Summary: One in three employees has noticed workplace bullying, while every fifth employee has experienced it.

According to a new survey by the Union of Private Sector Professionals ERTO, more workplace bullying occurs in the public sector than the private sector. Around 38 percent of employees in Finland's public sector said they have noticed workplace bullying. The corresponding figure for the private sector was 27 percent.
 Additionally, every third employee has observed bullying at their workplace in the past year. Every fifth employee has been or suspects that they have been a victim of workplace bullying. The union surveyed thousands of employees in Finland about bullying at their workplace in June.
 "Workplace bullying is at its worst, recurring, long-term, negative treatment that ultimately endangers a person’s health. Anxiety, crying, trouble sleeping and nightmares, for example, are clear signs that there is a need to react," President of the Union of Private Sector Professionals ERTO  Juri Aaltonen  said in a press release.
 More workplace bullying in large companies
 The survey suggested a direct link between the size of a company and the prevalence of workplace bullying. About 20 percent of those working in small companies with less than 10 employees experienced workplace bullying, compared to 34 percent for those who worked in companies with more than 250 employees.
 Approximately 60 percent of those surveyed responded that employees had the courage and ability to tackle bullying, at least to some extent.
 About 40 percent suspected that employees do not possess the necessary courage or skills to intervene in workplace bullying, or could not say whether employees would be capable of doing so.
 Roughly one in five said that they doubted whether they would be willing or able to intervene in workplace bullying themselves.
 Aaltonen stressed that tackling bullying is everyone’s responsibility. "Although the employer is ultimately responsible for workplace security, it is up to all of us to support our own occupational health as well as that of others to the best of our ability. Open discussion in the workplace is important because the line between good and bad behaviour is not clear to everyone. Bullies do not necessarily understand bullying, until they are told about it," Aaltonen said in the release.
 He also advised people to provide concrete examples of incidents to back up any accusations of workplace bullying.

Survey: Workplace bullying more common in the public sector


Summary: A new study reveals that residents with a foreign background feel part of society, but seldom adopt a Finnish identity.

A new survey suggests on attitudes to Finnishness suggests that more than three out of four speakers of Estonian, Russian, English, Somali and Arabic living in the Greater Helsinki area feel like they are part of Finnish society either fully or to some extent,
 Significantly fewer consider themselves Finnish, according to a recent study conducted by e2 Reasearch, which interviewed 1,527 people.
 Some 43 percent of Somali speaking-people in the study identified themselves as Finnish. Only 10 percent of Estonian speakers considered themselves completely or somewhat Finnish.
 “We want to increase work-based immigration to Finland. Maybe some alarm bells should ring considering that Estonians, who come from a culture like Finland, are not interested in staying here. One message from this study could be that it is not easy to get foreigners attached to Finland,”  Pasi Saukkonen , researcher at the municipality of Helsinki, noted.
 Saukkonen pointed out that the majority of Estonians who have come to work in Finland plan to return to Estonia at some point.
 English speakers have more Finnish friends
 Identification with one's own country of origin is common among members of all five language groups in the study, but some also have parallel identities. This is most common among Somali speakers — almost one in two feels that they are both Finnish and Somali. Among Arabic and English speakers only around 25 percent of them have such a parallel identity. Among speakers of Estonian (5 percent) and Russian (12 percent), parallel identities are significantly more unusual.
 There are however, significant differences between the language groups when it comes to the number of Finnish friends and acquaintances. English speakers are better integrated into Finnish society than other language groups with almost all having Finnish friends or acquaintances, despite 40 percent of them speaking Finnish at beginner’s level or not at all. A large majority of Estonian and Russian speakers also have many people of Finnish origin in their immediate circle.
 By contrast, Somali speakers have the best command of Finnish, but 45 percent of them lack ethnically Finnish friends, and 32 percent of Arabic speakers have no friends or acquaintances who belong to the majority population.
 “In terms of integration, it is a problem if immigrants have no contacts with natives,” researcher  Ville Pitkänen  pointed out
 Somali speakers face most workplace discrimination
 Almost 90 percent Somali speakers feel discriminated in the labour market, followed by 57 percent of Arabic speakers, 51 percent of Russian-speaking and 40 percent of English speakers. Only a quarter of Estonian speakers say they have encountered some degree of discrimination in the job market.
 Minority group members also felt that they were depicted in a poor light in the media. This view is held by 82 percent of Somali speakers, 72 percent of Arabic speakers and 56 percent of Russian speakers. Among Estonian or English speakers, it seems to be less of an issue, the study revealed.
 Despite that perceived negative reaction, majority of the surveyed language groups are very or somewhat pleased to live in Finland. According to the report, knowledge of the Finnish language plays a crucial role — those with excellent knowledge of Finnish are very pleased to live in Finland.
 Topping the list is the 60 percent of Arabic speakers, who are absolutely certain that they want to stay in Finland. In other language groups, significantly fewer people feel this way. Less than one third of Russian and Somali speakers are absolutely certain that they want to stay in Finland, whereas only one in five English speakers and one in ten Estonian speakers feel that way.
 The research was planned and financed by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, e2 Research, the cities of Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa, and the Ministry of Justice. The study was based on more than 1,500 query answers — around 300 per language group.

Study: Minority language groups struggle to feel Finnish


Summary: Ilkka Laitinen served as the first Executive Director of Frontex, the European Union’s border protection agency, from 2005-2014.

Kansainväliset organisaatiot ja sopimukset

Ulkoasiain hallinto, maanpuolustus ja järjestystoimi

Lieutenant-General  Ilkka Laitinen , 57, who was Chief of the Finnish Border Guard since last year, passed away on Monday. He had taken up the post in September 2018, but resigned last month due to a serious illness. Laitinen had earlier served as the first Executive Director of Frontex, the European Union’s border protection agency, for nine years.
 Laitinen, who was born in 1962 in the North Karelian town of Nurmes, had been serving in the Border Guard in various roles since 1985. Frontex became operational in May 2005 and Laitinen became its  first Director-General  in 2005. The EU Commission granted him an extension of five years at the end of the first period, which was unanimously agreed on by the agency's board.
 After he returned from Frontex in 2015, he worked for the Finnish Border Guard, first as Director of International Affairs and then as Deputy Chief of the Border Guard in 2015-18.
 After Laitinen stepped down as Chief on 20 September, President  Sauli Niinistö  appointed Major General  Pasi Kostamovaara  as his replacement as of Tuesday, 1 October.

First head of EU border protection agency, Ilkka Laitinen, dies at 57


Summary: Ex-Helsinki drug squad chief Jari Aarnio and former gang boss Keijo Vilhunen were named in a 2003 contract killing.

The disgraced former head of the Helsinki Police narcotics unit,  Jari Aarnio , is suspectedof murder over the  contract killing  of  Volka Ünsal  in October 2003.
 The pre-trial investigation has now been completed and passed on to the Prosecutor General for consideration of charges. Based on preliminary investigations, Aarnio and ex-underworld boss  Keijo Vilhunen  are suspected of murder.
 Aarnio had advance information about the hit 15 years ago and did not intervene to prevent Ünsal’s murder in Vuosaari, eastern Helsinki, according to investigators. He was detained in the summer of 2018 on suspicion of murder.
 One of Aarnio's former subordinates is suspected of breach of official duty. Another of Aarnio's former subordinates was also previously suspected of breach of official duty, but has now been cleared of suspicion, police say.
 All suspects have denied the criminal allegations.
 Underworld showdown
 Kari Tolvanen , National Coalition Party MP and former head of the Helsinki Police's violent crime unit, had earlier said that the death of Ünsal, a Swedish-Turkish citizen, was a result of an underworld showdown. Ünsal was allegedly killed in retaliation for having informed the police in 2002 in the matter of a money transport robbery at Stockholm's Arlanda Airport, in which he had taken money from his friend. He had entered a witness protection programme before later abandoning the programme.
 STT  earlier reported t hat investigators found a notebook in Sweden, according to which Aarnio had warned his Swedish colleagues about the plan before Ünsal arrived in Finland and was killed in October 2003.
 This past June, Aarnio received a 10 year sentence after an  appeal court upheld his conviction  on a slew of offences related to drug trafficking and official misconduct. He also received a three-year conviction for crimes involving police tracking equipment company Trevoc, apart from being ordered to pay over one million euros to the state. Vilhunen was also handed a 10-year sentence.

Jari Aarnio contract killing case moves to prosecution


Summary: In Tuesday’s press media mull a declining Finnish population, the failure of a sex doll brothel and a football star’s ethically questionable stand on Qatar.

