Summary: Currently only male citizens are obligated to serve in the military, while women have the option to enlist voluntarily.

Ulkoasiain hallinto, maanpuolustus ja järjestystoimi

Some 65 percent of respondents said they want Finland's conscription system to remain unchanged, according to a survey commissioned by Yle.
 However the survey, carried out by polling firm Taloustutkimus, also found that young respondents were more open to changes in the compulsory military service scheme.
 Currently only young male citizens are obligated to serve in the military, while women have the option to enlist voluntarily.
 Earlier this year the Finnish Defence Forces reported  a record number of female applicants  for military service, but according to the survey few appear to be prepared to make conscription for women obligatory.
 About 28 percent of respondents said they would prefer a conscription scheme where women would also have to serve in some kind of civilian capacity which supports conscription.
 However, only four percent of all respondents said that conscription service should also be obligatory for young women.
 Idea that war is a man's job "accepted in silence"
 Taloustutkimus research chief,  Juho Rahkonen,  said he is surprised by the low support for female conscription.
 "This has been a blind spot in the equality debate. It's said that there should not be any career exclusively meant for men or women in Finland. But many continue to think that war is a man's job. It is accepted in [their] silence," Rahkonen said.
 Younger people were slightly more open to the idea. About 41 percent of respondents between 15-24 years of age said they supported obligatory civilian service for women, while eight percent of the younger set said female conscription should be mandatory.
 The founder of  Asepalvelus 2020  (roughly: Conscription 2020) which is working for reforms to the country's conscription system,  Milja Suihko , said that the poll results suggest younger people don't see gender as a factor that determines their place in society.
 "Gender-based military obligation is no longer justified these days," Suihko said.
 Story continues after photo.
 File photo. Ismo Pekkarinen / AOP
 Freshly-minted defence minister  Antti Kaikkonen  recently requested an analysis of the topic of female conscription. One of his proposals is for  young women to perform a couple months of compulsory civilian service  which would complement the current system.
 Kaikkonen said there are likely bigger gender problems facing society than the issue of male conscription, adding that the system isn't equal for everyone and needs to be looked into.
 "It is a motivation for both men and women to be able to take part in defence of the country and contribute to the development of society. We'll see if we can find a model that's possible to realise. Before that it's too early to say anything," Kaikkonen said.
 The minister said there are plans this autumn to examine how the military service system should be developed.
 The Yle-commissioned survey was carried out by polling firm Taloustutkimus at the beginning of June and queried about 1,000 residents over the age of 15 by telephone. The survey has a three percentage point margin of error in either direction.
 Yle News' podcast All Points North discussed the topic of female conscription with  three experts last month.

Majority in Finland against obligatory female conscription


Summary: Will Finland be able to push through a green agenda during its EU presidency, asks Helsingin Sanomat?

Kansainväliset organisaatiot ja sopimukset

Main daily  Helsingin Sanomat (HS)  leads with a news story about Finland’s focus on tackling climate change as it takes over the EU presidency for a six-month term that starts next Monday.
 Finland wants the EU to take concrete steps towards a sustainable future, with the EU taking the role of a global climate change leader. One of Finland's main objectives is the EU's carbon neutrality by 2050, a target which is supported by the majority of EU members.
 HS highlights challenges for Finland in achieving its EU climate goals. These include the EU’s 2030 goals -- member countries have committed to reducing 40 percent of emissions compared to 1990 levels. Yet, according to Finland’s new government, in order to achieve EU carbon neutrality by 2050, the 2030 emissions reduction goal needs to be tightened to at least 55 percent. This aim will be difficult to achieve as there are EU members such as Poland, which is very dependent on fossil fuels, and will need help making changes.
 “Poland has, for example, said directly that it hopes for clarification and some sort of compensation package. Other EU members also understand that Poland, which is almost totally reliant on fossil fuels, needs support,” EU Commission spokesperson for climate action and energy  Anna-Kaisa Itkonen  told HS.
 Prime Minister  Antti Rinne  unveiled Finland's EU presidency agenda on Wednesday, and HS writes that as Finland will lead important EU ministerial meetings, the country will play a major role in influencing decision-making.
 “The time for ’yes, but’ politics are over,” said Rinne on Wednesday, emphasising that change must start now. The newly-elected Finnish government's ambitious goal of being carbon neutral by 2035 is naturally reflected in its EU presidency role, writes HS.
 During its EU presidency, Finland will compensate air travel emissions by planting new trees and offering conference guests tap water instead of bottled water.
 Shoplifting on the rise
 Financial newspaper  Taloussanomat  reports on the growing problem of petty thieves in Finland. The bricks and mortar retail trade estimates that shoplifting costs close to 450 million euros in losses annually, in addition to an extra 100 million euros needed for extra protective measures such as alarms and surveillance cameras, says  Jyrki Aho  of the National Police Board of Finland, in an interview with the paper.
 “This affects margins, and (ultimately) customers end up paying for these losses in their purchases,” says Aho.
 According to Aho, thieves are most often caught on camera, by alarms or attentive staff members.
 Many shoplifters are reportedly unaware that self-service checkouts are also closely monitored and use the opportunity to skip scanning some items in their grocery basket.
 According to Aho, children and youth steal drugs, makeup, candy, clothing, energy drinks and soda. In 2018, close to 46,000 criminal reports relating to shoplifting were filed in Finland. All told, 35,000 individuals were suspected of shoplifting, the largest group being over 21-year-olds, according to the National Police Board.
 Adult petty thieves, that is the over 21-year set, most commonly stole drugs, clothing, food and electronics.
 Better than Bambi
 On a lighter note,  Tampere daily Aamulehti  reports on a white-tailed deer seen near housing in Finland’s second largest city.
 The animal was traveling through Tampere’s Kauppi national park on Midsummer afternoon when it crossed the Tammer-Golf course and headed into a residential area.
 According to the Finnish Wildlife Agency's  Jani Körhämö , interviewed by Aamulehti, such sightings are not uncommon in the wilderness, but "a white-tailed deer in Kauppi is much rarer than a small deer."

Thursday’s papers: Finland’s EU presidency climate goal, increase in shoplifting, and white-tailed deer sighting


Summary: Officials asked for a detailed report on impact of the undersea tunnel on transport, land use and nature.

The Uusimaa Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centre) has asked for a more comprehensive report on the environmental impact of the proposed  undersea railway tunnel between Finland and Estonia.
 On Wednesday, the ELY Centre published a statement on the developer's Environmental Impact Assessment Program (EIA) for the Finnish segment of the project.
 The statement called for detailed explanations on the environmental impact and the feasibility of three possible tunnel routes and different implementation methods in such a way that it allows for a meaningful comparison.
 In addition, authorities stated that the evaluation report and explanations should include a more detailed assessment of the impact of the project on transport, land use, the Gulf of Finland, nature and people's living conditions.
 The new report should also include a proposal for possible monitoring arrangements for significant adverse environmental impacts, according to the ELY Centre statement.
 Proposed routes of undersea tunnel
 There are three proposed routes for the tunnel that will connect the capital cities of Finland and Estonia and significantly  reduce travel time between the countries to just 30 minutes .
 The first route would be from the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport via Otaniemi in Espoo to an artificial island constructed in Hramtsow shoal and towards Tallinn.
 The second alternative would be from the Helsinki airport via Ilmala and Otaniemi to an artificial island constructed in the Ulkomatala shoal, towards Tallinn.
 The third route would start from the airport and travel via Pasila and the centre of Helsinki to Tallinn.
 The 100 kilometre-long tunnel project is estimated to take 5-9 years to complete.
 The FinEst Bay Area  Helsinki-Tallinn tunnel  is a project by the Finnish company Finest Bay Area Development, led by ex-Angry Birds marketing guru Peter Vesterbacka.

