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TODAY IN SWEDEN

Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Wednesday

Swedish makeup brand Caia Cosmetics faces police probe over toxic chemicals, Iranian journalist in hiding in Sweden after Iran puts his name on 'death list', and the latest news on the Kungsholmen shooting.

Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Wednesday
Queues at the NK mall in Gothenburg after Bianca Ingrosso's Caia Cosmetics opened a new store at the start of the month. Photo: Björn Larsson Rosvall/TT

Swedish makeup brand faces police probe over toxic chemicals

Caia Cosmetics, the cosmetics company owned by Swedish influencer and entrepreneur Bianca Ingrosso, has been reported to the police by the Swedish Chemicals Agency for using illegal toxic chemicals, reports Swedish business newspaper Dagens industri.

The company’s Germany-made product Caia Duo Eye Pencil contained so-called PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances). These are man-made substances that are difficult to break down, and some of them are harmful to the environment and to human health.

The product was removed from the company’s website in April.

Ingrosso founded Caia Cosmetics in 2018, and it has grown to become a hugely popular brand especially among teenage girls. She started out as a child actor and performer, but mainly rose to fame thanks to Wahlgrens värld, a Swedish reality TV series following the daily lives of her famous artist family, with her mother Pernilla Wahlgren as the matriarch. Today, she among other things hosts her own talk show.

Swedish vocabulary: makeup – smink

Man injured in Malmö shooting

Police are investigating after a man aged around 20 was injured in a shooting in Malmö shortly before midnight on Tuesday.

Several people were seen running from the scene, in the city’s Kirseberg district, police said in a statement. 

The man went to hospital of his own accord and had minor gunshot wounds, said police.

No arrests had been reported by 6am.

Swedish vocabulary: to investigate – att undersöka

Iranian journalist in hiding in Sweden after Iran puts his name on ‘death list’

Iranian TV journalist Mehran Abasian, who has lived in Sweden for the past ten years, has with the help of the Swedish security services (Säpo) gone into hiding after finding out his name is on a secret “death list” said to have been created by the Iranian government.

An order to kill Abasian has allegedly been given to gang criminals in Sweden.

“Säpo is taking the threat very seriously,” he told the Aftonbladet tabloid.

Säpo declined to comment when approached by Aftonbladet, but it has previously confirmed that the Iranian regime is recruiting criminal gangs in Sweden to carry out attacks on Swedish soils, and that it has already thwarted several Iranian planned attacks in Sweden.

It has been widely reported in Swedish media that perpetrators linked to Swedish gang leader Rawa Majid’s Foxtrot network were behind a hand grenade attack on the Israeli embassy in Stockholm in January, allegedly acting on the orders of the Iranian regime.

Swedish vocabulary: to hide (oneself) – att gömma (sig)

The latest news on the Kungsholmen shooting

Not much more information has been released after a shooting near the busy Rådhuset metro station on Stockholm’s Kungsholmen island on Tuesday.

A suspect remains in custody, according to the latest available reports. 

According to Swedish media, around three to five shots were fired through the window of a business venue, but no one received major injuries. A witness described the suspect as a young boy, although that remains unconfirmed by police.

Swedish media also report that police are linking the shooting to a suspected attempted murder on Kungsholmen on Monday.

Swedish vocabulary: a suspect – en misstänkt

Member comments

  1. Today, one of the stories I’m working on is about statistics on how many people have had their work permit rejected due to Sweden’s higher salary threshold introduced in November. It’s not yet published, but keep an eye out today or tomorrow.

    What other stories would you like us to (try to) look into today?

  2. I heard there was a stabbing in slussen yesterday at lunch time? one of the busiest and most camera heavy areas of all of sweden but I am seeing no reporting on this?

