Finnish president warns of too much talk of war in speech to Swedish parliament

Alexander Stubb, the newly elected president of Finland, held a joint press conference with Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson at a visit to Sweden. It is tradition that the leaders of Finland and Sweden make their first state or government visits to each other’s countries.

“Sweden and Finland don’t just share a history, we also share a future,” Swedish news agency TT quoted Kristersson as saying. He added that Stubb had helped him “read Finland right and thus navigate Sweden right” in the long process of joining the Nato defence alliance.

The leaders discussed among other things security, such as support for Ukraine and Nato’s upcoming summit in Washington DC.

In a speech to the Swedish parliament, Stubb warned against war-mongering rhetoric, which he said had increased.

“Our screens are filled of war in Europe and the Middle East. But this rhetoric easily upsets especially the younger generations’ sense of security and belief in the future,” he said, in Swedish. “The best way to avoid war is to talk less and prepare more. Finland and Sweden have an important role in promoting peace. It sounds paradoxical, but that’s exactly why we want a strong military and why we joined Nato.” 

Swedish vocabulary: newly elected – nyvald

Sweden faces alcohol shortage after hacker attack

Sweden’s state-run alcohol chain, Systembolaget, warns of a possible shortage of products this coming weekend.

Business site Dagens Industri reports that a cyber attack on a sub-contractor has caused distribution problems.

“Around a quarter of our sales volume is affected, which could affect availability of some kinds of beer, wine, liquor and so on,” a Systembolaget spokesperson told the Aftonbladet newspaper, but added that there’s no risk all alcohol will completely sell out.

“At the moment the total supply is not affected to a great extent, but it depends on when distribution gets going again. We don’t know that right now,” he added.

Logistics firm Skanlog, which delivers to Systembolaget, told Dagens Industri they had been hit in a ransomware attack by a North Korean hacker group.

It’s not yet known what the knock-on effect will be for Walpurgis Night on April 30th, a popular party day in student towns.

Swedish vocabulary: a shortage – en brist

Sweden lowers forecast for work permit applications

Sweden’s Migration Agency believes that 82,000 people will apply for a work permit in Sweden this year, including both first-time permits and extensions. Its new forecast is fewer than the 85,000 it predicted in February would want to move to or stay in the country to work.

The lower forecast, it said, is mainly due to an expectation that slightly fewer foreign berry pickers will come to Sweden this summer.

The number of predicted asylum applications remains the same as in February, with 12,000 people expected to apply for a first-time asylum permit by the end of the year (and 25,000 extensions), as do the 30,000 study permit applications the agency expects to receive this year.

It expects 69,000 people to apply for citizenship, which is also unchanged from the February forecast.

Swedish vocabulary: a first-time application – en förstagångsansökan

Two children dead, adults held on suspicion of murder

Two children died in connection with a “serious offence” in Södertälje, south of Stockholm, according to police.

The children were found in a house in a residential area on Tuesday evening. Two adults with a family connection to the children are being held on suspicion of murder and police said they are not looking for any other suspects.

One of the adults was also injured – stab wounds, according to unconfirmed reports by the Aftonbladet tabloid.

Due to the serious nature of the crime, details were scarce on Wednesday morning.

Swedish vocabulary: a suspicion – en misstanke