Summary: The Pallas's reed bunting has been sighted fewer than 10 times in Europe.

A bird species previously unseen in Finland was spotted in the Kirkkonummi archipelago, according to Birdlife Finland, the local chapter of an international bird conservation organisation. The Pallas’s reed bunting was spotted at the Rönnskär bird station off the southern municipality's Porkkala peninsula.
 The bird's last sighting in the Nordic countries was in October 2016 when it was seen in Sweden, the organisation stated in a release.
 Pallas’s reed buntings breed across northeast Europe and northeast Asia. The European side of the species has spread to only a small region of the Urals in the northern part of the tundra. The bird has been sighted in Europe, outside of Russia, fewer than ten times.
 The Pallas’s reed bunting resembles the Common reed bunting, but is smaller than the Great tit.
 A new bird species was last spotted in the country in 2017, when an Oriental Pratincole made an appearance in Joroinen, a southern Finnish municipality.

Rare bird spotted in Finland for the first time


Summary: Finland's Justice Ministry says some security measures proposed after the 2017 Turku terror attack are not yet in place.

Ministerit, ministeriöt ja valtioneuvosto

A Justice Ministry report released on Monday has found that work still needs to be done to implement a number of security recommendations outlined following a deadly terrorist attack in Turku nearly two years ago.
 A terror  attack in Turku in August 2017  left two people dead and eight others injured. Last summer, a Moroccan man,  Abderrahman Bouanane , was charged with two counts of murder with terrorist intent and eight counts of attempted murder with terrorist intent, and was eventually  sentenced to life in prison  after being found guilty of carrying out the knife attack.
 Soon after the assaults in Turku, a team from the Safety Investigation Authority was asked by the government to draw up a report on the attack and  how Finland could prevent similar incidents .
 That report, turned in last June, listed nine recommendations for remedial measures. The proposals were addressed to several authorities including the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri), various ministries, the Finnish Security Intelligence Service (Supo) and the National Police Board.
 Shorter asylum application process
 On Monday, Finland's Ministry of Justice published a review of how those recommendations have been implemented.
 This report says that due to a lack of funding, progress has not been made on suggestions to set up an advice service for asylum seekers and to support organisations working to prevent radicalisation.
 One of the key recommendations from the Safety Investigation Authority was to reduce the total time for processing asylum applications and appeals to no more than 18 months.
 By bringing more resources to bear, the average processing time for asylum applications in 2018 was cut to around eight months. The average time to process appeals is expected to fall to around six months by the end of this year.
 Better crisis communications needed
 Appeals are now handled by four regional administrative courts, rather than the Helsinki Administrative Court alone, a change that Justice Ministry Undersecretary  Pekka Timonen  believes will be permanent.
 "Applications are now [also] processed in the administrative courts of eastern Finland, Turku and northern Finland. At the same time more resources have been invested. The courts themselves have placed more emphasis on the process in internal training. Our expectation is that processing times will be significantly reduced," said Timonen.
 A recommendation to upgrade crisis communications among authorities was found to have led to improvements. However, the Justice Ministry review says that more tests and exercises of the system are needed.
 A suggestion to improve means to inform the public of security threats has in part been met by the "112 Suomi" phone app maintained by national emergency centres, which can provide localised alerts.

Post-terror attack security guidelines not fully implemented


Summary: Just days ahead of the European election, few in Finland appear to want the EU to set up a joint military force.

Kansainväliset organisaatiot ja sopimukset

Just 26 percent of Finnish residents said they think the EU should establish a common defence force, according to a poll commissioned by rural newspaper Maaseudun Tulevaisuus (MT).
 The survey queried more than 1,000 people, asking whether they agreed with the statement: "EU countries should deepen its defence cooperation with the aim of creating a common military."
 Some 40 percent of respondents said that it would not be a good idea to establish a common defence force but nearly as many (34%) said they did not have an opinion about it.
 Residents in larger cities were more positive toward the idea of a common EU military than respondents in rural areas were, according to the paper.
 Men (35%) were more positive toward the idea than women (17%), but on the other hand more women than men said that they had no opinion on the issue.
 Political divides
 Supporters of the small Swedish People's Party (SPP) and those who earned more than 85,000 euros a year were more likely to have positive views on establishing a common EU defence force.
 When the question was put to 159 of Finland's candidates in the EU Parliament elections, 84 percent said they were against the idea.
 SPP and Greens candidates are the biggest supporters of establishing joint European defence forces.
 Just over 1,000 people took part in the survey, which had a margin of error of three percentage points.

Few in Finland enthusiastic about an EU army


Summary: Fewer Finns bring alcohol back from foreign trips – but heavy users are bringing back more, and from further afield.

Higher taxes on beer in Finland have once again spurred consumers to bring in more from Estonia, the Federation of the Brewing and Soft Drinks Industry ( Panimoliitto ) said on Monday. Last year people returning from Finland's southern neighbour, Estonia, brought back significantly less beer after the Baltic country raised its alcohol taxes.
 But since Finland hiked its taxes on beer at the beginning of this year, the trend has again reversed with imports rising in the February-through-April period, according to a study carried out by the Research and Analysis Center (TAK) for the industry group.
 The drinks federation says it is worried by this development.
 "The tax hike can be seen in the import figures for the early part of the year in a clear, unfortunate manner. This should not be the goal of a single Finnish legislator. We are losing; specifically in tax revenue to the state and in Finnish employment as well as the livelihood of a primary production industry, says the head of the drinks industry lobby, former MEP  Riikka Pakarinen .
 In the February-through-April period, the amount of beer brought back from visits to Estonia jumped by some 40 percent compared to a year earlier. Personal imports of cider and pre-mixed alcopop drinks also rose.
 Estonia, which joined the EU nearly a decade after Finland, has traditionally been a shopping and getaway destination for Finns due to lower prices, especially on alcohol and food. However the price difference between Helsinki and Tallinn has narrowed significantly in recent years.
 Heavy consumers buying booze from Latvia
 Domestic beer consumption has declined throughout this decade, sliding by more than seven percent, the industry group says.
 The TAK study also points to other changes in consumer behaviour. Two years ago, just over one fifth of travellers said that they never brought alcoholic beverages back to Finland from trips abroad. According to this year's data, that proportion is now up to one third of travellers.
 On the other hand, a smaller group of heavy users is importing more than ever. The study looked those who bring in more than 100 litres of alcohol annually. It found that they visit Estonia an average of five times a year and account for about 38 percent of all alcohol carried into Finland by visitors to Estonia.
 These avid buyers are also travelling further afield in search of cheaper booze. For instance nearly a quarter of the alcoholic drinks brought into Finland in luggage originated in low-tax Latvia, Estonia's southern neighbour.
 And nearly four out of 10 heavy importers said they bought alcohol elsewhere than of Estonia.
 Latvia's capital Riga is four or five hours south of Tallinn by bus or car. The Estonian capital can be reached from Helsinki within a couple of hours by ferry.

Brewing industry: Finnish taxes pushing sales to Estonia and beyond


Summary: Warnings have been issued for heavy downpours in inland parts of Finland.

The streak of warm weather in recent days is set to end on Tuesday in many parts of Finland, as locally violent thunderstorms cool temperatures in inland areas of southern and central Finland.
 Yle meteorologist Joonas Koskela says that more than 20 millimetres of rain may fall per hour in some parts. A warning of heavy rain has been issued for Southwest Finland, Southern Ostrobothnia, Central Finland and North Savo.
 "The fiercest thunderstorms will probably be in inland parts of Southwest Finland. The coast will stay dry," he predicts.
 "In the southwest, there are  official warnings  of forest and grassfire risk as well as for heavy rain. The fire warnings will likely be lifted when the rain arrives," Koskela says.
 In northern Finland the weather will be cloudy and quite a bit cooler than in the south.
 T-storms on Wednesday too
 Koskela expects thunderstorms to continue on Wednesday in southern and western parts of the country, starting a few dozen kilometres from the coast.
 "Wednesday will still be quite a warm day, even though temperatures probably won't quite reach the 25-degree [Celsius] mark," he says. Then cooler air will begin to flow down from the north.
 "Thursday's temperatures will max out at around 20 degrees," Koskela predicts.
 Monday has been the warmest day of the year so far.
 Koskela says the hottest places were the western towns of Pori and Kokemäki, where the mercury climbed to 27.6 degrees.

Tuesday may bring violent thunderstorms


Summary: A northwest Finland court ruled that there was insufficient proof of guilt in a case involving a 17-year-old victim.

Charges against a 20-year-old male suspected of the aggravated rape of a 17-year-old female in Finland's northwest coastal city of Oulu were dismissed on Friday, after a decision from the Oulu District Court.
 The alleged crime occurred two years ago in April, according to the prosecution, but the Oulu court said the evidence presented was insufficient to prove the defendant's guilt.
 The ruling of the court was unanimous. The rest of the details about the case have been kept confidential in order to protect the privacy of the persons involved.
 The prosecution had called for the defendant, who had been taken into custody in March, to be punished for aggravated rape.
 The case is one of a string of sexual offenses involving minors in Oulu that received a great deal of publicity in Finland when they came to light in December 2018.
 This case's court ruling is not connected to a separate series of cases, for example, in which  eight men  who had come to Finland as asylum seekers are suspected of the aggravated assault and rape of an underage girl.

District court dismisses charges in isolated Oulu rape case


Summary: A fresh newspaper poll puts the centre-right NCP and populist Finns Party in the lead in the EU Parliament election campaign.

