Finland

When Finland's President Mauno Koivisto arrives in Washington Monday for a two-day working visit, he will be a rare visitor: he is not asking President Bush for anything. Moreover, his country and the United States have no outstanding bilateral problems to settle.Indeed, Finland's preoccupation these days is with domestic economic difficulties. It is a reflection of the country's location in Scandinavia that many of those economic dilemmas are tied to the recent monumental changes elsewhere in Europe, particularly in the neighboring Soviet Union.

Calvert Hall lacrosse standout Stephen Kelly is in Turku, Finland this month as a member of the U.S. under-19 men's national team, which is competing in the Federation of International Lacrosse U-19 men's world championships.  The U.S. has won all six titles since the tournament began in 1988. Kelly, a two-time first-team All-Metro midfielder, will share his experiences with a daily blog as he tries to bring home a gold medal.   Hello everyone! The last day and half have been incredible and one of the greatest experiences of my life.

The fallout from the collapse of the Soviet Union continues. After decades of safeguarding its security interests by accommodating Moscow, Finland has rejected further acquisitions of Russian MiG fighters. Instead, it has contracted to buy 64 American McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 jets.Finland's unprecedented arms purchase from the United States has created quite a ruckus among rival suppliers in Europe. Serge Dassault, the genius behind France's Mirage fighters, claims Finland caved in to American pressure.

Calvert Hall lacrosse standout Stephen Kelly is in Turku, Finland this month as a member of the U.S. under-19 men's national team, which is competing in the Federation of International Lacrosse U-19 men's world championships.  The U.S. has won all six titles since the tournament began in 1988.  Kelly, a two-time first-team All-Metro midfielder, will share his experiences with a daily blog as he tries to bring home a gold medal.   [ UPDATE: The U.S. U-19 lacrosse team defeated Canada, 10-8, in today's world championship game.

Throughout its history, Finland has been a borderland in battles between the East and West. For 600 years it was part of Sweden. An 1809 Russian victory turned it into an autonomous czarist grand duchy. Independence came a century later -- only to be followed by two devastating wars against the Soviet Union. Yet Finland persisted in defending its values and sovereignty.A milestone on this historical journey was reached last week, when Russia and Finland signed a package of three treaties governing their future state and economic relations.

When Finland's voters go to the polls in the presidential run-off election this Sunday, it is quite possible they will elect the first woman chief executive in the country's 76-year history. Even more remarkable is that Defense Minister Elisabeth Rehn, 58, comes from a small political party whose support usually is limited to the Swedish-speaking minority of just six percent.Her surprising strength over more strongly-based rivals underscores the deep disenchantment the nearly 5 million Finns feel toward conventional politicians.

Finland's cradle-to-grave social benefits system sounds pretty incredible. Most medical expenses, including long-term critical care, are covered by an insurance package provided to every one of the 5.5 million Finns. Lose a job? Not to worry. For the first 500 days, unemployment compensation is given in proportion to the salary level of the job lost; basic compensation continues indefinitely.This framework of utopian largess was dreamed up in the good old days. From the 1960s to the mid-Eighties, the Soviet Union bought seemingly unending amounts of goods from Finland, which developed one of the hottest economies in Europe.

For centuries, Finns have been vexed by uncertainty about their geopolitical position. Were they a Western outpost in the East or an Eastern beachhead in the West?In an extraordinary referendum Sunday, Finland's voters rendered their verdict. By a convincing margin, they told the government they want their country to join the European Union.This was supposed to have been a consultative vote. But President Martti Ahtisaari wasted no time in declaring the outcome "morally and politically binding" on Finland's decision makers.

How's this for an esoteric getaway? A stay at an "arctic spa" in Finland.Weekend and weeklong packages are available from Helsinki that include round-trip airfare to the spa city, accommodations, some meals and use of the spa's beauty, stress reduction and fitness programs.Three-day/two-night packages start at $218 a person, double occupancy. Eight-day/seven-night getaways start at $600 a person, double occupancy.One spa is in Kuusamo, a small town in the arctic wilderness just south of Finnish Lapland.

Calvert Hall lacrosse standout Stephen Kelly is in Turku, Finland this month as a member of the U.S. under-19 men's national team, which is competing in the Federation of International Lacrosse U-19 men's world championships.  The U.S. has won all six titles since the tournament began in 1988.  Kelly, a two-time first-team All-Metro midfielder, will share his experiences with a daily blog as he tries to bring home a gold medal. Hello everyone! The last couple days have been very eventful, with a lot of things taking shape for the team.

