Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Thursday
One in five birds affected by Swedish oil spill, appeals court clears one woman of murder in 'Tove' case, and new tourism campaign aims to finally put an end to Sweden-Switzerland mix-up. Here's the latest news.
Swedish appeals court clears woman of murder in 'Tove' case
A Swedish appeals court has thrown out the district court's verdict and cleared a 19-year-old woman of murder. Meanwhile it sentenced her 20-year-old friend to 16 years in jail for murdering Tove, a case which made headlines in Sweden after she went missing earlier this year.
Both women were originally sentenced to life in jail by a district court. The appeals court upheld a verdict which found both women guilty of disturbing the peace of the grave, after Tove's body was moved from the apartment she died in and later found in a forest near Vetlanda.
The appeals court found that Tove died through suffocation after she was strangled, but could not rule out that other factors might have contributed to her death. The 19-year-old claimed to have been asleep at the time of the murder, an explanation the appeals court said it found "unlikely". However it added that the prosecutor had not managed to prove that her version of the events was untrue.
The 20-year-old's lawyer told Swedish news agency TT they would attempt to appeal the verdict.
Swedish vocabulary: the appeals court – hovrätten
One in five birds affected by Swedish oil spill
Up to one in five out of thousands of birds in an area where a ship ran aground in Blekinge earlier this week, leaking oil, has noticeably had its feathers damaged by oil. Other birds are behaving in a way which indicates they may be affected, environmental officials said.
Only 15 birds have so far been caught and are receiving help. A lot of them are hard to catch as they are still well enough to be able to fly off when humans get close, reports TT. Birds coated with oil may be found on the shores of all of south-eastern Sweden in the months ahead.
The Swedish coastal guard has so far managed to collect at least 14,000 litres of the oil spill, but there's no remaining oil visible on the surface of the water. "That's concerning because it's then not possible to locate," said its spokesperson Mattias Lindholm.
Some of the oil is expected to wash up in the Åhus area, further south along the coastline, in the days ahead.
The Marco Polo TT-Line passenger ferry got stuck after running aground south of Karlshamn early on Sunday and the vessel's 75 passengers were safely evacuated. Two crew members are being investigated on suspicion of carelessness at sea.
Swedish vocabulary: an oil leak – en oljeläcka
Sweden's official dictionary completed after 140 years
The definitive record of the Swedish language has been completed after 140 years, with the dictionary's final volume sent to the printer's last week.
The Swedish Academy Dictionary (SAOB), the Swedish equivalent of the Oxford English Dictionary and drawn up by the Swedish Academy which awards the Nobel Prize in Literature, counts 33,111 pages across 39 volumes.
"It was started in 1883 and now we're done. Over the years 137 full-time employees have worked on it," Christian Mattsson told AFP.
Despite reaching the major milestone, their work is not completely done yet: the volumes A to R are now so old they need to be revised to include modern words.
Swedish vocabulary: a dictionary – en ordbok
Swedish tourist board launches campaign to end confusion with Switzerland
Sweden's tourist board has issued a plea to Swiss officials to co-sign a proposition designed to put an end to people mixing up the similarly-named Nordic country and Alpine republic for good.
"Leaders and citizens of Switzerland, we're contacting you regarding our mutual problem," a Swedish official, played by comedian Emma Peters, in Visit Sweden's new ad states, while flanked by Swedish (not Swiss) flags.
"It's time we make the distinction between our two nations as clear as day, by deciding who talks about what."
In the video, Visit Sweden proposes that each country sticks to an agreed list of topics. Switzerland can have red flags, while Sweden gets red cabins. Switzerland can have LSD (it was invented there), while Sweden gets "a different kind of surreal experience": the Northern Lights.
Swedish vocabulary: to mix up – att blanda ihop
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Swedish appeals court clears woman of murder in 'Tove' case
A Swedish appeals court has thrown out the district court's verdict and cleared a 19-year-old woman of murder. Meanwhile it sentenced her 20-year-old friend to 16 years in jail for murdering Tove, a case which made headlines in Sweden after she went missing earlier this year.
Both women were originally sentenced to life in jail by a district court. The appeals court upheld a verdict which found both women guilty of disturbing the peace of the grave, after Tove's body was moved from the apartment she died in and later found in a forest near Vetlanda.
The appeals court found that Tove died through suffocation after she was strangled, but could not rule out that other factors might have contributed to her death. The 19-year-old claimed to have been asleep at the time of the murder, an explanation the appeals court said it found "unlikely". However it added that the prosecutor had not managed to prove that her version of the events was untrue.
The 20-year-old's lawyer told Swedish news agency TT they would attempt to appeal the verdict.
Swedish vocabulary: the appeals court – hovrätten
One in five birds affected by Swedish oil spill
Up to one in five out of thousands of birds in an area where a ship ran aground in Blekinge earlier this week, leaking oil, has noticeably had its feathers damaged by oil. Other birds are behaving in a way which indicates they may be affected, environmental officials said.
Only 15 birds have so far been caught and are receiving help. A lot of them are hard to catch as they are still well enough to be able to fly off when humans get close, reports TT. Birds coated with oil may be found on the shores of all of south-eastern Sweden in the months ahead.
The Swedish coastal guard has so far managed to collect at least 14,000 litres of the oil spill, but there's no remaining oil visible on the surface of the water. "That's concerning because it's then not possible to locate," said its spokesperson Mattias Lindholm.
Some of the oil is expected to wash up in the Åhus area, further south along the coastline, in the days ahead.
The Marco Polo TT-Line passenger ferry got stuck after running aground south of Karlshamn early on Sunday and the vessel's 75 passengers were safely evacuated. Two crew members are being investigated on suspicion of carelessness at sea.
Swedish vocabulary: an oil leak – en oljeläcka
Sweden's official dictionary completed after 140 years
The definitive record of the Swedish language has been completed after 140 years, with the dictionary's final volume sent to the printer's last week.
The Swedish Academy Dictionary (SAOB), the Swedish equivalent of the Oxford English Dictionary and drawn up by the Swedish Academy which awards the Nobel Prize in Literature, counts 33,111 pages across 39 volumes.
"It was started in 1883 and now we're done. Over the years 137 full-time employees have worked on it," Christian Mattsson told AFP.
Despite reaching the major milestone, their work is not completely done yet: the volumes A to R are now so old they need to be revised to include modern words.
Swedish vocabulary: a dictionary – en ordbok
Swedish tourist board launches campaign to end confusion with Switzerland
Sweden's tourist board has issued a plea to Swiss officials to co-sign a proposition designed to put an end to people mixing up the similarly-named Nordic country and Alpine republic for good.
"Leaders and citizens of Switzerland, we're contacting you regarding our mutual problem," a Swedish official, played by comedian Emma Peters, in Visit Sweden's new ad states, while flanked by Swedish (not Swiss) flags.
"It's time we make the distinction between our two nations as clear as day, by deciding who talks about what."
In the video, Visit Sweden proposes that each country sticks to an agreed list of topics. Switzerland can have red flags, while Sweden gets red cabins. Switzerland can have LSD (it was invented there), while Sweden gets "a different kind of surreal experience": the Northern Lights.
Swedish vocabulary: to mix up – att blanda ihop
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