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.

Kathmandu, Feb 4: The Nepal Government and the Republic of Finland on Tuesday signed a bilateral agreement for the protection and promotion of investment as well as promotion of mutual economic cooperation.

The agreement will stimulate investment in respective countries. As per the agreement, investment shall not be confiscated or nationalised.

The prime tenets of the agreement are to allow, encourage and promote investment and to ensure returns on investments in an equitable manner.

Kantipur quoted Finance Secretary Rameshwor Khanal as saying that the agreement recognises the need to protect investment of investors with full security.

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

Rybinsk, Russia - Pirjo Muranen of Finland ended a long winning drought while Italy's Renato Pasini denied hosts Russia with sprint victories in the cross-country skiing World Cup on Saturday.

Muranen won the women's freestyle race from Italians Arianna Follis and Magda Genuin to capture her fifth career win, but the first in more than six years since December 2002. Muranen was a sprint world champion under her maiden name Manninen in 2001.

Pasini captured his second career win in the men's race when he outlasted the Russian challenge of Alexey Petukhov and Anton Gafarov. He had also claimed his first win in Rybinsk, in January 2007.

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  - 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.