Washington - The United States praised Martti Ahtisaari for dedicating his life to ending conflicts around the world after the former Finnish president won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.

"The United States warmly congratulates President Ahtisaari and commends the Nobel Committee for its wise decision to award the Nobel Prize to Martti Ahtisaari," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Helsinki - A row continued to rage Friday in Finland over the hiring and subsequent firing of a female chief editor, allegedly due to her same-sex relationship.

Some 30 female students from Tampere College, north-west of Helsinki, staged a protest Friday outside the editorial offices of the Aamulehti daily, Finnish news agency STT reported.

Aamulethi is owned by the Alma Media group that had recently named Johanna Korhonen editor-in-chief of the Lapin Kansa newspaper, also part of the group.

Helsinki - A Finnish prosecutor was to probe police over events in the run-up to a school shooting in western Finland a week ago that claimed 11 lives, reports said Tuesday.

The probe was linked to the fact that police had allowed the 22-year-old man who killed 10 people to keep his gun.

The gunman, identified as Matti Saari, had been interviewed by a police officer Monday, on the eve of the shooting after he had posted videos on the internet of himself firing a gun at a shooting range.

The day after the interview Saari went on a rampage, shooting 10 people - eight female students, a male student and a male teacher.

Helsinki - All 10 victims of a school shooting in the west of Finland a week ago were shot at close range, police said Monday.

The victims - eight female students, one male student and a male teacher - were taken to Helsinki for formal identification and autopsies after the bloodshed on September
23 at the trade school in Kauhajoki.

The gunman, identified as Matti Saari, 22, died the same day of self-inflicted injuries a few hours after the rampage.

Lead investigator Jari Neulaniemi told reporters that the victims had been shot at close range, some had been hit in the chest or head.

It was still not clear if any of the victims died of asphyxiation or burns due to fires Saari set after the shootings.

London, Sept. 26 : The YouTube gunman who carried out a mass school shooting in Finland telephoned a friend as he slaughtered his classmates.

Killer Matti Saari, 22, had boasted 18 months ago that he was going to shoot many people in a school, but later claimed to be joking.

Only three people escaped from the classroom where Saari, a trainee chef, opened fire at a vocational college in Kauhajoki, Finland on Tuesday.

Ten people died before the gunman killed himself.

Helsinki - Nine people were killed Tuesday at the shooting spree in western Finland, police said at a news conference, Finnish news agency STT reported.

The STT account had come shortly after police had disclosed several deaths in the shooting but had declined to be more specific about the numbers.

There were some 150 to 200 students at the trade school in Kauhajoki, about 300 kilometres north-west of the capital Helsinki, where the shooting took place, public broadcaster YLE said.