Summary: Drivers are still not allowed to use communications devices while their vehicles are in motion.

New traffic laws to take effect next June will allow drivers to use electronic devices such as mobile phones while their vehicles are at traffic lights or otherwise at a standstill.
 However the legal reform states that the use of such devices should not prevent drivers from being responsive to changing situations.
 Apart from this change, the legislation regarding the use of electronic devices while driving is much the same as it had been before: drivers of motorised vehicles are not allowed to hold communications devices for use while the vehicle is in motion.
 Although the law is not as strict as before, a 2014 study by the Finnish Road Safety Council found that drivers in Finland have stern views on people who use mobile phones while behind the wheel.
 Up to 80 percent of respondents surveyed at the time said they considered texting or social media use while driving to be serious or very serious offences – comparable to driving without a license or running a red light.
 Another study by the University of Jyväskylä last year found that drivers often used social  apps such as WhatsApp and Tinder on the road , even on busy city streets.
 "No good reason for change"
 Senior transport adviser  Kimmo Kiiski  led a transport and communications ministry team working on the legal reforms. He said that the new regulations governing the use of communications devices are not especially problematic.
 "This is not about traffic safety if the car isn’t moving. People are still not allowed to use devices so that they affect their attentiveness or disrupt the smooth flow of traffic," he noted.
 MPs also did not see a problem with the legal changes when the reforms were being considered in parliament. Instead, they approved the planned reforms as they were proposed in summer 2018.
 However the road safety council has opposed the change. Managing director  Anna-Liisa Tarviainen  said that section of the legislation should not have been amended.
 "I don’t see any good or justifiable reason for the change. There are all kinds of pedestrians at traffic lights and mobile phones provide unnecessary distractions," she argued.
 According to Tarviainen police will have to assess what constitutes disruptive use depending on the situation in question. The council’s report noted that mobile phone use slows drivers’ reaction time by half a second.
 Meanwhile ministry adviser Kiiski pointed to the number of electronic devices and systems currently available in modern vehicles. He noted that the law no longer specifically mentions phones but talks about communications devices in a general way.
 "The rapid digitalisation and automation of vehicles make it difficult to set legal limits about which devices should be allowed and which should not. All actions affect concentration while driving. We cannot prohibit everything," he added.
 According to Kiiski, inattentiveness is a major problem for all road users, not just drivers, but also pedestrians and cyclists.
 He added that the new regulations also anticipate the future, since cars are becoming more modern and electronic equipment is proliferating and becoming more sophisticated.
 A threat to traffic flow?
 Oulu traffic police head  Pasi Rissanen  said that he was surprised when he first heard of the legal reform. He said that apart from traffic accidents, he is worried about how the change would affect traffic flows in urban areas. He noted that dividing attention between a phone and the road could affect concentration in traffic.
 "It remains to be seen whether there’ll be more delays at traffic lights. Then nowhere near the number of vehicles will necessarily get through intersections as what traffic planners aimed for," he pointed out.
 Rissanen said that in future police will have to check for phone use in cases when drivers don’t respond to traffic lights because they are on the phone.
 "The use of smart devices has exacerbated the situation in traffic. There has been a marked increase in texting day-to-day," he noted.
 Tarviainen said she also has concerns about the smooth flow of traffic. "How many social media users will drop their phones when the lights change at intersections and move on smartly?"
 Esko Kurkinen , a driving instructor from Kajaani in eastern Finland, pointed out that even if drivers use devices at stop lights, they will be distracted by their phones even before they come to a stop and afterwards as well.
 Kurkinen said that in his driving classes he teaches students to always mute their phones while driving. He added that even in a training situation it possible to see how drivers lose focus when phones can be heard.
 "People get the feeling that they must answer the phone, even if it’s not such an important message or call," he concluded.

Legal reform allows drivers to use mobile phones at stop lights


Summary: The town of Raseborg averaged one white-tailed deer accident every day last year.

November is the most hazardous time of year for road accidents involving game animals. Last year there were more than 12,000 such accidents, peaking in November, according to Statistics Finland.
 More than 6,200 collisions involved deer, of which there are several species in Finland, while nearly 2,000 involved elk. For elk-related accidents, September has the highest rate.
 Last year the largest numbers of deer and elk crashes were in Southwest Finland, Uusimaa (which includes Helsinki) and Pirkanmaa (which includes Tampere).
 According to data collected by the insurance company LähiTapiola, the southwestern town of Raseborg (Raasepori in Finnish) had the highest number of white-tailed deer accidents, 365, or an average of one per day.
 Story continues after photo
 A white-tailed deer fawn. Jouni Minkkinen
 Close behind was the neighbouring town of Salo with 318, and Loimaa, just to the north, with 258. There were also many in Sastamala and Urjala, both in Pirkanmaa.
 Most elk crashes in Kouvola and Kuopio
 Kouvola and Kuopio both reported the highest number of elk collissions, 36, followed by another eastern city, Mikkeli, with 31. Close behind were Jyväskylä in central Finland and Kurikka in Southern Ostrobothnia.
 Elk hunting season begins in September in northern Finland. It is allowed by permit throughout the country from 15 October through 15 January. White-tailed deer may be shot from late September through mid-February.
 European elk ( Alces alces ) are known in the United States and Canada as moose, a name that stems from the indigenous Algonquian languages. They're not related to the smaller species of deer known as elk or wapiti in North America.
 Finland's  rapidly expanding population  of white-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ), meanwhile, stems from five animals brought from the US state of Minnesota in 1934 as a gift from Finnish-Americans.

Highest rate of deer accidents in southwest Finland


Summary: Finland went wild on Friday as the male national team qualified for its first-ever major tournament.

It has been 80 years in the making, but Finland’s qualification for the European Championships next summer sent the nation into raptures on Friday evening.
 It will be the first time the country's men's team have ever played at the finals of a World Cup or European Championships.
 Jasse Tuominen’s  goal on 21 minutes set them on their way, when the ball broke to him and he slotted the ball past Liechtenstein goalkeeper  Benjamin Büchel .
 Tuominen could have added a second on 47 minutes when he hit the post.
 The second goal came on 64 minutes when Norwich striker  Teemu Pukki  slotted a penalty past Büchel after  Pyry Soiri  was brought down.
 The Finland bench cleared, the ground exploded and, with a two-goal cushion offering Finnish fans some reassurance, the celebrations began.
 It's official
 When the ex-KTP forward added a third goal eleven minutes later, even the most pessimistic fan of the eagle owls could accept it: Finland are going to the European Championships.
 They were Pukki’s eighth and ninth goals in nine qualifying matches for Euro 2020, and it could have been scripted.
 Post-match, Pukki was emotional.
 "When I was small I didn't even dream I would play for the national team, I couldn't have hoped for this," said Pukki.
 His club Norwich City were an incongruous but joyful presence in the Finnish capital in the leadup to the game, setting up a pop-up store in a shopping mall so Finnish Pukki fans could buy his official club merchandise.
 Norwich also organised a big screen event near the stadium for fans who couldn’t get tickets, and an official ‘Pukki Party’ in the city centre for Friday evening.
 Some 10,000 fans were lucky enough to get tickets for the match, but many thousands more watched at outdoor big screen events across the country.
 Temperatures were one degree Celsius in Helsinki, and significantly colder further north.
 Summer plans
 It’s traditional in Finland to gather in market squares and public places to celebrate sporting victories, but very few of those have involved football.
 Now the country’s football fans finally have something to celebrate. While they do have a game against Greece on Monday to complete the qualification group, Finland fans’ eyes are casting further ahead to next summer when they will follow their men’s team in a major tournament for the first time.
 They will have to wait for the draw on 30 November when they will find out which of twelve host cities they will visit for the group stage of the final tournament.
 For now Finland fans are just enjoying the unprecedented success.

Finland make history with Liechtenstein win


Summary: Many say nurses deserve a bigger raise than other groups whose collective agreements are also up for renegotiation.

Some 70 percent of Finns want practical and registered nurses to gain bigger raises than other workers whose collective agreements are also expiring next spring, finds a survey commissioned by local news conglomerate Uutissuomalainen.
 Left Alliance and Green voters were most in favour of raising nurses’ pay. Overall, women were more open to the idea than men.
 One in five respondents opposed favouring nurses' wages over employees in other sectors.
 Practical nurses working in the public sector currently  earn a gross monthly base pay  of 2017.41 euros while registered nurses pull down 2,323.84 euros, according to the Union of Health and Social Care Professionals (Tehy).
 Finland has practiced collective bargaining since the 1970s, whereby employers and trade unions regularly negotiate wage agreements on the national and industry-specific level.
 Respondents earning annual salaries exceeding 100,0000 euros as well as those affiliated with the Centre Party or National Coalition Party were the most strongly opposed to increasing nurses’ salaries.
 Next spring, Finland's largest trade union for health and social care professionals, Tehy, plans to join forces Super, another union representing practical nurses, to  demand a 1.8 percent annual wage increase every year  until salaries in the sector are on par with salaries in male-dominated fields.
 The survey, carried out by Tietoykkönnen, polled 1,000 residents at the end of October. The margin of error was 3.1 percentage points.

Survey: Majority supports better pay for nurses


Summary: Finland goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky said the team’s success was at least partly down to ‘good karma’.

