Gripen intercepts Russian bomber over Baltic
Sweden on Tuesday scrambled a Jas 39 Gripen fighter jet to intercept a Russian Tu-22M3 bomber which was flying in international waters in the Baltic Sea.
"We were sending a signal. We are showing that we've seen them," Mikael Ågren, press spokesperson for the Swedish Armed Forces, told the Expressen newspaper.
In mid-June, Swedish Gripen jets intercepted two Russian combat aircraft flying over the Baltic Sea near its airspace.
Swedish vocabulary: bomberplan – bomber plane
Sweden's government launches inquiry into changing student loan rules
Sweden's government on Tuesday launched a new inquiry into how to change the rules for Sweden's student, or "CSN" loans, to make it easier for students to earn money from working alongside their studies and also to allow them to study for longer than is possible today.
At a press conference announcing the inquiry, Lotta Edholm, Sweden's minister for upper secondary schools, universities, and research, said that the government wanted students to be allowed to work and study at the same time, educate themselves over longer periods, and take sick leave if necessary.
A core focus is to change the rules so that students who take a summer job do not as a result see a reduction in how much financial support they can receive from CSN.
The inquiry is scheduled to report in the autumn of 2027.
Swedish vocabulary: studiemedel – student financial support
Notes lost by National Security Advisor 'cannot be found'
Sweden's civil service – the Swedish Government Offices or Regeringskansliet – has confirmed that the notepad lost by national security advisor Niclas Kvarnström at a Nato meeting in Turkey has not yet been found and is now considered lost for good.
"The Government Offices have been in contact with Nato to get the notepad back in the right hands, but since this has not yet happened, we consider it a lost cause," a press spokesperson told TT in an email.
Last week, the Dagens Nyheter newspaper reported that Kvarnström forgot a notepad at the Nato meeting in Ankara in July in an area of the conference where Nato was responsible for security. The Government Offices does not believe that the notepad contained any classified information.
"That is why we have not carried out a damage assessment, according to guidelines of the Swedish Government Offices," the spokesperson wrote.
Swedish vocabulary: skadebedömning – damage assessment
Rise in number of tick-borne encephalitis cases
The number of cases of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in Sweden has shot up compared to last year, with 213 infected so far, up from 111 and 138 in the same period in 2024 and 2025.
The Swedish Public Health Agency (Folkhälsomyndigheten) put the rise down to the warming climate, with an earlier onset of spring leading to higher tick numbers and warm weather meaning people spend more time outside.
“The climate has been favourable for both ticks and the rodent population that carries the virus,” said Ulrika Marking, an infectious disease doctor at the Swedish Public Health Agency.
She said that the number of TBE cases had been rising by about 6 percent per year on average over the last decade.
Swedish vocabulary: gynnsamt – favourable