A voter survey commissioned by the daily  Helsingin Sanomat  projects a win for the centre-right National Coalition Party (NCP) in Sunday's vote for the EU Parliament, followed by the populist Finns Party and the Social Democratic Party.
 Compared to results in the 2014 vote, the Greens are projected to make the most gains, however, with losses for the Centre Party. Support is also up from five years ago for the Finns Party and the SDP.
 Of the just over 2,000 voters polled May 6-18 in mainland Finland, 16.3 percent gave their backing to the Finns Party. If this actually translates into votes, the Finns Party will narrowly miss getting a third MEP elected. It would, though, have a representative waiting in the wings to take a seat if and when the UK withdraws from the European Union.
 At 20.1 percent, the NCP has a comfortable lead in the poll, but possibly its worst showing ever in EU Parliament elections. Traditionally, the NCP has been more popular with voters in these elections than in national elections.
 Devil in the details
 Most papers, including Tampere's  Aamulehti , report that  five-party talks aimed at forming a new government  here in Finland hit a bump on Monday over objections by the Left Alliance to selling off state-owned property to finance major transport infrastructure projects.
 That party's chair  Li Andersson  called a time-out Monday morning. Leaders in the talks declined to brief the media on the situation, leading to speculation that the talks had run aground. By early afternoon, all the parties were back at the table.
 Although the general framework for economic development seems to have been settled, Andersson did say that there are still more issues to be ironed out than appeared to be last week.
 As Aamulehti points out, Centre Party chair  Juha Sipilä  has backed the establishment of a state-financed project company to create high-speed rail services between Helsinki and Tampere, Helsinki and Turku, and from eastern Finland to the capital.
 One of the redline issues in government formation talks for the Centre Party is its demand for a balanced state budget by 2023.
 Schengen still ok, sort of
 The Kuopio-based  Savon Sanomat  carries a denial by Finns Party leader  Jussi Halla-aho  that his party is pushing for Finland to pull out of the open-border Schengen Area.
 Drawing on a dispatch by the STT Finnish News Agency, the paper reports that the Finns Party does want to change Schengen rules to make it easier for member states to impose border checks. Preventing illegal immigration, said Halla-aho, should be a valid reason to check passports at borders within the Schengen zone.
 At present, Schengen Area regulations allow for  temporary border checks under special circumstances . Both Denmark and Sweden imposed border controls in 2015, citing a massive influx of refugees.
 Halla-aho's remarks came after one of his party's EU Parliament election candidates,  Olli Kotro , gave an interview to the Kremlin-oriented Eurasia Daily saying that he supports Finland's exit from the Schengen Area, and described it as his party's position.
 Kotro also called for special visa arrangements between Finland and Russia.
 According to Savon Sanomat's article, Jussi Halla-aho stated that the Finns Party has had a consistent, negative stance on the issue of a visa-free arrangement between Finland and Russia.
 Red tape over pink house
 The tabloid  Ilta-Sanomat  is one of the papers that reports on a case of bureaucracy run wild in the small municipality of Vesilahti, about 30km south of Tampere, where homeowner  Katri Hakola  is facing a 5,000-euro fine for the offence of painting her house pale pink.
 Hakola bought her small wooden house in Vesilahti five years ago. Built in 1949, the house was in disrepair, and she decided to replace the siding and paint it. She filed notice of the renovations with the municipality and got to work.
 The house was already half painted when she received a notice that the colour she had chosen, pink, is not an approved colour in the building code for the type of house Hakola owns.
 She went ahead and finished it anyway, and filed for a permit to keep it that way. Her request was denied.
 Hakola says she's been told that her house "visibly stands out from its surroundings and attracts attention", in a "scenically sensitive area".
 Now, following a three-year battle, the local board of construction and environment has threatened her with a 5,000-euro fine if she doesn't repaint in a colour it approves. Hakola says she is planning an appeal, pointing out that official colour preferences are a guideline, not a law.
 The affair, which has gained wide-spread attention on social media, is becoming quite an embarrassment for local officials, says Ilta-Sanomat.
 Municipal director  Tuomas Hirvonen  made a surprise visit to the pink house over the weekend to talk with Hakola. He told the paper that while his visit did not mean that officials have changed their decision, progress is being made and a "certain process" has been set in motion.

Tuesday's papers: EU election race, bump in govt talks, pink house hassle


Summary: OP Financial Group forecasts slower but reasonable growth in Finland's economy.

In a report published on Tuesday, OP Financial Group says Finland’s economy is continuing on a good track. The bank's economists estimate the rate of growth will gradually go down but that the overall economic situation will remain reasonably good for the most part.
 However, OP says the broadening international trade war and the resulting uncertainty dampens the outlook.
 The financial group's economists say they do not see any reason to revise their earlier economic forecast and still predict a reasonable 1.6 percent growth for the Finnish economy this year and slower 0.8 percent growth for the following year.
 Exports will still be reasonably good this year, driven by ship deliveries among other things, but in 2020 the pace will decelerate.
 Meanwhile, home market consumption is seen as still having good growth potential, but weakening confidence means that consumption is poised to grow less than incomes. OP notes that investment growth slowed down noticeably in 2018 and a decline in construction will keep investment development modest in 2020.
 Still good for households
 Despite the sluggish growth, the unemployment rate is likely to remain at its lowest level since the early 1990s in 2020 as well, at just 6.2 percent. OP's forecast is for the employment rate to rise to 73.5 percent next year.
 “Many factors still support households. Employment is improving, moderate inflation supports real incomes and expectations for loan interest rates are even more moderate than before. Yet the weakening economic situation is making also households more cautious, which is already visible in the higher saving ratio," Senior Economist  Henna Mikkonen  stated in a Tuesday OP Financial Group release.

Economic growth slowing, still some bright spots for households


Summary: Advance voting in the EU parliamentary elections in Finland was a bit higher than it was in 2014.

More than 143,000 people in Finland went to the polls on Monday, the sixth day of advance voting in the EU parliamentary elections, bringing overall early voter turnout to 16.2 percent - so far. Tuesday is the seventh and final day of advance voting in Finland for the EU parliamentary election, while election day is Sunday 26 May.
 This election has already brought out slightly more voters than the MEP elections in 2014, when 12.6 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots early. Finland's overall turnout in 2014 stood at  40.9 percent , but only 10 percent of  voters between the ages of 18-24  took part.
 Monday was one of the busiest days at advance voting stations across Finland, according to election officials.
 This year the busiest advance polling points were found in Helsinki, Pirkanmaa and Lapland, while early voter turnout in Finland was lowest in Vaasa and Oulu.
 Finland will elect 13 MEPs but could gain another seat if and when Britain leaves the European Union. If the UK does eventually leave the EU, the candidate with the 14th-highest vote tally would then take Finland's new 14th seat in Brussels and Strasbourg.
 Voters curious about the political leanings of  Finland's MEP candidates  can check out Yle's  election compass . Yle News has also published  a guide for voting  in the EU elections.

Slight improvement as 16% in Finland vote early in EU elections


Summary: Finnair's impact on the climate has grown in recent years, and the company isn't targetting cuts in total emissions until 2050.

