Stockholm - Georgia has the full right to hold military exercises on its own territory, Georgian Foreign Minister Gregory Vashadze said Monday.

Vashadze made the remarks at a joint news conference with Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt. The two foreign ministers said they discussed bilateral issues as well as Sweden's incoming presidency of the European Union as of July 1.

Last week, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev criticized a planned NATO military exercise in Georgia next month as "muscle-flexing."

Stockholm - Two-time overall World Cup champion Anja Paerson of Sweden is to retire from skiing at the end of the 2010 Olympic season.

"I intend to retire next year," the 2006 Olympic slalom gold medallist told Swedish television Sunday.

Paerson has won 40 World Cup races in her career and netted seven individual titles, becoming the first woman to win world championship gold in all five skiing disciplines.

Stockholm- Police have ruled out a targeted campaign of sabotage against Swedish poultry producers or other food companies despite numerous incidents of pieces of glass found in chicken and other food. "In our view this is not a coordinated attack against food supplies," Anders Wretling of the National Criminal Police told the Saturday edition of Stockholm daily Dagens Nyheter.

"These are separate cases," he added, saying the police had no knowledge of extortion attempts against food producers.

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