Summary: Mart Helme referred to Finland's PM as a "salesgirl" and another minister as a "street activist and uneducated person".

Estonian President  Kersti Kaljulaid  called her Finnish counterpart  Sauli Niinistö  on Monday to formally apologise for  comments made a day earlier  by Estonian Interior Minister  Mart Helme .
 Helme, who leads the right-wing populist Conservative People's Party (Ekre), criticised Finland's new government and Prime Minister  Sanna Marin  in a radio interview.
 Niinistö's office issued a statement saying that he had passed Kaljulaid's apology on to Marin and her cabinet.
 "A salesgirl has become PM"
 In an interview with commercial radio channel TRE, Helme said, "Now we can see that a salesgirl has become prime minister and some other street activist and uneducated person has also become a member of the government."
 He linked the new government to the Finnish Civil War of 1918.
 "Now we can actually see to some extent the historical revenge of the Reds on the Whites, that is to say, the Reds who wanted to liquidate the Finnish state during the Civil War have now come to power and are now desperately trying to liquidate Finland, making it a Euro-province," he said.
 Besides Marin's SDP, the five-party coalition includes the Centre Party, the Greens, the Left Alliance and the Swedish People's Party.
 Helme predicted that opposition Finns Party chair  Jussi Halla-aho  would become Finland's next Finnish prime minister because "something as unintelligible as what is happening in Finland has probably not happened there for centuries". The Finns Party and Ekre are both part of the far-right Identity and Democracy group in the European Parliament.
 Marin responds indirectly
 On Sunday the Director of Government Communications in the Prime Minister's Office,  Päivi Anttikoski , said that Marin had "no reason" to respond to the comments.
 Later on Sunday, Marin replied indirectly with a tweet saying, "I'm extremely proud of Finland. Here the child of a poor family can educate themselves highly and reach many goals in life. A cashier can become Prime Minister, for instance. Finland would not survive without its workers. I highly value the work of every employee, professional and entrepreneur!"
 Estonian Prime Minister  Jüri Ratas  called for "respectful" cooperation with "friend and ally" Finland, saying it "has nothing to do with the composition of a government coalition or the parties that lead it".
 Foreign minister  Urmas Reinsalu  called the comments "inappropriate", while a range of other politicians also decried the statements.
 According to Estonian public broadcaster ERR, two of the country's opposition parties say they will seek a vote of no confidence in the government if Ratas does not force Helme out.

Estonian president calls Niinistö to apologise for interior minister's comments


Summary: The financial watchdog rapped Finland's biggest bank over monitoring of possible money laundering and terror financing.

The Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (also known as FIN-FSA or Fiva) has fined S-Bank 980,000 euros over negligence in its customer oversight, also known as 'know your customer' (KYC) procedures. They are aimed at blocking financial institutions from being used to launder ill-gotten money or to fund terror groups.
 S-Bank's "risk-based approach has not been sufficiently comprehensive to meet the requirements of the Act on Detecting and Preventing Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing nor had it obtained adequate customer due diligence data", the watchdog said on Wednesday. Fiva also found problems with the bank's IT systems and processes.
 Biggest bank owned by biggest retailer
 S-Bank has Finland's largest number of customers, more than three million. It is mostly owned by the S Group, the country's biggest retailer.
 Fiva also issued a warning to an S-Bank subsidiary, FIM Asset Management, for insufficient KYC data on its customers.
 However the FIN-FSA added that it "has no reason to suspect that money laundering offences referred to in the Criminal Code have been committed" in the operations of S-Bank or FIM Asset Management.
 S-Bank: Bonus collectors unlikely to be money launderers
 Jussi Sokka , the bank's vice president for legal, compliance and risk issues, said that the lender takes the matter very seriously.
 "Although we do not entirely agree with the Financial Supervisory Authority, we accept the decision. From our point of view, for instance, those customers who have accounts at S-Bank merely in order to collect [S Group retail] bonus points pose a significantly lower risk of money laundering," he said in a statement on Wednesday.
 Sokka told Yle that S-Bank tracks its customers' payment behaviour through various channels, including the S bonus system, as part of its KYC procedures.
 Nordea  and other banks operating in Finland have been accused of turning a blind eye to money laundering.

S-Bank fined nearly €1mn over lax monitoring of money laundering


Summary: The new government has decided to scrap the controversial employment measure starting 1 January, 2020.

The previous government's contentions plan to get unemployed jobseekers into work prompted a rise in disability pensions, according the Finnish Centre for Pensions (ETK).
 In 2018, the  Juha Sipilä -led administration introduced an employment-boosting measure known as  the activation model . Under the scheme, jobseekers had to attend approved training courses or complete at least 18 hours of paid work over a three-month period, or face a 4.65-percent cut in their unemployment benefits.
 The coalition government that followed under Prime Minister  Antti Rinne   decided to cancel the activation model  as of 1 January, 2020 after it was found to have only a minimal or unclear net impact on employment.
 According to the ETK, the contested model caused more than 1,600 unemployed people to apply for disability pensions in 2018. The total number of people who were granted the pension grew by 560 individuals.
 Insurance firm Varma  drew attention to the link  between the activation model and an increase in disability pensions as early as April, 2018.
 "The obligations in the activation model do not apply if a person has an unprocessed application for a disability pension," Varma chief physician  Jukka Kivekäs  said last year. "This is now one way to avoid them or to get extra time before [facing] a cut in benefits."
 Meagre effects, psychological harm
 The activation model did not increase the employment rate of those receiving labour market benefits, according to a team of researchers who presented their final report to Employment Minister  Timo Harakka   in early November .
 "It is difficult to distinguish the employment effects of an active model from the effects of a good business cycle," the team stated.
 Six thousand members of the trade union confederation SAK and its member organisation, the Industrial Union polled last year called the activation model "humiliating, embarrassing and stressful".
 Fewer than one in three SAK members said that they had been able to meet the criteria for maintaining the benefits during the past year, while just one-fifth said they had been able to meet the conditions during at least one three-month review period. Moreover, more than one in four said they had never been able to avoid a benefits cut.
 The Institute for Health and Welfare THL found in 2018 that the psychological stress of existing outside of the workforce is significantly more widespread than in the general population.

Employment activation model increases disability pension applications


Summary: The inquiry will determine if a confidential government document was leaked and if a formal investigation is warranted.

The National Prosecution Authority said on Monday that it will begin a preliminary probe into the alleged leak of a confidential government document to the media.
 The state prosecutor’s office said that the initial inquiry stems from a request by the National Police Board for an investigation into the suspected leak of a  plan to repatriate Finnish citizens  at the al-Hol refugee camp in Syria.
 The prosecutor’s office will consider whether or not there are sufficient grounds to launch a police investigation into the suspected media leak.
 The freshly-installed government led by SDP vice chair  Sanna Marin   faces a confidence vote  in Parliament over opposition claims that Foreign Minister  Pekka Haavisto   did not disclose details of the alleged plan  to MPs.
 Jussi Halla-aho , chair of the largest opposition group, the Finns Party, has also raised concerns about a potential security risk posed by some of the returning adults.
 Police chief suspects leak
 Both Yle and daily Helsingin Sanomat have based some of their reporting on the matter on the leaked document. The material detailed a Foreign Ministry-led proposal for the November evacuation of willing Finnish nationals from the al-Hol camp.
 The document also outlined planned police activities after the repatriations and was signed by police commissioner  Seppo Kolehmainen .
 Last week the police chief told Demokraatti, the Social Democratic Party-backed news service, that he thought it was possible that the plan had been leaked by police.
 "There is reason to suspect that there has been illegal activity and that confidential information has been leaked to the public," Kolehmainen was quoted as saying.
 Once the initial probe has been completed, the prosecutor’s office will decide whether or not a formal preliminary investigation to look into a possible criminal offence.

National prosecutor to begin initial probe into suspected al-Hol media leak


Summary: The Finns Party said that Antti Rinne’s resignation should have led to a new election.

The main opposition parties, the Finns Party and the National Coalition Party, failed to warm to Prime Minister  Sanna Marin ’s assurances that the government was making progress implementing its four-year programme during a debate Monday afternoon on the new administration's four-year plan.
 "Although it is not always reflected in the discussion in this chamber, implementation of the government programme is off to a good start. Next year’s budget will introduce a number of important reforms," Marin told MPs.
 The PM was referring to measures such as higher pensions for low-income retirees and improved social benefits as well as increased spending on education and basic services.
 The Marin government programme is the same as that of ex-premier  Antti Rinne , however since it’s now the policy roadmap of a new administration it must be discussed in a plenary session of parliament. After Monday’s opening debate, MPS will put the new government to its first confidence vote.
 Finns Party: We saw "theatrical government negotiations"
 Finns Party MPs were unmoved by Marin’s statements, however. Chair of the nationalist party’s parliamentary group  Ville Tavio  said that Antti Rinne’s resignation should have triggered a new election.
 "It would have been a service to democracy if Rinne’s resignation had led to new parliamentary elections," he declared.
 Tavio accused the administration of engaging in government negotiation theatrics. He justified his view by observing that no real thought had been given to reorganising the composition of the coalition.
 "The Left-Green alliance shut out the election’s second-largest party, the Finns Party, from the outset," he charged.
 He also pointed out that former minister responsible for state ownership and steering,  Sirpa Paatero , was given a new ministerial portfolio in Marin’s cabinet. Rinne, on the other hand, was appointed first deputy speaker of parliament after the shakeup.
 The Finns Party currently lead voter opinion polls and have been building up support, while government parties have been leaching voter backing.
  NCP: Marin given "a fair chance"
 Petteri Orpo , chair of the second-largest opposition group, the National Coalition Party, said that he had given the Marin government a fair chance.
 "We want to give Prime Minister Marin a fair chance, although based on the first days it looks like the missteps are continuing. The NCP will evaluate the government on the basis of its actions," Orpo declared.
 Orpo went on to say that the government programme was built on sand.
 "The biggest problem with the Marin government programme is that the economic foundation will not hold. According to the finance ministry, based on current economic development, public finances will be five billion in deficit by the end of the government’s term in office. Indebtedness has already begun to rise even though the economy is still growing,” he noted.
 The NCP chair said it is for this reason that the party will vote against the government in Tuesday’s confidence vote.
 Centre: More local collective agreements
 Vice chair of the Centre Party parliamentary group  Hanna-Leena Mattila  said that the current government will continue the policies of the  Juha Sipilä  administration.
 "Finland has not veered from the right to left compared to the last government, it has remained in the centre," she added.
 Mattila pointed out that the new government, in which the Centre is a coalition partner, is an advocate for disadvantaged people and regions. The Centre had criticised former PM Antti Rinne for his frequent condemnation of the policies of the Sipilä government.
 She called on the new administration to restore people’s faith in politics. She said that key to achieving that would be improving people’s everyday lives, primarily by boosting employment.
 "Young people without jobs, the long-term unemployed and part-time workers must get work. This is why employing people and finding jobs must be made easier. The most important solution is increasing local collective bargaining agreements," she advised.
 Centre chair and finance minister  Katri Kulmuni  has already stated that an important goal for the Centre during the government’s term is to promote local employment agreements.