Fans flooded the field and gathered to celebrate in city centres across Finland on Friday, when the  men’s national team qualified for a major international tournament  for the first time in their history.
 Goalkeeper  Lukas Hradecky  put the success down to togetherness among the squad. Two years ago he had told the media he did not want to celebrate a draw with Greece, and that Finns are often satisfied with too little from their national team.
 Now he has something  worth getting excited about .
 “I’ve said many times that this team behaves like a group of mates who happen to play for Finland,” said the Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper. “That has always been our strength. What has happened in the past, that has only strengthened us.”
 “It’s been a long journey,” said Hradecky. “It was great when the fans invaded the pitch. To see their expressions and see their emotions, I got emotional.”
 Good karma
 Around 5,000 fans watched the match on screens outside the new Helsinki Central library Oodi, and many then went down to the market square by the harbour to continue the celebrations.
 They have never experienced success like this before, and Hradecky thinks there’s a reason this is happening now.
 “I believe that good karma follows you in life, and this team has deserved it,” said Hradecky. “But now we’ll celebrate and take in what we have achieved. This is a big achievement. The whole country, the whole football community has deserved this. We’re going to fully enjoy it.”
 Hradecky, who is known for taking a beer or two from the hardcore Finnish fans when celebrating victories, was dimly aware of Finland’s last match to be played against Greece in Athens on Monday.
 “Yes, we’ve still got a game, but we can even take care of that drunk!”
 Draw this month
 Finland’s Prime Minister  Antti Rinne  congratulated the team on Twitter, saying that Finland is ‘finally at a men’s major tournament’.
 Finland’s women’s team have qualified three times, reaching the semi-finals in 2005.
 Their male counterparts will find out on 30 November exactly where they are going next summer, when Uefa draws the groups.
 The possible host cities are London, Glasgow, Baku, Bilbao, Paris, Munich, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Saint Petersburg, Rome, Bucharest, Dublin and Budapest.

Finland goalkeeper Hradecky: “It’s been a long journey”


Summary: The National Coalition Party says the Finns Party’s immigration rhetoric has hijacked Parliament’s weekly question hour.

The conservative National Coalition's online Verkkouutiset says the subject of immigration has dominated Finns Party MPs' speeches during parliamentary question hour since  Antti Rinne 's government took office.
 The publication reports that hard-right populist Finns Party MPs have either raised the issue of immigration or foreigners during nine of the 11 parliamentary question hours this term. These  weekly sessions  are an opportunity for legislators to put questions to the government about its policy on current topics.
 The Finns Party has only on two occasions last month—3 and 17 October—brought up issues other than immigration.
 As the largest opposition party in Parliament, the Finns Party has the right to pose the first question, which generally leads to a half hour discussion, swallowing half of the 60-minute session.
 The National Coalition Party is the second-largest opposition party after the Finns Party, following  general elections  earlier this year.

NCP: Finns Party has turned Parliament's question hour into immigration debate


Summary: A new study suggests that during the Iron Age Finland was home to separate and different populations.

Researchers at Helsinki and Turku universities mapping ancient Finno-Ugric ancestry say modern-day Finns  carry genes from diverse populations  living in the region of Finland during the Iron Age.
 They said they were able to reconstruct 103 complete mitochondrial genomes from archaeological bone samples, allowing them to trace maternal lineage. The samples were collected from burial sites across Finland and the Republic of Karelia, Russia.
 Scientists found that genes associated with ancient farmer populations were more common in the east, whereas lineages inherited from hunter-gatherers were more prevalent in the west.
 The SUGRIGE Finno-Ugric genome project said its study is the most extensive investigation to date focusing on the ancient DNA of people inhabiting the region of Finland.
 (Story continues after photo)
 A Middle Age burial site in Hiitola, Russian Karelia. Stanislav Belskiy
 Hunter-gatherers in west, farmers in east
 Scientists discovered mitochondrial hunter-gatherer DNA at burial sites in Eura and Hollola in the west, whereas samples from Hiitola in Russian Karelia and the Mikkeli area displayed genetic lines often associated with ancient farming populations.
 A burial site in Levänluhta in southern Ostrobothnia turned up DNA present in Finland’s indigenous Sámi population today.
 "This indicates that the studied Iron Age populations have had an impact on the gene pool of contemporary Finns,”  Sanni Översti  from Helsinki University’s Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, said in a statement.
 Professor  Päivi Onkamo , who headed the study, said a lack of archaeological bone material has made it difficult to study ancient DNA in Finland. The acidic soil combined with annual freeze-thaw cycles have a detrimental effect on bone material, according to researchers.
 “Usually 2,000 years is the longest time bone will survive in these conditions. The samples we studies date from 300 AD to the 1800s,” she explained.
 Last year, SUGRIGE researchers suggested that ancient DNA showed that the Sámi and Finns share identical Siberian genes.

Iron Age DNA sheds light on Finns’ genetic origin


Summary: A new study suggests that people genetically prone to alcoholism benefit from living in committed relationships.

The  study , which drew on the longitudinal Finnish Twin Study (FinnTwin12), found that being in a romantic relationship reduced the association between genetic predisposition and drinking.
 Results indicated that being in a relationship reduces drinking among both sexes. However, for high‐risk drinking, the protective effect was limited to males, who tend to drink more than women. Studies have often suggested that men draw more health benefits from romantic partnerships than women.
 Genes and environment
 Scientists from the United States, Finland and Turkey collaborated on the study.
 "Social context plays a role in whether genetic predisposition for alcohol misuse is expressed,"  Peter Barr  from Virginia Commonwealth University told the Finnish News Agency STT via email.
 Barr said the study can help bridge the gap between genetics and social science.
 “We can’t fully understand one without the other,” he added.
 But how exactly do relationships prevent excess drinking?
 According to Barr, relationships offer emotional support, giving people less of a reason to drown their negative feelings in alcohol.
 Relationships also carry an element of social control as partners tend to monitor each other’s behavior and will likely say something if their other half is drinking too much, explained public heath professor  Jaakko Kaprio  from the University of Helsinki.
 "It’s easy for single guys to go pub hopping with friends, but men in a relationship are more likely to cut the evening short by saying they promised to be home by 11pm," Kaprio added.
 Relationships also carry certain expectations, according to the scientists. Alcohol misuse doesn’t fit into the framework of being a good partner or parent, they said.
 In the future, Kaprio said he would like to see similar studies include people from different parts of the world to help determine how well the findings apply to broader populations.
 The peer-reviewed study, published in the journal  Addiction , examined interview and genetic data of 1,200 Finnish people between the ages of 20 and 26, who are part of the Finnish Twin Study, which aims to tease out environmental and genetic influences on traits.

Romantic relationships reduce alcohol abuse, study finds


Summary: The Transport Workers' Union AKT says it will ban overtime and shift swaps early next week.

Julkisten ja hyvinvointialojen liitto (JHL)

The ongoing national postal strike continues to garner sympathy action.
 The Transport Workers' Union AKT is threatening a ban on overtime and shift swaps within road and rail transport starting Tuesday, 19 November. In addition, logistics personnel will no longer handle deliveries from national mail carrier Posti.
 By Wednesday, 20 November the ban on shift swaps and overtime will extend to AKT members working in docks, terminals and within the travel industry. This will bring 40,000 members under the support measure, which could last through 8 December--the entire duration of the postal workers' strike.
 Meanwhile the Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors (JHL) and Railway Union (RAU) have said they will suspend freight traffic on Monday and Tuesday. This sympathy action will not affect passenger train traffic.
 Negotiations between the postal workers' union PAU and employer group Palta resume with national conciliator  Vuokko Piekkala  on Sunday afternoon.
 Postal workers’ representatives  announced the strike  after a failure to reach an agreement with Posti on a new deal covering wages, terms and conditions in the sector. Some 9,000 Posti workers are participating in the industrial action.
 Employee representatives are particularly irked by Posti’s plans to transfer 700 packaging and e-commerce workers to a different collective bargaining agreement.

Postal workers' strike attracting sympathy action


Summary: Finland will pause asylum seeker repatriations to Iraq following criticism by the European Court of Human Rights.

Police tweeted the news on Saturday, saying that the suspension does not cover convicted criminals.
 Interior Minister  Maria Ohisalo  immediately took to Twitter, saying Finland will now have time to investigate the case of Ali, an Iraqi man who was  denied asylum in 2017, deported to Iraq and killed a few weeks later .
 Earlier this week, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that  Finland violated  the European Convention on Human Rights in Ali's case on the point that everyone has the right to life.
 The Finnish authorities repatriated Ali even though he had produced evidence he had been the target of assassination attempts in his home country before fleeing to Finland.
 ”I’ve asked leading civil servants to explain how we can ensure this never happens again,” Ohisalo told Yle.
 While the minister said Ali’s case should not have been possible in a country like Finland, the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) has disclosed that it does not know how many other rejected asylum applicants may have been wrongly repatriated.

Helsinki police suspend repatriations to Iraq


Summary: Among items in the morning papers, postal strike expands, legal sale of cannabis seeds, and unseasonably warm weather.

