Summary: An Yle investigation finds Filipino nurses recruited by private care companies in Finland don't always get the work they signed up for.

A probe by Yle finds that many Filipino nurses in Finland work as low-paid care assistants despite holding academic nursing qualifications. Some said they had to pay local staffing agencies hefty recruitment fees to secure positions in Finland.
 Finnish private care providers began recruiting Filipino nurses around a decade ago to address health  worker shortages .
 Most nurses from the Philippines find that they are given care assistant duties at elder care homes when starting work in Finland. In time, many go on to complete practical nursing degrees in Finland despite holding more advanced qualifications from their home country.
 Medical watchdog Valvira has said it's unnecessary for Filipino nurses to study practical nursing in Finland. Care companies, however, encourage the degree as many municipalities demand that private care home staff hold a diploma from a Finnish institution. Nursing is a four-year qualification in the Philippines and Finnish experts have agreed the degree is of high standard.
 Certification challenges
 Earlier this year a  scandal over negligent care standards  in privately-run  homes for the elderly  prompted Foreign Minister  Timo Soini  to call for Finland to attract more nurses from the Philippines.
 Finland, however, still lacks a plan on how to steer the nurses arriving here into actual nursing duties, said  Päivi Vartiainen , whose  research  showed that Finland is essentially wasting foreign nurses’ education.
 Vartiainen said Filipino nurses' qualifications are downgraded when they arrive in Finland.
 “The pay for care assistants is low and will not meet  salary requirements  that would allow them to bring their spouse or children to Finland,” Vartiainen added.
 In Finland, healthcare companies Esperi and Attendo have recruited nurses from the Philippines. Mehiläinen recently began its own recruitment drive in the country.
 So far, some 400 nurses have arrived from the Philippines and a further 100 will soon land to shore up staff shortages.
 Fat fees to staffing agencies
 Some Filipino nurses in Finland have spoken out about hefty fees they were forced to pay local staffing agencies to secure jobs in Finland, pointing out that recruitment is big business in the Philippines.
 Finnish staffing firm Silkkitie (‘Silk road’) sends Filipino nurses to both Finland and Sweden. Staffing agency Opteam, now a part of Barona, was previously the main recruiter of nurses from the Philippines.
 “Neither Silkkitie nor our local partner Topmake demand recruitment fees, said  Arto Haimakainen , managing director of Silkkitie.
 Attendo Finland’s spokesperson,  Ilona Sammaljärvi ,also told Yle their company was unaware of any recruitment payments.
 Healthcare sector trade unions Tehy and Super have meanwhile sounded the alarm that Filipino nurses in Finland spend years working below their skill level at service homes for the elderly. Sometimes they are paid less than their Finnish counterparts.
 The Finnish Union of Practical Nurses, Super, is preparing to take a case to court involving two Filipino nurses working at health care provider Attendo. They were paid as care assistants despite holding Finnish practical nursing degrees.
 "These nurses work in the Lahti area and we’re taking the case to court," said  Jukka Parkkinen  of Super.
 The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment used to monitor private companies’ recruitment of overseas staff, but that role ended ten years ago.
 "Finland needs new laws regarding this type of monitoring as we’re going to need more and more migrant labour,” explained  Olli Sorainen , senior ministerial adviser at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.
 The Ministries of Education and Social Affairs and Health declined Yle’s request to comment on certification challenges Filipino nurses face when seeking to have their qualifications recognised in Finland.
 Recruitment nightmare
 Emmer Benito  and his nurse girlfriend, both from the Philippines, told Yle they were misled by a small company in Helsinki to which they paid an 8,000-euro recruitment fee. The firm promised them jobs as home care assistants with salaries of 1,800 euros, but the couple was given cleaning work upon arrival, earning them 200 to 300 euros a month.
 "We were tricked and were so cash-strapped we could only afford to eat once per day," Benito told Yle. "I knew the recruitment fee was illegal but we were forced to take our chances -- even if it cost us -- as we have a very hard time supporting ourselves in the Philippines."
 Like many other Filipinos working overseas, the couple had planned to send money back home to their families, but that proved impossible.
 With the help of the Filipino community in Helsinki, Benito contacted the police as well as care sector trade union Tehy. In 2017 a court convicted the couple’s previous employer on a number of labour crimes.
 Today Benito works for home nursing company Koti-Medi in the capital area.
 “I’m finally doing the work I aspired to do when first arriving in Finland, and I’m very happy about it.”

Filipino nurses undervalued, underpaid in Finland


Summary: Finland becomes a dead end for foreign post-grads, minority language rights in an increasingly nationalist climate and a top economist slams basic income.

Foreign post-graduate students are often left hanging after completing studies at Finnish institutions, writes national daily  Helsingin Sanomat , which reports that Finnish universities have given empty promises to overseas researchers.
 As part of the Education Ministry’s internationalisation strategy, Finnish universities actively recruit foreign research talent. But  Johanna Moisio  from the Finnish Union of University Researchers and Teachers (FUURT) told HS that foreign doctorates lack the networks to land jobs after graduating, and universities offer little help in opening doors to the private sector. This forces non-EU citizens to leave the country when their student visas expire, contributing to an  expensive brain drain for Finland  and frustrating situation for foreign scholars.
 FUURT said that between 2005 and 2016 some 660 foreigners who obtained their doctorates in Finland left the country, resulting in significant intellectual capital flight.
 Populism v minority language
 Swedish-language daily  Hufvudstadsbladet  explores how the new legislature will safeguard the rights of Finland’s Swedish-speaking minority.
 The paper notes that the Swedish People’s Party will most likely find an ally in the Left Alliance, as the party has several bilingual MPs, including its leader  Li Andersson.
 Some worry that the nationalist Finns Party, now with the second-most seats in Parliament, may revive attempts to  wipe out  compulsory Swedish-language education in schools.
 Money for nothing?
 MIT economist  Daron Acemoglu  picks apart  basic income  in an interview with business daily  Kauppalehti  ahead of his visit to Finland on Tuesday.
 To really help people, Acemoglu proposed not taxing salaries up to 2,500 euros per month, writes KL.
 The professor told the paper that the basic income concept traces two roots, the liberal right, which wants to diminish citizens’ dependency on the state by contracting the safety net into one cash grant, and the left which, according to Acemoglu, doesn't fully appreciate the hefty tax burden basic income would require.
 Acemoglu, who’s considered to be heading for a Nobel in economics, is delivering this year's Yrjö Jahnsson lecture in Helsinki on Wednesday.
 EDIT An earlier version of this review erroneously stated Acemoglu was to speak at the Etla think tank in Helsinki on Tuesday. The mistake was ours, not Kauppalehti's.

Tuesday’s papers: Foreign student brain drain, language rights and basic income


Summary: The trial of a suspected child abuser began on Tuesday in Oulu.

A 21-year-old Afghan is on trial in Oulu accused of aggravated sexual abuse and aggravated rape of a girl under the age of 15.
 The case, which started on Tuesday, involves eight men of foreign background are accused of abusing a girl aged under 15 over a period of five months in 2018. The eight defendants are to stand trial separately, and proceedings will not be held in public because of their sensitive nature.
 Pre-trial investigations are complete in three of the remaining seven suspects, with trials set to start over the spring and summer.
 The case came to the attention of police in late summer 2018, with eight men suspected of abusing the girl and five of them suspected aggravated rape. Three are suspected of physical assault and four of buying sexual services from a minor. In addition, one is suspected of keeping an indecent picture of a child.
 Police say the case is exceptional because the large number of abusers all knew each other. Child abuse itself is not rare: police investigated some 1,000 cases nationwide last year. Last month a 22-year-old man was  convicted of raping a 14-year-old girl he met on Snapchat , in a case that was part of a spate of sex abuse cases in Oulu involving men of an immigrant background.
 Police have faced criticism for quickly publicising the case and other similar ones in Oulu. Their response is that grooming on social media seemed to be a phenomenon at the time, and it was necessary to inform and warn the public. Authorities stress that online grooming cases have included both Finnish and foreign suspects.

Oulu sex abuse trial begins


Summary: Finland's birth rate has been dropping for nearly a decade, but donor-based fertilisation treatments are not handled by its public health care system.

Is Finland's policy on fertility treatment discriminatory? Same-sex couples and single women currently have no access to public fertility treatment, and have to go private instead.
 Nina  and  Milja Boström  are the parents of three children. But like for some other couples and single mothers, the donor-based in-vitro fertilisation procedure they used was not handled by the public health care system.
 Finnish public hospitals do not carry out fertility treatments involving donated sperm. Such restrictions also carry over to single women and heterosexual couples.
 "It's pretty sad. First, it excludes single women and same-sex couples. But there are also hetero-couples that cannot use their own cells," Nina said.
 "The system is not fair," Milja added.
 "If you have money you can go to a private health centre. But if you don't have money [for the procedure] you may not be able to have kids at all," Nina said.
 Surrogate pregnancies banned
 The restrictions also affect women who are unable to have children for medical reasons. Surrogate pregnancies are illegal in Finland, a situation which has caused some affected couples and women to leave the country at least temporarily in order to start families.
 Last year there were just over 47-thousand births recorded in Finland, the eighth consecutive year in which the country's  birth rate fell . Some experts have also said that Finland's dwindling birth rate will dent state coffers by billions of euros and hurt the country's  economic growth .
 However, earlier this year Helsinki Administrative Court ruled that a senior physician’s directive to provide fertility treatments only to heterosexual couples  discriminates against same-sex female couples .
 Family decisions
 The Boströms children - five-year-old twins and an infant - are biological siblings. The couple used sperm from the same donor in both pregnancies, and said that it felt right that their children would be actual siblings.
 The twins, who just turned five, already know about their biological origins.
 "They got to know quite early on that they don't have a father, but rather a donor who gave his 'baby seeds.' We told them that we don't know and cannot contact him. He was just nice and wanted to help people who can't have children on their own," Nina explained.
 The couple's decision to undergo the artificial insemination procedure was an easy one, she said.
 "We didn't even have to discuss the matter, it was completely natural for us that we wanted to have children at some point," Nina said.
 "It's never nice to go through the procedure. But since our desire to have kids was so huge it was never an obstacle," she added.
 There have been major advances in the field of fertility treatments in recent years, but the Boströms said they feel more could be done on a societal level.
 "Of course I would hope that everyone who wants to have children would be handled in the same way. Then there are some people who are still unable to have children because research hasn't gotten there yet. I hope that no one would be forced to be childless because of physiological reasons," Nina said.
 "And I hope that different types of families would become more normalised," Milja added.
 "Those who are still out in the cold are male couples. They often have the same longing for children as others. But for now there is no chance for them to have children together," Nina said.

