The Finnish capital has been named 2012's World Design Capital.

Scandinavia's frozen north is a magical winter wonderland, complete with reindeer, huskies and Santa-spotting locales.

In the frozen north of Scandinavia, Lapland is starting to look its seasonal best, says Chris Leadbeater.

Rovaniemi in Lapland, Finland, is the perfect place for a full Christmas experience with snow, elves and the jolly man himself.

Mary Lambie spent last Christmas lugging her three young children to Lapland to meet the "real" Mr Claus.

This bizarre Finnish comedy horror doesn't live up to the appealing central concept, but has more than enough points of difference to warrant interest.

Roger Hall cruises the Baltic and relishes his time in fascinating ports of call without having to think about about much else.

A study into the health effects of using mobile phones will take 20 or 30 years to complete.

A drug thought to be used by Kiwis as a substitute for ecstasy could be banned in Britain after being linked to two deaths.

The Flight of the Conchords' parodies have spoiled some music for us.

That's it then - another year of spouting, pronouncing and sticking the occasional spanner in the works.

Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, has said that it is suing its US rival Apple for infringing patents on mobile phone technology for the iPhone.

New Zealand has been named the 20th best country for quality of life by a UN report on migration and development.

Britain has the biggest drink problem among 13-year-olds in the Western world, according to a major study on child wellbeing published today.

The Russian-crewed ship allegedly carrying timber and hijacked by pirates earlier this month may have actually been carrying secret missiles bound for the Middle East as cargo.

Yesterday, for the second time this week, a naked man started a conversation with me.

Although it was only 3pm, away from the glare of our headlights, darkness was already seeping into the snow covered fields along the roadside.