Talks aimed at ending a strike by Finnish postal workers failed to reach a settlement over the weekend.
 As a result, a number of other unions have announced  the start of support action  to help the Finnish Post and Logistics Union PAU press its demands.
 Joining in as of Monday are the Transport Workers’ Union AKT, the Finnish Seafarers´ Union, the Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors JHL and Service Union United PAM. Members of the Finnish Aviation Union IAU began supporting the strike last week, severely delaying airmail deliveries.
 The newsstand tabloid  Ilta-Sanomat reports  that so far the postal strike is causing a delay of several days in the delivery of packages and may cause delays of weeks for the delivery of letters and periodicals. Daily newspaper distribution is not, however, affected.
 Jarmo Ainasoja , Posti's Head of Exception management, told the paper that the company will be able to mitigate the effects of support action by the Transport Workers’ Union by using its network of subcontractors.
 "There is always somebody who wants to work and take part in deliveries. We have a fairly extensive network of partners. A lot depends on how involved they become. That's something that can be better evaluated on Monday," said Ainasoja.
 Ilta-Sanomat warned, however that problems with post moving through port facilities can be expected.
 The paper goes on to provide a detailed day-by-day listing of union actions impacting postal deliveries through the upcoming week.
 Negotiations on a deal to end the Finnish Post and Logistics Union strike are set to resume on Monday afternoon.
 Buy seeds, but don't plant them
 The legal use of cannabis has become a hot topic again, especially after a citizens' initiative calling for its decriminalisation  passed the 50,000 signatures mark and headed to parliament  late last month.
 According to Finland's largest circulation daily, Helsingin Sanomat, the initiative has met with little enthusiasm from lawmakers, with a majority of MPs saying they oppose legalisation, and Prime Minister  Antti Rinne  pledging that his government will not push for passage.
 On Monday  the paper reported  that while cannabis is still not legal, the sale of cannabis seeds and cannabis paraphernalia is.
 The paper spoke with  Juha Vihervaara , the owner of one Helsinki shop, Seeds of Love, which openly imports and sells a wide range of cannabis seeds.
 If planted and properly cared for, these seeds will produce a plant containing the psychoactive cannabinoid THC and CBD, an active ingredient used to treat conditions like pain, insomnia, and anxiety.
 However, these seeds are not sold to be planted. By law, cannabis seeds cannot be sold to produce plants for the purpose of producing banned drugs. Instead, they can be legally sold as collectors' items and for decorative purposes.
 "The only permitted uses for the seeds sold are collection and the preservation of genetic materials. One should not try to get the seeds to sprout, and they are not guaranteed to sprout," according to the Seeds of Love shop's disclaimer.
 Helsingin Sanomat notes that seed collection seems to be a popular hobby. Juha Vihervaara says that his storefront shop sees about 500 customers walk in every week and somewhat fewer in its online shop.
 There are several specialist shops in the country dealing primarily in cannabis seeds and paraphernalia, but seeds can also be found on sale by many more mainstream retailers, as well.
 Electric snow scooter
 From Lapland, where moving around in the snow is a way of life,  Lapin Kansa reports  on plans for the start of serial production of an innovative means of transport — an electric snow scooter which is being touted as the first of its kind in the world.
 The eLyly electric snow scooter. eLyly
 Pasi Kauppinen  of eLyly, the company that has designed the device, told the paper that the official launch of the scooter was planned to take place at the World Cup Levi alpine skiing event this coming weekend, but that launch has been delayed.
 Now Kauppinen says that the target is to get the first electric snow scooters on the market by next spring.
 Lapin Kansa writes that the scooters are not well suited for use in heavy snow, working best on packed snow or soft snow at depths of 10-15cm.
 The first of the scooters are likely to be targeted at commercial operators in the tourism sector. With a projected price tag of 5,000-6,000 euros, they are unlikely to replace granny's traditional kicksled anytime in the near future.
 Mediterranean breezes
 The Helsinki daily  Iltalehti  points out the obvious to anyone who has been outside — the weather in Finland is unusually warm for the time of year.
 FMI meteorologist  Petri Hoppula  explained that while the temperatures are unusual, the mechanics of the phenomenon are not. Warm air has been moving up from the south, across Poland and Belarus into the Baltic region.
 Warm air is flowing up from the eastern Mediterranean, from Greece and Turkey, where by Finnish standards, it is still full summer.
 The weather over the next few days is expected to remain humid, with fog and mist, but little fear of any downpours.

Monday's papers: Postal strike, cannabis seeds, delayed winter


Summary: Border officials in Finnish Lapland do not see a need to follow Denmark's example and impose checks on travellers.

Officials in Finnish Lapland are not in favour of imposing checks at crossing points on the border between Finland and Sweden.
 Last week, Denmark temporarily reinstated checks at its border crossings with Sweden after Swedes were suspected of being behind a number explosions and gang-related violence this year in the Danish capital Copenhagen.
 Finnish officials in Lapland told Yle that at the moment, any perceived security threat is not serious enough to warrant checks on the Finnish-Swedish border.
 "Border controls can be reinstated on [EU] internal borders if there is a serious threat to public order or internal security, but Finland is not experiencing such a threat," stated  Petri Hämäläinen  of the Lapland Border Guard.
 Close cooperation
 Lapland Chief of Police  Esa Heikkinen  echoed this same position.
 "We have no need for police checks here on the land border between Finland and Sweden. Of course, we in the police force understand Denmark's reasons for deciding to carry out checks. It looks to be a matter of very serious crime," said Heikkinen.
 Illegal goods such as  drugs  and large shipments of  snus tobacco  do cross the border between Finland and Sweden. However, Finnish authorities believe that this cross-border criminal activity can best be dealt with through cooperation between law enforcement agencies and other standard anti-crime measures.
 "We have good cooperation in Finland among the police, the customs authority and the Border Guard, as well as with Swedish officials in activities such as intelligence and investigation," added Chief of Police Heikkinen.

Officials: No need for tighter controls on Finland-Sweden land border


Summary: Sleep disorders are on the rise among young people in the Nordic countries.

About one in five young people have difficulty sleeping in Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Iceland, according to a new study published in the journal Nordisk välfärdsforskning – Nordic Welfare Research. Further research also indicates that the proportion of young people with sleep problems is on the increase.
 In Norway, on the other hand, fewer young people say that they have trouble sleeping.
 Problem often underestimated
 The regional study defined sleep problems as difficulty in getting sleep more often than once a week.
 Respondents to questionnaires about sleep patterns often underestimate their problems and so researchers believe that the proportion of young people with sleep problems may be higher than what this survey showed.
 "It is worrying that sleep problems among young people in most Nordic countries seem to increase given the link between sleep problems and brain development. Sleep is an important factor in young people's mental and physical health," says Charli Eriksson, one of the researchers and emeritus professor at Stockholm University.
 Varying methods can be used to deal with sleep disorders. Parents, schools, decision makers and healthcare professionals have significant opportunities to take action.
 "Among other things, it is about supporting young people to have peace of mind when they are going to bed. No technical devices, and shutting off the phone well before bedtime. Being physically tired facilitates sleep," Eriksson points out.
 Emotional state, alcohol and drugs can negatively affect the quality of sleep.
 Too much screen time
 Further studies will analyse factors that may influence the development of sleep problems among schoolchildren in the Nordic countries.
 Some recognised contributing causes of sleep problems in adolescents are  long screen time  and low levels of physical activity.
 "What time the school day starts can also affect sleep habits. Changing one's 24-hour sleep rhythm every weekend is much like the effect of a transatlantic flight on sleep. A late start to the school day has been discussed, but the question is what sleeping in on mornings would mean in the long run," Eriksson points out.
 The survey cited was based on a WHO collaboration, Health Behaviour in School Aged Children, between the years 2002-2014.

One in five kids in Finland sleeps poorly


Summary: VRE bacteria can cause serious infections especially in people who have a compromised immune system.

Bacteria resistant to different antibiotics are becoming more common in Finland, according to the Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare (THL) in an analysis published on Monday to coincide with European Antibiotic Awareness Day. THL has referenced data from recent reports documenting the current state of antimicrobial resistance across Europe.
 In 2018, there was a clear increase in the number of detected cases of vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (VRE) in Finland as compared to the previous year.
 VRE are bacteria that have developed resistance to many antibiotics and can cause serious infections, especially in people who are ill or have a compromised immune system.
 Situation better than elsewhere in Europe
 The occurrence of VRE has been spreading steadily in the European Economic Area since 2015. However, the numbers of multidrug-resistant bacteria found in Finland are still notably smaller than in Europe on average.
 "Resistant bacteria are growing in Finland. We are at a much lower level than in Europe, but the trend is moving upwards. We must take measures to keep the situation in check, ”said THL medical expert  Emmi Sarvikivi .
 The proportion of antibiotic-resistant strains of E.coli called ESBL (Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing) and CPE bacteria (carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae) have also increased in Finland.
 While ESBL can cause urinary tract infections, CPE bacteria can lead to other difficult-to-treat infections, particularly in intensive care patients.
 According to the World Health Organization, antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health. Each year over 700,000 people die worldwide from antibiotic-resistant infectious diseases.
 Antibiotic consumption differs by region
 Earlier this month, a study revealed that prescriptions for antibiotics in Finland  have fallen by a third in the last 10 years .
 Using figures from the social insurance institution Kela, researchers found that the number of antibiotic prescriptions fell by 29 percent between the years 2008 and 2018. This means one million fewer prescriptions were written last year than ten years previously.
 However, the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics, effective against a wide range of disease-causing bacteria, has not reduced, and the figures differ from region to region, according to a report titled Consumption of Antimicrobials in Finland 2011–2018.
 This is partly due to the fact that guidelines are not as widely available or adhered to, Sarvikivi stated.
 The report has revealed that in the Kymenlaakso Hospital District, antibiotics are used in excess of 20 doses per day per thousand inhabitants, while in Central Finland and Vaasa the corresponding figure is less than 15 doses.
 On average, Finland uses 17 doses of antibiotics per day per thousand inhabitants, which is about the same as in the other Nordic countries. In 2018, the average number in Europe was 20 doses.

Multidrug-resistant bacteria spreading in Finland


Summary: Nearly half a million people in Finland owe money in state-backed student loans, according to Kela.