Opposition slams "theatrical" negotiations ahead of govt's first confidence vote


Summary: Mental health workers say police officials are unable to recognise symptoms of post-traumatic stress.

Operators at Finland's  Emergency Response Centres  (ERC, reached by dialling 112 in Finland) are prone to extreme mental strain as part of their work, but police resources are ineffective at diagnosing and treating their post-traumatic stress (PTSD).
 The occupation's high psychological toll entered public discourse in December with the publication of researcher  Susanna Sankala 's sociology thesis, the first ever to study the wellbeing of Finland's ERC operators.
 Sankala, who was an operator herself, said she was surprised when her interviewees opened up about their stress spontaneously, some breaking down in tears.
 Juha Järvelin  runs a national PTSD workshop unit for the police, which he started together with fellow organiser  Pasi Härkönen . Järvelin said he is glad that the serious effects of the ERC workload are finally coming to light.
 Getting to grips with the ERICA response system in Kerava in 2018. Markku Pitkänen / Yle
 "It's really great that this grad school level paper has been able to raise this issue. It's very impressive indeed that this research has been conducted," Järvelin said.
 Järvelin wrote about the efficacy of police occupational health services during crisis situations in his own dissertation in 2011. He said now that the problem has been recognised, police administrators can finally take steps to alleviate the pressure on ERC operators.
 "I've met with call centre workers abroad who have PTSD. I've been waiting for someone to tackle the issue properly here in Finland, too."
 Workshops help with trauma
 PTSD is a condition that may arise from exceptionally menacing or catastrophic events that cause intense anxiety.
 ECR operators do not directly see any corpses or guts on the job, nor the victims they speak with. However, they constantly hear the sounds of domestic violence, desperation and panic through the telephone.
 Symptoms of PTSD include replaying memories of traumatic events, nightmares about then or even experiencing momentary but harrowing flashbacks.
 "In my experience, PTSD isn't acknowledged within the police force. Or if someone does admit they're having trouble, our health care services don't know how to identify it as PTSD," Järvelin said.
 The first PTSD workshops for police were organised in 2012. Seven investigators who work with crimes against children came to one of these sessions, and Järvelin said he remembers how staggering the amount of accumulated stress turned out to be.
 "The ECR involves so many similar factors that it would be odd if the operators didn't show any signs of long-term stress or even full-blown PTSD," he said.
 When the agony subsides
 Call centre operators are essentially first responders, says Järvelin, who was a police officer for 32 years. He knows from experience that the quality of life of the officers, firefighters, medics and operators would increase dramatically if the stressors involved were identified, acknowledged and discussed.
 "That way, there would be no need for the false professional facade that makes workers say 'I don't feel a thing'."
 Some of the participants in the mental health workshops have PTSD themselves. They often report feeling awful without a clear reason, or they feel anger at home as well as at work. After just three full sessions they already felt much better, Järvelin said.
 "When the agony subsides, they feel immense relief. They regain their joy of life."
 The "112 mongoose" stuffed toy is used to teach children how to call 112 in an emergency. Susanna Sankala
 He said he hopes that the current discussion will lead to real changes in the way ECR operators' jobs are understood by their employers and health care providers.
 "If we could get a PTSD retreat organised, Finland would be number one in the world in dealing with the trauma that emergency operators face. But it means we need all ECR personnel to be on board with the plans," Järvelin said.
 He emphasised that all operators and other first responders share the fact that they experience stress over things that no regular job entails. They face the dramatic trauma of life and death.
 "And this is the crux, what we don't talk about. The old way of thinking is that this is just a job, if you can't hack it then you've failed somehow. That is hardly the case; we simply need better support systems to respond to the realities of the work they do," Järvelin said.

Study: 112 call centre workers' PTSD often undiagnosed


Summary: Hundreds of ice balls could be seen floating on the beach at Ohtakari island in Finland’s Bay of Bothnia.

Lohtaja resident  Juha Salo  found himself in the right place at the right time on Sunday, when a shoal of ice balls appeared in the beach at Ohtakari island, just north of Kokkola on Finland’s west coast.
 Salo said he had witnessed another mass of ice balls in January 2018, however they were much larger at the time – up to one metre in diameter. This time they were much smaller.
 "The biggest ones were maybe the size of a head. Many were the size of an orange, a ball or an egg," he noted.
 Salo as well as Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) ice specialist  Patrick Eriksson  speculated that the balls form when pebbles moved around by the motion of the waves began to gather ice.
 Another explanation would be that floating lumps of ice expanded and became round after moving along the sea floor. A third option would be a combination of both theories.
 However the first option best explained the consistent size of the balls. Salo said that he opened up one of the ice balls to test the theories and found a bit of sand to which the ice had attached itself.
 Seasonal surprises: Ice balls and ice stacks
 In early November, another sighting of the peculiar marine phenomenon, this time  in the shape of eggs , was recorded at Hailuoto island in Northern Ostrobothnia.
 However underwater photographer  Teemu Lakka  from Vääksy in southern Finland said he had track the formation of ice eggs for many years.
 The ice balls aren’t the only icy curiosities to fascinate Finns. In spring 2017 thousands of people flocked to the seaside to marvel at ice stacks that towered several metres high and which apparently formed in one night.
 According to Eriksson such sightings are not unusual and are quite common in places such as the western bank of Hailuoto. Ice stacks have been seen north of Kokkola in locations such as Ohtakari, and Marinkainen as well as even further north in Himanka and Kalajoki.
 They are much less common in the archipelago.

Ice balls spotted on island in Finland


Summary: Finland says it plans to evacuate Finnish children from Syria as soon as possible.

Finnish media on Tuesday dives into the  government’s decision  on Monday evening to repatriate Finnish children from the Al Hol refugee camp in northeast Syria “as soon as possible.”
 Just for kids
 While PM  Sanna Marin ’s government on Monday said the state had a responsibility to help Finnish children leave Al Hol, it had no obligation to aid adults who had voluntarily travelled to the area, reports national daily  Helsingin Sanomat .
 Marin said it was up to the appropriate authorities to determine who will be brought to Finland and when.
 Emerging from a four-hour meeting on Monday, Marin’s cabinet came up with a ten-point plan on how to deal with Finns in the refugee camp. The new administration had been under pressure to produce guidelines on how to handle Finnish women and children in the camp ahead of a parliamentary interpellation on Tuesday, which will be followed by the new government’s  first confidence vote  on Wednesday.
 Marin’s administration said it will also explore whether Finland’s terrorism laws should be updated. “I believe the Justice Minster will take a firm lead on this,” the PM added.
 Rental black market
 A new black rental housing market is emerging in Finland, writes  HS , as rejected asylum seekers struggle to find accommodation. In Helsinki, people in the country illegally pay 200-300 euros a month to sleep on a floor mattress or sofa.
 The paper estimates that Helsinki is home to hundreds of these black market flats, with up to 20 people spending the night in one apartment.
 Asylum seekers whose applications are rejected by Immigration Service Migri are forced to leave reception centres.
 The number of people seeking asylum in Finland peaked at around 32,000 in 2015. The following year saw a drastic reduction to 5,600 asylum seekers, and by October of this year some 3,800 people had sought refuge in the country.
 Whooping cough outbreak
 Hufvudstadsbladet  reports that whooping cough has broken out at Nyland brigade in Raasepori, which is also the country's only defence unit where the language of instruction is Swedish.
 Despite being vaccinated, 13 conscripts have contracted the infection also known as pertussis. Officials have also determined several other cases at schools in Raasepori and Tammisaari.
 Tove Wide , the Raasepori's chief physician, told HBL that people who have been immunised can still get whooping cough as protection decreases over time.
 Some 400 cases of whooping cough are reported in Finland annually. The respiratory tract infection is most dangerous for unvaccinated infants under 12 months as they have the highest risk for severe complications.

Tuesday’s papers: Finland to repatriate kids from Al-Hol, black market rentals and whooping cough outbreak


Summary: Finland has roughly 1.5 million registered firearms and around 300,000 active hunters.

