Stockholm - The SAS Group, operator of the joint carrier Scandinavian Airlines, has launched a trial service allowing passengers to check-in and obtain a boarding pass using only their mobile phone.

Passengers flying between airports in Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Helsinki, London Heathrow, Oslo, Stavanger and Stockholm can use the trial service from April to July 1, the group said.

"Currently, approximately 10 per cent of SAS passengers check in via (text message) SMS," Lars Sandahl Sorensen of SAS said.

Stockholm/Copenhagen - Authorities in the Nordic region Monday said they were running tests on people who have visited swine flu-affected areas of Mexico and the United States. A few patients with flu-like symptoms have also been admitted to hospital for observation in Denmark.

The Danish cases included four young people admitted to Hvidovre Hospital near Copenhagen, public broadcaster DR reported.

Stockholm - Arms sales to the Middle East and East Asia have surged in recent years, according to a Swedish-based peace research institute report on Monday. World arms sales increased 21 per cent in the period 2004-2008, compared to 1999-2003, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said.

Arms sales to the Middle East rose 38 per cent in 2004-2008 compared with the previous five year period.

Stockholm - Swedish heavy-vehicle maker Scania saw almost all its pre-tax profits vanish in the first-quarter 2009, the group said Monday, citing lower deliveries and shrinking demand. Pre-tax income was 164 million kronor (20 million dollars), down 95 per cent compared to 2.5 billion kronor in the corresponding business period 2008.

Year-on-year sales in the quarter declined 28 per cent to 15.8 billion kronor, while operating income fell 86 per cent to 506 million kronor.

Athens/Nicosia - Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt on Friday said there is now a unique window of opportunity for settling the Cyprus issue given that Turkey's membership evaluation by the European Union will take place at the end of the year.

"The failure by Turkey to meet the criteria could not be seen in separation from all the other issues, including the Cyprus problem," said Bildt during a visit to Cyprus.

Stockholm - Swedish furniture retail giant Ikea Friday named Mikael Ohlsson as its new chief executive officer.

Ohlsson, who began as a carpet seller at Ikea's store in the central city of Linkping some 30 years ago, was to replace Anders Dahlvig as of September 1.

Dahlvig has been head of the furniture giant that employs some 127,000 people for 10 years.

Ikea was founded by Ingvar Kamprad in 1943. It is not a listed company and does not disclose its profitability.