Same-sex parents call for equality in fertility treatments


Summary: Weather instruments showed a temperature of 20.2 degrees Celsius in Northern Ostrobothnia on Tuesday.

Temperatures across some parts of Finland reached their highest of the year and skies were virtually cloudless and sunny on Tuesday afternoon.
 Finland's highest temperature was measured at around 2pm in Ylivieska, Northern Ostrobothnia, but Yle meteorologist  Toni Hellinen  said higher temperatures may still be in store before the end of the day.
 It was warmer in some parts of Finland than it was in Spain on Tuesday.
 The temperature in downtown Helsinki measured 16.9 degrees Celsius, while it was an even milder 18.5 degrees in Tampere at 4:30pm on Tuesday. On the west coast city of Vaasa, the thermometer showed 15.3 degrees while it was a chillier 10.2 degrees in the eastern city of Joensuu.
 Up north in Finnish Lapland, the temperature in Rovaniemi measured 15.8 degrees at 4:30pm, while in south-western Finland's Turku it was 18.1 degrees.
 Forecasters said Wednesday's weather will be quite similar to Tuesday's. But according to the Finnish Metrological Institute Wednesday will likely be a bit cloudier.
 However, the unusually mild and dry spring weather may not last for long. Yle meteorologist Joonas Koskela said there is chance of rain showers over the weekend, saying it will likely get cloudier on Thursday, as well.

Early spring temperature record broken in Finland


Summary: MPs returned to work on Tuesday after the election and the Easter break.

Juha Sipilä intends to serve as a backbench MP, after resigning the Centre Party leadership following a disappointing showing in  elections on 14 April .
 The Centre lost 18 of the 49 seats it held prior to the election, getting just 13.8 percent of the vote.
 “[Elections] are fought using the party chairs’ faces, and of course I accept the biggest responsibility for the Centre Party’s loss,” Sipilä told journalists on Tuesday as he returned to work after the Easter holiday.
 Sipilä also told media that the party was unlikely to enter government after such a heavy loss, but fellow Centre MP Antti Kaikkonen left the door ajar, saying the door into government was not ‘categorically’ closed. A party congress in the autumn will elect a new leader.
 Coalition formation is the next task for Finland’s newly-minted legislators, with SDP leader Antti Rinne in the driving seat after his party took 40 seats on 17.7 percent of the vote.
 Swedish People’s Party chair Anna-Maja Henriksson said she had spoken to Rinne over the weekend, but wasn’t expecting to start any official negotiations today. Other party leaders said they'd talked to Rinne but remained tight-lipped on the details.
 Finns Party MPs elected Ville Tavio, a second-term MP from south-west Finland, as chair of the parliamentary group. He got 21 votes while Leena Meri, who held the position last term, got 18.
 MPs presented their credentials on Tuesday, with the official opening of parliament set to take place on 25 April.

Ex-PM Sipilä to continue as backbench MP


Summary: Esperi Care hit the headlines recently after a welter of complaints came to light.

A private firm involved in providing care homes for older people has been told it must improve its performance across the board or face penalties that could include the revocation of its license.
 Esperi Care, which runs care facilities in municipalities across Finland, could be fined or have its licence revoked if it doesn’t fix failings across its elderly care home provision.
 This is the first time the National Supervisory Authority for Health and Welfare, Valvira, has made such a broad ruling against a provider of care for older people, according to Valvira official Elina Uusitalo.
 “This illustrates what a difficult situation there has been in elder care,” said Uusitalo. “Big care providers have been under supervision before too, but this is the first time that the whole division providing this type of care has been assessed, not just an individual unit or facility.”
 Vavira says that Esperi Care has failed to fix problems that severely endangered customer safety in recent years.
 Last week another care firm, Attendo, was threatened with fines totalling 350,000 euros if it did not improve staffing ratios to legally-mandated levels at  one facility  in Muurala, Eastern Finland.

Health watchdog raps care home provider over failings


Summary: Conflict resolution group CMI pulled links to its former employee from its website after the MP was accused of having made antisemitic comments on social media.

Conflict resolution organisation the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) has removed mention of former employee Social Democrat MP  Hussein al-Taee  from its website, according to a report in political news publication Verkkouutiset. Al-Taee has also removed references to CMI from his Twitter profile.
 CMI was founded by Nobel laureate and former Finnish President  Martti Ahtisaari  in 2000 and al-Taee became a newly-elected MP in Finland's recent general election.
 CMI's and Al-Taee's deletions appear to have taken place shortly after a Jerusalem Post article headlined   ”Finnish MP under fire for comparing Israel to Isis”  was published on Sunday.
 In the article,  Dr Efraim Zuroff , the head of the Jerusalem office of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, told the Jerusalem Post that al-Taee is ”obviously an antisemite” referring to several different social media posts by al-Taee.
 Facebook posts cause controversy
 Earlier this month Finnish news agency STT reported that in 2014, al-Taee made controversial statements in Facebook posts about the situation in the Middle East, suggesting that Israel and the US had trained Isis terrorists.
 Responding to STT, al-Taee said, ”I want to apologise for equating Israel and Isis because that comment was simply stupid and does not represent my values in any way."
 Yle reported on al-Taee's comments last week when the  newly-elected SDP MP came under scrutiny over contentious Facebook posts  and his then-employer CMI said it stood behind al-Taee.
 According to Verkkouutiset, a political publication owned by the National Coalition Party, CMI's director  Tuija Talvitie  said that she was contacted by the Jerusalem Post by email after the paper published its article about al-Taee on Sunday. She reportedly said that the CMI condemns any inappropriate or degrading comments about any ethnic, religious, national or other groups.
 Verkkouutiset reported that according to CMI's Twitter feed, the reason that al-Taee's name is no longer on the website is because he started working as an MP last Tuesday and no longer worked for the conflict resolution group.

CMI removes links to MP Hussein al-Taee from its website


Summary: Supervisory authorities are looking into dozens of deaths at both public and private elderly care facilities, according to Monday’s newspaper press.

Kuopio’s Savon Sanomat was among the papers Monday that reported that the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health, Valvira, is currently  looking at the deaths of some 60 people  in elderly care facilities which may have been caused by malpractice or severe neglect.
 The paper says that all of the deaths in question occurred in 2017-2019. About half of them, this year. The complaints being investigated concern both public and privately-operated facilities.
 According to Valvira Chief Inspector  Elina Uusitalo , recent media reports on the state of elderly care have sparked an increased number of complaints from the public.
 Although problems in the sector have received media coverage for years, they have come under increasingly intense scrutiny after  revelations of widespread neglect and lack of staff  at the Esperi Care chain of elder care homes came to light earlier this year.
 Green threshold
 Most papers,including the Tampere-based Aamulehti, note that on Sunday, the Green League issued a policy statement on the conditions under which it would be willing to join in  a new coalition government .
 According to party chair  Pekka Haavisto , the Greens are ready to enter a government if its programme is “sufficiently ambitious” in terms of policy on the climate, environment, education, and battling poverty, as well as on human rights and advancing Finland’s international position. He said that this will require focus especially on education at all levels and reducing poverty.
 He further stated that the Greens will not join in a government that takes a negative attitude toward Finland’s membership in the EU and the eurozone, that promotes closing the nation’s borders, distances Finland from international cooperation, does not improve the position of minorities in Finland or takes a negative stand on human rights.
 Haavisto said that his party’s goal is to create a “sustainable development” government which carries responsibility both domestically and internationally.
 Identity crisis in the Centre
 Turku’s  Turun Sanomat  writes that the largest loser in the recent elections, the Centre Party, has been left behind in the development of identity politics, and doesn’t really know what it wants.
 Reporting on a Sunday Centre Party seminar in Riihimäki, Turun Sanomat quotes outgoing PM and Centre chair  Juha Sipilä  as saying that the Centre’s moderate positions on climate change and immigration got  squeezed out by more extreme views  on both ends of the spectrum.
 The paper writes that the average Finns Party or Green voter is better able to see where those parties stand on these issues. For the Centre, being somewhere in the middle is not enough. No one really knows what it means in practice when saying that the Centre could be a bridge builder between extreme positions.
 Silja Silvasti , an expert participant in Sunday’s seminar stated that a Centre Party identity cannot be that someone lives in the countryside, has two diesel cars in the garage and vacations twice a year in Spain.
 “By promising people that they can continue doing what they’ve done up until now, we’d be lying and not moving this country forward,” she told the paper.
 Rising skin cancer rates
 Finland’s largest circulation daily, Helsingin Sanomat reports that there has been  a sharp rise in skin cancer rates  in Finland over the past few years.
 The paper says that skin cancer rates showed a slow steady increase during the start of this decade, then a sharp upward turn beginning in 2015. In 2014, 3,000 cases were reported in the country. In 2015, that figure jumped to 3,824.
 Most skin cancers are diagnosed among middle-aged and older people. These age groups are now starting to include large numbers of people who are part of the first generation to have spent beach holidays abroad.
 Sunburn is a significant risk factor. According to a survey by the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, sunburns are rather common. More than a fifth of the 1000 Finns asked in its study said that they had had a sunburn within the past five years. For most it had happened only once, but some reported multiple sunburns.
 The study also found that the most active travelers to sunny destinations are also the most active in protecting their children against excessive exposure to the sun.
 May Day weather
 It looks unlikely that May Day picnics will get rained out this week, according to the freesheet  Metro .
 According to a report in its Monday edition, holiday weather in most of the country should be partly sunny and mostly dry, but chilly enough that one will need to dress more warmly than last week.
 The exceptions are in the north, in Lapland, the area around Oulu and in Kainuu where there is a chance on showers on 1 May.
 Metro also cautions May Day revelers to be careful with open fires. Dry conditions mean that grass and forest fire warnings are in effect over about half the country, in eastern, western and central regions.