Finland's National Police Board has said that it's concerned about the risk that forgotten firearms used by hunters and shooting hobbyists may end up in the clutches or criminal organisations.
 Police estimate that there are as many as 1.5 million legally registered firearms in the country. However the Finnish Wildlife Agency said that its database shows that roughly 300,000 persons paid for hunting licences last year.
 Senior inspector  Reima Pensala  of the National Police Board said that there is a chance that unused firearms may end up in the hands of criminals.
 "The problem is that when people have no use for a gun, they are forgotten and can easily end up in the illegal arms trade. At the moment there is a unanimous view that theft or embezzlement are the most common routes to illegal arms sales," Pensala told Finnish news agency STT.
 Pensala said that one strategy for tackling the problem would be to only grant firearms licenses on a fixed-term basis. Permits could be valid for one fixed period at a time or the criteria for granting a permit could be reassessed once the firearm owner reaches a certain age.
 Another approach could be to pay owners of idle firearms a fee to dispose of unused weapons. Currently gun owners do not receive any compensation for handing over unused weapons. They receive a settlement only if police organise a weapons auction.
 Hunters cool on fixed-term permits
 Acting chair of the Finnish Hunting Association  Ilkka Mäkelä  said that it would be a major inconvenience for gun owners to have to renew their firearms licenses every five years, for example. However he said he favoured the idea of a review for senior gun users.
 "That would be quite sensible. Looking at the people who pay for hunting cards, many decide to give them up when they are over 75. That would be a good point to have some sort of gun check," he noted.
 Mäkelä added that more could be done to encourage people to hand over idle weapons and pointed out that financial compensation would persuade people to turn over unused guns in good time.
 UB sourcing guns from burglaries
 The National Police Board has estimated that there are thousands of illegal firearms in Finland, but it has not disclosed specific information about the number, type or origin. According to the organisation, research has shown that the illegal arms trade in Western Europe is dominated by specialised players.
 Some guns end up with collectors, who may not necessarily have any intention of discharging them. Some, however, find their way into criminal groups.
 "In Finland, the weapons used by criminals and organised crime in particular are often stolen from households," National Police Board Inspector  Jyrki Aho  said.
 For example, firearms taken during burglaries have ended up in the hands of the United Brotherhood crime syndicate, police said. At the end of July, a number of people were convicted by the Northern Karelia district court of supplying stolen guns to the United Brotherhood in Tuusula, about 30 kilometers north of Helsinki.
 In April, the Helsinki district court convicted an aspiring gang member for storing stolen guns for the gang in Vantaa.
 In recent years, police have received about 230 reports annually of theft or aggravated theft involving firearms. By mid-November this year, the number of such reports was nearly 220.

Police in Finland see risk in thousands of "forgotten" firearms


Summary: Prime Minister Sanna Marin has announced a plan to repatriate Finnish children from Syria as soon as possible.

The security debate around Finns in the al-Hol camp is in overdrive, Director of Amnesty Finland  Frank Johansson  told Yle on Tuesday. He said he thinks it is strange that the security of every citizen would be jeopardised if the five to 10 Finnish women in question were repatriated.
 "If that's the case, then I'm a little worried about the security work of Finnish authorities," Johansson said in an interview on Yle's morning television programme Aamu-tv.
 There are thought to be roughly  30 Finnish children and around ten Finnish women at the al-Hol camp  in northern Syria, which holds refugees who lived under Isis rule.
 Human rights trump safety concerns, Johansson declared.
 "There can never be a policy where human rights are negated due to security concerns. Human rights must always be considered and security policies must be based on that. That would mean bringing them (for women and children) back home."
 The longer the children live in the al-Hol camp, it would be harder to raise them as they may become more radicalised, said  Hanna Markkula-Kivisilta , Secretary General of Save the Children Finland.
 "It's quite clear that the kids are being massively brainwashed in the camp. But it is possible to help them out of it. Not with more brainwashing, but by creating safe experiences and helping them believe there are other options," Markkula-Kivisilta said.
 "Their ideology does not make them bad parents"
 Prime Minister  Sanna Marin on Monday announced a plan to repatriate Finnish children from Syria  as soon as possible. The government said that its 10-point guidelines aim to safeguard the best interests of the child at all times and that a decision on the repatriation of each individual will be made on case-by-case basis.
 "It has been frustrating to listen to the debate about helping children but not mothers because this is a matter that cannot be categorically resolved. The government has said that they will make the decision on a case-by-case basis, and we are pleased with that," Markkula-Kivisilta said.
 A parent's ideology does not however automatically make him or her a bad guardian, according to  Annarilla Ahtola , president of the Finnish Psychological Association.
 "It is important to distinguish between two issues — what we think of their values and what kind of parents they are to their children. What matters to the kids is the conditions parents have created for them. Of course, in this case, they are not suitable for a child," Ahtola added.
 The government guidelines indicated that its primary objective is to help the children but that "there is no obligation to assist adults who have entered the area voluntarily."

Amnesty boss: "Human rights can't be denied based on security concerns"


Summary: The ministry said it will not provide any details on the children.

Ministerit, ministeriöt ja valtioneuvosto

Two Finnish children at the al-Hol refugee camp have been taken into the care of Finnish authorities, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs said on Saturday afternoon.
 The authorities will repatriate the children to Finland, the ministry said in a  statement , adding that it will host a press conference on the matter in Helsinki at a future date.
 To ensure the children’s safety and privacy, the ministry said it would not release any information about them. It also stated it would not provide any details regarding measures taken by Finnish authorities abroad to access the children.
 Once in Finland, the children will undergo health checks before being handed over to child welfare officials.
 On Thursday the Foreign Ministry said it was preparing to bring back two children from the camp. Yle later confirmed that  Kurdish officials had picked up the children  from the camp in Syria, taking them to Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, where they were to be handed over to Finnish authorities.

Foreign Ministry: Two Finnish kids at Syrian camp in officials' care


Summary: Police reportedly seized a large cache of cocaine related to an intrusion and assault in Espoo.

Police have launched an investigation into suspected aggravated drug offences following a major operation in Espoo and Helsinki. Police said on Tuesday that they have confiscated a large cache of drugs, reportedly cocaine, related to an attack in Espoo on Monday.
 The Espoo incident kicked off a major operation that later continued at Helsinki’s South Harbour and resulted in the detention of several individuals attempting to leave the country. Police delayed the departure of Silja Line’s Serenade vessel for about 40 minutes while they conducted a search onboard as well as in the port area.
 Story continues after photo.
 Departure of Silja Line's Serenade was delayed by over half an hour. Jouni Immonen / Yle
 Shortly after mid-day on Monday, police responded to a call concerning suspected intruders at a chemical warehouse at Karapellontie in Espoo. Police say that the suspected intruders were masked and appeared to be searching for something at the premises of Algol Chemicals, part of the Algol group of companies.
 The firm supplies polymers as well as industrial and special chemicals used in industrial production to more than 100 different companies.
 According to an account by daily Helsingin Sanomat, the suspected intruders attacked the driver of a trailer that was being unloaded after bringing in sealed containers from Vuosaari harbour in eastern Helsinki. The driver sustained light injuries and was taken for medical treatment. However the intruders fled the area.
 Story continues after map.
 Police responded to reports of masked intruders at Karapellontie in Espoo. Yle Uutisgrafiikka
 Algol said that the intrusion was violent and was perpetrated by outsiders, and speculated that the suspects had targeted the contents of the trailer. Police do not suspect the firm of any wrongdoing.
 On Tuesday police confirmed that the incident in Espoo was related to the drug cache that they later seized. On Monday night police held several suspects believed to have been involved in the Espoo attack at the Olympia Terminal at Helsinki's South Harbour. All of the suspects were said to be foreign nationals, reportedly from Sweden, Denmark and Albania.
 On Tuesday police announced they had launched an investigation into suspected drug offences based on the detention of the men and the incident that took place in Espoo.
 The National Bureau of Investigation and Finnish Customs’ anti-crime unit are cooperating on the investigation. Police said that they cannot disclose any further information about the case at this stage.

Police operation in Espoo, Helsinki yields major drug haul


Summary: On Tuesday 105 MPs voted in favour of the new government’s programme.

Prime Minister  Sanna Marin 's government programme has earned parliamentary support with 105 representatives voting in its favour in a  confidence motion  held on Tuesday. Eighty MPs voted against the agenda and 14 MPs were absent.
 The Marin government agenda is the same as that of ex-premier  Antti Rinne , however since it’s now the policy roadmap of a new administration it had to be discussed in a plenary session of parliament.
 After Monday’s opening debate on the new administration's four-year plan, MPs put the new government to its first confidence vote om Tuesday.
 The main opposition parties, the Finns Party and the National Coalition Party (NCP), failed to warm to Prime Minister  Sanna Marin ’s assurances that the government was making progress implementing its four-year programme.
 Confidence motion on Al-hol issue
 The new administration has been under pressure to produce guidelines on how to handle Finnish women and children in the camp.
 While Prime Minister Marin had announced on Monday that the  Finnish children will be repatriated  as soon as possible, the opposition has said that this does not answer all the questions raised.
 Opposition parties in parliament had previously filed an interpellation over  an alleged plan to repatriate Finnish citizens currently in the al-Hol refugee camp in Syria . The debate on the parliamentary question began Tuesday afternoon.
 The confidence vote will be held on Wednesday.

PM Sanna Marin’s government wins first confidence vote


Summary: Economic growth is slowing but rising purchasing power provides potential for an uptick, according to the central bank.

European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro

Next year global economic uncertainty will negatively impact on Finnish exports as well as investments into Finnish companies.
 Economic growth will slow to 0.9 percent next year, picking up to 1.1% in 2021 and to 1.3% in 2022, the Bank of Finland said in a forecast published on Tuesday.
 The central bank did forecast, however, provide some bright spots. Economists projected the euro area and the global economy will gradually recover over the next two years, stimulating the Finnish economy in the process.
 "There is still potential for continued economic growth. Purchasing power is increasing and households are able to spend more," the bank said.
 Public finances under pressure
 A decelerating economy will affect job creation in the near future though. In 2020, the bank said it expects the downward unemployment rate trend to come to a temporary halt. Finland’s current unemployment rate is 6.2 percent.
 The country's ageing population will meanwhile continue to strain public finances. In 2020 public debt relative to GDP will begin to grow, the bank said.
 "Considering the long-term outlook,  raising the employment level to 75 percent  in the coming years is justifiable. After that, it makes sense to aspire to an even higher level," said  Olli Rehn , governor of the Bank of Finland.
 The central bank also homed in on the mismatch between vacant jobs and jobseekers in Finland. Weakening productivity in the labour market over the past ten years led the bank's economists to suggest tweaking the education system to better meet the demands of the workforce.
 "Average educational attainment among young adults in Finland began declining some 10 to 15 years ago. This is an anomaly on an international scale and very worrying for the country," said Rehn.

