🇹🇷 Turkey stops defense minister's visit to Turkey

Turkey canceled a planned meeting between the Swedish and Turkish defense ministers. The decision is in response to the protests in Stockholm.

Condemned the protests

The spokesman for Turkey's President Erdogan, Ibrahim Kalin, condemned the planned action as "a clear hate crime," and argued that allowing it despite Turkey's warnings encourages Islamophobia.

Minister of Defense Pål Jonson confirmed that his planned meeting in Ankara next week had been postponed. In a written statement, Jonson shared that he met with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar at the American military air base in Ramstein, Germany, where they decided to postpone the planned meeting. Jonson did add that they looked forward to continuing the dialogue on common security and defense-related issues at a later stage.

Approved protests

Right-wing politician Rasmus Paludan received permission to burn a Quran outside Turkey's Embassy in Stockholm on Saturday. There ended up being very little interest in the protest, with roughly 50 people attending.

The Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD), a pro-Turkish organization, also held its own demonstration outside the Turkish Embassy this weekend, however, its leader Özer Eken, says that his organization does not care what Rasmus Paludan is up to.

A few kilometers away, at Norra Bantorget, a long-planned demonstration march was held in protest of Erdogan and the Swedish NATO accession. Among the participants were also the Rojava committees which last week hung up a doll depicting Erdogan outside the City Hall in Stockholm.

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by TT | edited by Riedia

🚨 Kristersson on the wave of extreme violence

The Stockholm police are being reinforced with 190 officers from the rest of the country. The reinforcement follows a string of explosions, murders, and extreme violence in the capital city.

Investigating possible connection

A man was shot to death in the main center of Solna on Friday evening, and an explosion also occurred in Skarpnäck in the southern parts of Stockholm. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson commented on the recent events, "another horribly violent and bloody day in Stockholm. Gang crime is escalating. These are people with an extreme capacity for violence who, in search of revenge or status, threaten other people's security and freedom."

Kristersson also added that a tough stance on crime will be taken, "these people will be found, they will be prosecuted, and they will be sentenced to very long penalties.”

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by TT | edited by Riedia

⚠️ Security alarms may fail when mobile networks go down

A lot of systems are in danger of going offline when 2G and 3G networks are switched off. Thousands of alarms, machines, pumps, and locks in Sweden are controlled by mobile networks that will be switched off in just a few years. For municipalities and farmers, there is a lot of work to be done to secure these functions.

Preparing for shutoff

Second and third-generation mobile networks – 2G and 3G – are being phased out in Sweden in favor of 4G and 5G networks. For private individuals and the use of mobile phones, for example, there is no problem in most cases – modern mobile phones are adapted for the new generation of mobile networks.

On the other hand, municipalities should review which network some of their equipment uses. Tommy Ljunggren, an expert on the technology shift at the industry organization Techsverige, explains that, in the country's municipalities, there is a lot of remaining equipment that can only handle 2G and 3G.

Ljunggren says that the problem for municipalities is that a lot of machinery was installed a very long time ago. For example, controls for pumps, security systems, doors, and locks are often reliant on 2G and 3G. Municipalities will need to prepare for the upcoming network shut-off by checking which equipment operates on 2G or 3G networks.

Not an issue for the average person

The country's various operators have different timetables for the switch-off of the 2G and 3G networks, which are likely to be out of service by the end of 2025. The use of 2G and 3G networks is not very large nowadays, according to Ljunggren, "less than two percent of data traffic goes over 2G and 3G and less than 20 percent of all traffic."

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by Daniel Kihlström/TT, Cecilia Klintö/TT, Cornelia Mikaelsson/TT | edited by Riedia

During a summit on Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron said that “nothing is out of the question” when it comes to sending heavy weapons to Ukraine , but stressed that any decision needed to be made collectively with allies.

Pressure on Germany

"Nothing is out of the question," says French President Emmanuel Macron. He stressed, in particular, the possibility of delivering French-made heavy-duty Leclerc tanks to Ukraine – but added that the issue was still being investigated. At the same time, Macron made it clear that any decision to send heavy weapons must be coordinated "collectively" with allies including Germany.