Monday's papers: Suspicious deaths in elderly care, Green threshold, skin cancer rates on the rise


Summary: Finns Party in early government talks, slap on the wrist for immigration officials, fitness in Finland and a final push to stop changing the clocks.

Government formation talks will officially begin on Friday, but discussions on the outlines of the next administration's economic policy are already underway -- and the nationalist Finns Party is involved,  tabloid daily Ilta-Sanomat reports  on Wednesday.
 "No party has been excluded from the negotiations," a source told the paper.
 IS said that according to information it has obtained, Social Democratic Party (SDP) general secretary  Antton Rönnholm  is leading the intense negotiations behind the scenes and the economy is seen as one of the most difficult areas to find consensus.
 On Friday the SDP, which  narrowly won a mandate  to lead formation of a new government, will summon parliamentary groups and will provide them with a series of fundamental questions about the administration's programme for the next four years.
 The government is likely to comprise at least the SDP, led by ex-union boss  Antti Rinne , and the conservative National Coalition Party, chaired by outgoing Finance Minister  Petteri Orpo , according to IS. However it wrote that the populist Finns Party has not been ruled out, despite Rinne's comments suggesting that it may have been.
 "With regard to the government's composition, everything is still open," the paper was told.
 Migri "overstepped its authority"
 The Finnish Immigration Service Migri recently received a slap on the wrist from the deputy chancellor of justice for directing officials to retain the passports of asylum applicants. Another tabloid, Iltalehti, reports Wednesday that  the deputy chancellor ruled that the immigration agency  overstepped its authority when it issued the guidance in 2016 and said further that the practice is not based in law.
 In summer 2016, Migri issued guidelines to the police and border guards, calling on them to retain passports or other travel documents submitted with asylum applications until the cases were either approved or rejected. The directive specifically targeted people seeking international protection and the National Police Board had in turn urged police departments to comply with the recommendation.
 The deputy chancellor began to investigate the practice following a complaint filed in 2017 by one applicant whose passport was taken by police officials. The deputy chancellor found that Migri's actions violated the principle of legality and that the practice of seizing a passport as part of the asylum process was a matter that required legislation. In other words, the decision to retain passports was a matter for lawmakers to decide, not Migri, IL wrote.
 Following the ruling by the deputy chancellor of justice, the Interior Ministry began preparing an amendment to legalise the practice. A new reform that will make it legal for police and border officials to seize the passports of asylum applicants will take effect from 1 June.
 Finns fittest among western nations
 Finns are in excellent physical shape, according to another IL report. The paper  picked up coverage of a new World Health Organisation study  carried by Business Insider Nordic, which found that although Uganda topped 168 countries in terms of citizens' fitness, Finland ranked first among rich western countries, where work requires less activity.
 IL writes that as recently as the 1960s, Finland led the rest of the world in terms of the prevalence of heart and vascular disease among men. However the situation has turned around, in part because people smoke significantly less than before and have healthier diets. But Finnish residents are also keener on looking after their bodies, IT noted. The WHO study suggests that 56 percent of residents aged 30 to 64 engage in at least one hour moderate physical activity every day.
 Business Insider Nordic also highlighted the popularity of Nordic walking in Finland and the fact that schools and workplaces encourage students and employees to exercise.
  Time up for changing the clocks?
 Finland is hoping to use its rotating EU presidency to push through a final decision by EU member states  on giving up daylight saving time , says the southwest Finland-based Turun Sanomat.
 Although the European Parliament  endorsed the decision to abandon the biannual ritual back in March , the European Council, the body that defines the bloc's policy agenda, has yet to corral member states to adopt a conclusive stance on the issue. Finland hoped that this would happen during Romania's EU presidency during the first half of this year.
 "Finland's goal is to also get an official decision at the level of the EU Council during its presidency through to the end of the year. It's not that simple, given that there are 27 member states and each of them will have to ask national parliaments and governments about the matter and then draft a national position, but we are aiming for a decision," said  Maria Rautavirta , a counselor with the transport and communications ministry.
 Rautavirta said that it would still be possible to call time on daylight saving time in 2021 if Finland is able to push through a final decision during its EU presidency. Once the EU Council upholds the EU Parliament's decision, each member state will determine whether to retain summer or winter (normal) time as standard.
 Finland  has already indicated support for adopting winter  time as permanent standard time. However Rautavirta said that the then-cabinet's support for winter time is only an initial position that can still be negotiated.
 "The final position will come from parliament and it will then be implemented nationally," she added.
 A majority in neighbouring Estonia is said to back switching permanently to summer time, while studies show people in Finland prefer sticking with winter or normal time. Rautavirta noted that normal time would keep Finland in the same time zone with Estonia, while it would be one hour ahead of Sweden if winter time applies in all three locations.
 Edit: Updated at 11.16am to clarify how Finland would stand with respect to Estonia and Sweden if winter time becomes the norm throughout.

Wednesday's papers: Populists in govt talks, Migri censured, fit in Finland, winter-time push


Summary: Helsinki mayor Jan Vapaavuori condemned as "cowardly" acts of terrorism that target innocent victims.

Victims and Casualties of a Specific Havoc

Helsinki landmark Finlandia Hall was bathed in red, gold and green, the main colours of the Sri Lanka flag, on Tuesday night in memory of more than 350 people killed  in coordinated suicide bombings in the capital  Colombo on Easter Sunday. Another 500 people were injured in the attacks.
 Finland's capital city said in a statement that the show of solidarity took place on Tuesday night, as the venue had been closed during the Easter weekend.
 Helsinki mayor  Jan Vapaavuori  condemned what he called cowardly terrorist acts aimed at innocent people.
 "Terrorism that targets innocent people around the world is cowardly and must be condemned. We share Sri Lanka's sorrow by illuminating Finlandia Hall in the main colours of the [country's] flag today. We must never surrender to violence and terror," Vapaavuori said in the release.
 Finlandia Hall was previously illuminated in the colours of the French flag following an attack on the Paris offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January 2015 that killed 12 people, and most recently after a shooting attack by a lone gunman at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand claimed 50 lives.
 Sri Lankan officials have so far held a total of 58 people in connection with the strikes and confirmed that Indian intelligence had warned them about potential attacks targeting churches weeks before Easter Sunday.

Helsinki's Finlandia Hall lights up for Sri Lanka bombing victims


Summary: Shared city bikes are spreading quickly around Finland, with several new programmes due out this summer.

The eastern city of Kuopio is the first in Finland to launch a fleet of electric-assist city bicycles.
 Czech bike sharing firm Homeport has delivered 170 bright-yellow  dockless e-bikes  to the city. As of 1 May, 150 of them will become available for public use, with 20 to be kept in reserve.
 Some locals have already had a chance to test the shared bikes before the official start of the pogramme and initial reviews have been glowing. Students say the two-wheelers are ideal for getting around in the hilly city, especially between the city centre and the university campus in Savilahti.
 Users of the 37-kilo bikes get an extra boost from the electric motor as needed, up to a maximum speed of 25 km per hour.
 Using the bike requires the use of a smartphone app. It shows where bikes are available and makes them impossible to use illegally.
 Demand may outstrip supply
 The basic bike usage fee is five euros a day, 10 per week, 20 per month or 50 euros for the season until the end of October. As with Helsinki's city bikes, that covers rides of up to 30 minutes, with an extra fee for longer stints.
 There will be 10 permanent docking stations as well as 10 more "virtual stations". A local firm is to ensure that the bicycles' batteries are always charged up.
 "We expect each bike to be used an average of 2.5 times a day, with revenues of 40,000-50,000 euros annually. However lots of people have been asking about them, so usage may be higher," says city project manager  Jouni Huhtinen .
 Officials are slightly worried about high demand for the bikes once they are launched on May Day, as there are just 150 bikes and 120,000 residents in Kuopio, not to mention visitors.
 Vantaa, Oulu and Lappeenranta getting in gear
 Shared  city bikes have proliferated  in the past couple of years around Finland, with the largest programme expanding this year in Helsinki and neighbouring Espoo, along with a separate system on its way in nearby  Vantaa this summer . This year city bikes have competition from  electric scooters  in the capital.
 Lappeenranta and Oulu are also among those rolling out bicycle fleets. Turku in the southwest is so far the only city to offer bikes all year round.
 Another eastern city, Kajaani, tested a couple of electric city bikes last summer, but Kuopio's is the first large-scale programme featuring e-bikes.

Kuopio launches Finland's first fleet of electric city bikes


Summary: Seven councillors had previously called on the city to teach children that "girls are girls and boys, boys".

