Helsinki - Finnish paper and forestry group Stora Enso on Monday said its operating profit has been lowered for fourth-quarter
2008, citing the impact of inventory write-downs and production cuts.

The group said preliminary estimates put the write-down at 670 million euros (881 million dollars).

Full details were due in connection with the full-year report next month.

During the fourth quarter, Stora Enso reduced paper and board production by some 15 per cent - or about 490,000 tons.

Pulp production was cut by about 20 per cent and sawnwood production was reduced by 30 per cent of capacity, the group said in a statement.

Helsinki  - Explosives experts have defused a World War I hand grenade stored for years at a museum in the Aland Islands, located in the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden.

Some 30 years ago, a woman found the Russian-made grenade when digging in her garden in Mariehamn, the only town on the islands, news agency STT reported.

She put the grenade, the size of an orange, in her car and drove off to the Aland Islands museum where museum staff since have kept it on various shelves believing it did not pose a danger.

Helsinki - Three men died Thursday in a shooting incident in the Finnish town of Jyvaskyla, police and local media reported.

The motive for the shooting in the central Finnish town was not known, but one of the victims was believed to have turned his gun on himself, broadcaster YLE reported.

Two of the victims were found outside an apartment building, and a third man was found in an apartment, Finnish news agency STT reported.

Police did not confirm if there were any persons alive in the apartment when they stormed it after being alerted abut the shooting, STT said.

Helsinki - The northern Finnish city of Oulu cancelled its New Year's Eve fireworks display Wednesday over strong winds and a storm warning.

Helsinki - A consortium that plans to build an underwater Baltic Sea gas pipeline from Russia to Germany was Tuesday granted extended permission to investigate the sea bed in the Finnish economic zone.

The current permit was due to have expired on Wednesday, but the Finnish government extended it until end of June 2010 after an application from Nord Stream AG.

The 1,200-kilometre long pipeline is planned to run from Vyborg in Russia to Greifswald, Germany. The consortium has ruled out a land- based route.