Stockholm/Copenhagen  - Sweden and Denmark on Monday joined the growing group of European countries that have raised state guarantees for bank deposits amid the ongoing financial turmoil.

The Swedish government said it planned to double the state guarantee to 500,000 kronor (70,000 dollars) for deposits in Swedish- owned banks.

"The measure aims at ensuring that savers continue to trust the financial system," Finance Minister Anders Borg and Local Government and Financial Markets Minister Mats Odell said.

Copenhagen - Danish politicians were willing to consider deploying F-16 jet fighters in Afghanistan, if there was need for the planes, according to reports quoting them Wednesday.

The comments came in response to an article in the Berlingske Tidende newspaper where Danish Air Force personnel appeared frustrated over not being considered as an option in the Danish contribution to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

"We want to be sure that the politicians are aware of our capability," Colonel Niels Svaerdborg was quoted as saying in Wednesday's edition of the daily.

Washington, Oct 1: The brain, just like muscles, works harder during strenuous exercise and is fuelled by lactate, rather than glucose, according to a study by researchers from Denmark and The Netherlands.

According to the authors, not only does this finding help explain why the brain is able to work properly when the body's demands for fuel and oxygen are highest, but it goes a step further to show that the brain actually shifts into a higher gear in terms of activity.

Copenhagen - A Danish national killed in a suspected suicide bomb attack on a hotel in the Pakistani capital Islamabad over the weekend has been identified, the Danish security and intelligence service PET has said.

DNA tests have established that the deceased was police officer Karsten Krabbe, the PET said in a statement issued late Wednesday.

The suicide bombing on Saturday at the five-star Marriott hotel claimed more than 50 lives.

Krabbe, 53, had been deployed to review security measures for the Danish embassy in Pakistan that was targeted in a blast in June.

The June embassy blast claimed six lives. Since then the PET, the Danish Foreign Ministry and other agencies have been reviewing security measures.

Stockholm - A Swedish pilot boat averted a potential accident in the busy waters between Sweden and Denmark when it detected a drifting freighter, reports said Friday.

The Swedish pilot boat was on a routine mission late Thursday in the Oresund straits when the crew detected a Dutch freighter apparently heading for shoals in Swedish waters, the Helsingborgs Dagblad newspaper reported.

Copenhagen  - A Danish air force jet fighter was scrambled Friday in connection with the emergency landing of a charter plane at Copenhagen's Kastrup airport.

The plane, operated by charter company Jet Time, had departed from Billund airport in western Denmark when airport staff noticed traces of rubber on the runway.

The F-16 fighter was scrambled to inspect the plane.