Summary: Helsinki District Court on Wednesday ordered a man suspected of aggravated rape and child sexual exploitation crimes to be held in remand custody.

A man who police suspect carried out a number of aggravated rape and aggravated child abuse crimes was ordered to be held in remand custody by Helsinki District Court on Wednesday.
 Police in eastern Helsinki said they are continuing their preliminary investigation of the case, describing the male suspect as a foreign national born in 1991.
 Police said they suspect the man carried out a series of sexual abuse crimes against a single victim from October through 9 January 2019. Two other men detained last weekend have  since been released .
 "Police continue to investigate the case. There is nothing else to say at this stage of the preliminary investigation," Helsinki police detective  Saara Asmundela  said.
 Girl drugged, raped according to Oulu police
 Meanwhile Oulu police have confirmed that at least one underage victim in the west coast city was drugged before being raped.
 Oulu police detective  Markus Kiiskinen  confirmed on Wednesday that they suspect an underage female victim was drugged but that the other suspected cases of sexual abuse being investigated do not appear to have involved the use of drugs.
 The case is one of a number of suspected sexual assault and abuse cases that police claim took place in the Oulu region last summer and autumn. The first suspected sex abuse cases came to light in early December. Last week police announced  new suspected cases  there.
 Police said they are investigating a number of underage or child sexual abuse cases involving 16 suspects, all of whom have foreign backgrounds. Most of the suspects are aged 20-30, while two are under 18. Police say some of the suspects have been granted Finnish citizenship.

Sex crime probes advance in Helsinki, Oulu


Summary: Motorists are advised to brace for hazardous road conditions on Thursday.

Southern Finland will receive at least 10cm of new snow by Thursday morning, predicts Yle meteorologist  Joonas Koskela . He recommends allowing plenty of extra time for travel on Thursday. A low pressure system will move swiftly over southern regions, bringing strong winds and blizzard conditions.
 Snowfall will begin along the south-western coast on Wednesday evening, possibly coming down as sleet in some areas.
 “The whole south coast should get 15-20cm of fresh snow. By Thursday morning’s rush hour we’ll have around 10 cm,” Koskela says.
 The Finnish Meteorological Institute warns of extremely poor driving conditions in southern Finland beginning in the wee hours of Thursday. Roads may also be slippery in parts of central Finland.
 By Thursday evening, the belt of snow will move over south-eastern and eastern Finland before disappearing. According to Koskela, Friday will be a normal cold winter day.

Storm to bring heavy snow, treacherous roads to southern Finland


Summary: Few travellers pay for carbon offsets, but many say they aim to lower the burden on holiday destinations.

People in Finland plan to travel mostly within the country and to nearby European destinations in 2019, according to a poll commissioned by a major travel fair.
 Nearly all respondents said they plan some domestic travel in 2019. Most also plan foreign trips, particularly to European city destinations and the nearby Baltic states. Beach and ski destinations abroad remain popular, as do Baltic Sea cruises.
 Asked where they would go if they could travel without any restrictions, respondents were most likely to point to North American cities and other long-haul destinations such as Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Nine percent of those polled said they do not plan to do any foreign travel this year.
  Few pay carbon offsets
 The primary stated interests of travellers surveyed were experiencing local cultures and day-to-day lives as well as relaxation. Most said they preferred small stores to big malls or hotel shops. More than six out of 10 said they tend to opt for off-the-beaten track attractions rather than popular tourist sites, while three quarters said they prefer to eat street food than at famous restaurants.
 A majority said they try to travel off-season to reduce burden on destinations, and that they generally consider themselves to be responsible travellers who respect local cultural traditions and instructions.
 Travellers’ awareness of the climate repercussions of air travel – one of the largest sources of planet-warming greenhouse gases – seems to be just getting off the ground.
 Just nine percent of respondents said they had paid for voluntary carbon offsets aimed at balancing out the impact of their flights. Information about the practice seems to be hazy as 18 percent of those interviewed said they weren’t sure whether they had paid for carbon offsets.
 A study out a day earlier from airport operator Finavia indicates that aviation in and out of Finland has a  far greater climate impact  than domestic road traffic.
  The Instagram effect
 Those polled said they got inspiration for travel from a variety of sources, with word of mouth from friends and acquaintances the most important. Those under 25 said they were most often inspired by friends’ social media posts. Overall, a third of respondents said they were motivated by social media, most often citing Instagram pictures, YouTube videos and blogs.
 Polling organisation Kantar TNS interviewed some 1200 adults in mainland Finland in December. The study was commissioned by the Matka 2019 travel fair in Helsinki, which opens to the public on Friday. This year's theme is sustainability, which will be discussed by Minister of Economic Affairs  Mika Lintilä,  MEP  Sirpa Pietikäinen  and others in speeches and seminars on Thursday.

Finnish travel poll: Most plan domestic or nearby holidays with an emphasis on local culture


Summary: An Education Ministry working group recommends improvements to the teaching of asylum seeker children especially.

A working group tasked with developing the education and employment prospects of immigrants in Finland handed in their final report to Education Minister  Sanni Grahn-Laasonen  on Wednesday.
 The proposal includes 40 steps towards improving the social standing of people living in Finland who were born elsewhere. These include lengthening the duration of compulsory education past the age of 17, instituting clearer rights to daycare for children in reception centres and providing preschool teaching services to all children who need it.
 The working group also suggests that clear information on Finnish and Swedish language teaching opportunities should be made immediately available to people who receive residence permits.
 Schools should also train and employ more immigrant-background teachers, whose presence positively affects the performance of students with foreign backgrounds, the report suggests.
 Current ECE standards ambiguous
 The group's report also finds that the current standards for educating asylum seeker children are entirely open to interpretation by Finnish municipalities. The Act on Early Childhood Education and Care obligates municipalities to organise some form of preschool or daycare services.
 The working group proposes that young children living in reception centres should participate in at least 20 hours of early childhood education (ECE) teaching per week to support the children's acquisition of Finland's official languages. Daycare is also crucial for asylum seeker children whose guardian(s) may be required to undergo integration training.
 The situation for undocumented children is also ambiguous, the panel finds. Children whose families have been rejected for asylum but not yet deported may be in need of care.
 There were more than 19,000 reported so-called "immigrant background" children in municipal ECE care, representing under a tenth of all children in municipal daycare.
 In 2018 a  labour market integration report by the OECD  found that immigrant children performed worse in standardised PISA aptitude tests than Finland-born children. The integration panel's report found a direct correlation between the level of performance and the children's skills in Finnish.
 Higher education plans also unclear
 The group's report also proposes that extending the residence permits of immigrants with degrees in higher education could encourage such skilled individuals to remain and settle in Finland.
 The National Union of University Students in Finland has previously proposed that foreign students who graduate from Finnish institutes of higher education should be offered permanent residence permits.
 The working group's wording is more vague, proposing that "the residency process of university students should be developed to support work-based immigration".
 According to the report, about 384,000 people, or some seven percent of Finland's population were "of immigrant background" in 2017.

Integration panel submits 40-step education proposal


Summary: Heavy snowfall, a fresh political poll, and legal barriers to departing foreign sex offenders were all among the headlines in Thursday's newspaper press.

"Don't go to work today!" is the advice of Thursday's tabloid  Iltalehti , in the wake of heavy snowfall overnight that promised to continue for much of Thursday. Total accumulation in and around the capital was forecast at up to 20cm of fresh snow.
 Police are advising extreme caution while driving. Chief Inspector  Jarkko Lehtinen  pointed to three things that all motorists planning to drive today should do: make sure to clean snow and ice off your car as well as possible, reduce driving speed, and plan on taking more time than usual to get to your destination.
 "The best alternative on a day like this is to not drive at all, and work at home," according to a tweet by Lehtinen that Iltalehti quotes.
 Police expect to be busy throughout the day dealing with minor traffic accidents and cars that have skidded off the road. Lorries that have a tendency to get stuck on uphill grades are also expected to cause highway traffic jams.
 "This always happens in Helsinki," Jarkko Lehtinen told the paper.
 Police in the capital deployed 14 units on Thursday morning to deal specifically with snow-related incidents.
 Battle of the giants
 If you are fascinated by snow and/or big machines, Ilta-Sanomat has a treat for you Thursday morning.
 Starting at 10.00am local time, its online service will be providing  a life video feed  of "giant snow ploughs battling the ferocious blizzard" at Helsinki Airport.
 Thursday may well be one of the busiest days of the year for plough crews at the airport, even though, as the paper points out, cleaning drifts off the runways is business as usual for maintenance crews there.
 Decision and indecision
 Daily Helsingin Sanomat carries  a fresh Gallup poll  showing that voter support for the populist Finns Party is growing, while the Social Democrats' lead for the top spot over the conservative National Coalition Party is narrowing.
 Looking forward to April's parliamentary elections, the SDP remains at 20.9% the most popular party with voters. That figure has, however declined slightly from Helsingin Sanomat's last poll, and the National Coalition Party was found to be a very close second at 19.5%. The difference is within the margin of error for the poll.
 Regarding support for the Finns Party, the HS Gallup results also found the same general trend as seen in  an Yle poll published last week .
 HS ranked the Finns Party in fifth place, (9.7%) passing voter support for the Left Alliance. Helsingin Sanomat attributes the party's gains to the most recent public debate about immigration, and news of immigrants under investigation for sex crimes.
 Only about half of the voters who cast ballots for Prime Minister  Juha Sipilä's  Centre Party in the last elections told pollsters that they were ready to renew that support right now. Around one-third were either unwilling to say what party they now back, or said that don't plan to vote at all. Many former Centre Party voters are now looking towards mainly the SDP or the National Coalition.
 In an  analysis  in Helsingin Sanomat, columnist  Marko Junkkari  says that it is still too early to place bets on what party will come out on top in the April elections.
 This is underscored by that fact that in this latest Gallup poll, the number of people who responded with "undecided", "unwilling to say" or "don't intend to vote" rose by six percentage points to 40% of those surveyed.
 Junkkari points out that this means that hundreds of thousands of voters either do not know yet which party they will be voting for, or at least are not willing to name their choice out loud.
 Barriers to deportation
 The Turku-based Turun Sanomat reports that a call by the Blue Reform Party to deport foreign sex offenders even to countries deemed unsafe  is not possible , even with changes to the constitution.
 Outi Korhonen , Professor of International Law at the University of Turku, told the paper that she considers it odd that anyone would publicly call for Finland to ignore its international agreements.
 The Blue Reform Party has gone as far as to call for a re-evaluation of the UN Refugee Convention.
 Korhonen said that under international law the norm is that international agreements are observed as ratified. If changes are made this has to be done among all the parties to the agreement, not unilaterally.
 She also pointed out that states function in an environment of reciprocity and co-dependency where deviating from jointly approved agreements and practice often boomerangs, coming back to cause problems.
 Finland has made commitments under international law to observe the terms of human rights agreements, including the rights of refugees and asylum seekers. Among the terms of the European human rights agreement and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union is a ban on deporting refugees and asylum seekers if it would mean that they would face a death penalty, torture, or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
 Juha Lavapuro , Professor of Public Law at the University of Turku, agreed with Korhonen, telling Turun Sanomat that even changing the constitution to allow for deportations to such countries would invalidate its international commitments.
 "It would no longer be the constitution of a western democracy, if these kinds of exceptions were made," he added.
 Sunny halos
 Not all of Finland has been cloudy and snowy this week. Some northern parts of the country have enjoyed bright, brisk winter wonderland weather of late.
 On Wednesday, there were widespread sightings in the north of sun halos caused by the refraction and reflection of sunlight through ice particles suspended within thin high altitude clouds.
 In Oulu, Kaleva's Thursday issue features a  gallery of sun halos  captured by readers.

