Stockholm, Feb 3 - Affected by price pressure and increased costs for raw materials, the income of the Swedish multinational appliance manufacturer Electrolux fell by 48 percent last year compared to 2010, the company said in its fiscal report Thursday.

The net income of the company in 2011 amounted to 2.78 billion Swedish kronor (about $412 million), while net sales amounted to 101.59 billion Swedish kronor (about $15,057.1 million), reported Xinhua.

Stockhom, Jan 3 - Hunters benefited from good snow cover Saturday and shot 14 of the 27 wolves allowed to be culled under the first licensed wolf hunt in Sweden for over four decades.

The first wolves were shot in the western provinces of Varmland and Dalarna, media reported.

The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency in December announced the quota of 27 wolves, slightly more than 10 percent of the Scandinavian wolf population.

Stockholm/Brussels, Dec 10 - Sweden plans to contribute 765 million euros to a EU development fund to combat climate change, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt announced in Parliament in Stockholm.

The Swedish prime minister announced the plan Wednesday.

Talks at a summit of EU leaders Thursday in Brussels are to include the ongoing world climate summit in Copenhagen. The EU is lining up billions to help poor, developing countries take measures against global warming.(dpa)

Stockholm, November 30 : Archaeologists looking at the remains of human settlements in the north of Sweden have suggested that the Polar ice cap during the last Ice Age might not have been as extensive as previously thought.

People may have lived in the northern region of Tornedalen as far back as 11,000 years ago, said researcher Olof Ostlund, speaking to the Norrlandska Socialdemokraten newspaper.

The 2 settlements were found in the area around Kaunisvaara, where a new mine is about to be built.

Carbon dating of the finds show that they are much older than previously thought, and mean that previous theories that the area would be covered by the huge polar ice cap are wrong.

Stockholm  - Swedish opera singer Elisabeth Soederstroem, 82, died Friday in Stockholm from the effects of a stroke, her husband Sverker Olow said.

The soprano made her debut in 1947 in a Mozart opera and in the decades that followed performed in productions around the world, including at New York's Metropolitan Opera. She remained a permanent member of Stockholm's Royal Opera from 1949-80.

Soederstroem's career including hailed performances at the Salzburg festival. (dpa)

Stockholm - Former South African president Nelson Mandela and his wife Graca Machel were Friday named winners of a children's rights prize in a vote involving over 7 million children worldwide.

"We are extremely honoured to have been voted as the Decade Child Rights Heroes," Mandela and Machel said in a statement issued by organizers.

"For both of us this award is very, very special given the place children occupy in our hearts and lives," they added.

Stockholm - The Swedish parliament Thursday voted overwhelmingly to keep Sweden's military contingent in Afghanistan for another year.

Sweden has some 430 troops in northern Afghanistan, and the contingent was likely to increase to some 500 next year. The decision set a ceiling of 855 troops.

The Swedish contingent with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is based in Mazar-e-Sharif.

Stockholm  - A 2005 Norwegian law requiring women to comprise at least 40 percent of board members in Norwegian companies has boosted the country's share of women executives to the highest in Scandinavia, a new survey said Thursday.

According to the study by the Oslo-based Nordic Gender Institute (NIKK), Norway tops the list of Scandinavian countries with 36 per cent female board members at both Norwegian-listed and foreign companies.

Research director Kirsti Niskanen of the Oslo-based NIKK told the Goteborgs-Posten newspaper that Norway had a strong tradition of quotas, but said that legislation was not necessarily the right solution in other countries.

Stockholm  - More than 90 Swedish newspapers united Thursday in publishing a joint appeal on behalf of a Swedish-Eritrean journalist held in Eritrea for eight years without trial.

Dawit Isaak was arrested on September 23, 2001 after the Eritrean government's moved to shut down independent newspapers.

Thursday's publication marked Isaak's brief release on November 19, 2005 - but he was arrested a few days later.

Stockholm - The decision by Israel to expand a settlement in Gilo near Jerusalem on the West Bank will damage the peace process the Swedish presidency of the European Union said Wednesday.