The city council in Orivesi, near Tampere, ruled to dismiss a motion tabled by seven councillors to teach traditional gender roles in schools. The council determined that it would not take the motion forward as it does not comply with equality and gender equality legislation.
 Orivesi education director  Mia Mattila  said during a council session on Tuesday that the individuals who had signed a petition supporting the motion did not appear to be too familiar with current gender-equality laws.
 "In school, no one would reject anyone, but gender-sensitive education means that educational professionals are aware of different identities and every child receives support for the person they are," Mattila tweeted from the municipality's official Twitter account.
 "Girls are girls and boys, boys"
 Seven municipal councillors had previously called on the city, which has a population of just over 9,000, to teach children that "girls are girls and boys, boys". The proposal bore the title, "A motion to support healthy gender roles in Orivesi city operations". It called on local officials to adopt a policy position that there are two genders.
 "Girls are girls and boys, boys. This fundamental truth is being forgotten in the turmoil of modern society," the motion declared.
 The authors of the motion also urged Orivesi officials to request reports from schools and daycares about learning materials that involve gender issues.
 The city's youth council opposed the proposal, commenting that young people should be allowed to be who they are.
 Discomfort over elimination of boys' and girls' prizes
 Social Democratic Party councillor  Eliisa Suhonen  took to Twitter to wonder how much work the motion caused and what would happen to the municipality's image. She added that she'd received numerous phone calls about the motion for three weeks after it became public.
 Meanwhile Finns Party councillor  Sami Kymäläinen , who endorsed the motion, said that too much had been read into the proposal. He said that it aimed to promote regular education policies, not to classify anything as right or wrong.
 "Supporting children doesn't mean affirming their experiences, but accepting them [children]. [Teaching] personnel do not make diagnoses," education director Mattila said during the council meeting.
 However the seven councillors behind the motion were uncomfortable with developments such as the elimination of separate prizes for boys and girls in the town.
 "Based on residents' feedback, there is reason to suspect that in schools, children and teens have been told about gender neutrality and claims that support [the concept of] experience-based gender, at least occasionally" the motion declared.
 LGBT non-profit: Denial of gender diversity harmful
 Seta, Finland's main LGBT rights NGO, said that denial of gender diversity could be especially harmful to children and young adults. Seta's Pirkanmaa chapter chair,  Minna Minkkinen , noted that more than five percent of respondents in a schools' health survey claimed that their gender was different from the one assigned at birth.
 "Rainbow youth, in other words, young people who belong to sexual and gender minorities, face a heightened suicide risk. It is the responsibility of adults and local decision-makers in particular to ensure that children and teens have an environment in which they can safely be who they are. The kind of transphobic opposition to gender diversity in the motion does not belong there," Minkkinen added.
 On its website, Finland's National Agency for Education lays out the principles of gender-sensitive education.
 "Of course gender equality also includes gender diversity, in other words, it embraces the idea that there are more than two genders. Recognising the plurality of sexual orientations and identities is part of gender-aware teaching and guidance," agency primary and early years education unit head  Ulla Laine  told Yle previously.
 She added that this is how educators uphold gender equality laws as well as early years and primary education regulations and comply with the fundamentals of the primary education curriculum.

Tampere-area city council dismisses motion to adopt two-gender policy in schools


Summary: Two well-known Finnish brands offered downbeat news on Thursday.

National air carrier Finnair's result for the first three months of the year dropped into the red, showing a loss of 16.2 million euros – outweighing its profit of 14.6 million euros in the same period of last year.
 Turnover was up by around five percent at around 670 million euros. However profits were undercut by higher costs due to increased capacity and pricier fuel, the airline said in a statement on Wednesday.
 On the other hand, Finnair said that its cargo business grew briskly, bucking the general trend in the industry.
 Last week Finnair was rapped by the consumer claims firm AirHelp, which said the airline was  nearly the worst in its class  in terms of punctuality and reimbursement policies. It also recently fired a pilot found to have been  drunk on the job .
 Stockmann downplays expectations
 Meanwhile the department store chain Stockmann issued a profit warning on Thursday. The retailer rescinded its earlier prediction of improved profits for this year, now saying that results will be poorer than expected this year.
 The company expects core profits to be about the same as last year, just over 10 million euros, but that is not including the Nevsky Centre shopping mall in St Petersburg, which the company is in the process of selling off.
 Last autumn, Stockmann signalled its departure from the Russian market. Its real estate division announced plans to sell Nevsky Centre to a Russian firm for 171 million euros. The nine-year-old shopping centre has some 90 retail and office space tenants.
 The company still has four department stores in the Helsinki region, as well as one each in the southern cities of Tampere and Turku.
 While the group says the outlook for Stockmann Retail has weakened, it expects the Lindex chain, which sells clothing for women and children to "continue its steady performance".
 In recent years Stockmann has sold off its Herkku food shops and Akateeminen bookstores.
 Stockmann will release its first-quarter results next Tuesday.

Finnair slumps into the red; Stockmann issues profit warning


Summary: Antti Rinne's role as speaker may be a temporary stint, as he could well become the country's next prime minister.

MPs began their work in earnest as a new session of parliament began at midday on Wednesday. Social Democratic Party chair  Antti Rinne  was elected speaker of parliament, a position that will be temporary should he go on to become prime minister.
 Rinne is said to be  in initial government formation talks  with all of the major parliamentary groups.
 According to established practice, if Rinne becomes premier, a representative of the second-largest government partner will take up the post. If the nationalist Finns Party are not part of the new administration, the speaker's position will probably go to the conservative National Coalition Party.
 The Centre Party, led by outgoing PM  Juha Sipilä , is not a likely candidate for government talks, having indicated that  it will join the opposition after heavy election losses .
 Rinne secured 187 votes from MPs for the position, while challengers  Laura Huhtasaari  from the Finns Party and  Antti Lindtman ,  Ville Skinnari  and  Tytti Tuppurainen  from the SDP, all got one vote each.
 Finns Party MP  Juha Eerola  was elected first deputy speaker with 172 votes. Outgoing Speaker  Paula Risikko  of the NCP grabbed 178 votes for the position of second deputy speaker.
 Finnish state protocol places the speaker of parliament second after the president and retired presidents, and before the prime minister for ceremonial purposes.

SDP chair Rinne elected parliamentary speaker – for now


Summary: Finland's employment rate trend last month was 72.6 percent, according to Statistics Finland.

Last month there were 49,000 fewer unemployed people and 61,000 more who had jobs in Finland compared to the same period last year, according to Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey.
 The agency's survey, published on Wednesday, stated that Finland's unemployment rate in March "clearly decreased" compared to the year before.
 Adjusted for seasonal and random variation, the employment rate trend reached 72.6 percent last month, which was a tenth of a percentage point higher than in  February . The trend continued to exceed the outgoing government's goal of a 72 percent employment rate, which was  reached late last year .
 Meanwhile, the unemployment rate from January to March stood at 7.1 percent - which was 1.7 percentage points lower than it was during the same period in 2018.
 Nearly a quarter million people, or roughly 238,000 - were registered as jobseekers at the country's TE employment offices, or about 26,000 lower than in March of last year.
 At the end of March, the number of people who were laid off and registered at TE offices was 15,000, which was the same as the year before, according to the agency.
 Figures broken down
 There were 191,000 unemployed people in Finland last month, including 117,000 men and 74,000 women. The statistics agency's margin of error was 18,000 individuals in either direction.
 During the first quarter of this year there was an average of 2.51 million people who had jobs in Finland, or about 44,000 more than the corresponding period in 2018.
 The agency said that in March there were some 616,000 residents between the ages of 15-24 living in Finland. About 252,000 of those had jobs while around 65,000 did not, which brought unemployment rate in that age bracket to 20.4 percent, or 3.7 percentage points lower than in 2018.
 The agency's number crunchers said that there were 1,423,000 individuals who were not in the labour force during the first quarter of this year. Finland's total working-age population is roughly 4.12 million, according to Statistics Finland.

Slight improvements in employment rate continue


Summary: One of the honourees wants to become a doctor, while the other is a pro boxer.

NGO the Finnish Refugee Council announced on Wednesday that this year's recipients of its Refugee of The Year accolade are 18-year-old  Rand Mohamad Deeb  and 28-year-old  Nourdeen Toure  from Syria and Togo, respectively.
 The council hands out the award in order to highlight role models for other newcomers to Finland. The council said that this year's recipients had both found their footing in the country in exemplary ways.
 Deeb began studies in upper secondary school about five months after she arrived from Syria as a quota refugee.
 She said she wants to show others that it is possible to learn the language and to study in Finland.
 "I studied Finnish eight hours a day," she explained, saying that she approached the task by learning the logic of the language.
 She said that she started an Arabic-language educational YouTube channel to help fellow immigrants transition to life in the country.
 "It is easier to learn a new language in your mother tongue," she said.
 Deeb, who's set to matriculate later this spring, said she's preparing for entrance exams to medical school, saying that helping others is important to her.
 Home found in the ring
 This year's other recipient, Toure, arrived to Finland as an asylum seeker about eight years ago at the age of 20. He said his two-year long journey from the West African country of Togo was a lonely one.
 "My only family in the beginning was the police and the Immigration Service," he said.
 But not long after that he started boxing at Helsinki's historic Töölö Sports Hall, where he said he began to make friends that made Finland begin to feel like home to him.
 Toure, who boxed in his first professional match in 2014, said that exercise and hobbies have been vital tools in helping him connect with the country.
 The Finnish Refugee Council said that Deeb and Toure's "courage, stubbornness and positive attitudes" were examples for other young residents with similar backgrounds to look up to.
 "But they also represent hope for the future of Finnish society," the council said.

Finland's 'Refugees of 2019' hail from Syria, Togo


Summary: The construction industry that boosted the economy and created jobs is headed for a slowdown, a lobby group warns.

