Stockholm- Winners of the 2008 Right Livelihood Awards, often called the Alternative Nobel Prize, said Monday the awards would help efforts to give women a voice in war-torn Somalia and help female rape victims in conflicts ranging from the Balkans to the Congo.

Asha Hagi of Somalia and Swiss-born Monika Hauser, founder of German-based Medica Mondiale, shared the 2008 award with Amy Goodman of the United States, who founded the daily grassroots global TV/radio news hour Democracy Now, and Krishnammal and Sankaralingam Jagannathan of India, and their organization Land for the Tillers' Freedom (LAFTI).

Ostersund, Sweden - Emil Hegle Svendsen dominated a biathlon World Cup sprint race on Saturday while fellow-Norwegian star Ole Einar Bjoerndalen missed the podium by a fraction.

The two-time 2008 world champion Svendsen missed one of 10 targets in the shooting range and won the 10-kilometres race in 25 minutes 42.3 seconds. It was the seventh career win for the 23-year-old.

Tomasz Sikora of Poland trailed by 12.7 seconds in second place, also with one penalty loop. Simon Fourcade of France was third, 28.1 seconds off the pace after hitting all targets.

Ostersund, Sweden  - Helena Jonsson of Sweden won her first individual biathlon World Cup event by clinching the women's 15km before a home crowd in Ostersund on Thursday.

Jonsson, 24, made no errors on the shooting range on her way to victory in 45 minutes 05.1 seconds in the first women's World Cup event of the season.

Three-time Olympic winner Kati Wilhelm of Germany had to be content with second place, 39.7 seconds behind after one shooting error.

Russia's Yekaterina Yuryeva was third, 1:10.3 behind Jonsson with one shooting error, ahead of last season's champion Magdalena Neuner of Germany, who was 5.1 seconds further back after one error.

Stockholm- The Swedish government Thursday rejected an appeal for pardon by former Bosnian Serb president Biljana Plavsic, who is serving a 11-year jail term for crimes against humanity.

She was convicted in 2003 by the UN war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for crimes committed during the Bosnian war from 1992 to 1995. It was the second time Plavsic, 78, had appealed for pardon, citing health reasons.

She is serving the sentence at Hinseberg prison, 200 kilometres west of Stockholm. Sweden signed a 1999 agreement with the UN tribunal to offer prison space for convicted war criminals.

Stockholm - Sweden's central bank said Thursday it was to cut its interest rate by 1.75 percentage points to 2.00 per cent, citing "an unexpectedly rapid and clear deterioration in economic activity since October."

The cut aimed at reducing "the fall in production and employment," the bank's board of governors said.

The cut was to take effect December 10, the Riksbank said.

The bank's board of governors said the inflation target of 2 per cent remained.