Lions alert

HELSINKI (Reuter) - Finland, host to next week's European security summit, has been alerted to a suspected security threat lurking in forests near the Arctic Circle - lions.

The Finns say four stray lions may be on the loose, but insist they will be no danger to Helsinki talks, attended by the US President, George Bush, Russia's President Boris Yeltsin and other leaders. 'We are not afraid of any lions,' said a senior security official.

The Agriculture Ministry said it was looking at a report that a number of wild animals escaped from a truck belonging to a travelling Russian circus near the Finnish border.