Police want to battle the growing trend of citizens tipping off news outlets in return for rewards, by providing better information services to the media themselves, according to the Keskisuomalainen newspaper.

“Citizens often first report a disturbance to the media or put a video up on YouTube before they even think that maybe they should inform the authorities,” Inspector Tuomo Korhonen of the Central Finland police told Keskisuomalainen.

In an effort to get back in the loop, officers asked journalists for feedback on their communication skills and were told that they are somewhat non-responsive in fast-breaking situations.

In a bid to ensure that information is made more readily available to the media, three new communication units are now being set up within the force. Videos, photos and reports will soon be posted onto police websites by the new units, making the information available to journalists worldwide.

There are also plans to post real-time updates on crimes and emergencies via social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. The plans will be finalised and announced by the national police administration by the beginning of March.

Jarle Andhøy, 34, has apparently set out again, despite his last mission, which was branded foolhardy by many sailing experts, resulting in the presumed deaths of three crew members.

New Zealand authorities are looking for the 54-foot Nilaya yacht which sailed though Auckland last week. Samuel Massie, an 18 year-old survivor of last year’s tragedy, is also thought to be onboard, along with a photographer.

According to Radio New Zealand, New Zealand Customs Services are conducting a search for the yacht, while Maritime New Zealand officials have asked locals to keep a look out.

Berserk sank without a trace last year, with South African Leonard Banks and Norwegians Tom Gisle Bellika and Robert Skaanes never having been found. Jarle Andhøy, who describes himself as a Viking, was fined SEK 25,000 (EUR 2,804) for breaking the Antarctic Treaty by sailing without insurance.

According to official correspondence obtained by Politiken, between 2007 and 2009 160 farmers bought a total of 15,045 tonnes of chemicals which came from a warehouse in Northern Germany. As much as 21 tonnes of these orders were for crop sprays or fertilisers which are banned in Denmark.

“This is very serious. We are not just talking about four farms that have done something wrong,” Biology Professor Mogens Flindt of the University of Southern Denmark told Politiken. “Our lakes and watercourses can have received a lot more of the chemicals because of this,” he added.

“This is a major case that involves people throughout the country,” said Police Prosecutor Morten Holm, adding that as well as the network organisers, 160 farms also risk charges. “The fear is that this is just the tip of the iceberg,” he added.

East Jutland police are heading the investigation but say almost all the country’s forces are working on the case. “Bornholm, Copenhagen and Copenhagen West don’t have any cases, but the rest have farmers who have received these products,” said Niels Bugge of the East Jutland force.

“It is reprehensible that farmers import illegal sprays and fertilisers. I am astonished that that there are so many farmers that have been tempted to buy illegal products,” Council Deputy Chairman Henrik Frandsen told the news agency.

According to the Danish Environmental Protection Agency, many of the illegal products have been categorised as carcinogenic.

On Tuesday two men, aged 22 and 23, a 19 year-old woman and a 14 year-old girl were arrested following more that 100 tip-offs to police. Pictures of the suspects using Damsgaard’s ATM card were circulated in the press, leading to the breakthrough.

One of the men and the older woman were taken in to custody at a Frederiksberg address, while the teenager and the other man were apprehended a few blocks away. It is believed that the men have lived in Sweden for around a year, but the relationship between the four suspects is not yet known.

Police investigator Charlotte Skovby confirmed that the men have been charged with murder and robbery, while the legal status of the two women is yet to be determined.

Alison Fournier, a businesswoman from New York, said in a statement on Monday that she was sexually assaulted at the Hotel Kämp in Helsinki, Finland, on the night of 15th January of 2011 by a man who had made advances toward her earlier in the evening.

The lawsuit, in which Fournier accuses the company of negligence for allegedly providing the “visibly intoxicated” stranger with the key to her room, has been filed with the help of women’s rights lawyer Gloria Allred as well as New York law firm Cuti Hecker Wang LLP. The suit claims that Starwood Hotels and Resorts has not followed up on the incident nor has it opted to disassociate itself from the Hotel Kämp.

Fournier said in an official statement, “Starwood is the go-to brand for business travellers and I expected a certain level of security from their hotels,” ABC News reports. She added, “To this day, I still suffer from the memories of that night and I am still not able to put it behind me.”

According to ABC News, Starwood Resorts has issued an official statement saying, “The safety and security of our guests is our first and foremost priority. It is company-wide policy to ensure proper identification is shown and verified before distributing a key to a registered guest’s room. We are taking this allegation seriously and are working with the hotel in question to understand the facts and any breach of security that may have contributed to this very unfortunate event.”

Club officials told reporters on Tuesday that the move comes as a result of a disagreement about how the team should be run. Nilsson, a former defender for Sweden, took the position in June of last year from former head coach Staale Solbakken of Norway. He spent only six months at the helm, despite having signed a three-year contract in May.

The team’s website reads, “After an evaluation of the first six months of this season, the management of FC Copenhagen has decided to end their relationship with head coach Roland Nilsson.”

