Stockholm - Come Christmas Day, Swedes are more likely to receive a gift certificate for some kind of event or service than a book, electronic device or physical gift, reported a Swedish institute Thursday.

It was the first time the Swedish Research Institute of Trade listed a voucher for a service as the likely top-selling Christmas gift, said the group, which tracks retail and wholesale sales in Sweden.

"Giving an experience is a way to be together with someone," the institute said, noting that giving an experiences "truly reflects the times we live in, when consumers to a greater extent seek products that help them enrich their leisure time."

Stockholm - Swedish heavy-vehicle maker Volvo said Tuesday it planned to cut some 900 jobs in its Volvo Powertrain division, which makes engines and gearboxes.

The engines are used for Volvo's heavy-vehicles as well as construction machinery, Volvo spokesman Marten Wikforss told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa.

The Volvo Group has some 29,300 employees in Sweden. In addition to trucks and buses, the group also sells construction machinery and includes the divisions Volvo Aero and Volvo Penta.

Stockholm - The incoming chairman of the Stockholm-based Carnegie Investment Bank AB taken over by the Swedish state on Tuesday expressed "confidence" in the bank's current management.

Carnegie lost its operating license on Monday, and was taken over Swedish National Debt Office after the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) criticized the bank on several points including failing to amend faults in its oversight procedures, and giving large loans to a single client.

Stockholm - Threatened Italian author Roberto Saviano and British-Indian author Salman Rushdie have accepted invitations to lecture at the Swedish Academy, the body that selects the Nobel literature prize said Tuesday.

Saviano and Rushdie were to speak November 25 on the theme "Freedom of speech and lawless violence."

The academy extended the invitations last month.

Saviano's book, Gomorra, has angered the mafia, or Camorra, in Naples. He has been forced to live under police protection and in a recent newspaper interview said that he was considering leaving Italy.

Iran's religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989 issued a death threat against Rushdie over his novel The Satanic Verses.

Stockholm - Stockholm-based Carnegie Investment Bank AB lost its operating license Monday and has been taken over by the Swedish National Debt Office.

The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) on Monday said Carnegie during a long period of time had taken "exceptional risks" by giving large loans to a single client.

Carnegie has been under review by the financial watchdog since it recently disclosed a writedown of 1 billion kronor (126 million dollars) over "an individual credit commitment" in its third-quarter report.

Stockholm  - Stockholm-based Carnegie Investment Bank AB on Monday unveiled plans to issue new shares worth 1.2 billion kronor (151 million dollars).

The announcement came shortly the board of the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) was to meet to decide on possible sanctions against Carnegie.

Carnegie has been under review after it disclosed a writedown of 1 billion kronor over "an individual credit commitment" in its recent third-quarter report.

The new issue consisted of two parts of which 400 million kronor was for a new shareholder and the rest to current owners, the investment bank said.

The new issue hinged on Carnegie keeping its licences to operate.