Beverage company Carlsberg Sweden says Swedes drank more alcohol-free beer this summer than ever before, with sales up more than 750% over the past decade.
Although July brought rain and bad weather to many places in the country, the appetite for beer - especially alcohol-free beer - was strong. Between June and August, Carlsberg sold around four million liters of its alcohol-free beers - more than ever before.
– Non-alcoholic beer is the fastest growing segment of the beer market and the trend is getting stronger, said CEO Peter Hammarstedt in a press release, emphasizing that their passion is "in the beer, not the alcohol".
Carlsberg launched its first alcohol-free beer in Sweden in 2006 and today dominates the Swedish market with 16 alcohol-free beers and a 54% share of the market segment.
How alcohol-free beer is made
For a beer to be classified as alcohol-free in Sweden, it must contain a maximum of 0.5% alcohol. One of two methods is used to produce alcohol-free beer.
The first and most common method is to brew the beer as normal - but remove the alcohol by vacuum distillation - and this is how the vast majority of breweries in Sweden work today.
The second method is called "stop-fermentation" and involves cooling the wort once it has fermented to 0.5% and removing the yeast from the beer - this also stops the process and prevents the alcohol content from rising.
Today, non-alcoholic beer accounts for about 5% of total brewery sales - but it continues to grow. In 2023, a total of 471 million liters of beer will be sold in Sweden, 70% of which will be strong beer.
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Global mortality is declining, but not among all age groups. Researchers are now warning that the world faces a growing crisis – namely an increasing number of deaths among adolescents and young adults.
Today, people live an average of 20 years longer than in the 1950s, and age-standardized mortality is 67 percent lower – according to the annual Global Burden of Disease study, which has analyzed data from 204 countries and territories between 1990 and 2023.
In the study, published in The Lancet, thousands of researchers have analyzed data and produced estimates for 375 diseases and injuries as well as 88 risk factors by age and sex – globally, regionally, and nationally for all countries.
It shows that half of the world's diseases are preventable and are driven by various risks such as high blood pressure, air pollution, smoking, and obesity.
Non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and diabetes account for nearly two-thirds of the world's total mortality and morbidity.
Suicide and drugs among young people
Despite the decline in global age-standardized mortality, researchers are sounding the alarm about a concerning trend: mortality among young adults is increasing in several parts of the world.
Among adolescents and young adults, the largest increase in deaths was recorded among people aged 20 to 39 in high-income countries in North America between 2011 and 2023, where suicide, drugs, and alcohol were the main causes.
During the same period, deaths also increased in the 5-19 age group in Eastern Europe, high-income countries in North America, and the Caribbean.
— The evidence presented in the Global Burden of Disease study is a wake-up call, urging government and health care leaders to respond swiftly and strategically to the disturbing trends that are reshaping public health needs, says Christopher Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.
In sub-Saharan Africa, more young people are also dying, but there infectious diseases and accidents are claiming young lives.
Mental illness increasing
Furthermore, mental illness continues to increase globally – with anxiety syndromes having increased by 63 percent and depression by 26 percent since 1990.
Geographic differences remain significant. Life expectancy varies from 83 years in high-income countries to 62 years in sub-Saharan Africa. Today, the global average life expectancy is 76 years for women and 71.5 years for men.
The Swedish government is presenting a legislative proposal that would give the police the ability to identify individuals using artificial intelligence. The technology is intended to be used to more quickly locate suspects, wanted persons, and crime victims.
Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer (Moderate Party) announced at a press conference that the government has decided on a legislative proposal that would allow police to use AI-based facial recognition in real time.
— We are presenting a powerful new tool, said Strömmer, who also emphasized the importance of camera surveillance in stopping violence and investigating crimes.
Swedish Minister for Civil Defence Erik Slottner (Christian Democrats) stressed that the technology could dramatically transform police work. What previously took several weeks can now be done "in a matter of seconds," according to the minister.
— Through real-time facial recognition, we can find criminals, abducted children or wanted terrorists, Slottner explained.
Currently, AI-based facial recognition in public spaces is essentially prohibited in Sweden. The government's proposal would give police broader exemptions from the ban in order to combat serious crime.
The Liberal Party's Martin Melin specified that the technology would be used to locate victims, prevent serious violent crimes, investigate offenses such as murder and rape, and enforce sentences.
According to the latest report from Försäkringskassan, over 4,000 gang criminals are estimated to have been granted benefits totaling approximately €320 million.
A new report from Försäkringskassan (the Swedish Social Insurance Agency) shows that around 4,000 individuals assessed by police as actively involved in gang crime receive their primary income through Swedish welfare systems. The report has sparked strong reactions within the government.
