Stockholm - Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg on Friday criticized major Swedish banking groups for not signing on to a stability plan approved earlier this week.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting of parliament's committee on European Union affairs, Borg said he also urged the general public to "pick up the phone and call their bank to find out if they have lowered their mortgage rates" or not.

Borg said he was disappointed that the banks have not lowered mortgage rates as much as envisaged in the wake of the plan that was approved Thursday by the European Commission in Brussels.

Stockholm - Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt hosted Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on Thursday, and discussed the fallout of the recent war between Georgia and Russia.

Reinfeldt noted that Sweden has pledged large sums to Georgia and contributed personnel to a European Union monitoring team.

The Swedish premier told reporters that Stockholm did not feel Russia had fulfilled all the terms in agreements signed after the August war between the Caucasus nation and Russia.

Brussels - The European Commission on Thursday approved Sweden's financial rescue package, which involves the state providing up to 1,500 billion Swedish kroner (201 billion dollars) in debt guarantees to banks and other lenders.

The plan's approval by the European Union executive came just three days after it was officially received in Brussels.

"This decision shows that when member states follow the commission's guidance on overcoming the financial crisis, they can obtain rapid approval," said Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes.

Stockholm - Swedish state-owned energy group Vattenfall on Thursday posted higher operating profits for third-quarter 2008, boosted by its operations in the Nordic region.

Operating profit before tax and interest was 5.59 billion kronor (726 million dollars), up 17 per cent year-on-year.

Third-quarter turnover increased by 17 per cent to 37 billion kronor, while the net profit fell some 29 per cent to 2.48 billion kronor.

Swedish researchers have found a 5% drop in heart attacks deaths and hospitalization after the semi-annual one-hour time changes to mark the end of daylight saving times. According to a study to be published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, the onset of daylight saving time in the spring appears to increase the risk of heart attacks.

Stockholm - Swedish state-owned mining group LKAB announced plans to invest 12.5 billion kronor (1.5 billion dollars) to expand its mining operations in Kiruna, northern Sweden.

The investment in a new main level was expected to secure LKAB's iron ore mining and processing operations in Kiruna until 2030, the group said.

"This is in line with the company's long-term strategy and it backs up investments totaling about 20 billion kronor that we have already made in facilities at surface level," LKAB chief executive Ola Johnsson said.

The mine in Kiruna has high-grade iron ore that is converted into pellets.