    1. Hi, the latest update is that a man in his mid-30s is in custody on suspicion of attacking a teenager at Slussen. He was arrested at a care home in Västberga later that night after being aggressive and violent, and he fit the description of the attacker. It’s unclear what his motives were. The victim was conscious and able to speak when he was taken to hospital. /Emma Löfgren, Editor, The Local Sweden

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TODAY IN SWEDEN

Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Friday

Torrential rain set to batter south-eastern Sweden on Friday, Gotland mayor proposes tourist tax for summer visitors, and a new ranking reveals the best – and worst – places to live in Sweden.

Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Friday

Torrential rain set to batter south-eastern Sweden on Friday

After sunshine comes rain.

Sweden’s heatwave had barely ended when weather agency SMHI warned of a downpour set to batter the south-east.

The yellow warning covers an area including cities such as Stockholm, Västerås, Örebro, Norrköping, Växjö, Kalmar and Karlskrona.

“A front brings heavy rain or thundershowers during Friday, locally hail may also occur. 30-60 millimetres of rain can fall in a short time. The heaviest showers look set to come during the afternoon and evening,” said SMHI in an update on its website.

There’s a risk of flooded basements, stormwater systems, roads and viaducts.

Swedish vocabulary: a downpour – ett skyfall

Top candidates abandon failed Swedish party Folklistan

Folklistan, a new party started up by ousted Christian Democrat MEP Sara Skyttedal and former Social Democrat MP Jan Emanuel this spring, with the aim of grabbing a spot in the European Parliament, received just 0.6 percent of votes in the May election. 

Emanuel is now leaving the party and hopes to rejoin the Social Democrats.

“I tried to change things and it went straight to hell,” he said, speaking on newspaper Expressen’s stage at Sweden’s annual political festival, Almedalen Week. “I thought that if we in these two months would manage to get our message out, we could have made it, but because the response was so weak we failed.”

Skyttedal also told Swedish media that she was also leaving Folklistan, but didn’t have any concrete future plans yet.

Folklistan’s press officer, Tim Sundblad, however, told the TT newswire that it will continue to operate. 

According to TT, former Sweden Democrat and MEP Johan Nissinen is expected to be the new top name of the party.

Swedish vocabulary: straight to hell – the words Emanuel used were det gick åt pipsvängen. Pipsvängen is a word made famous by Astrid Lindgren’s Ronia the Robber’s Daughter and isn’t easily translated (in fact the English translation of the book usually avoids translating it), but it’s a euphemism for “hell” and could be translated as something going straight to hell, or perhaps going to the dogs.

Gotland mayor proposes tourist tax for summer visitors

Imposing extra taxes on tourists is not allowed in Sweden, unlike tourism hot spots such as for example Venice, Italy.

The regional mayor of Gotland, Meit Fohlin, wants to change that, reports public radio broadcaster SR Ekot.

Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit the Baltic Sea island every summer, a beautiful and popular destination. Many mainlanders own a second home and stay there for months, using the island’s resources while their tax money ends up in their home municipalities.

“It’s important that tourism continues to be an important industry, and local industries then need contributions,” said Fohlin.

She said it should be possible to “pay tax for those months that goes to Gotland or where you own a summer house. Other places do that and it would be a fairly straightforward solution”.

Swedish vocabulary: a tourist tax – en turistskatt

Is Umeå the best place to live in Sweden?

Umeå in northern Sweden is the best place to live in Sweden, at least if a new ranking by the magazine Fokus is to be believed. 

The research was carried out by Infostat on behalf of Fokus and looked at factors such as household economy, safety, jobs, education, childcare, healthcare, infrastructure, services, leisure and public economy.

“This is of course great. All of northern Sweden and not least Umeå is on fire right now and offer residents extremely good opportunities to live good lives,” Umeå mayor Hans Lindberg said in a press statement.

Luleå, also in northern Sweden, and Karlstad on the shores of Lake Vänern make up the rest of the top three.

The worst municipalities are Tanum, Älvdalen and Vansbro.

Swedish vocabulary: a municipality – en kommun

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