Bank of Finland: Finnish economy to slump then recover


Summary: Southern Finland may experience a 'Black Christmas' with gloomy weather in the forecast.

A storm set to hit central parts of the country on Wednesday could bring up to 20 cms of snow north of Lappeenranta and Hämeenlinna and to the south of Kuopio.
 A low-pressure zone will move east across southern Finland from the southwest, the weather forecast said.
 "Low pressure will first bring rain, but it will get snowier at night. There will be dense snowfall during the afternoon and heavy snow could accumulate on trees," Yle meteorologist  Anne Borgström  predicted.
 Coastal areas in the southwest as well as southern Finland will see rainfall until Wednesday evening when precipitation will turn into sleet. There is also a possibility of snow on Thursday night.
 "The amount of snow in the south could be very low — there are chances of a very light snowfall."
 The forecast predicts snow in Northern Karelia up until Thursday night but the rain will recede by morning.
 Northern Ostrobothnia and Lapland will be spared from the storm and will remain cloudy with light rain showers on Wednesday.
 South and southwestern sea areas are likely to experience stormy winds on Wednesday afternoon and evening, with gusts reaching up to 24 metres per second.
 'Black Christmas' in southern Finland
 As the storm drifts eastward, Thursday will see a change in weather conditions across the country.
 "Cool, even sunny and a bit colder — Thursday will be what we want this time of year," Borgström said.
 However, things will take a gloomier turn before Christmas in southern Finland.
 "As early as Friday, some rain from the west will arrive again and the whole weekend will be gloomy. The beginning of the week doesn't look much better either," Borgström added.

Winter storm to dump up to 20cm of snow


Summary: Opposition parties came together to grill the government over a plan to repatriate Finns from a Syrian refugee camp.

Opposition and government MPs clashed during a tense parliamentary debate over the government’s position on repatriating Finnish citizens currently at the al-Hol refugee camp in Syria on Tuesday afternoon.
 An  opposition interpellation tabled last week  set its sight on putting the government’s feet to the fire over a lack of clarity on its policy on the matter. It also sought to  examine the actions  of Foreign Minister  Pekka Haavisto  as he allegedly  rolled out a plan to evacuate the Finnish camp residents .
 Haavisto has faced criticism from ministry public servants over his handling of the issue, with some accusing him of having a unilateral and fear-based leadership style. Haavisto countered the allegations by saying that he had done nothing unlawful as minister.
 "The government is not aware that anything unlawful occurred in the Foreign Ministry’s work. The same has also been stated by the ministry’s senior officials," he told MPs.
 Opposition MPs also wanted to know if the children would be brought to Finland with their mothers and whether or not the government had made an official decision on the matter.
 On Monday evening, Prime Minister  Sanna Marin  said that the  government wanted to repatriate the children  "as quickly as possible." At the same time she said there was no such obligation toward their mothers.
 She said that the mothers’ cases would be subjected to individual consideration by public officials. Civil servants would consider the best interests of the children as well as possible security risks that the adults might pose were they to return to Finland.
 Opposition: "Extraordinary" actions by Foreign Minister
 The opposition did not stint on their words during the debate. The nationalist Finns Party led by  Jussi Halla-aho  focused much of its criticism on Haavisto’s actions as Foreign Minister.
 "It is extraordinary that a ministry official would publicly oppose a minister. It is extraordinary that confidential material would be leaked to the public on the scale that it has in recent weeks. What does this say? That Foreign Minister Haavisto’s actions have been extraordinary," Halla-aho charged.
 For its part, the National Coalition Party condemned the fledgling administration's lethargic action.  Paula Risikko , who spoke during the party’s turn, said that quicker government action might have already helped Finnish children at the al-Hol camp.
 "The government’s inability to make political decisions has led to further erosion of citizens' confidence in political decision-making and possibly to the prolonged suffering of children at the al-Hol camp," she declared. The NCP has said that while Finland should assist the children, it should not help adults at the camp.
 PM challenges NCP
 The government benches were not at a loss for words during the debate. The Prime Minister pointed out that her government had been in office for one week and had laid down its political position on the situation at al-Hol.
 Marin provided a lengthy account of the role of public officials who were charged with safeguarding the rights of the children as well as the security of people living in Finland.
 Several administration MPs wondered why the NCP had partnered with the Finns Party to bring the interpellation. Marin put the question directly to the party.
 "Finland is a constitutional state and my government will hold to that. Having said that, I am looking especially at the opposition and particularly at the National Coalition party and I ask, 'Aren't you ashamed?'" the PM said.
 In response to Marin’s challenge, NCP MP  Sanni Grahn-Laasonen  pointed out that there would have been no need for an interpellation if the government had spoken openly about its plans.
 The government will face a confidence vote on the al-Hol situation on Wednesday.

"Aren't you ashamed?" PM Marin stands ground during heated al-Hol debate


Summary: One social media post generated as much attention in a week as rescue workers normally attract in four years.

Firefighters in central Ostrobothnia and Jakobstad (Pietarsaari in Finnish) on Finland’s west coast have attracted international attention with recent social media posts.
 In one post, a fireman from Veteli in Central Ostrobothnia demonstrates his skill worming his body through the rungs of a ladder — a space just 27 x 27 centimetres square — while clad in full firefighting gear.
 The video proved to be a winner on Facebook, racking up nearly four million views, more than 34,000 shares and attracting 3,000 comments from as far afield as Asia. The station’s Facebook posts usually reach about 800,000 people in a year.
 "We are used to tight spots. Here’s a concrete example from Veteli, where we simulate a situation with the 27 x 27-centimetre space between the rungs of a ladder," the rescue service said on Facebook.
 "Do not try this at home! And if you do, remember to have an assistant on hand to call us to [also] help you get out of this scrape," the post continued.
 "More than muscle" needed for the job
 Fire chief  Antti Kätevä  said that the video demonstrates that more than muscle is required for the job.
 "A firefighter also needs to be agile and flexible," he declared, adding that it would have been good to embed a reminder about fire safety at Christmas time.
 "But maybe that would not have been as funny or interesting," he noted.
 The idea for the video came from an Eastern European version, but the Veteli firefighter chose an even smaller space for the stunt.
 Safety communications specialist  Juha Hassila  of the Finnish National Rescue Association (SPEK )said he salutes the more relaxed videos, adding that communications have become more diverse and there is a demand for many different types of content.
 He noted that it is still important to build awareness, but that there has been an increase in the use of more fun, light-hearted content.
 "They improve the profession’s image and more: they highlight concrete examples of how these guys can operate in challenging situations," Hassila pointed out.
 Media students film fire truck Christmas greeting
 A seasonal greeting involving fire trucks by rescue services in central Ostrobothnia and Jakobstad has also proven to be highly popular on social media. In it, seven fire trucks flash their lights to the beat of American progressive rock band Trans-Siberian Orchestra's track,  Wizards in Winter  from the 2004 album,  The Lost Christmas Eve .
 The video accumulated 90,000 views in 24 hours on Facebook and attracted a great deal of positive reaction. It was shot on a snowy morning at the side of a busy road opposite the fire station.
 Fire chief Kätevä said that the idea was spawned by an offer rescue workers could not refuse — media students pitched in to record the video as part of their study programme.
 "We certainly have many tools and skills, but you can see from the editing that there is a difference between an experienced user and a novice," he quipped.
 The video carries an explicit warning to persons with a sensitivity to flashing lights. It was tweeted with a Christmas greeting in multiple languages, including Finnish, Swedish, English and Russian, among others.
 "Hyvää joulua! God Jul! Merry Christmas! Buriid juovllaid! Joyeux Noël! Frohe Weinachten! Feliz Navidad! Buon Natale! С рождеством! 聖誕快樂 "

Finnish firefighters warm hearts with social media shenanigans


Summary: Drugs found by Espoo police, companies reject Posti services and a comet with a Finnish name is visible this week.

The drugs confiscated by police after a  dramatic heist attempt by gunmen on Monday  were found in a sealed shipping container, leading investigators to suspect the attackers had access to inside information on the logistics firm in question.
 Helsingin Sanomat wrote  that even though industrial seals attached to containers should deter anyone from including uncatalogued goods in the cargo, criminals may find ways to counteract such security measures.
 Police said that the five men now in custody were seeking a shipment of cocaine sent illicitly from Brazil.
 The Finnish Freight Forwarding and Logistics Association's CEO  Petri Laitinen  said he has never come across a case where a logistics company or one of its employees was in on the smuggling scheme, as logistics workers are carefully screened upon hiring.
 "Organised crime has always sought to use legal freight to smuggle their wares," Laitinen said. "Insurance companies require all containers to be locked, and also guarded to impede access in the case of stopovers on a logistics route."
 Finnish Customs director of enforcement  Hannu Sinkkonen  said in HS that countries and companies may have their own seals. Customs cannot check every single container, he said, because freight has the same right of passage in the EU as labour and tourism.
 "If cargo has been sent from outside the EU but has been cleared by a European customs agency, we treat it as European cargo," Sinkkonen said.
 Companies turn away from Posti
 The Federation of Finnish Enterprises (FFE) conducted a survey among companies of all sizes in December and found that a majority of respondents will decrease their use of government postal firm Posti, following widespread strikes in November.
 Of the 1,000 companies surveyed, 46 percent said they would not be using Posti services as before, while 37 percent said they would return to prior arrangements.
 FFE chief  Mikael Pentikäinen   said in tabloid Ilta-Sanomat  that the results spell utter catastrophe for the postal service.
 "This study shows that many companies were badly hit by the strikes, but that Posti will bear the brunt of this aftermath," Pentikäinen said. "The bigger the firm, the less they will be dealing with Posti anymore. These are staggering figures."
 The union had been locked in a dispute with employer Posti over a new agreement covering terms and conditions of work for about 10,000 workers.
 Employer and employees representatives were also at odds  over the fate of about 700 parcel sorting workers , who were transferred to a new collective agreement in August that effectively slashed their pay by what the union says amounts to as much as 30 percent.
 The company rescinded that plan to end the strikes.
 Indications that former union boss  Antti Rinne  knew in advance of the postal company's plans to shift some workers to a lower-paying contract and tacitly approved it in August finally lead to his  stepping down as Prime Minister .
 Comet Wirtanen shows up again
 In celestial news, a comet with a Finnish name will again be just barely visible to the naked eye in the northern hemisphere in December.
 Regional daily  Aamulehti wrote  on the appearance of comet 46P/Wirtanen, saying that the icy kilometer-long satellite will pass unusually close to the Earth – only some 30 times the distance between us and the Moon.
 "It explains why the comet's head is broad and its motion fast in the sky," said expert  Veikko Mäkelä  from astronomical society Ursa. "It's been about two and a half years since the last naked eye sighting of a comet in Finland."
 The comet's orbit around the Sun takes approximately 5.4 years, AL wrote, with the furthest point of its path in the vicinity of Jupiter. It will be most visible around 10 pm in the southern sky in December and January.
 The comet was named after the American astronomer who discovered it,  Carl A. Wirtanen  (1910-1990), who had Finnish roots.
 Mäkelä recommended using a telescope to view the comet, as 46P/Wirtanen looks like a "faint, foggy ball" when seen without instruments.

