Europe overall, the number of asylum seekers has reached a new record – over half a million in the first half of the year, which is an increase of almost 30 percent compared to the same period last year, as well as the highest figure since the 2015 refugee crisis.
Swedish vocabulary: to seek asylum – att söka asyl
Swedish-Estonian cable likely damaged by 'external forces'
A telecommunication cable in the Batlic Sea between Sweden and Estonia was damaged by "external forces", defence minister Pål Jonson said in a press conference.
"The Swedish Defence Forces informed us today that dives have shown that damages to the cable are a result of external forces of some form," he said. "The ongoing investigation will determine if that's due to an accident or sabotage."
The cable was discovered last Tuesday, with a preliminary investigation by Estonia concluding that it was damaged by force. The Swedish government's investigation has now come to the same conclusion.
Swedish vocabulary: the Baltic Sea – Östersjön
France arrests two over possible Brussels attacker link
French police are holding two people suspected of being associated with the Islamist gunman who shot dead two Swedish football fans in Brussels earlier this month, anti-terror prosecutors said Monday.
The suspects were presented to a judge on Monday with a view to bringing potential charges for membership in a terrorist organisation, they told AFP.
The two suspects, who reside in the Paris region, were among four people arrested last week as part of an investigation into possible accomplices of Abdesalem Lassoued who killed the fans just before the start of a Belgium-Sweden international football match and was himself fatally shot in a police operation later.
The two other suspects were released without charges.
French prosecutors said they opened a formal investigation into a suspected "criminal terrorist conspiracy" after receiving information on the case from the Belgian judiciary.
The investigation into the exact nature of the two suspects' links with Lassoued was ongoing, said the prosecutors, who recommended they be held in custody pending the outcome of the probe.
Swedish vocabulary: membership – medlemskap
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.