Finland

Finland rallied from a two-goal third-period deficit to beat Slovakia 5-3 at Canada Hockey Place to win the bronze and deny Slovakia its first Olympic medal in any team sport. The fourth-place finish is Slovakia's best Olympic result. "It's just a tough pill to swallow," Marian Hossa said, "because I thought we had an unbelievable tournament, and we should be proud of ourselves, but the result is not what we wanted." Olli Jokinen scored two goals for Finland, while Slovakia fell despite a goal and assist from Hossa.

Crave the cold? KLM has a round-trip fare from LAX to Helsinki, Finland, for $793, including all taxes and fees. It is for travel Mondays through Thursdays between Jan. 16 and March 31; you must stay a Saturday night, and it is, of course, subject to availability. Info: KLM , (800) 225-2525 Source: Airfarewatchdog.com

French President Francois Mitterrand arrived Wednesday for a two-day visit to Finland that includes talks on East-West affairs with President Mauno Koivisto, officials said.

The United States continues to outpace other developed economies globally with one of the biggest divides between rich and poor, according to a new report. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported that the average income of the richest 10% in developed nations is nine times that of the poorest 10%, up from five times as large in the 1980s. The difference between the highest and lowest paid is greater in the United States than in most other wealthy countries, while inequality has risen faster in others such as Sweden and Finland, the report says.

An exhibition of Salvador Dali's art in Helsinki, Finland, was canceled as police stepped in to confiscate the works, several of which they suspected to be counterfeit. Collectors who had bought Dali's print works at the exhibition had suspected them to be fake and notified the police, which prompted an investigation, police said Tuesday. All of the roughly 400 works displayed are under investigation.

Finland is the world's most competitive economy, followed by the United States, Sweden, Taiwan, Denmark and Norway, according to a report released Wednesday. The annual Global Competitiveness Report by the World Economic Forum ranks the economic growth prospects of countries based on technological progress, the quality of public institutions and the macroeconomic environment.

In 1940, Helsinki received an unexpected visitor: Bertolt Brecht. Eventually to be known as the most famous German playwright after Goethe, Brecht was also a committed communist on the run from the Nazis, believing that Hitler personally wanted him dead. The picture of Brecht's arrival in Finland is almost comical: He arrived with his wife, his mistress, his children and 26 bags of luggage.

Sweden joined Finland on Monday in urging the United States and the Soviet Union to discuss a ban on cruise missiles, 10 days after a stray Soviet cruise missile accidentally crashed in Finland. Prime Minister Olof Palme said Sweden would welcome a ban on the missiles, adding he hopes that the issue will play a central role in the Geneva talks between Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko and Secretary of State George P. Shultz.

Freed of the influence of the Soviet bear and mired in its deepest recession since the 1930s, Finland is expected this week to join the parade of countries seeking entry into the European Community. Following Austria and Sweden, Finland would be the third member of the European Free Trade Assn. to seek entry into the much larger, 12-nation EC.

Last August, Deputy Secretary of State John Whitehead warned that we face a national security crisis because of what were then proposed cuts by Congress in the foreign affairs budget. These cuts have now come to pass, and I fear that we may soon be entering that period of crisis. We must, of course, reduce government expenditures to get the federal budget deficit under control. But this, it seems to us, should not be done at a heavy expense of the foreign affairs budget. We have too much at stake in the world to be able to afford to do that.

The celebratory homecoming for one Finn could not have gone better or more smoothly. Not only did he score a goal but his team emerged with a one-sided victory in its NHL opener Friday in Helsinki, Finland. It was Ville Leino and the Buffalo Sabres doing the scoring and the winning, not national hero Teemu Selanne and the Ducks. Buffalo, behind three power-play goals, defeated the Ducks, 4-1, at Hartwall Arena. Thomas Vanek led the Sabres with two goals and an assist. This was the arena with a big mural on the outside of Selanne, the favorite son of Finland, who, at age 41, was returning home to play an NHL regular-season game for the first time.

The Kings and Ducks filled out their prospect lists Saturday in the final six rounds of the NHL entry draft, with each choosing a goaltender named Gibson in the second round. The Kings, who had traded their first-round pick, took goalie Christopher Gibson of Finland and Chicoutimi of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with the 49th overall selection. The Ducks, who traded the 22nd pick for the 30th and 39th picks, chose John Gibson from the U.S. under-18 team 39th. Michael Futa, the Kings' co-director of amateur scouting, said Christopher Gibson was the top-rated goalie on their list.

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Train travelers can zip from Helsinki, Finland, to St. Petersburg , Russia, in less than four hours, thanks to a new high-speed rail service . Finnish President Tarja Halonen and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin last week inaugurated the new route, the first such link to cross the former Iron Curtain. With top speeds of 140 miles per hour, the new Allegro train shrinks the 250-mile journey from five-and-a-half hours to about three-and-a-half hours. Round-trip fares sold by Rail Europe , (800)

The No. 2 diplomat at the Iranian Embassy in the Finnish capital, Helsinki, has resigned in protest of the hard-line government in Tehran, Finland's national news agency reported Saturday. For more than a month before his resignation last week, former charge d'affaires Hossein Alizadeh hadn't been at the embassy, the FNB news agency said. Alizadeh, a veteran diplomat who reportedly had worked for the Iranian Foreign Ministry for more than 20 years, said he quit because he believed last year's presidential election in Iran was unfair and marked by cheating.

SERIES World's Toughest Fixes: In the season premiere, Sean Riley heads to Wyoming, near Yellowstone National Park, to help rebuild one of the first ski lifts in the country with the help of a special helicopter (6 and 9 p.m. National Geographic). The Office: A suspicious Michael (Steve Carell) thinks his girlfriend (Amy Pietz) is cheating on him and asks Dwight (Rainn Wilson) to investigate in this new episode (9 p.m. NBC). 30 Rock: Staff members' moms visit for Mother's Day: Liz (Tina Fey)

The Soviet Union's major afternoon newspaper has criticized neighboring Finland letting American and British companies film "anti-Soviet" movies in its territory. Izvestia newspaper warned that "one should listen to the opinion" that "such cinema does not contribute to strengthening the spirit of good neighborliness between the two countries." The paper listed "Gorky Park" and "White Nights" as "anti-Soviet" films shot in Finland.

Edson O. Sessions, 85, former U.S. ambassador to Finland and Ecuador who also headed a foreign aid mission to Thailand during the Eisenhower Administration. Sessions, who headed a large Chicago-based engineering consulting firm founded by his father from 1934 to 1957, also was named a deputy postmaster general by President Dwight D. Eisenhower before being appointed an ambassador by President Lyndon B. Johnson. In Laguna Hills on Sunday.

Dr. Leena Peltonen, an unusually prolific genetics researcher whose team discovered mutated genes responsible for 15 inherited diseases and who established the department of human genetics at UCLA, died of cancer March 11 at her home in Finland. She was 57. Her "contribution to understanding the genetics of human disease has been a lifelong commitment and is simply outstanding," said Allan Bradley, director of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in England, where Peltonen ended her career.

For all the clamor that surrounds David Beckham, there was little angst in England over the fact that a torn left Achilles' tendon has knocked the Galaxy midfielder out of the World Cup. Beckham, 34, underwent surgery in Finland on Monday evening, after which the specialist who performed the procedure, Dr. Sakari Orava, revealed that the player had "totally torn" the tendon and would be sidelined for at least six months. "The operation lasted just under an hour," Orava told the Associated Press.