Taiteen ja kulttuurin tuotanto ja hallinto

Student debt in Finland has more than doubled over the last 10 years, according to a report by the Social Insurance Institution Kela.
 Figures compiled by Kela for the last academic year of 2018-2019 showed that more than 156,000 students took out state-guaranteed student loans — bringing total student debt to 3.4 billion euros this year compared to just 1.4 billion euros in 2008.
 The total number of people in debt is now 434,900, according to Kela's calculations, with the average student loan totalling 8,540 euros.
 While student loans are rising steadily, Kela also found that the number of study grant recipients has remained relatively unchanged. Study grants are provided by Kela to students at upper secondary and vocational institutions, calculated based on criteria such as the students' age, school and place of residence. In the last academic year, 273,600 students received study grants.
 Incentives to borrow
 Ilpo Lahtinen , chief coordinator with Kela, says he believes that new rules introduced in 2014 are the most significant factor driving increased borrowing.
 This legislation was intended to encourage more university students to graduate on time, and makes students eligible for a discount of 40 percent of their total student debt when they graduate, if the loan exceeds 2,500 euros.
 "It is such a good carrot for both quick graduation and student loan use," Lahtinen said. "It would be silly not to use it. We are talking about several thousand euros that you can get as credit."
 However, although the compensation policy is leading to an increase in borrowing, its impact on the numbers of students  graduating on time is still unclear .
 Making ends meet
 Titta Hiltunen , executive board member with the National Union of University Students in Finland (SYL), views the recent rise as a "negative thing", and points to an alternative explanation for the doubling of student debt.
 "The cuts that the former government made to students’ sustenance are behind this rise in debt," Hiltunen told Yle News. "Students’ financial aid was cut from 337 euros per month to 250 euros per month. At the same time, the amount of debt that can be drawn monthly was expanded from 400 euros to 650 euros."
 Therefore, in Hiltunen's opinion, students faced with less financial aid are forced into debt simply in order to make ends meet. This has a subsequent impact on students' present and future welfare.
 "It’s bad that young people at the start of their adulthood have to graduate with potentially tens of thousands of debt. It stresses students while they are still studying and might be part of the reason why more and more young people feel anxious," Hiltunen added.

Student debt doubles in a decade


Summary: Students complained last year about inappropriate behaviour, sparking the investigation.

A teacher at the Police University College has been charged with sexual abuse, sexual harassment and breach of official duty.
 The defendant in the case, who is a police officer with the rank of Sergeant, has been in custody throughout the pre-trial investigation and denies having committed any crime.
 Kimmo Himberg , Rector of the Police University College in Tampere, confirmed to Yle that the officer accused of the crimes has worked at the college for years.
 "It is shocking that the apparent activity has been able to continue for a long time without anyone disclosing it to the staff," Himberg said.
 "Not afraid to talk"
 The Police University College began its own investigation after students reported inappropriate behaviour, and the college filed a criminal complaint last spring.
 "I understand that some of the cases have become time-barred under criminal law, and then that means that we are talking about years," Himberg said, adding that many students started talking after one of the students dared to share their experiences.
 "The good thing about the MeToo phenomenon is that we are no longer silent about such things, we are not afraid to talk about them."
 Himberg added that although he has not seen any pre-trial material, he has talked to the alleged victims, all of whom -- according to Himberg -- are women.
 The inappropriate behaviour at the centre of the case are said to have occurred both during teaching sessions and during the defendant's spare time.
 The police have ordered that specific details related to the investigation must be kept secret at this stage. The court will decide on the public nature of the proceedings and of its documents.

Police academy teacher charged over sexual abuse


Summary: Sympathy strikes in support of Posti workers could significantly affect transport if the dispute is not resolved.

Suomen Elintarviketyöläisten Liitto (SEL)

Public transport in the capital city could come to a standstill next week if the Posti dispute continues without a resolution, after the Transport Workers’ Union AKT announced a sympathy strike in support of the ongoing national postal workers' strike.
 If implemented, the 24-hour strike that would commence on Monday, 25 November at 3 am and will affect buses of local and commuter services in the Greater Helsinki region.
 Helsinki Regional Transport Authority (HSL) will not be arranging for substitute bus services during the strike.
 "Most of the shifts will not be covered. It is difficult to prepare for this situation, as the status of the cancelled shifts cannot be known until each driver's shift begins"  Mika Häyrynen , head of procurement group at HSL, said.
 HSL's transport is operated by 10 different bus companies — the biggest carriers include Nobina, Helsingin Bussiliikenne and Pohjolan Liikenne. Nobina accounts for about a third of the shifts, while Helsingin Bussiliikenne and Pohjolan Liikenne handle about a quarter of the day.
 Authorities have said it is still quite unclear how many buses will be affected as not all drivers are members of AKT.
 Aviation industry to strike in support
 The Finnish Aviation Union (IAU) has also extended its support to postal workers by announcing a sympathy strike to be held next Monday, during which they will cease all work.
 According to the Union Bulletin, the IAU members involved in the support activities are working on ground handling, technology, catering, freight, as well as airport security inspection for all airlines operating from and to Finland.
 Employees of Finnair will also be a part of the strike, if it happens.
 Posti service points, food services to be affect
 Service Union United (PAM), a trade union for people working in private service sectors, expressed its solidarity with Posti by asking members not to handle packages and letters that pass through Posti’s distribution network and at all its service points.
 Posti has a total of around 750 service points, including shops, kiosks, service and gas stations, cafes and pharmacies. The ban will come into effect on the Monday of next week if the postal dispute remains unresolved.
 The Finnish Food Workers' Union (SEL) also announced a sympathy strike that will take place on 8 December if the postal strike doesn’t end by then.
 As part of the strike, workplaces in the food industry will not collect, load or unload cargo for the transport of food through Posti, its sub-contractors and subsidiaries.
 Ferry services to take a hit
 The sympathy strike announced by the board of the Finnish Seafarers’ Union (FSU) earlier this week commenced today, making mail delivery in the archipelago difficult.
 During the strike, Posti transports or packages are not being accepted onboard any crafts, ferries, and cable ferries in domestic and foreign vessels.
 If implemented, the union’s extended support actions which may come into effect next Monday may also affect thousands of passengers on Silja Line and Viking Line ferry services.

Helsinki public transport threatened by sympathy strikes


Summary: Finnish people were one of the biggest per capita investors in the virtual currency company.

Tens of thousands of Finnish investors are caught up in the OneCoin virtual currency scam, according to confidential documents seen by Yle's investigative journalism unit MOT.
 The documents reveal that Finnish people were, per capita, one of the most eager investors in the cryptocurrency -- with nearly 25,000 Finns investing at least 40 million euros in OneCoin over the first two years of its operations between 2014 and 2016. This was despite warnings at the time from Finnish experts that the virtual currency was  as good as "monopoly money" .
 The total amount invested by Finns is likely to be much higher than this, as OneCoin continued to grow in Finland after 2016.
 The controversial company hit global headlines in 2017 when its founder, "cryptoqueen"  Dr Ruja Ignatova , disappeared without trace amid growing concern among investors and analysts that the company was operating a Ponzi pyramid scheme.
 Scared into silence
 MOT sought interviews with dozens of Finnish people who have invested in OneCoin, including ordinary workers, small entrepreneurs and pensioners.
 However, none of the investors were willing to talk about OneCoin or the investment scheme publicly.
 One reason for this is fear, as OneCoin has forbidden investors to talk to the media under the threat of losing their virtual currency if they comment on the company's behaviour in public.
 However, based on the documents that MOT has received and  further investigations by the BBC , OneCoin may eventually be revealed to be one of the biggest scams in history.
 "I stopped caring"
 MOT did however manage to speak to  Kari Wahlroos , a network marketer formerly associated with OneCoin, who arrived at the interview in a Ferrari estimated to cost 600,000 euros.
 According to Wahlroos, he worked for a company called OneLife which sold training packages and recruited new members to the network.
 His job was to train network leaders and teach network marketing, and Wahlroos told MOT that initially it seemed like everything was too good to be true.
 "Then I stopped caring and just said, I'm here for that purpose, to take this network forward. I visited over 80 countries and 1.3 million people attended the events."
 According to the internal OneCoin documents obtained by MOT, Wahlroos was promised one percent of total sales in Europe and the former Soviet Union each month. With an estimated annual turnover of billions of dollars, this meant Wahlroos had an annual income of millions of euros until he left OneCoin in 2017.
 Devilishly cunning scam
 Non-fiction writer and IT expert  Petteri Järvinen  was one of the first critics of OneCoin and has continued to warn about the dangers of investing with the company for the past five years.
 In Järvinen's opinion, there is no doubt that OneCoin is a scam, but he told MOT that he understands why so many joined the virtual currency.
 "OneCoin is devilishly clever," Järvinen said. "OneCoin was made for network marketing. People recruited new members, received bonuses, and channeled money to the original cheaters at headquarters. In this way, every victim who participated in this network became, in a way, a criminal offender."

MOT: Finns set to lose millions in OneCoin scam


Summary: The press on Tuesday finds a Finnish angle on an international story.

Lääkealan turvallisuus- ja kehittämiskeskus

Helsingin Sanomat  looks at  the unfolding drama in Hong Kong, where hundreds of protesters have been holed up inside the city’s Polytechnic University as police surround the campus ready to arrest them.
 The current escalation follows months of protests in Hong Kong sparked by a bid to ease extradition to mainland China.
 HS reports that Finns it spoke to in the city are now considering their options.  Annika Payn  has lived there for 12 years, has two children, but says the current situation is making life difficult.
 She has to check where demonstrations are planned ahead of time and her small children have been off school because of the unrest. If it carries on much longer, she says, she’ll have to consider leaving.
 Heini Laakso , an exchange student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, is in a slightly different situation as a temporary resident.
 Her campus was occupied for four days earlier in the year, so she upped sticks and stayed elsewhere. She’s now leaving the country as her academic year has ended ahead of schedule.
 She does tell HS that she recognises her privilege, however: she is tall and blonde and not targeted by police, and can leave at any time.
 Many Hongkongers are not so lucky, and are therefore not keen to abandon their protests.
 Regional policy problems
 Finland has long practiced so-called ‘regional policy’, in which resources and public sector jobs are divided around the country in an effort to avoid the depopulation of small, remote settlements.
 Defence Minister  Antti Kaikkonen , of the rural Centre Party, has announced that he is looking into the possibility of dispersing military jobs around the country.
 Iltalehti  publishes  analysis of the move on Tuesday, suggesting that there is not much the Defence Forces can do.
 Less than ten percent of their employees are in the capital city region, and they currently have personnel in 28 municipalities from the very far north to the south-western tip of the country.
 So why has Kaikkonen announced his inquiry? IL suggests that it’s partly down to politics. The Centre lost a lot of support in April’s election, partly thanks to the previous government’s policies.
 Regionalisation is a popular move among the party’s base. And the Defence Forces themselves stress they are going to primarily look into remote working, rather than moving jobs from one place to another.
 The failed attempt to move the Finnish Medicines Agency’s staff to Kuopio, which was announced in 2009 and abandoned in 2017 thanks to the difficulty of persuading enough highly-educated people to move to Savo, is held up by IL as a cautionary tale for the government.
 Football focus
 Finland’s men’s national team are still celebrating their progression to next summer’s Euro2020 tournament, the first major tournament they have ever qualified for.
 Although the draw is not until 30 November, the location of the Eagle Owls’ games could become all but certain on Tuesday.
 That’s because of the myriad rules and seedings around the draw.
 Finland lost 2-1 to Greece on Monday so they will be in ‘pot 4’ for the draw, and because many of the host countries have qualified and because Russia cannot play Kosovo or Ukraine in the group stages for political reasons, Finland are extremely likely to play in Denmark and Russia’s group.
 Ilta-Sanomat  reports  that the group will almost certainly consist of Finland, Russia, Denmark and Belgium. The games will be in Saint Petersburg and Copenhagen, the two closest host cities to Finland.
 This could change after Tuesday’s games, in the unlikely event that Slovakia or Wales qualify for the tournament.
 The Finnish squad comes to Helsinki on Tuesday for a celebration of their historic achievement, with thousands of fans expected to converge on the centre of the capital.