Monday’s big news was a new population forecast that has the  number of people living in Finland starting to decline by 2031 .
 Tuesday’s press is filled with follow-ups on the story, with most papers including some political reaction to the numbers.
 Ilta-Sanomat has a  good summary  of the instinctive response, with most party leaders saying the country needs more immigration to compensate for the falling birth rate. Green Party leader and Interior Minister  Maria Ohisalo , for instance, said that work-based immigration needs to increase and foreign students should find it easier to get work permits.
 The big exception to that consensus was Finns Party chair  Jussi Halla-aho .
 He denied the need for increased work-based immigration, saying that Finland can get all the experts and workers it needs from within the European Union, which allows freedom of movement to workers.
 Business daily Kauppalehti, meanwhile,  looked at  the incentives rural municipalities are using to try and up their birth rates.
 In 2018, 62 councils were offering cheap plots of land to families looking to move there. Some 36 offered discounted business premises, while 27 were willing to pay parents who gave birth in the town.
 In Halsua, Central Ostrobothnia, the council pays a thousand euros a year for each of a baby’s first three years as an official resident of the town.
 Neighbouring Lestijärvi pays 10,000 euros in total for each newborn, and is planning to slash municipal tax rates with the proceeds of a giant new wind farm.
 Sex doll brothel goes bust
 Ilta-Sanomat has  news  from Finland’s first sex doll brothel, which is to close down permanently.
 The sex services outlet trumpeted itself as a centre for state-of-the-art sex dolls and set up in the Helsinki suburb of Kannelmäki in November of last year.
 Unfortunately for the owners, the venture did not bring in enough customers to cover costs and is set to shut down.
 Proprietor  Antti Karhinen  told IS that there was no point throwing good money after bad, but he had still learnt a lot.
 He recalled that a British documentary maker came to visit, but could not persuade his customers to talk because ‘most of them ran away’, suggesting sex dolls might not be losing any stigma associated with them.
 Some of the used dolls are in such bad shape they will be thrown away, but Karhinen says the ones still working will be sold via an online auction site.
 Litmanen’s human rights issue
 Finnish football star  Jari Litmanen , known as ‘the king’ for his unrivalled position as the greatest Finnish footballer of all time, has come under fire for his recent positive comments about Qatar’s World Cup in 2022.
 Visiting the Middle Eastern emirate during the World Athletics Championships, Litmanen told the organisers’ website that ‘nobody will regret the Qatar World Cup in 2022’, referencing the Qatari success in beating off the United States, South Korea, Japan and Australia for the rights to host the world’s biggest football tournament.
 The tournament was criticised on the grounds that there are allegations Qatar may have bribed voting delegates to win it, the climate in Qatar is so hot that it could not be played in the summer, the human rights issues around playing in a country that (for instance) criminalises homosexuality, and the forced labour alleged to be involved in building infrastructure in the oil-rich monarchy.
 HS  publishes  an analysis piece arguing that he is ‘morally, no longer really a role model’. The paper lists the problems associated with the bid, including the 1,200 migrant workers believed to have died on construction sites associated with the tournament, and asks ‘what were you thinking, Jari Litmanen?’.
 The paper reports that Litmanen told them he went on the trip at the request of a Finnish company but only attended one event with that firm. The rest was a private holiday with his wife, during which he also visited his friend  Xavi , who coaches the Qatar national team.
 He also declined to take a stand on anything but sporting matters in his interview or the written response to HS.
 Finland midfielder  Riku Riski  was not so reticent last winter when asked to attend a training camp in Qatar. He  declined to go for ethical reasons .

Tuesday’s papers: Population decline, sex doll bankruptcy, and Litmanen’s Qatar comments


Summary: The Finance Ministry says Finns have become too indebted, and is proposing new limits on lending to try and reduce the load.

Consumers in Finland could find it harder to borrow money in future, if a new proposal on reducing indebtedness becomes law.
 A Finance Ministry working group is looking to fight household debt by limiting total household borrow to 4.5 times their annual income, and ensuring banks count money owed to other lenders when calculating whether a customer can afford a loan.
 The median salary earner in Finland makes just over  3,100 euros a month , which with holiday bonuses adds up to around 37,500 euros a year. That gives a likely total debt limit of just under 170,000 euros.
 The working group did not, however, recommend increasing the collateral required by homebuyers. At present buyers must stump up collateral worth at least 15 percent of the home’s value, with first-time buyers allowed to buy with just five percent collateral.
 “Our proposal would not significantly tighten granting of housing loans in the current situation,” said  Leena Mörttinen , who chaired the working group.
 Housing company debt
 The working group did however propose a maximum loan term of 25 years on mortgage lending, and a limit on housing company debt equivalent to 60 percent of the value of new-build housing.
 A lot of housing in Finland is owned through housing companies, in which households hold shares corresponding to their own apartment or property.
 The company can borrow money for repairs and renovations, and that debt is then repaid by the shareholders. This debt has been in a grey area in terms of financial regulation, with construction firms offsetting high purchase prices by loading housing companies with debt before properties are sold and offering long repayment holidays which can mask the true cost of the apartment.
 That means  purchasers can now buy properties for 30 percent or less of the ‘real’ price , with the rest of the debt loaded on to the housing company and which banks and housing loan providers currently are not obliged to check.
 Investors have also utilised this funding structure, as housing company debt is much cheaper than business loans.
 "Good start"
 The measures were welcomed by mortgage lender Hypo’s economist,  Juhana Brotherus .
 “It’s a good start, but we can’t tell until the effects are visible,” said Brotherus. “It’s a good first step but this situation hasn’t existed before in Finland; previously housing company loans were normally paid off soon after construction.”
 “Now in some cities we can see upwards of 70 percent of the value of the home taken on in housing company debt and long interest-free periods which aren’t stated clearly so ordinary people don’t understand what they are getting into.”
 The measures would apply to all creditors, not just credit institutions regulated by the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (Fiva). Regulation of consumer creditors would also pass to Fiva.
 The government programme unveiled this summer already contains a plan for a positive credit register, which would allow lenders to check all the credit held in good standing by customers.
 At present they are only able to check defaults, and defaulting on a debt can have severe consequences for an individual in the housing and even employment markets.

Finance Ministry proposes 170k debt limit on average earners


Summary: At least one person has died and several injured in an attack at a college in Kuopio, eastern Finland.

Police say that at least one person has died and 10 - including the suspect - have been injured in a violent incident at Savo Vocational College, located in the premises of the Herman shopping centre in Kuopio.
 Police said they were alerted to the incident at 12:29pm and apprehended the suspect at 12:37. In the course of the incident they discharged firearms, seriously injuring the suspect.
 The man is suspected of attempted murder and several other violent crimes, according to the police.
 They say the suspect is a "native-born Finnish citizen" who used a bladed weapon of some kind but also had a firearm. One of those injured is a police officer, whose injuries are thought not to be serious.
 Kuopio University Hospital was told at around 2pm to prepare to deal with a major incident, while police have announced that they will hold a press conference at the central police station in Kuopio at 5pm.
 Hospital Medical Director  Heikki Miettinen  tells Yle the injured have suffered cuts. All are in stable condition and none of their injuries are considered life-threatening.
 According to an Yle correspondent in Kuopio, nine of the injured were taken to hospital by ambulance, while one sought medical attention independently.
 Condolences from president, PM
 The municipality of Kuopio has announced that crisis counselling has been arranged by the Red Cross at the scene for those affected.
 The local hospital has said that relatives concerned about their loved ones can call 017 172 000 for further information.
 As news of the incident spread through the country in the afternoon, Prime Minister  Antti Rinne   tweeted  to condemn the 'shocking' attack and expressed sympathy for the victims.
 President  Sauli Niinistö 's office also  tweeted  a message of condolence to the loved ones of the person who died and a speedy recovery to those who were injured.
 Education Minister  Li Andersson   expressed  her condolences for the victims, adding that children and young people have the right to study in peace, without fear of violence.
 This story is being updated

One dead, several injured in violent incident at Kuopio college


Summary: Parts of Finland may receive half the average monthly rainfall while coastal areas will be hit by strong winds.

An intense low pressure system that arrived in Finland early Tuesday morning will result in heavy rain and stormy conditions in coastal areas, meteorologists say.
 Central Finland and Ostrobothnia are expected to receive up to half of the average rainfall expected for the entire month of October. The rain will travel east from Ostrobothnia through Central Finland in the afternoon. These areas could experience rainfall of up to 20-40 millimetres by 9am Wednesday.
 "The average rainfall for October in these areas is approximately 50 to 70 millimetres, and they could receive half of that now," Yle meteorologist  Joonas Koskela  said.
 Päijät-Häme in southern Finland recorded more than 30 millimetres of rain in the morning. The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) has issued heavy rain warnings for central Finland, north Savo, north Karelia and south Ostrobothnia, and strong wind warnings for areas in southern and northern Finland.
 The stormy weather could result in trees being knocked down and might cause temporary electricity outages.
 Coastal areas already facing stormy conditions
 Coastal areas recorded high winds on Tuesday morning. The strongest winds were measured in southwest coastal areas, reaching more than 23.5 metres per second off Hanko, mainland Finland's southernmost point.
 Despite the strong winds and rain, Tuesday’s weather will probably not be officially classified as a storm, as the average wind speed is not expected to exceed 21 metres per second.
 The FMI has also issued a warning to seafarers about strong winds and moderate waves from Tuesday to Wednesday morning.
 Yet another warm September
 According to Koskela, Tuesday will be the rainiest day, with the heavy rain expected to recede tomorrow.
 "There is some inconsistency in tomorrow's forecast in terms of whether it will rain or not. It might rain in south and central Finland tomorrow, but in scattered showers. There will be a definite drop in the temperature over the weekend," he added.
 Also on Tuesday the FMI said that last month was the 11th consecutive September with average temperatures above the long-term mean. The month also includes the second-latest date ever recorded with temperatures above 25 degrees Celsius. That occurred in several areas on 10 September, with the highest reading of 26.2 degrees in Lappeenranta, eastern Finland.

Meteorologists issue heavy rain warnings for Tuesday and Wednesday


Summary: Some 4,500 troops and 50 aircraft from the two countries are taking part in the eight-day air operation.

