The Local (Sweden)

The Swedish word mandat and the English mandate are similar, but not quite interchangeable. First, let's start with the similarities. They're both from the Latin mandatum, which means a commission, command, or order, and essentially refer to the authorisation to perform a certain function.

Blood supplies are running low in all of Sweden's three biggest cities, Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. "The situation is serious," said Anna Wiberg, chief physician for transfusion medicine in the Västra Götaland region, which is home to Gothenburg, in a statement. "When blood stocks get too low, large parts of the healthcare system are affected," she said. The region is in short supply of blood types A and O, both negative and positive, as well as AB negative.

Germany has been battling an aggressive outbreak of OPMs this summer, as our sister site The Local Germany has reported, and they have again hit headlines in neighbouring Denmark. "If the climate gets warmer and the caterpillar establishes itself in Denmark, it will very likely spread step-by-step to the Copenhagen area and subsequently appear in Sweden," Didrik Vanhoenacker, a biologist at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, told TT.

Trade relations with China were among the most important items on the agenda. Speaking at a makeshift press briefing outside the Foreign Ministry in central Stockholm, Malmer Stenergard told the TT news agency that the EU is more united now than before regarding its trade relationship with China. The statement comes against the backdrop of the EU's 27 member states pushing for a tougher policy to reduce China's trade dominance within the bloc.

Officially, the international organisation Seefar is listed as the sender of the project, which aims to attract Afghans with the promise of a fresh start in the Taliban-ruled country. However, the project – named "Zindagi Taza" – is funded entirely by the Swedish government and has been running since 2025. The goal was to reach 2,000 Afghans currently residing in Sweden and persuade 200 of them to return home.

The island of Gotland is facing a severe water shortage. In response, the regional authorities are now urging tourists to forgo their traditional showers and wash in the sea instead. Region Gotland has teamed up with several hotels across the island in a joint effort to conserve water, reports Aftonbladet.

The southern parts of the country bore the brunt of the weahter. Erik Höjgård-Olsen, a meteorologist at the Swedish weather agency SMHI, stated that the storm was at its most intense in an area stretching from Småland up to southern Gästrikland. The 10,000 lightning strikes take in figures from the whole of the country.

Police scour CCTV for clues after Uppsala fatal shooting Police are looking for a suspect after a man aged around 20 was shot dead in Uppsala last night. Police were called to the Kvarngärdet district of the university city at 9.11pm on Sunday after loud bangs were heard. The man was found dead at the scene. The crime scene was cordoned off for a forensic investigation, as officers worked to gather evidence.

Temperature records were rewritten across Europe as hundreds of millions of people withered under extreme heat that closed schools, shut down transport and cost untold lives. A heat dome trapped hot air from North Africa over the Iberian Peninsula in late June before spreading as far as the United Kingdom, eventually weakening over central and eastern parts of Europe in early July.

Also this week, the team discusses government moves to temporarily cut the price of fuel and public transport passes. And they talk about The Local's interview last week with Migration Minister Johan Forssell and what we learned about his plans. Already a Membership+ subscriber? Make sure to activate Sweden in Focus Extra via the podcast tab on your account page.