Thursday's papers: Blizzard, indecisive voters, bars to deportation


Summary: The Finnish premier said that registration would help expedite processing of residence permits.

Ministerit, ministeriöt ja valtioneuvosto

Prime Minister  Juha Sipilä  has called on UK citizens living and working in Finland to register with the Finnish Immigration Service if they have not already done so.
 He said registration would help expedite processing of residence permits. Sipilä’s comments on Wednesday followed a resounding defeat for UK Prime Minister  Theresa May ’s efforts to secure a mandate from MPs for her Brexit deal, which was defeated by an unprecedented margin of 230 votes.
 Brits living in Finland have expressed  frustration with the lack of clarity  on their status post-Brexit, which is due to take effect from the end of March.
 Finland’s Interior Ministry has said that it will provide detailed guidelines for UK citizens on how to proceed after the break with Europe.
 Sipilä meanwhile, said that since last summer Finland has been preparing for a so-called hard Brexit, in which no agreement is brokered to govern future relations with the EU. He added that ministries are bracing for the possibility.
 "Ball in UK’s court"
 The PM said that following May’s defeat in parliament, all that can be done is to wait for the UK’s next move.
 "At least this hasn’t gotten any easier after the vote. My assumption was that May would lose the vote, but not by such a wide margin," Sipilä commented.
 "This certainly looks pretty bad, less than half of the vote," he added.
 Sipilä noted that the ball is now in May’s court, as she is expected to reveal a so-called Plan B by Monday morning.
 The premier said that the UK’s departure from the EU could be postponed until the end of June if there is good reason, for example in the event of an election, change of administration or a new referendum on EU membership.
 "Any situation whatever that would change the current set-up."

PM: Brits in Finland should register with immigration services


Summary: American skateboarding star Lizzie Armanto's dual-citizen status made her eligible to join Finland's OIympic team.

A top name in international skateboarding, 25-year-old  Lizzie Armanto , is joining Finland's first-ever Olympic skateboarding team.
 Along with her new Finnish teammates  Jaakko Ojanen  and  Kasperi Kropsu , Armanto will compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
 The California native has been skateboarding competitively for years, and has become an elite player in the sport, notably with major successes in X-Games competitions.
 Story continues after photo.
 File photo of US skateboard star Lizzie Armanto. AOP
 Armanto grew up in the US, but her father is Finnish and lives in Finland, along with his side of the family.
 Last year she told skateboarding publication Whalebone Magazine that her father had expressed the wish that she would represent Finland at the Olympics.
 "With the Olympics coming up, I feel like I am a candidate to be a part of that. I do not know the steps until we get there because I think it’s way more in depth that I have any idea on. But I am definitely interested in the Olympics. My dad lives in Finland and he called me to say he wants to go and show his support, which is amazing to me. That would be really cool to give my dad that opportunity," Armato  told the magazine  in 2018.
 Skateboarding will make its Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games.

US star joins first Finnish Olympic skateboard team


Summary: Thousands of emergency services personnel will be subject to security background checks because of access to sensitive data.

The Finnish Security Intelligence Service (Supo) will carry out background checks on thousands of people employed by the country's 22 emergency services departments, according to the central Finland newspaper Keskisuomalainen.
 Most the checks are to be completed this year and will affect not only full-time professional staff, but also contract firefighters and members of volunteer fire departments.
 As of next year, emergency services departments will begin using the same secure data network as police, the Defence Forces, the Finnish Border Guard and government ministries. Some of the data on the network is classified.
 Emergency services personnel need access to classified data, for example to carry out fire inspections at sensitive sites such as defence or police facilities.
 Only personnel who pass the Security Intelligence Service checks will have access to the required data.

Daily: First responders now subject to security checks


Summary: The Sipilä administration extended public sector working time by 24 hours a year and it seems to be here to stay.

It has been three years since Prime Minister  Juha Sipilä  managed to wrest an accord labour market leaders in a bid to boost national competitiveness -- the so-called competitiveness pact.
 Some measures, such as a 30-percent holiday pay cut agreed in the accord will be implemented for the last time this year.
 "It will naturally affect my holiday plans. Of course I'll manage but I've heard some colleagues say that they will have to forego trips or other plans," said early years education teacher  Miia Keränen .
 Keränen and other municipal and state workers will get a somewhat plumper pay cheque at the end of January to ease the pain of the vacation pay reduction -- to the tune of 9.2 percent of their monthly pay.
 In addition, at the time that the competitiveness deal had been agreed, the government had pledged to introduce a package of  tax breaks valued at more than 400 million euros .
 "Longer working hours here to stay"
 Parties to the deal also agreed to extend working time to the equivalent of 24 hours a year, or six minutes every day. For municipal and government workers like Keränen, that means half an hour every week.
 "It's a significant extension of working time. We already had long work days. It seems unreasonable that both holiday pay cuts and longer working days have affected low-income female-dominated fields in particular," Keränen commented.
 Employers have said however that this is not the end of the extended hours measure.  Markku Jalonen , labour market director of the organisation representing municipal employers, said he expects to see the policy in play in 2020.
 "The holiday pay reductions are fixed-term and will end, but the extension of working hours is permanent because it has been written into collective agreements," he noted.
 Call for a one-off 'equality payment'
 Millariikka Rytkönen  is chair of Tehy, the union representing health care workers. She said her organisation is not prepared to continue working longer hours indefinitely. She said she will be closely following collective bargaining talks in the export sector, the benchmark for the measures rolled out in the competitiveness pact.
 Last October, five sectors represented by the Industrial Workers Union announced that they would no longer work the additional 24 hours a year. Rytkönen predicted that the next round of salary negotiations in the health sector will be difficult.
 She has called for an "equality" payment for women-dominated fields, adding that nothing else seems likely to help close the gender pay gap.
 "People aren't joking about this out there. We want an equality payment so that our workers can continue performing the important and difficult work they're doing," she declared.

Public sector to see last holiday pay cut this year, extended hours may last


Summary: Recurrent leaks and misuse of personal data have spurred people in Finland to limit their use of digital services, says the think-tank Sitra.

News of widespread data leaks have prompted residents of Finland to adjust their privacy settings for digital services, cut back on usage of such platforms – or even to stop using them altogether.
 The findings are among the results of a multi-national survey carried out for the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra late last year. The poll looked into people's attitudes toward digital services and their personal information.
 Most respondents interviewed in Finland said that data leaks have had an impact on their use of such services. These include the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which millions of Facebook users' data ended up being exploited by election campaigns, including those that led to Brexit and Donald Trump’s presidency. Even after the Cambridge Analytica revelations, Facebook has admitted to a series of data hacks affecting tens of millions of users.
 Story continues after photo
 News of misuse of Facebook data make some users think twice about using the service. Ismo Pekkarinen / AOP
 Here in Finland, the state traffic safety Trafi agency has recently been embroiled in  a controversy over data privacy .
  Young and white-collar respondents sceptical
 Forty-three percent of those polled in Finland said that distrust of service providers deters them from using digital services. The most sceptical respondents were those aged 25-34 as well as employees in white-collar and management positions.
 Nearly three out of four Finnish respondents said they want to be able to give consent separately to each service provider to use their data. This was considerably higher than in three other European countries included in the study.
  Certification of trustworthiness needed?
 "The survey shows that people need ways to identify services that are reliable and use data fairly, much like products with fair trade labels," said Sitra project director  **Jaana Sinipuro .**
 "The survey also indicated that people need more information and tools for managing their data. Businesses also need new tools to satisfy GDPR obligations," she added.
 Forty-five percent of those questioned in Finland said they would not be prepared to hand over their personal data to service providers on any conditions. However all but 13 percent of respondents said they didn’t mind providing information related to their consumption and purchases.
 In November and December, pollster Kantar TNS surveyed some 2,000 adults in Finland along with 6,000 others in the Netherlands, France and Germany. It says the results were broadly similar in all these EU states, and pegs the margin of error at 2.2 percent.

Trust in digital services fades in Finland


Summary: The Sun reports that Mel C told the Finnish vocalist that "you could be the fifth Spice Girl, if you want".