After having grown faster than other sectors and helped to drive the economy upwards for the past four years, Finland's construction sector is set for a slump, according to the Confederation of Finnish Construction Industries (RT).
 Construction workers in Finland were busy last year and built more than 46,000 new homes. But the industry is bracing for a decline, with fewer than 40,000 new homes being planned for 2019.
 Around 13,000 more flats were built last year than the annual average constructed during the 2000s, but that will not be a trend that continues. Some researchers and experts began to voice concern over that possibility  last autumn .
 Employment, housing boom set for decline
 The decline won't hit construction workers right away, however. The overall number of people in the construction sector this year - some 198,000 - is expected to remain roughly the same as in 2018.
 The number of construction employees grew by around 30,000 over the past four years, a development that also helped to raise the country's overall  employment figures .
 However, the construction sector will likely shed about 5,000 workers in 2020 due to an anticipated two percent decline in the industry, according to the group's Director General,  Aleksi Randell .
 "The incoming government needs to play their cards right when [the country's] economic growth begins to falter. Conditions need to be created for adequate housing construction and for low-emission rail projects. It's needed because doing so would play a key role in employment development," Randell said.
 For some time now the construction sector has enjoyed good conditions, including: low home loan interest rates, strong consumer confidence levels and stable demand from investors.
 Even so, RT's chief economist  Jouni Vihmo  said the not-distant future is not terribly bright for those in the housing construction sector.
 "Construction of housing will decrease this and next year by a total of 10,000 homes, compared to the peak figures of 2018," Vihmo said.
 However, he noted, the overall state of the housing market will continue to be positive, saying that numbers of new homes on the market are at reasonable levels.
 Public, private projects to taper off
 RT also anticipates that construction of business and office buildings will decrease to historically low levels.
 Now that several major projects have been completed, construction of new non-residential buildings will be limited to a total of less than five million cubic metres.
 While that amount may seem expansive at first glance, it hasn't been that low since the end of the last century.
 As Finland becomes more urbanised and its population and buildings age, the construction of public buildings - such as hospitals and service facilities - seems likely to fare better than for the private sector.
 The construction of several new hospitals and other public buildings are currently in the works, but according to RT, the growth of those kinds of projects will also begin to dry up in the long term.
 The anticipated decline in new housing and non-residential construction sectors is also set to hit infrastructure projects, according to the group.
 At the same time the budget for traffic construction projects - like motor- and railways - will be about one-fifth lower this year than last.

Finnish construction sector boom to slow down


Summary: South Karelia Central Hospital needs foreign customers, a suspected stabber posted alleged threats and a sandy phenomenon streaks the skies.

Etelä-Karjalan sosiaali- ja terveyspiiri (EKSOTE)

The South Karelia Central Hospital will begin offering on-demand childbirth and delivery services to foreign customers. Daily  Helsingin Sanomat wrote on Thursday  that the hospital, located near Finland's eastern border, will target their services to Russian women especially.
 The paper wrote that the number of deliveries at the Lappeenranta-based facility has fallen to less than the government-mandated one thousand cases, with some 800 births expected in 2019. The Central Hospital itself is not under immediate pressure of closure, however, as the government may issue an exemption to its minimum demand. But numerous domestic maternity hospitals have been shuttered in recent years.
 "The biggest motive for offering maternity services to non-Finnish customers is for the hospital to continue its work, and at best the municipality may make financial gains," said South Karelia Social and Health Care District (Eksote) health service chief  Tuula Karhula  in HS.
 Senior physician  Antti Valpas  said in the paper that the first mothers-to-be from abroad could start receiving care this spring. Previously the earliest start to the service  was scheduled for summertime .
 "The contracts are all ready for the service to begin," he said.
 The starting cost of the full Eksote childbirth programme is around 7,500 euros, according to HS. The first consultation costs 1,000 euros, with one-hour clinic appointments available at 94 euros each and doctor's appointments at 194 euros each.
 Alleged stabber posts videos on the run
 Tabloid Ilta-Sanomat  on Thursday reported that Iraqi national  Hayder Abduljabbar Al-Hmedawi , suspected of  stabbing his ex-spouse  and others in March, recently published videos on YouTube allegedly threatening his former wife.
 In the videos Al-Hmedawi addresses his ex-wife directly, saying he misses his children but also seeming to threaten their mother's life.
 "It's always serious to suspect unlawful threats, but in this case it is justified," said police inspector and head of the investigation, Pekka Hätönen in IS. "There is no direct promise to harm in one of them, but the setting of the video points in that direction."
 Hätönen said other videos included more direct threatening messages.
 Al-Hmedawi's younger brother is also suspected of abetting in his acts of violence, and a further person is suspected to have helped Al-Hmedawi escape. Hätönen said it is unclear whether Al-Hmedawi could be extradited to Finland from Iraq, and no attempts so far have been made.
 The 33-year-old Al-Hmedawi is on Europol's most wanted list and is also sought by Finnish police for attempted murder, IS wrote. He is suspected of stabbing his former wife and her friend as well as injuring three children he has with the ex-wife. The incident on 3 March took place in a child protection unit of a private social services company in the Haaga district of Helsinki.
 Saharan sand dyes atmosphere
 The amount of light in Finnish skies increases with each passing day of spring, but some sky-watchers may have noticed especially spectacular sunsets in recent days. These glowing phenomena have their origins in Africa's Sahara desert.
 HS  wrote on Thursday  that fine sand from the world's largest desert made its way into the atmosphere and into European skies after a suspected sandstorm kicked up the African dust.
 The particles in the atmosphere may cause the setting sun to glow a fiery orange-red, as many HS readers' photographs demonstrate.
 Meteorologist  Petri Hoppula  said that winds can carry Saharan sand all the way to Greenland and Iceland. The sand is not hazardous in the present amounts.
 "Phenomena such as this may last for a long time," Hoppula said. "But respirators are not required."

Thursday's papers: Russians encouraged to give birth in Finland, fugitive posts videos, Sahara sand colours sunsets


Summary: VR beat out domestic and foreign bids to operate the planned streetcar routes.

The city of Tampere on Wednesday chose state passenger rail provider VR over several other bidders to operate its upcoming tram service.
 The deal is projected to be worth some seven million euros per year when the tram service begins. The contract includes a 10-year operating license and oversight of the service's development phase of 2.5 years.
 VR's bid beat out other competitors in quality and pricing, the city said. Operating Tampere's trams also means VR will recruit new employees in the city.
 "We will be hiring 50-100 workers," said VR commuter traffic director  Teemu Sipilä . "Next we'll plan out the recruitment and start hiring conductors for the pilot phase after the summer."
 At the moment VR operates commuter and long distance rail traffic. It runs nearly 80 daily train services coming through Tampere, the second busiest train station in Finland. Some 5.25 million people boarded trains in Tampere in 2018, up 10 percent from the previous year.
 VR is also involved in competitive bidding for Helsinki's HSL commuter train service operation rights. The bidding ends next year..
 Pilot phase set for 2020
 The two finalists in the running for the Tampere tram deal aside from VR were the local Länsilinjat Oy and a coalition by Transtech Oy from Kajaani and the France-based Keolis Conseil et Projets.
 Earlier dropouts from the tender were the Swedish AB Stockholm's Spårvägar and the Tampere bus company Väinö Paunu Oy.
 The Tampere tramline will operate a one-year pilot phase of the service in 2020.
 The tram system will be organised in the form of a so-called service alliance, with the city of Tampere ordering the service and local rail company Tampereen Raitiotie Oy acting as its representative with VR.
 The parties will collaborate to design and implement the tram service, sharing the profits and risks.

State rail monopoly VR to run Tampere trams from 2021


Summary: CEO Rajeev Suri remains upbeat about the tech giant's future prospects.

Radio-, televisio- ja tietoliikennevälineiden valmistus

Mobile networks provider Nokia's stock price fell by more than nine percent on Thursday. That followed the company's announcement of losses of 59 million euros in the first three months of the year. During the same quarter of last year, the firm posted a profit of 239 million euros.
 Investors who had also expected a profitable start to this year apparently punished Nokia by selling off its shares. The share opened down by 9.15 percent on the Helsinki Stock Exchange on Thursday morning. By early afternoon the stock was down by 8.94 percent.
 The losses came despite a two-percent rise in Nokia's net sales since the same period in 2018. Turnover exceeded five billion euros.
 In a statement, the Espoo-based firm said that it had expected the first quarter to be weak, but that CEO  Rajeev Suri  remains optimistic about the rest of the year.
 Huawei security worries could offer opportunity
 "5G revenues are expected to grow sharply, particularly in the second half of the year, driven by our 36 commercial wins to date. Global services profitability should improve as we recover in a handful of large rollout projects," Suri said.
 Nokia is sticking to a previous prediction that its non-IFRS operating margin, that is the ratio of operating profit to net sales, for the whole year will still be in the 9-12 percent range.
 As Suri sees it, the competitive situation has become slightly more intense in some areas "as some competitors seek to be more commercially aggressive in the early stages of 5G and as some customers reassess their vendors in light of security concerns, creating near-term pressure but longer-term opportunity".
 Chinese state-owned Huawei, Nokia's biggest rival in the mobile networks sector, has recently come under pressure over security concerns. The US and other countries have warned against using Huawei 5G networks, but on Wednesday the UK agreed to allow Huawei a restricted role in building parts of its 5G network.
 5 new Nokia phones so far this year
 According to the Wall Street Journal, in the first three quarters of last year Huawei had a 28 percent share of the global telecom-equipment market, followed by Nokia with 17 percent and Sweden's Ericsson at 13.4 percent.
 Once the world's biggest phone manufacturer, Nokia  stopped making handsets in 2013 . Since 2016 HMD Global has produced Nokia brand phones under license. In February,  HMD launched five new Nokia phones  at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Nokia shares slump on surprise losses


Summary: About 3,000 daycare kids are wearing the devices. Meanwhile, officials say nearly a quarter of Finland's children are overweight.