Finnish officials seek clarity on environmental impact of Helsinki-Tallinn tunnel


Summary: Court of Appeal orders disgraced former anti-drugs cop to pay the state 1.3 million euros and forfeit Porvoo property.

Ex- Helsinki drug squad chief  Jari Aanio  will immediately begin serving a 13-year prison sentence, after an appeal court upheld his conviction on a slew of offences related to drug trafficking and official misconduct.
 On Thursday, the Helsinki Court of Appeal rejected Aarnio's appeal and upheld the District Court's December 2016 guilty verdict and 10-year prison sentence. The outcome means that Aarnio will now begin serving that sentence in addition to the three-year custodial sentence he received for his part in the  so-called 'Trevoc' case  in which he used his position as a police chief to procure surveillance equipment from a private company in which he was involved.
 The former head of Helsinki's anti-narcotics unit had  previously been freed pending hearing of the appeal , but was taken immediately to prison on Thursday to begin his 13-year sentence. He has also been ordered to pay over 1 million euros to the state.
 Court: Aarnio was the 'Pasila Man'
 In its ruling, the appellate court declared that new evidence supported the conclusion of the District Court that Aarnio was the 'Pasila Man', a code name given to the user of an anonymous prepaid or burner phone who had arranged for the importation of narcotics into Finland in barrels.
 The court also upheld Aarnio's previous convictions on additional charges including other aggravated drug offences, aggravated evidence tampering and dereliction of official duty. Aarnio had protested his innocence throughout the criminal proceedings, which first began in 2013.
 In addition to Aarnio, former gang leader  Keijo Vilhunen  was also found guilty of serious drug offences, and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in December 2016.
 Story continues after photo
 Ex-crime boss Keijo Vilhunen was sentenced to 10 years  Markku Ulander / Lehtikuva
 Two women implicated in the case as being criminal accomplices of Aarnio had their sentences softened by the court.
 One of the women, the so-called 'Malmi woman', was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for serious drug offences by the Court of Appeal, a slight reduction on the sentence given by the District Court.
 A second woman convicted by the District Court had her sentence reduced from 7 years to 2 years.
 Aarnio to pay state €1.3m
 In addition to the custodial sentence, the court ordered Aarnio to pay the state 1.3 million euros and hand over a house in the city of Porvoo, located 50 kilometres east of Helsinki.
 Investigators had unearthed a stash of 64,800 euros in cash hidden in a flower bed in the courtyard of the Porvoo property. The defense said in court that the cash had been planted by someone else hoping to frame Aarnio as an act of revenge. The Court of Appeal did not swallow the defence argument, however.
 The Court also ruled on a cash payment of 447,000 euros to Aarnio, which the defence claimed was money received from a businessman for whom Aarnio had worked as a security expert.
 The Court of Appeal did not believe this either, and found that Aarnio's exceptionally large unexplained cash assets could not have come through any legal means. The court stated in its ruling that it had not heard any evidence to contradict the District Court ruling that the money was the proceeds of drug trafficking.
 Timeline of criminal proceedings against Jari Aarnio
 2013 JANUARY: Prostitute " Saara " tips off the Ministry of the Interior about her sexual relationship with Aarnio and his suspicious use of money. An investigation begins into Aarnio's actions.
 NOVEMBER: Aarnio is arrested in the vicinity of his apartment in Helsinki on suspicion of aggravated abuse of office and bribery.
 DECEMBER: Aarnio is charged on suspicion of serious drug offenses.
 2015 JUNE: The District Court of Helsinki sentences Aarnio to 20 months in prison for abuse of office and bribery, in the so-called Trevoc case.
 NOVEMBER: Helsinki District Court releases Aarnio from pre-trial detention.
 2016 DECEMBER: The District Court of Helsinki sentences Aarnio to 10 years in prison for six serious drug offences and 16 other crimes. Aarnio is immediately ordered to be imprisoned.
 2018 JUNE: Aarnio is released from prison pending the Court of Appeal hearing. After his release, Aarnio tells Yle that it is nice to be in the centre of Helsinki.
 JULY: Aarnio is arrested on suspicion of a homicide committed in 2003. According to the police, Aarnio would have been aware of the plans in advance but did nothing to prevent it. Aarnio denies the charge.
 OCTOBER: The District Court of Helsinki begins the trial of a major case over alleged misconduct over the handling of police informant data, involving Aarnio and four other former and current police chiefs. The Court  dismissed the charges against the four senior officers  on 19 June.
 2019 JUNE: The Court of Appeal in Helsinki delivers its verdict on Jari Aarnio, and he is sent to begin his 13-year prison sentence.

Corrupt ex-police chief Jari Aarnio begins 13 year sentence as court upholds guilty verdict


Summary: Lutheran Archbishop Tapio Luoma says the church will likely follow Nordic peers and change its stance on gay weddings.

Archbishop Tapio Luoma has said he believes that the Lutheran Church's opposition to performing same-sex marriage ceremonies will change.
 "It’s difficult to say when, but my own estimate is that sooner rather than later we will be able to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies," Luoma added in an Yle interview.
 His comments follow last week's dust-up after the  Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church's decision to support Helsinki Pride, which did not please all of its members.
 One of the church’s most outspoken critics included Christian Democratic Party MP  Päivi Räsänen ,who threatened to resign from the church over the matter.
 Several hundred church members quit last week via Eroakirkosta.fi, a Finnish website that offers an electronic service for resigning from Finland's state churches.
 The negative response was not unexpected according to archbishop  Tapio Luoma .
 "But the scope and depth of the negative feedback was a surprise," he noted.
 Although Finnish law now allows same-sex marriage, the church’s highest authority, the national council, still holds that marriage is between a man and a woman. This was also archbishop Luoma’s personal opinion.
 Behind the times compared to Nordic neighbours
 If and when it does change its official stance, the Finnish Lutheran Evangelical Church will follow institutions in other Nordic countries that have been performing same-sex marriage ceremonies for many years.
 In the past, the trend has been to follow the lead of neighbouring countries. For example, the Finnish Evangelical Church council approved the ordination of women in 1986 -- a decade after other Nordic countries did so.
 Whatever the end result is, someone will likely be disappointed, according to Luoma.
 "It’s part and parcel of this conversation about equal rights," he said.
 The national church council in Finland only alters its official position on a issue with the blessing of a majority of the council, the equivalent of three-quarters of the council or 109 members.
 Yet, the archbishop said he is optimistic.
 "For 2,000 years the church has always found a way to come to terms with changing times. I believe that as people who believe in God we will always find a way to talk about even the most difficult issues," said Luoma.

