Stockholm - A Swedish national was in "good spirits" following his release by leftist rebels in Colombia after almost two years in captivity, a Swedish diplomat said Wednesday.

Roland Larsson, 69, was abducted in May 2007 by members of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) from his home in the province of Cordoba some 350 kilometres north of the capital, Bogota.

Stockholm - Four Swedish slaughterhouses face action by authorities for failing to secure proper protection for pigs going to slaughter, reports said Tuesday.

Several cases where pigs were scalded to death were documented by the National Food Administration in 2008, Swedish radio news reported.

Food group HK Scan that operates or has interests in the four slaughterhouses in question conceded the mistakes. Scan slaughtered some 1.9 million pigs in 2008.

Stockholm  - Maintenance work at one of the reactors at the Oskarhamn nuclear plant in south-eastern Sweden, was halted Sunday after a worker was killed in an accident, plant operator OKG said.

Initial reports suggested the 61-year-old man, was hit early Sunday by a machine part while working in the turbine hall of reactor 3. The man was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The reactor, one of three at Oskarshamn, was not in operation due to the maintenance work that began earlier this month.

Stockholm - A majority of Swedes support continued use of nuclear power and support has reached a new high, Swedish researchers said Thursday.

The autumn 2008 survey by Gothenburg University researchers suggested that 51 per cent of the 3,250 people polled wanted to keep the 10 current reactors.

Of the 51 per cent, 30 per cent favoured replacing the reactors when they become outdated with new reactors while 21 per cent said they wanted to build even more reactors in future.

Stockholm  - Saab, the loss-making Swedish subsidiary of US giant General Motors Corp, Thursday said it planned to shed 750 employees from its workforce of about 4,000 in Sweden.

Broadcaster TV4 said 650 of the affected employees were blue- collar workers.

The employees were informed about the plans Thursday.

Saab last month filed for bankruptcy protection while it attempts to reorganize its business. That move came after GM said it planned to shed the brand as part of its restructuring efforts.

Stockholm - Higher taxes on vehicles and fuel are in store for Swedish motorists, transport companies and industry as part of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the government said Tuesday.

Finance Minister Anders Borg, Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren and Enterprise Minister Maud Olofsson said in a joint statement that the measures would take the current financial slump into account.