Swedish shoppers drove retail sales to their highest monthly gain since before the pandemic, adding to signs of recovery in household spending and bolstering the central bank’s view of no further easing.

While that success has been welcomed, it has put a strain on the prison system. In 2023, the latest year for which records are available, Swedish courts handed down prison sentences totalling just under 200,000 months, a 25% increase from the previous year and a doubling compared with 2014.

Swedish authorities boarded a vessel suspected of being involved in an earlier underwater sabotage of cables in the Baltic Sea on Monday.

Swedish telecoms group Tele2 plans to cut more than 600 jobs in 2025 as it seeks to reduce costs and boost profitability, the company said as it reported a rise in fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday.

The Riksbank cut its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 2.25%.

The Nordic country has opened an investigation into the damage, just weeks after NATO stepped up its military presence in the area following a series of similar incidents.

Sweden is investigating damage to a data cable linked to Latvia, the latest breach in the Baltic Sea region where European authorities are on high alert.

Sweden has opened a preliminary investigation into suspected aggravated “sabotage” and ordered the detention of a vessel in the Baltic Sea suspected of damaging an underwater fiber optic cable connecting Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland earlier that day.

A court in Stockholm says an Iraqi man who carried out several Quran burnings in Sweden has died. Swedish media reported Thursday that he was killed in a shooting in a nearby city.

Salwan Momika, known for burning the Quran in Sweden, has been shot dead at his home. His actions incited global outrage and legal troubles.

Salwan Momika- who repeatedly burnt the Quran in 2023 in Sweden- sparking outrage in Muslim countries, has been shot dead, news agency AFP reported.