Helsinki - Finland said Friday the Nordic country was not to sign a pending international ban against cluster weapons.

In early December, an international treaty aimed at banning the weapons was due to be signed in Oslo, Norway.

The decision not to sign the convention was made by the cabinet committee on foreign and security policy and President Tarja Halonen.

Helsinki said it would discuss the treaty again "after an evaluation of defence capabilities has been carried out."

Last month, Admiral Juhani Kaskeala, commander of the Finnish defence forces, said in a keynote speech that "a ban against cluster weapons would seriously weaken Finland's ability to defend itself."

Helsinki - Finnish flag carrier Finnair on Friday said higher fuel costs and lower ticket prices contributed to a "weak third quarter."

The group posted a pre-tax loss of 22 million euros (28 million dollars), compared to a pre-tax profit of 59.9 million euros for the corresponding business period in 2007.

Turnover increased 2.7 per cent to 559 million euros in the quarter, the carrier said.

Helsinki - Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen's Centre Party dropped to third place after local elections held Sunday, final tallies showed Monday.

Vanhanen noted that his party had probably suffered from being in office and said election results differed.

The Centre Party dropped 2.7 percentage points compared to the 2004 local elections, scoring 20.1 per cent.

Analysts including Goran Djupsund, professor of political science and political communication at Abo Akademi University, did not rule out a shake-up of the party leadership.

Stockholm - Martti Ahtisaari, Finland's former president and winner of the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize, on Saturday said he was "ashamed" over the lack of progress in efforts to solve the Middle East conflict.

"I am ashamed, I must admit that," Ahtisaari said in an interview broadcast by Swedish radio. "How can we, year after year, say that we are really trying to find a solution, when we are not?"

Helsinki - The construction schedule for Finland's fifth nuclear reactor has run into a new delay, Finnish power company Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) said Friday.

Work on the third reactor at Olkiluoto, south-western Finland, began in 2005. Power generation was now slated to begin in 2012 instead of 2011, TVO said Friday.

Two of the country's four operating reactors are also located at Olkiluoto.

TVO said the "the reactor plant civil construction works will take several months longer than earlier estimated."

A TVO spokeswoman told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the delays were linked to the casting of the plant's concrete structures.

Helsinki - The construction schedule for Finland's fifth nuclear reactor has run into a new delay, Finnish power company Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) said Friday.

Work on the third reactor at Olkiluoto, south-western Finland, began in 2005. Power generation was now slated to begin in 2012 instead of 2011, TVO said Friday.

Two of the country's four operating reactors are also located at Olkiluoto.

TVO said the "the reactor plant civil construction works will take several months longer than earlier estimated."