Tuesday’s papers: Hong Kong Finns, regional rejection and the eagle owls look ahead


Summary: A broad postal strike is set to continue in Finland after the postal workers’ union rejected proposals from mediators.

Postal workers won’t go back to work, and  support strikes are set to widen  after postal workers on Tuesday rejected a proposal for new terms and conditions from the National Labour Conciliator  Vuokko Piekkala .
 The move means postal workers remain on strike and support strikes are slated to expand to cover Posti service points, freight rail services, ferry services and even local transport in the Helsinki region.
 The proposal was presented on Monday evening, and postal union PAU’s leader  Heidi Nieminen  had said immediately that she knew what her answer was.
 "The answer was already known last night, but the conciliator wanted us to sleep on it and then give our response again," said Nieminen on Tuesday morning.
 She said that the main issue was the company’s decision to move some 700 workers in parcel sorting offices to  a new collective agreement  in August.
 The employers' representatives Palta had accepted the proposal, with their negotiator  Tuomas Aarto  claiming that the parcel sorting workers' conditions were not on the table in this negotiation round.
 Several unions in the transport sector have announced sympathy strikes, with railway workers stopping freight trains for 24 hours from this evening. Public sector workers in the JHL union have from Tuesday morning stopped handling goods in rail freight yards, with their action scheduled to end in the evening.
 Negotiations are scheduled to continue from 1pm on Wednesday at the National Labour Conciliator’s office.

Postal strike to continue after union rejects proposals


Summary: Authorities believe that ringleaders used a mobile app to guide would-be border crossers.

Finnish border officials say they have foiled an apparent attempt to set up a new route for illegal entry into Finland, aided by a mobile phone app.
 The Southeast Finland Border Guard said on Tuesday that three Iranians were detained while trying to walk over the Russian border last June. They were caught in the forest between Vyborg, Russia, and Lappeenranta, Finland.
 Authorities suspect that this was a test run of a new, organised method of sneaking into the country from Russia.
 "There were members of a criminal group in Finland who were supposed to meet the Iranians illegally arriving from Russia," says Captain  Ville Mihl  of the Southeast Finland Border Guard, who is leading the investigation.
 Story continues after photo
 Captain Ville Mihl Kari Saastamoinen / Yle
 Border Guard officials say the criminal organisation's operations are run by an Afghan living in Central Europe, who has illegally brought Iranians and Afghans into the EU via Turkey and Greece.
 Finland's 1,340 km border with Russia is one of the longest external borders of both the EU and the passport-free Schengen area. There is a border zone of up to three kilometres wide between Finland and Russia.
 Tracked by smartphone
 Law enforcement officials believe that members of the group living outside Finland went last spring to scout out the frontier area in Miehikkälä, a municipality in Kymenlaakso, some 20km northwest of the Vaalimaa border crossing point.
 Story continues after photo
 Barbed wire in the frontier zone. Kari Saastamoinen / Yle
 According to the preliminary investigation, suspects living in Finland also went to check conditions in the area a few days before the planned arrival.
 "The suspects knew about the conditions in the border area to the extent that they could find nearby roads and the border zone. The rest of the terrain conditions remained unknown," says Mihl.
 The three people making the attempted entry were driven to a point in Russia 15 km from the Finnish border. From there, they continued on foot.
 Meanwhile they were being tracked and advised in real time by organisers in Central Europe using a mobile location app.
 "They were given instructions as needed if they got lost or deviated from the planned route," he explains.
 Story continues after photo
 The Finnish Border Guard believes this could have become a regular route. Risto Degerman / Yle
 Mihl says that this is the first time such a method has been used, as far as Finnish officials know.
 "Normal text messages have been sent before telling where the individuals were, for instance," he says, "but this is the first case in which location data was fed in real time to members of a criminal group."
 This enabled to those seeking to cross the border to do so without being escorted, he adds.
 2 caught in Finland, 1 in Russia
 The Russian Border Guard caught one of the Iranians in the Russian border zone. The other two were detained on the Finnish side, in the Ylämaa area of Lappeenranta, some 10km from the border and about 30km from Miehikkälä.
 Two residents of the Helsinki area were later found in a car a few kilometres from where the two Iranians were taken into custody. They were allegedly there to meet the arrivals.
 Mihl says that if the attempt had been successful, the gang planned to bring more Iranians in the same way within a few days.
 "I believe that the there would have been 3-6 people crossing illegally at a time. Then they would have fitted into a car on either side of the border," says Mihl.
 Just one border into Schengen area
 The Finnish-Russian frontier is of interest to Iranians because it offers a chance to enter the 26-nation Schengen area by crossing just one border.
 "At the moment Iranians can easily get legal visas to enter Russia and travel to near the Finnish border," Mihl says.
 Over the past two years, Iranians have been the largest national group of people prevented from entering southeastern Finland illegally. Last year there were about 100 such attempts, and so far this year around 90.
 South Karelia District Court is now considering a case in which an Iranian tried to come into the country illegally aboard the Allegro train from St Petersburg.
 "In that case there was an attempt to use a forged passport, whereas in the other case they tried to come into Finland without documents," Mihl says.
 The preliminary investigation into the June incident has been completed and the case is now being handed over to a prosecutor for consideration of charges.

Border Guard suspects bid to open new entry route into Finland


Summary: The defendant was found guilty of aggravated child sexual abuse offences committed in Finland and abroad.

The Southwest Finland District Court has sentenced a 50-year-old man to 12 years in prison for aggravated child sex abuse offences that targeted several victims.
 On Monday the court handed down five different verdicts following a closed-door trial.
 According to a report released by the court, the man was found guilty of aggravated child sexual abuse and aggravated rape committed in Turku and other parts of Finland between 2014 and 2019 and aggravated rape of a child between May and June of this year.
 Photos and video recording of sex acts
 In the most egregious case, the man was found to have had sexual intercourse with a child on at least 100 occasions and over a period of several years. The sex acts were photographed and recorded on video and the victim was someone close to the defendant.
 The court ruled that the offence was aggravated because it caused harm to the victim because of the child’s age and level of development. The court also found that the child was in a dependent position in relation to the defendant and was also helpless, a factor that met the criteria for the definition of rape.
 Crimes also committed abroad
 In another ruling, the same defendant was found guilty of aggravated child sex abuse committed abroad in 2008 and for coercing a victim into sexual activity in 2011, an offence that was also committed abroad.
 In another verdict, the man was found guilty of disseminating indecent images in 2015. The court ordered that the identities of the victims and their guardians as well as court documents be kept secret for 60 years. The court judgments and legal provisions were not sealed.
 The defendant was sentenced to pay damages to the victims and to serve 12 years in prison.

12-year jail sentence for man convicted of child sex abuse


Summary: The IMF urges Finland to reconsider environmentally harmful subsidies, which add up to 3.5 billion euros a year.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has expressed scepticism about the Finnish government's goal of attaining a balanced budget during its four-year legislative term.
 "The government plans to make the budget balance by 2023, in large part by boosting employment. But our view of likely growth and employment indicates the government would still have to borrow about one percent of GDP in 2023," the IMF said in its report on the Finnish economy.
 Prime Minister  Antti Rinne 's centre-left cabinet, which took office in June, aims to balance the budget by 2023, despite agreeing on a 2020 budget deficit of two billion euros earlier this autumn. To that end, it intends to create 60,000 new jobs, raising the employment rate to 75 percent from the current 72.8 percent.
 "Look at leave and home-care benefits"
 "Keep your eye on fiscal sustainability. There's a probability, more than likely, that the budget will not be in balance in 2023," IMF senior economist and mission head  Alasdair Scott  said on a visit to Helsinki on Tuesday.
 The IMF predicts that the Finnish economy will grow by 1.25 percent this year, rising to 1.5 percent in 2020. Last year it expanded by 1.7 percent.
 "To boost employment, the government could look at leave and home-care benefits, which generate incentives for women to stay at home, and tax and benefit schedules that mean that some face a financial penalty to work, rather than stay unemployed or out of the workforce," the IMF suggested.
 Environmentally harmful subsidies
 The IMF report points out that various kinds of environmentally harmful subsidies, such as those for peat production, add up to 3.5 billion euros a year. Scott urged reconsideration of these, especially since the cabinet has promised that the country will be carbon-neutral by 2035.
 In a statement, Minister of Finance  Mika Lintilä  conceded that the targets in the government agenda will be challenging to attain.
 "The Government Programme is demanding. It is clear that the cornerstones are a fiscal balance, a restructuring of health and social services and raising of the employment rate. These will not be achieved automatically, but require determined action," he said.
 The IMF also applauded the government's recommendation that banks limit the ratio of household debt to income. The Bank of Finland has long expressed concerned about household debt and the fact that housing company loans are making up a growing share of the housing loan market.