Archbishop: Same sex marriage ceremonies just a matter of time


Summary: More than 1,000 complaints about police were filed this year but fewer than 50 cases go to court in any given year.

The number of complaints against Finland’s police has been on the rise. Over the last ten years, between 750-900 police reports were consistently registered per year.
 This year, more than 1,000 complaints were filed about police officials, according to  Heikki Stenius , district prosecutor and chief of police crime investigation from the Office of the Prosecutor General.
 However, he said only a fraction of those criminal offence reports lead to prosecution - and even fewer result in convictions.
 According to Stenius, investigations are dropped as early as at the Office of the Prosecutor General in about 80 percent of cases, because there is no reason to suspect a crime based on preliminary inquiries.
 If the possibility of a crime cannot be ruled out and the pre-trial threshold is met, cases proceed to the state prosecutor, then possibly to court..
 The prosecutor noted that there are no accurate statistics on the number of prosecutions and convictions of police officials.
 "We can’t exactly say how many of these cases end up in a court of law, but occasionally, cops are sentenced for assault, for instance. It can be roughly estimated that fewer than 50 cases are prosecuted in a year," Stenius said.
 Cops accused of using excessive force
 From the beginning of this year, the Office of the Prosecutor General has begun collecting statistics on the kinds of complaints being made against the police. The statistics will be published at the end of the year.
 According to Stenius, citizens have filed additional complaints in instances when police have not launched preliminary investigations based on cases they'd reported.
 Many of the complaints criticise the general behaviour of the police.
 "There have also been a lot of complaints made about situations where police have used force while carrying out their official duties. In many cases, citizens feel the police did not have the right to use force or had used excessive force," Stenius said.
 More citizens lodging complaints than before
 Professor of criminal justice  Matti Tolvanen  from the University of Eastern Finland said that he believes the police crime rate has been at the same level for years even though the number of notifications is on the rise.
 "The reason may be that people's threshold for reporting is lower now that members of the public have been involved in trials where the police have been accused and even convicted," Tolvanen said.
 He said that even though charges are not often filed against police officers, citizens do not need to be concerned about the equality of the system.
 "I believe all appropriate cases will be investigated, whether the suspect is a member of the police or not," Tolvanen said.
 In his view, the system should be amended so that all complaints about police activities are first investigated administratively and only then would the most serious cases be referred for criminal investigation.
 "There are a lot of instances where the citizen is just dissatisfied with the police, but there is no suspicion of actual wrongdoing," Tolvanen added.

Complaints against police increase, but rarely lead to prosecution


Summary: Prime Minister Antti Rinne will be the first Finnish premier to participate in the event.

Ministerit, ministeriöt ja valtioneuvosto

Finnish Prime Minister  Antti Rinne  has announced that he plans to march in the Helsinki Pride parade on Saturday.
 A celebration of sexual minorities, Pride Week began on Monday, featuring nearly 100 events across Helsinki. Last year the march drew nearly 100,000 people to the city centre.
 "I am sure that this year even larger numbers of Finns will be marching in the Helsinki Pride parade on Saturday. I will also be there, as the first Finnish Prime Minister to participate. The world is not ready, but we are heading towards an increasingly equal society - together," Rinne wrote in an open letter published Thursday.
 "I am old enough to have lived at a time when the Criminal Code still discriminated against sexual and gender minorities. Now in 2019, it seems unbelievable that in 1971 homosexuality was still a crime, in 1981 it was considered a disease, and it was as late as in 1995 when discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation was prohibited," the PM's statement continued.
 "No honour" in treatment of sexual, gender minorities
 "It is hard to even imagine how this sounds to young Finns in their early twenties. However, it was important to spell this out because it shows that the world is indeed changing for the better," Rinne stated, adding that change can only happen with the help of people.
 "Sexual and gender minorities have a proud history, but there is no honour in how they have been treated. Not in Finland, not in the world. Sexual and gender minorities have come a long way, and the road has been much too rocky. Along the path towards equality there has been a lot of inappropriate and unjust treatment, discrimination and fear,"  Rinne stated .
 The Helsinki Pride parade begins at Senate Square on Saturday 29 June around noon, from where the colourful procession will march through the city centre towards Kaivopuisto park.

Finland's Prime Minister to join Helsinki Pride parade


Summary: The budget carrier’s twice weekly flights will commence in November.

Norway-based budget airline Norwegian Air Shuttle has announced it will roll out regular flights between Helsinki and Vaasa, a city on Finland's west coast.
 Currently, national flag carrier Finnair is the only airline that offers flights from Helsinki to Vaasa.
 Flights on the route will depart on Mondays and Fridays and will commence in November, according to a Norwegian statement issued on Thursday.
 Norwegian, which is Norway's biggest airline, said the Finnish market is important to the firm and that new Finnish domestic routes are part of the its network expansion plan.

Finnair gets domestic competition with Norwegian's new Helsinki-Vaasa route


Summary: The housing company said the flag could not cover any part of the building's facade.

A man who wanted to observe  Pride Week  by hanging a rainbow flag over his balcony was ordered by the building's housing company to remove it.
 Pride Week, which celebrates sexual minorities, began on Monday and Helsinki resident  Konsta Kettunen  put up a rainbow-designed flag over - and on the sides of - his balcony on Wednesday.
 However shortly after that, Kettunen said he received a call from the building's housing company, requesting him to remove the flag. He posted about the incident on his  Instagram  feed.
 "I was given the choice of hanging the flag between the windows or between the double doors to the balcony. The housing company said that would be OK. In other words I can display the flag, but the issue is that I can't change the building's facade because it's an old house," Kettunen said.
 Kettunen called the property manager after talking with the chair of the housing company's board. The manager told him he would discuss the matter with the board.
 But Kettunen said that since the board has not made a decision, he can keep the flag where he put it until the end of the week.
 "I'm not going to take it down," he said.
 Housing companies can decide
 The Finnish Real Estate Association's ( Suomen Kiinteistöliitto ) lead lawyer,  Kristel Pynnönen , confirmed that housing companies are able to make rules about the exteriors of buildings.
 "You can't hang anything off a balcony. Sometimes it can be a question of five centimetres. In this case it is a question of the resident not being allowed to add anything to the building's facade," Pynnönen said.
 However, the legal expert said Kettunen should be permitted to display the flag, as long as it remains within the confines of the balcony railing - or indoors.
 "It would have been different if something objectively offensive is displayed," she explained, saying that things like swastikas are not permitted.
 The chair of the Finnish Real Estate Management Federation,  Toivo Korhonen , agreed with Pynnönen about building facades being off-limits, saying that disputes over things like flags can sometimes be a question of differing values.
 "A housing company can have clashes over differing values with tenants, that is, what is considered appropriate and what is not. Some are irritated by people beating their rugs on Sundays, but it isn't a holy day for everyone," Korhonen pointed out.