Finnair has admitted to providing misleading information about emissions reduction targets as part of a 'Push for change' campaign to sell carbon offsets to airline passengers.
 While the airline's campaign page suggests that Finland’s national carrier is aiming to reduce overall emissions by 2020, the company said this is not actually the case.
 The Finnish flag-carrier is now Finland’s fourth-biggest producer of greenhouse gases and plans to continue expanding business, which will in turn increase its emissions, a strategy that leading transport campaigner  Andrew Murphy  says is 'inconsistent with' the goals of  the Paris climate accord .
 Figures from the EU  suggest that of the top five Finnish sources of carbon covered by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), Finnair has increased its carbon footprint the most over the last five years.
 The airline is now Finland’s fourth biggest source of eligible carbon emissions covered by the ETS, producing some 1.1 megatonnes of carbon from flights within Europe in 2018.
 Finnair's ETS-eligible emissions have increased at an average rate of 14 percent per year over the last five years, faster than any of the other top five greenhouse gas sources in Finland. The company  made profits  of 150 million euros in 2018.
 Story continues after graphic.
 Harri Vähäkangas / Yle
 "Last year we increased our capacity quite a bit, so traffic has grown but then also the total emissions have also grown," said  Päivyt Tallqvist , Finnair’s Director of Communications, who also stressed that Finnair is aiming to reduce the amount of carbon emitted per passenger kilometre and is on track to do so through measures to improve fuel efficiency.
 The company has implemented a successful strategy to increase passenger numbers flying to and from the Far East under the tagline 'Fly the shortcut to Asia', using Helsinki as a hub to funnel passengers to other destinations across Europe.
 According to Finnair's 2018 sustainability report, total emissions, including intercontinental flights not covered by the ETS, amounted to 3.9 megatonnes.
 "Misleading" targets
 The company is planning to expand business still further, with no targets for absolute emission reductions due until 2050.
 The report says Finnair is aiming to reduce carbon per 'revenue tonne kilometre (RTK)' by 17 percent by 2020--but if passenger numbers increase as planned, the airline’s overall climate impact will grow.
 However, passengers looking at Finnair's ' Push for Change ' page selling carbon offset products will find mention of a target of cutting CO2 emissions "by 17% by 2020 compared with the 2013 baseline".
 Given Finnair's rapid growth since then, that target would entail a 50 percent reduction on 2018 levels, which is not a target mentioned by the company in its sustainability report.
 When asked about that target, Tallqvist first denied it. However, when she was sent the link and related text said via email "I apologise for the misleading formulation on the website, we will fix that!"
 At the time of writing, ten days after that communication, the 'misleading' target was still on the company’s 'Push for Change' page, which asks passengers to calculate climate impact and then purchase offsets for the carbon produced by their flights.
 Offsets for conscious consumers
 Offsets covering a return domestic flight within Finland can be purchased from Finnair for one euro, a flight within Europe can be offset for 2 euros, while the carbon emitted for a return intercontinental flight costs 6 euros.
 Finnair says that by the end of March 2019, 2,545 passengers had purchased offsets valued at 18,248 euros via the Push for Change programme. Finnair also uses the scheme to offset staff travel greenhouse gas emissions.
 Story continues after photo.
 AOP
 The money either pays for an emissions reduction project in Mozambique or goes towards biofuel made from cooking oil to replace kerosene in the firm’s planes.
 "In 2018, we paid over 11 million euros for emissions rights within the EU ETS, and in total we paid different environment-based taxes and payments of 45 million euro," said Tallqvist.
 Activist: Offsets 'don’t work'
 Tallqvist also cites the CORSIA scheme, an aviation-specific global emissions trading approach that sets the price of carbon at around one twentieth the cost within the EU’s own ETS.
 Andrew Murphy from Transport and Environment, a Europe-wide pressure group, says that it 'won’t do anything'.
 "Offsets don’t work, we need real cuts in emissions," Murphy said.
 Murphy also called on airlines to provide better in reporting on the risk posed to their business model by the threat of heavier regulation and taxation.
 As Finland's  Green Party prepares to enter government , expectations are high that the new cabinet could introduce a flight tax, or push for an EU-wide flight tax, as part of its efforts to fight climate change.
 "Any airline should be reporting on the climate risk they face, because as regulation starts to increase that is a risk to shareholders," said Murphy.
 That’s not enough, according to green transport campaigners, because it is inconsistent with the drastic reductions in carbon emissions the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says are necessary by 2030 to try and avert catastrophic climate change.
 "Anyone who is promoting a target that allows for emissions increases is promoting a target inconsistent with [the] Paris [climate accord]," said Murphy.
 The 2016 Paris Climate Accord was signed by 195 countries, who agreed to aim for drastic reductions in carbon emissions to try to keep climate change to less than 2 degrees Celsius.
 At that level, the IPCC says, there is some hope of avoiding catastrophic changes in the climate.
 Finnair opposes a flight tax, which could be on the way if the Greens form part of a government coalition.
 "We are naturally following the discussion closely, but do not think that a flight tax would be the optimal solution for reducing CO2 emissions from flying, as it cannot be earmarked for environmental work," a Finnair spokesperson said by email. "Also, as the flight tax systems that are in use elsewhere do not account for the aircraft type or fuel consumption, or the use of biofuels, a flight tax does not encourage investments into CO2-reducing technology and the use of biofuels."
 A flight tax was introduced in Sweden in 2018. That year growth in international air travel began to fall, with domestic flights down three percent.
 "People are flying less," said Murphy. "In Sweden people have started to fly less and that has only previously happened in an economic recession. Now it's happening because of climate change."

Finnair admits carbon offset sales pitch 'misleading' as European emissions increase 14% per year


Summary: All the measles cases reported in Finland were contracted abroad.

The incidence of  measles  in Finland has increased over the last year, says the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). While 11 cases of measles were diagnosed in the country in 2017, the number rose to 16 in 2018. All infections were contracted abroad.
 According to THL, the increase in the number of infections reflects the spread of the disease elsewhere in the world, including Europe. "Over the past 12 months, tens of thousands of measles cases have been reported in European countries,"  Taneli Puumalainen,  senior physician at THL, said.
 In Finland, measles was introduced by those who had been abroad and then spread, mostly to family members. The biggest risk of a broader spread of measles last year was in  Ostrobothnia , Western Finland, where an  unvaccinated child  contracted the disease in an area where the vaccination coverage was low.
 Puumainen reminded travellers to check their vaccinations at least one month before a trip.
 Drug resistance is a cause for concern
 The prevalence of drug-resistant bacteria also increased in Finland in 2018 according to THL. In particular, the number of Enterococci cases tripled from 66 to 205. Resistant Enterobacteriaceae cases increased by more than half from 48 to 73.
 Although the figures are growing, they are still small, according to THL. The situation in Finland, when assessed globally, is estimated to be very good thanks to an effective treatment system and hospital hygiene, explained Puumalainen.
 "Drug-resistance to microbes should be a matter of concern. It is a big global problem that has a large impact on the price and effective use of antimicrobials in the future," said Puumalainen.
 TBE vaccination recommended in summer
 In 2018, the number of reported cases of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) was 79, which was the same as the year before. While most infections were contracted in known risk areas, the incidence of the disease has been increasing for several years, according to THL.
 TBE vaccination is recommended for those who will be outdoors in nature during summer for at least four weeks. Residents and travellers in risk areas are eligible for a vaccine as part of a national vaccine program. The list of risk areas is mainly includes clearly defined parts of archipelago regions in Finland, but this year the southwestern part of Lake Lohja in Uusimaa was also included by the national vaccine program. The most common tick-borne disease, borreliosis, however, does not have a vaccine.
 On the whole, the situation regarding infectious diseases in Finland is stable, according to Puumalainen who pointed out there were no major epidemics or events threatening public health over the past year.

Measles and drug-resistant bacteria on the rise in Finland


Summary: Polls have opened in one of the more intriguing Europarliament elections in recent times. Voting stations are open until 8pm Sunday.

09.00am  Another month, another poll in a busy political year for Finland.Check our four-point guide for a quick refresher on everything you need to cast your ballot -- and a little bit of background about the election too! Not sure about whom to vote for? We’ve got you! Check out our handy election compass, where you can see which candidates’ ideas align most closely with yours.
 Politicians in Finland  were skittish about the timing of today’s election, which they feared could complicate government formation talks following last month’s general election. The European Parliament election comes just as Finland prepares to assume the rotating presidency of the European Union from 1 July.
 Europe seeks identity
 Brexit is the elephant in the room in this election. Unable to agree on the terms of its withdrawal and with an exit postponed until October, the UK has found itself participating in the election. If  Theresa May  is able to pull off a miracle and close some kind of divorce deal, Finland will elect 14 instead of 13 Europarliamentarians.
 The nationalist Finns Party posted big gains in the recently-concluded parliamentary election in Finland. It is also hoping to  increase its influence  in this election as well and is forming alliances with like-minded political groups across the EU.
 Europarliament elections will determine the future direction of the region and will hopefully address fundamental questions such as who is European, writer and activist  Maryan Abdulkarim  told our All Points North podcast on Friday. Listen to the full show for insights on what’s at stake for voters in Finland.

Live blog: Finland votes in European parliament elections


Summary: For safety's sake the plane landed on a longer runway, following a reported problem with the aircraft's wing flaps.

A mechanical fault in a Boeing 737-800 jet forced it to land at an unusually high speed at Helsinki Airport early Tuesday morning, according to news outlets including Helsingin Sanomat.
 According to news reports, the plane was forced to land at a higher speed than usual — and on a longer runway — because of a technical malfunction in the wing flap system, which the pilot noticed just before landing.
 The jetliner, operated by Danish airline Jet Times, was reaching the end of a trip from Cyprus to Helsinki, and for safety reasons was instructed to land on Helsinki Airport's 3,500-metre runway. The airport's other two runways are roughly 3,000 metres long.
 The airport was put into standby mode as the plane landed, and 13 emergency units were onsite. The plane was carrying 187 people at the time of the incident.
 Finland's national airports operator Finavia confirmed that no one was harmed in the incident, adding that no one was actually in danger either even though the plane landed at a higher speed than it normally does.
 The plane, chartered by travel agency Tui, was full of returning holidaymakers, and arrived in Helsinki on schedule at around 4:00am on Tuesday.

Mechanical glitch reportedly forces high-speed landing at Helsinki Airport


Summary: An animal control vet and a health inspector visited the west coast farm on Tuesday but found few remains.

Pietarsaari officials came up mostly empty handed on Tuesday after they visited a fur farm where the "Rights for Animals" NGO claimed to have taken photos and recorded video of fox carcasses scattered on the ground.
 According to daily Helsingin Sanomat, the animal rights organisation has shared images and video on social media showing what appeared to be the decomposed remains of animals at a Pietarsaari fur farm. In some cases the carcasses appeared to be piled in mounds of dozens or even hundreds of animals, while in other cases, isolated remains appeared to be strewn about.
 On Tuesday, HS reported that animal control veterinarian  Gullvi Sederström  visited the location and said that she found a few isolated carcasses, the origin of which could not be confirmed.
 Vet: Not possible to link images to farm
 Sederström said she was also unable to confirm that the images shared on social media came from the farm in question.
 "The owner was not on site and it is not customary to perform a thorough animal welfare check during the pup season. There was water and there were no dead animals. No serious animal welfare violations were found," she added.
 However the inspection check found that the fur farming area was in need of tidying up. Officials will visit the location once more when the pup season is over, which should be towards the end of June.
 Head of the Pietarsaari environmental health unit  Marit Björkstrand  told the paper via email that the majority of structures on the farm were in poor condition. She added that because certain environmental issues had been identified, local environmental protection officials had also been notified.
 A petition to ban fur farming was  the first citizens' initiative  to accumulate the 50,000 signatures required to make it part of Finnish lawmakers' legislative agenda. However  MPs rejected a ban  on the activity in spite of popular support for the measure.

