Helsinki - Finnish flag carrier Finnair on Thursday posted a pre-tax loss of 61 million euros (78 million dollars) in the fourth quarter of 2008, and was now looking ahead with a "gloomy outlook."

In the same quarter of 2007, Finnair had posted a pre-tax profit of 35 million euros.

Turnover in the final quarter increased 2 per cent to 580 million euros.

"We enter the new year 2009 facing the most gloomy outlook for some time," Chief Executive Jukka Hienonen said in a statement, noting that passenger and cargo demand dropped strongly at the end of 2008.

Helsinki - Finnish President Tarja Halonen is to visit India this week and att

Helsinki - A Finnish police officer was to be charged with negligence after failing to revoke the gun of a male student who shot 10 people in September, authorities said Tuesday.

The shooting at the trade school in Kauhajoki, western Finland, claimed 11 lives, including the shooter who turned the gun on himself.

Deputy Prosecutor General Jorma Kalske decided to press charges after probing the police officer's actions prior to the shooting.

The police officer, who has rejected the charges, risks a fine if convicted, officials at the prosecutor general's office said, adding no trial date was set.

Helsinki  - Nobel Peace laureate Martti Ahtisaari said Thursday he has been contacted by the United Nations in connection with a possible international probe into violence in Gaza.

The Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council recently said it wanted to appoint an international commission to probe the recent Israeli military offensive in Gaza.

Ahtisaari was quoted as telling Finnish news agency STT that the parties - Israel and the Palestinians - have to prove they are willing to cooperate fully before any mission could commence.

Helsinki - Nokia, the world's largest maker of mobile phones, Thursday reported lower sales and a sharp drop in operating profit for the fourth quarter of 2008.

The Finnish-based company said operating profit plunged 80 per cent to 492 million euros (635 million dollars), compared to 2.49 billion euros for the corresponding business period in 2007.

Fourth-quarter sales fell 19 per cent year-on-year to 12.7 billion euros, the group said.

"In recent weeks, the macroeconomic environment has deteriorated rapidly," Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said in a statement.

Helsinki  - The Museum Centre Vapriikki in Tampere, Finland, is to host a comprehensive exhibition on North American Indians from June 12 to November 8.

The exhibition includes around 180 items on loan from descendants to Chief Sitting Bull, the legendary Lakota Sioux leader who died in 1890.

The exhibition is currently on show at the Ueberseemuseum in Bremen, Germany. Some items are on loan from the Voelkerkundemuseum in Vienna.