Stockholm - The Swedish cabinet Thursday said it was to ask parliament to approve the deployment of three vessels off Somalia to protect humanitarian aid shipments.

The mission to protect United Nations shipments operated by the World Food Programme (WFP) was launched in December.

In addition, it was aimed at tackling the surge in piracy in the Gulf of Aden.

"The Swedish participation is in response to a UN request to protect and secure WFP food shipments to Somalia," Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said.

Stockholm  - Swedish clothes retailing company Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) Thursday posted an 11-per-cent increase in pre-tax profits for the financial year 2008, and said it planned to continue expanding its business.

Pre-tax profits of 21.19 billion kronor (2.65 billion dollars) were posted on sales of 88.5 billion kronor, excluding value added tax (VAT), for the period December 2007 to November 2008.

Turnover, excluding VAT, was up 13 per cent on the corresponding business period December 2006 to November 2007.

For the fourth quarter 2008, pre-tax profit increased 14 per cent year on year to 7.1 billion kronor.

Fourth-quarter sales, excluding VAT, were up 15 per cent to 26.3 billion kronor, the group said.

Stockholm - Volvo Cars, the Swedish subsidiary of US carmaker Ford, has urged the Swedish government to introduce more incentives to help the flagging industry, reports said Wednesday.

Suggestions included reintroducing a premium for the demolition of old cars, extending a tax-break scheme for ecologically friendly cars and conducting a review of diesel fuel taxes.

"A demolition premium has a double benefit. Old cars that cause more harm to the environment than new cars disappear while the car industry gets a boost and more people keep their jobs," Volvo Cars chief executive Stephen Odell told financial daily Dagens Industri.

Stockholm  - Up close, a Boeing 747-200 is an impressive sight.

Visitors to Stockholm's Arlanda airport can now get a real, close-up view of a mighty bird - in the form of a decommissioned jumbo jet which has been converted into a hostel.

General Manager Oscar Dios hopes that aviation enthusiasts, budget travellers, charter tourists and day visitors will book a stay at the Jumbo Hostel that opened in mid-January.

Stockholm  - Piles of bullets and spent cartridges, a rusty spade, old pistols and sub-machine pistols, pieces of clothing and numerous maps and photographs.

These artefacts are part of an exhibition called "Holocaust By Bullets," that offers new insights into the genocide of Jews in Ukraine during during the Nazi-German occupation 1941-1944.

Riga - The prime ministers of Baltic neighbours Latvia and Lithuania said Monday they would send a joint letter to the European Commission calling on the EU to prioritise the construction of an energy link between the Baltic states and Sweden.