Inspector finds "no serious violations" after NGO releases video of animal carcasses on fur farm


Summary: Finnish Customs and chemicals watchdog Tukes say they have intensified oversight of pesticides imported into Finland.

The Safety and Chemicals Agency Tukes said on Tuesday that it is aiming to prevent the entry of illegal pesticides into the domestic market. Tukes noted in a release that tonnes of the illicit chemicals are currently available on the European market, in the form of counterfeit or unapproved substances that may also be harmful to human health and the environment.
 The agency added that the illegal trade in pesticides encourages financial crimes and results in financial losses for law-abiding businesses.
 Last year, a joint sting involving 26 countries – including Finnish Customs and Tukes -- uncovered 360 tonnes of illegal pesticides. However at the time, the operation did not reveal any of the unlawful substances in Finland.
 "These illegal materials will probably enter the Finnish market, since the problem is so widespread across Europe. In addition to the risk posed by bogus substances, are the products that have not been accepted [for use] in Finland. Pesticides imported from abroad without a license may not be used," Tukes chief inspector  Lotta Kaila  said in the release.
 Customs could trigger criminal probe
 "The impact on human health and the environment of the ingredients in counterfeit pesticides is not known. Authentic and tested ingredients are either replaced by cheaper substitutes or omitted altogether, so the product is cheaper but it is no longer suited to its original purpose," Kaila added.
 Airport customs chief  Mika Pitkäniemi  said that the agency would focus checks on imports and that it would be using advanced technology to probe the contents of imported products. "Depending on the seriousness of the case, Customs will also conduct a preliminary investigation into suspected cases of illegality," Pitkäniemi added.
 Tukes is the only agency in Finland that can grant permission for the use of pesticides and users require a Customs license to import the product.

Authorities move to root out imported illegal pesticides


Summary: The eco-friendly experiment will also save time and money, the library management claimed.

Elokuva, kirjallisuus ja audiovisuaalinen media

From barcodes to book covers — plastic is inescapable in a library. The Kuopio City Library, however, plans to put an end to that. The management has decided to procure new books without protective plastic covers. The experiment is being undertaken with a small set of books and the results are already looking promising, they said.
 A case in point is that readers returned one of many cover-free books by author  Kalle Päätalo  without any major damage, library officials elaborated.
 Minna Koistinen from the Kuopio library Sakari Partanen / Yle
 "The wear and tear is so negligible that it doesn’t deter the experiment. This simple act can encourage environmental protection,"  Minna Koistinen , the library’s customer and collection manager added.
 First library in Finland with plastic-free books
 Until now, only scientific libraries housed books without protective plastic covers. "This is a groundbreaking thing," gushed  Rauha Maarno , Managing Director of the Finnish Library Society, who claimed that no public library in Finland has done this before Kuopio.
 And, it’s not just good for the environment — the new practice could save money and time too,  Koistinen  said. Books that no longer need to be covered will make their way to the libraries faster than before. The money saved can be used to acquire new books.
 Library officials believe that this experiment could be of interest to other libraries in Finland too as plastic covers can prove quite expensive. Libraries in Finland acquired a total of about 1.6 million works last year.
 Recycling made easy
 The recycling of scrapped books is also much easier, thanks to this initiative, the library claimed. The non-recyclable covers previously had to be torn off old books first, but cover-less books can now be placed directly in the paper recycling unit.
 Sakari Partanen / Yle
 Finland uses a significant number of non-recyclable plastic covers. Last year, of the 2.5 million non-recyclable plastic covers removed nationwide, around 70,000 were from Kuopio alone.
 The city library of Kuopio is, however, ready to return to plastic if the life cycle of the books without protective covers proves shorter than expected.
 Library worker  Tuula Tiihonen , said she understands the need for the plastic-free project but is sceptical. "When books are used a lot, they will wear out. I suspect they won't last. Let’s see," Tiihonen said with a smile.

Kuopio City Library ditches protective plastic covers for books: "This is climate action"


Summary: Government negotiations see spending troubles, the Centre Party questions chair Juha Sipilä's leadership and a new cable car is tested.

Daily  Helsingin Sanomat wrote  that Social Democratic chair  Antti Rinne 's government coalition talks have entered a "difficult phase" marked by an absence of sufficient funds to bring about all the policy proposals currently in the works.
 HS reported that the party chairs have reached an initial consensus that the coming government needs an extra one billion euros to fulfill its plans.
 For the budget to be rounded out, some 700 million euros more in tax income would be needed. Finland's employment rate would also need to rise to 75 percent from the current 72.6 percent by the year 2023.
 HS sources indicated that the government intends to sell off state assets for an injection of 1.5—2 billion euros, most of which is set to fund transport and infrastructure upgrades. An estimated 500 million euros would go towards research and innovation.
 Rinne has said that the government talks are to conclude on Friday, which HS sources said is unlikely due to the sheer number of open questions still dangling over the negotiators.
 Chair Sipilä blamed by own party
 While the next coalition slowly comes together, outgoing Prime Minister and chair of the Centre Party  Juha Sipilä  is facing severe criticism from his own Centre Party MPs.
 Sipilä's colleagues expressed their displeasure at the premier's leadership style and his special treatment of outgoing transport and communications minister  Anne Berner , according to  regional paper Maaseudun Tulevaisuus ; MPs spoke of a "climate of fear" surrounding Sipilä's behaviour.
 MT interviewed ten Centre Party insiders and found that many of them do not want Sipilä to take up a ministerial portfolio in the coming government.
 Sipilä granted minister Berner the right to veto, which many Centre Party politicians balked at. According to MT, one MP said that during Sipilä's term the PM undermined the party's parliamentary group and made open conversation impossible.
 "In group meetings Sipilä would become angry when criticised," the anonymous MP said. "The parliamentary group should guide the PM, not the other way around. Sipilä also seemed to look down on MPs who were working on so-called "insignificant things", even though the nitty gritty policy work actually has a lot of value for rural Centre Party voters especially."
 Another MP claimed that Sipilä's victim mentality halted the Centre Party's development.
 "When we tried to make big political changes, everything stopped with Sipilä," the anonymous source said.
 Finland's first funicular functional
 The city of Turku is almost ready to inaugurate its Kakola funicular, the first in Finland.  Tabloid Iltalehti tested  the new semi-vertical cable car, which can carry some 480 passengers per hour.
 The funicular was proposed as early as 2010, wrote IL, with the first competitive bidding rounds in 2012. The Kakola hill is too steep for buses or other forms of transport; and the funicular is much cheaper, costing about a third of a bus line's annual upkeep costs.
 The funicular track  is 132 metres long with an elevation of 30 metres from the bottom of the line to the top. Using the funicular is free, and a one-way trip lasts about one minute.
 The 5.6 million euro project was supposed to be finished by the end of 2018. Instead Turku will begin public use of the funicular on Friday, 24 May.

Wednesday's papers: Money worries in gov't talks, intra-party Sipilä criticism, Turku funicular


Summary: Fake passports and ID cards were sold in Finland via social media, according to the agency.

Finland's Border Guard said it suspects that an organised crime group has been producing and selling counterfeit passports, ID cards and driver's licenses online and sold to people on social media sites.
 The agency reported that at least two men from Cameroon and one Finnish woman participated in the counterfeit group's activities.
 One of the men, the main suspect, lives in Finland while the other is thought to reside in Cameroon. The Border Guard said that the woman had arranged money transfers related to the counterfeiting, along with the man in Finland.
 A dozen cases
 The agency said the main suspect is linked to at least 12 cases in which counterfeit documents were sold. The man's phone allegedly included data and photos related to four different fake documents.
 The head of the investigation, border guard captain  Ville Mihl  said the online sale of fake personal documentation is a growing crime.
 "I'm certain that papers such as these, no matter the quality, are more in demand now," Mihl said. "People who sell forged papers have realised the internet is a good place to sell their wares," he said.
 The Southwestern Border Guard investigated the group along with the National Bureau of Investigation. This is the first time that the Border Guard has investigated illegal document sales on the internet as part of a pretrial investigation.
 That probe is reportedly concluded and the Prosecutor's Office of Western Finland will decide whether to press charges in the case.

Border Guard uncovers suspected counterfeit documents ring


Summary: Demonstrators warned that recently rekindled plans for an Arctic railroad would have serious consequences.

As lawmakers have gathered at Helsinki's House of the Estates for government formation negotiations over the past several days, demonstrators from various groups have also assembled there.
 On Wednesday members of Finland's indigenous Sámi population carried a banner in front of the historic building, demanding the incoming government to drop plans to build an Arctic Railway, a controversial project which recently made new advancements.
 The demonstrators' banner read "no to the Arctic Railway." One of the protesters was the Finnish Sámi Youth Organisation'schair, Petra Laiti , who along with fellow demonstrators, was dressed in traditional Sámi clothing.
 "Even though ministries already cancelled plans for the railway in the last administration, there's been a lot in the news about people trying to raise private money for it," Laiti said.
 "Serious consequences"
 Earlier this month,  Peter Vesterbacka , the former marketing chief of mobile gaming giant Rovio,  signed a letter of intent  on the design and implementation of the railway in a deal reportedly worth three billion euros.
 The proposed railway - which would link Rovaniemi with the northeast coastal city of Kirkenes in Norway - has received a good deal of criticism from the region's Sámi population, because it is planned to run across ten different reindeer herding areas.
 Laiti said she was demonstrating to remind people that the government has a lot to say about whether the project would go forward or not.
 "We want to remind you how serious the consequences the Arctic Railway would have for the Sámi," Laiti said.
 Students supporting foreigners in Finland to study
 Members of other groups have also brought their issues to the House of the Estates, including ones from Aalto University's student union.
 The students said they want to improve conditions for foreign students after they graduate. Messages on the signs they were holding said that Finland needs skilled workers and should grant permanent residence permits to foreigners who are done with their studies.
 Student union member  Ellen Heikkilä  said the union has voiced various issues during the government formation talks, and this time it was the theme of international students.
 "It should be easier for them to come here and for companies to recruit them," she said, noting that she hopes the government talks will lead to good results.