The British tabloid The Sun has released a  story  that says that Finnish singing sensation Saara Aalto has been offered the role of the "fifth Spice Girl" in the reunion tour of the superstar British pop group The Spice Girls.
 "With party pooper Victoria Beckham refusing to be part of the Spice Girls reunion tour this summer, massive stars from Katy Perry to Adele have been touted to join the band on stage in place of Posh. But it turns out Mel C has already offered the gig — for at least part of the summer — to Saara Aalto," the tabloid writes.
 In a video linked to the piece, Aalto asks Mel C if she could join the group as the sixth Spice Girl, to which 'Sporty Spice' replied that "you could be the fifth Spice Girl, if you want."
 The Sun reporter says Saara considers herself "a Spice Girls superfan" and is very excited about the prospects of joining at least some of their concerts.
 "They want to have a fifth member for the tour. I was like, ‘Is this a real question?’ It’s insane. Posh was my favourite Spice Girl but she didn't have that many lines to sing," Aalto told the tabloid.
 Four of the original five Spice Girls are planning a reunion tour this summer that would include six stadium performances. Saara Aalto would appear in at least part of them, The Sun reports.
 Aalto became a major star in the UK after coming in second in Britain's X-Factor talent show. After this she represented Finland at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest.

British tabloid: Saara Aalto asked to join Spice Girl reunion tour


Summary: Skygazers in Finland can delight in a total lunar eclipse early Monday morning.

Finland's amateur astronomy association Ursa said a full eclipse will begin on 21 January at 6.41am, ending about an hour later at 7.43am. The deepest phase of the eclipse will be at 7.13am.
 Skywatchers in northern Finland will be able to witness all phases of the eclipse while the final stages will stay hidden from gazers in southern parts of the country.
 Unlike solar eclipses, lunar ones are safe to watch with the naked eye. Total lunar eclipses occur when the moon moves into alignment with the sun and earth.
 Super blood wolf moon?
 While the upcoming eclipse is being called a " super blood wolf moon ," Ursa said this is a total eclipse like any other.
 A 'super' moon occurs when the moon is especially close to earth, while a 'wolf moon' is the traditional name for the full moon of January.
 This event is the last chance for skywatchers in Finland to see a total lunar eclipse in its entirety until 2025 -- clear skies permitting.

Finland to see 'super blood wolf moon' Monday


Summary: Search teams in northern Norway have found the remains of three members of a Finnish-Swedish group killed by an avalanche.

The bodies of two skiers were found under a mass of snow near the top of a Norwegian fell on Thursday. That followed the discovery of a third member of their group a day earlier.
 A Swedish woman and three Finnish men were  killed by an avalanche  on 2 January.
 The search for missing off-piste skiers in the Tamok Valley was frustrated by stormy weather for much of early January.
 On Thursday the number of searchers was expanded to 21 in a final push to locate the last victim. The search teams plan to stay overnight on Blåbärfjellet mountain, weather permitting.
 The two victims found on Thursday have been brought down from the mountain and taken to Tromsø hospital for identification.
 The victims were aged 29 to 36. The Finns were from Swedish-speaking towns in the western Ostrobothnia region.

Bodies of 3 skiers recovered in Norway


Summary: Raising financial aid students' income limits by nearly 50 percent could reap the state almost six million euros a year, says a research group.

A report by the Labour Institute for Economic Research said that raising income limits of students who receive financial aid could reap the state an additional 5.9 million euros a year, in part due to increased income tax revenues.
 The income limits refer to the maximum earnings that financial aid-receiving students can earn without losing their study allowances - and without forcing students to pay back aid if they earn too much.
 Currently students receiving financial aid are limited to earning a maximum of 11,973 euros a year. Raising that limit to 50 percent would enable students to earn up to 18 thousand euros annually, which would lead to more cash in state coffers, according to the researchers.
 However, the institute did not recommend Finland eliminate the income levels entirely, saying it would lead to enabling well-to-do students to access financial aid funds which are meant to be used by people who need them.
 The report said the current income limitations prevent students from earning as much as they would like, saying that the current policy's ill effects can be seen in a growing income gap.
 The non-profit submitted the report to the Ministry for European Affairs, Culture and Sports on Thursday. Minister  Sampo Terho  called it an "excellent proposal."
 "Previous reports have said that it would be prohibitively expensive to raise the income levels, but this report states that instead, doing so would create large tax revenues," Terho said.
 Foot in door of working life
 The minister also said the report's findings look good in the long-term, as well. He said it's important for people to get into the workforce after their studies are complete, and working while still at school often helps doing so.
 "This would be an excellent refresh, because it is important to encourage young people to start working early. Student and working life should not be separated entities, but rather closer together," Terho said.
 The institute's proposes raising the income level limits for students who receive financial aid nine months of the year from around 12,000 euros to 18,000 per year.
 According to the researchers, the 50 percent boost would also increase income tax revenue and transfer payments to the state.
 Under the current system, if a student who receives financial aid earns more than the 11,973 euros a year, a portion of the aid must be paid back. Under the institute's proposal students would merely pay higher tax rates when as they earn more.
 The report, however, does not address how the suggested income limit hike might impact the length of time students spend finishing up their degrees. But Terho said that previous studies on the matter did not find working while studying affects the time it takes for students to graduate.
 "A reasonable amount of work while studying would not adversely affect the pace of young people's studies. Active young people receive their degrees within set times, regardless of whether they work at the same time," Terho said.

Finland should raise financial aid students' income limits by 50%, report says


Summary: The Finns Party accuses the government of failing on asylum policy, maintaining societal peace and child protection.

The opposition Finns Party parliamentary group is calling again for an interpellation on Finland’s internal security. The populist party’s delegation has invited the other opposition groups in the legislature to negotiations on an interpellation next Tuesday.
 Finns Party MPs tried to push for a  similar interpellation in December . The attempt failed as the rest of opposition declined to join them in challenging the government.
 Launching an interpellation requires the support of at least 20 lawmakers in the 200-seat chamber. Following the defection of many key members – including party founder Timo Soini – to form the new Blue Reform party in the summer of 2017, the Finns Party now has just 17 seats.
 Political analysts say the nationalist party hopes to expand that share in this spring’s elections by focusing on recent criminal cases involving suspects of immigrant background.
 The party wants to call the government on the carpet over domestic safety, accusing it of failing on asylum policy, maintaining societal peace and particularly child protection.
 The parliamentary group’s chair,  Leena Meri , a first-term MP from Hyvinkää, accuses the cabinet of flagrantly failing to ensure internal security.

Finns Party again seeks parliamentary challenge over internal security


Summary: Security concerns about Finland's Incomes Register, Finland’s deaf seek compensation for decades of sterilisation, and depression stops people from working.

Business daily  Kauppalehti  criticises Finland’s new centralised  income register  which pools  salary and benefit information  in real-time. The paper said certain loopholes in the system can allow individuals occupying company board roles to view the salary data of all employees in that organisation.
 The Tax Administration, which was the prime motivator of the massive data repository, has repeatedly assured people that the information in the online register will be safe.
 The Incomes Register will at first contain real-time wage and salary information provided by employers, or what is estimated to be the income data of 2.8 million people.
  Eugenics and the deaf community
 A group of MPs are calling on all political parties within parliament to pressure government into opening an investigation into rights abuses suffered by Finland’s deaf, reports Swedish-language daily  Hufvudstadsbladet .
 Up until 1969 deaf couples needed special permission from the president to marry. Some deaf women were given an ultimatum - get sterilised or forget about marriage, according to  Maija Koivisto , a teacher at the Finnish Folk High School for the Deaf.
 The Finnish Association for the Deaf wants to start a process of national reconciliation for state abuses perpetrated against Finland’s deaf population. HBL suggests that such a move could culminate in compensation for victims, similar to damages paid by Finland to German and Hungarian children imprisoned in Finnish internment camps during the  Continuation War  (1941-1944).
 Too depressed to work
 Last year saw an upswing in residents applying for disability pensions, reports business magazine  Talouselämä .
 Pensions granted for mental health reasons grew in the under-40 segment. A third of all disability pensions were issued on mental health grounds, with depression being the most common mental illness triggering disability.
 Between January and September 2018, the number of disability pensions granted by the state grew by some 7.4 percent over the same period in 2017.

Friday’s papers: Incomes register security concerns, forced sterilisation and depressed workers


Summary: For the second time in a row, cross-country skiier Iivo Niskanen has won Finland's Sports Personality of the Year award.

Iivo Niskanen,  27, was awarded the Sports Personality of the Year at Thursday night’s Finnish Sports Gala 2019, an honour that he also nabbed in 2018.
 The Olympic gold medalist is the first athlete in more than 30 years to win the same award twice.
 Previously cross-country skiier  Marjo Matikainen  won the award in 1986 and 1987. The Sports Personality of the Year award has been handed out since 1947.
 "It's unbelievable to be here for the second time in a row," Niskanen said in his acceptance speech.
 This year Niskanen won the award, which is voted on by Finnish sports journalists, with 4,740 votes. In second place was biathlete  Kaisa Mäkäräinen  with 3,058 votes.
 Niskanen  won the gold medal  in the men’s 50-kilometre cross-country race in the winter Olympics in Pyeongchang last year.

Olympic cross-country ski medallist scoops Sports Personality of the Year


Summary: Conditions will clear up and get colder as the weekend approaches, however coastal areas could see snow blowing in from the sea.

Outdoorsy folk who plan to enjoy the wintry scenery and fresh air are being advised to brace for glacial conditions as the weekend approaches.
 A low pressure zone that hovered over Finland during the middle of the week has drifted towards Russia, leaving cold and crisp conditions in its wake. However some flurries are still possible on the southwest coast and in the Åland Islands on Friday.
 "The temperature range will be between -10 and -20 degrees Celsius. Lapland will be coldest and coastal areas will be mildest," said Yle meteorologist  Toni Hellinen.
 In fact the mercury will fall to its lowest point for the week so far on Friday night in the south and west.
 On Saturday another low pressure front will waft in from the northwest to the west coast, causing some afternoon snowfall, while skies may clear from time to time. The snow front may move toward southern and western Finland during Saturday evening and Sunday night.
 "Between five and 10 centimetres of light dry snow will pile up in some areas," Hellinen added.
 Sunday will be the coldest and clearest day of the weekend, with lows reaching -30 degrees Celsius in Lapland.