Helsinki man ordered to remove rainbow flag from balcony


Summary: Women in Finland earn 78 cents on the euro, Åland residents are the country's healthiest and a fundamentalist religious group draws thousands during Pride Week.

The median monthly salary in 2018 for private sector workers was 3,278 euros, reports business daily  Kauppalehti , drawing figures from Statistics Finland.
 In the private sector, women make around 78 cents for every euro earned by men. The top tenth of employees earned monthly incomes of at least 5,653 euros, while the lowest tenth drew salaries of 2,186 euros or less.
 Private sector workers can expect an annual wage increase of some 1.8 percent, according to KL.
 Health rates by region
 Finland’s healthiest residents live on the Åland Islands as well as along the country's coastal areas, reports Swedish-language daily  Hufvudstadsbladet , citing a new study by health watchdog THL which examined the incidence of serious illnesses across the country.
 Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa are the healthiest cities whereas municipalities in northern Ostrobothnia and pockets of south-eastern Finland have the relatively highest disease rates in the country.
 The THL said that while morbidity in the country has fallen by 16 percent over the past 20 years, regional differences are significant, owing to a combination of factors such as lifestyle, genetics and access to healthcare.
 Laestadians congregate
 Finland’s largest religious gathering known as the Summer Services ( Suviseurat ) starts on Friday in Muhos, a village south of Oulu, according to tabloid  Iltalehti.  Officials said they expect the event to trigger traffic jams in the area.
 The conservative Laestadian event is expected to draw up to 85,000 visitors from 30 different countries to western Finland. The annual summer weekend festival, which is Finland’s second-largest regular event after the Turku music festival Ruisrock, dates back to 1906.
 Laestadianism is a conservative Lutheran revival movement that started in Lapland in the mid-19th century and is currently the biggest revivalist movement in the Nordic countries.
 About 90,000 conservative Laestadians live in Finland, according to figures from 2016.

Friday’s papers: Median incomes, urban health and the Laestadian gathering


Summary: The new MP has been on sick leave since April, following a backlash over inflammatory comments he made on social media.

Social Democratic MP  Hussein al-Taee 's sick leave will continue until 21 July, according to the politician's assistant.
 Al-Taee has been on an extensive sick leave since shortly after he was elected in April, following revelations about  inflammatory comments  he made on social media several years ago.
 The first-time Social Democrat (SDP) MP found himself at the centre of controversy  after confirming  he had made derogatory comments about Jews, Somalis, Sunni Muslims, and homosexuals on Facebook in 2014.
 His aide  Matti Sadeniemi  told Yle that the MP was not available for interviews or comments.
 The SDP parliamentary group has said it plans to address the matter of al-Taee's social media comments after he returns from sick leave.

MP al-Taee's sick leave continues through mid July


Summary: Finland will not actively repatriate citizens marooned at the Al Hol refugee camp, according to the government.

Finland will not intervene to collect  Finnish citizens stranded at the Al-Hol refugee camp in Syria , including 11 women and 33 children.
 The government said it would not evacuate Finnish citizens from the camp when queried by the opposition Finns Party and National Coalition Party during Parliament’s question hour on Thursday afternoon.
 “We have no plans of using consular services to bring these people to Finland,” said Prime Minister  Antti Rinne , adding that the government will seek a solution to the situation that balances moral, ethical and security concerns.
 Foreign Minister  Pekka Haavisto , however, pointed out that citizens returning from the camp on their own would be allowed back into Finland. The government said it would seek help from international aid agencies to determine whether any of the Finnish citizens at the camp were seriously ill.
 Finns Party parliamentary group chair  Ville Tavio  said Finns in the camp posed a security threat to Finland and said any children there should be taken out of parental custody.
 Dealing with returnees
 Rinne said MPs shouldn’t insinuate that the Finnish women in the camp have committed crimes ahead of any official investigations.
 MP  Sari Essayah  of the opposition Christian Democrats claimed the women had supported their Isis partners, making them complicit to any possible crimes.
 “Not one EU state has collected its adult citizens from the camp,” added long-time National Coalition MP  Ben Zyskowicz .
 The Al Hol refugee camp accommodates 74,000 people, 90 percent of whom are women and children, according to the Finnish Red Cross.

Finland won't rescue Isis fighters' families from Syrian refugee camp


Summary: Up to eight migrants stuck on a ship in Italian waters for the past two weeks will be able to seek asylum in Finland.

The Finnish government’s EU ministerial working group on Friday said the country will accept up to eight migrants stranded aboard the Sea Watch 3 in the Italian port on the island of Lampedusa. The Italian government said it will not permit the ship’s remaining 40 migrants to disembark after allowing 13 people off the vessel for medical treatment.
 The move signals a policy turnaround for Finland as the previous centre-right government in January chose not to become involved in a similar situation where migrants were stranded aboard two ships after being refused permission to dock by both Italy and Malta.
 The Sea Watch 3 is a German vessel operating under the flag of the Netherlands.
 The European Commission had urged member states to accept migrants rescued by the Sea Watch 3 off the coast of Libya after a two-week stand-off between the ship and Italian officials.
 The Finnish working group said the decision was a one-off deal and that any migrants from the ship arriving in Finland would be subject to the same procedures as other asylum seekers entering the country.

Finland says it will accept 8 migrants from stranded ship


Summary: Some of the endangered apes at Korkeasaari Zoo were rescued from international illegal animal trade.

Kasvitieteelliset puutarhat, eläintarhat ja luonnonpuistot

Two male Barbary apes - or Barbary macaques - were born at Helsinki's Korkeasaari Zoo this week. The first infant arrived on Tuesday while the second followed on Thursday.
 The mothers and infants are in good condition and other apes have welcomed the newcomers, according to the zoo.
 Male Barbary apes play an important but atypical role in rearing offspring. Both females and males of all ages help to communally care for younger apes.
 Story continues after photo.
 One of two male Barbary apes born this week at Helsinki's Korkeasaari Zoo. Annika Sorjonen / Korkeasaari
 Zookeeper  Merja Wahlroos  has been caring for the apes at the zoo for years and said they were the first Barbary males to be born in Finland.
 "The boys were highly anticipated as male apes help to rear young infants. Now they will be able to carry out their natural instincts. Caring for themselves as a group improves their interdependence and increases their well being. This is especially important because some of our apes are rescues that are not related to each other," Wahlroos said.
 The species is extremely endangered and often victims of illegal animal trade. It is estimated that around 200 of the apes are smuggled into Europe annually, and some of the ones living at the Helsinki zoo came from a rescue centre in the Netherlands.
 Before they left the rescue centre, the unrelated apes formed a family group while in the Netherlands and work to improve family dynamics has continued since they arrived to Korkeasaari. In their natural habitat the animals are found in the Atlas Mountain region of Algeria and Morocco.
 Males of the species live to about 25 while females live to 30, and despite the commonly-used ape moniker, Barbary apes are actually monkeys.

