Stockholm - Four men were convicted Friday by a Swedish district court of operating a website which allows illegal file sharing, and sentenced to year-long jail terms.

The Stockholm district court also ruled that the four should pay damages of some 30 million kronor (3.6 million dollars) for violating copyright infringements by allowing the Pirate Bay website to be used to swap films and music.

Stockholm - Mobile telephone maker Sony Ericsson on Friday posted a loss for first-quarter 2009 in line with a profit warning it issued last month and announced further job cuts.

The pre-tax loss excluding restructuring costs was 358 million euros (473 million dollars), the group said. The net loss was 293 million euros compared to a net profit of 133 million euros in first-quarter 2008.

Turnover declined 36 per cent year-on-year to 1.73 billion euros due to "continued weak consumer confidence and de-stocking in the retail and distribution channels," the group said.

Stockholm - Over 200 people were safely evacuated overnight after fire broke out onboard a vessel

Stockholm - Heavy-vehicle maker Scania is mulling wage cuts to avert job losses in the wake of weaker demand for trucks because of the financial crisis, Swedish radio news reported Thursday.

Management and unions have not launched formal negotiations, but the company has previously scrapped some bonus payments and has let 2,000 temporary employees go.

Scania spokesman Erik Ljungberg said options being studied included the agreement signed last month between the blue collar union IF Metall and the Association of Swedish Engineering Industries that allows pay cuts of up to 20 per cent in return for not firing workers.

Stockholm - The Swedish government remains committed to "fiscal responsibility" and is prepared to tackle rising unemployment, Finance Minister Anders Borg said Wednesday.

Presenting his spring budget to parliament, Borg underlined that an additional 10 billion kronor (1.2 billion dollars) was to be allocated for labour market programmes to help youth and people who have just become unemployed to find employment.

Stockholm - The Swedish investment company Investor AB, which has key stakes in leading Swedish blue-chip companies Wednesday reported a loss for first quarter of 2009 and predicted that the "general economy will be in disarray" for most of the year. The group reported a first quarter loss of 3.02 billion kronor (369 billion dollars), compared to a loss of 8.9 billion kronor for the corresponding business period 2008.

At the end of March the net asset value had declined 2 per cent to 109 billion kronor, compared to 115 billion kronor at the end of 2008.