Frigid weekend ahead in Lapland as temps dip to -30 Celsius


Summary: Cabinet ministers also concluded that authorities needed to place greater emphasis on the deportation of rejected asylum seekers from Iraq.

Finland’s Foreign Ministry plans to conduct a review of international agreements to which the country is a signatory to determine whether or not they can be changed to better manage immigration policy.
 The decision followed a cabinet meeting by the  Juha Sipilä  administration convened to address  alleged child sexual abuse cases  in Oulu, northern Finland.
 Government ministers also reviewed the situation with respect to individuals whose asylum applications had been rejected by Finnish authorities. The meeting concluded that authorities need to place greater emphasis on the deportation of rejected asylum seekers from Iraq.
 Finland also plans to take up the issue of rejected asylum seekers with the EU Commission and intends to raise the matter with other countries in the same position.
 More resources for police
 Police commissioner  Seppo Kolehmainen  provided ministers with an update in investigations into the reported cases of child sexual abuse in Oulu and Helsinki.
 The government concluded that police need to place greater emphasis on their online operations.
 "It was clear that more police resources are needed, especially for the internet. The background to many of these cases is online grooming and police need more resources for that, even if they are provided at the beginning of this year," Prime Minister Juha Sipilä said in Parliament on Friday.
 The government noted that cases of child sex abuse linked to the internet as prevalent and very few of them come to the attention of police.
 Meeting participants decided to set up a tripartite working group involving school, youth outreach and social workers to come up with preventive measures.
 In addition, an internal security working group lead by Interior Minister  Kai Mykkänen  has been charged with developing a package of measures by mid-February.
 "It is certainly worrying that in terms of the entire country, the number of sexual offences under investigation has increased during the past year. Especially here in the Helsinki region, that growth has been significant. Of course, it can be linked to a lower threshold for reporting [the offences]," the minister said in parliament.
 Tighter penalties for offenders
 In a previous meeting on Tuesday, the government had promised additional funding to beef up police resources to combat offences committed against children.
 At the time parliamentary groups  agreed to fast-track three pieces of legislation  to deal with sexual offences against children.
 The first would impose harsher sentences for aggravated child sex crimes, another would allow police broader access to personal data, while a third would amend laws so that naturalised citizens convicted of sex offences would lose their citizenship.

Finland to review international conventions in light of alleged child sex crimes


Summary: A man suspected of killing a young boy in Helsinki on Christmas Eve was ordered by the city's district court to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

The man suspected of  killing a young boy in Helsinki's Arabianranta district  on Christmas Eve has been ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation during a pre-trial hearing at Helsinki District Court on Friday.
 The hearings were held behind closed doors.
 The suspect, a 36-year-old man, was apprehended at the scene following the crime, and is suspected of killing a 7-year-old boy. The foreign-background man was the victim's uncle.
 According to the police, the suspect has confessed to the crime. During the hearing, he spoke of delusions that contributed to the act.
 At the time of the crime, the suspect, who has a previous criminal record, was a guest at the victim’s home in Arabianranta.
 Lead investigator  Kirsi Kanth  previously told Yle that the crime was particularly brutal and cruel.
 The deadline for filing charges is 6 March.

Suspect in Helsinki child murder ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation


Summary: MPs propose a civics test for newcomers, the national daily explores migration policies for boosting labour supply, and a Siberian cold front lets up.

Parliamentarians want all asylum seekers to pass a civics test, writes national daily  Helsingin Sanomat .
 Criticising current integration policy as inadequate, Parliament’s Audit Committee wants to introduce a civics exam testing asylum seekers’ knowledge of Finnish society. All parties within the committee - from the Greens to the Finns Party - supported the report’s recommendations, which comes on the heels of increasing anti-immigrant sentiment following a string of child sex abuses  allegedly perpetrated by foreigners .
 The report also wants to tie Finnish or Swedish language requirements to residence permits and cut allowances for asylum seekers opting out of training offered at reception centres.
 The committee also proposed shortening waiting periods for migrants’ work permits.
 Needed but not wanted?
 Continuing on theme of migration and work,  Helsingin Sanomat  explores how laxer immigration rules could help offset problems posed by an  ageing population and dwindling birthrate . HS draws attention to  policies  that impede migrant workers' entry into Finland, reporting that a lack of workers is hurting industrial kitchens, construction sites and machine shops around the country.
 The paper highlights how the standard hiring practice in Finland which  prioritises job applicants who are EU citizens  gums up the immigration process. The paper also illustrates the catch-22 posed by relatively high salary requirements for migrants arriving from outside the EU: A family with two children must net 2,600 euros per month, while a chef’s monthly gross salary totals around 2,200 euros.
 Recruitment firm Barona, which brokers foreign labour into Finland, said it takes about a year for Filipino chefs to get their work permits from Finnish authorities. Labour unions have meanwhile said they're concerned that relying on cheap labour from abroad will enhance a two-tier worker system.
 Meanwhile, the government said it hopes Finland’s work-life balance would help the country compete with the likes of Silicon Valley for highly skilled 'knowledge' workers.
 Siberian cold snap
 The recent deep freeze loosens its grip on the country on Wednesday, but the Siberian cold front is expected to return this weekend, reports Swedish-language daily  Hufvudstadsbladet .
 The mercury will settle around zero in southern parts of the country on Wednesday, though the wind chill factor is giving temperatures an extra bite. In central areas temperatures will range form -5 to -10 degrees Celsius, while -20-degree weather is forecast up north.
 By the weekend, thermometers in the south may dip to -15C, plummeting to -30C in Lapland.

Wednesday’s papers:  Civics tests, migrant labour and Siberian chill


Summary: Multiple cases of suspected underage sex crimes have roiled the country recently, and APN takes a look at media reporting on the issue.

This week APN examined how the media has handled reports of  recent alleged sex abuse crimes  that police suspect were carried out by immigrants. The topic has raised the public's worry and outrage and grabbed the attention of lawmakers who quickly decided to increase the legal penalties for sex offences. As of Friday's programme, none of the suspects had been charged. Along with special guests media researcher  Anu Koivunen  and journalist  Sam Kingsley , APN examined how the Finnish media has handled the ongoing sensitive subject so far.
 Due to Finland's laws on personal privacy, the topic of sexual abuse crimes - particularly when children are the victims - is not one that generally receives a lot of attention in the media because police don't often publicly announce preliminary investigations in such cases. When cases like these do reach the courts, they're heard behind closed doors.
 But this time, the Finnish media provided a steady drumbeat of reportage on suspected offences in  Oulu  and  Helsinki , as the police mentioned that the alleged perpetrators had foreign backgrounds.
 Journalist Kingsley said that the media has a lot of power, and so it should carefully consider the ramifications of its coverage. He noted that his own employer, AFP news agency had to consider whether the Oulu case crossed the international news threshold. But once the Finnish President weighed in on the issue and Parliament began to consider tighter legislation, there was consensus that a story was warranted.
 Media researcher Koivunen added that since 2015, the media has also been more sensitive to social media trends, feeling compelled to report on subjects that have animated the public. She regretted that coverage of the alleged child sex abuse cases in Finland - which police say are not related - is now being rolled into Finland's stance on UN humans rights conventions and the larger immigration debate. Finland decided on Friday  to review international conventions to which it is a signatory  with a view to better manage immigration policy.
 Top news: Junior lionesses, racially-motivated shooting
 Audience favourites on Yle News social media sites this week included news of the  bronze medal claimed by Finland's junior women's ice hockey team in Japan . The young Finnish team's impressive run for the championship title ran into a wall when they were defeated 7-1 by the US in the semi-finals.
 Another news story that attracted interest was a report on  unknown assailants firing three shots through a Finnish-Iraqi couple's front door  in the municipality of Kangasala, near Tampere, narrowly missing the head of the female occupant of the home. The Finnish woman speculated that the act was racially-motivated and influenced by the alleged child sex abuse reports from Oulu and Helsinki.
 And finally, a story on a  snow church in Lappeenranta, southeast Finland . The town's vicar said visitors can attend services there three times a week - and even exchange wedding vows if they wish. But brides- and grooms-to-be better be quick about it, as the frosty chapel will probably melt by March.
 If you have any questions, or would like to share something on your mind, just contact us via WhatsApp on +358 44 421 0909, on our Facebook or Twitter account, or at yle.news@yle.fi.
 The All Points North podcast is a weekly look at what's going on in Finland. Subscribe via  iTunes  (and leave a review!), listen  on Spotify  and  Yle Areena  or find it on your favourite podcatching app or via our  RSS feed .
 This week's show was presented by  Zena Iovino  and  Mark B. Odom . Our producer was  Pamela Kaskinen , the interview with child sex abuse researcher  Julia Korkman  was contributed by  Denise Wall  and the sound technician was  Joonatan Kotila .

All Points North #36: Media coverage of child sex abuse allegations with Anu Koivunen and Sam Kingsley


Summary: A Finnair pilot sacked for reporting to work under the influence has been slapped with a suspended jail term and has also lost his pilot's licence.

