SAS to cancel more than 1,000 flights in April
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) is set to cancel at least 1,000 departures in April due to high fuel costs, according to CEO Anko van der Werff.
"The price of air fuel has doubled in ten days. Even if we try to absorb cost increases as far as we can, this is a shock that directly hits the airline industry," he told the Dagens industri business newspaper.
SAS has already cancelled a couple of hundred departures in March.
"But compare that to our 800 flights a day – these aren't drastic measures," said van der Werff.
The cancellations will mainly affect destinations with several daily departures.
SAS said on Tuesday that some hundred flights will be cancelled in Norway due to high fuel costs. The pilots' union, however, claims it's to do with stalled salary negotiations, reports NTB.
Swedish vocabulary: fuel – bränsle
'Very, very low' risk that Canterbury meningitis outbreak spreads to Sweden
The risk that an outbreak of a rare form of invasive meningitis in the UK would spread to Sweden is very unlikely, according to experts.
"The risk that this would spread to Sweden is very, very low," the Public Health Agency's deputy state epidemiologist Stephan Stenmark told the TT newswire.
Two people have died, a sixth-form pupil and a university student, and around a dozen others are receiving treatment in hospital.
The outbreak has been traced to a nightclub in Canterbury in connection with a student event.
According to the Public Health Agency between 30 and 50 cases of meningitis are reported every year in Sweden, but large outbreaks are extremely rare.
Symptoms, according to the UK's NHS health service, include: "a high temperature; cold hands and feet; vomiting; confusion; breathing quickly; muscle and joint pain; pale, mottled or blotchy skin (this may be harder to see on brown or black skin); spots or a rash (this may be harder to see on brown or black skin); headache; a stiff neck; a dislike of bright lights; being very sleepy or difficult to wake; fits (seizures)".
However, not all symptoms may appear at the same time, so if you suspect someone may have meningitis, you should contact the healthcare services.
The number for Sweden's healthcare advice helpline is 1177.
Swedish vocabulary: meningitis – hjärnhinneinflammation
High-profile Liberal quits party board over Sweden Democrat pact
Jan Jönsson, a Liberal councillor in Stockholm, has quit the party board after its leadership said it would allow the far-right Sweden Democrats to govern after the next national election.
As recently as last autumn, Liberal party leader Simona Mohamsson answered "yes" to the question of whether it could be trusted that the Liberals would not change their party line, but would stick to its "no" to government participation and ministerial posts for the Sweden Democrats if the Tidö parties win the election.
"I am shocked," said Jönsson when the U-turn was announced on Friday.
The party is set to hold an extraordinary general meeting this weekend, at which they will vote on whether or not to have Mohamsson continue as leader.
All of the party's ministers have said they will resign if Mohamsson loses the vote.
On the other side of the deeply split party, many Liberals have threatened to resign unless the party backtracks on its new embrace of the Sweden Democrats.
"I hope that as many as possible choose to remain with the Liberals," Labour Market Minister Johan Britz told TT. "This question has been a wet blanket on our party for many years. There are those who think we should have done this much earlier. There are those who think we shouldn't be doing it at all. I fully respect both views. But there are six months to go until the election. And a party leader has to act when the situation is what it is."
The Liberals are currently polling at a microscopic two percent. At least four percent of the vote is necessary to make it into parliament.
Swedish vocabulary: to quit – att sluta
Swedish government scraps language tests for permanent residency
Sweden's government has dropped plans to bring in compulsory language tests for those applying for permanent residency, a spokesperson for Migration Minister Johan Forssell told The Local.
A government inquiry recommended back in 2023 that those applying for permanent residency should from 2027 be required to pass a test proving that they have reached a level of A2 on the CEFR, the EU's Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. This is equivalent to SFI level C, and is classified as a "basic" level of Swedish.
Since consultations on the proposal ended in September 2023, the government has not taken the next step of sending a draft law to the Council on Legislation, leading some to suspect that the plan to bring in a requirement had been dropped.
A spokesperson for Migration Minister Johan Forssell has now confirmed to The Local that the proposal has indeed been abandoned, pointing to the government's plans to abolish permanent residency for asylum seekers and some others.
"The government has chosen not to go further with this because asylum-related PUT [permanent uppehållstillstånd – permanent residence permit] is going to be abolished," she said in an email.
The government still plans to bring in a language requirement for citizenship, however.
Swedish vocabulary: language – språk
Fire festival goes ahead as planned in Malmö
The Persian fire festival which marks the start of the new year went ahead as planned in Malmö on Tuesday evening.
The festivals, Chaharshanbeh Suri, usually attract thousands of visitors across Sweden, but they were cancelled in both Gothenburg and Stockholm this year.
The decision to cancel came in light of the threat posed to Iranians in exile following US and Israeli attacks on Iran, which the Swedish intelligence agency, Säpo, has warned about.
"We had mixed feelings about whether we should come at all, but it felt like this is a way to show solidarity and show that we are all together, singing songs together. We give love to each other, we are stronger together," Sharam, one of the participants in the Malmö festival, told public broadcaster SVT.
Swedish vocabulary: together – tillsammans
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