IMF: Unlikely Finnish government can balance budget by 2023


Summary: The startup festival Slush is a good place to start promoting diversity in the workforce, according to one non-profit.

Startups looking for international growth are in the best position to embrace diversity from the very beginning, says the founder of a non-profit that promotes diversity in tech firms.
 That’s not just to hit quotas -- it can help firms make more money.
 According to  a report released ahead of the two-day startup event  Slush, diverse teams make better decisions than homogeneous ones 87 percent of the time. It also found that businesses with a good mix of ethnic backgrounds were 33 percent more likely to outperform their competitors.
 Swiss-born  Anne Badan  is the founder and CEO of The Shortcut, an organisation that works with Slush and other firms in the startup and tech space to help international students and skilled migrants get jobs or pursue entrepreneurship. She pointed out that these groups don’t normally have access to the same opportunities as locals.
 "Not being born here, not having networks, or alumni access, that’s the biggest problem. Eighty-five percent of jobs are not advertised, that’s one thing."
 "Second, people who are hiring are often only hiring among their friends and the networks they know. So if you’re not from these networks you’re never going to be considered or have access to these places," she added.
 Finland "hitting a wall"
 Badan argued that diversity helps firms grow faster, as a diverse staff often sees opportunities more homogeneous groups miss. Many Finnish startups lack diversity and therefore miss out on these opportunities, she noted.
 "We’re talking about young, male, white, students from one of the top universities in the country. This is not representative of the entire society," she added.
 Story continues after photo.
 Anne Badan, founder and CEO of The Shortcut.
 The non-profit head spoke with Yle News at the launch of a report on inclusion and diversity in tech by the United Nations Technology Innovation Lab (UNTIL) in Finland, which called for more inclusion in the sector. The report also stated that representational racial or ethnic diversity could help the global tech sector generate an additional 270-334 billion euros (300-370 billion dollars) in revenue annually.
 UNTIL said it wants the report to inspire discussions about diversity and inclusion at Helsinki’s annual tech and startup extravaganza, Slush, which begins on Thursday.
 It’s a real problem for Finland. Badan argued that as migrant talent goes unexploited, Finland is "hitting a wall." With a population of just 5.5 million and limited opportunity for growth, many companies have been built with small groups of people that are not very diverse.
 If Finnish enterprises want to be competitive in global markets, they will have to do things differently.
 "They’ll need more labour, more expertise, more varied types of backgrounds -- people that come from all walks of life in order to build their business to the level that they want to go. So obviously, we have to open up that discussion in the country," she declared.
 "No excuse" not to embrace diversity
 According to Badan, that’s where the tech startup industry has a chance to do things differently. She noted that startups are typically interested in expanding their horizons and scaling up fast. It’s also easier for them to embrace diverse teams at inception.
 "That’s much easier because the moment you start there, then you speak in English and all your processes are transparent and you don’t even think about it. But when you try one year, five, 10 or 100 years down the line [to change] then it’s super hard to reverse-engineer company culture."
 A white paper released by The Shortcut on Monday referenced 2018 data from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, which said that Finland needs 53,000 new technology experts by 2021 and over 10,000 new software developers in the next four years.
 That talent shortage is also hitting the startup sector Badan said, and that means there really is no excuse for players in the field not to embrace diversity.
 All Points North will talk with Anne Badan, CEO and founder of Slush sister organisation The Shortcut about why diversity matters in startups. If you have a question or comment, contact us via WhatsApp on +358 44 421 0909, on our Facebook or Twitter accounts, or email us at yle.news@yle.fi.

APN this week: "85% of jobs not advertised", says NGO tackling Finland's workplace diversity problem


Summary: Independence and limited family finances are the most common reasons for high schoolers to hold down a job.

The number of upper secondary school students holding down part-time jobs while studying is on the rise, according to a 2019 school health survey. The study conducted by the National Institute for Health and Welfare, THL, shows that the same holds true for young adults studying in vocational institutions.
 This year’s survey indicates that 21 percent of nearly 43,000 upper secondary students work while going to school, compared to 19 percent in 2017, when the previous study was conducted. The study reveals that about 25,500 girls split their time between school and work, while about 17,000 boys said they are also working and studying.
 The THL noted that the number of working students in secondary education has increased steadily since 2012.
 Sinikka Aapola-Kari , research director with the Finnish Youth Research Network, has tracked working high school students. She said that the most common reasons for working while studying in high school are independence and students’ family circumstances.
 "In families where financial resources are limited – as is the case in many single-parent families – the financial situation may have played a part in students working," she noted.
 Work bankrolls independence
 Students like 18-year-old  Antti Komulainen  say they choose to work mainly to have some degree of financial independence.
 "I have such a busy life otherwise than living on my own seemed like a good decision. I don’t want to depend on my parents’ money, but I want to be financially independent," said Komulainen, who is in his third year of upper secondary school.
 Antti Komulainen is in his third year of upper secondary school. Nella Nuora / Yle
 For Komulainen, living on his own means working in a fast food joint. He said that young adults in Finland are aiming for independence at an earlier age – that means assuming responsibility for their own homes, jobs and expenses.
 "I’ve worked since I moved out at the age of 17. The majority of my money goes toward living expenses," he added. His parents support him by paying for school material.
 Like many other students his age, Komulainen receives a study grant and a housing benefit, but it’s  not enough to live on  independently. Upper secondary and vocational school students typically receive a study grant for 10 months of the year.
 Youth in Finland leave the nest earlier
 A report published by the National Agency for Education last year indicated that some upper secondary school students also work just to cover the expense of going to school. Eligible students can apply for  a supplementary allowance of nearly 50 euros a month  to buy school materials. However the cost of textbooks alone can quickly swallow up that money.
 According to estimates by the Union of Upper Secondary School Students, SLL, the price tag for  high school materials can reach up to 2,500 euros . The estimate includes costs such as textbooks, a laptop and matriculation exam fees.
 Physician  Miila Halonen  said that upper secondary school students she has seen estimate that they spend up to 70 hours each week on studies, school and hobbies – nearly twice the average work week in Finland. Some complain of difficulty breathing, heart palpitations and chronic fatigue.
 "Students usually cannot even understand how they have come to this point and why they are working so hard," Halonen continued.
 According to student health care doctor Halonen, a working mindset is implanted in students’ minds early on in high school, mainly because they need to decide on subjects related to their future careers. International comparisons suggest that students in Finland are the youngest to strike out on their own. The usual age for leaving home in Finland is 20.

One in five high school students in Finland works while studying


Summary: The opposition offers an alternative spending breakdown, tech’s lasting inclusiveness problem and electricity scarcity.

The Finnish media on Wednesday explores opposition parties’ alternative budgets. Many papers also devote space to tech industry event Slush, where investors with deep pockets can take huge bets on startups.
 On Tuesday the IMF  announced that it does not expect Finland to balance its state budget by the end of the current parliamentary term in 2023 . On Wednesday opposition parties put forward their alternative state budgets in Parliament.
 Swedish-language daily Hufvudstadsbladet reports that the  conservative National Coalition Party  says it would shave a billion euros off taxes, the Finns Party aims to slash development aid while the Christian Democrats would channel more funding to families.
 This is the National Coalition Party’s first alternative budget after 12 years in government. The party has also proposed diverting funds from income-related unemployment support to education.
 Inclusion in tech?
 Helsingin Sanomat looks at the tech industry’s diversity problem as the tech industry festival Slush kicks off in the capital on Thursday.
 The importance of diversity--whether pertaining to age, race or sex--has never really been on the agenda in Finland,  Katja Toropainen , a former curator at Slush, told the paper. She now works with a non-profit, Inklusiiv, raising awareness on diversity in Finnish worklife.
 As Yle reported earlier, a lack of cultural  diversity is a problem in Finnish workplaces .
 This year, women make up 39 percent of speakers at Slush, up by one percentage point from last year. In 2018, 33 percent of attendees were female.
 Slush organisers, however, said they have attempted to bring diversity to the event. Earlier this year, Slush CEO  Andreas Saari  said he would no longer appear on all-male panels--an idea several male professors latched on to earlier this week.
 This week the Yle News All Points North podcast meets  Anne Badan , CEO and founder of The Shortcut about why diversity matters in startups.
 Power to the people
 With winter right around the corner, business daily Kauppalehti says Finland could face power shortages in the coming months as Sweden will have less electricity available for export due to power plant closures.
 Grid operator Fingrid said it has become more difficult to obtain imported electricity for heavily import-dependent Finland during  winter consumption peaks .
 An electricity shortage is possible if the whole of Finland is hit by a  severe and prolonged sub-zero cold spell , according to Fingrid.
 In such a case Fingrid estimates that, in a situation of peak consumption, electricity consumption in Finland will rise to approximately 15,300 MW and one-fifth of the electricity, approximately 3,400 MW, must be imported from abroad, mainly central Europe.

Wednesday’s papers: Shadow budgets, tech’s diversity problem and winter power outages


Summary: Every day fitness bracelets record thousands of children’s activity levels at daycare centres around Finland.

