Stockholm - Swedish group Husqvarna, a leading maker of chainsaws, lawnmowers and other garden equipment, issued a profit warning Tuesday and announced it would cut 850 jobs.

The move was due to a drop in demand in North America and Europe, the group said.

"The third quarter marks the end of the gardening season, and the effect of a weak season has a strong impact on this quarter," chief executive Bengt Andersson said in a statement.

Andersson added that "we have also noted greater caution on the part of our professional customers, especially in the construction industry."

Stockholm - After two years in office, Sweden's centre-right coalition trails the opposition by over 15 per cent, according to a new survey published Tuesday.

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt's four-party coalition has dropped from 48.2 per cent to 38.8 per cent, according to the Synovate poll commissioned by the Dagens Nyheter newspaper.

Reinfeldt was slated to outline his government's policies later Tuesday during the formal opening of parliament after the summer recess.

In an op-ed piece in Dagens Nyheter's Tuesday edition, Reinfeldt and the leaders of the other three parties in his coalition unveiled plans to slash income taxes by 15 billion kronor (2.2 billion dollars) as of 2009.

Stockholm - A Swedish prosecutor Friday dropped charges against three men arrested in February on suspicion of funding terrorism in Somalia.

Prosecutor Ronnie Jacobsson told Swedish radio news that he had not been able to prove the suspicions against the three men.

Two of the men were released in June but were ordered to report regularly to the police. A third man was released already in February.

The men were Swedish nationals of Somali origin, and according to Swedish security police channelled funds to the militant Islamist group al-Shabab.

The group has been part of the insurgency against Ethiopian-backed forces in Somalia.

Warsaw - Former Polish leader General Wojciech Jaruzelski went on trial Friday charged with communist-era crimes in the 1981 martial-law crackdown aimed at breaking the Solidarity trade union.

Prosecutors allege that by imposing martial law, Jaruzelski, 84, led a "criminal armed organization" with the aim of depriving Poles of their freedom, the PAP news agency reported.

Seven other former communist party and military officials are also in the dock at the Warsaw trial, launched after much legal wrangling.

Stockholm- The Swedish carmaker Volvo is to shed a further 900 jobs in its Swedish home base, the company said Friday, citing weaker sales in Europe and the United States.

The economic downturn in Europe and the US had impacted "the premium car market" where sales were "deteriorating even more rapidly than in the volume market," Volvo Cars said in a statement.

Stockholm- The planned opening of a museum dedicated to former Swedish group ABBA next year has been cancelled, organizers said Friday, citing difficulties with the renovation of a 100-year-old former customs building housing it.

"It's better to make this decision at an early stage, even though it's a sad message," museum co-founder Ulf Westman said.

Westman and his wife, Ewa Wigenheim-Westman, had aimed to open the museum next June 4. No new date was set.