A former Finnair pilot who lost his job after reporting for work under the influence of alcohol last summer was handed a three-month suspended sentence in Eastern Uusimaa District Court on Friday.
 The incident, which cost the former pilot his job and pilot's licence, was sparked after company staff notified authorities about his suspected substance abuse before a flight to Italy  in mid-August .
 Passengers had already started boarding the plane, the pilot discussed the flight with the navigating officer and had already carried out instrument checks.
 Shortly before the flight was to begin its journey to Rome, a police patrol arrived to administer a breathalyser test on the man, which confirmed suspicions.
 Three-month suspended sentence
 The test showed that the 40-year-old's blood alcohol level was 2.0 promille (mg per ml of blood), according to court testimony.
 The former pilot admitted to the court that he had been intoxicated, but requested leniency in sentencing in light of having lost his job and pilot's licence. He told the court that he is unable to work in the only industry for which he has training.
 But the court said the pilot should have understood the consequences of the offence he committed. The court said in this case, an appropriate punishment for drunken aviation is a three-month suspended sentence.
 The prosecutor in the case had demanded the defendant receive a suspended sentence of at least 80 days and an additional 50 day-fine.

Finnair pilot fired for drunkenness gets 3-month suspended sentence


Summary: According to school principals, 60 percent of 7 to 9th graders and only a third of primary school students want to start their school day before 8:30 am.

If school kids like Helsinki sixth grader  Evert Pussinen  get their way, waking up for a school start at 8.00 am could be a thing of the past next autumn.
 "It would be much nicer if school would start later and I could sleep in just a little longer. Then I would feel a bit better rested and be able to concentrate better," he says.
 Evert is just one of the kids whose opinions Helsinki school principals have been listening to. About 60 percent of respondents to an Yle straw poll on the topic said that they think it's likely that their schools will push back school start times to 8:30 am come next academic year.
 Yle received a total of 60 responses to its questionnaire. Results showed that 40 percent of school principals believed felt that there would be no changes to the current system in which the first lesson in some schools starts as early as 8:00am.
 Many educators have argued that starting the day later moves the entire schedule to a later start, which means it affects after-school clubs and activities.
 Helsinki’s education department has recommended that school lessons start at 8:30 or 9.00am each morning. The proposal is based on  expert advice and studies  that suggest teenagers’ body clocks in particular naturally shift to a later rhythm, and that schools should attempt to reflect that.

Survey: Most Helsinki schools likely to start classes later next autumn


Summary: Residents of Nuorgam, Finland’s northernmost town, celebrated and mourned the end of polar night, when the sun does not rise above the horizon.

Finland’s period of winter darkness ended on Friday when the sun dared to rise above the horizon, if even briefly, in Finland’s northernmost town of Nuorgam in the far north municipality of Utsjoki.
 Polar night began nearly two months ago  on November 25, heralding a hazy, blue-tinted period, when the sun does not rise above the horizon.
 According to the Finnish Meteorological Institute, sunrise in Nuorgam occurred at 11.46am and sunset was at 12.53pm on Friday.
 Recent daytime highs in Nuorgam have been around -15 degrees Celcius, but skies have been cloudy, preventing locals from fully enjoying the return of the golden orb to the sky.
 Images taken in the town show that the characteristic blue glow common during the polar night was still very much in evidence on Thursday.
 Story continues after photo.
 Residents say the subdued lighting is ideal for unwinding. Kirsti Länsman / Yle
 Nuorgam residents Antti and  Mirka Johanssen  said that the end of the period of endless night is energising, but they also noted that the time of subdued lighting was important for relaxing and unwinding.
 "People begin to move more, go shopping and so on. They have more energy and vitality. However it’s also nice that we do have the polar night, so that people can spend time at home relaxing with their families. During the summer I have a lot of work, running a store, fishing and so on," said  Antti Johanssen .
 " Kaamos  (polar night) is a wonderful time, because then your mind and body are at ease and you have the opportunity to relax and recharge your batteries for summer. You can’t do that during summer because the sun shines around the clock.  Kaamos  is a brilliant time to rest, relax and just be," Mirka Johanssen added.
 All the same, the approach of spring and the increasing light are long awaited in the north.
 "Sun, light, spring and summer. After the polar night, you begin to feel hopeful," added Mirka Johanssen.

21 minutes of sunshine: Polar night ends in Finland's far north


Summary: Two men were found dead in an apartment blaze in the municipality of Valkeakoski late Friday evening. Police are investigating the incident as a homicide.

The death of two men late Friday evening in Valkeakoski, southern Finland is being investigated as a homicide, police in the southern Pirkanmaa region report.
 The bodies were found in a flat that was ablaze after a call to emergency services at around midnight on Friday evening. Authorities say the apartment was on fire when rescue services arrived on the scene.
 Law enforcement is now trying to ascertain whether the men - born in 1980 and 1989 - died in the fire, or if they were perhaps deceased before the fire even started.
 Jari Kinnunen  of the Central Finland Police says that the police can't reveal the details as to why the deaths are being investigated as homicide because the case has just been opened.
 "There were some clues that lead us to believe that there might be an outside player involved," he told the news agency STT.
 Police say the fire in the Lempääläntie flat resulted in limited material and smoke damage, and did not present a danger to the other inhabitants of the building.

Two bodies discovered in apartment fire near Tampere, police suspect foul play


Summary: Minister Jussi Niinistö responded to news that four of out nine parliamentary party leaders would not rule out cutting the Finnish Air Force to fewer than 64 jets.

In a Saturday morning television appearance, Defence Minister  Jussi Niinistö  criticized results of a fresh pre-election Yle survey of parliamentary party leaders in which the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Left Alliance, Greens and Finns Party leaders said they would be willing to entertain the idea of cutting fighter plane numbers.
 "Pretty surprising information, especially when you consider that the Finns Party has joined with the red-green opposition. This is about whether we are interested in defending our country or not. If we cut the number of fighter planes at our disposal, then we need to start haggling over which areas are most in need of defence. This is irresponsible politics, in my opinion," he said on Yle's Ykkösaamu programme.
 Finland's fleet of Hornet fighter planes will soon come to the end of its service life, and replacing all 64 of them in the next decade is expected to cost the Finnish state upwards of 10 billion euros, when lifetime service and maintenance costs are included. The  Defence Forces has already started the bidding process , with the aim to replace the entire fleet.
 Largest opposition party: Nothing written in stone
 Party leaders responded to an Yle survey question asking "Can Finland procure fewer fighter jets than the tender request amount of 64?" Representatives of the Greens, SDP, Left Alliance and Finns Party answered 'Yes', while party chairs from the Centre Party, the National Coalition Party (NCP), Blue Reform, Swedish People's Party (SPP) and the Christian Democrats said 'No'.
 "It's not about a specific number of planes, but the overall solution. The number of fighter jets to be acquired is not written in stone, as the amount will only be determined once responses to the call for tenders have been properly processed and the different options have been mapped out," said MP  Sanna Marin , who stood in for SDP party chair  Antti Rinne  – who is recovering from pneumonia – in the survey.
 Left Alliance Chair  Li Andersson  called for a critical discussion of the fleet investment, while the Greens' head  Pekka Haavisto  said that all options should remain on the table due to swift technological advancement.
 Finns Party chair  Jussi Halla-aho  accompanied his 'Yes' vote with the following comment:
 "Finland is a small country and our defence allocations are very limited. It is very important that we focus on our strengths and avoid any misjudgement."
 Defence Minister Jussi Niinistö said in his Saturday morning interview that a fleet of 100 fighter jets would not be far-fetched in Finland, as this would be enough to ensure the continued defence of the entire country. He conceded that the additional planes would bring a considerably higher price tag, but argued that an even larger fleet would also be able to better cover possible faults and repairs.
 "We are already showing restraint in our handling of the matter," he said.
 Social exclusion as largest internal threat
 In early January, Yle asked representatives of Finland's nine parliamentary political parties their opinions on a series of foreign and security policy questions.
 Along with the fighter jet question, the party leaders were asked about their stance on NATO membership, with only the NCP's  Petteri Orpo  and the SPP's  Anna-Maja Henriksson  supporting Finland joining the military alliance. None of the nine chairs were in support of cancelling Finland's participation in sanctions against Russia.
 When the party leaders were asked to name what they feel is the largest internal security threat at present in Finland, eight out of nine wrote social exclusion and inequality
 Only the nationalist Finns Party chair Halla-aho penned a different reply: "The quickly growing, poorly integrated immigrant population".

Finnish Defence Minister: Pre-election talk of trimming fighter plane fleet "irresponsible"


Summary: The Sun reports that Mel C told the Finnish vocalist that "you could be the fifth Spice Girl, if you want".

The British tabloid The Sun has released a  story  that says that Finnish singing sensation Saara Aalto has been offered the role of the "fifth Spice Girl" in the reunion tour of the superstar British pop group The Spice Girls.
 "With party pooper Victoria Beckham refusing to be part of the Spice Girls reunion tour this summer, massive stars from Katy Perry to Adele have been touted to join the band on stage in place of Posh. But it turns out Mel C has already offered the gig — for at least part of the summer — to Saara Aalto," the tabloid writes.
 In a video linked to the piece, Aalto asks Mel C if she could join the group as the sixth Spice Girl, to which 'Sporty Spice' replied that "you could be the fifth Spice Girl, if you want."
 The Sun reporter says Saara considers herself "a Spice Girls superfan" and is very excited about the prospects of joining at least some of their concerts.
 "They want to have a fifth member for the tour. I was like, ‘Is this a real question?’ It’s insane. Posh was my favourite Spice Girl but she didn't have that many lines to sing," Aalto told the tabloid.
 Four of the original five Spice Girls are planning a reunion tour this summer that would include six stadium performances. Saara Aalto would appear in at least part of them, The Sun reports.
 Aalto became a major star in the UK after coming in second in Britain's X-Factor talent show. After this she represented Finland at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest.

British tabloid: Saara Aalto asked to join Spice Girls reunion tour


Summary: A police risk assessment of thousands of asylum seekers who have received negative asylum decisions has concluded that just over 200 present a potential danger.