More than 50 military planes and helicopters are flying over Finland – sometimes low over inhabited areas – over the next week as part of the Air Force's main annual exercise. The event is known as Ruska, referring to the colours of autumn foliage.
 The Finnish Defence Forces (FDF) warned the public that the exercise's low-level and supersonic flights may trigger audible sonic booms. Meanwhile countermeasures such as flares and chaff may show up as bright spots in the sky and echoes on weather radar.
 Gripens on display
 Flight operations began at noon on Tuesday and continue through the following Tuesday, 8 October. The heaviest phase of will be begin on Friday, with operations daily between 8 am and 10 pm for five days.
 Most of the operations centre around air bases in Tampere, Jyväskylä, Kuopio and Rovaniemi. Nearly half of the personnel taking part are reservists.
 Finnish aircraft taking part include Hornet and Hawk fighter jets, transport planes and an Army helicopter. Sweden is participating with a Canadian-built Argus reconnaissance aircraft and eight Saab JAS 39 Gripen fighters – which  Sweden hopes Finland will order  to replace its ageing fleet of US-made Hornets. Those in Finnish airspace this week are C/D models while those on offer to the FDF are the newer E models, which were first tested in 2017.
 Two years ago, US President  Donald Trump   caused a stir  by erroneously announcing that Finland was buying "a large number" of new Hornet fighter jets.
 Reds vs Blues
 The FDF is tight-lipped about the scenario involved in the war games. According to Helsingin Sanomat, participants are divided into defending forces known as "the Blues" and attackers dubbed "the Reds". The latter are based in the northern cities of Rovaniemi and Oulu as well as Luleå on the coast of Swedish Lapland.
 The FDF says that Swedish planes "will fly in both the defending and the adversary units of the exercise," and be based in Luleå and Kuopio.
 The Finnish and Swedish air forces have regularly taken part in each other's exercises since 2016.
 Unlike neighbouring countries such as Norway, Denmark and Estonia, the two countries are not Nato members. However Finland and Sweden both hold 'enhanced membership' in Nato's Partnership for Peace programme, and frequently take part in Nato-led exercises and operations.
 The exercise starts as  news broke  that the headquarters of Sweden's navy had returned to a vast underground base used during the Cold War, with the Swedish military citing a 'deteriorating external environment' as grounds for the decision.

Air Force warns of flares, sonic booms during joint Finnish-Swedish exercise


Summary: Train drivers in the Helsinki region are on strike from 3am until 9pm on Monday.

Commuters in Helsinki face a complicated Monday morning commute after the local train drivers’ union announced members would not turn up for work on 7 October.
 The union says managers at VR, the state railway monopoly, are not respecting existing agreements and infringing on drivers’ free time.
 The dispute centres on the mechanism by which drivers rostered as substitutes discover the times of shifts they’re asked to fill. VR has up to now called or informed by SMS of the exact location and timing drivers on those shifts should turn up, but in future they will be notified via an app.
 The union says workers on their days off, annual leave or sick leave have to use company systems on their days off without compensation, and that is in breach of the current agreements governing the sector.
 The drivers’ representatives say this should be counted as working time, and they should receive compensation for it.
 In a press release, employers’ umbrella organisation Palta claims that Monday’s industrial action is illegal. According to Palta, there is a mechanism to resolve differences of opinion on collective agreements, and the matter is still under consideration.
 The strike is expected to cause delays and congestion on the roads on Monday as large numbers of commuters commuters look for alternatives or stay at home.
 In 2017 HSL  reported  that some 20,000 people every morning were estimated to use Helsinki commuter trains to reach the city centre during the morning rush hour.

Local train strike hits Monday morning commuters in Helsinki


Summary: Hospital and police officials have revealed more details about Tuesday's fatal school attack in eastern Finland.

Police in the eastern city of Kuopio say that the man suspected of a  fatal attack on Tuesday  is a "native Finnish citizen" born in 1994. He was registered as a student at Savo Vocational College, where the incident took place shortly after noon. The suspect has no previous criminal record but now faces a wide range of charges.
 One woman died in the attack. Ten people were injured, two of them seriously – including the suspect, who was shot by police. One of those hurt was a police officer, whose injuries were described as light. The other victims were students and staff of the school. None of their injuries were considered life-threatening.
 Most victims female
 The Chief Medical Officer of Kuopio University Hospital,  Antti Hedman , says that the injured are aged 15-50 and are mostly women. Two had already been released by Tuesday evening.
 Story continues after photo
 Kuopio University Hospital Timo Hartikainen / AOP
 At a press conference on Tuesday evening, police said they had yet not been able to interview the suspect because he was in intensive care. So far the motive for the assault remains unclear. So far authorities do not know of any accomplices.
 Law enforcement and hospital officials say the victims suffered cuts and slash wounds from a sabre-like weapon. The man was also carrying a gun, but police said they did not know whether he fired it. There was likewise no information yet as to whether he had licence for gun or was intoxicated.
 Officers fired two shots when apprehending him. A routine investigation of the police use of deadly force has been launched separately.
 'Molotov cocktails' found at suspect's home
 The suspect also started a small fire at the scene, which was quickly extinguished.
 Police say they found "carefully constructed" Molotov cocktail-like incendiary devices at his flat in the city's Särkiniemi neighbourhood. They also removed electronic devices for analysis.
 The school is located in a commercial complex about two kilometres from the city centre.
 According to  Heikki Helve , director of the Savo Consortium for Education, more than 300 students were on the premises at the time of the assault. Most were aged 16-19, but some were older adult students. Some 30 staff members were on hand. According to eyewitnesses, a female staff member was slashed on her hand.
 At the press conference, police noted that Finland's school safety and evacuation guidelines were updated after a 2008 shooting at a vocational school in Kauhajoki, western Finland.  That incident  left 11 people dead including the assailant.
 The case was been turned over to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which will be responsible for releasing further information about it.

Police: Sabre-wielding Kuopio suspect a Finnish student with no criminal record


Summary: Free electronic visas can now be used to travel to the Saint Petersburg region, but not if you cross the border on a train.

Citizens of Finland and certain other countries can now travel to the Saint Petersburg region using a free electronic visa, avoiding costly bureaucracy and easing entry to Russia.
 The visas are valid for a period of 30 days from the date of issue, with trips of up to eight days permitted.
 The visas only allow travel within Saint Petersburg and the surrounding region, not the Republic of Karelia bordering Finland further north.
 The new rules came into force on 1 October, but they only apply to border posts located on roads, at sea ports or airports.
 That excludes travellers on the high-speed Allegro service linking Helsinki and Saint Petersburg. On the other hand it makes life considerably easier for those looking to cross the border by car, ferry or plane.
 The e-visas are available to citizens of 53 countries via a Russian Foreign Ministry  website .
 Russia has high hopes for the new e-visas, with plans afoot for a new passenger rail connection between Imatra and Saint Petersburg to be used mainly by travellers holding the digital document.

From 1 October free e-visas can be used to reach Saint Petersburg - but not on the train


Summary: Interior Minister Maria Ohisalo told Yle that Finland remains one of the safest countries in the world.

Finland’s Interior Minister  Maria Ohisalo  once again condemned the  attack on Tuesday  that left one person dead and nine others injured at Savo Vocational College in Kuopio, eastern Finland.
 Speaking on Wednesday morning, Ohisalo maintained that the authorities had done a sound job in a terrible situation, but that they should ensure information flows between different agencies function well and that their emergency procedures are up to the task.
 “This shouldn’t happen in this society, or anywhere,” said Ohisalo. “There should be zero tolerance for violence.”
 Despite the  violence in Savo , Ohisalo reiterated that such acts are rare in Finland.
 “We have many tasks in this, although we also emphasise that Finland is still one of the safest countries in the world,” added the Green Party chair. “Schools’ readiness plans should be up-to-date so that schools and educational institutions know how to react in these situations.”
 Police confirmed the identity of the suspect to Yle, who remains in hospital with serious injuries sustained when he was detained.
 Joel Otto Aukusti Marin  was born in 1994 and targeted mainly women aged between 15 and 50. He is from Siilinjärvi, 20km from Kuopio, and graduated from high school there in 2014. In 2015 he moved to student housing in Kuopio.
 Speaking on Wednesday, Ohisalo expressed the view that social exclusion must be tackled.
 “And we also have to ensure that nobody in this society can be excluded to such an extent that they feel like this kind of cowardly act is their last resort,” said the minister.
 Kuopio University Hospital said on Wednesday morning that four people remained in hospital with light injuries, while a further two were in intensive care. Four more had already been allowed to return home.

Ohisalo: Finland still one of the safest countries in the world


Summary: Finland's press concentrates on filling in some of the gaps in the sabre attack that left one dead and 10 injured.

Finland's papers continue coverage of a  fatal attack  that took place Tuesday in the central city of Kuopio, in which one woman was killed and nine others injured by a  man carrying a sabre-like weapon . The assailant was also injured when he was detained by police.
 Kuopio paper Savon Sanomat  reports  that the attack was the first time in Finnish history that rescue services were alerted to respond to a "mass shooting", as emergency services only adopted the new response category this year. Police were alerted at 12:29, and by 12:37 they had apprehended the suspect.
 The nation's most widely-read daily Helsingin Sanomat reports  more details on the suspected attacker : 25-year-old  Joel Otto Aukusti Marin  moved to Kuopio from the municipality of Siilinjärvi in 2015 and studied in the same medical sciences vocational school programme with the deceased woman. The paper spoke with his student flat neighbours, who described him as quiet and introverted. One noted that police discovery of Molotov cocktails in the suspect's room could be linked to two local cases of arson in the area, as two nearby homes were burned to the ground recently.
 HS also reports on  comments from the Interior Minister   Maria Ohisalo,  who said the violent episode was "very rare in Finland, one of the world's safest societies". Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, the minister said she could not discuss the details of the attack.
 "But I can take a position on what we politicians can do. There's been a lot of talk about increasing the number of police, and we made a decision on this in the budget. We also want to invest more resources in preventive work," she said.
 Six unanswered questions
 The tabloid Iltalehti outlines  six unanswered questions  surrounding the incident. What was the attacker's motive, it asks. A National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) detective tells IL that social and mental problems are typically behind these kinds of incidents, but says he cannot comment on this case specifically.
 IL then asks about the relationship between the attacker and the deceased woman, also noting that most of the people wounded in the attack were female. It is still not certain whether the victims were targeted specifically or if they were randomly chosen. The NBI says the incident is being investigated as a murder case, but the suggestion that it was a premeditated attack is supported by the discovery of petrol bombs in the suspect's flat.
 It is also still unclear whether the suspect was carrying a gun and whether he used it. At one point, the police said the assailant was carrying a firearm but did not use it, but no mention was made of the firearm in the Tuesday press conference. The police said things would be made clear in the criminal investigation.
 IL wonders whether any substance abuse was associated with the attack, and if the assailant planned a murder-suicide attack but was foiled when he was seriously wounded by the police. The tabloid says this would explain the unused gun that police had reported earlier.
 Niinistö meets with Trump
 In other news, the tabloid Ilta-Sanomat  informs  readers that Finnish President  Sauli Niinistö  will be meeting with US President  Donald Trump  on Wednesday in Washington. The leaders are to hold a press conference that will be streamed beginning just before 9pm Finnish time on  Yle Areena .
 Niinistö's visit includes a working lunch with Trump that will include agenda items such as US-Finnish relations, European and Arctic security, and commercial and technological cooperation.
 Editors of Savon Sanomat  suspect  that the Ukraine scandal may be drawn into the meeting in some way, but doubt that the issue will overshadow the proceedings. It quotes the Finnish President,  speaking from the UN Climate Meeting  last week:
 "I'm not frightened of anything. It is up to the US reporters. I think they will be interested in the subject, but it doesn't bother me," he said.

