Man shot dead in Gothenburg
A man in his mid-20s was shot dead in the Bagaregården area of Gothenburg late on Thursday.
He was found outside after members of the public heard the bangs, and was taken to hospital by ambulance.
At around 11pm police reported he had died of his injuries.
There were no suspects early on Friday morning.
Sweden is seeing much less gun violence than last year, with 17 people killed in shootings and 22 injured according to figures from June 19th. A total of 105 shootings were recorded in Sweden in the first five months of the year, down 30 percent on the same period last year.
Swedish vocabulary: outside – utomhus
Growing probability of Swedish interest rate cut next month
The chances that Sweden's central bank, the Riksbank, will cut interest rates in August have grown slightly, according to banking giant SEB's latest roundup of market rates. The probability now stands at 84 percent, compared to 80 percent a week ago.
The Riksbank's own interest rate forecast from June has the probability at 76 percent. It said last week that it expects to cut the country's main interest rate – the so-called policy rate – another two to three times this year, which would mean a cut in either August or September.
The Riksbank last cut the policy rate to 3.75 percent in May, the first cut in eight years.
The policy rate is the bank's main monetary policy tool. It decides which rates Swedish banks can deposit in and borrow money from the Riksbank, which in turn affects the banks' own interest rates on savings, loans and mortgages.
If bank interest rates are high, it's expensive to borrow money, which means people spend less and as a result inflation drops.
If mortgages were to drop 0.75 percentage points, a household with a three million kronor mortgage would see their costs drop by 22,500 kronor per year, according to the TT newswire (although how immediate the impact is depends on whether they have a variable or fixed mortgage).
Swedish vocabulary: the policy rate – styrräntan
Three Swedes sentenced to death in Iraq over shooting
The Swedish government said Thursday that three of its citizens had been sentenced to death in Iraq for "involvement in a shooting", and said it would summon Baghdad's envoy over the matter.
Sweden's Iraq embassy, whose activities are temporarily being managed from Stockholm, "has received confirmation from local authorities that a total of three Swedish citizens have been sentenced to death in Iraq", the foreign ministry said.
It did not provide details on the shooting incident, but said it had summoned Iraq's ambassador to Sweden to protest the rulings and demand the sentences not be carried out, reported the AFP news agency.
"We are taking steps to prevent their enforcement," the ministry said in a statement.
Swedish vocabulary: summon – kalla upp / kalla till sig
Swedish diplomat recalls darkest hours in Iran prison
After almost 800 days in Iran's notorious Evin prison, the now-free Swedish diplomat Johan Floderus in an interview with AFP recalled the darkest moments throughout his imprisonment and how he survived them.
Released in mid-June, Floderus and another Swedish citizen were part of a prisoner exchange that saw a former prison official return to Iran.
When asked how he has been since gaining his freedom, Floderus smiled while choosing his words carefully.
"I'm doing well. My family has done everything to give me the sort of soft landing that I think I really needed upon my return," he told AFP.
Floderus was released together with fellow Swede Saeed Azizi. Ahmadreza Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian researcher, remains imprisoned in Iran.
Swedish vocabulary: freedom – frihet
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