Wednesday's papers: Cocaine in sealed containers, firms ditch Posti, comet Wirtanen appears


Summary: Pekka Haavisto received majority support from 110 MPs on Wednesday on the issue of the repatriation of Finns from Syria.

Minister for Foreign Affairs  Pekka Haavisto  received the support of 110 MPs in a confidence vote held in Parliament on Wednesday concerning the  repatriation of Finns living in the al-Hol camp in Syria . Out of 200 MPs, 79 MPs voted against while 10 were absent.
 Four opposition groups, the Finns Party, the conservative National Coalition Party, the Christian Democrats and Movement Now (Liike nyt)  had filed an interpellation  over Haavisto’s  alleged plan  to repatriate Finnish citizens from the al-Hol refugee camp in Syria.
 The  heated debate  on this issue began on Tuesday afternoon before talks moved on to next year's budget plans in the evening. The al-Hol issue was back on the agenda after midnight and discussions went on past 3 am on Wednesday morning.
 During Tuesday's session, Prime Minister  Sanna Marin 's  government also won its first confidence motio n when 105 representatives voted in favour of its four-year programme.
 Minister under fire
 The foreign minister has been  in the firing line  over the al-Hol refugee camp in recent weeks. Haavisto had been caught up in a maelstrom over allegations that he wanted to push through a plan to bring the women and children back to Finland, with claims that he sidelined a top ministry official in the process.
 The Marin government  reached a decision  on the al-Hol issue on Monday when it announced 10-point guidelines. It said its primary objective is to help the children and that a decision on the repatriation of each individual will be made on a case-by-case basis.
 The guideline added that "there is no obligation to assist adults who have entered the area voluntarily".

Foreign Minister wins confidence vote over al-Hol furore


Summary: Representatives of the indigenous Truth and Reconciliation Commission will be chosen next year.

The Sámi Parliament of Finland on Tuesday officially accepted the mandate of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), tasked with investigating atrocities committed against the country's indigenous populations.
 The Sámi Parliament is the final institution to approve the TRC plan. The Finnish government did the same in November, followed by the Skolt Sámi village meeting's confirmation in early December.
 The first goal of the process is to appoint a five-person commission to handle the reconciliation. Two members will be from the Finnish government, two from the Sámi Parliament and one representative of the Skolt Sámi.
 The Sámi Parliament called for suggestions for commissioners from the Sámi community. Final decisions will be made by a plenary session of the Sámi Parliament.
 Tight schedule contested
 Tuesday's Sámi Parliament session expressed gratitude for the years of work already done on the TRC.
 First vice chair  Heikki Paltto  emphasised the importance of the process for the Sámi communities of Finland. Paltto said the next steps should be taken with all haste.
 "We should start work now, when the elder generations are still with us. It is strenuous to go through the painful past, but necessary," Paltto said.
 The Sámi Parliament accepted the TRC on Tuesday. Vesa Toppari / Yle
 Several statements from Sámi MPs also brought up worries over the hurried timetable of the reconciliation preparations. The deadline for the completed reconciliation is set for 2022, which Sámi Parliament members  Neeta Jääskö  and  Kirsti Kustula  objected was too fast for such an important issue.
 "It is a very brief window in which to handle such a case. The trauma of the past lies deep in people's lives. Changes in Finland's political landscape or other reasons should not be allowed to affect the schedule. More time is needed," the MPs said.
 Member  Anu Avaskari  noted in her statement that the TRC is one of the most significant accomplishments of the current 2016-19 Sámi Parliament.
 MP  Ulla Magga  put forward an endorsed proposal to expand the schedule of the TRC's work, but it was voted down by a margin of 10-5.
 Persistent effects of past wrongs
 The primary stated goal of the joint TRC is to recognise and evaluate the discrimination faced by Sámi people throughout history, and the continuing current effects of the trauma caused by officially sanctioned oppression.
 The commission will investigate the forced integration tactics used by the Finnish government and other offences against the northernmost indigenous populations of Europe.
 Former Prime Minister Antti Rinne met with Sámi Parliament representatives after the parliamentary elections in 2019. Pentti Pieski / Priváhtta
 Commissioners will report publicly on the persistent trauma that Sámi people still face due to Finland's racist schemes of oppression. Eventually the TRC hopes to establish rigorous psycho-social support systems for the indigenous communities based on their own languages and culture.
 The Truth and Reconciliation Commission got its real start in 2016, when the Sámi Parliament met in Inari to plan a TRC conference. Former prime ministers  Juha Sipilä  and  Antti Rinne  met with Sámi representatives in 2017 and early 2019 respectively and vowed to push on with the process.
 TRCs have been used around the world to bring justice to indigenous communities ravaged by systemic violence and eugenic oppression, such as after apartheid in South Africa. Norway's TRC into the country's persecution of the Kven ethnic minority, whose ancestors were Finnish peasants, is still ongoing.

Sámi reconciliation process gains final approval


Summary: The financial watchdog rapped Finland's biggest bank over monitoring of possible money laundering and terror financing.

The Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (also known as FIN-FSA or Fiva) has fined S-Bank 980,000 euros over negligence in its customer oversight, also known as 'know your customer' (KYC) procedures. They are aimed at blocking financial institutions from being used to launder ill-gotten money or to fund terror groups.
 S-Bank's "risk-based approach has not been sufficiently comprehensive to meet the requirements of the Act on Detecting and Preventing Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing nor had it obtained adequate customer due diligence data", the watchdog said on Wednesday. Fiva also found problems with the bank's IT systems and processes.
 Biggest bank owned by biggest retailer
 S-Bank has Finland's largest number of customers, more than three million. It is mostly owned by the S Group, the country's biggest retailer.
 Fiva also issued a warning to an S-Bank subsidiary, FIM Asset Management, for insufficient KYC data on its customers.
 However the FIN-FSA added that it "has no reason to suspect that money laundering offences referred to in the Criminal Code have been committed" in the operations of S-Bank or FIM Asset Management.
 S-Bank: Bonus collectors unlikely to be money launderers
 Jussi Sokka , the bank's vice president for legal, compliance and risk issues, said that the lender takes the matter very seriously.
 "Although we do not entirely agree with the Financial Supervisory Authority, we accept the decision. From our point of view, for instance, those customers who have accounts at S-Bank merely in order to collect [S Group retail] bonus points pose a significantly lower risk of money laundering," he said in a statement on Wednesday.
 Sokka told Yle that S-Bank tracks its customers' payment behaviour through various channels, including the S bonus system, as part of its KYC procedures.
 Nordea  and other banks operating in Finland have been accused of turning a blind eye to money laundering.

S-Bank fined nearly €1m over lax monitoring of money laundering


Summary: Gusty winds and precipitation began pounding Finland from the southwest on Wednesday morning.

Heavy, wet snow knocked out electricity to thousands of customers in inland parts of southern and central Finland on Wednesday afternoon.
 The Finnish Energy industry group (ET) said that more than 51,000 customers had lost power across south-central and eastern Finland around 6:15pm, as well as a few in Kittilä, Finnish Lapland, and in Sipoo on the south coast. The vast majority of those affected were Elenia customers.
 Story continues after photo
 Parts of Mannerheimintie, one of Helsinki's main roads, were flooded on Wednesday morning. Teemu Salonen / Lehtikuva
 The storm moved in from the southwest on Wednesday morning, bringing gusty winds and precipitation. Due to mild temperatures, that fell as rain along the coast.
 The powerful low pressure system moved eastward across southern and central Finland during the day.
 The number of households without electricity was expected to grow by evening, when winds are set to strengthen.
 Story continues after photo
 Snow in Hämeenlinna. Akseli Ahola / Yle
 Ship cancellations and delays
 The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) has posted a storm warning for the Gulf of Finland, where winds are expected to blow at 23 metres per second from the afternoon on, posing danger to marine traffic. Very rough waves are also predicted, with significant wave height of more than four metres.
 Eckerö Line cancelled at least two ship departures. Viking Line and Tallink Silja said they planned to sail as usual, but warned passengers of possible delays.
 Across south-central and eastern Finland, the FMI warns of very poor road conditions due to the snowstorm.
 The precipitation and wind are expected to move off toward Russia by Wednesday night.

Winter storm cuts off power to over 50,000 homes


Summary: The annual drug death toll in Finland grew by more than one fifth in 2018, to a total of 261 people.

More people in Finland died of drug overdoses and related reasons in 2018 than ever before, Statistics Finland reported on Monday. The drug death toll rose for a third year running, the stats agency said.
 A total of 261 people lost their lives through the use of addictive narcotics, legal and illegal, up from 200 deaths one year previously.
 Some 75 percent of all drug-related deaths were opioid overdoses, mostly from legal, synthetic prescription opioids used to treat chronic pain.
 "Deaths increased most in the 20-29 age group. A majority of drug-related deaths were accidental poisonings from multiple substances where the effect from drugs was dominant,"  Statistics Finland said .
 Alcohol abuse fatalities also increased by more than a hundred to 1,683 last year. Three out of four were men, and likewise three quarters were aged 55 years or older.
 Memory disorder fatalities double in decade
 The most common causes of death among Finnish people in 2018 were diseases of the circulatory system, neoplasms (abnormal growths such as cancer tumours) and memory afflictions such as dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
 The number of annual deaths linked to dementia and Alzheimer's has risen by 47 percent over a ten-year period, and by five percent from 2017 to 2018.