Helsinki zoo welcomes two newborn Barbary apes


Summary: The municipality of Helsinki has banned tourist groups from the toilets at City Hall, leaving them to scramble for other places to spend a penny.

Helsinki is seeing something of a cruise ship boom this year with  record numbers of visitors  using the capital’s harbour.
 But once ashore, those thousands of tourists often need to answer the call of nature--and that’s not an easy task for guides who have to shepherd 50 or more people towards appropriate facilities.
 It got even more difficult this year when Helsinki Council banned tourists from City Hall, the municipal headquarters down by the harbourside. They followed Tempelliaukio Rock Church in Töölö, which made a similar decision last year.
 "[It’s a] tricky situation," said  Heidi Tetri , who chairs the Helsinki Tourist Guides association, adding that "if a tourist’s whole tour is spent considering when they’ll get to a toilet or with their legs crossed sitting down, then of course the trip doesn’t meet their expectations."
 Story continues after photo.
 Heidi Tetri. Antti Kolppo / Yle
 Tetri says that City Hall isn’t on tour routes just for the toilets, as its location is wedged in between two of the city’s main sights: Senate Square and the Market Square.
 Municipality: Ban down to noise levels
 The city administration says it banned large groups because it wants to turn the building’s foyer into an event space and hordes of weary travellers looking for a restroom make too much noise.
 “We’ve opened an event space where we can hold several different events each day,” says Helsinki Marketing boss  Sanna Forsström . “And big groups produce a lot of noise, that has been the reason for this change. We’ve tried to direct big groups to other facilities.”
 Story continues after photo.
 Helsinki Marketing boss Sanna Forsström. Antti Kolppo / Yle
 Forsström says the idea is to enable different types of encounters between residents and those on the municipal payroll.
 “There are different types of workshops, seminars, events and so on,” said Forsström. “It’s fine to stop by these events, and it is preferable that there’s a crowd present and listening and participating in everyday issues. But when the event space is open, noise carries into the middle of events held there.”
 Story continues after photo.
 Antti Kolppo / Yle
 Helsinki has made nearby public toilets on Sofiankatu free of charge to try and ease the burden, but it is not a replacement for the city hall facilities: the building has 14 women’s toilets, while there are just five at Sofiankatu.
 Story continues after photo.
 Antti Kolppo / Yle
 Municipal Museum welcomes tourist groups
 The nearby Helsinki City Museum has seen an influx of visitors, according to the head of the museum’s sales team  Rita Raitio .
 “It’s clear from how much the toilets need cleaning and how much paper we need to replace,” said Raitio. “But there’s nothing negative about this from the museum’s point of view. It’s just a neutral observation.”
 In reality it’s more than that.
 “Our line is that we warmly receive everyone,” continued Raitio. “If they come just to use the bathroom or to eat something in the foyer, or they just want to ask us about some spot in the vicinity. And of course tourist groups visit the shop, so we’re satisfied otherwise too.
 The shop’s turnover has increased thanks to the tourists, and at least a portion of that profit has helped pay for the increased expenses for toilet paper.
 Story continues after photo.
 Helsinki City Hall toilets. Antti Kolppo / Yle
 Guides: Even portaloos will do in a pinch
 The problem also affects the Tempelliaukio Rock Church in Töölö, where tourist groups were last year banned from using the toilets as a security measure.
 Queues for those loos had, according to the church, blocked emergency exits. Heidi Tetri has since found herself directing distressed daytrippers to the nearest cafe.
 “Of course I explain that the cafe’s toilet is meant for cafe customers,” said Tetri. “But first the emergency must be dealt with and then you can consider whether to buy a coffee or some water.”
 She has also sent her charges to portaloos or even shady parks to relieve themselves, but would love to see nearby Aalto University buildings pressed into service in the summer months--although she admits that would incur costs.
 Antti Kolppo / Yle

Helsinki tourists caught short as municipal loos ban tour groups


Summary: Lapland District Court has acquitted nearly 30 municipal politicians and officials from the town of Kittilä of official misconduct.

The 28 defendants in an  official misconduct trial  focusing on municipal decision-makers from Kittilä, Lapland, were suspected of acting unlawfully over the 2014 sacking of then-city manager, Anna Mäkelä.
 The Supreme Administrative Court had previously ruled that the sacking had been illegal, but this criminal trial rested on the question of whether the municipal leadership had knowingly acted against the law.
 Unless there is a successful appeal by prosecutors the state will now have to pay their costs, which are estimated at around 770,000 euros.
 The municipal board’s chair Timo Kurala, who was a key defendant, said afterwards that he was relieved about the verdict.
 “The last few years have been difficult, but people have been my support,” said Kurala. “Within the family calm has been preserved, and that’s the most important thing.”
 In a high-profile trial the prosecutor had demanded suspended jail terms for the group, and is likely to appeal the verdict.
 “It’s quite difficult to believe that this kind of verdict came,” said prosecutor Katri Junnikkala-Heikkinen. “We should read carefully what it says in the verdict and then consider how we proceed after that.”
 The court found that Mäkelä’s firing was not revenge, although she and her political bosses did differ in their views.

Kittilä bigwigs acquitted in misconduct trial


Summary: Jussi Halla-aho was re-elected unopposed as party chair at the party's annual congress in Tampere.

Chair of the immigration-sceptic Finns Party  Jussi Halla-aho  says he has terminated his membership in  the nationalist organisation Suomen Sisu , according to the daily Helsingin Sanomat.
 The disclosure came as the paper interviewed the immigration hardliner about his links to so-called ethno-nationalists, among whom the Finns Party youth wing and Suomen Sisu count themselves.
 According to HS, ethno-nationalists use a definition of Finnishness which emphasises genetic factors. Additionally, Finnish news agency STT noted that many ethno-nationalists ascribe to the view that "Finnish people mainly comprise the descendants of the groups that settled in Finland in prehistoric times."
 On its website, the group says that it "supports the preservation of national states and European heritage", among other things.
 Halla-aho had been an honorary member of the group from 2000, according to his own reckoning. However the Finns Party chair was reticent about his reason for leaving.
 "I don’t think I’ll comment on that issue," he told the paper.
 No challengers to Hall-aho's leadership
 When HS pressed him on whether or not he resigned before or after  he became party leader in 2017 , Halla-aho said that it was after his election. However he stressed that his instalment as chairman was not related to the decision to quit the organisation.
 Halla-aho was re-elected chair at the party's annual congress, which began in Tampere on Saturday. He ran unopposed as no challengers emerged to take him on. He later said that he did not want the party to depend on one individual.
 However the congress did usher in a shake-up in other leadership positions as  Riikka Purra  was elected first vice chair. She is a political scientist and first-term MP from Kirkkonummi.
 Meanwhile another Suomen Sisu member  Simo Grönroos  beat a field of 12 contenders to be elected party secretary and replace long-term office-holder  Riikka Slunga-Poutsalo , who opted not to stand for re-election.
 This year's congress was more modest in scale than the previous event that elevated Halla-aho in 2017. Back then the convention attracted 3,000 attendees, compared to 1,300 this year, of whom 1,000 were eligible to vote.
 The chair of Suomen Sisu is Finns Party MP  Olli Immonen . He  made headlines back in 2015  when he called for a "fight against the nightmare of multiculturalism". A police investigation later found his comments  did not constitute a criminal offence .
 The party's third vice chair, MP  Juha Eerola , had also been a member but he left in 2012.
 The group had previously declared an intention to set up a network of local chapters to serve its growing membership. It currently has around 15 regional organisations.
 Edit: Updated at 5.15pm with initial results of voting in Finns Party leadership elections.