Wednesday's papers: Kuopio attack details, Niinistö meets with Trump


Summary: Top management of the state-owned  postal carrier faced a backlash earlier this year for excessive spending.

Heikki Malinen  has announced his resignation as the CEO of Posti Group Corporation, the company reported on Tuesday. Malinen served as the chief executive of the state-owned postal firm since 2012.
 "I feel this is the right moment to say thank you and make space for a new person at the helm of the company," Malinen said in a statement.
 Turkka Kuusisto , currently the SVP of Parcel and eCommerce, has been appointed as the interim President and CEO, as of 1 October. The company is currently in the process of recruiting a new CEO.
 "I am sorry to learn about Malinen’s personal decision. The Board’s view is that Posti has been a well-run company during Heikki’s term and has developed in the right direction,"  Markku Pohjola , Chairman of Board of Directors of Posti Group Corporation said in the release.
 Posti reported that Malinen will not receive additional severance pay, but will be paid his salary for the six months notice period, as required by his employment contract.
 Under fire for ‘excessive’ pay
 In early September, Government minister  Sirpa Paatero  had  lashed out at exorbitant salaries  and bonuses paid to top management of the national mail carrier. It had become known that Malinen was drawing an annual salary close to a million euros — amounting to a monthly pay packet of about 82,500 euros.
 Meanwhile, postal workers who earn an average of 2,000 euros per month were facing 30-50 percent pay cuts as part of the management’s plan to shift to a new pay structure.
 Following public outrage, Malinen said he was willing to  waive two months' pay  this year — which Posti has now confirmed will be reduced from his stipulated notice period remuneration. The company was also forced to  delay plans  to shift employees to a lower pay scale.
 Minister Paatero, who is in charge of overseeing state-owned companies, had also questioned Posti management for spending lavishly on  expensive golf club memberships  while simultaneously entering co-determination negotiations to cut jobs.

Posti boss Heikki Malinen steps down


Summary: Finland says foreign labour will help salvage the economy, but does the country really serve international families?

Children's education is a top priority for families contemplating an international move. As the school year gets underway, our podcast  All Points North  will on Thursday ask how well the system caters to international families, particularly in regard to English-language education.
 Prime Minister  Antti Rinne 's government has set a target of increasing the employment rate to 75 percent during its term in office. To reach this goal the state is introducing initiatives aimed at increasing work-related immigration, meaning many new international families could potentially be settling down in Finland.
 Finland offers a range of bilingual primary and secondary programmes, including in English, French, Russian and German as well as native language upkeep classes outside the school day.
 But parents told Yle News that the reality on the ground is complicated. Families we spoke to raised concerns ranging from intense competition for places in English-language programmes to problems arising from native upkeep classes only offered after the school day and far from a child’s regular school.
 “I know there is more demand than can be met by our schools,”  Anu Halvari , a counsellor of education at the Finnish National Agency for Education, told Yle News.
 Fresh figures from the city of Helsinki meanwhile show that foreigners account for two-thirds of the city’s population growth, a trend that looks likely to continue.
 "Demand higher than supply"
 “There is very limited access to English-language education in Finland. Demand is higher than supply,” a parent who wished to remain anonymous, told Yle News.
 Halvari from the National Agency for Education said the body does not collect information on acceptance rates for different programmes as individual schools manage their own intake.
 “It’s not just international families who want their children to receive their education in English, it's a growing number of Finnish families too. But instead of increasing the number of spots, administrators are focusing on making the test more challenging, which has in turn weeded out native speakers,” the parent, whose British child is in the Finnish-language system, explained.
 Multicultural heritage
 Nationwide, the Finnish education system provides native language upkeep classes in 56 different languages, with more than 18,000 pupils attending, the most recent figures from autumn 2017 show.
 Russian-speakers made up the largest mother tongue lesson group (5,193 participants), followed by Somali (2,321), Arabic (2,198), Estonian (1,348), Albanian (949), English (782) and Chinese (586). These classes usually gather for 90 minutes every week before or after the school day.
 While many parents told Yle News they appreciate these free opportunities for their children to hold on to their linguistic heritage, many criticised the system as too loose, with no set curriculum, and mixed-age groups impeding learning.
 English, please
 This week the city of Helsinki unveiled a plan for developing English-language services in the city, including in the field of education. The report notes that English is the fifth most-spoken language in the capital, and nearly 16 percent of residents speak a foreign language (other than Finnish or Swedish) as their mother tongue.
 Helsinki has acknowledged that it needs to better serve its growing multicultural population. This includes catering to globally mobile families who do not plan to stay in Finland for extended periods and for whose children an English-language education makes the most sense, also beyond comprehensive school.
 An initial step is Finland allowing students to pass the high school matriculation exam in English--a point Helsinki says it plans to lobby the government on.
 What’s your take? How well do you think the Finnish education system supports international families?
 Anu Halvari from the Finnish National Agency for Education and British father in Finland Steve El-Sharawy join us for this week’s All Points North podcast on Thursday. You can send comments or questions via WhatsApp on +358 44 421 0909, on our Facebook or Twitter accounts, or at yle.news@yle.fi.

APN this week: Can Finland meet the growing demand for English-language education?


Summary: English speakers constitute the fifth-largest foreign language group in the capital.

Helsinki city council says it wants to make life easier for residents and businesses who want services in English. On Wednesday it announced its plan to develop its English-language services, a move the city hopes will help it stay attractive to skilled international talent and remain competitive.
 The capital follows Espoo, which in 2017 announced  plans to step up services in English , in moving to make life easier for international residents.
 At present English speakers constitute the fifth-largest foreign language group in the city, according to Helsinki's figures. The municipality says it also hopes to make life easier for language and culture minorities in the city.
 In the document published on Wednesday Helsinki vows to make its English-language communications more efficient and user-friendly, offer better education opportunities in English and provide more official documentation in English, among other proposed measures.
 Quarter of Helsinki to be foreigners by 2035
 The city's development agenda says that there are more than 6,700 English speakers residing in Helsinki at present, making English the fifth most spoken foreign language in the city.
 English speakers make up 6.6 percent of Helsinki's foreign language-speaking population, who in turn represent 15.7 percent of all Helsinki residents.
 The city estimates that Helsinki's foreign-language population will grow by almost 100,000 people by 2035, which would bring the share of this demographic to 25 percent of the total.
 Language training for staff
 Helsinki says it will work to improve English skills among its staff, and do better at providing information in English about early years education and schools.
 Helsinki also vows to streamline student admissions to English and bilingual training, and says it will continue lobbying the government to make matriculation exams available in English.
 Helsinki says free English-language counselling for people looking for work will also continue to be offered without appointments at the city's  Employment Corner . The full report is available online at the municipality's  website .

Helsinki vows to improve services in English


Summary: The joint news conference is Trump's first since Democrats ramped up an impeachment investigation.

Finnish President  Sauli Niinistö  again meets his US counterpart  Donald Trump  at the White House on Wednesday.
 Ahead of the meeting and joint press conference, press attention focused more on Ukraine than Finland.
 Before meeting Niinistö, Trump had not taken part in a press conference for more than a week, during which time Democrats in the House of Representatives have ramped up impeachment proceedings focusing on interactions between Trump and his associates and Ukrainian officials including President  Volodymyr Zelensky .
 The Finnish and US presidents have both met recently with Zelensky.
 On the sidelines of the  UN Climate Action Summit  in New York last week, Niinistö was asked if he was worried that the Ukraine issue would overshadow his meeting and news conference with Trump.
 "I'm not frightened of anything. It is up the US reporters. I think they will be interested in the subject, but it doesn't bother me," he replied.
 According to Niinistö's office, the presidents were to talk about "opportunities to increase cooperation between Finland and the United States, including European and Arctic security" as well as ways "to advance shared interests in commercial and technological cooperation".
 Trump may try to sell fighter jets
 Security expert  Hans Binnendijk  tells Yle that the Trump administration is particularly interested in Finland's views and know-how in issues related to Russia and the Baltics as well as countering hybrid threats.
 Story continues after photo
 Hans Binnendijk, Distinguished Fellow at the Atlantic Council Nina Svahn
 Binnendijk is a former defence policy assistant to President Bill Clinton and now a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank focusing on ties between North America and Europe. He spoke to Yle in Washington after a recent visit to Finland hosted by the Finnish Defence Ministry.
 He says that the US hopes for closer defence cooperation even though Finland is not a Nato member.
 Binnendijk notes that Finland and Sweden signed a three-way pact on defence cooperation last year, adding that the two Nordic countries are "in many ways better allies than some of our official allies".
 He says he would not be surprised if Trump urges Finland to order new Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet or Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets to replace its ageing fleet of F/A-18 Hornets.
 Flurry of recent meetings
 When Niinistö and Trump previously met at the White House in August 2017, the US president falsely stated that Finland had already decided to order more Hornets, triggering a  rare correction  from Niinistö's office.
 Story continues after photo
 Niinistö and Trump in August 2017 Antti Aimo-Koivisto / Lehtikuva
 The two met again in Helsinki in July 2018 when the US president met with Russia's Vladimir Putin.
 This year,  Niinistö met with Putin  for the second time this year in late August in Helsinki, followed by mid-September talks  with Zelensky in Kiev . Trump briefly met both Niinistö and Zelensky last week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly's opening events.
 Niinistö, who is on an official working visit to the US laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday.
 On Wednesday, Trump is scheduled to welcome him at the White House's South Portico at noon local time, proceeding directly to an Oval Office meeting and a working lunch to begin around 12:45.
 At 2pm local time (9 pm Finnish time), the two leaders are to hold a joint press conference in the East Room or the Rose Garden – where temperatures are predicted to rise to around 35 degrees Celsius.
 Yle Areena will  livestream the event  beginning around 8:50pm Finnish time.