Synthetic opioids raise drug-related deaths to record level


Summary: Finland's fifth nuclear reactor will not begin regular operations before 2021, rather than 2009 as originally planned.

The startup date for the Olkiluoto 3 (OL3) nuclear reactor on Finland's southwest coast has been pushed back again. Plant owner Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) said on Thursday that it had been informed of the new schedule by the main supplier, the Areva-Siemens Consortium.
 The supplier now says that fuel will be loaded into the reactor next summer ahead of grid connection in November 2020. Regular electricity production would start in March 2021, instead of September 2020 as most recently announced.
 Faulty components found
 TVO says the latest delays are due to slow progress in system testing and shortcomings in spare part deliveries. For instance auxiliary diesel generators were found to have faulty components.
 "Because of numerous delays we have to do maintenance to equipment and components already installed to ensure fluent start-up and continuous operation. The manufacturing and deliveries of the spare parts take time," OL3 Project Director  Jouni Silvennoinen  said in a TVO statement.
 Construction work on OL3 started nearly 15 years ago. According to the original timetable, it was to have gone online in 2009. Since then  there have been many delays , lawsuits and massive cost overruns.
 With a total cost estimate of at least 8.5 billion euros, it has been described as the second-most expensive building in human history, behind a hotel complex in Mecca.
 Construction of the original atomic power station began in 1973. The first unit began commercial operations six years later, becoming the country's second reactor after one in Loviisa.
 The Fennovoima consortium hopes to build Finland's first entirely new nuclear plant since the 1970s in Pyhäjoki, near Raahe. That project too has been  beset by delays  and is yet to receive a construction permit.

Olkiluoto 3 nuke delayed yet again, now 12 years behind schedule


Summary: The Red Cross says it handed out the 70 euro food coupons to those in need.

The Good Christmas Spirit campaign (Hyvä Joulumieli in Finnish) says it has handed out some 28,000 food vouchers to hard-up families over the festive season.
 The vouchers are worth 70 euros and help to fund a proper Christmas meal for those who might otherwise go without.
 Social workers are in charge of allocating the vouchers, which are paid for each year via a charity fundraising drive by the Red Cross and the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare.
 The Red Cross says food poverty is evident all through the year, not just at Christmas, according to a survey it carried out among social workers.
 Of 108 social workers to reply to the survey, one in four said poor families cut back on food spending and struggle to provide a balanced diet.
 One in five said their customers relied on food banks.
 “This tells us that the poorest families with children have to constantly rely on forms of aid that are intended to be only temporary or a last resort to be used when all other safety nets fail,” said  Maaret Alaranta , social well-being coordinator for the Finnish Red Cross, in a press release.

Charity drive 28,000 Christmas food vouchers for 28,000 families


Summary: 112 nations worldwide named their own new exoplanets and their host stars.

Astronomical society Ursa  on Wednesday announced Finland's entries to the International Astronomical Union's (IAU)  centenary project  to give new names to a series of exoplanets and their host stars.
 Finland was among the 112 countries that got to nickname a planet and star outside of our solar system. The Finnish exoplanet HAT-P-38b, a gas giant, was named  Hiisi , referring to ancient holy sites in Baltic-Finnic mythology. Its Sun-like host star received the name  Horna , an old Finnish word referring to a fiery place or the underworld. Both celestial bodies are some 800 light years away from Earth.
 A year on planet Hiisi lasts just 4.6 Earth days, Ursa said.
 The names were chosen from among 2,000 suggestions and more than 4,000 votes cast by members of the public. Upwards of 360,000 names were put forward globally and more than 400,000 people around the world voted on their favourite names.
 "The IAU is delighted to see the broad international interest that this NameExoWorlds campaign has generated," IAU President-elect  Debra Elmegreen  said  in the IAU release . "It is gratifying that so many people across the globe have helped create a name for a planetary system that is meaningful to their culture and heritage. This effort helps unite us all in our exploration of the universe."
 The University of Helsinki said that further Finnish contributions to the nomenclature of exoplanets will continue in the mythological vein. Finding new exoplanets is difficult because of their size, remoteness and proximity to their host stars, Ursa wrote.
 Astronomers predict that there are likely to be at least 46 billion planets the size of Earth in our Milky Way galaxy alone.

Exoplanet and star gain names from Finnish mythology


Summary: An individual can choose from over 7,000 surnames in the list published by the Institute for the Languages of Finland.

For those looking to take on a new identity, the Institute for the Languages of Finland (Kotus) has just updated its official list of surname suggestions. The  digital catalogue  has over 7,000 new names to pick from now — 6,500 Finnish surnames and 700 Swedish ones.
 The names are listed alphabetically, and you can search the catalogue using keywords. For instance, you can enter ‘lumi’ (Finnish word for snow) or ‘berg’ (Swedish word for hill or mountain) in the search box to find any names that begin or end with these components.
 Naming laws dictate choices
 By law, every Finn must have a surname. According to Kotus, the publication is intended to be a source of inspiration for those considering changing their surname.
 Earlier this year,  a First- and Last Name-Act came into force  which refers to a new surname as one that is currently not in use by a surviving person.  Sirkka Paikkala , a Kotus specialist who was a member of the working group that fashioned the new naming laws, had said that you are allowed to change your surname to one that is not in use, or to a name used by a surviving person if certain preconditions are met.
 It should also be easier to use shared names and double-barrelled names that combine two parties’ surnames.
 Once a surname listed in the catalogue has been registered as being in use, it won’t be possible for others to adopt this name unless certain conditions are met.
 Names that are offensive or cause obvious harm to their owners will not be accepted as new surnames, according to the law. Names of well-known and historically significant domestic or foreign families may not be considered either. The new surname cannot be the same as that of a foundation, association or trademark.
 Popular picks of the month
 Finnish surnames are typically based on nature or geographical location. Many of Kotus's suggestions for new surnames are based on place names extracted from the National Land Survey of Finland registry.
 The Local Register Offices of the applicant’s home municipality take the final decisions on all first and last name matters.
 A list of new surnames that have been accepted recently  has been published on the Local Register Offices' website — nearly 70 new surnames were registered since the end of November.
 Some of the recently bagged surnames include Alaska, Atlantis, Kaamos, Kaunismieli, Arrest, Heart Path, Valolempi, Korteikko, Halkoluoto and Ukkosvaara.

Alaska, Kaamos, Kaunismieli, Sydänpolku: Finland’s new surnames


Summary: The return of two orphans from Syria was high on the news agenda on Thursday morning.

Finnish politics has been shaken in recent weeks by news that  the country is looking to bring back children from a camp in northern Syria .
 The camp at al-Hol houses women who are or have been married to Isis fighters. Also at al-Hol are children, and orphans who were in the region when the Isis caliphate fell.
 Early on Wednesday morning Foreign Minister  Pekka Haavisto   survived a confidence vote  brought by the opposition parties after rancorous debate inside parliament and on social media, with the focus on the adults at the camp.
 The question as posed by Centre Party leader  Katri Kulmuni  in a  hastily-deleted Instagram poll  was whether to repatriate the women and children at the camp, or just the children.
 On Wednesday evening Haavisto told Yle that an operation was underway, before Helsingin Sanomat  reported  that two orphans from the camp had left on their way to Erbil, and from there to Finland.
 Soon afterwards Yle also  confirmed  the events, with the Finns in the camp gathered by guards and photographed before the two children were removed from the facility.
 The Ministry for Foreign Affairs is expected to announce news of the repatriation once the children are with Finnish authorities in Erbil.
 Euthanasia and the church
 A doctoral thesis has drawn plenty of media attention after it suggested that up to half of Lutheran priests in Finland may be positive about euthanasia, if it remains separate from standard healthcare provision.
 Iltalehti  reports  that the study found two out of five priests willing to consider euthanasia as an option if the patient’s life expectancy was a few days, but just one in five was similarly inclined if the patient could expect to survive for months.
 "This is surprising, considering that Christian churches and communities tend to oppose euthanasia. Earlier studies have also shown that religious professionals are usually against euthanasia," said doctoral candidate  Miia Kontro  in a widely-quoted press release.
 The study showed that female priests were more positive than male ones in relation to euthanasia.
 Kaamos tricks
 Saturday marks the winter solstice and at this, the darkest time of the year, many people in Finland turn to thoughts of hibernation, special daylight lamps and other support measures to get through the winter.
 The Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) is not immune to these thoughts of ‘kaamos’, and has produced a handy list of ten tips for those craving daylight.
 Business daily Kauppalehti  reports  the list.
 The use of daylight-imitating lamps, regular exercise (but not in the evening), winding down properly in the evening before sleep (no bright lights or phones), and making sure you see friends even if you feel like hibernating at home are among the top hints from Finland’s health and wellness boffins.