The pressure is on Germany from many directions. Ukraine expressed disappointment after the US-led meeting on arms for Ukraine in Germany the other day. The Baltic countries have this weekend called on Scholz to stop hesitating and send tanks now, while Poland is again demanding action from Germany.

"The attitude of the Germans is unacceptable," said Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to the Polish news agency PAP about the German hesitation earlier in the day. Poland has Leopard tanks and wants to send them to Ukraine, however, sending them to Ukraine would require German approval, as they are manufactured by Germany.

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by Lars Larsson/TT, Ingrid Dahlbäck/TT | edited by Riedia

💻 New statistics from the Swedish police found that nearly half of all advertising fraud in Sweden occurs on Facebook, both on Marketplace and in different groups.

🦠 Several regions in Sweden reported a sharp increase in gonorrhea infections in 2022. The rise appears to be a result of the lifting of Covid restrictions, but experts say the trend cannot solely be explained by that.

🧒 Investigators at the National Board of Health and Welfare said that new legislation alone will not prevent violence against children . Moa Mannheimer says that a border social safety net needs to be built, and the focus on overall child welfare in society needs to be emphasized.

🪙 Brazil and Argentina may soon have a common currency. The two largest countries in South America will soon begin a discussion on using a single currency. The hope is that a single currency, which Brazil wants to get the name "sur" (south), will boost trade in the region and reduce dependence on the dollar.

🚨 A man is suspected of shooting at least ten people in the city of Monterey Park near Los Angeles, California. At the time of reporting the suspect is still on the run. A motive for the shooting is unknown.

🇸🇾 At least 16 people have been killed in a building collapse in Aleppo in northern Syria. The collapse is believed to be caused by a water leak that weakened the building’s structure.

👮 A man was shot to death in the main center of Solna Friday night. Other crimes Friday night included an explosion in a building in Skarpnäck in southern Stockholm, and gunshots at an apartment complex in Fruängen in southern Stockholm. Police are working to see if there is a connection among the crimes.

🪧 This weekend was full of protests . Protesters for and against Swedish NATO membership gathered throughout Stockholm.

👑 The royal palace hosted a dinner on Friday in commemoration of the royal jubilee . King Carl XVI Gustaf, Queen Silvia, Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Daniel, Prince Carl Philip, and Princess Sofia welcomed guests to the Swedish dinner at Stockholm Palace.

🐦 Twitter's revenue has dropped by 40% as more than 500 of its largest advertisers have halted their campaigns on the platform following Elon Musk's acquisition of the company.

🚗 To add to the drama, Musk is currently embroiled in a legal battle over a tweet he made in 2018 regarding buying Tesla out of the New York Stock Exchange. This tweet caused Tesla's shares to experience turmoil, a trade freeze, and volatility. Several investors have now taken Musk to federal court to determine if he is liable for damages.

👋 Microsoft is laying off 10,000 employees, or about 5% of its workforce, citing a normalization of demand due to the coronavirus pandemic. The announcement comes before the company's interim report, which is expected to show a 2% increase in sales for the second quarter.

♨️ Sauna… a Swedish tradition??

Saunas are very popular in Sweden, especially in the cold winter months. Saunas are so common that many gyms, apartment buildings, and public spaces have them. There are, of course, more luxurious sauna options throughout the country, such as Ribersborgs Kallbadhus in Malmö, Saltholmen Kallbadhus in Gothenburg, and the newly built sauna in Vinterviken .

With such a sauna culture, you might be inclined to think that the sauna is another Swedish invention, but you would be wrong.

The sauna was actually invented by one of Sweden’s Nordic neighbors, Finland . Saunas have been part of Finnish society for over 2000 years. In fact, the first recorded instance of a sauna was in the year 1112.

Today, Finland's Tampere is the world’s sauna capital , with more than 50 public saunas.

by Julia Powanda/Riedia