Niinistö meets Trump at White House


Summary: The new unit will monitor the city's increasing number of electric scooters, bicycles and electric bikes for violations.

Electric motorcycles, scooters and mopeds

This month police throughout Finland are stepping up surveillance of cyclists, issuing warnings or fines of up to 40 euros to those without proper lights and reflectors as the dark time of year gets underway.
 Helsinki Police Department is going one step further, setting up a new unit to intensify the monitoring of 'light traffic' starting this month, amid a rapid rise in the number of electric scooters, bicycles and electric bikes on the streets of the capital.
 The new control unit will consist of five police officers.
 "The objective is to improve the safety of 'light traffic' and to reduce accidents," Superintendent  Jarkko Lehtinen  of the Helsinki Police Department said in a statement.
 To this end, thousands of reflectors and bicycle-or chest-mounted lamps have been ordered to be distributed to citizens as the darkest season approaches, according to officials.
 The unit is currently figuring out its own transport method for monitoring bike traffic.
 "We are starting out with bicycles in the autumn, but we are considering the introduction of electronic vehicles for the group," Lehtinen said.
 This week, unit members will receive training in bicycle policing and 'light traffic' control and the actual monitoring will begin early next week, officials said.
 Electric scooter injuries on the rise
 According to police statistics, there have been three fewer deaths and 25 fewer injuries this year compared to the average for the last five years. However, compared to 2018, the number of injured has increased.
 “For example, electric scooter users in Helsinki are regularly hospitalised, with some accidents even leading to major injuries. However, police statistics reflect only a fraction of traffic injuries, as not all incidents are brought to our attention. There is no statistical information on the number of incidents,” Lehtinen said.
 Police said that when it comes to newer electronic vehicles, not many are following the rules.
 "For example, there is a lack of a safety culture among electric scooter users when it comes to wearing helmets, choosing the right lanes or travelling at the right speeds. While electric vehicles are the future of emission-free transport, this must not come at the expense of traffic rules or safety. We’ve observed and received feedback that people are riding scooters on the sidewalk at a very high speed. Not only is it forbidden, it is also a big risk to the riders and everyone else on the street." Lehtinen added.

Helsinki police set up 'bike cop' unit


Summary: After many setbacks, the Finnish-Russian project stills hopes to obtain a construction permit in 2021.

The Fennovoima consortium, which plans to build Finland's sixth nuclear reactor in Pyhäjoki, northern Finland, has chosen its last main supplier. On Wednesday the firm said it has agreed with the French-German consortium Framatome-Siemens to supply the plant’s main automation, considered the 'brains' of a power plant. It replaces Rolls Royce, which was chosen for the role in 2016 but suddenly withdrew from the beleaguered project last autumn.
 Siemens is one of the main suppliers for the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor under construction in Eurajoki, some 450 km south along the west coast from Hanhikivi.
 That project is a decade behind schedule, and is now expected to begin generating electricity next summer. Meanwhile its price estimate has nearly tripled from its original 3.2 billion euros.
 "Important milestone"
 Framatome-Siemens are to supply the main instrumentation and control systems for the proposed Fennovoima plant, known as Hanhikivi 1.
 Framatome-Siemens reached the automation deal with the main building contractor Titan-2, founded by former Russian Deputy Defence Minister  Grigory Naginsky .
 Framatome is to supply the safety automation systems while Siemens has been named as the operational I&C systems supplier.
 "[This] I&C contract is an important milestone for the entire Hanhikivi-1 project," Fennovoima Project Director  Jouni Takakarhu  said in a statement.
 "Framatome-Siemens has experience in both Finnish safety requirements and Russian VVER [water-water energetic reactor] technology. Now when all the major suppliers have been selected, the design and licensing work can proceed according to our schedule," he added.
 Deal signed at Moscow energy conference
 According to Fennovoima COO  Timo Okkonen , the company's goal is still to get a construction license in 2021.
 "Before that the preliminary safety analysis report must be completed and submitted to [the] Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK). As the related basic design work progresses, we are also preparing for the construction stage. There is still a lot of work to be done to meet the Finnish requirements in preparing the entire supply chain for the construction start,” he says.
 STUK has repeatedly warned Fennovoima about its concerns over missing documentation, delays and  the company's safety culture .
 Titan-2 and Framatome-Siemens signed the agreement at the ongoing Russian Energy Week in Moscow.
 Founded in 2007, Fennovoima is 34 percent owned by a subsidiary of Russian state nuclear company Rosatom. The firm, which has so far supplied plants in Russia, Eastern Europe and developing countries, says it hopes that a successful project in Finland would open doors for it in Western markets.

New supplier for Fennovoima nuke after Rolls-Royce pullout


Summary: Finland’s papers are dominated on Thursday by President Sauli Niinistö’s extraordinary meeting with his US counterpart Donald Trump.

Threats to schools
 In the wake of the  Kuopio tragedy , Helsingin Sanomat  takes a look at threats to schools , which occur more often than you might think in Finland.
 In the years 2007-2009, 77 people were referred to psychiatric care after threatening violence at a school. In 2010 that number dropped to just nine, although HS does not give more recent numbers.
 The typical threat comes from a young man, often with a mental health issue, according to HS. Around 40 percent of those who receive psychiatric care after making a threat had experienced bullying in school, and a third had been customers of child protection services.
 There are common threads among those who have actually perpetrated attacks. They include an interest in firearms, mental health issues, a long history of bullying in school and difficulty in resolving conflicts.
 However  Henri Rikander , a safety and security consultant interviewed by HS, says that it’s impossible to build a profile of possible attackers.
 Those planning attacks, however, may give warning signs in the lead-up. Rikander cites research suggesting that in 90 percent of cases researched in the US, an adult was concerned about the attacker’s behaviour in the lead-up to the attack.
 Posti departure ramifications
 The news on Wednesday that Posti CEO  Heikki Malinen  would  resign from his post  would have received considerably more attention had it occurred at a different time.
 As it was, the sword attack in Kuopio and Niinistö’s visit to Washington overshadowed Malinen’s departure, but business daily Kauppalehti does devote  some space  to it on Thursday.
 Malinen departed after controversies over his  generous compensation package  combined with a plan to  slash pay for workers in sorting officers , which were slammed by unions and politicians, and also in the media.
 KL is concerned that Malinen’s treatment in the media and by politicians might deter other qualified individuals from applying to lead state-owned firms.
 Editor  Arno Ahosniemi  says in a comment piece that this is already happening, as head hunters are finding it tough to persuade candidates to take on state-owned firms.
 Ahosniemi links Malinen’s fate to previous instances of political pressure on the leadership of state-owned firms, suggesting that this political impulse to act is reducing the likelihood of good candidates taking on big jobs--and damaging the interests of taxpayers.

Thursday’s papers: Niinistö gets the plaudits after Trump show in White House


Summary: Yle’s poll suggests that one in five voters in Finland would vote for the Finns Party.

The Finns Party stretched its lead in the October edition of Yle’s monthly tracking poll, with just over 20 percent of voters saying they’d back the party.
 The party came within 8,000 votes of being the biggest party in parliament after  April’s election . If they had done so they would have had the right to try and form a government.
 Soon after the election polling figures turned and the party overtook the SDP.
 Prime Minister  Antti Rinne ’s SDP, meanwhile, recorded its lowest result since the summer of 2017, coming third behind the National Coalition (NCP).
 The 15.6 percent support recorded this month isn’t as low as that polled in 2015, when the Social Democrats dipped below 15 percent.
 The Centre Party seems to have recorded a slight boost in support after the election of  Katri Kulmuni  as chair, with polling figures up 1.2 percentage points on last month.
 All changes in polling were within the margin of error.
 Taloustutkimus performed the research for Yle, interviewing some 2,446 people between 9 September and 1 October. The margin of error is 2.0 percentage points.

Yle poll: Finns Party stretches lead


Summary: Sebastian Tynkkynen is in court for a second time on charges of agitation against an ethnic group via social media posts.

The trial of Finns Party MP  Sebastian Tynkkynen  began on Thursday in the Oulu District Court. A lawmaker from the northwest municipality where the proceedings are being held, Tynkkynen is suspected of agitation against an ethnic group in a 2016 Facebook post on Islam and terrorism.
 Representing himself in the proceedings, Tynkkynen denied having committed a crime and said that the trial was politically-motivated.
 The prosecutor in the case maintained that Tynkkynen must have known that his Facebook update was racist in nature and constituted defamatory hate speech generally directed at Muslims. The prosecution called for the court to impose a 60-day fine for the offence.
 The  unofficial English translation  of Finland's Criminal Code in this area makes it illegal for a person to "make available to the public or otherwise spread among the public or keep available for the public information, an expression of opinion or another message where a certain group is threatened, defamed or insulted on the basis of its race, skin colour, birth status, national or ethnic origin, religion or belief, sexual orientation or disability or a comparable basis."
 Possibility of third trial looms
 In his response to the district court, Tynkkynen compared the case to previous trials of two other prominent members of the nationalist Finns Party, MP  Teuvo Hakkarainen  and current chair  Jussi Halla-aho . Both men were convicted on charges of ethnic agitation,  Hakkarainen  in 2017 and  Halla-aho  in 2012.
 Some thirty or so people turned out to follow Tykkynen’s trial in Oulu, including some of his supporters and members of the media, prompting officials to move the proceedings to a larger space.
 Tynkkynen was  already convicted  once in court in 2017 for Facebook comments he posted in 2016. At the time he was found guilty of ethnic agitation and the separate crime of breaching the sanctity of religion.
 A third case is also pending, concerning Facebook posts Tynkkynen wrote in 2017, which have also placed him under suspicion of inciting ethnic agitation. Oulu police have referred that case to the district prosecutor for consideration of charges.