It's an exciting time for many of the kids at the private daycare centre Touhula Jaani in Turku, south-west Finland. All of the five-year-olds have received their own activity tracking wristbands.
 According to daycare worker  Sanni Tiihonen , the bands are meant to support and monitor how much kids are active every day.
 At the same time, the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) reported on Thursday that nearly one quarter of kids in Finland between the ages of two to 16 are overweight.
 "We're trying to get the children to move around a bit more. They already do move around quite a lot, but this gives them a little motivation to do it," Tiihonen said.
 Story continues after photo.
 From left: the head of Touhula Jaani, a Turku private daycare centre, Suvi Tynjälä; Edith Lahti and child care worker Sanni Tiihonen. Yle/Sara Silvennoinen
 The centre in Turku is one of nearly 170 facilities around the country run by private daycare services firm Touhula. More than 3,000 children at the centres between the ages of five to seven are using the gamified trackers, according to  Tiina Lämsä , the firm's pedagogical chief.
 "This means for the first time we will get nationwide data on the activity levels of kids five to seven years old. That creates a unique possibility to examine and support active lifestyles of kids during early education," Lämsä stated on Touhula's website.
 Gamified activities
 The electronic wristbands collect data on the kids' physical activities but do not include a step counter or provide information about calories. That data is sent to a smartphone game featuring an animated, sportily-dressed character named  Goey  that moves around in various fantasy environments on the screen.
 "The more active the child is, the further he or she gets in the game's virtual world," Tiihonen said, explaining that the game also awards virtual medals and trophies.
 Edith Lahti , who attends the daycare centre in Turku, has started wearing the activity tracker, and said it is fun to watch the progress she's made in the app.
 "I got it because I'm five years old," she said proudly.
 Edith Lahti. Yle/Sara Silvennoinen
 According to the daycare centre's chief  Suvi Tynjälä , her staff doesn't think the activity bands will encourage kids to move to an excessive extent, saying that she thinks it is doubtful they would create a competition because each child is playing their own personal game. She said that minimises the risk of the children comparing each others' progress in the game.
 She added that the children aren't constantly thinking about the fact they're wearing them, either.
 "Right now for example, we're having a calm moment as the kids are playing and painting. They're not thinking 'hey, now I should get up and move,'" she explained.
 Story continues after photo.
 The fitness trackers are linked to a smartphone game. Yle/Sara Silvennoinen
 Sports pedagogy professor  Pasi Koski  said he welcomes all new methods that encourage kids and adults to move around more
 "If there's a good way to combine physical activity with a game, I welcome it," Koski added.
 Nearly 2,400 children at the daycare chain's centres across the country wore the activity trackers for three months last autumn.
 The collected data found that the kids were in motion for an average of roughly three hours per day, which is an hour more of activity than the recommended amount of activity for children at that age.
 Nearly one-in-four kids overweight
 THL reported Thursday that nearly a quarter of kids in Finland between the ages of two to 16 are overweight.
 Twenty-seven percent of boys and 18 percent of girls were found to be overweight, or had a Body Mass Index (BMI) of at least 25. Meanwhile in that age group, eight percent of boys and four percent of girls were found to be obese, or had a BMI of at least 30.
 There were major regional variations in the children's body weights, according to THL.
 In some municipalities up 60 percent of boys and nearly 40 percent of girls were found to be overweight, while in others the figures were much lower.
 THL researcher  Annamari Lundqvist  said there were many reasons behind the variations.
 Different locations, different lifestyles
 "In eastern and northern Finland, for example, students travel long distances to school and cannot walk or cycle there. Organised sports activities are not as commonly available [to kids] in some places as they are in others," she explained.
 She also noted that obesity rate variations also reflect regional economic differences, saying that people in low-income areas may not be able to regularly afford to buy healthy foods.
 Children's body weights have not increased overall since they were measured in 2014, but Lundqvist still said she finds the results disappointing.
 "Work has been done in Finland to reduce obesity, but the figures have not fallen yet. There is a need for more investment and more extensive cooperation," she said, pointing out that people who were overweight as kids often remain overweight into adulthood.
 THL collected body weight data from health care centres and school health facilities across Finland in 2014-18. However the information was not available from every municipality due to variations in patient data systems.
 THL has posted an interactive map of the data  here  (in Finnish).

Private daycare kids outfitted with fitness trackers


Summary: The Trade Union of Education's 'climate school' programme begins this year and will eventually be launched nationwide.

The Trade Union of Education (OAJ) and education development group  Opinkirjo  are developing a new teaching model that would make education on climate change in schools more effective, comprehensive and constructive.
 The climate teaching programme is meant to help teachers plan varied courses that tackle the issue of global warming from many different angles.
 According to a Finnish Youth Research Network survey, children and teens around the country increasingly cite climate change as one of their primary worries. The sentiment is what  has brought young people out into the streets to protest  the government's perceived failure to act on climate matters.
 Executive director  Minna-Riikka Järvinen  from Opinkirjo said the current model for climate teaching does not engage with children.
 "It's about the approach being taken towards already available curricula," said Järvinen. "We also don't want to increase children's climate anxiety. We are trying to protect them while they are assailed by vast amounts of information from different directions."
 Teacher Heli-Maija Heikkinen and students at the Otalampi school. The question on the blackboard reads, What are you afraid of? Mikko Koski / Yle
 Students may write letters to decision-makers, complete climate and environmental projects and visit companies as part of the programme.
 "There are so many ways to take part in changing things, in terms of school lunch or transportation. For example, how can we interact with local businesses and affect their practices or even their products," Järvinen said.
 New teaching materials are also being prepared for the climate education model, for which education counselor  Hanna Pohjonen  said there is high demand.
 "Climate change should be part of every subject"
 Ninth-grade students at the Otalampi comprehensive school in Vihti say they want more instruction on climate issues. The teens have helped to develop the school's climate project.
 "Climate change should be taught earlier than in the ninth grade, and it should be more than one paragraph in a geography lesson. Climate should be a part of everything," said student  Hilla Nuolioja .
 Otalampi school students Hilla Nuolioja, Viivi Rimpiläinen and Milla Jalas say they want more climate change lessons. Mikko Koski / Yle
 The students say that climate change is like the proverbial elephant in the room: everyone knows that the climate is changing more and more rapidly, but it is not an easy subject to discuss.
 "Different subjects should involve more talk about climate change. It's such a big deal that it feels weird that we can't discuss it," said student  Milla Jalas .
 "Many people would like to know what climate change actually is, and where we're headed," said fellow ninth-grader  Viivi Rimpiläinen .
 OAJ: Climate teaching should be standardised
 Climate-related teaching is already in the curricula of schools all the way from early childhood education to high school. But schools and teachers may have different focus points in their teaching, and the issues are not necessarily referred to just as climate change or global warming, but more generally as sustainable lifestyles.
 The OAJ argues that climate change education in Finland should be standardised.
 "We have to really bring about fact-based, positive changes in attitudes," said OAJ chair  Olli Luukkainen . "Speaking about climate is not fussing, it is crucial. For children to be able to make up their own minds about it, schools must play a big part."
 The 'Climate School' project will initially begin in a few select locations, but all schools can register to take part if they want. The endgame of the programme is to create a permanent model to be used in all of Finland's schools.
 Chair Minna-Riikka Järvinen of Opinkirjo. Mikko Koski / Yle
 "Children and teens should get to find their own ways to do good deeds for the climate and the environment," Järvinen said.
 Previously a two-year climate education project was introduced at the University of Lapland in collaboration with the  Finnish Climate Change Panel ., where university-level student teachers piloted the programme with primary school children.
 In March seven commercial radio channels and advertising agency TBWA Helsinki  started a citizens' initiative  to make climate change education a separate school subject. More than 10,000 people have supported the initiative, which needs 50,000 signatures to be brought before Parliament.

New climate studies programme coming to schools in Finland


Summary: Youngsters aged 10-14 still read the most, though that age group shows the sharpest drop in readership.

Elokuva, kirjallisuus ja audiovisuaalinen media

More people in Finland say they read books now than in the early 2000s, but tend to finish few books per year, says Statistics Finland. According to a survey published on Thursday, reading is still more popular among women, and male readers tend to read male authors.
 Reading remains one of the most popular pastimes in Finland, the poll suggests. Nearly 80 percent of respondents over the age of nine say they have read at least one book during the past half year.
 Although slightly more people say they read books, the number of titles read has declined. In the 1980s, about a third of Finns said they'd read at least 10 books within the past six months. By 2017-18, when the current data was collected, the proportion of active readers had fallen by more than half, to just 13 percent.
 The most avid readers are still those aged 10-14, although that age group shows the sharpest drop in readership – likely due to competition from social media and other electronic offerings.
 Youngsters prefer imported literature
 Thrillers remain popular, read by more than a quarter of respondents. Biographies and fantasy novels have gained popularity, while fewer now read poetry or war-themed books.
 Older readers tend to prefer domestic literature, while younger ones read more books by foreign authors.
 More than half of male fiction readers say they mostly read books by male authors, whereas only a quarter of women say they mostly read female authors.
 Women read more than men, which has been a clear trend since the 1980s. Nearly 85 percent of female respondents said they had read at least one book in the previous six months, compared to 70 percent of men. Both figures have risen since 2002.
 Besides biographies, the most sought-after topics for non-fiction books are food, nutrition, health and exercise. Books related to work and study are also widely read, even though the survey did not include obligatory schoolbooks.
 Despite the proliferation of electronics, reading aloud to children remains as common as in the early 2000s. Eight out of 10 adults living with a child or children under the age of seven say they read aloud to them at least once a week, while 43 percent say they do so on a daily basis.
 Libraries' role changing
 Library visits have become less common among all age groups, especially the young. One reason is that is loan renewals can now be done electronically, rather than having to physically go to the library. And although the range of activities and loans offered by libraries has expanded greatly, borrowing books is still the main reason for visiting.
 Regular daily reading of newspapers has dropped since the early 1990s, even when the figures include online editions. Entrepreneurs and upper-level white collar professionals are those who most regularly read newspapers. The lowest readership is among the young, students and the unemployed.
 Magazine readership is down, too, again especially among younger people. Middle-aged and older people still read them at the same level as in the 1990s. Magazines are more widely read in the countryside.
 Statistics Finland surveyed more than 7,000 people aged 10 and over between late 2017 and early 2018. Most were surveyed online or by mail, while those aged 10-14 and over 75 were interviewed in person.