Sámi youth group protests proposed Arctic Railway


Summary: Heli Jantunen invented a novel, low-temperature method for producing ceramic, microelectronic components.

The Innovation Award for Women 2019 was handed to professor  Heli Jantunen  from the University of Oulu for her work in a field known as electroceramics.
 The prize is given to Finnish women or groups of women who excel in their fields. The accolade includes a prize of 110,000 euros and awarded by Finnish Parliament. Deputy Speaker of Parliament  Paula Risikko  presented the award to Jantunen on Wednesday.
 Jantunen's work is groundbreaking and said to be the first in the world to introduce the production of electroceramics at lower temperatures than was previously possible. Electroceramics are commonly used in products like conductors, inductors, resistors, capacitors and other applications.
 However, until recently the production of electroceramics has required excessive amounts of heat to be integrated with electronic components. The method devised by Jantunen and her team enabled the production of electroceramics to be carried out at significantly lower temperatures.
 Method already in use
 The award process is handled by  Technology Academy Finland  (TAF), while parliament's chancellery commission selects the winner from the group of candidates.
 "The use of Jantunen's method can reduce energy requirements to 15–30% of the amounts previously needed, which cuts the costs associated with production equipment - easing the process while also being more eco-friendly," TAF said in a press release.
 "The production method has already been used successfully in making products like ceramic antennas."
 The group said Jantunen's method now makes it possible to produce small-scale, local and energy-efficient electroceramics which will lead to new material and technological possibilities.
 The award also commemorates the anniversary of universal suffrage on 1 June. The Innovation Award for Women was previously handed out in 2017 and 2018.

Oulu university professor wins €100K Innovation Award for Women


Summary: The company said the move is part of a plan to bring sustainable packaging products to the market.

Finland-based food packaging giant Huhtamäki opened a new factory in Northern Ireland on Wednesday. The facility will initially be used exclusively to produce paper drinking straws.
 Paper straws are likely to grow in popularity after a planned EU-wide ban on disposable plastic items goes into effect in 2021. Earlier this year the European Parliament voted to ban various single-use plastic items, including plastic utensils, cotton ear buds, drinking straws and others.
 According to Huhtamäki, the new facility - located in the town of Antrim, near the capital Belfast - will eventually employ about 100 people over the next few years.
 Sustainably sourced straws
 The firm said it plans to expand the range of products made at the facility and that materials for the straws will be sourced from sustainably-managed forests.
 Huhtamäki's general manager in Northern Ireland,  Ciaran Doherty,  said the company is looking for ways to improve the environmental performance of its products.
 "The launch of our paper straws is a good example of this. We are extremely proud to support our customers in their strategy to have a more sustainable and environmentally responsible supply chain by opening this new site," he said in a company release.
 After the opening of the new facility, Huhtamäki now employs about 560 workers in Northern Ireland. The Espoo-based firm employs almost 18,000 workers in 34 countries.

Finnish food packaging firm Huhtamäki opens paper straw factory in Northern Ireland


Summary: The 33-year-old follows in the footsteps of Finnish conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen in the prestigious London-based post.

Santtu-Matias Rouvali , 33, was named the new principal conductor of London’s Philharmonia Orchestra on Wednesday. He will take up the principal conductorship in 2021 on the heels of fellow Finnish conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, who has conducted top orchestras around the world.
 Rouvali, one of the youngest-ever artists to be appointed principal conductor of a London orchestra, has been called ”the hottest conductor in Finland” by  The Times  of London. He has been a principal guest conductor of the Philharmonia since 2017 and will take up the principal conductorship with a five-year contract that entails ten weeks work a year with the Philharmonia.
 "Start of a great adventure"
 “I am honoured to be the new principal conductor of the Philharmonia," said Rouvali in press release issued by the orchestra. "This is the start of a great adventure: London is such an exciting place for orchestras, and the Philharmonia is at the heart of classical music life in this city," he went on to say.
 The Philharmonia's managing director,  Helen Sprott , said that Rouvali "represents the future."
 "He’s young, dynamic, a natural musician and a conducting wizard. He has a proven record of building audiences for orchestras and for thinking creatively about the role a symphony orchestra can play in 21st century society.”
 Salonen will hand over the baton to Rouvali after 13 years at the helm of the Philharmonia Orchestra and take up the title of conductor emeritus from 2021, when Rouvali’s appointment starts.
 The Santtu effect
 Rouvali was born in Lahti, Finland, where his parents were both professional musicians. He trained as a percussionist and studied at Helsinki's Sibelius Academy.
 His first principal conductorship, which he still holds, is in Tampere, where the orchestra often had to repeat classical music concerts because of the so-called “Santtu Effect,” or his popularity.
 Rouvali is also chief conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and will continue in that post alongside his new job in London.
 Tampere-based daily  Aamulehti  first reported the story.

London Philharmonia picks Santtu-Matias Rouvali as new conductor


Summary: If sanctions are carried out, an international affairs expert said it could "paralyse" the project.

On Tuesday United States secretary of energy  Rick Perry  said the US is seriously considering sanctioning firms involved in the Nord Stream 2 liquefied natural gas (LNG) pipeline project.
 When completed, possibly by the end of this year,  Nord Stream 2  will carry Russian LNG to Germany beneath the Baltic Sea. A number of firms are involved in the international, Russian-led project, including Finnish energy company Fortum.
 "The opposition to Nord Stream 2 is still very much alive and well in the United States," Perry said during a visit to Kiev, Ukraine at the inauguration of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Tuesday.
 Perry said the sanctions could arrive in the "not too distant future," saying that the US Congress and Senate were preparing to approve legislation on the matter.
 Sanctions could "paralyse" firms
 The programme director of global security research at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs,  Mika Aaltola , said Perry's comments were more about American desires rather than an actual threat.
 "[The US] wants to remind Europe and the companies involved in the project that the US will continue to oppose it," Aaltola told Yle.
 Aaltola said the firms would be hit hard, if and when the threatened sanctions are carried out.
 "It would paralyse [the companies] and delay the project as well as make it more costly," Aaltola said.
 In addition to the US, some eastern European, Nordic and Baltic countries have also voiced concerns that the pipeline would increase Russia's geopolitical influence in the region.
 The Nord Stream 2 project is led by Russian energy giant Gazprom. Finnish energy company Fortum is also involved in the effort due to its share in German energy firm Uniper, which invested heavily in Nord Stream 2. Fortum bought up nearly  50 percent of Uniper last year .

US sanction threats over Nord Stream 2 pipeline possible "rhetoric," Finnish expert says


Summary: Police said on Tuesday that they will be keeping a keen eye out for underage drinking as school closes for the summer.

Police said in a statement on Tuesday that they would be cooperating with youth- and social workers in a bid to curb under-age drinking and drug use as students gather to celebrate  the end of the school year . They will also focus on adults procuring drugs and alcohol for minors as well as cases where young people are suspected of disruptive behaviour and vandalism.
 Officers will be keeping an eye on areas where young people like to congregate, such as city centres, parks and marketplaces. They will also attempt to track locations where young people have agreed to gather on social media.
 Police have intensified monitoring of young people’s activities at end-of-term festivities since 2010. Officials have filed between as many as 1,200  child welfare notifications  and confiscated up to 2,500 litres of alcoholic beverages during the annual merrymaking.
 However according to police sources, the number of alcohol-related offences and child welfare reports has declined in recent years.
 Police: Parents, answer your phones
 Meanwhile the National Police Board called on parents to answer calls from unfamiliar numbers during the weekend, since they might be coming from the police or youth workers, especially on Saturday.
 In previous years, authorities have observed that many children and young people use the occasion to try alcohol for the first time. They noted that since it is not always possible to predict the effect it will have on first-time drinkers, booze consumption can increase the risk of alcohol poisoning.
 "An inebriated child or teen also runs the risk of becoming a victim of crime, as well as suffering harm from narcotics," Police Board inspector  Ari Järvenpää  said in a statement on Tuesday.

Police step up youth supervision as school terms ends


Summary: Organisers say they want to encourage foreign tech workers to bring their families and settle in the area.