Finns Party MP stands trial for ethnic agitation


Summary: Finland's Natural Resources Institute says forest industry products accounted for 21 percent of annual exports in 2018.

Finland imported 11.57 million cubic metres of wood in 2018, a 33 percent increase on the previous year, Finland's Natural Resources Institute (Luke) reported on Thursday.
 Russia accounted for the majority of imported wood at 71 percent, although this represented a decrease from 2017, when 85 percent of imported wood came to Finland from its eastern neighbour.
 Sixty-three percent of total wood imports was pulp wood, and the next largest group was wood chips, at 27 percent of the total.
 "The remaining 10 percent was logs, wood for fuel, preserved wood and wood residues. Pulpwood imports increased by 50 percent and chip imports were up by 16 percent on 2017. The value of wood imports to Finland was half a billion euros”, Luke senior statistician  Eeva Vaahtera  said in a bulletin.
 13 billion in forest product exports
 Finland exported 2.1 million cubic metres of wood in 2018, 48 percent more than the year before. Sweden was the recipient of 72 percent of it, followed by Germany (6 percent) and Poland (5 percent).
 The value of exported pulp and paper industry products in 2018 was 10.3 billion euros, an increase of 8 percent on the previous year in real terms.
 The total for all exported forest product exports was 13.2 billion euros, representing 21 percent of Finland's total exports. Germany, China and the UK were Finland's key trading partners in this area.
 Paper made up one-third of the value of exported forest industry products, followed by paperboard (22 percent) and pulp (20 percent). The increase in exported pulp represented a 28 percent rise from 2017 levels, while paper and paperboard exports were up by just 3 percent.
 The data on the forest industries' international trade was supplied by Finnish Customs.

Wood imports up by a third, exports increase in value


Summary: An attack by a young man wielding a sword-like weapon on Tuesday claimed the life of one woman and injured nine others.

Flags flew at half-mast in Finland on Thursday in memory of a woman who was killed during an attack at a vocational college in Kuopio, eastern Finland on Tuesday.
 The assailant, identified as 25-year-old  Joel Otto Aukusti Marin,  injured nine others with the sabre-like weapon and also sustained injuries when police detained him after responding to an emergency alert at the institution.
 Police said on Thursday that they had been able to question the suspect about the incident on Wednesday but could not say what motivated the attack.
 "The suspect spoke about the course of events on Tuesday, but for investigative reasons the contents of the questioning cannot be disclosed. The suspect will be questioned several times again," said lead investigator Detective Inspector  Olli Töyräs  of the National Bureau of Investigation.
 Remand hearing on Friday
 Yle reported on Thursday that the woman who was killed during the attack was a Ukrainian citizen, but police did not confirm this information, noting that they were still working with other authorities to confirm her identity.
 Police are considering charges on one count of murder as well as several additional counts of attempted murder in the case. A remand hearing is due to take place in the Kuopio district court on Friday.
 Meanwhile on Thursday, the suspect, who is in an intensive care unit in hospital participated in a preliminary hearing ahead of the remand sitting via a video link.
 Kuopio paper Savon Sanomat  reported on Wednesday  that the attack was the first time in Finnish history that rescue services were alerted to respond to a "mass shooting", as emergency services only adopted the new response category this year. Police were alerted at 12:29, and by 12:37 they had apprehended the suspect.

Flags fly at half-mast for victim of eastern Finland attack


Summary: This week our APN podcast explores what could be done to better serve families who want an English-language education.

Steve El-Sharawy , a British father in Finland, said there is a huge demand for English language schooling not just among native English speakers, but from Finnish speakers, too, as well as from a growing number of multicultural families who speak English at home.
 A limited number of spots in English-language schools can make competition fierce, raising issues regarding the fairness of the entrance exam system, which assesses kids' English-language skills.
 This week's All Points North explores how the  Finnish school system accommodates multicultural, multilingual families , particularly in terms of English-language education, which is highly sought-after in Finland.
 Falling through the cracks
 "Some foreign kids end up in the Finnish system against their will, with the kids just knowing a few words. This can cause the kids to tune out and zone out," El-Sharawy said.
 Meanwhile, speaking on condition of anonymity, one teacher in the Finnish public education system told Yle News that Finland doesn't just need more English-language schools — it also needs more specialised training for Finnish educators working in English.
 "My son who's a native English speaker has to sit in beginners' English. He could be doing something more constructive with his time instead of studying colours," El-Sharawy explained.
 Touching on the topic of school shopping by parents,  Anu Halvari  from the Finnish National Agency for Education said local schools in areas with a perceived poor reputation are "Finland's best kept secret," with parents probably avoiding them because of "prejudice."
 Join the conversation
 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 accounts, 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  Egan Richardson . Our producer was  Priya Ramachandran D’souza  and our audio engineer was  Pekka Nisu.

All Points North #62: How English-ready is the Finnish school system?


Summary: Manslaughter where the victim is a woman and the suspect is a current or ex-partner is the second-most common type of homicide.

Finland still has work to do when it comes to safeguarding the rights of women and girls, according to the National Council of Women in Finland, an umbrella organisation representing 40 gender equality NGOs.
 In  a report published on Thursday  (in Finnish), the council found a number of areas in which Finland needs to improve human rights for women and girls, including violence against women, poverty, racism and precarious labour contracts, among others.
 The report marks the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which sought to promote women's rights and empowerment.
 "The NGO report clearly shows that gender equality has not been achieved, even in Finland. On the contrary there is still more work to be done to achieve gender equality than many would believe. These problems cannot be resolved without women, but neither will they be resolved without functional and ambitious gender equality policies," organisation chair  Eva Biaude t said in a statement.
 Nearly half of women suffer sexual, physical violence
 The report found that up to 47 percent of women and girls above the age of 15 said  they had experienced physical or sexual violence . One in three said their aggressors had been a current or former partner.
 Moreover, violence against women was said to be recurring, with one in five shelter residents above the age of 15 reporting experiencing violence for several years.
 In Finland, the second-most common homicide overall is manslaughter in which the victim is a woman and the suspect a current or former partner.
 Migrant women face racism, harassment
 Women who have settled in Finland from abroad experience many kinds of discrimination. A European Union report on minorities and discrimination found that  Finland is one of the most racist countries of the Europe an countries included in the study.
 Nearly half of African background women reported experiencing discrimination during the past five years, that study found -- most often at the hands of strangers. They were often subjected to name-calling or other forms of verbal abuse.
 Women also experienced discrimination in dealing with the authorities. For example, immigrant-background women are often automatically advised to enter the healthcare profession without recognition of their desires or abilities.
 High risk of poverty among elderly women
 Women over the age of 75 who live alone are at the greatest risk of poverty, the report found. In 2016 one in four elderly women belonged to low income groups. The risk of poverty is especially high among older women living alone, since low-wage jobs and career breaks mean they have smaller pensions. Women tend to experience career disruptions when they stay at home to care for young children.
 Nearly 70 percent of over-65-year-olds living exclusively on basic benefits are women. In practice this means that they only receive a guarantee pension of 784 euros monthly, paid to persons whose pre-tax pension income is otherwise less than 777.84 euros per month.
 Persons trying to make ends meet on a small pension often can't afford to seek medical help and therefore grapple with multiple health problems.
 Fixed-term work and zero-hours contracts
 Women still outnumber men when it comes to part-time and fixed term work, often against their will. In 2017, one-fifth of women worked part-time, compared to one-tenth of their male peers.
 People with fixed-term contracts generally earn less that full-time permanent employees. According to the report, employees in women-dominated fields usually have less information than others about their upcoming work shifts. From a gender equality perspective, fragmented work makes it more difficult to coordinate work and family life, the organisation noted.
 Cancer screening bypasses elderly women
 Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer afflicting women and in Finland a large number have reached the age where they are at risk of developing the disease.
 Although Finland screens for breast cancer, the procedure still only targets women between the ages of 50 and 69. The report noted that women up to the age of 74 should also be eligible for mammograms.
 At the same time, more than half of breast cancer cases are identified outside of the screening process and breast self-examinations have fallen off over the past 25 years.
 The report found that guidance on breast self-exams provided to patients depend largely on where they live and which medical professional they visit.
 EDIT: This story originally translated 'henkirikos' as 'crime'. The correct translation is actually 'homicide'. The corrected sentence now reads "In Finland, the second-most common homicide overall is manslaughter in which the victim is a woman and the suspect a current or former partner".

Report: Women and girls in Finland still face violence, poverty, harassment


Summary: Reports of teens being stripped naked, isolated and forced to eat in silence are being investigated by police.

