Happy Birthday, Crown Princess Victoria
As has been the tradition for years, Crown Princess Victoria is spending her birthday at Solliden, the royal family’s summer home on Öland. On this day, July 14, hundreds if not thousands of visitors will also be at Solliden Castle, the first of them arriving as early as 7 a.m., though the gates don’t open until 11 a.m., to greet the Crown Princess who doesn’t arrive until 2 p.m. A crêperie and bread shop opens near the gate at 9 a.m. so Swedes can enjoy fika while they wait. Many people dress up, some bring flowers and children offer her drawings as she walks through the crowd, usually taking a few hours as she talks with as many people as possible. Despite the fact that it’s often raining on Victoria’s birthday, the King gives a speech and leads singing and the cheers with an equally good mood every year, and it’s a very festive day. It is televised in the evening. Grattis pa födelsedagen, Victoria!

Sensational discovery of Swedish mountain peak
A land survey has discovered a Swedish mountain peak that’s seven meters taller than previously thought, making it the tallest northernmost peak in the country. For at least a century, experts were convinced that Sweden had eleven mountain peaks, seven of which reach the magical 2,000-meter level. But laser scanning from airplanes has just revealed a twelfth peak: Sielmatjåkka, which stands north of Sweden’s highest peak, Kebnekaise, is 2004 meters high. “The major benefit of laser scanning is that we get a comprehensive elevation model of Sweden, with a height accuracy within half a meter,” says Björn Olander, map engineer at the National Land Survey. The survey revealed other peaks with slightly different heights, and of course the height of the country’s highest peak, Kebnekaise, changes fairly constantly because it consists of a glacier that alternately grows and melts.

Talent and training requirements recruit more officers
Sweden is still in need of more police officers, so an increase has been made in the number of training sites to accommodate more recruits. After January 2016 requests for some 4,100 new employees to combat terrorism, and manage border control and behavior at sporting events, the education aptitude test has now also been changed slightly; the nine-point test, on which talented applicants usually score four to six points and were previously required to score four to get in, can now be passed with a score of three points. The changes go into effect immediately. The January proposal requested an increase of 1,500 to 2,500 more officers and 1,600 new civilian employees by 2020.