Calvert Hall lacrosse standout Stephen Kelly is in Turku, Finland this month as a member of the U.S. under-19 men's national team, which is competing in the Federation of International Lacrosse U-19 men's world championships.  The U.S. has won all six titles since the tournament began in 1988.  Kelly, a two-time first-team All-Metro midfielder, will share his experiences with a daily blog as he tries to bring home a gold medal. Hello everyone! The last couple days have been very eventful, with a lot of things taking shape for the team.

Calvert Hall lacrosse standout Stephen Kelly is in Turku, Finland this month as a member of the U.S. under-19 men's national team, which is competing in the Federation of International Lacrosse U-19 men's world championships.  The U.S. has won all six titles since the tournament began in 1988.  Kelly, a two-time first-team All-Metro midfielder, will share his experiences with a daily blog as he tries to bring home a gold medal. Hey guys! The last couple days have been very eventful.

Calvert Hall lacrosse standout Stephen Kelly is in Turku, Finland this month as a member of the U.S. under-19 men's national team, which is competing in the Federation of International Lacrosse U-19 men's world championships. The U.S. has won all six titles since the tournament began in 1988.  Kelly, a two-time first-team All-Metro midfielder, will share his experiences with a daily blog as he tries to bring home a gold medal.   Hello everyone! It is morning here in Turku, Finland and the team has just finished up a light walk through practice and film session to get ready for the biggest game yet against the Canadians.

Calvert Hall lacrosse standout Stephen Kelly is in Turku, Finland this month as a member of the U.S. under-19 men's national team, which is competing in the Federation of International Lacrosse U-19 men's world championships. The U.S. has won all six titles since the tournament began in 1988. Kelly, a two-time first-team All-Metro midfielder, will share his experiences with a daily blog as he tries to bring home a gold medal. The U.S. opens play on Friday against Australia. Hello everybody!

Stephen Kelly came home from a tryout last summer and approached his parents with an unfamiliar topic. Dating back to when he was a little kid playing several sports, the Calvert Hall rising senior had never come close to getting cut from a team. But this tryout - the first of four consecutive days of workouts - and the team he was trying to make presented a challenge like nothing he had ever experienced. Going up against 122 of the top lacrosse players in the country and being inspected by a selection committee of 20 coaches, the 17-year-old kept his streak alive when he earned one of the 23 roster spots on the U.S. under-19 men's national team.

Aino Annikki Villanueva, a homemaker who earlier in her life worked as a shipboard cook in her native Finland, died March 26 of heart failure at Franklin Woods Center in White Marsh. She was 86. Aino Annikki Rytkola, the daughter of a seafarer/fisherman and a homemaker, was born in Seiskari, Finland, which is an island in the Gulf of Finland. She attended schools in Seiskari until she was 14, and when the Russians invaded in 1939, she and her family were evacuated to mainland Finland.

Calvert Hall lacrosse standout Stephen Kelly is in Turku, Finland this month as a member of the U.S. under-19 men's national team, which is competing in the Federation of International Lacrosse U-19 men's world championships. The U.S. has won all six titles since the tournament began in 1988. Kelly, a two-time first-team All-Metro midfielder, will share his experiences with a daily blog as he tries to bring home a gold medal. The U.S. opens play on Friday against Australia. Hello everybody!

Calvert Hall lacrosse standout Stephen Kelly is in Turku, Finland this month as a member of the U.S. under-19 men's national team, which is competing in the Federation of International Lacrosse U-19 men's world championships.  The U.S. has won all six titles since the tournament began in 1988. Kelly, a two-time first-team All-Metro midfielder, will share his experiences with a daily blog as he tries to bring home a gold medal.   Hello everyone! The last day and half have been incredible and one of the greatest experiences of my life.

THURSDAY'S TELEVISION HIGHLIGHTS M. bask. Marquette@Rutgers (T) MASN9 a.m. Dayton@St. Louis (T) CBSCS1 Brigham Young@UNLV (T) CBSCS5 Xavier@Cincinnati ESPN27 Villanova@South Florida ESPNU7 Charleston Southern@Liberty MASN7 Northwestern@Illinois ESPN29 St. Mary's@Loyola Marymount ESPNU9 California@Arizona CSN10:30 W. bask.