According to the report, the benefits primarily consist of sickness benefits, disability benefits, and activity support.
In total, approximately €320 million has been paid out in recent years to around 4,000 individuals in the gang criminal environment.
Among the benefit-related criminal schemes identified in the report are fake medical certificates and so-called sham separations, where couples register as separated but in practice continue living together.
Anna Tenje, Swedish Minister for Elderly Affairs and Social Insurance, has reacted strongly to the findings.
In a comment to the Swedish news agency TT, she says: – This is astonishing and deeply provocative. Our collective welfare funds should go to those with the greatest need. Instead, they end up in criminals' pockets and fuel gang crime.
Anna Tenje emphasizes that the findings confirm a problem the government has long been aware of, and points to several measures aimed at stopping welfare fraud linked to the gang criminal environment.
According to Försäkringskassan, several billion has been paid out to gang criminals in recent years. Press photo: Riksbanken
Stricter regulations
An important component, according to Anna Tenje, is the new legislation on confidentiality-breaking provisions that will take effect in December this year. This tool is intended to make it easier for government agencies to share information with each other.
She also highlights efforts against fake medical certificates and a stricter sanction system with benefit blocks for individuals who repeatedly commit welfare fraud.
The government estimates that between €1.3 and €1.7 billion is paid out incorrectly from welfare systems each year, of which approximately half is assessed to constitute outright welfare fraud.
– This is about maintaining the legitimacy of the systems. Hard-working people must be able to trust that the money goes to the right people. If we are to break the gangs, we must cut off this supply of our collective tax funds, says Tenje.
Det är djupt provocerande att 4000 gängkriminella lever på bidrag för att finansiera sin kriminella livsstil. Det kommer vi aldrig acceptera. Hårt arbetande människor ska kunna lita på att deras skattepengar går till den som har behov av och rätt till det, inte till kriminella. pic.twitter.com/VrjOUQs7sm
Nils Öberg, director general of Försäkringskassan, says in a press release that the report shows how gang criminals exploit the social insurance system to create a "facade of legitimate income".
– We see increasing gang crime that attacks the entire society, and we are now working on a broad front to secure the welfare system. This report is a result of government agencies now being able to share information with each other to a much greater extent than before. This makes it easier for us to break down the criminal economy, he says in a comment to TV4, owned by Norwegian media company Schibsted.
The Swedish police's latest situation assessment shows that around 67,500 people are part of the Swedish gang environment.
Of these, 17,500 are classified as active gang criminals, while the remainder are assessed as having some form of connection to the networks.
Swedish steel company Stegra has been granted an additional €35 million in state funding from the Swedish Energy Agency. This despite Turkish workers raising alarms about unpaid wages for nine months.
Stegra was founded in 2020 by billionaire Harald Mix through investment company Vargas and was originally called H2 Green Steel. Mix was also involved in starting the battery factory Northvolt, which has now collapsed.
However, the billionaire left the steel company in October, along with his investment company, which was replaced by Just Climate, a subsidiary of notorious climate activist Al Gore's environmental investment firm.
The goal of the new steel plant in Boden, northern Sweden, is to produce steel using hydrogen gas. This is claimed to be "climate-friendly" by reducing carbon dioxide emissions by up to 95 percent.
But the "climate-smart steel" project has not been particularly successful – the plan was for steel production to start in 2024 and also create significant job opportunities for residents in the region.
Instead, the production start has been postponed to the turn of 2026/2027, while both costs and debts have skyrocketed.
No wages for nine months
In November this year, Turkish workers raised alarms that they had not received wages for nine months, and that they were planning to go on hunger strike until the wages were paid into their accounts.
Before this, the guest workers had been promised $13 per hour, which was then reduced to $9 before wages stopped completely.
At the same time, Stegra complained that the money had run out and that they needed an additional €900 million to complete the project, something that tax-funded Swedish public broadcaster SVT reported on.
Green light for additional taxpayer money
Despite the problems with employee wage payments, the Swedish Energy Agency has now decided to grant Stegra €35 million in state funding.
The justification is that the project has "good opportunities to accelerate the transition within the iron and steel industry".
— Swedish industry is on its journey toward fossil freedom. That journey will give Sweden major advantages in the form of increased competitiveness and reduced emissions. Companies are paving the way forward through innovation, new solutions and products. But state support is necessary for industry to be able to make the technological leaps required to succeed with the transition, says Caroline Asserup, Director General of the Swedish Energy Agency, in a press release.
Stegra has already received a significant amount in state funding, with the Swedish Energy Agency previously granting a total of €108 million, of which €76 million has already been paid out. €23 million is planned to be paid out in November.
Furthermore, the company has also received €250 million from the EU's Innovation Fund.
