Bishop who delivered sermon that enraged Trump invited to opening of Swedish parliament, Sweden’s new national security adviser quits ill-fated position over Grindr pictures, and migration minister rejects extending ‘three-month deadline’ for laid-off Northvolt workers.
Bishop who delivered sermon that enraged Trump invited to opening of Swedish parliament, Sweden’s new national security adviser quits ill-fated position over Grindr pictures, and migration minister rejects extending ‘three-month deadline’ for laid-off Northvolt workers.
Bishop who delivered sermon that enraged Trump invited to opening of Swedish parliament, Sweden’s new national security adviser quits ill-fated position over Grindr pictures, and migration minister rejects extending ‘three-month deadline’ for laid-off Northvolt workers.
Bishop who delivered sermon that enraged Trump invited to Sweden
Bishop of Washington Mariann Edgar Budde, who grabbed global headlines after her homily during US President Donald Trump’s inauguration, is set to speak in front of Swedish members of parliament at the traditional church service when parliament opens.
Budde’s plea to Trump to have mercy on LGBTQ+ communities and refugees was both praised and criticised, not least by the president himself, who slammed her as “nasty”, “not compelling or smart” and a “Radical Left hard line Trump hater”, a term Budde rejected.
“I don’t hate President Trump. I strive not to hate anyone and I dare say that I am not of the ‘radical left’ either, whatever that means. That is not who I am,” 65-year-old Budde later told Time, saying that she would not apologise “for asking for mercy for others”.
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Budde, who has Swedish roots, has accepted the invitation to come to Sweden in September.
Jonas Eek, dean of the Stockholm Cathedral Parish, said inviting her felt natural.
“I did not perceive Bishop Budde’s sermon at the inauguration as polemic or provocative. Instead, her message was classically Christian – that those with strength and power are asked to show mercy on those who are vulnerable or powerless,” he said in a statement.
Swedish vocabulary: mercy – nåd
Sweden’s new national security adviser quits ill-fated position over Grindr pictures
Twelve hours after Tobias Thyberg was named as the government’s new national security adviser, he turned down the position – after the Dagens Nyheter (DN) asked questions about a picture they had found of Thyberg, which they described as being of a “sensitive” nature.
“These are old pictures from an account I previously had on the dating site Grindr. I should have informed [the government] about this but I didn’t. I have therefore said I do not attend to take up the position as national security adviser,” Thyberg told DN in a comment.
His announcement came shortly after the government said it had blocked him from starting his new job.
“After the government’s decision today to appoint Tobias Thyberg, completely new personal information emerged about him which was unknown to the government office,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s senior aide, Johan Stuart, told the TT newswire in a statement.
“Considering the new information, the security department is to hold a new conversation with Tobias Thyberg,” he added.
Thyberg was ambassador to Afghanistan between 2017 and 2019, followed by ambassador to Ukraine until 2023, and most recently head of the Foreign Ministry’s unit for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Former national security adviser Henrik Landerholm, a close friend of Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and hand-picked for his role, stepped down as security adviser in January 2025 after a prosecutor opened an investigation into him leaving highly classified documents behind at a conference centre in 2023.
Swedish vocabulary: a security adviser – en säkerhetsrådgivare
Forssell rejects extending ‘three-month deadline’ for laid-off work permit holders
In an exclusive interview, Swedish Migration Minister Johan Forssell told The Local he’s not considering extending the three-month deadline for laid-off Northvolt workers. Work permit holders have three months after their notice period ends to find a new job, or lose their permit.
Local and regional representatives in Skellefteå, home to Northvolt’s flagship factory, have called on the government to extend the deadline, but Forssell argued that the current rules were “fair” as taking into account the notice period, most people have more than three months.
“If you’re going to be in Sweden, you need to have a job. That’s the basic principle. For many of the people from Northvolt that won’t be a problem because they are highly skilled, and we’re investing heavily in trying to make it easier for them to find a new job, we’re working with the labour agency and also some private initiatives. For some of the people, it might be more problematic,” he said.
Forssell also spoke to The Local about how he wants to change migration policy if he stays on as migration minister after Sweden’s 2026 election, and why he finds the Finnish model for work permit holders worth studying.
Swedish vocabulary: three months – tre månader
Sweden’s ‘Queen of Trash’ risks prison in toxic waste crime trial
Prosecutors called on Thursday for Sweden’s self-proclaimed “Queen of Trash” and four others to be jailed for six years for illegally dumping toxic waste, as the country’s biggest environmental crime trial ended.
The once-acclaimed waste management company Think Pink is accused of dumping or burying some 200,000 tonnes of waste from the Stockholm area at 21 sites from 2015 to 2020, with no intention of processing it correctly.
Its former chief executive Bella Nilsson, an ex-stripper who once called herself the “Queen of Trash”, is charged with “aggravated environmental crime”.
Two others who also served as chief executive at times — Nilsson’s ex-husband Thomas Nilsson who founded the company, and Leif-Ivan Karlsson, an eccentric entrepreneur who starred in a reality show about his over-the-top lifestyle — face the same charge and possible sentence.
So do “waste broker” Robert Silversten and Tobias Gustafsson, accused of organising the transportation of the waste.
All five deny the charges. (AFP)
Swedish vocabulary: Queen of Trash – sopdrottning