Stockholm - Nordic telecommunications group Telia Sonera on Friday said it had bought "controlling interests" in two mobile operators in Nepal and Cambodia, respectively.

The move, worth 3.2 billion kronor (484 million dollars), was part of Telia Sonera's "strategy to expand into new high-growth emerging markets," chief executive Lars Nyberg said in a statement.

By gaining a majority in the holding company Telia Sonera Asia Holding, Telia Sonera will control Spice Nepal, the second largest mobile operator in Nepal, and 100 per cent of the shares and votes in Cambodian start-up mobile operator Applifone.

Stockholm- Workers in Asia who assemble parts for several leading mobile phone companies suffer under poor working conditions that include being punished for mistakes, Swedish rights agencies said in a report said Wednesday.

Workers in plants in China and the Philippines have to work long hours, sometimes 10-12 hours a day to make ends meet, according to the report compiled jointly by the non-governmental Fair Trade Centre organization, the watchdog Swedwatch, and Church of Sweden Aid.

Stockholm- While fishing with a friend Sunday near Jonkoping, in central Sweden, Joel Lagerkvist felt his hook snag on something very heavy.

"We rowed closer and I started to pull the rod, and then I saw the head of a moose," Joel Lagerkvist was quoted Monday as telling the Expressen tabloid.

Lagerkvist, 24, said he dropped the rod in fright - afraid the animal might attack him and his friend.

The animal was, however, dead. It took a while for the two men to get help, but eventually bystanders and police came to their aid and helped them winch the dead animal ashore.

Stockholm - Sweden is prepared to weather the global economic downtown, Finance Minister Anders Borg said Monday when he presented the centre-right coalition's budget bill.

"This budget is a strong package aimed at softening the downturn in the global economy," Borg told parliament.

"Dark clouds were gathering and cast a shadow over Sweden," Borg added when he presented his third budget since conservative Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt took office in October 2006.

The government is trailing the opposition in opinion polls at half-time in its term. Many details in the budget were released in advance as the government has sought to shore up its support.

Stockholm- An Egyptian national who was handed over to the CIA in 2001 and deported to Egypt in a much-criticized decision is to be awarded damages by the Swedish government, reports said Friday.

Ahmed Agiza's lawyer was quoted as telling the Swedish news agency that her client had accepted the offer of 3 million kronor (450,000 dollars) in compensation.

Agiza was along with Mohammed al-Zari in December 2001 handed over to CIA agents and flown to Egypt where they were suspected of terrorist activities.

Stockholm - A Swedish pilot boat averted a potential accident in the busy waters between Sweden and Denmark when it detected a drifting freighter, reports said Friday.

The Swedish pilot boat was on a routine mission late Thursday in the Oresund straits when the crew detected a Dutch freighter apparently heading for shoals in Swedish waters, the Helsingborgs Dagblad newspaper reported.