Sweden

Ball-bearing group SKF to cut 2,500 jobs worldwide

SKF LogoStockholm - Ball-bearing maker SKF that also makes seals and lubrication systems said Wednesday it planned to shed 2,500 jobs worldwide, citing lower demand from the car industry and other industrial sectors.

The group has some 42,800 employees.

SKF, which has headquarters in the Swedish west coast city Gothenburg, said the cuts would mainly impact plants in the United States, France, Italy, Ukraine, Brazil and Argentina.

Swedish clothes retailer Hennes & Mauritz plans stores in Israel

Swedish clothes retailer Hennes & Mauritz plans stores in Israel

Nobel committee selectors accepted sponsored trips to China, Japan

Nobel committee selectors accepted sponsored trips to China, Japan Stockholm - Members of the committees that select Nobel prizes for chemistry, physics and medicine said Tuesday they had second thoughts about the propriety of having accepted Chinese state- sponsored trips to China.

The ministry of education in China on two occasions, most recently in January 2008, paid for the trips and hotel costs, Swedish radio news reported.

Flurry of events keeps Nobel laureates busy

Stockholm  - The 2008 Nobel laureates are being kept busy with lectures, news conferences and receptions in the run-up to Wednesday's award ceremony in the Swedish capital, Stockholm.

German researcher Harald zur Hausen of the University of Dusseldorf, awarded for discovering the human papilloma virus which causes cervical cancer, Monday met with students at the German School in Stockholm.

On Sunday, he and co-medicine laureates Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier of France, who discovered the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS, delivered their Nobel lectures.

True to tradition, the award ceremonies are held December 10, the anniversary of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel's 1896 death in San Remo, Italy.

Swedish steel maker to shed a tenth of its workforce

Sweden FlagStockholm - Swedish steel maker SSAB said Monday it was shed 1,300 jobs in Sweden, more than a tenth of its current workforce, citing "the severe downturn in the steel market" for transportation, building and infrastructure.

"Demand for steel has fallen sharply in the autumn and we must adapt our costs to the new conditions," SSAB chief executive Olof Faxander said.

The company said it hoped to save 1 billion kronor (120 million dollars). About 200 of the jobs to be cut would impact consultants or contracted firms.

Volvo Cars to cut 2,700 jobs mainly in Sweden after union talks

Volvo Car CorporationStockholm - Volvo Cars, the Swedish carmaker owned by US giant Ford, is to shed some 2,700 jobs mainly in its home base, the company said Monday.

The announcement was made after unions and management concluded talks. The outcome suggested that 1,000 fewer jobs were to be cut than initially signalled.

Volvo Cars chief executive Stephen Odell said that while he regretted the measures he was "satisfied with the fact that our cost reduction program has been successful and it has enabled us to stay with a lower number of redundancies."

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