Thursday’s papers: Orphan repatriation, priests on euthanasia and tips on handling the darkness


The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) says it teamed up with police in Helsinki, other parts of Finland and Spain to crack down on a massive drug smuggling and sales operation.
 Several suspects are in custody, including two Finns believed to have run the organisation from Spain. Authorities say they were moving large volumes of controlled substances across several European countries and selling them in Finland.
 "Police suspect the organisation of smuggling extremely large amounts of drugs, illicit pharmaceuticals and doping substances into Finland. The preliminary investigation has identified dozens of suspects in Finland and abroad. Nearly all the suspects are Finnish citizens," Detective Chief Inspector  Jari Nikonen  of the Helsinki Police said in a statement on Thursday.
 €4m in ill-gotten gains
 The crime syndicate is suspected of starting to import and distribute doping substances in 2016, expanding its business last year to include the import and distribution of drugs and other controlled substances in the Helsinki and Tampere regions. They were primarily brought in from the Netherlands, sometimes hidden in lorry deliveries, officials say.
 The gang is suspected of smuggling a wide array of substances into Finland, including more than 200 kilos of amphetamines, 60 kilos of hash, 15 kilos of cocaine, more than 30 kilos of MDMA and over 100,000 ecstasy tablets, some 20,000 LSD tabs, two kilos of crystal meth and about two million pharmaceutical pills.
 The items were allegedly sold on the street and via 'dark web' sites such as the Silk Road. Police estimate the proceeds of crime at around four million euros.
 The case involves more than 60 suspects, of whom about 20 remain in pre-trial detention. The cases are to be handed over for consideration of charges before the end of the year.

Finns suspected of smuggling "extremely large amounts" of drugs via Spain and Netherlands


Summary: Electrical workers say they will stay off the job until late January. Employers say this could undermine exports.

The Finnish Electrical Workers' Union is extending its strike by four weeks and widening it to hit power plants. The walkout, which began two weeks ago, is now to continue until 30 January rather than 2 January as originally planned.
 The strike affects 12 companies that are members of the Technology Industries of Finland industry group, including Konecranes, Valmet, the Meyer Turku shipyard and Valmet Automotive, which has a car plant in Uusikaupunki.
 The electricians will also expand the strike to include four power utilities: Aurora Tornio, Tornion Voima, VSV-Energia and Kokkolan Energia.
 And in addition to an overtime ban that has been in effect since early November, the union will impose a ban on shift swaps as of 2 January.
 The Technology Industries association considers the strike to be illegal and warns that it is significantly harming some of Finland's biggest export firms.
 "It is highly regrettable that this union, with its long tradition, is behaving so irresponsibly and losing all of its credibility as a labour market player," said  Minna Helle , the group's executive director for industrial relations, in a statement.
 A former trade union official, she served as the national labour conciliator from 2015 to 2018, when she stepped down in the middle of her term to join the employers' lobby.

Electricians expand strike, employers say it threatens exports


Summary: The Foreign Ministry said that it will provide an update when the children are safely in the care of Finnish officials.

The Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday that Finland is preparing to evacuate two Finnish children from the al-Hol refugee camp in Syria, where relatives of Isis combatants are being held.
 The ministry said that to protect the children’s privacy and ensure their safety, it would not provide any public information about them. It has also classified as secret the details of official activities taking place abroad.
 Once the children arrive in Finland, they will undergo health checks before being handed over to child welfare officials. Information about municipalities where the returnees will possibly be located or where they might live will not be released publicly either.
 "The children are probably traumatised in different ways so they will need many kinds of support. They will receive support for their situation and development and they will be monitored long-term," Social Affairs and Health Ministry Undersecretary  Kirsi Varhila  said in a statement.
 On Wednesday evening, daily Helsingin Sanomat reported that an operation to evacuate Finnish citizens from al-Hol had begun with the return of two orphaned children. Yle later confirmed that  Kurdish officials had picked up the children  from the camp in Syria, taking them to Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, where they were to be handed over to Finnish authorities..
 On Monday evening Prime Minister  Sanna Marin   formalised the government’s position  on the controversial planned repatriations, saying that Finland would return the children "as soon as possible" but that there was no obligation to assist adults at the camp.

Foreign Ministry: Two children to be repatriated from al-Hol camp


Summary: Finland’s social insurer Kela reports that it spent 14.9 billion euros on social benefits last year.

In 2018,  health insurance  was Kela's largest expenditure, followed by pensions, unemployment benefits and subsidies for children and families
 Residents in eastern and northern Finland drew more benefit payments than those living in the western and southern parts of the country, Kela’s latest statistical yearbook showed.
 Most Finns receive some form of Kela benefits. In 2018, the agency paid out healthcare reimbursements to nearly 3.8 million people and child benefit payments for 996,000 children. Some 377,000 households also drew housing benefits from the social insurer.
 300,000 pensioners receiving less than 1k
 The combined average of earnings-related and national pensions was 1,669 euros per month in 2018.
 People with very little or no earnings-related pensions receive national pensions. For a single person, the full  national pension  was 628.85 euros per month.
 Finland was home to 1.5 million pensioners last year, with the majority—462,000 people—drawing pensions ranging from 1,600 to 2,599 euros per month.
 However 322,000 people were paid out pensions totalling less than 1,000 euros per month.

Kela: Social benefits totalled neary 15 billion in 2018


Summary: The presidential household received gifts of produce, a Christmas tree and flowers from different parts of the country.

President  Sauli Niinistö  on Thursday commended  reported efforts to repatriate Finnish children  living at the al-Hol refugee camp in Syria, which houses some family members of Isis fighters.
 At the time Niinistö and his wife  Jenni Haukio  had just received gifts of produce from different parts of the country as part of a long-running Christmas tradition. Niinistö was asked to respond to reports that two orphans had already been evacuated from the camp in Syria.
 The president told media representatives that he had the same information that was publicly available everyone else. However he noted that other Nordic countries had already returned orphaned nationals from the region.
 "This is probably the initial stage. It’s is good that Finns are also acting," Niinistö added.
 As part of the gift-giving ceremony at Mäntyniemi, the presidential couple’s official residence, Niinistö and Haukio received a Christmas tree from forestry students at the University of Helsinki, as well as flowers, including tulips, amaryllis and poinsettias.
 Niinistö flags food security
 The Niinistös’ Christmas ham arrived from Vehmaa in western Finland and was gifted by the local agricultural producers’ association. The president said that he was delighted to see young producers and noted that weather phenomena and climate change may cause regional food shortages.
 "Finland cannot afford to lose its ability to produce food," he commented.
 The Finnish Nature League donated a vegetable hamper including health-boosting lingonberries, which also spoke to the benefits of spending time in the forest.
 The Niinistö household also received a pike from Korpo in the Turku archipelago, fished from local waters by resident  Klaus Mattson  of Jurmo, an island in the archipelago. It was his third time supplying the seasonal offering.
 This year’s fish was silver, a colouring said to be rare for the species. The custom of giving a Christmas pike dates back to the 18th century, when residents presented it to the monarch for Christmas. It is generally served in a fish stew along with potatoes and swedes.
 Karjalan liitto (the Karelian Association), a group for Winter War evacuees from the region, handed over their signature Karelian pies as well as potato pies baked fresh on Thursday morning. The organisation will celebrate its 80th anniversary in 2020.
 This year’s Finnish Lucia ,  Sara Ray , led a choir and performed the Santa Lucia hymn along with other selections. Additional entertainment was provided by the Helsinki Cathedral boys’ choir, Cantores Minores.
 In 2016, the presidential family’s pet Boston terrier,  Lemu, stole the show  when he was overcome by the presence of fish and ham in the array of gifts.

President talks al-Hol orphans, food security at Christmas gift ceremony


Summary: All Points North went to Lapland to find out how one man helped make Santa Claus one of Finland's biggest brands.

You can listen to our weekly All Points North podcast via this embedded player, Yle Areena, Spotify, iTunes or your normal pod player using the RSS feed.
 The year is 1927 and Yle radio presenter  Markus Rautio  has just announced that Santa Claus lives on the Lapland fell of Korvatunturi, on the modern-day border between Finland and Russia.
 Today, Santa Claus forms a key part of Lapland’s booming winter tourism industry, which saw a record 3 million overnight stays by foreign visitors in 2018 - almost half a million of whom visited in December of that year.
 "It’s a long process, and it all dates back to Uncle Markus [as he’s affectionately known to many Finns] telling the story of Korvatunturi," says  Sanna Kärkkäinen , managing director of the local tourist board Visit Rovaniemi.
 Rebuilding Rovaniemi
 Uncle Markus’s story was followed up in 1950, when  Eleanor Roosevelt , wife of the former US President  Franklin Delano Roosevelt , visited Rovaniemi.
 Rovaniemi had been almost completely destroyed by retreating German forces at the end of the Second World War, and the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration - of which Roosevelt was a patron - helped fund the rebuilding effort.
 "The story of Eleanor’s visit was spread around the world," Kärkkäinen explains, "She visited the Arctic Circle, everyone knew, and it started to generate visitors to the places she had been."
 Roosevelt sent a letter from a small wooden cabin that had been built for her visit in what were "the first operations for Santa’s post office," says Kärkkäinen. The official post office, located next to Roosevelt’s cabin in the Santa Claus Village outside Rovaniemi, now handles around half a million letters to Santa every year.
 Santa: The brand
 By the 1980s, the numbers of foreign tourists visiting Lapland had increased. The Santa Claus Village opened in 1984. Between 1983 and March 2000, some of the new visitors arrived on special charter flights operated by the supersonic Concorde jet.
 Today, the Santa Claus Village even plays a role in Finland’s foreign relations, hosting visitors and political delegations from abroad. In December, Chinese Vice Premier  Sun Chunlan  visited the attraction as part of an official programme of winter sports organised by the two countries.
 "We have had the Chinese president visiting Rovaniemi in 2010, we have had the president of India and very many other countries with the delegations," says Kärkkäinen.
 "I think it tells a little bit about the story of the meaning of this whole attraction and whole Arctic town, the Arctic capital as we like to call it. This is a meeting place of all the people, no matter what the business is."
 Join the conversation
 If you have any questions or comments or would like to participate in the discussion, contact us via WhatsApp on +358 44 421 0909, on our Facebook or Twitter accounts, or at yle.news@yle.fi. You can also give us your feedback on our English language news services via our  survey .
 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 and produced by  Tom Bateman.  The audio engineer was  Mikko Majanen.

APN Christmas special: How Santa became Finnish


Summary: A preliminary investigation suggested that a grievance between two families was behind the shooting.