The investigation and intelligence arm of the Finnish police force has conducted a risk assessment of over 9,000 people who have received a negative asylum decision in Finland since the autumn of 2017.
 The risk assessment was intended to pinpoint what the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) refers to as "individuals who have the potential to commit series crimes in Finland". This group of people will then be prioritised for deportation.
 Based on their intelligence information, the NBI concluded that some 200 people of the 9,000 total presented this kind of risk, as they had either been suspected of committing a crime at some point or suspected of "posing a threat to national security".
 The frequency and severity of any suspected crimes was also a factor in the risk assessment.
 "It is determined by the whole picture, although attempted murder and assault on its own can also lead to prioritization," says the NBI’s crime inspector  Ritva Elomaa .
 The NBI has not compiled a statistical breakdown of the offenses in question.
 Not sure of their location
 The actual number of rejected asylum seekers who made the list and are still in the country may be much smaller than 200, however, as many are believed to have left the country or been deported.
 The National Police Board that supervises police operations in Finland says the list of priority deportations will likely be subject to daily changes.
 "We have to go through the names on the list one by one and see who has already been deported," says the Board’s police inspector  Mia Poutanen .
 The effort is further complicated by the fact that the police are rarely informed about rejected asylum seekers that choose to leave the country on their own initiative.
 Finnish Police try to prevent rejected asylum seekers from disappearing by interning them in detention centres until they can be deported.
 "People who have committed serious crimes are usually in prison, and deportation takes place once their prison sentence has been served," Poutanen says.
 Some of the individuals with criminal records may have also reapplied for asylum, and international laws say they cannot be deported as long as their application is pending.
 Deportation dependent on local police
 The NBI says that when a person who is assessed to be a potential risk is identified, a case is made for his or her deportation to the police department that presides over the municipality where the person lives. These local police are ultimately responsible for carrying out the deportation, and therefore decide on when and in what order the deportations take place.
 Rejected asylum seekers are just part of the foreign-background population that police have decided should be deported, however. For example, in the first half of 2018, over half of the 1,200 people the police deported from Finland were Russian and Estonian citizens.
 "The way I see it, a rejected asylum seeker who has been convicted for manslaughter is on the same level as a foreigner convicted of the same crime, when it comes to deportation decisions. Our most important interest in prioritizing removals from the country is the degree of danger that is presented," says the Police Board's Poutanen.
 Turku attack inspired assessment
 The government of Finland commissioned the risk assessment of rejected asylum seekers after the  Turku stabbing  on 18 August 2017 that left two people dead and eight more injured. The man who received a life sentence for carrying out Finland's first-ever terrorist attack,  Abderrahman Bouanane , had earlier received a negative asylum decision from the Finnish authorities.

2% of rejected asylum seekers pose security threat, says NBI


Summary: The mercury hit -34.1 degrees Celsius on Sunday in Ylitornio, western Lapland, marking a new record low for this winter.

The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) said -30-degree weather is in store for much of Lapland in the coming days.
 Salla in eastern Lapland held the previous cold record of -32.2 degrees Celsius measured on 3 January.
 Story continues after photo.

 Deep freeze set in
 Yle meteorologist  Matti Huutonen  said the mercury will plunge across Finland as the week begins.
 By Tuesday, thermometers in southern parts of the country will fall to -12C while northern areas will experience lows in the -25 to -30C range.

-34.1C in Lapland breaks winter’s cold record


Summary: With winter swimming becoming mainstream in Finland, some devotees seek feelgood endorphins with a daily plunge in icy cold water.

Some  winter swimmers  in Finland say they crave cold water.
 Kai Haapasalo , a public health centre physician, told Yle that he goes for an outdoor swim most days – sometimes even skipping the sauna.
 ”It gives me euphoria and the swimming has kept me healthy,” he explained of a hobby that can put enthusiasts in a near-hypothermic state.
 Story continues after photo.
 Kai Haapasalo, avid winter swimmer. Markku Sandell / Yle
 Various  studies  have praised the health-boosting qualities of winter swimming, from stress relief and memory improvement to pain relief for arthritis sufferers. Some research also suggests that regular winter swimming can boost the body’s brown fat levels, helping guard against obesity.
 But for these benefits to kick in, enthusiasts need to do more than take a quick dip.
 ”The usual routine is dip, sauna and leave, but it’s actually better to finish with the swim, not sauna,” winter swimming fanatic Haapasalo explained.
 Story continues after photo.

 Timo Nykyri / Yle
 Not for everyone
 Jumping into a hole cut into the frozen sea is, however, not something everyone should attempt, according to Haapasalo.
 ”People with heart conditions should exercise special caution as should anyone fighting an infection.”
 Freezing cold water can trigger shock, and a sudden contraction of blood vessels can cause a  stroke .
 Turku will host Finland’s winter swimming championships in a few weeks. Around one thousand winter swimmers are expected to compete for the national title in the frigid waters of Aurajoki River.

Finland's winter swimmers chase endorphins


Summary: Skygazers in Finland delighted in a total lunar eclipse early Monday morning.

Finland's amateur astronomy association Ursa said the full eclipse began on 21 January at 6.41am, ending about an hour later at 7.43am. The deepest phase of the eclipse was at 7.13am.
 Unlike solar eclipses, lunar ones are safe to watch with the naked eye. Total lunar eclipses occur when the moon moves into alignment with the sun and earth.
 Super blood wolf moon?
 The eclipse was called a " super blood wolf moon ," as Ursa said it was a total eclipse like any other.
 A 'super' moon occurs when the moon is especially close to earth, while a 'wolf moon' is the traditional name for the full moon of January.
 This event was the last chance for skywatchers in Finland to see a total lunar eclipse in its entirety until 2025.
 The frigid temperatures throughout the country cooperated, as the skies in most areas on Monday morning were clear.

Finland treated to 'super blood wolf moon'


Summary: The press looks at whether Finland has failed to integrate immigrants, public opinion on forest clear-cutting, and the expected arrival of a new predator.

This Monday in Finland, the natural world is making headlines, as overnight temperatures fell to -36.6 in Salla, Finland, the  lowest point we've seen this winter . In addition, a rare  super blood wolf moon  was visible in the clear frigid skies to early morning risers.
 In other news, the tabloid Ilta-Sanomat considers whether recent shocking events in  Oulu  and  Helsinki  are an indication that  state-funded immigrant integration programmes have failed .
 "Integration programmes focus on educating foreigners with regard to attitudes and values, but in many cases, it unfortunately does not start quickly enough, because asylum processing takes too long,"  Mia Poutanen , chief superintendent on the National Police Board, tells the tabloid.
 At present, most integration programmes for incoming foreigners last 240 days and focus on learning Finnish and studying the principles of Finnish society and equality.
 Employment Minister  Jari Lindström  commented on a parliamentary audit committee report submitted Friday that found serious shortcomings in Finland's integration efforts.
 "I've heard that some integration processes take five to seven years or longer. We have to say it out loud: Finland has failed in our integration efforts," the minister told IS.
 More resources and jobs are needed
 Argentinean  Enrique Tessieri  teaches integration classes for asylum seekers and immigrants. He says Finland needs to invest more resources in the programmes and secure qualified teachers.
 "Asylum seekers and immigrants are told that if they only learn Finnish, they will be able to integrate into Finnish society. This is a lie," he says.
 He says that for all the lip-service devoted to integration, what is really required is assimilation.
 "Integration should be a two-way street. Showing one video about Finland's values isn't enough," Tessieri tells IS.
 Alireza  arrived in Finland in 2015 at the age of 19 to seek asylum. He attended integration classes faithfully and learned Finnish quickly. When he was finished, however, the employment office pushed him back into continued education.
 "I called one employer about getting a job, and the first question was 'Where are you from?' When I told him, he hung up," he tells IS.
 He now feels that the education he received in the integration classes wasn't of much use, as finding work has been "extremely difficult". Even so, he doesn't see a connection between lapses in Finland's integration programmes and recent reports of alleged sex crimes.
 "The people behind those crimes are sick. A normal person would never do anything like that to a child," he says.
 Over one third would end clear-cut logging
 Maaseudun Tulevaisuus, a newspaper focusing on the agriculture and forestry community, carries a story on a poll it recently carried out that suggests that  38 percent of Finnish residents would like to see clear-cutting in Finnish forests become a thing of the past .
 Twenty-eight percent of the over 1,000 people polled said that this kind of logging should be banned in all forests, regardless of whether they are privately or state-owned, while nine percent would enforce the ban in state-owned forests only. Another 28 percent would not ban the practice, and 33 percent had no opinion on the matter.
 A  citizens' initiative  to ban clear-cutting has already gathered over 60,000 signatures, in other words, enough to be debated on the parliamentary floor. Finnish logging practices have been a  hot-button topic  since the  IPCC climate report  emphasized the importance of carbon sinks last year.
 The Finnish state owns about a quarter of forest land in the country, while private owners account for 60 percent of ownership. Eighty percent of raw material purchased by Finland's forest industry originates in privately-owned forests, MT reports.
 New predator expected any day
 And, to finish, the daily Helsingin Sanomat  reports  on authorities' concerns that a new predator, the  golden jackal , will soon cross the border into Finland, upsetting the natural balance.
 The golden jackal is a wolf-like canid that is native to Southeast Europe and Asia. A warming climate has pushed it farther north and west, and  Ilpo Kojola , research professor at Finland's Natural Resources Institute (Luke) tells the paper that it could arrive in Finland any day now via the Karelian Isthmus.
 Kojola predicts that the golden jackal will thrive in Finland.
 "As a predator, it will slot in between the fox and wolf nicely. It would have the upper hand over the foxes and the wolves would track it as prey," he tells HS.
 Nature conservationists are concerned that as the population grows, the golden jackal will present a danger to Finland's ground-nesting birds. Finland is currently one of the most important European areas for water and shorebird breeding, the paper writes.
 "We must follow precautionary principles with respect to the golden jackal and slow the spread of the species in order to safeguard our biodiversity and prevent widespread damage," game specialist  Jarkko Nurmi  tells HS.
 Legislation is being proposed to crack down on invasive non-native species in Finland. The golden jackal would join the likes of the raccoon dog, the mink and muskrat on the list.