More people read in Finland – but fewer books per year


Summary: A journalist says the Finnish media failed to do its job ahead of the election, more young people collect disability pensions and HRT overhauls its fare system.

In a  letter to the editor  of Hufvudstadsbladet, journalist and author  Staffan Bruun  says that ahead of the  general election , the Finnish media failed to confront Finns Party leader  Jussi Halla-aho  on his most outrageous statements, such as wanting to bring charges against Finnish volunteers aiding migrants in the Mediterranean. As an example, Bruun claims that before the polls, no journalist pressed Halla-aho when he said he considered it illegal to help drowning children.
 Bruun said the Finns Party’s  immigration-centred party platform  dominated election debates, allowing the nationalist party to project 2,7000 asylum applications filed in 2018 as the country’s biggest problem.
 Now that Halla-aho is attempting to present a sanitised version of himself as the leader of Finland’s second-biggest party, the country’s media outlets have taken an interest in Halla-aho’s  blogs writings , but it’s too little, too late, writes Bruun.
 Finland's lost youth
 Business magazine  Talouselämä  picks up on  youth marginalisation , reporting that  improved employment figures  don't extend to young people who have fallen through the cracks or those struggling with mental health issues.
 Between 2016 and 2018, the number of 16 to 29-year-olds receiving disability pensions rose by nearly one thousand to 15,622, according to the Finnish Centre for Pensions.
 Some 20,000 children and young people currently risk multi-generational marginalisation, according to TE.
 Within at-risk groups, employment prospects have improved the most among young people with vocational schooling.
 Ticket disruptions
 National daily  Helsingin Sanomat  reminds readers that HRT’s  ticket overhaul  comes into effect on Saturday, 27 April at 4.30am. The update means it won’t be possible to purchase tickets from machines or load travel cards on Saturday.
 Disruptions to ticket sales are in store on Saturday as 3,100 card readers, over 500 ticket machines, some 1,700 onboard devices will be updated.
 The system renewal is four years behind schedule and has cost 100 million euros, according to HS.
 More  information is available in English  at Helsinki Regional Transport.
 Edit: Updated at 2.28pm to clarify that 2,700 asylum applications were filed in 2018.

Friday’s papers: Complacent media, lost youth and ticket disruptions


Summary: President Sauli Niinistö said that he had heard polarising talk from government parties about "our demands" and "their proposals".

Kansainväliset organisaatiot ja sopimukset

President  Sauli Niinistö  called on lawmakers to seek the common interest of the nation during an address to the  formal opening of parliament  on Thursday. He reminded MPs that during the past decade, the government has changed several times and that the "old normal" was for government policy to last four years.
 "During this decade, we have already changed governments five times; on average, this is more than once every second year. The old normal was solid government policy shaped over a full four-year term," he declared.
 Niinistö urged the incoming government to stand behind joint decisions, rather than continue the divisive rhetoric of pre-election campaigning.
 "It has been striking to hear, also outside the context of the health and social services reform, the Government Programme or a decision made by the Government being characterised as something that was 'our demand', whereas that was 'proposed by them'," Niinistö said as he addressed MPs on Thursday.
 "It is equally striking when you hear a Government decision being described as 'just the policy of this or that minister'," he added.
 The president stressed that he would continue to maintain contacts with parliamentary group chairs. As he had done in the past he also extended an invitation to party leaders to joint discussions on security, one of the focal points of Finland’s EU presidency which begins in July.
 He urged EU member states to come together to identify areas of commonality rather than focus on internal squabbles within the bloc.
 "The tectonic plates of geopolitics are shifting, and Europe is facing external pressures and temptations from different directions. We can only thwart them together, within the framework of a well-functioning European Union. Otherwise we run the risk of allowing Europe to fall apart into different spheres of interest," Niinistö said.
 He noted that Finland and the rest of the EU will go to the polls in about one month to elect Europarliamentarians. He called for an improved voter turnout, saying that it would be a fitting start to Finland’s EU presidency.

"We've changed govts five times": President calls for return to "old normal" in Finnish politics


Summary: The company said there is low demand for the type of boxboard manufactured at its facility in south-east Finland.

Finnish-Swedish forest industry firm Stora Enso has announced plans to begin co-determination talks with employee unions about possible temporary worker layoffs at its Ingerois Mill in the south-eastern municipality of Kouvola.
 The company said up to 180 workers at the facility could face being laid off for a maximum period of 90 days from June through December of this year.
 Stora Enso said the demand for the type of boxboard manufactured at the Ingerios Mill has gone down while the cost of materials to produce it are high.
 The plant’s boxboard is used in dry foods packaging applications, among others.
 The company said employer-employee negotiations would begin on 8 May and last about two weeks.
 Meanwhile, in March Stora Enso announced plans to  sharply downsize  operations at its Oulu Mill in western Finland, with the potential loss of 400 jobs. That facility currently employs some 600 workers.

Up to 180 temporary layoffs possible at Stora Enso plant in Kouvula


A strike by Swedish pilots working for SAS airline has affected as many as 600 flights the carrier said on Friday. In Finland the industrial action has seen the cancellation of two flights that were originally scheduled to fly from Helsinki to Stockholm’s Arlanda airport, airfield operator Finavia told news agency STT.
 The aborted flights were due to leave at 3.30 pm and 6.30 pm on Friday. Altogether four flights between Finland and Helsinki have been scrubbed following the strike action.
 SAS is urging passengers to  refer to its website for additional information  about flight schedules. SAS said that it will try as far as possible to re-assign affected passengers to other airlines.
 1,500 pilots, 170,000 passengers
 The airline said that it will reach out to customers directly as long as their contact information is accurate and up-to-date.
 SAS pilots went on strike after failing to see eye-to-eye with the employer on pay and other terms of work during overnight talks that began on Wednesday and continued past an agreed settlement deadline.
 Earlier on Thursday night, SAS had said that had already cancelled flights in Denmark, Norway and Sweden in anticipation of the strike. According to the airline’s website some services departing from and returning to Finland were due to fly on Friday morning.
 SAS said that the strike would affect some 170,000 passengers’ plans during the weekend. Meanwhile Swedish public broadcaster SVT said on Thursday that 1,500 pilots are involved in the protest action.

SAS pilots’ strike grounds flights from Helsinki


Summary: The timetable for government formation will run a few days later than originally expected, says SDP chair Antti Rinne.

As Finland returns to normal following a divisive general election result, parliamentary groups in the new session named Social Democratic Party chair  Antti Rinne  as leader of government formation talks. Rinne was widely expected to assume the role, given  his party’s razor-thin victory  in the recently-concluded election.
 Speaking during a press conference on Friday, Rinne said that the timetable for the formation of a new government will run a few days later than originally anticipated.
 The party leader distributed a list of questions covering 11 key areas to all parliamentary groups in his bid to zoom in on the optimal candidates to invite to talks on establishing a coalition government. Party groups must turn in their responses by mid-day on Tuesday, 30 April.
 Follow-up discussions will then take place from 3-6 May. In such a case, formal government formation talks will not begin before Wednesday, 8 May.
 Rinne told journalists that he would need to at least have an idea of other parties’ economic policy positions before embarking on the first round of talks. He noted that the original goal was to be able to announce invitees to coalition negotiations after May Day on Friday, 3 May. However now, his target is to begin those discussions on Monday, 6 May.
 Basic income or means-tested benefits?
 Rinne’s laundry list of key issues reflects the SDP’s focus on areas such as equality, education and the economy. These themes were central to the party’s election campaign and formed the backbone of election promises to remedy massive cuts in education spending and to reduce inequality.
 Rinne’s questions seek to determine whether or not other political parties want to improve services and social benefits. They also aim to analyse whether or not other parties would fund spending on education and benefits by possible tax hikes or by curbing spending in other areas.
 Queries relating to benefits reform are meant to gauge other parties’ support for means-tested benefits, where applicants must prove their eligibility for support. This point will require the Greens and the Left Alliance to consider their support for a universal basic income as an alternative to the current system of benefits.
 Disclosing possible red lines
 With respect to employment and the labour market, Rinne will be looking to see if other groups want to support cooperation with employee and employer organisations. He will want to understand if they want to maintain the universally binding nature of collective bargaining agreements. Analysts are eagerly anticipating the views of the centre-right National Coalition Party and the Centre Party on this question.
 Other key areas the survey addresses include testing parties' commitment to mitigating climate change, strengthening Finland’s policy and its status in the global arena, maintaining internal security while safeguarding human rights in Finland.
 Rinne’s questions also ask for proposals to ensure economic growth in the face of climate change while considering mega trends such as urbanisation. The questionnaire also tackled boosting the employment rate above 75 percent, developing expertise, education and innovation while aiming to gauge positions on social and health care reform.
 Rinne has also asked parliamentary groups to disclose possible obstacles they may have to joining a government led by the SDP.

SDP highlights economy, equality and education in search for govt partners


Summary: The Finnish national team placed first in the semi-finals making them well-placed for victory as they head into Friday's finals.

Finland made it to the finals on Thursday in cheerleading and cheer dancing Cheerleading World Championships taking place in Orlando, Florida. Finland is the reigning cheerleading world champion.
 The Finnish women's team won the women's cheerleading semi-final with a 3.5-point lead over the US team, which came in second. Norway placed third in the semifinal.
 "We’re very happy to be in first place. Tomorrow (Saturday) we'll head into the finals feeling confident," said the women’s national team coach  Maria Wahlroos  in a press release.
 Cheer dancers also in finals
 In 2018  Finland's national cheerleading squad won the ICU World Championships  in Florida, which was the first time that a country other than the US took home the title.
 Finland’s cheer dance team came in second place and will also advance to the finals that take place on Friday.

