Stockholm - An Anglican bishop from Zimbabwe was Tuesday named winner of a Swedish human rights prize for "having given voice to the fight against oppression."

Bishop Sebastian Bakare was also cited for his work to promote "freedom of speech and of opinion in a difficult political situation."

He was due to accept the 2008 Per Anger prize at a ceremony in Stockholm on November 10, Johan Perwe of the government agency Living History Forum told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Bakare, installed as bishop of Harare earlier this year, was also due to be keynote speaker at a human rights conference in Lulea, northern Sweden.

Stockholm  - Nordic telecommunications group Telia Sonera on Tuesday posted higher pre-tax income for third-quarter 2008, citing strong sales for its mobile and broadband operations.

The group said earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was 8.94 billion kronor (1.03 billion dollars), up 3 per cent on the corresponding business period 2007.

Sales in the quarter increased 4 per cent to 25.81 billion kronor.

Commenting on the impact of the global financial turmoil, chief executive Lars Nyberg said that the group "has a strong balance sheet and operates in a relatively non-cyclical industry."

Helsinki - Nordic nations on Monday promised to review cash- strapped Iceland's need for additional loans, and were to form a working group that would monitor Reykjavik's efforts to revive its economy.

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, current chair of the Nordic Council, said the Nordic group welcomed the deal Iceland signed on Friday with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a 2.1-billion-dollar emergency loan from the IMF to help stabilize Iceland's economy.

Stockholm  - Banking shares took a hit Monday on the Stockholm stock exchange as the Swedish central bank said it would offer a 1-billion-kronor (125 million dollars) loan to the Carnegie Investment Bank AB.

The group's shares continued their recent slide, and had plunged some 60 per cent at midday but late-afternoon were down 50 per cent. The Stockholm OMXS index also recovered some ground and was off 3 per cent.

Stockholm - Two of Sweden's 10 nuclear reactors were to be offline for at least a month as checks continued on the control rods used to control the nuclear fission process, officials said Monday.

The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority last week ordered operators to check the control rods after cracks were detected in the control rods at one of the three reactors at the Oskarhamn nuclear plant, south-eastern Sweden.

Reactor Number 3 at the Oskarshamn plant was due to be back online December 3, Oskarhamn, spokeswoman Annika Carlsson told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Stockholm - Banking shares took a hit Monday on the Stockholm stock exchange as the Swedish central bank said it would offer a 1-billion-kronor (125 million dollars) loan to the Carnegie Investment Bank AB.

The group's shares plunged and were down some 60 per cent at midday. The Stockholm OMXS index was down over 5 per cent.

"The bank has suffered liquidity problems. Given the currently prevailing anxiety, the Riksbank has decided to grant liquidity assistance to Carnegie to reduce the risk of a serious disruption to the financial system," Riksbank governor Stefan Ingves said.