Monday's papers: Failed integration, the future of clear-cut logging, and golden jackals


Summary: Super lorries measuring more than 34m may pose risks for other drivers in overtaking situations.

As of Monday, longer articulated lorries – also known as Longer Heavier Vehicles, road trains or super lorries – are allowed on Finnish highways.
 Truck combinations of up to 34.5 metres long, which may include several trailers, can now be driven without special permit. Until now the maximum has been 25.25 metres, which was already longer than those allowed in most European countries beyond the Nordic region. Even lengthier 'land trains' are common in Australia and North America.
 Road safety experts warn motorists to exercise caution when attempting to overtake such a monster truck.
 Auvo Huotari , an experienced motorist from the northern city of Oulu who logs some 50,000 kilometres a year, points out that the feasibility and safety of overtaking the long lorries depends partly on the capabilities of one's own vehicle.
 "Today's cars are quite powerful, but even with them you can lose control," he says.
 Huotari says he has seen dangerous situations on the road, particularly when several lorries are driving in a bumper-to-bumper convoy on a motorway.
 Passing distance may be surprisingly long
 Pentti Tervo , an instruction supervisor at the Finnish Road Safety Council, reminds drivers that passing a long combination truck requires plenty of clear space in the oncoming traffic lane.
 "From when you start passing, drive alongside the tractor-trailer and then return to your own lane, it's a really long distance. It can be as much as half a kilometre," he says.
 Tervo urges motorists to think carefully about whether to pass a long combination vehicle, particularly in winter conditions.
 Super-long articulated vehicles have occasionally appeared on Finnish roads, but have required special permits. Tervo does not expect them to proliferate quickly on the nation's roads. He says they will mostly stick to the main motorways and drive at night whenever possible.

'Road trains' roar onto Finnish roads


Summary: Lieutenant General Jarmo Lindberg has announced that he will not continue in his Chief of Defence role once his five-year term ends next summer.

Finland's Defence Chief,  Jarmo Lindberg , will not continue in his role as Commander of the Finnish Defence Forces after his current five-year term ends in August 2019. Lindberg announced his decision at the opening of a National Defence Course on Monday in Helsinki.
 Last week, the office of the Prosecutor General asked the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to open a preliminary study of Lindberg's role in the so-called Lemmenjoki incident, which made headlines recently.
 The Defence Forces Command recently submitted a report to the Defence Ministry on the case, in which two commanding officers were charged for incidents that took place during a voluntary refresher course at the Karelian Air Command in September 2017.
 Air Force Commander  Sampo Eskelinen  is suspected of breach of duty for delaying an investigation into the inappropriate conduct of the former commander of the Karelian Air Command,  Markus Päiviö , during the refresher course. Päiviö is suspected of misuse of power, breach of service and defamation.
 One of the 12 defendants in the case, Nurmes mayor  Asko Saatsi , has gone on record to say alcohol was involved.
 Both of the officers have denied the charges.
 A Lännen Media news syndicate source reported earlier this month that Lindberg also knew about the behaviour months before the preliminary investigation was commissioned.

Commander of Finnish Defence Forces won't seek another term


Summary: With his party leading the polls ahead this spring's election, the leader of Finland's biggest opposition party faces an extended sick leave.

Social Democratic Party leader  Antti Rinne 's sick leave is set to last until late February – just over a month before voting begins in the parliamentary election. The SDP, the largest opposition group in Parliament, has  consistently led in public opinion polls  over the past six months.
 The party had expected him to return to politics in late January. On Monday Rinne announced on Facebook that his leave now will probably last until late February.
 Rinne is being treated for pneumonia at a hospital in Helsinki, where he was also found to have a hospital superbug caught in Spain.
 The SDP chief and his wife were hospitalised with respiratory illnesses around New Year's while on holiday in Spain.
 According to the tabloid Iltalehti, Rinne's treatment there "did not progress as planned". The paper says his "situation became very serious" and he was medevacked back to Helsinki on 11 January.
 Marin standing in at campaign events
 In his Facebook post, Rinne said that "besides serious pneumonia, another health problem cropped up at the same time, coronary artery disease... And along with everything else, I found out that I had also acquired hospital infection in Spain."
 He added that doctors estimate that his sick leave will last until the end of February – less than five weeks before advance voting begins on April 3.
 So far during Rinne's sick leave, he has been replaced at election debates  and other events  by deputy chair  Sanna Marin .
 Rinne, 56, a former finance minister, union boss and labour lawyer, has led the SDP for nearly five years.

SDP chair Rinne's return to campaign trail delayed by illness


Summary: "This is probably the biggest case [of off-the-books employment] in the past decade," the National Bureau of Investigation said.

Finland's National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) announced that it has wrapped up an extensive investigation into the activities at two - now-defunct - construction companies which are suspected of major tax evasion and non-payment of pensions.
 The NBI's chief investigator in the case,  Janne Järvinen , said that when the companies hired around 350 workers, they failed to pay about 4.6 million euros in income taxes and about 1.3 million euros towards the national pension plan.
 Järvinen said this case is likely the largest of its kind in the past ten years.
 A total of about 20 suspects were involved in the alleged off-the-books employment arrangements, but four main suspects are believed to have played key roles in the schemes. All of the suspects had been held during the investigation but have since been released, according to the NBI.
 The four chief suspects include three Finnish nationals and an Estonian, according to Estonian  public broadcaster ERR . Authorities believe they committed the crimes between 2013 and 2015, saying that the firms posted annual turnovers of 10 million euros.
 The companies involved in the probe were based in the capital region, and both filed for bankruptcy during 2016-2017.
 The four are suspected of aggravated tax evasion, aggravated pension fund fraud and aggravated accounting crimes. The NBI also suspects that construction waste materials were illegally transported to Estonia.
 The case has now been forwarded to the western Uusimaa prosecutor's office.
 NBI: Work carried out at day care centres, schools
 According to the NBI a total of 350 workers employed by the firms - mostly Estonian nationals - were identified during tax audits and the preliminary investigation. There are suspicions that more than 300 other individuals, whom authorities have not identified, had also been hired by the firms.
 The construction companies were generally hired as sub-contractors to carry out renovation and construction work at day care centres, schools and residential projects.
 The firms are suspected of having paid wages to the tune more than six million euros in cash, but Järvinen said unlike other similar cases in the past, not all of their wages were handled off-the-books.
 Järvinen said the firms paid some workers with taxes and pension deductions withheld, but he noted those deductions did not go to the proper authorities, adding that some of those funds may have already been taken abroad.
 "In such cases it's common for the activity to take place in Finland and the people in charge have a different life elsewhere, like Spain, Turkey or Asia," Järvinen said.

NBI wraps up probe of construction firms' suspected €4.6m in tax evasion


Summary: MP Maria Lohela's departure from the Blue Reform could threaten several pending bills, including major reforms to Finland's social and health care sector.

Blue Reform MP  Maria Lohela  announced on Monday that she is leaving the Finns Party spin-off to join an activist group, Movement Now (Liike Nyt), founded by hockey team owner and former National Coalition Party MP  Hjallis Harkimo.
 "My interest was immediately piqued when Hjallis founded the movement last year," Lohela told reporters at a news conference.
 She said that with the move, she would also be relinquishing her MP seat, as she had decided not to run for re-election in the upcoming general elections in April. This leaves the three-party government coalition with one less seat in Parliament, endangering several pending legal reforms that must be voted on before the current parliamentary terms end.
 Lohela's move further imperils the government's planned  overhaul of social and health care services , colloquially known as "sote", on which MPs have yet to cast a final vote. The ex-Speaker said she would vote against the reform. She roundly condemned the government's flagship programme, which has the support of her former colleagues in the Blue Reform, saying that the needs of ordinary people have been eclipsed by the interests of market forces and regional reforms, at the behest of the National Coalition Party and the Centre Party respectively.
 "I asked myself what my duty is in this matter as a member of parliament and I cannot in good conscience support these things," she commented.
 Lohela's defection further narrows the government's already razor-thin majority on the issue to just one vote: a total of 99 lawmakers now oppose the raft of measures compared to 100 who would vote to see it through. As it stands, the loss of a single vote would scupper the long-in-the-making reform package.
 Other MPs who have publicly opposed the social and health care reform proposal include the NCP 's  Elina Lepomäki  and  Susanna Koski  as well as veteran lawmaker  Paavo Väyrynen ,  who quit the Centre Party  last spring.
 Already defected once before
 Lohela was elected as an MP from the Southwest Finland region in 2011, as a member of the nationalist Finns Party. After she maintained her seat in the 2015 election, she was named Speaker of Parliament, where she served from 2015 to 2018.
 In the wake of the election of immigration hardliner  Jussi Halla-aho   as leader of the Finns Party  in July 2017, Lohela joined 19 other high-profile Finns Party ministers and MPs and left the party to  set up a new group  eventually named the Blue Reform.
 Lohela became Speaker on the back of the Finns Party's voter mandate in the 2015 general election, which made them the second-largest group in Parliament. After the spilt from the Finns Party in 2017, Lohela  vacated her Speaker position in February  2018 and returned to her MP role.
 Polling for the Blue Reform since the split in 2017 has been very low. The latest Yle assessment of voter allegiances found that the just one percent of respondents planned to cast their ballot for a Blue Reform candidate, in a poll with a 2.1 percentage point margin of error.
 Movement Now changes mind about elections
 When  Harkimo and his colleagues founded Movement Now  in 2018, he said the new group was not a political party and its members would not be running for office.
 However, Harkimo announced in late November of last year that  candidates from the independent association will run in the April 2019 parliamentary elections, after all .
 He said the movement's 12,000 registered supporters all backed the group's run for Parliament. The group's website already profiles 20 candidates. Co-founder of the movement, former Social Democratic Party MP  Mikael Jungner , a communications agency boss and former director of broadcaster Yle, said that he does not plan to run in the election.
 The five other co-founders of the group include outspoken media personality  Tuomas Enbuske , entrepreneur  Alex Nieminen , founder of the Slush business event  Helene Auramo , PhD researcher  Karoliina Kähönen  and communications manager  Sarian Antila .

