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.

Stockholm - Swedish home appliance maker Electrolux on Monday reported higher third-quarter income 2008 but said the financial crisis was now affecting sales.

The group posted a pre-tax profit of 1.19 billion kronor (149 million dollars), up some 14 per cent on the corresponding business period 2007.

Net sales were flat at 26.3 billion kronor.

"The financial crisis has without a doubt affected the consumption levels of appliances. Many consumers are postponing their purchases or choosing less expensive products," chief executive Hans Straberg said in a statement.

Straberg noted that the group's North American market had declined for the ninth quarter in a row, and sales were nearing 2001 levels.

Stockholm - Swedish banking group Swedbank on Monday said it planned to raise 12.4 billion kronor (1.51 billion dollars) by issuing new shares.

Swedbank is one of Sweden's four major banking groups. In recent weeks, Swedbank has been in the sights of analysts over its presence in the Baltic region where economic growth has slowed to standstill and fears of loan losses have increased.

According to the bank, existing shareholders including insurance and savings group Folksam, savings bank foundations, over 60 savings banks, as well as the Swedish national pension funds AP1 and AP2 had underwritten 100 per cent of the issue.

The new issue was pending approval at an extraordinary general meeting due November 25.

Stockholm, Oct 26 : A team of archaeologists digging near the planned expansion of a roadway in Sweden have uncovered 1,700 year old artifacts made of wood, making them some of the oldest man-made wooden objects over discovered in the country.

According to a report in The Local, the find was made near Alvangen in western Sweden and provides additional clues about how farmers in the region lived during the Iron Age.

“We’ve found hundreds of wooden objects, including a wooden wheel. We’re coming much closer to the people of the Iron Age with this find. We’re really getting up close and personal,” said Bengt Nordqvist, an archaeologist from the Swedish National Heritage Board.

Stockholm - Doctors at a Swedish hospital said Friday they have successfully conducted surgery to fit a Swedish patient with a temporary artificial heart.

The operation - the first of its kind in the Nordic region - was conducted October 15 at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, in western Sweden.

The 31-year-old male patient was reported to be in stable condition, but remained in intensive care, said Dr Asa Haraldsson, a member of the team that conducted the operation.

Dr Ulf Kjellman, who performed the surgery, said both sides of the patient's heart had been failing. He added the patient had not been responding to treatment and other vital organs were threatened without the procedure.