Activity bracelets for kids have been touted as Finland’s weapon against sedentary behaviour, but experts say kids need more than gimmicks to get moving.
 Five-year-old  Sani Heikkinen  holds up her black fitness bracelet and says she scores points by wearing it at school. When these points add up, she can cash them in to play on a tablet.
 This is the second year 5-year-olds at the private Touhula daycare centre in Kuopio  have been using wearables  to increase physical activity.
 The proliferation of children’s activity bands grew out of revamped early childhood education guidelines in 2017 encouraging kids to clock up to three hours of exercise a day.
 "The kids now average two hours a day of physical activity," said  Tiina Kohvakka , head teacher at Touhula’s Saaristokaupunki daycare in Kuopio. "It also lets parents know exactly how much exercise their kids are getting during the day."
 Obesity epidemic
 Fifteen public daycare centres in Tampere adopted activity bands last year.
 "Only 10-20 percent of under-school age children meet fitness recommendations. From a public health perspective, we have to do something to combat sedentary behaviour,"  Mikko Leikkanen  from the city of Tampere explained.
 National health watchdog THL has reported that nearly a quarter of kids in Finland between the ages of two to 16 are overweight.
 Parents and teachers have welcomed the wristbands, according to head teacher Kohvakka.
 Henrikki Kattainen , a parent at Touhula’s Saaristokaupunki centre, told Yle that his daughter couldn’t wait to get her own tracker. But he said it was important that wearing the bands remained voluntary.
 "Adults can’t force kids to wear them and the data shouldn’t place the kids in any sort of ranking," he said.
 Whose data is it anyway?
 Data security is a real concern when it comes to fitness trackers, especially in terms of how the collected data is used, according to  Arja Sääkslahti , a Jyväskylä University researcher specialised in sports pedagogy.
 "Schools are the main gatekeepers," she explained.
 Last year Finnish fitness company  Polar suspended its global activity map  after news emerged that a flaw in the app revealed sensitive location data of users.
 Touhula says the kids have individual trackers. Parents can plug into harvested data by downloading the connected app.
 But Sääkslahti still has her concerns.
 "We are venturing into a sensitive area. For the sake of anonymity, it would be better if fitness was tracked on a group--not individual--level," she said.

Privacy concerns over kids’ fitness trackers


Summary: Finnish pupils could miss out on extra-curricular trips after a recent ruling.

Teachers across Finland are grappling with a recent ruling from the Deputy Parliamentary Ombudsman that schools are not permitted to collect money for trips.
 In late October  Pasi Pölönen  ruled that local authorities have to make sure they provide the same services for everyone.
 “As the provider of education, municipalities have a duty to avoid creating practices that could in reality increase inequality,” said Pölönen.
 Some schools have considered the provision of a free alternative to a paid trip was enough to ensure they complied with the legislation requiring education to be free of charge.
 Thanks to the new ruling, that’s no longer the case.
 School should be free of charge
 The case came to the ombudsman after several complaints in 2018, which asked whether it was okay for schools to charge for trips or ‘theme’ days.
 Complainants cited Finland’s constitution, which states that basic education should be free to everyone.
 The ombudsman agreed, ruling that even schooling that takes place off the premises should be free of charge. The provider of education--in practice the local municipality--must have enough resources to ensure the activities are free of charge.
 Parents can, if they choose, raise the funds themselves and hand them over, but that fundraising must be entirely voluntary and all of the funds must be used for all of the students.
 So there can be no compulsion to pay, and all activities must be available to all children regardless of whether or not their parents contributed financially.
 Guidelines need an update
 One of the complaints asked if a class trip to a theme park or to Helsinki counted as schooling. The ruling holds that it does, because it takes place during schooltime and at the school’s initiative.
 The ombudsman found that the option of a paid trip or a free trip was problematic. At Kimpinen School in Lappeenranta, that arrangement has been a tradition.
 Kids can go downhill skiing in Tahko at a cost of 40-45 euros or participate in a winter sports day on school premises.
 “Each year around 150-170 pupils have gone [to Tahko],” said the school’s deputy head  Santtu Peltomaa .
 According to  Nina Lahtinen  of the teachers’ union OAJ, school trips enrich the educational experience by exposing children to, for example, theatres and museums.
 “I’m sure this ruling will mean changes,” said Lahtinen. “Hopefully those municipalities where finances are weaker will find some kind of solution and continue to arrange trips.”
 The National Board of Education is also set to update its guidelines around school trips.
 “We need to take some kind of timeout, as we can’t operate completely outside the law,” said Peltomaa.

Schools ponder trip alternatives after cash collection ban ruling


Summary: The EU Commission says that Finland’s planned spending in 2020 could breach fiscal rules.

Kansainväliset organisaatiot ja sopimukset

The European Union has warned the Finnish government that its spending plan for next year could breach union-wide rules governing public finances.
 Finland had been asked in October to provide the EU Commission with an explanation for its spending plans.
 The response from the Finance Ministry was that next year’s larger deficit in the state finances is an exception, and the government aims to correct it in the following years.
 That plan was  judged as insufficient  by the IMF in a separate verdict delivered on Tuesday.
 The EU Commission does not regard Finland’s finances as especially concerning, because the country is not expected to exceed the debt limit of 60 percent of GDP.
 The commission also warned Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia and Slovakia.
 Germany and the Netherlands, on the other hand, were told their debt levels were so low they could increase spending to stimulate demand.
 Greece and Ireland, which both received bailouts for their state debt, have met the requirements of EU budget monitors.

Finland warned by EU over public spending


Summary: Tuesday’s newspapers are dominated by news of ongoing industrial strife.

Helsingin Sanomat  reports  on Tuesday that talks on resolving the dispute in the postal sector remain deadlocked.
 The talks were close to a resolution on Monday evening but then the two sides moved further apart, meaning that they reconvene on Tuesday at the National Labour Conciliator’s office.
 The issue remains the collective agreement applying to 700 parcel sorting office workers who the national postal company Posti has transferred to a subsidiary, worsening their terms and conditions.
 SDP on slippery slope
 Ilta-Sanomat  looks at  the political background to the strike. As Posti is a state-owned company, it falls under the purview of  Sirpa Paatero , the Minister for State Ownership Steering.
 She had said in parliament that she wasn’t asked about the transfer of the 700 workers to an inferior collective agreement on wages and terms and conditions.
 However Prime Minister  Antti Rinne  had also claimed in parliament that the government had prevented Posti from transferring some 10,000 workers to the lower-pay package.
 The question IS not unreasonably poses is how the government can claim an active role in one case and ignorance in the other.
 It’s an especially thorny issue for Rinne, who previously headed up the Pro trade union, and Paatero, who is also in the union-backed Social Democrat Party.
 No pikkujoulu no party
 The deadlocked dispute  means  widespread disruption to flights as aviation workers continue sympathy action, and some early morning bus services were cancelled in Helsinki as drivers returned to work.
 Maritime workers are also taking action, refusing to join Finnish-flagged vessels and effectively keeping them in port.
 Iltalehti  reports  that this could have been a problem for the Maritime workers union, which is having a Christmas party on a ship on Tuesday.
 Happily for them, however, the ship on which they are partying is an Estonian-flagged vessel and able to continue on its merry way. Until Thursday when, if the dispute is not resolved, foreign-flagged ferries will also be left in port thanks to support action from dockworkers.
 Baltzar case shocks Finland
 Helsingin Sanomat on Sunday  published  an investigation into a theatre company run by  Veijo Baltzar , an internationally renowned Roma cultural figure.
 Reporters spoke to several women who said they were drawn into the Drom theatre company as teenagers through promises of stardom, only to find a controlling atmosphere.
 They described a set up in which teenage girls were brought in to the company and told to flirt with Baltzar, and his favoured young women were required to live at his home.
 One mother told the paper of her struggles to extract her daughter from the situation, and several women corroborated the claims about Baltzar’s  questionable methods .
 Baltzar was arrested last week on suspicion of aggravated human trafficking.
 The story has rumbled on in the press, with senior politicians wondering how they did not know and others arguing that Baltzar hid in plain sight: in the time before #metoo, it seems nobody was listening.
 Paleface goes wobbly
 Finnish rapper  Paleface  (real name  Karri Miettinen ) has a new record out this week, and it’s a little bit different.
 Together with the Lauluvan unioni group he has recorded an album of songs dating from the Finnish sections of the International Workers of the World (IWW) in North America.
 Helsingin Sanomat  reports  the background to the record, which came about when researcher Saijaleena Rantanen discovered a Finnish-language copy of an IWW songbook at Immigration History Research Centre in Minnesota.
 The album, ‘Tie Vapauteen’ or ‘road to freedom’, recalls the politics of Finnish immigrants in the United States and Canada in the early years of the 20th century.
 Many of them joined the anarcho-syndicalist IWW, members of which were colloquially known as ‘wobblies’, and published Finnish language newspapers and held Finnish language meetings and dances.

Tuesday’s papers: Strike latest, ministerial mis-speaking, a theatrical predator and Finnish wobblies


Summary: The small town of Sysmä in southern Finland is home to Finland’s first gender neutral fire station.

Ulkoasiain hallinto, maanpuolustus ja järjestystoimi

Sysmä’s new fire house features individual dressing rooms and shower stalls to enhance inclusion as all firefighters can wash at the same time.
 “We planned this facility 40 years into the future. We believe fire stations will see more gender equality in the coming years,”  Taneli Rasmus , a former technical director for the municipality told Yle.
 Mira Leinonen , who chairs the Women in Fire and Rescue Services Commission, an international network, says Finland has room for improvement in this area.
 “Finland’s oldest fire stations date to the 1800s. At some, cleaning cupboards have served as women’s changing rooms,” she explained.
 Enhancing women’s inclusion
 Jorma Sainio  from Sysmä’s voluntary fire department said women and men at the station used to take turns showering.
 But it’s this type of exclusion that Leinonen says is a problem.
 “When a rescue operation is finished, firefighters head straight to the shower, at the same time often discussing their last job. Women are excluded from these conversations,” Leinonen explained.
 Being excluded weakens group cohesion and dampens work satisfaction. Leinonen said international studies show these are reasons women often leave the profession.
 But at Sysmä, women will no longer have to wait for the men to finish their shower first. At the new station everyone can hit the showers at the same time thanks to the installment of private dressing and shower cabins.
 Uniform fit
 But Leinonen points out the changing rooms aren’t the only area where women have been overlooked. Pregnant firefighters often struggle with their uniforms.
 “One woman firefighter had already had her baby by the time she received a uniform that fit her,” Leinonen added.
 That said, small women also have trouble wearing clothing and gear designed for men, particularly as uniforms should fit snugly for safety reasons.
 The whole sector is built on the premise of a male norm. The structures, gear and attitudes need to change for women to want to join and remain in this field, according to Leinonen.
 “Rescue services are for everyone, so it would be strange if our personnel didn’t reflect society as a whole,” Leinonen explained.
 In Finland, some 30 women work as fire chiefs and ten percent of contract firefighters are female.