The move was counter to "repeated calls by the international community," the presidency statement said.

"If there is to be genuine peace, a way must be found to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the future capital of two states," the statement added.

Stockholm - Norwegian Oystein Loseth has been named as new chief executive of the Swedish government-owned utility Vattenfall, the group said Monday.

The new chief executive will have to improve Vattenfall's image, tarnished by a fire and a short circuit at nuclear plants it operates in Sweden and Germany, as well as coal-fired plants in Germany and Poland that emit large amounts of greenhouse gasses.

Loseth will succeed Lars G Josefsson by the summer of 2010, and work parallel with Josefsson until then to become familiar with the operations.

"We are pleased to have found in Oystein Loseth an internal candidate who in the best of ways meets our needs," Vattenenfall Chairman Lars Westerberg said.

Stockholm - Swedish state-owned utility Vattenfall said Wednesday it was not planning to sell its electricity network in Sweden, partly to raise funds for investments in British nuclear power plants as suggested in a media report.

"No such decision has been taken either by the group management or the board," Vattenfall said in a statement.

Broadcaster TV4 earlier quoted a Vattenfall document suggesting that the sale of the grid would generate 50 billion kronor (7.3 billion dollars).

Stockholm  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday called the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen that opens in one month's time "a unique opportunity that should not be wasted."

"It is crucial that we achieve an ambitious climate agreement in Copenhagen," Ban wrote in an article penned exclusively for the Stockholm daily Svenska Dagbladet.

Stockholm - The SAS Group, operator of the joint carrier Scandinavian Airlines, on Thursday reported a third-quarter profit despite lower turnover in the wake of the global recession.

The net profit was 152 million kronor (21 million dollars), including nonrecurring items. A year ago the group posted a loss of 1.9 billion kronor.

Turnover fell 16 per cent to 11.06 billion kronor in the quarter.

Stockholm  - Slovenia and Croatia on Wednesday signed a agreement ending a long-standing border dispute that has blocked Croatia's accession talks with the European Union.

The two country's prime ministers signed the deal in Stockholm - Sweden is the current holder of the rotating EU presidency.

The dispute centres on the obscure north Adriatic bay of Piran, and dates back to 1991 and the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Attending the ceremony in Sweden were the prime ministers of Croatia, Jadranka Kosor, Slovenia, Borut Pahor and Fredrik Reinfeldt of Sweden.

Stockholm  - Volvo is to offer its Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), the XC90 in only the seven-seat version on the European market with a third row of seats including two additional child seats by the end of this year, the Swedish manufacturer has announced.

The third-row seats can be folded completely into the floor area, extending the load volume. The three individual second-row seats can also be folded down manually and adjusted individually. Additional air ducts in the floor area improve the air conditioning.

Stockholm - Owners of reactors should be prepared to pay higher damages in case of an accident, a government inquiry said Monday as Sweden moved to allow current reactors to be replaced by new ones.

Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren welcomed the proposal that is to be subject to a public consultation process.

"It is important that the owners of the reactors take full responsibility for security and insurances," Carlgren said.

Stockholm - The multi-million dollar legal wrangling over the estate of the best-selling Swedish crime writer Stieg Larsson's estate took a new twist Monday - with a surprise offer of 20 million kronor (2.8 million dollars) to his long-time partner, Eva Gabrielsson.

Larsson, who died of a heart attack at age 50 in 2004, has scored posthumous success with his so-called Millennium Trilogy that has been translated into several languages including English and German.

Stockholm  - Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah's decision to pull out of a scheduled runoff has to be assessed by Afghan authorities including the Independent Election Commission and Supreme Court, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said.

Bildt late Sunday said he had "no idea" if there would be a runoff or not, saying there were numerous conflicting reports from Kabul.

Stockholm - Swedish state-owned utility Vattenfall and a group of five electricity-intensive companies Friday announced plans to cooperate on future power production.

A joint venture between Vattenfall and the Industrikraft group was to study the feasibility of various energy sources, including renewables as well as possibly building a new nuclear reactor to ensure cheap "baseload power."