Stockholm - Swedish home appliance maker Electrolux on Monday reported higher third-quarter income 2008 but said the financial crisis was now affecting sales.

The group posted a pre-tax profit of 1.19 billion kronor (149 million dollars), up some 14 per cent on the corresponding business period 2007.

Net sales were flat at 26.3 billion kronor.

"The financial crisis has without a doubt affected the consumption levels of appliances. Many consumers are postponing their purchases or choosing less expensive products," chief executive Hans Straberg said in a statement.

Straberg noted that the group's North American market had declined for the ninth quarter in a row, and sales were nearing 2001 levels.

Stockholm, Oct 26 : A team of archaeologists digging near the planned expansion of a roadway in Sweden have uncovered 1,700 year old artifacts made of wood, making them some of the oldest man-made wooden objects over discovered in the country.

According to a report in The Local, the find was made near Alvangen in western Sweden and provides additional clues about how farmers in the region lived during the Iron Age.

“We’ve found hundreds of wooden objects, including a wooden wheel. We’re coming much closer to the people of the Iron Age with this find. We’re really getting up close and personal,” said Bengt Nordqvist, an archaeologist from the Swedish National Heritage Board.

Stockholm - Martti Ahtisaari, Finland's former president and winner of the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize, on Saturday said he was "ashamed" over the lack of progress in efforts to solve the Middle East conflict.

"I am ashamed, I must admit that," Ahtisaari said in an interview broadcast by Swedish radio. "How can we, year after year, say that we are really trying to find a solution, when we are not?"

Stockholm - Doctors at a Swedish hospital said Friday they have successfully conducted surgery to fit a Swedish patient with a temporary artificial heart.

The operation - the first of its kind in the Nordic region - was conducted October 15 at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, in western Sweden.

The 31-year-old male patient was reported to be in stable condition, but remained in intensive care, said Dr Asa Haraldsson, a member of the team that conducted the operation.

Dr Ulf Kjellman, who performed the surgery, said both sides of the patient's heart had been failing. He added the patient had not been responding to treatment and other vital organs were threatened without the procedure.

Stockholm- Italian author Roberto Saviano, who has been threatened for his writings on the mafia, has been invited to give a lecture at the Swedish Academy, a spokesman for the body that selects the Nobel literature prize said Friday.

The academy decided on the invitation at its weekly meeting on Thursday, Odd Zschiedrich, administrative coordinator at the academy, told Deutche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Stockholm, Oslo - Markets in the Nordic region tumbled Friday, shadowing developments in main markets in Europe and Asia.

The Stockholm bourse general index OMXS was down 9 per cent early Friday afternoon on reports of flagging demand for trucks from Swedish heavy-vehicle makers Volvo and Scania.

Volvo shares were down some 20 per cent after its third-quarter report was published, while Scania was off 10 per cent.

Poor reports from investment banking group Carnegie and construction company JM also contributed to the negative trends.

JM said it planned to trim some 600 jobs from its 2,400-strong workforce.