Anders Horsfolt, chief executive of FC Copenhagen, said in a statement, “We have had to realise that there hasn’t been an understanding between FC Copenhagen and Roland Nilsson about how to take the team further and therefore our paths have to part,” Reuters reported.

Some speculate that Nilsson’s opposition to the decision to sell off midfielder William Kvist to Stuttgart amid this year’s transfer window is among the rows leading to his termination.

FC Copenhagen is currently the Superliga league leader, edging FC Nordsjælland by four points; however, the club did not make it through to the group stages in the Champions League.

Meanwhile, Carsten Jensen, the sports director for the squad, is set to take over as manager in Nilsson’s absence.

About 50 people were evacuated from the area after the huge slides coincided with the arrival of the new year following severe storms that swept across the region. The slides covered a huge piece of farmland in Byneset, Trøndelag, which contained several houses. It pulled pieces of buildings and residents’ belongings down by tens of metres.

With ongoing severe weather in the area, geologists say that it isn’t yet safe for some of the area’s inhabitants to return home, although many are holding out hope of being able to do so today.

Geologists have not yet been able to agree on an exact cause of the phenomenon, however one told the Norwegian Broadcasting Agency (NRK) that it might have been a result of the recent storms’ effects on the unstable clay characteristic of the area.

Kari Øvrelid from the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate told NRK reporters on Monday, “We’re not at all certain that the slide is over. We need to keep monitoring this”. She added, however, that the risk of further slides had been reduced but that 22 people would likely not be returning home until at least the middle of this week.

Meanwhile, local authorities say that flooding is now becoming a concern because of the large quantities of earth that have been washed away, which could now block local creeks and waterways.

Just before Christmas the Commission announced it was to uphold the findings of psychiatrists Synne Sørheim and Torgeir Husby, who claim that the 32 year-old right wing extremist needs care, not prison time.

“We received a letter from the Forensic Commission stating it has no significant remarks about the experts’ decision,” said state prosecutors Svein Holden and Inga Bejer Engh in a statement. According to NRK, however, several members privately expressed concerns about the findings, with some questioning whether Breivik is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, and calling for further investigation into his ideology.

According to The Foreigner, many have now called again for a completely new psychological assessment, with Oslo District Court sending a letter to both the prosecution and defence to ascertain whether this is required.

“Prosecutors will now consider whether initiating further investigations to assess the accused’s sanity is required,” Svein Holden and Ina Bejer Engh stated.

Mette Yvonne Larsen, the defence counsel, has already officially filed for a reassessment, claiming that, “The Commission implies there are objections when it chooses to formulate itself in this way.”

Breivik has admitted killing 77 people in twin terror attacks in Norway on 22nd July this year. He denies that he is insane and says his actions were “necessary” to save Norway and Europe from Muslim rule.

The organisation hopes that the commercial hunting of the animals, a practice common in Greenland and Canada, will effectively be halted by the agreement.

The decision was made to protect sea mammals, with seal hunting categorised as a particularly harsh form of hunting. Russia is the biggest buyer of seal skins and whale calves skins, which are mainly supplied by Canada.

Maria Vorontsova, the director of the Moscow IFAW (International Fund for Animal Protection), said the ban was urgent due to the inhumane treatment of animals, particularly in Canada.

“Canadian seal hunters catch and kill [pups] under one year old, to be more exact, from 2 weeks to 3 months old,” Vorontsova told the Voice of Russia. “Thus, there’s reason to believe that seal hunting is cruel and inexpedient. Canada keeps saying that 90 percent of the seal skin market is in Russia.”

“And I’m very happy to say that Russia, which banned seal hunting in 2009, made another step and imposed a ban on the import of seal skins. Thus, the Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, which have joined the countries, where a ban on the import of seal skins is in force, has made a very important step,” Vorontsova added.

A ban on the sale of seal products has also been approved by the European Parliament, although there will be exceptions for certain small indigenous communities in Russia, Greenland, Canada and Alaska. European visitors will still be able to purchase souvenirs made from the animal products as long as they are not for resale.

The Teknik- og Miljøudvalget city planning council has decided to keep the six spotless loos after a ‘Save the pisswives’ petition gathered 7,756 signatures.

Scrapping the lavs and replacing them with automated booths would have saved DKK 20 million (EUR 2.7 million) per year. But Copenhageners and tourists would have lost the city’s cleanliest loos, and the tissekoners would have lost their jobs.

The FOA union, which represents the attendants, also pushed the council the keep the toilets, arguing that people caught short would not wait in line for single-use automatic conveniences.

“It has to do with safety, and also with making sure that people don’t urinate on the street. If there were automatic toilets, without pisswives, people wouldn’t stand in the queue. They would just go around the corner instead,” FOA’s labour representative Marianne Luckow told the Copenhagen Post.

Council chairman Bent Lohmann added, “If Copenhagen wants to continue to have the nightlife it has today, then there’s also the need for staffing [toilets]. Finally, it also has consequences for employment – we need jobs for unskilled workers,” he said.