Finland unveils first gender neutral fire station


Summary: Postal workers plan to demonstrate outside Parliament on Thursday with no sign of an end to the dispute in sight.

Tabloid Iltalehti  reports from the front lines of the postal strike , where the pressure to reach a settlement is increasing with each passing day.
 IL writes that the postal workers' industrial action --  which began on November 11 and is now in its second week  -- will extend to sales and clerical duties next Monday and continue until December 8, unless an agreement is reached before then. Currently Posti customers can expect the delivery of letters to be delayed by more than a week, and parcels by a few days.
 According to Iltalehti, the delivery of parcels is proving to be particularly problematic for Posti as the Christmas season approaches. Many businesses have already switched to Posti's competitors due to the strike, and not all may return to the national mail carrier after the dispute is settled.
 The tabloid further reports on a planned demonstration by PAU union activists to be held on Thursday outside Parliament in Helsinki, at which they will call for an end to 'collective agreement shopping', which refers to the practice of employers unilaterally changing the collective agreement to which their workers are subject.
 They want some 700 workers not covered by the deal to be brought within its remit after they were moved to a different company earlier this year.
 They're also calling for the Posti board to resign.
 This latest intensification of the dispute comes after the union  rejected a proposal for new terms and conditions  from the National Labour Conciliator  Vuokko Piekkala  on Tuesday.
 "Bigger than ever"
 Helsingin Sanomat is  giddy with excitement  as Finland's annual startup event Slush kicks off today at 10am in Helsinki. The paper writes that the event this year is "bigger than ever", with 25,000 visitors from 130 different countries expected to converge on the Messukeskus Expo and Convention Centre for 3 days of tech talk.
 HS has picked out speeches by Irish entrepreneur  John Collison  -- who founded the online payment company Stripe with his brother  Patrick  -- and streaming giant Twitch’s co-founder  Kevin Lin  as being particular highlights.
 The paper also writes that this year the theme at Slush is people's perceptions of the future from different points in history. One such display on this theme will be the space desert, for which 300,000 kilos of sand has been delivered to the Convention Centre.
 "In addition, there are waterfalls, robot fish and the Game Cave, which will have different games from different decades. There will be surprising things for visitors at the event,"  Emma Lehikoinen , Content Director at Slush, told HS.
 Bidding begins on drug cop's home
 Tabloid Ilta-Sanomat reports that nearly  100 bids have already been made for the former house of disgraced police chief Jari Aarnio , who  began his 13 year sentence for drug trafficking and official misconduct in June this year .
 The association with the notorious criminal has not proved to be a deterrent for potential buyers, as IS writes that intense interest in the online auction has led to the price rising by more than 100,000 euros since bidding opened on Tuesday.
 Aarnio was the former head of Helsinki's anti-narcotics unit until he was arrested in November 2013 and charged with running a sophisticated drug smuggling operation.
 "It is perhaps a bit surprising how much interest this has aroused from the very start,"  Juha Henttala , a criminal superintendent from the Eastern Uusimaa Police Department, told the tabloid.
 The house is open for bids until December 17, according to IS, so the final purchase price may increase substantially. The proceeds from the sale will be awarded to the State.

Thursday’s papers: Postal strike pressure intensifies, Slush kicks off and drug cop’s house for sale


Summary: Finland’s postal strike is in its second week.

Ministerit, ministeriöt ja valtioneuvosto

The minister responsible for state ownership steering has admitted she did know about plans to move 700 workers at the state-owned postal firm Posti to a different collective agreement, and set up a working group to report on possible way forwards in the deadlocked dispute.
 She had earlier said that she was not asked for approval by bosses at the state-owned postal firm Posti when they weakened the terms and conditions for around 700 workers in parcel sorting offices.
 The company transferred the workers, who were previously employed directly by Posti, to its subsidiary Posti Palvelut.
 The minister,  Sirpa Paatero , had on Thursday morning told commercial broadcaster MTV that she was not at any point asked for her approval of the move. But in a statement released on Thursday afternoon she clarified that she had been informed about the plan in general terms before it happened but was not specifically asked for permission.
 At the same time, their terms and conditions of employment were dramatically weakened as they were covered by a different collective agreement not negotiated by the postal workers’ union PAU.
 PAU’s strike started on 11 November and negotiations remain deadlocked. The union has  rejected a compromise proposal  for the delivery workers, which would have left their pay and conditions unchanged.
 The sticking point is the 700 workers transferred to a different agreement. Palta, which negotiates for the employer, said that they had no jurisdiction over the matter.
 Paatero announced on Thursday afternoon that she has established a working group to look at possible solutions to the dispute.
 The group consists of  Jukka Ahtela , who works at the labour conciliator's office,  Lauri Ihalainen , who used to head up the blue-collar trade union confederation SAK,  Lasse Laatunen  of the EK Confederation of Finnish Industries and  Ann Selin  of the Pam trade union.
 No talks planned
 "It looks like the problem is these 700 parcel sorting workers, for whom no resolution has been found," said national labour conciliator  Vuokko Piekkala  on Wednesday evening.
 "The rest of the texts have been discussed and moved forward constructively. Now we wait to see how the situation develops."
 No new talks are currently planned, with the employer refusing to look at the 700 workers’ situation and the union sticking by its demands.
 PAU says it cannot agree to end the strike until the 700 are back in their collective agreement, and union activists are planning to demonstrate outside Parliament in Helsinki on Thursday. The union has sharply criticised 'collective agreement shopping'.
 That phrase refers to the practice of employers unilaterally switching workers from one collective agreement to another, usually with worse terms and conditions.
 Collective agreements rule labour market
 Finland has broad collective agreements covering more than 90 percent of the workforce, with employers in those sectors obliged to pay the minimum wage for that sector and all the salary supplements that apply.
 Those agreements usually run for two years at a time, with unions obliged to avoid industrial action when negotiations are not underway.
 With talks between postal workers and their employer deadlocked, sympathy strikes are spreading across the Finnish economy.
 Maritime unions began refusing to load cargo on passenger ferries’ card decks from 6am on Thursday, while aviation workers have refused to handle post at airports.
 Truck drivers are also on an overtime ban and are refusing to swap shifts until the postal workers’ dispute is resolved.

Minister backtracks over Posti outsourcing, sets up working group


Summary: Finland's biggest environmental criminal case ends with convictions for the former CEO and mine manager.

Kulta ja arvometallit sekä niiden louhinta

Finland’s Supreme Court (KKO) has upheld the decision made by the Rovaniemi Court of Appeal in the Talvivaara environmental damage case.
 The mining company’s former CEO,  Pekka Perä , was convicted of gross environmental degradation while former mine manager  Lassi Lammassaari  was convicted of environmental degradation. The case related to a series of major leaks from wastewater ponds holding effluent from the company's mining operations between 2006 and 2013.
 Last year , the Rovaniemi Court of Appeal imposed a six-month suspended prison sentence on Perä, and a 60-day fine on Lammassaari. Both men had denied the charges and appealed the verdicts.
 Another former CEO of the company,  Harri Natunen , also received 100 day-fines for environmental degradation in 2018 but was denied leave to appeal.
 Fines in Finland are based on income, with each 'day-fine' amounting to a certain percentage of a person's income. A person with no dependent children, earning 3,000 euros a month, would pay 45 euros for each day-fine.
 "100 times higher"
 The case concerned the environmentally harmful levels of sodium, sulphate and manganese in waste water that was released into the environment between 2006 and 2013. The emissions of these environmentally harmful substances had been up to 100 times higher than claimed in the company's environmental permit application.
 The court therefore decided that both Perä and Lammassaari were responsible for the releasing of effluent into the environment in breach of the permit conditions required by law.
 Talvivaara underwent debt restructuring in 2017 and rebranded itself as Ahtium, but  subsequently filed for bankruptcy in June 2018 .
 The mine is now run by metals company Terrafame, which just last month announced  record-high turnover and profits  during the third quarter of this year. Terrafame is majority-owned by the Finnish state since it was set up four years ago to take over the Talvivaara mining operation.
 Terrafame was also at the centre of a  press freedom scandal  in December 2016 when then Prime Minister  Juha Sipilä  sent a number of emails to Yle journalists complaining about the broadcaster's reporting on his reported on his relatives' links to the state-supported company.

Talvivaara bosses’ conviction upheld on appeal


Summary: A cartel of driving schools in Uusimaa conspired to raise prices, according to the regulator.

Driving schools in Uusimaa clubbed together to keep prices high, according to Finland’s competition regulator.
 The Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority (FCCA) says eight driving schools and the Uusimaa regional driving school association should be hit with fines totalling some 300,000 euros.
 The biggest fine proposal for an individual school was 61,200 euros.
 A final decision on the fines will be made by the Market Court.
 The FCCA says that the conspiracy centred on Porvoo, with three businesses in the picturesque riverside town agreeing to keep their prices higher than the market would otherwise permit.
 According to the FCCA, those involved in the conspiracy had agreed in 2013 to raise the price of a course leading to a B-license, which is the first license that allows people to drive a normal car.
 Association chair  Helen Högström  told Yle that she was not yet in a position to comment on the 100-page judgement.
 "But of course our view differs from the regulator’s," said Högström. "We’ll digest this and consider further action. Of course we should also give the Market Court peace to work."

Competition regulator demands big fines for driving school cartel