Stockholm - Swedish car maker Saab on Tuesday said it was to trim 701 jobs after concluding talks with unions. Saab Automobile, owned by US giant General Motors Corp, a month ago said it planned to shed 750 employees from its workforce of about 4,000 in Sweden in thewake of the crisis in the car market brought on by tumbling sales.

The agreed cuts were to affect 646 blue collar workers and 55 white collar employees based at its plant in Trollhattan in the south-west of the country, broadcaster TV4 Vast reported.

Stockholm  - The Swedish government Thursday prolonged its guarantee programme for bank lending, in an attempt to free up more credit.

"Even if the financial markets are functioning better, the global financial crisis and its ramifications for jobs and companies in Sweden is far from over," Financial Markets Minister Mats Odell told reporters.

Under the programme, the government is prepared to lend money to banks that are having difficulty getting credit from private sources. The banks, in turn, lend this money on to others.

Stockholm - Swedish internet traffic dropped by a third on Wednesday, the first day a new file sharing law went into effect, reports said Thursday.

The new law, based on the European Union's Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED), allows courts to order internet operators to hand over details that identify suspected illegal file sharers.

The 30-per-cent drop was reported by Netnod, which operates internet exchanges in five Swedish cities.

London, April 2: In what may lead to a change in the way air pollution is evaluated, scientists at Lund University in Sweden have shown that the tiny particles from traffic fumes are far "stickier" than other smoke and dust particles.

Research leader Jakob Londahl came to this conclusion after measuring how many airborne particles stay behind in the lungs.

For that purpose, the researchers used a new device called RESPI, which brings air being inhaled in through one chamber, and exhaled air out through a second chamber.

The device helped the researchers analyse particle number and size in both chambers.

Stockholm - A broad majority in the Swedish parliament Wednesday approved adoption of same-sex marriage legislation after a six-hour debate.

Six of the seven parties in parliament had backed the proposal drafted by the Committee on Civil Affairs to introduce a gender- neutral marriage law.

Only the Christian Democrats, one of the four parties in the ruling centre-right coalition, opposed the move.

Yvonne Andersson said her party wanted to maintain "a several hundred-year-old concept" about marriage.

Stockholm  - Damage to Swedish-funded projects in Gaza during the recent fighting there totalled some 2.3 million dollars, according to a survey published Wednesday.

The estimate was presented in a report commissioned by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.

Consultant Johan Brisman, who conducted the study, added that "repair costs can be estimated to be between 2 and 4 times that amount."