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ANGELA MERKEL

Sweden rules out ban on naked short-selling

Swedish financial markets minister Mats Odell and finance minster Anders Borg have ruled out following a German decision to ban so-called naked short-selling, a decision which has sent stock markets tumbling across Europe this week.

“It must have obviously been the case that they made the judgement that this measure was necessary. We shall have to see if it stabilises the situation,” said finance minister Anders Borg to news agency TT.

Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday took up her campaign for greater financial market regulation and stricter EU budgetary rules at a meeting in Berlin with top officials from around the world as markets remained in turmoil following Wednesday’s unilateral decision.

Swedish financial markets minister Mats Odell sees no need for Sweden, which currently has no specific rules for short-selling, to follow suit.

“Germany makes its own decisions. But if I look at Sweden, when it was really turbulent in the autumn of 2008, then we did not need it (a ban). I can not see any reason why it would be needed today either,” Odell said.

German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble called on the Berlin conference to pull together to push for greater financial regulations ahead of a G20 meeting in Canada next month.

The EU Commission has also called for coordinated action across the continent to tackle the ongoing debt crisis and euro instability; Mats Odell concurred while directing criticism at Germany for going alone.

“There is no doubt that there is always a problem with measures that are directed towards the markets which are not coordinated within the EU. You could say that the autumn 2008 was an example of that,” he said.

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FOOTBALL

Sweden sink Russia at women’s Euro

Captain Lotta Schelin and Stina Blackstenius powered Sweden to a 2-0 win over Russia at the women's Euro tournament in Deventer on Friday.

Sweden sink Russia at women's Euro
Sweden's Stina Blackstenius (L) vies with Russia's Elvira Ziyastinova during the UEFA Women's Euro 2017 football match between Sweden and Russia at Stadion De Adelaarshorst in Deventer on Friday. PHOT
Schelin scored Sweden's opening goal on 22 minutes, heading in a superb free-kick taken by Magdalena Ericsson.
 
Blackstenius made it 2-0 in the 51st minute as she picked up a poor goal kick by Russian keeper Tatiana Shcherbak, beat two defenders and fired a shot that Anna Kozhnikova only managed to deflect into the net off the post.
 
“Three points, two goals, that's good,” said Sweden coach Pia Sundhage. “I'm happpy about the result and parts of the performance, especially in the first half.”
 
Russia could have secured a quarter-final berth if they had won, following their surprising 2-1 win over Italy in the Group B opener.
 
But they never got close as Sweden put them under heavy pressure from the start with Kosovare Asllani's long-range shot smacking the crossbar on 10 minutes.
 
It took Russia half an hour to threaten up front, but Elena Danilova missed from long range.
 
At the other end, Schelin shot narrowly wide across goal and Linda Sembrant headed wide from a corner just before half-time.
 
Sweden continued to dominate in the second half but squandered their chances, with Sembrant heading against the post five minutes from the end.
 
“Sweden were very strong when it comes to set pieces, there were a lot of them and this was something that didn't allow us to play well,” said Russian coach Elena Fomina.
 
In the other Group B game, defending champions Germany edged Italy 2-1.