The Helsinki district court has sentenced a 32-year-old man originally from Kosovo to 10 years in prison over  a shooting incident  that took place in downtown Helsinki in July. The man was found guilty on three counts of attempted murder as well as other offences.
 The defendant was found to have opened fire on three brothers in broad daylight at the intersection of Hietalahdenkatu and Porkkalankatu in Helsinki’s Kamppi district. Two of the targets sustained serious injuries during the shooting.
 The suspect was taken into the custody soon after the incident and had been in remand since July.
 According to the court, the motive for the offences remain unclear, although the shooter mentioned a row between his family and that of the victims, all of whom were originally from Kosovo.
 Two of the brothers who were shot had been fined for assaulting the shooter. The court said that one of them had hit the 32-year-old in the head a few hours before the shooting.
 Another man with the same surname as the brothers had also been convicted for assaulting the gunman at the end of 2018.
 Family beef behind incident
 A preliminary investigation by police as well as the prosecutor suggested that the gunplay had been the result of a grievance between two families.
 At the beginning of the trial in November, the prosecution said that the parties – the gunman and the three brothers – all came from the same city in Kosovo and that there were tensions between the two groups.
 The defendant had been assaulted three times before the shooting incident. The prosecutor said that the most recent attack had taken place at a construction site just hours before the shooting and that one of the brothers had been involved.
 After the incident at the construction site, the suspect had gone to his home in Vantaa to fetch a pistol before returning to Helsinki. The prosecutor said that his intention was to run into his assailant and his two brothers.
 The men faced off in Helsinki during the afternoon rush hour when the armed man rammed the brothers’ car with his van. He opened fire on two of them as they ran off, hitting one.
 He then went over to the car, where he shot and stabbed the lone occupant sitting in the back seat. The prosecutor described this man’s injuries as very serious.
 Defendant denies attempted murder charges
 The defence argued that the 32-year-old man did not intend to kill or harm anyone, but only wanted to intimidate the men.
 The defendant denied the charges of attempted murder, but pled guilty to two counts of aggravated assault with excessive force and one count of endangerment.
 The convicted man has lived in the Helsinki region, most recently in Vantaa. He was said to be the CEO of a construction firm established in 2014.

10-year jail sentence over downtown Helsinki shooting


Summary: Consumers are increasingly opting for smaller, easier-to-manage trees.

With Christmas in Finland less than a week away, Yle found that a Christmas tree could set consumers back a hefty 100 euros or as little as 10 euros.
 Many homemakers are on the prowl for a lush Christmas tree that can weather seasonal festivities, so Yle went out to visit tree merchants at market squares and garden stores and to compare prices around the country.
 The resulting price comparison is based on an indoor tree of about two metres. Priced at just 10 euros, the cheapest trees were on sale in Mikkeli in southeast Finland. By contrast the most expensive trees in the unofficial study could be found in Oulu, where the price tag was 100 euros.
 Story continues after table.
 In the west, Pori’s Liisantori hosts a traditional Christmas tree market every year.  Tapani Kopio  from Kauvatsa in Kokemäki said he has been selling the seasonal centrepiece for 40 years. He said that consumers increasingly appear to be looking for more compact firs.
 "Smaller trees are easier to handle. Larger trees could also fit in homes in the past," he observed.
 The trees are left to grow until they are harvested during a growing phase.
 "A tree that is about two metres tall would have been growing for about 10 years before it is harvested for sale. Larger trees about three metres tall can be up to 20 years old," he noted.
 Story continues after photo.
 Christmas trees bundled up and ready for sale. Olli Koski/Yle
 Leo Suutari  was one of the shoppers on the hunt for a Christmas tree in Kuopio on Tuesday. He said that there are specific criteria for a good living room centrepiece.
 "The tree must be small enough, not too wide and a rich green colour. And it must be Finnish. I have never bought an imported tree," he declared.
 He added that Christmas trees have been part of the Suture family celebrations for more than 60 years – there would be no Christmas without it.
 "The smell of a fir is what makes Christmas."

Christmas trees in Finland: As low as €10 in Mikkeli, up to €100 in Oulu


Summary: The press on Friday looks at a court ruling against the powerful paper pulp industry.

On Thursday Finland’s Supreme Administrative Court ruled that a paper pulp plant in Kuopio would be denied an environmental permit.
 The court was concerned that the plant’s waste water would discharge into the Kallavesi lake, and the company had not prepared impact reports on what would happen 40 to 50 years down the line.
 Helsingin Sanomat  chews over  the case in an editorial, reminding readers that the pulp industry has been in the doldrums but is now providing a range of plastic alternatives as well as meeting demand from Asia for soft tissues as consumers there increase spending.
 Indeed the Kuopio plant would have been  part-owned  by Chinese firm Hengan International.
 Minister for Economic Affairs  Mika Lintilä  told HS that he regretted but respected the decision, while in Kauppalehti the chair of the forest owners association  suggested  in anger that the plant might even be built over the border in Petrozavodsk, Russian Karelia.
 The paper also carries  a piece  where Finnpulp CEO  Martti Fredriksson  worries that other big pulp plant projects might now fall like dominoes thanks to the precedent, because foreign investors could pull out.
 Pensions becoming less affordable
 Iltalehti has a  deep dive  on the affordability of Finland’s current pension system. Handling baby boomers as they leave the workforce is a global challenge, and in Finland it has long been on the agenda.
 According to a previous estimate, based on higher birth rates, there would be no need to increase pension contributions until 2070 and the increase in contributions then would be one percent of salaries split between employers and employees.
 But since that estimate was made in 2014, birth rates have fallen dramatically. Now the Finnish Centre for Pensions estimates that the need to raise contributions will strike in the 2050s, and will require a 6 percent increase — three percent for workers to pay, three percent for employers.
 The alternative is to increase birth rates to 2012 levels, meaning an extra 12,000 babies born each year compared to the 47,577 born in 2018, or an extra net migration of 30,000 people from abroad.
 The story interviews  Ilkka Oksala  of the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK), who says the unions and employers organisations have difficult decisions ahead of them if they want to resolve the problem.
 Retail revolt
 The town of Seinäjoki in Ostrobothnia saw a new shopping centre open in November, and it has had a predictable impact on retailers in the town centre.
 Ilta-Sanomat  went  to ask how they’re doing and found that some of them are struggling as customers head to the big shiny mall to do their shopping.
 Some say there’s not much to worry about, however, as the town centre still has enough footfall and they haven’t noticed a difference.
 One advantage, according to Sari Nisula of Boutique S, is that the town centre offers her better chances to personalise her store than a mall would.

Friday’s papers: Pulp problems, pension payments and small town retailers


Summary: The court ruled police cannot use material taken in the raid.

Police are not allowed to use material they took when they  raided a journalist’s home while investigating a leak from the Defence Forces , ruled the Supreme Court on Friday.
 They had recovered memory sticks when they searched the reporter’s home after she had written a story based on leaked information from the Defence Forces about a branch of Finnish military intelligence.
 They have not yet examined the material held on the memory sticks, and the court’s decision overruled a previous ruling by a lower court that the police could use them in their investigation.
 Leaked documents
 In December 2017 Helsingin Sanomat published a story on a unit at the Tikkakoski air base that was based in part on leaked documents.
 The National Bureau of Investigation suspects the newspaper of publishing classified information and the suspected leak of documents is being investigated as a breach of official secrecy.
 The day after the story was published, police raided the reporter’s home. A court had previously ruled that the search was lawful, but the question of how the material could be used was left for Friday’s judgement.
 STT reports that one suspect in the case is the former head of Intelligence for the Defence Forces,  Georgij Alafuzoff . Police have not confirmed or commented on his possible connection to the matter.

Police defeated in supreme court after raid on reporter’s home


Summary: Swedish People’s Party leader Anna-Maja Henriksson missed the previous photo op as she was on a business trip to the USA.

Finland hit the headlines earlier this month when  Sanna Marin  became the  youngest Prime Minister in the world , running a government headed up by  four other female party leaders .
 In the publicity, however, Justice Minister and Swedish People's Party chair  Anna-Maja Henriksson  was not pictured as she had been on a working visit to the United States.
 The Finnish government’s official twitter account tweeted a photo on Thursday with the caption "this is what we’ve been waiting for", above a picture of all five female government leaders.
 In the picture are Henriksson, Prime Minister and SDP leader Marin, Finance Minister and Centre Party chair  Katri Kulmuni , Interior Minister  Maria Ohisalo  who leadsthe Green Party and Leftist leader Minister of Education  Li Andersson.
 Henriksson was missing from the previous photo because she was on a business trip to the United States.
 The all-female heads of the governing coalition attracted widespread international media attention over the past two weeks, including from the  Washington Post , the  Guardian  and  Forbes  magazine.

"What we've been waiting for": Finland adds fifth female leader in new official photo


Olkiluoto 3 reactor delayed yet again, now 12 years behind schedule


Summary: The suspects arrested at the Olympic Terminal on Monday are citizens of Sweden, Denmark and Albania.

Helsinki’s District Court has remanded into custody five people suspected of aggravated drug offences and aggravated robbery following  the confiscation of a large cache of drugs during a major police operation in Espoo and Helsinki on Monday .
 The suspects are said by police to be citizens of Sweden, Denmark and Albania.
 Police reportedly seized a large consignment of cocaine, suspected to have been shipped from Brazil, with Finnish media reporting on Tuesday that the  drugs were found in a sealed shipping container .
 This has led investigators to believe the suspects had inside information about the logistics company Algol Chemicals, although the company itself is not suspected of any wrongdoing.
 The drama began just after midday on Monday when police responded to a call about suspected intruders at a chemical warehouse at Karapellontie in Espoo, who allegedly attacked the driver of a trailer while it was being unloaded.
 Later on Monday, police arrested six suspects -- five at Helsinki's Olympia Terminal and one elsewhere -- on suspicion of involvement in the Espoo incident. One suspect, an Albanian man resident in Finland, has since been released.
 Europol, the European Union's law enforcement agency, has warned of the increased use of shipping channels by international drug trafficking cartels.
 The investigation by police is being carried out in cooperation with the National Bureau of Investigation and Finnish Customs’ anti-crime unit.

Five remanded in custody after Espoo drugs haul