Finns Party chair quits ethno-nationalist group, wins re-election


Summary: Police officials said they expected a similar turnout to last year's and advised motorists to avoid the city centre.

The week-long Helsinki Pride celebrations culminated Saturday in a massive procession that began with participants gathering at the city's central Senate Square at 11.00am.
 From there, the procession, which  included Finnish premier  Antti Rinne , was due to proceed through the city centre to Kaivopuisto, for a concert in the park. Rinne was expected to deliver a speech once the procession arrived at the venue.
 "It's important to say that we still have a lot to do in Finnish society," the PM said to Yle.
 "The core message is that Finland should be entirely free of discrimination of all kinds," Helsinki Pride executive director  Aaro Horsman  said as the procession made its way along the route.
 Police said on Saturday that they expected the number of participants to round out at 100,000, much like last year. Police called on motorists to seek alternative routes through the city on Saturday.
 "People can expect major traffic disruptions at Senate Square and the Esplanade," Helsinki police commissioner  Pasi Turunen  told Yle.
 Story continues after photo.
 At Helsinki's Senate Square. Minna Rinta-Tassi / Yle
 Meanwhile police tweeted an advisory calling on vehicles to avoid the downtown area throughout the afternoon as traffic would be re-routed to accommodate the day’s events.
 "Traffic has been suspended on Unionkatu from the Liisanympyrä roundabout in the direction of the cathedral on Aleksanterinkatu until 4.00pm and on the Esplanade and Kasarmikatu until 5.00pm," the department said.
 Officers also said that they expected tens of thousands of participants at the Kaivopuisto revelry, which was scheduled to end at 6.00pm. However they noted that police would be on hand in the city to ensure a safe event for all.
 Other cities are also expected to host their own pride events later in the year. They include the Loviisa Pride and Lohja Pride festivals in southeast and southwest Finland respectively, both billed for July.
 Edit: Updated at 1.05pm with comments from PM Antti Rinne and Helsinki Pride executive director Aaro Horsman.

Helsinki Pride: Police say 100,000 to march for sexual minorities


Summary: Long Play reported that the use of opioids to treat seniors' pain often did not conform to recommendations.

Helsingin seudun yliopistollinen keskussairaala

Opioids are being used extensively to relieve chronic pain in elderly patients in Finland, according to the investigative journalism organisation Long Play. The news outlet reported on Friday that use of the powerful pain medication has tripled in Finland over the past 10 years.
 Long Play said that research does not support the use of opioids for the treatment of chronic pain. Rather, using opioids poses a high risk of addiction as well as serious complications.
 LP journalist  Anna Tommola  wrote that data from national benefits agency Kela indicate that in most cases, the prescription of opioids for elders in care does not conform to usage recommendations.
 In May,  Kela sent a letter to thousands of doctors in Finland , who had prescribed powerful opioids for their patients to take for periods exceeding three months as a time.
 "You can’t just slap a fentanyl patch on an incoherent old lady to calm her down," Helsinki University hospital pain clinic medical chief of staff  Tarja Heiskanen  said in a Long Play interview.
 Fentanyl is an opioid that is around 100 times stronger than morphine. It and other opioids can be administered as a skin patch or transdermal patch, which are very easy to use and administer a controlled dose of the medication.
 The news outlet reported strongest growth in the use of a powerful opioid known as oxycodone, commonly sold as Oxycontin as well as buprenorphine, often sold under the brand name Subutex.

Long Play: Opioid use rife in elder care in Finland


Summary: The two people who found the pups in their fishing nets were said to be very sorry about what had happened.

Two Saimaa ringed seal pups were found dead at the Pihlajavesi lake in southeastern Finland, according to state-owned parks and wildlife management firm Metsähallitus.
 Both of the pups had drowned in fishing nets, Metsähallitus biologist  Jouni Koskela  said, right after an  annual ban on the use of nets had ended . This fishing net ban ended on the same day the first pup was found, 1 July.
 He said that the pup found on Monday was a female and born last winter, while the other one was male and discovered Tuesday.
 Pihlajavesi is the second-largest body of water in the Saimaa lake system - home to one of the world's most endangered and rarest subspecies, the Saimaa ringed seal.
 The two individuals who were collecting their nets from the lake had notified authorities on their own, Koskela said.
 He told news service STT that both of them were very sorry for what had happened.
 "Neither of them thought that a seal could get stuck in their nets," Koskela told STT.
 "Fishing with nets is permitted in July, but people are asked to avoid using them around known seal nesting areas," Koskela explained.
 Population gradually growing
 Several decades ago the ringed seal population dropped to as few as 100, but thanks to conservation efforts - including the springtime ban on fishing nets - their numbers have grown to an estimated 400.
 Despite the recent deaths, Koskela said that the ringed seal population appears to be growing in Pihlajavesi lake, saying that it is one of the few areas in which more seal pups were born than in previous years.
 Around 80-90 pups are estimated to be born in the region every year but the biologist said that 60 of the young seals die annually, as well. In recent times Metsähallitus regularly receives notice of just over 30 dead seals per year.
 "It's estimated that we're notified of about 40 percent of ringed seal deaths," Koskela explained.
 During the spring Metsähallitus counted a total of 67 live pups, which is less than in recent years, but  weak ice conditions  on the lake prevented a proper count being carried out.
 Koskela said very few pups perished this season, saying that the  large amount of snow cover  this past winter provided excellent nesting conditions.

Saimaa ringed seal pups drowned in nets after fishing ban was lifted


Summary: Swimming at the lake is not recommended at the moment, despite a major purification process in 2017.

Significant amounts of algae have returned to Littoinen lake in southwestern Finland, the lake's management board announced on its website, adding that visibility in the lake has dropped dramatically.
 A  comprehensive chemical scrub  of the lake, carried out in 2017 by the Finnish Environment Institute Syke, initially appeared to remove the algae which had been monopolising oxygen in the body of water and killing off plant life and fish. The process also returned the lake to its pristine crystal clear condition, and it became a local tourist attraction.
 However, later in the same year, reports began to emerge of  a large number of dead fish  ound in the lake.
 In November 2018, the lake became  overrun by waterweed , a freshwater vegetation widely regarded to be poisonous in Finland and other parts of the world.
 Swimming not recommended
 The management board's announcement detailed how algae began to build up over the midsummer weekend, and that visibility in the water was down to half a metre in some parts. In addition to the detection of green algae, a strain of blue algae has also been found.
 Johanna Mäkinen , head of the environmental health care department in the nearby municipality of Lieto, said that health supervisors are carefully monitoring the situation.
 "There is a lot of blue-green algae in the lake, which is why bathing is not recommended," Mäkinen added.
 The Littoinen lake management board received a 100,000-euro grant from the Ministry of the Environment in June in order to continue monitoring and analysing the effects of the chemical treatment.