A new tech sector jobs programme named  Talent Call Turku  has received more than 1,000 applications from IT jobseekers around the world and the winners will be announced next month.
 The "talent call" is a competition – organised by Turku Science Park, the City of Turku and Business Finland – and an opportunity for the families of technology professionals to visit and potentially settle in south-west Finland's Turku region.
 Five winners will receive week-long, all-inclusive trips to the area so they can familiarise themselves with what Turku has to offer.
 "There are 76 different nationalities among the applicants," said  Pipa Turvanen , communications manager for Science Park subsidiary, Turku Business Region. "We expected around 500 applications, so we were positively surprised."
 Applications arrived from all corners of the globe, including the US, Singapore, Latvia and India.
 "About 60 percent of the applicants were specialists in the tech trade, such as engineers and software designers," Turvainen said.
 Families coaxed
 Industrial talent competitions like Talent Call Turku have been organised before in countries such as New Zealand, the Netherlands and Estonia. Business Finland said that nothing of the kind has been attempted in Finland before.
 Turvanen said the talent call contest is unique in that it focuses on applicants' families.
 "Previous events have been quite confined, seeking only coders or individual experts. One of Finland's strengths is how family-friendly it is," she said.
 The applications will soon be handled, and five winners are expected to be announced in June. The winning applicants and their families will be given the chance to acquaint themselves with Turku in August.
 "We'll try to find as many jobs for as many qualified workers as we can. We've discussed the shortage of good workers with various companies," Turvanen said.

Turku tech contest attracts 1k jobseekers from 76 countries


Summary: Finnish newspapers look at hourly wages, red meat consumption and the hidden dangers of gardening.

The mean Finnish hourly wage was 26.50 euros in 2018, putting Finland in the upper mid-range of a European salary comparison, reports business daily  Kauppalehti , citing a study by Eurostat.
 The study highlights the continent's wide east-west pay gap, with those in non-EU Norway earning an average ten times more than people living in Bulgaria, who pull down an average 4.50 euros an hour.
 Residents of former socialist countries earn the least, while those living in Denmark, Belgium and Netherlands are at the highest end of the salary spectrum.
 Meat taxes?
 While several climate reports are imploring Finns to limit their intake of animal-based products, a study by  Helsingin Sanomat  finds that Finland is the promised land of dairy and red meat, with the appeal of plant-based replacements for animal products largely limited to consumers in urban centres.
 A sales study by HS shows that in addition to the capital region, the university towns of Jyväskylä and Tampere sell the most meat and dairy replacement products, such as oat milk and pulled oats.
 Helsinki University food culture professor  Mari Niva  told the paper that major structural changes would be needed to change residents’ eating habits, as individual choice alone won’t steer people away from animal products to help reduce the country’s carbon footprint.
 Legionnaires’ danger lurking in soil
 The National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) is urging gardeners to wear protective gloves after its study conducted with the Finnish Food Authority found that 90 percent of potting soil samples contained legionella bacteria, which causes a severe form of pneumonia, reports  HS .
 Researchers randomly tested 53 soil products samples from around the country. The high incidence of the bacteria surprised researchers, according to the paper.
 Health watchdog THL said Legionnaires' disease has been under-diagnosed in Finland. Last year Sweden reported 40 cases of Legionnaires' disease originating in commercial potting mixes.
 Two Finns died from Legionnaires' disease in 2018.

Thursday’s papers: Finnish wages, meat-loving Finns and toxic gardening


Summary: After a tough domestic election, the Centre Party is in danger of losing a seat in the European Parliament

As voters in Finland prepare to head to the polls for the European election on Sunday, the conservative National Coalition Party (NCP) look set to retain their three MEP seats, according to Yle’s latest measure of voter sentiment.
 The NCP, led by outgoing finance minister  Petteri Orpo , have a proven track record in European elections and have been Finland’s biggest party in the European Parliament since 1999.
 Hot on their heels however are the Greens Party, helped by a 7.9 percent surge in support since the previous European elections in 2014; and the Finns Party, who are predicted to grow their share of the European vote by 4 percent.
 Sipilä's problems persist
 According to the survey, the biggest loser in the European elections will be the Centre Party, with an almost seven percentage point dip in support compared to the 2014 European elections. The party's struggles have not been helped by the loss of big name candidates such as  Olli Rehn ,  Paavo Väyrynen  and  Anneli Jäätteenmäki , all former MEPs.
 Such an outcome would see the party’s representation at the European Parliament shrink from three members to two, and would be another huge blow to outgoing PM  Juha Sipilä ’s party after a  poor showing at the recent Finnish parliamentary elections .
 Juha Sipilä and his Centre party face a tough EU election Markku Ulander / Lehtikuva
 The poll predicts that the Centre party's lost seat will most likely be picked up by the resurgent Greens, led by former EU special representative and two-time Finnish presidential candidate  Pekka Haavisto .
 The other parties currently with representatives in the European Parliament - the Social Democrat Party (2), the Swedish People's Party (1) and the Left Alliance (1) - are all expected to retain their seats.
 Low turnout
 The results will, however, depend heavily on voter turnout, which tends to be significantly lower for European elections than for Finnish parliamentary elections. This makes accurate estimations particularly difficult, according to  Tuomo Turja , Research Director at pollster Taloustutkimus.
 "These are elections in which a large majority of voters usually abstain," Turja says.
 At the last EU elections in 2014, voter turnout in Finland was just 39 percent, compared with a figure of 70 percent for the national elections held in 2015. Parliamentary elections held earlier this year saw 73 percent of eligible Finns make their way to polling stations, but it remains to be seen if this momentum will carry on into the EU elections.
 There are early signs of voter turnout being higher for this election, with an  increase in advance voting from the figures for 2014 .  Yle News also found voter appetite to be strong  when we took to the streets of Helsinki recently to gauge public opinion ahead of Sunday's election.

Yle poll: Support increases for NCP, Greens and Finns Party, as Centre struggles


Summary: Almost three quarters of primary school pupils study English, along with virtually everyone in grades 7-9.

Nearly three out of four children in grades 1-6 at comprehensive schools studied English last autumn, Statistics Finland said on Thursday. The figure rose from 71 to 74 percent from a year earlier. Meanwhile 99 percent of seventh through ninth graders studied English.
 Swedish was the next most popular non-native language, studied by nearly one fifth of kids in lower grades and 92 percent of those at upper-level comprehensive schools as a 'foreign' language.
 Swedish is Finland's second official language, spoken as a native tongue by 5.3 percent of the population.
 Paradoxically, Finnish was the third most popular 'foreign' language in Finland, studied by just over five percent of all comprehensive school pupils.
 One in 8 have native tongue other than Finnish
 Swedish was most often studied as an optional language, while Finnish was usually studied as a compulsory one.
 Swedish is compulsory in upper grades, reflecting its official status and traditional reputation as a  lingua franca  with the four other Nordic countries – though it is increasingly being replaced by English in that regard. Finnish is the only main Nordic language that is not in the Scandinavian linguistic group.
 According to the statistics bureau, 7.1 percent of the population last year had native languages other than Finnish, Swedish or the Sámi dialects, mostly spoken by indigenous people in Lapland.
 In other words, roughly one in eight people in Finland have a mother tongue other than Finnish. That figure is  much higher in Helsinki  and in other large southern cities.
 Small numbers for German, French, Russian and Sámi
 The next most commonly studied foreign language was German, opted for by four percent of those in lower grades and 10 percent of those in grades 7-9.
 Next up was French, studied by two percent of younger pupils and five percent of older ones.
 Russian – which was compulsory in the nineteenth century when Finland was part of the Russian Empire – is now studied by just 0.6 percent of lower-grade pupils and two percent of those in grades 7-9, making it less popular than Spanish.
 Sámi was studied as a compulsory language in primary schools by just nine pupils and three in upper grades, and only by around 300 altogether nationally, fewer than Latin.
 Finnish comprehensive schools include grades 1-9, which nearly all youngsters complete between the ages of seven and 16.
 Education is compulsory in Finland through ninth grade, when most students go on to vocational schools or academic high schools. Some municipalities also offer a tenth grade for students who want to improve their grades before going on to other education or work.

English increasingly dominant at Finnish schools


Summary: Finns Party chair Jussi Halla-aho did not explicitly comment on the deleted tweet, which created a stir online.

The nationalist Finns Party youth organisation has deleted a racist tweet posted on its Twitter account, calling it "ill-advised".
 "My tweet was thoughtless and I acted impulsively when the idea struck me. I later realised that it was misguided, but the damage was already done. I have learnt my lesson and moving forward, I will use better judgement when it comes to the organisation’s communications,” deputy chair  Toni Jalonen  said in a statement released on the Finns Party Youth website on Thursday. The statement did not include any specific apology.
 The populist party's youth group had posted an image of a dark-skinned couple holding a baby, with text urging people to vote for the Finns Party "if you don’t want Finland’s future to look like this". The photo was copied from a Facebook post by the European Parliament.
 Veiled criticism from party chair
 While the Finns Party chair  Jussi Halla-aho  did not explicitly comment on the since-deleted tweet, he wrote in a Facebook post that the party's goals do not include scrutinising the genetic heritage of humans or defining and limiting Finnishness.
 “Unfortunately, there is a small group of people in the youth organisation who do not seem to understand and accept the party's line and whose activities focus on harming the party and its youth organisation — for example, by attacking the party's own candidates.”  Halla-aho  wrote.
 Prosecutor General  Raija Toiviainen  also took a general stand on the issue by saying that in such cases, the first thing to be clarified is the motive. Toiviainen, who was on a business trip abroad, admitted she had not seen the tweet herself and could not follow the discussion around it. She said that when a message has a racist motive — that is, if the publisher of this message wanted to say that dark-skinned people do not belong to Finland and are somehow inferior — it is punishable by law.
 String of hate speech convictions
 Since the Finns Party was established in 1995,  a number of its politicians , including immigration hardliner Halla-aho, have been  convicted of online hate speech . The party split in 2017  when Halla-aho was elected chair , with co-founder  Timo Soini  and other more moderate party leaders leaving to form an ill-fated new party.
 Halla-aho's Finns Party came close to winning April's parliamentary election, earning just one seat fewer in the new parliament than the Social Democrats, who are now trying to form a government without them. That would leave Halla-aho as opposition leader.
 Several opinion polls after the election suggested that the Finns Party was the country's most popular, although  an Yle survey published on Thursday  showed slipping narrowly into third place.