Finland set to defend world cheerleading championship


Summary: Some nurses are university graduates whose qualifications can land good positions in other parts of Europe, but that is not always the case in Finland.

Nurses recruited from the Philippines to work in Finland relocate at substantial personal cost but they may not always understand what they've signed up for, according to a  recent Yle probe .
 Some Filipino nurses hoping to practice their profession in Finland don't have a clear insight into the accreditation system in Finland,  Anndra Dumo , a Filipino nurse in Finland told APN.
 Very often they are university graduates whose qualifications can earn them good positions in other parts of Europe, but that is not always the case in Finland, which very often requires qualified nursing professionals to go back to school and earn Finnish practical nursing degrees before they can join the labour force.
 Some nurses have ended up paying middlemen exorbitant fees or signing Finnish-language employment contracts that they do not completely understand in order to join the Finnish work market.
 Nursing shortage set to worsen
 Meanwhile there are a few "rotten potatoes" among Finnish private health care providers who may be willing to pay nurses a lower salary because their qualifications are not recognised in Finland, according to  Päivi Kantanen  from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.
 Lauri Koponen  from the Finnish Association of Private Care Providers, said that there are over 1,000 private healthcare providers in Finland facing a shortage of qualified nursing professionals. He added that Finland would likely need more than 100,000 workers in the sector in the decades ahead given the country's ageing population and declining birth rate.
 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 show was presented by  Zena Iovino  and  Mark B. Odom . The producer was  Pamela Kaskinen  and the sound engineer was  Pasi Ilkka .

All Points North #51: Philippine nurses swallow a bitter pill in Finland


Summary: Sixty-three endangered Saimaa ringed seal pups were found during the early spring count carried out by forestry workers and volunteers.

Sixty-two of 63 Saimaa ringed seal pups were found alive during the annual early spring count carried out by Parks & Wildlife Finland, part of the state forest agency Metsähallitus.
 The count was carried out under difficult conditions and the actual number of pups born will be verified during the next count in May.
 "The ice was covered by a layer of uneven snow, but there was enough snow this year for seals to nest naturally," said conservation biologist  Jouni Koskela , who works for Metsähallitus.
 Group effort
 According to Koskela, about 100 people volunteered to help with the search for snow dens where seals burrow birthing dens.
 "Due to poor ice and variable weather conditions, nesting checks had to be done in a relatively short period of time, and not all nests and pups were found," Koskela noted.
 The Saimaa ringed seal is unique to Finland's Saimaa lake system in southeast Finland. It is one of the most endangered seal species in the world.

Weak ice hampers spring count of endangered Saimaa ringed seal


Summary: Team Finland beat out the traditional winner, the USA, once again, repeating its historic ICU Worlds victory.

Finland has defended its  2018 world title , winning the gold in the All Girl Premier category of the World Cheerleading Championship on Friday. Team Finland walked away from the 2019 competition in Orlando, Florida with first place, followed by Team USA in second and Team Norway in third place.
 "Both Finland and the US had minor mistakes in their programme today, and so the championship was decided by a small margin. Even so, our overall presentation was better and we had a more difficult routine," the team's head coach  Maria Wahlroos  said.
 Last year Finland took home an historic world gold, marking the first time in the competition's history that the US did not win the main category of the event. This year, Team Finland again came out the victor, edging out Team USA by 3.5 points.
 "Finland's second consecutive ICU Worlds gold is without a doubt proof that cheerleading is at its best ever in Finland right now. These athletes are not only the world's finest, but they are also very ambitious and have a great capacity for working under pressure,"  Riikka Taivassalo,  chair of the Finnish Cheerleading Federation, said
 In addition to their first place standing in the All Girl Premier division, cheerleaders from Finland also placed fifth in the Dance category and sixth in the Coed Premier division.
 "The best coaching team in the world"
 National team leader  Niklas Hagel  said Finland's success can be chalked up to great coaches and a strong team spirit.
 "Finland's second successive world championship can be attributed to the extremely high level of the athletes' prowess and the world's best coaching team. The International Cheer Union named head coach Maria Wahlroos Coach of the Year while we were here. This shows just how top notch Finnish cheerleading coaching is," Hagel told Yle.
 "We've got 32 fantastic athletes in the squad and they work wonderfully together as a team."
 Hagel also sent a word of thanks to Finland's cheerleading communities back home.
 "We've got incredibly high-quality cheerleading clubs in Finland. The successes of the past few years have seen a real jump in the popularity of the sport, with an over 20 percent increase in participants."

Finland scores cheerleading gold for second time


Summary: The beloved vocalist passed away Friday after a long-term illness.

Finnish evergreen singer Reijo Taipale died on Friday in Helsinki, after several years of illness. He was 79 years old.
 Taipale made a name for himself on the Finnish music scene already in the 1950s, specializing in sentimental ballads and tangos. Many of his albums sold over one million copies.
 In 2015, Taipale was awarded the Pro Finlandia medal, one of Finland's highest honours presented to respected artists and writers.

Finnish balladeer Reijo Taipale dies


Summary: Guards at the building asked for the signs, which contained strong views on climate change and immigration, to be removed.

Numerous calls led to security personnel taking steps to remove signs displayed in the windows of MP offices in a building of the Finnish Parliament on Friday. One sign demanded a tough law addressing climate change, while the other called for Finnish borders to be closed.
 The windows with the signs looked in on the interior of the Parliament Annex building, where a restaurant is located.
 "In my 18 years here, I can't recall anything like it," said  Lasse Jartti , a long-time security officer at the Finnish Parliament. He said he gave the order to remove the signs from the highly visible places, as he judged them to be inappropriate.
 Freshman populist Finns Party MP  Sebastian Tynkkynen 's signs, one with the political slogan "Close the Borders" and another inviting those who want to learn more about his immigration policy to visit his office, were on display for just one day before they were removed.
 He later  pointed out on Twitter  that it was only after he put up his sign that a decision was made to remove the signs, saying that the sign demanding swift climate legislation had been in the window much longer.
 "Different standards apply to nationalist sentiments," he wrote in his tweet.
 Tynkkynen told Yle that he planned to immediately put his sign back up if someone else makes the mistake of posting "left-green propaganda" in a window.
 Climate sign on display longer
 The sign calling for strict climate laws was the property of Left Alliance party secretary  Laura Koskinen , who is in charge of drawing up her party's climate policies. Koskinen displayed this sign and another that commented on Finland's forestry laws with the slogan "Our national assets are not for sale" in her office window about a week ago.
 "I wasn't aware that it was prohibited. I'm not upset at all; I removed the signs immediately, of course," she said, adding that she hadn't heard of or seen MP Tynkkynen's retaliatory signs.
 Koskinen says she had received the climate speech bubble as a gift. She remembers that it had been on display earlier, in another office facing the restaurant, during the last parliamentary term.

Signs with political slogans removed from Parliament windows after complaints


Summary: Finland's print media reports on two new surveys assessing views on immigration and Russian sanctions.

Oulu-based newspaper Kaleva carries news of a  new internet survey of young people in 11 European countries . Results suggest that half of Finnish residents between the ages of 16 and 26 agree that immigration is a political problem. Finnish youth had the second-most negative view of the issue among the European countries represented in the poll, only behind Polish youth.
 Immigration was the most divisive issue in terms of the overall results, as 28 percent of the polled older teens and young adults in Europe felt immigration was an opportunity, while 29 percent considered it a threat.
 Climate change and nature conservation came out on top of the list of political problems overall. Finnish respondents were more likely than their European peers to see climate change as an opportunity, while Norwegian youth saw it as the largest threat, comparatively. Youngsters from Finland were also among Europe's most positive when it came to globalisation and the common currency, the euro.
 Between 61 and 79 percent of the young people in Europe support the European Union, the poll suggests. The majority also responded that they don't feel well represented in EU decision-making.
 The online survey was executed in January and February of 2019, with over 8,000 young people in Europe responding. Finnish youth were included in the pan-European YouGov-conducted poll for the first time.
 Five years since Crimea's annexation
 The agrarian paper Maaseudun Tulevaisuus also features results of  a survey, this time on the Finnish public's post-election stand on Russian sanctions .
 Over 40 percent of the respondents said they would be in favour of ending EU sanctions against Russia if the country would do the same. Some 27 percent of respondents said they opposed this.
 Among people who indicated they had voted for the Centre Party or the Finns Party in the April general elections, the percentage of respondents that said they would be in favour of dropping the sanctions against Russia grew to over 50 percent.
 Finnish Institute of International Affairs director  Teija Tiilikainen  says Russian activities in Ukraine that triggered the sanctions are probably starting to fade in people's minds.
 "The sanctions have been in force for so long that the original reason they were enacted can start to become a little blurry. Or perhaps there is a feeling that they have not been effective," she tells the paper.
 MT writes that a similar survey of Finnish farmers in 2014 found comparative results. Back when the sanctions were new, some 50 percent felt that Finland should be exempted from the EU sanctions, due to its extensive trade relationships with its Eastern neighbour.
 MEP seats up for grabs in three weeks
 And the country's most widely-read daily, Helsingin Sanomat, has a story on the  launch  of its  Finnish-language election compass  for the upcoming European elections on 23-26 May.
 There are 751 seats in the European Parliament, and Finland holds 13 of these. This distribution will change if Britain pulls out of the union. If Brexit becomes a reality, the number of seats will drop to 705 and Finland will gain another seat in the body, for a total of 14 MEP positions.
 HS says its election compass has 30 questions arranged according to four topics: the EU, exterior borders and safety, the economy and the environment. The Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle will publish its own election compass on 9 May, when an English-language version will also be made available.

Friday's papers: Young people's immigration concerns, fading Russian sanction support, EU elections