Destructive algae returns to chemically-cleaned Finnish lake


Summary: Centre MP pans minister’s "changed refugee policy" remarks as government agrees to accept eight stranded migrants.

Centre Party MP  Antti Kurvinen  has contradicted a statement by Greens chair and Interior Minister  Maria Ohisalo , who said on Friday that Finland’s refugee policy has changed under the new administration.
 Kurvinen, who is chair of the Centre Party parliamentary group and Ohisalo’s coalition government colleague, rejected the minister’s interpretation of government’s migration policy.
 "Ohisalo clearly has not yet sufficiently reviewed the government programme relating to asylum and refugee policy. There is no policy change there," Kurvinen said.
 Story continues after photo.
 Centre Party MP and parliamentary group chair Antti Kurvinen. Antti Aimo-Koivisto / Lehtikuva
 Ohisalo reportedly made the comment in connection with  government’s decision to accept eight asylum seekers  stranded for two weeks aboard a boat at the Italian port of Lampedusa.
 The minister reportedly told Yle that Friday’s decision to allow eight of the vessel’s occupants to apply for asylum in Finland reflected a change in refugee policy under the new government.
 "The European Commission has put this request to different member states and Finland, as the next chair of the EU presidency, will bear slightly more responsibility," Ohisalo told Yle on Friday.
 Centre MP: Eight migrants "an isolated group"
 The move is a departure from the view of the previous government led by outgoing Centre Party chair  Juha Sipilä , which opted not to accept migrants stranded aboard two ships that were prevented from docking in Italy and Malta in January.
 Kurvinen declared that Finland has always aspired to European- and Nordic-wide solutions to issues relating to refugee policy, and added that the current is no exception.
 The Centre MP said that the eight migrants bound for Finland are "an isolated group" that is being received because of Finland’s EU presidency. He added that members of the group not entitled to international protection will be repatriated to their countries of origin.
 Kurvinen pointed out that the new government programme prioritises security in asylum and refugee policy and that part of this thrust will involve  ankle monitors for rejected asylum seekers  as well as a prevention programme to curb illegal immigration and residence in the country.
 As Interior Minister, Ohisalo will be responsible for implementing those strategies. Kurvinen concluded his statement by saying that the Centre Party wants to direct resources to those genuinely in need.

Govt partners divided over comments about "changed refugee policy"


Summary: Snow fell in Kilpisjärvi on Saturday, and night frosts are possible in central Finland.

As most of the rest of Europe suffers record heat, Finland's weather is quite different. On Saturday, wet snow fell around 4 pm in the village of Kilpisjärvi. It's located in the municipality of Enontekiö at the top of Finnish Lapland's northwestern arm, close to the borders with Norway and Sweden.
 There was little accumulation from the flurry, which was recorded by a traffic camera on European route E8, a road that extends from Turku, southwest Finland, up to Tromsø, northern Norway, also known as the Four Winds' Road. Near the village, the route reaches an elevation of 565.8 metres, the highest point in the Finnish road system.
 Yle meteorologist  Matti Huutonen  says that sleet or snow is not uncommon in the far north-west of the country during the summer, falling about once a month on average.
 "Kilpisjärvi is so high up, right next to the Norwegian mountains, that cold air comes down from the Arctic Sea, which sometimes condenses and falls as snow or sleet," he explains.
 Kilpisjärvi's daily mean temperature in June is 7.5 degrees Celsius. From October through April, the mean temperature remains below freezing.
 Huutonen says that unsettled, cool weather is in store for Lapland this week, so hikers and campers should prepare for all kinds of conditions.
 -2.4 C in Jyväskylä
 The chilly weather is not restricted to Finnish Lapland. There was frost early Saturday as far south as Jyväskylä where the temperature sank to -2.4, the same as in Kainuu. Meanwhile Salla, eastern Lapland, reported readings of -2.9.
 Warmer weather is set to flow into southern Finland on Monday, with temperatures expected to reach the 25-degree mark in the southeast. Nights may be uncomfortably warm and humid.
 The northwestern arm will however remain wet and chilly, with temperatures remaining in the single digits.
 On Friday, France reached its highest recorded temperature ever, 45.9 degrees Celsius. At least six deaths in southern Europe have been attributed to the heatwave.

As the continent swelters, snow falls in Finnish Lapland


Summary: EU leaders are to pick a new bank chief at Sunday's meeting, along with other powerful posts.

European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro

As Finland takes over the presidency of the Council of the European Union, Prime Minister  Antti Rinne  represents the country at a special meeting of the Council in Brussels on Sunday evening.
 The heads of state or government will continue their talks on nominations for the EU's top posts.
 Those talks began in May and continued at the June Euro Summit held in the Belgian capital 10 days ago, but failed to reach any decisions. That was Rinne's first EU meeting as premier, having been sworn in two weeks earlier.
 Sunday's meeting begins at 7pm Finnish time and is expected to last far into the evening. EU leaders may also hold a breakfast meeting on Monday.
 EU leaders are to choose a European Commission President candidate, European Council President, Foreign Affairs representative and European Central Bank (ECB) president. They are all to take office this year.
 All nominees for the five-year posts must gather the backing of least 21 of the 28 EU leaders as well as a majority in the European Parliament, which is scheduled to meet on Tuesday.
 Liikanen, Rehn among top candidates
 Finland has been pushing the names of two former European Commissioners,  Olli Rehn  and  Erkki Liikanen , as candidates for the Central Bank job.
 Rehn, 57, now Governor of the Bank of Finland, was previously European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs and a Finnish Centre Party economic affairs minister.
 Liikanen, 68, formerly EU Budget Commissioner, has also served as Bank of Finland Governor and as finance minister representing Rinne's Social Democratic Party. Earlier this year, a Reuters poll suggested that Liikanen was the most likely compromise candidate for the ECB presidency.
 France and Germany have also put forth strong candidates for the position,  François Villeroy de Galhau  and  Jens Weidmann . However France has recently held the post, and if one of those countries nabs the plum post of European Commission President, they would be unlikely to also get the banking job. That would improve the chances of the Finnish candidates.
 Meanwhile Rinne has named another former SDP finance minister,  Jutta Urpilainen , as Finland's next European Commissioner, the country's first woman on the EU executive.
 For the European Commission presidency, the Netherlands'  Frans Timmermans  and Germany's  Manfred Weber  have been mentioned as possible candidates, as have France's  Michel Barnier  and  Christine Lagarde  and candidates from Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania and Croatia.
 Finnish presidency starts Monday
 The candidate chosen by EU leaders' meeting must still be approved by a majority of member states' parliaments.
 Since 2014,  Jean-Claude Juncker  of Luxembourg has held that post while Poland's  Donald Tusk  has been European Council President.
 Finland's six-month stint in the rotating presidency of the European Council begins on Monday. Members of the European Commission will visit Helsinki on Thursday and Friday to meet with Finnish officials including President  Sauli Niinistö .
 16.40: corrected Timmermans' nationality.