Finns Party youth wing deletes racist tweet: "It was thoughtless"


Summary: A survey revealed that five percent of young respondents admitted to having bullied others online themselves.

Nearly half of youth and children in Finland have recently faced some form of hate speech online, according to a European  survey by EU Kids Online , a research network funded by a European Commission  programme  promoting an improved internet for kids.
 The organisation's stated aim is to "coordinate and stimulate investigation into the way children use new media."
 Research for the survey in Finland was led by Tampere university professor of media education  Sirkku Kotilainen . EU Kids Online examined the internet experiences of young people from 14 different countries, including Finland.
 Kotilainen was also involved the last time the survey was carried out in 2010.
 "Back then we did not look at the hate speech that children and young people encountered [online] because it wasn't fully recognised the way it is now," Kotilainen said.
 She was surprised by the kids' answers to the survey, saying that an unexpected number of them said they'd been the targets of hateful messages or comments.
 Surprising figures and reactions
 Kotilainen said she was also surprised by the many kids who said they wanted to see a change in the tone of online discourse.
 "Kids do not think aggression and hate speech on the internet is right, and they're saying 'no' to it. They want to see the situation change. It is such a strong message from young people that political decision-makers should stand up and listen to them," Kotilainen declared.
 Story continues after photo.
 Sirkku Kotilainen. Matias Väänänen / Yle
 Around 1,300 kids between the ages of nine to 17 in Finland participated in the EU Kids Online study.
 However, a precise definition of hate speech was not provided by the survey itself. Instead, the young respondents themselves described what kinds of behaviours they encountered online.
 Many of the respondents said they had received derogatory comments about things like their appearance, ethnic background, sexual orientation or disabilities.
 Kotilainen noted that even though people in Finland have the right to free speech, there are laws on the books prohibiting defamation.
 "Even though defamation is illegal, it does happen in online conversations without legal repercussions," she said, noting that Finland should come to agreement on a precise, legal definition of hate speech in order to prevent it, as the term is still used very broadly.
 5% said they've bullied others
 The professor said more research is needed, but above all, more public debate on the matter of hate speech is needed. She said that media education should be a central part of eventual government plans to eradicate hate speech.
 While nearly half of the young respondents in Finland said they had been the targets of online hate speech and bullying, five percent admitted they'd also been online bullies themselves.
 Additionally, just 20 percent of the kids said they had discussed how to use the internet safely with their parents, while less than seven percent said their parents had given them guidance in securely navigating the web.
 Roughly 15 percent of the youngsters said their parents regulated their overall internet use.
 "In order to keep your child safe online, you need to talk about it in daily life. Parents need to be interested in what their kids do - and where they go - online. It's useless to tell older kids about the risks of the internet - they've already come across it themselves," Kotilainen said.

Nearly half of kids in Finland face harassment online


Summary: Emissions linked to logging and peat usage have become a political hot potato in ongoing government formation talks.

Finland's greenhouse gas emissions rose by two percent last year, according to preliminary figures released on Thursday by Statistics Finland.
 The agency reports that the main drivers of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions growth were rising consumption of natural gas and peat.
 Emissions not included in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) exceeded Finland's annual allocation by nearly half a million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent.
 The number-crunching office calculates that the country's 2018 emissions were equivalent to 56.5 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2 eq.). That was an increase of more than one million tons of CO2 eq. compared to the previous year.
 Emissions not included in the EU's ETS remained around the same as the previous year but still overshot the country's annual EU-set allocation by 0.4 million tons of CO2 eq. Non-ETS emissions are calculated as the difference between the total emissions and verified emissions of the sectors in the ETS, not counting emissions from domestic civil aviation.
 Peat and logging political hot potatoes
 The figures do not include emissions attributed to land use, land use change and forestry (known as LULUCF).
 The net sink of the LULUCF sector – or the amount of GHG emissions that it absorbed – was -14.2 million tons of CO2 eq. last year. That was 30 percent lower than in the year before.
 The amount of emissions absorbed by Finland's vast forests has been the subject of much debate lately, including during the ongoing government formation talks, where the Centre Party and Greens have widely divergent views of how much logging should be allowed over the next four years.
 Another matter of contention is how much Finland should rely on highly-polluting peat for energy. Its harvesting and burning release large amounts of GHG emissions. Ireland, the only other EU country that still uses peat as a significant source of energy, recently announced plans to phase it out.
 Thanks to peat and natural gas use, energy-sector emissions swelled by three percent or 1.4 tons of CO2 eq.
 Meanwhile those from industrial processes and product use were flat. Emissions from agriculture and the waste sector fell by three and six percent respectively, compared to 2017.

Finnish emissions up by 2% - but down in agriculture and waste sectors


Summary: Some in Finland say that society turns a blind eye to the maltreatment of women during childbirth.

The National Institute for Health and Welfare THL says it is currently looking for sources of funding for research into the phenomenon of delivery room mistreatment of women in labour. The disclosure follows an online campaign in which women shared stories of their childbirth experiences.
 Reminiscent of the #metoo movement which exposed cases of sexual assault against women, the  #Minämyössynnyttäjänä  (roughly #Metooduringchildbirth) campaign sought to draw attention to the stories of women who felt they were mistreated in the delivery room.
 "The doctor at the hospital got angry and threatened me, saying that I had to come in to be induced or they would perform a C-section. I felt that i was being forced into procedures that were previously traumatic for me. On top of that, I had spoken about my fears many times before," one mother disclosed in the campaign.
 The outpouring of personal accounts prompted THL as well as the Federation of Finnish Midwives to collaborate in order to make the act of giving birth a more positive, inclusive experience for women.
 Marjo Lyyra , chair of the midwives' federation, said the group is worried that the childbirth campaign has made expectant mothers more fearful.
 On the other hand,  Katriina Bildjuschkin , a sex educator at THL - and a trained midwife - told Yle the discussion surrounding Finnish birthing culture was welcome.
 "Women should not be coerced, harmed, left feeling helpless or denied help. They are entitled to participate, self-determination and access to information,” Bildjuschkin explained. She added that research into women's treatment in the delivery room needs to be approached from several dimensions.
 "Historical aspects, birth experience satisfaction, real risks to the health of the mother or foetus as well as the mother's participation in childbirth. If our mothers are saying that this doesn't feel good, then of course we need to pay close attention. It's time to look into the root causes."
 "Ashamed of my colleagues"
 Yle wanted to learn about midwives' experiences as caregivers during childbirth as well, and enlisted the help of the midwives' federation to conduct a Facebook survey among its members.
 "Sometimes I’m so ashamed of how my colleagues practice this profession," said one midwife working in Finnish hospitals for the past 15 years.
 "To intentionally hurt someone, making the experience comparable to rape seems strange and macabre," wrote another midwife with 12 years experience.
 "I don’t think any midwife wants to hurt the mother or be cruel. I doubt anyone performs an episiotomy without reason," said a midwife with two decades’ experience, referring to the medical procedure which entails a surgical incision of the posterior vaginal wall to enlarge the opening for a baby to emerge.
 Another midwife pointed to challenges posed by technology: "I feel there’s a huge conflict between the physiology of birth and medicalisation of birth. We induce far too many births, and we’re losing the art of midwifery while staring at beeping machines."
 Bildjuschkin said there haven’t been studies on how midwives are able to deal with very busy schedules during their shifts.
 Many midwives joining the online discussion said they were glad the campaign was drawing attention to the effects of under-staffing in many maternity wards, particularly during peak periods.

Finland's health watchdog seeks funding to research delivery room mistreatment


Summary: Judges in Finland face threats, Kela rolls out more student aid and Finland faces Russia in world hockey semi-finals.

The intimidation of judges is a relatively new but growing phenomenon in Finland, according to Swedish-language daily  Hufvudstadsbladet .
 A survey carried out by the association of Finnish judges showed that nearly two-thirds of justices reported they had been the target of intimidation and harassment.
 Some 540 judges responded to the survey, which particularly found online threats to be increasing. Some said they had received feces and ash in the mail while others reported threats made against their families.
 Boost for low-income families
 Business magazine  Talouselämä’s  most popular story this morning regards benefits agency Kela’s  new financial aid  for high schoolers.
 Students whose families earn less than 41,000 euros annually are eligible for a monthly grant of 46.80 euros, which aims to cover material expenses. While high school tuition in Finland is free, materials such as course books and laptops are not.
 Kela will begin issuing the new payout in August.
 Lions reach hockey semi-finals
 Finland scored a dramatic 5-4 win over traditional rival Sweden in the men’s world hockey championships staged in Bratislava on Thursday night, reports newsstand tabloid  Ilta-Sanomat .
 Swedish media headlined the loss against the Lions as a fiasco, as the Swedish national team boasted 21 NHL players while Finland only had two.
 Finland is now set to play against Russia in the semi-finals on Saturday, while Canada will face the Czech Republic in the other semi-final. The world hockey final will take place on Sunday.

Friday’s papers: Threats against judges, more student aid and Finland’s Lions defeat Sweden


Summary: A visit by Yle to Syria’s Al-Hol refugee camp found 44 Finnish citizens — including 33 children — living there.