Regional authorities in southern Finland have ordered that Pro Manors Ltd terminate activities at its foster care facility known as Loikalan Kartano in the Iitti municipality of the Kymenlaakso region in southern Finland.
 Officials said they discovered serious shortcomings at the facility, with inappropriate discipline and restraints that were not in accordance with Finland's child welfare laws. The foster home was also understaffed, while personnel were inadequately trained.
 Regional authorities report that the operations were not fully licensed and did not fulfil the conditions required for the provision of foster care. The shortcomings were discovered on a surprise visit from the Regional State Administrative Agency of Southern Finland in June.
 Officials now demand that the home be decommissioned by the beginning of November, and says it will arrange substitute placements for children and youth who are currently living at the facility.
 Director mum on closure
 Heidi Rauha , director of the foster care facility, said she does not wish to comment on the decision to close the home.
 "I am shocked. I find the situation strange in this law-abidingcountry. If the authorities make these kinds of decisions, then they must of course move forward with them," she said.
 Rauha is still contemplating whether she will use her right to appeal the decision.
 "We have done a lot of work to fix the operations and we have been waiting for decisions. The process has taken almost a year, in practice. I am not however ready to comment yet today," she said.
 Police investigation underway
 In May, the deputy ombudsman of parliament requested that the regional authorities examine Loikalan Kartano to see if activities complied with permits and operational practices. The request was issued after the ombudsman's office made an inspection of the facility one year ago.
 This previous inspection discovered that youth were stripped naked and isolated at the facility. The minors placed at Loikalan Kartano at the time were between the ages of 14 and 17. The young people at the foster home told the inspectors that they were asked to undress when they arrived at the facility, and were then cut off from other people in the building. They were not allowed to move about inside their units and had to seek permission to leave their room by knocking on the door from the inside.
 The minors were also reportedly not allowed to speak during meals.
 The deputy ombudsman said the decision to have regional authorities inspect the facility was based on the teens' reports, written reports about restraint decisions, staff inspections and records drawn up about the placed minors.
 The Southeastern Finland Police Department is investigating the irregularities at Loikalan Kartano, and says it suspects the foster home's management of imprisonment, coercion and assault. The exact nature of the offenses will become clearer as the investigation progresses. The police say they have two main suspects, one of whom is the head of the facility.

Foster home in southern Finland shuttered over suspected abuse


Summary: Press stories include today's remand hearing of the Kuopio school assailant, icy weather warnings, and Finnish goals in the NHL openers.

Tabloid Iltalehti leads with  a warning for morning motorists : dangerously icy road conditions are in store for the country’s eastern region, which has been issued an extreme weather warning by the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
 For Friday, a poor driving condition alert has been issued for Eastern areas from Southern Karelia to Kainuu.
 According to institute meteorologist  Juha Tuomola , on Friday it will rain in the country's southern regions up to the level of the Satakunta and Saimaa drainage basin. Rain that started falling overnight (between Thursday and Friday) turned into sleet and snow and will turn to rain again during the day. Driving conditions will be also be poor on Friday in Satakunta and Saimaa.
 Elsewhere in the country, on Friday temperatures in western areas will be between 4-5 degrees Celsius and 0-3 degrees Celsius in northern regions.
 According to Tuomola, on Friday in Southern and Northern Karelia there will be about 8-12 centimetres of snow or sleet. Central Finland will see 1-3 centimetres of the wet stuff.
 Remand hearing
 Helsingin Sanomat (HS ) reports on Friday that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Finland’s national law enforcement agency, will demand that the Kuopio school assailant be formally arrested and remanded in custody on suspicion of one count of murder and nine counts of attempted murder during today's remand hearing.
 The attack by a 24-year-old man wielding a sword-like weapon on Tuesday claimed the life of one a young Ukrainian woman and injured nine others.
 The Bureau is not taking a stance on the possible motive for the attack, writes HS. “It is still being investigated and we cannot comment on it,” detective chief inspector  Jarkko Timonen  told the paper.
 HS, like numerous other media, planned to live stream Friday’s session.
 The suspect,  Joel Otto Aukusti Marin , is in an intensive care unit in hospital and participated via video link.
 Marin was seriously injured on Tuesday when the police shot him after he refused to surrender to police when they responded to an emergency alert at the institution.
 Flags flew at half-mast in Finland on Thursday in memory of a woman who was killed during an attack at a vocational college in Kuopio, eastern Finland on Tuesday.
 He shoots, he scores
 Meanwhile tabloid Ilta-Sanomat reports on  the NHL season’s first Finnish goal, which was scored by Montreal Canadien Jesperi Kotkaniemi, with a total of six Finns scoring goals during the opening games of the NHL season , which took place on Thursday during the night between Thursday and Friday Finnish time.
 IS writes that among the noteworthy performances on ice were those made by 18-year olds  Kaapo Kakko  and  Ville Heinola , who made their debuts with the NHL in a match between the New York Rangers and the Winnipeg Jets. Heinola opened with a goal, which was one of the goals for the Rangers 6-4 win, and made history in his first NHL match.
 Although the first Finnish goal was scored by Kotkaniemi in 2019-20 season, it wasn’t enough to snag a win for the Montreal Canadiens as they lost 4-3 to the Carolina Hurricanes in their season opener Thursday night in North Carolina.
 14:00 The Iltalehti weather story was amended to reflect two corrections regarding the amount of precipitation and location.

Friday’s papers: Winter on the way, Kuopio remand hearing and Finnish NHL goals


Summary: The man is suspected of killing one person and injuring nine others at a vocational college in eastern Finland.

North Savo District Court on Friday remanded into custody  Joel Otto Aukusti Marin , the 24-year-old man suspected by police of murdering one person and attempting to murder nine others in a sabre attack at the Savo Vocational College in Kuopio on Tuesday.
 The final number of charges will be determined during the course of the police investigation.
 Police said earlier that Marin is a registered student at the college with no criminal record and that the victims of the attack were mainly women.
 The suspect was seriously injured when detained by police, and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said that he participated in the remand hearing from hospital via a video link.
 Charges in February 2020
 His defence lawyer was not in the courtroom on Friday, but the NBI's investigation leader  Olli Töyräs  was on hand. He said the prosecution will submit potential charges on 13 February 2020.
 "He (Marin) has been remanded on suspicion of one murder and nine attempted murders," said Töyräs, but would not elaborate further.
 When Marin's health allows, he will be moved from hospital to police detention. His injuries, sustained when the police shot him, still require medical attention.
 Altogether an investigative team of ten is looking into the events surrounding the attack. Police have said that they have sketched out a possible motive but will not yet disclose any details.
 "It may take months to put all the pieces into place," said Töyräs.
 Prime Minister  Antti Rinne  is scheduled to visit the scene of the attack on Friday.

Kuopio sword attack suspect remanded into custody


Summary: An underage female from Oulu was required to pay 300 euros for threatening a school shooting on a chat site.

A district court has ordered a teenage girl from the northwestern city of Oulu in Finland to pay a 50-day fine for falsely claiming on a chat site that she was planning a shooting at a local school. The Kello school in question is a combined primary and secondary school, with over 600 pupils. A daycare centre also operates on the premises.
 Day fines are determined by a person’s income in Finland, so the girl will be required to pay 300 euros in punishment.
 The teen wrote the school shooting threat on social media in January 2019, when she was 15 years old.
 She also posted a second message in a chat site earlier this year about exploding a bomb in the Oulu city centre, and a third social media threat she authored was targeted at the police and the local police station.
 The Oulu district court determined on Wednesday in an oral hearing that the teen was guilty of three counts of creating a false report of a danger. The girl admitted the crimes.

Teen fined for false school shooting threat


Summary: The so-called "heavy metal pastor" received a three-month suspension after using 100,000 euros of church funds.

The Helsinki Lutheran diocese council said on Wednesday that it had issued a three-month suspension of pastor  Harri Kekäläinen  who served at the city's Pitäjänmäki parish.
 Last spring, the Helsinki district court convicted Kekäläinen on charges of aggravated embezzlement and sentenced him to a one-year suspended prison sentence. The pastor was found to have appropriated nearly 100,000 euros of church funds for his personal use.
 Kekäläinen was also known as the "heavy metal pastor" because he had organised church services where hymns were sung in heavy metal style.
 Church officials first caught wind of irregularities in the flow of funds in January, when the Vantaa parish union wanted to transfer 530,000 euros to a bank account held by the Helsinki parish union. However the organisation accidentally paid the funds into Kekäläinen's personal account.
 The heavy metal pastor did not inform the Vantaa parishes about the accounting error and used 93,000 euros to pay off some of his debts. Kekäläinen later admitted to using the cash in the manner described by prosecutors and returned the money to the Vantaa parish union.
 Diocese: Pastor still fit to be minister
 In its ruling, the Helsinki diocese said that Kekäläinen demonstrated extreme irresponsibility, recklessness and lack of judgment in using the funds without first checking where they originated and why.
 It noted that a parish pastor should, because of his position, be aware that he had no right to monies paid by a parish union.
 For its part, the district court said that on the scale of criminal activity, the pastor's offence would normally draw a prison sentence of about two years and three months. However the court issued a lighter sentence in light of Kekäläinen's initiative in resolving the matter as well as the fact that he had no hand in transferring the money to his personal account.
 The diocese's decision was influenced by the mitigating factors mentioned in the court ruling. It also noted that Kekäläinen's actions were not related to the discharge of his pastoral duties in the Pitäjänmäki parish, nor to the finances or operation of the parish or to his duties as a cleric.
 As a result, the diocese ruled that it did not see the convicted man as unfit to be a pastor nor should he lose his position as a cleric.

Helsinki pastor suspended over €100K embezzlement conviction


Summary: The first snow fell in central and eastern Finland on Friday, with more than 10cm forecast by day's end in the east.

Winter arrived in eastern Finland on Friday morning, with 4-5cm of snow falling in the morning and more on the way.
 "Easternmost Finland may get 10 cm on Friday,” says Yle meteorologist  Matti Huutonen .
 The first snow was recorded in the morning in the cities of Jyväskylä and Kuopio, where 2 cm had fallen by 9 am.
 The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) defines the first snowfall as at least one centimetre of snow on the ground at 9am at one of its weather stations. Huutonen says that Eastern Finland’s first snow came about a week earlier than usual. Northern Lapland received its  first snow  on Sunday.
 Slippery roads, especially in the east
 The FMI warns of poor road conditions through most of eastern Finland from Friday afternoon through at least midnight due to snow or sleet, with “very bad” conditions in North Karelia.
 Story continues after photo
 Friday morning in Tohmajärvi, North Karelia. Tanja Perkkiö
 "The further west you go, the wetter the snow is. Overnight frost will make road surfaces slippery, so those driving on summer tyres must be careful,” says Huutonen.
 Kainuu, North Savo, South Savo and South Karelia may get 1-5cm of snow, he adds.
 Chilly October weather in store
 Precipitation is expected through Friday evening, but it should be mostly over by Saturday. Conditions will remain cool, though.
 "Cold air is moving in from the north, so all of next week will be chilly. Temperatures in the south will be 5-6 degrees colder than usual for this time of year,” Huutonen says.
 Story continues after photo
 Easternmost Finland awoke to wintry conditions. Tanja Perkkiö
 Overnight readings will drop below freezing throughout the country, ranging from a couple of degrees below zero down south to -10 degrees Celsius in parts of Finnish Lapland.