Ex-speaker's defection threatens support for social, health reform package


Summary: A sewing needle was found inserted into fruit at Pori's Lukkarinsanta S-Market over the weekend.

Elintarvikkeiden, juomien ja tupakan vähittäiskauppa

A case of serious vandalism has been detected in a supermarket on the western coast of Finland, after a customer found a sewing needle in clementines purchased there.
 The customer informed the personnel of the Lukkarinsanta S-Market in Pori and the workers submitted a request for a police investigation, the S Group's regional cooperative in the Satakunta region reports.
 "We immediately contacted police on Saturday when the customer returned the product. We have removed the entire shipment from our stock and given instructions to our staff to be especially vigilant," says S-Group's head of service  Jussi Kaartinen .
 Late last year, sewing needles were also found in bakery items sold in the west coast municipality of Merikarvia. In this case, the first needle was found in a sweet bun loaf and the second was found in bread. The person who put the needles in the food was later apprehended, and told the police that he or she had engaged in the prank to "add some excitement".
 An instance of  needles being hid in strawberries in Australia last summer  was feared at the time to inspire copycat offenders.

Needle discovered in supermarket produce in western Finland


Summary: Helsinki University Hospitals and other facilities across Finland stopped using textured breast implants last autumn.

Helsingin ja Uudenmaan sairaanhoitopiiri

Helsinki University Hospital (HUS) has confirmed that eight women in Finland who received textured breast implants were or are being treated for BIA-ALCL tumors, a rare form of lymphoma, cancer of the lymphatic system.
 HUS and other health care districts across the country stopped using the textured implants after reports that 650 women around the world who had received them had gotten the rare cancer.
 A press release the hospital issued Monday said that the cancer was detected early in most of the patients and that the implants had been successfully removed. However, some of the patients also needed cancer medication and radiation treatment, according to the hospital.
 HUS said the institution does not know exactly what caused the cases of lymphoma.
 In January 2011, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning about possible links between textured breast implants and anaplastic large-cell lymphoma, according to  Breastcancer.org . In 2017 the FDA  updated  its warning, saying that "individuals with breast implants have a risk of developing BIA-ALCL."
 BIA-ALCL is not a type of breast cancer, but a form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of blood cancer.
 HUS advises calm
 HUS said that individuals who have received the implants and who have symptoms like swelling, thickening or colour changes of the breast's skin should be checked by a physician.
 Typical symptoms of BIA-ALCL include a build-up of fluid around the implant which leads to swelling, or a thickening of the skin around the implant. Some patients have also experienced redness or irritation of the skin.
 However, HUS' head plastic surgery physician,  Tiina Jahkola , said that people shouldn't panic.
 "If the breasts do not show any symptoms, there's no reason to worry. Patients without symptoms do not require regular checkups (apart from normal breast cancer exams) and the implant does not need to be removed for safety's sake," Jahkola said.

8 cases of rare lymphoma from breast implants confirmed in Finland


Summary: Starting on Monday people who get ePrescriptions from doctors in Finland can pick up their meds in Estonia - and soon, vice-versa.

Kansainväliset organisaatiot ja sopimukset

Monday marked the first day of a gradual roll-out of the EU's ePrescription programme, enabling people who get digital prescriptions for medication from doctors in Finland to get them filled at participating pharmacies in Estonia.
 According to Estonian public broadcaster ERR, the system will soon be  reciprocal , reporting that digital prescriptions written out by Estonian physicians will be valid at participating Finnish apothecaries later this year.
 The ePrescription initiative enables digital prescriptions to visible to pharmacists in participating countries, via the new eHealth Digital Service Infrastructure, without requiring customers to have them in writing.
 Finland and Estonia are the first EU countries to put the ePrescription initiative into use.
 More states joining, possibly this year
 The European Commission's VP for the Digital Single Market,  Andrus Ansip , offered his congratulations to the two countries, saying that he'd like to see other member states get involved in the programme, as well.
 "People should be able to use their e-prescriptions across borders. Free movement is a founding principle of the EU: we must make it as easy as possible for people to get treatment or medicines when abroad in the EU. The next major step will be to simplify patient access to their very own health data, by developing a common format for exchanging electronic health records between EU countries," Ansip said in a press release issued by the commission on Monday.
 Seven other EU states may also roll out these cross-border exchanges by the end of 2019, including the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Portugal, Croatia, Malta, Cyprus, Greece and Belgium, according to the commission.

Finnish ePrescriptions make debut in Estonia


Summary: Finland's national gaming firm may fold its hand in the gaming table business, citing more digital competition.

Kasinot, uhkapelit ja rahapeli- ja vedonlyöntipalvelut

State-owned betting monopoly Veikkaus is considering a phase-out of all its table gaming operations in restaurants. The company now runs 187 gaming tables in 162 restaurants, bars, casinos and other night spots.
 On Monday the firm said it is launching redundancy talks involving 1,300 employees out of its total workforce of some 2,000. It aims to reduce its payroll by around 400.
 About half of those facing lay-off negotiations are in the Helsinki region, with the rest scattered around the country.
 Digital reshuffle
 Veikkaus CEO  Olli Sarekoski  says the cuts are necessary because of intensifying digital competition and business shifting onto digital channels.
 "Due to structural changes, our network of sales locations has shrunk considerably in recent years. Therefore we are planning significant overhauls of our gaming locations and an end to the restaurant gaming table business," Sarekoski said in a statement.
 At the beginning of 2017, Veikkaus merged with the Finnish Slot Machine Association (RAY) and the parimutuel betting group Fintoto, which was owned by the Finnish horse trotting and breeding association.

Betting agency Veikkaus to cut 400 jobs, may halt restaurant gambling


Summary: Newspapers in Finland discuss freezing temps, Somali community outreach, a medal for food drive hero Heikki Hursti, and average television viewing times in 2018.

The mercury has been dipping dangerously low over the last few days in Finland, and daily Helsingin Sanomat starts the day with  news  that a temperature of -33 degrees Celsius (-27.4F) was recorded in the southern municipality of Vihti on Tuesday morning.
 Closer to the capital city, the coldest temperature overnight was noted at the Helsinki Airport, which came in with a reading of -25.9C.
 The paper predicts that things will start to warm up again in the south on Wednesday, popping back up to just a few degrees below zero. Brutally cold temperatures of -20 or lower will continue in central areas and the north, however. On Monday, the  coldest temperature of this winter season, -36.6  was measured in the Lapland municipality of Salla.
 According to the Finnish Meteorological Institute, the lowest temperature ever reported in Finland was -51.5, in 1999. The lowest temperature ever registered in Helsinki is -34.3, a record set in 1987.
 Mum about mental health
 Local paper Länsiväylä features a story on  mental health issues being seen as "taboo" in the Somali community .
 Idil Hussein , a researcher with Finland's National Institute for Health and Welfare, discusses a recent study that examined the prevalence of mental health symptoms in different population groups in Finland. The analysis found that people with a Somali background had just as many symptoms as other groups, but used far fewer mental health services, comparatively.
 "The Somali language doesn't even have words for some mental disorders. For example, the closest equivalents to the word 'depression' are expressions like 'short-term grief' or 'down-in-the-mouth'. There is no word whatsoever for schizophrenia," she tells the paper. "If they can't find words for their problems, it affects how much they talk about it and if they seek help."
 Hussein held a seminar series on mental health issues at the Helsinki Islamic Centre in Pasila last year. She is most concerned about the older generation of Somali people who may have fled war and mayhem in their homeland.
 "They have trauma-related symptoms. Young Somalis have the same mental health issues that other kids their age have. The younger ones are more likely to know where to get help, but many older people have never become an active part of society, and don't know who to turn to," Hussein says.
 Presidential recognition for second-generation charity worker
 The tabloid Iltalehti carries news of a  medal awarded to charity worker   Heikki Hursti , a  long-time provider of food and clothing for the needy  in Finland.
 Years ago Heikki took over the operations of Veikko and Lahja Hursti’s Charitable Trust, a Christian charity started in the 1960s by his father Finnish social activist  Veikko Hursti . Among other things, the association runs a food distribution point on Helsinginkatu in the capital city, and provides warm dinners for people in need each year on  Independence Day  and  Christmas .
 IL reports that Hursti was out shovelling his driveway when he heard the news that President  Sauli Niinistö  had awarded him the distinction of Knight, First Class, of the Order of the Lion of Finland.
 "Such a fine medal. It was very touching to receive this kind of honour," he told the tabloid.
 The President awarded the medal on December 6, Finland's Independence Day, but Hursti's family decided to keep the news from him until his cancer-stricken wife had been released from hospital. The new Knight says the recognition feels especially important now that his wife has been ill.
 "Many people have since told me that the award went to the right man. It feels really good."
 2 hrs and 45 mins a day in front of the TV
 The tabloid Ilta-Sanomat provides the  latest Finnpanel statistics for television viewing time in Finland . Figures from 2018 reveal that the average Finnish resident watched two hours and 45 minutes of television programming a day last year, with an average of 44 percent of the time devoted to watching programmes on the public broadcaster Yle channels, 23 percent watching commercial MTV channels, and 15 percent of viewing time spent watching Nelonen Media channels.
 Once again last year, the programme that attracted the highest number of viewers was Yle's coverage of the annual Independence Day ball in the Presidential Palace - drawing 2.4 million viewers to the screen.
 The second most-watched programme was the first round of the presidential elections, with over 1.4 million viewers, and the third-most popular TV show was MTV's coverage of the Finland-Switzerland semi-final match in the ice hockey world championships, also with some 1.4 million viewers. The most popular TV show on Nelonen was The Voice of Finland, which boasted 780,000 viewers on 5 January.

Tuesday's papers: Bitter cold, mental health taboos, charity knighthood, and plenty of TV