Visiting the Al-Hol camp, Yle correspondent  Antti Kuronen  said he met five Finnish women who stated that 11 Finnish mothers and 33 children were living at the camp, which has become a temporary home to some 70,000 people.
 "We are Finns and we don’t understand why we can’t return to Finland with our children," one of the women told Yle.
 The women said they had been living in Syria for several years and that some of their children were born there.
 All of the women said they were born in Finland and told Yle that they had made previous attempts to leave the caliphate.
 "We tried to get out, but it was difficult as we didn’t have money to pay the smugglers. Kids are dying in the camp all the time, often from respiratory infections," they explained.
 Finland may take responsibility for kids
 Interior Minister  Kai Mykkänen  meanwhile told Yle that Finland was not planning to repatriate the women, whom he characterised as deeply radicalised.
 Mykkänen told Yle that he hoped they would be tried in the International Court of Justice.
 The minister said Finnish citizens affiliated with Isis will face arrest and criminal investigations regarding their involvement in terrorist activities if they return to Finland.
 Story continues after photo.
 Matti Myller / Yle
 Mykkänen said Finland is looking into ways of repatriating children of Finnish citizens living in refugee camps into the care of the state. Such a move would, however, require consent from guardians. But he underscored that the new government will make the final decision on the repatriation process for children whose parents joined Isis.

Finnish Isis brides: "We want to return to Finland"


Summary: TV and radio stations run the risk of losing their broadcast permits if they break the rules, Finnish officials say.

Police and the Transport and Communications Agency Traficom have announced they are joining forces to intensify the surveillance of illegal gambling advertisements on television and radio.
 Only the state-owned gambling firm Veikkaus is permitted to run and market gambling of any kind in Finland. The marketing of any other gambling operations in Finland, or aimed at consumers in the country, is prohibited.
 Veikkaus has struggled to compete with international online gambling sites. Earlier this year the company announced job cuts, citing  intensifying digital competition  and business shifting onto digital channels.
 Even though they're not permitted, some advertisements for international gambling sites can still be found on Finnish TV and radio airwaves.
 If the TV or radio broadcaster repeatedly violates the ban on gambling marketing, Traficom could make a decision to cancel the company's broadcast license.
 The National Institute for Health and Welfare THL has previoulsly  stated  there is a need for more stringent regulation of gambling marketing in general and that Veikkaus' marketing communication should follow the same lines as the state's health policy communication.

Authorities to crack down on TV and radio gambling ads


Summary: An expert says Huawei's troubles could still be ironed out, but one operator says it likely won't sell the firm's new phones.

Radio-, televisio- ja tietoliikennevälineiden valmistus

Mobile phone retailers around the world -- including in Finland -- are unsure about their relationship with Chinese network and smartphone firm Huawei following news of Google suspending its relations with the company.
 Google has said it would follow orders from US President Donald Trump to stop supplying Huawei with its operating system Android.
 For some time now, US officials have claimed that Huawei products - including its devices and 5G networking gear - could be so-called Trojan Horses for  Chinese intelligence agencies .
 Huawei is widely thought to be owned or controlled by the Chinese state and the Trump administration has said it considers the company to be a "risk to national security," and has encouraged other nations to blacklist the firm.
 Going forward, this will likely mean that the Chinese company's new phones could still feature open source versions of the OS, but would lack the ability to use popular Google-branded apps like YouTube and the Chrome web browser.
 Some Finnish telecoms companies were cautious about the possible future of Huawei, while another, like mobile networks firm DNA have said it is unlikely it will sell new handsets released by the Chinese company going forward.
 In the meantime, however, DNA's CEO  Sami Aavikko  said the firm will continue to sell Huawei phones that are already on store shelves.
 Story continues after photo.
 DNA CEO Sami Aavikko. Mikko Ahmajärvi / Yle
 "We'll continue selling the old models since the company has promised to continue providing security updates for the anticipated lifetimes of the phones. The situation regarding updates for the Android operating system is still uncertain," Aavikko said.
 Finnish telecoms provider Elisa also sells Huawei handsets, but reported via email that the company has not decided whether it will sell new models in the future.
 Mobile operator Telia declined to comment on what it plans to do with Huawei products on its store shelves, but did update its customers, according to the company's communications director  Camilla Ekholm .
 "We understand that people are uncertain, because it is difficult to say what impact this situation will have on consumers. That is why we have encouraged our sales staff to inform [customers] about Huawei's unsure situation," Ekholm said.
 Current owners "shouldn't worry"
 Journalist at Swedish tech site Sweclockers,  Andreas Eklöv , said people who own Huawei smartphones will still be able to use Google apps like Gmail, Docs and Hangouts.
 "The phones will continue to function like they normally do. The big difference is that Huawei cannot guarantee its customers that their handsets will receive OS updates, or when they will get them," Eklöv explained.
 "It's not unsafe for people to continue using Huawei phones that they've already bought. Outside the US, consumers will still receive security updates from Huawei and Google," he said.
 As long as Google's restrictions are in effect, Eklöv said that Huawei will be forced to manually fetch updates from Android's Open Source Project and distribute them to Huawei smartphones themselves, rather than automatically receive official updates directly from Google.
 This situation, Eklöv explained, will likely mean Huawei handsets will not be updated as quickly as other Android-based phones on the market.
 Eklöv said people wondering whether to buy a Huawei handset should probably wait.
 "If there's no rush, it would be a good idea to wait to see what happens with the embargo. The situation could still be resolved by the autumn and then new Huawei phones would receive new versions of Android. But before we know how long the embargo will last, I would not recommend people to buy Huawei phones because we don't know how long they will receive updates," Eklöv said.

Telecoms in Finland cautious about future with Huawei


Summary: Advance voting in 2019's European Parliament elections has been brisk. Will the populists come out on top, as some polls indicate?

Upcoming  Europarliament elections  will determine the future direction of the region and will hopefully address fundamental questions such as who is European, says writer and activist  Maryan Abdulkarim . Joining APN for a discussion on Sunday's ballot, Abdulkarim and Helsinki University World Politics professor  Teivo Teivainen  agreed that voters may be suffering from election fatigue following last month's nail-biting general election.
 However they agreed that issues such as migration, climate change, representation and balance of power could see electors rouse themselves to  cast ballots  on election day. " Even a single vote can make a difference ," Abdulkarim pointed out.
 Panelists said that there is a real chance for green parties to make great strides in the election and push for climate change mitigation measures at the EU level. Meanwhile Teivainen tamped down concerns about the rise of far-right and populist parties, adding that voters should not expect that all the racist, homophobic and patriarchal tendencies visible in national politics will necessarily be reflected in Brussels.
 Teivainen and Abdulkarim both expressed confidence that young MEPs could begin to change the trajectory of the European Parliament and the EU as a whole. After all Abdulkarim said, they are the ones who will live with the kind of bloc that is created. Meanwhile, Teivainen welcomed more young blood in Brussels, noting that the parliament has typically been a place where older statesmen go to "slip into retirement".
 Audience contributions and comments welcome
 If you have any questions, or would like to share something on your mind, just contact us via WhatsApp on +358 44 421 0909, on our Facebook or Twitter account, or at yle.news@yle.fi.
 The All Points North podcast is a weekly look at what's going on in Finland. Subscribe via  iTunes  (and leave a review!), listen  on Spotify  and  Yle Areena  or find it on your favourite podcatching app or via our  RSS feed .
 This week's podcast presenters were  Denise Wall  and  Zena Iovino  and our roving reporter was  Ronan Browne . The episode was produced by  Pamela Kaskinen  with the assistance of  Priya Ramachandran D'souza  and the audio engineer was  Laura Koso .

All Points North #55: EU vote - what's at stake for Finland?


Summary: Moona, a plump young Saimaa ringed seal appears to have pushed former seal TV star Pullervo out of the limelight.

WWF Finland’s "norppalive" video stream has a new star on its hands.  Moona , a charming and hefty young  Saimaa ringed seal  has been enchanting viewers with her antics on the seasonal live stream.
 "Moona is this young, attractive and fairly good-sized female. She is Pullervo’s pal, they’re from the same clan which includes eight other seals," said nature photographer and activist  Juha Taskinen .
 Pullervo  is  a veteran of the organisation’s annual live stream show ,  having featured since on the NGO’s livecam since 2016 , when he debuted with another female, Sire. The seals form clans, which may share items such as the rocks they use for sunbathing.
 "Some older seals are like the community elders, saying ‘you don’t go anywhere’. Young male seals in particular go off roaming over long distances and as far as I know Moona has also wandered off," Taskinen noted.
 Live stream camera carefully positioned
 If you randomly point a camera at any rock in southeast Finland’s Saimaa region, the probability of capturing a seal is quite low. But you can get lucky if you’re familiar with the animals’ habits.
 "About 20 years ago I went to eat a snack in the area where the camera is now. I heard two seals having a conversation and I took a photo. They were  Siiri  and Pullervo," the photographer commented.
 "When WWF was selecting a location for the camera, this came to mind immediately," he added.
 The rock on which the camera is trained may not seem very special but the local seal population has used it for decades. Moona was also photographed in the area near the location of the norppalive camera back in 2013 and has also been sighted since in 2014, 2016 and last year.
 "Moona has clearly grown during the monitoring period. We still haven’t seen signs of reproduction but she is beginning to get close to that age," University of Eastern Finland researcher  Meeri Koivuniemi  said in a statement on WWF Finland’s website.

New Saimaa ringed seal celebrity charms slow-TV fans