Summer tyres hazardous as snow and sleet hit much of Finland


Summary: Many parliamentarians said they had left or considered leaving politics because of the feedback.

One third of municipal decision-makers and almost half of MPs or their aides have been the target of hate speech due to their work, according to the findings of a new collaborative survey from Open Knowledge Finland, the University of Jyväskylä and Punos Research.
 Two thirds of the lawmakers responding to the poll said they believe that public discourse has triggered more hate speech in recent years.
 “Hate speech can often be prompted by impulsive actions, but it can also be used deliberately to exert political pressure. In these cases, the aim is to silence a certain individual or political view,” says Open University Finland researcher  Aleksi Knuutila .
 Respondents to the survey who had been the target of hate speech said it affected their work significantly. Half of municipal decision-makers said it had reduced their trust in people they did not know, and 42 percent said they were less willing to participate in public debates. Many said that had left or had considered dropping out of politics because of the feedback.
 The first of its kind, the study entitled "Ruled by hate: Hate speech aiming to influence decision-making in society" explored the extent and nature of hate speech and its impact on decision-making. It made use of 14 thematic interviews, interactions on Twitter, and more than 1,300 questionnaires that were returned from the Finnish Parliament.
 For purposes of the study, hate speech was defined as "degrading, threatening or stigmatising expressions that relate to the personal characteristics of the subject or are motivated by intolerance".
 200 accounts responsible for half of hostile Twitter messages
 Many politicians who participated in the study said they felt that their involvement in a particular political party was the reason for the hate speech. The aim of hate speech was not just to influence the party’s decisions, but also to persecute decision-makers for being a member of the certain party, the report on the survey concluded.
 The study identified 200 Twitter accounts that were responsible for about half of the hostile Twitter messages sent to lawmakers in Finland. About 75 percent of the offensive tweets came from people who are against migration.
 The report also linked decision-makers' social media activity with the amount of hostile feedback they received. As a rule, MPs who tweeted more than 500 times during the research period were exposed to significant hate speech. In Finland, party leaders do not tend to be as active on Twitter, but during the 2019 parliamentary elections, each of the chairs received hate speech communications, with the exception of the Blue Reform party's  Sampo Terho  and the Swedish People's Party's  Anna-Maja Henriksson .
 "Men with immigrant backgrounds, like the Social Democratic Party (SDP)'s  Abdirahim Hussein , the Greens'  Ozan Yanar , SDP's  Hussein al-Taee , and the Left Alliance's  Suldaan Said Ahmed  sent far fewer tweets, but nevertheless encountered a lot of harassment," the report reads, adding that the results show that candidates with immigrant backgrounds are easily targeted.
 The survey suggests that the threat of hate speech alone impacts political participation. Even decision-makers who reported no hate speech say that the threat of it has reduced their willingness to participate in public discussions.
 Inadequate measures to address problem
 The survey and the interviews both found that lawmakers consider current measures against hate speech in Finland to be inadequate. Election candidates and members of municipal councils say they are often left without support in the face of such harassment.
 The researchers behind the report propose other measures to clamp down on the problem, beyond legal actions. They make a case for stronger value leadership, whereby decision-makers would condemn hate speech more harshly. They also advise that Finland define the limits for acceptable speech in political activities, and encourage more responsible social media platform monitoring.
 The survey was carried out as part of the implementation of the Government’s plan for the analysis, assessment and research activities in 2018.

Nearly half of MPs, aides report being targets of hate speech


Summary: PM Juha Sipilä's key bioeconomy projects created few new jobs and did not help the farming sector, auditors concluded.

The National Audit Office of Finland has determined that only half of the objectives listed in Finland's previous government's push to  boost the bioeconomy  were achieved. During its 2015-19 term, former Prime Minister  Juha Sipilä 's government set up five key projects and allocated a total of 323 million euros to boost the bioeconomy and cleantech in Finland.
 "The energy and climate objectives were achieved, and the deregulation objective was a definitely a success. But only a few jobs were created within the bioeconomy and cleantech, and the balance of trade for foodstuffs did not improve,"  Auri Pakarinen , a principal auditor at the office, said in a bulletin.
 One of the main objectives of Sipilä's government upon gaining office was making Finland a " pioneer in the bioeconomy ", in other words, promoting the use of renewable, bio-based natural resources, environmentally friendly clean technologies and efficient recycling of materials.
 The audit also assessed the functioning of the government’s new strategy model and key project system. While it said that the overall project was appropriately and efficiently organised, it says future government projects should pay special attention to providing guidelines to the ministerial working groups, in order to ensure that their work is smooth and systematic.

Previous govt's bioeconomy push fell short in several areas, says audit office


Summary: The opposition conservative party pressed the cabinet over employment, but did not ask the Finns Party to co-sign.

Four months into its term, the Finnish government led by Social Democratic chair  Antti Rinne  easily survived the first vote of no confidence brought by an opposition party.
 The interpellation fell by a vote of 97-75, with MPs walking up to cast traditional paper ballots due to a glitch in the electronic voting system that usually lets them vote from their seats.
 The second-largest opposition party the conservative National Coalition Party (NCP) had filed the interpellation over the issue of employment, demanding that the six-party government explain what concrete measures it will use to reach its employment target of 75 percent.
 In Parliament on Tuesday, the NCP asked government ministers to explain how much was being added to next year’s budget in permanent expenditures compared to permanent revenues, and how the cabinet intended to balance the budget by the end of its term if employment does not improve as it hopes.
 Ministers responded to the questions, insisting that employment measures were proceeding according to plan. They detailed spending increases and other adjustments included in their budget framework plan agreed in late summer.
 The cabinet sailed through the vote by a margin of 97-75 in the 200-seat legislature.
 Technical glitch leads to rare procedure
 The results of the vote were delayed due to problems with parliamentary voting devices.
 Deputy Speaker of Parliament  Juho Eerola  of the opposition Finns Party, who chaired the plenary session, first delayed the vote by five minutes to look into the technical issue.
 As that did not suffice, it was decided to carry out the vote by casting old-fashioned paper ballots. Explaining the now-rare procedure to MPs took some additional time.
 The NCP did not ask the largest opposition party, the nationalist Finns Party, to co-sign its challenge, saying that it did not want to make compromises in its wording. The only non-NCP lawmaker to sign on to it was businessman  Harry Harkimo , the sole representative of the Liike Nyt (Movement Now) group.

Rinne cabinet wins first confidence vote in old-school paper ballot


Summary: Scores of unsuspecting people were filmed in a university’s public toilets in Lappeenranta, eastern Finland.

Police are reviewing a case in which hidden cameras was used to record footage of people using public toilets at the Saimaa University of Applied Sciences in Lappeenranta, eastern Finland. The cameras were installed in unisex wheelchair-accessible bathrooms on the first and third floors of the main building.
 Officials say they have spoken with 150 people about the incident since January, and that they are currently interviewing more than a dozen individuals whom they have identified as victims of the covert filming.
 Inspector  Saku Tielinen  of the Southeast Finland Police Department adds that most of the people that were filmed cannot be recognised in the material.
 Once the police have finished the interviews, the case will be transferred to a prosecutor for consideration of charges. The police say the pre-trial investigation should be complete by autumn’s end.
 The suspect in the case is a Lappeenranta resident who was born in 1982. He has already confessed to recording people in the restrooms without their knowledge. He says he did not share the footage with anyone else.
 11:20 Lead corrected to say "university"

Man under investigation for hidden restroom cameras


Summary: Police say they are investigating a case of murder and attempted murder in western Finland.

One person died and two were seriously injured by gunshots in Alavus, South Ostrobothnia, on Friday evening.
 Tomi Mansikkamäki , a senior officer at the Ostrobothnia police department, tells Yle that it appears that all three individuals knew each other.
 Story continues after photo
 The scene of the shootings in Alavus. Tarmo Niemi / Yle
 The incident took place around 8.30pm in a residence on Rimmintie. Police say the situation did not pose any danger to the public.
 Story continues after map
 Alavus is in South Ostrobothnia, western Finland. Tiina Jutila / Yle
 In a statement on Saturday afternoon, the Ostrobothnia Police Department said that they were investigating it as a case of murder and attempted murder.
 They say that a local man born in 1978 shot to death another man of the same age in his yard. The victim died immediately.
 The man then shot his ex-wife, who was also in the yard. She was seriously injured and in hospital in stable condition.
 The suspected shooter is custody as is the unlicensed handgun used.
 It is not clear whether the suspect is the third person whom police previously said was seriously wounded.
 Suspect arson attacks in South Karelia
 Meanwhile authorities in southeastern Finland are investigating a string of suspicious fires early Saturday. There were at least half a dozen fires in Imatra and Lappeenranta between roughly 2-5am.
 Police in South Karelia believe that they were all intentionally set.
 The blazes destroyed several outbuildings housing waste facilities and many mailboxes as well as damaging at least three cars.
 Most of the fires were in Imatra, on the Russian border, but one car was also burned in Joutseno, about 20km away in the neighbouring municipality of Lappeenranta.
 Police are investigating the cases as vandalism but note that other charges are possible. They are asking the public for any information related to the incidents either by email (vihjeet.kaakkois-suomi@poliisi.fi) or phone (0295 414 559).
 5.04pm: Updated with police statement on shootings.

Police probe shootings near Seinäjoki, suspicious fires in southeast