Helsinki - Citing the global financial slowdown, Finnish- based Nokia, the world's largest maker of mobile telephones, Thursday lowered its forecast for the fourth quarter and again revised its 2009 estimates for the global handset market.

Nokia said it expected fourth-quarter global handset sales to "be lower" than the earlier estimate of 330 million units. Third-quarter sales were 310 million units.

Citing "insufficient visibility in the marketplace," Nokia said it also had dropped its earlier forecast of keeping or slightly increasing its 38 per cent global market.

Helsinki - The Caucusus region after the recent war between Russia and Georgia was one of the main themes when foreign ministers from the 56-nation Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) meet Thursday, the Finnish foreign minister said Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, who holds the rotating chairmanship, said the ministers were also to discuss proposals for a new European security structure floated by among others Russia and France.

Helsinki - The world's largest mobile phone maker, Finnish- based Nokia, said Thursday it was to stop selling and marketing its mobile devices in Japan over poor sales.

"In the current global economic climate, we have concluded that the continuation of our investment in Japan-specific product variants is no longer sustainable," Timo Ihamuotila, Nokia executive vice president, said in a statement.

Nokia was to continue with its global research and development activities based in Japan. Sales of the Nokia-owned luxury brand Vertu were also to continue.

Stockholm/Helsinki - A weekend blizzard blanketed eastern Sweden and southern Finland, causing cancellations and delays at Stockholm's Arlanda Airport and Helsinki's Vantaa airport on Monday.

Arlanda was temporarily closed Sunday evening due to the heavy snowfall along with strong sidewinds and icy conditions.

Delays and cancellations continued Monday as both airports only used one runway due to the snowfall.

Airport officials advised travellers to expect some delays as the strong northerly winds were not expected to subside until later Monday.

Helsinki  - The Finnish government Tuesday revised its budget and said it aimed to introduce measures to secure employment in the flagging construction industry.

The finance ministry also lowered its forecast of economic growth to 0.5 per cent next year, down 1.3 percentage points on estimates made in September.

Unemployment was estimated to increase 0.5 percentage points to 7 per cent in 2009, the ministry said while inflation would drop on lower raw material prices and housing prices.

Earlier announced tax cuts were however to remain in place, Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen told reporters. "Now is the right time to stimulate the economy," he said.

Helsinki - Finnish-based Nokia, the world's largest maker of mobile telephones, Friday lowered its forecast for the fourth quarter and revised its 2009 estimates for the global handset market.

Nokia said it expected fourth-quarter global handset sales to reach 330 million units, up from 310 million units in the third- quarter.

For full-year 2008, global sales were predicted to be 1.24 billion handsets instead of earlier estimates of 1.26 billion units. In 2007, some 1.14 billion units were sold worldwide, Nokia said.