Two Finns among top contenders for European Central Bank presidency


Summary: Minor forest fires have a mainly positive effect on fungi, according to a new study by the Natural Resources Institute.

Commercial clear-felling of trees is more harmful to fungi than forest fires, according to a recent doctoral thesis published at the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke).
 A senior scientist at Luke,  Kauko Salo ,has  investigated  the impact of forest changes — logging, ditching, fertilisation and forest fires — on fungi, based on empirical field data, which included more than 550 species over a monitoring period of up to 12 years.
 The study found that forest fires have a mainly positive effect on mushrooms, but the intensity of the fire is of great importance to the composition of fungi communities. The number of species of the mushrooms in mild fire sites is three times higher than in high-severity fire sites, the research found.
 "Edible mushrooms including rufous milkcap, velvet bolete, foxy bolete and  Russula paludosa  [ isohapero  in Finnish], benefit from mild forest fires," Salo says.
 Harmful effects of logging can be mitigated
 Mushrooms are an integral part of the forest ecosystem. Some fungi form a symbiosis with the roots of trees, improving their growth. The study stated that the harmful effects of logging can be mitigated if live coniferous and deciduous trees are left as logs for harvesting.
 Live retention trees — those left permanently standing after clear-cutting to promote regeneration — help fungi that form a symbiotic relationship with trees.
 Some fungal species also decompose and recycle organic matter from dead trees or other plant debris, which is then beneficial to other plants and animals.
 A large number of edible and commercial fungi are also economically important, according to Salo.

Clear-cutting more harmful to mushrooms than forest fires, study finds


Summary: Newly re-elected chair Jussi Halla-aho declared his party to be Finland's main opposition party.

MEP  Jussi Halla-aho , who was  re-elected on Saturday  for a second two-year term as chair of the nationalist Finns Party, outlined his policy goals in an address to a party congress in Tampere a day later.
 The immigration hardliner ran unopposed for the leadership of the party and, in effect, of the political opposition. His party has just one seat fewer in Parliament than Prime Minister  Antti Rinne 's Social Democratic Party, and has been topping opinion polls since April's election.
 In his speech, Halla-aho declared his party to be Finland's main opposition party. Therefore, he told the party faithful, its duty is not to "yap at everything" but to point out the shortcomings and mistakes of the government. Rinne's five-party centre-left coalition cabinet took office in early June.
 "We are not a populist party," Halla-aho said, signalling a break with the party's co-founder and longtime chair  Timo Soini , who did not shy away from using the term. Soini left the party two years ago and  quit politics altogether  this spring after serving as foreign minister.
 "We have succeeded in finding the kinds of approaches to issues that unite the interests of different population groups," Halla-aho added.
 "The new Soviet Union"
 Halla-aho said that the party's supporters should not dwell on those questions where they have differences of opinion, but rather on the themes that unite them, citing immigration and supporting the disadvantaged as examples.
 He compared today's atmosphere to the Cold War era, when he said that criticising the Soviet Union was socially objectionable and could lead to being politically isolated.
 "In today's Finland and more broadly in western countries, immigration, Islam, sexual minorities and the European Union have become the new Soviet Union," Halla-aho said to applause from the audience.
 In 2012, Halla-aho was  convicted of hate speech and fined  for insulting online comments about Islam and immigrants.
 Earlier on Sunday, conference delegates elected a new 48-member party council, which in turn will select the party board.

Finns Party chair: "We are not a populist party"


Summary: Big challenges ahead for Finland's new Minister for Europe, are oats the "next Nokia", and temperatures take a nosedive.

As Finland begins its six-month stint in the rotating presidency of the European Council on Monday, main daily  Helsingin Sanomat follows the newly-appointed Minister for Europe ,  Tytti Tuppurainen  of the Social Democratic party, as she prepares for her role as head of the EU’s General Affairs Council.
 HS details how Tuppurainen, who was appointed to the post a mere three weeks ago, will take on huge responsibilities; including forging agreement between member states on the EU’s future financial framework, and also overseeing the final stage of the Brexit process, which is scheduled to occur on Finland’s watch.
 The paper reports that the Oulu-based Tuppurainen is looking forward to the challenges ahead, and aims to handover the presidency to Croatia in December with the EU in a much better state.
 “It is now the best opportunity in a long time to steer the union through calmer waters,” HS quotes Tuppurainen as saying.
 "Next Nokia"
 Tampere daily Aamulehti reports that  people in Finland are eating more oats than ever before , and the surge in popularity has led to empty shelves across the Pirkanmaa region.
 Finns now consume an average of 7.3 kilograms of the cereal grain per person, which compares with just 3 kilograms per person in 2000, according to a report by Finland's National Resources Centre (Luke).
 Story continues after photo
 People in Finland consume more oats than ever before, according to a recent report by LUKE Anniriitta Tolvanen / AOP
 The paper also reports that Finland's largest privately-owned dairy business, the Kouvola-based Kaslink Foods, is predicting that oats will become Finland's next major export product. According to  Juha-Petteri Kukkonen , Kaslink's creative director, there are huge possibilities for Finnish producers in this area.
 "Finland's nature and food - but above all oats - are the next Nokia," Kukkonen tells Aamulehti.
 Storm clouds on the horizon
 Tabloid daily Iltalehti reports that  even though today will be the warmest day of the year so far , the rain and storm clouds are gathering.
 The paper quotes  Pyry Poutanen  of the Finnish Meteorological Institute explaining how a low pressure system will arrive in Finland from Norway on Monday evening, bringing rain and thunderstorm to much of the country over the coming week.
 As well as the low pressure system, a “northern airflow” will cause temperatures across Finland to cool significantly - with an average of 10 to 20 degrees - the  recent sky-high temperatures that have affected much of Europe  are unlikely to reach Finland in the near future, according to Poutanen.

Monday’s papers: Finland’s EU Presidency begins, oats more popular than ever, and summer is put on hold


Summary: Residents of the Lukkarinmäki district in Salo oppose plans to build a track through the residential area.

Opponents of plans for a one hour train link between Helsinki and Turku were due to hand over a petition against the project to Minister for Transport  Sanna Marin  on Monday afternoon. Some 2,500 signatories backed the petition.
 The proposed route for the track would run through the residential district of Lukkarinmäki, an area of wooden houses in the southwestern city of Salo, and could potentially lead to a number of houses being knocked down.
 The local residents association, the Lukkarinmäki Society, have proposed alternative options, citing the area's designation by Finland's National Board of Antiquities as being of national and cultural significance.
 The committee's proposed alternatives include building the track around the Lukkarinmäki area, or the construction of a tunnel under the neighbourhood.
 Story continues after photo
 The current travel time between Helsinki and Turku is an hour and a half by Pendolino train, or up to two hours by other trains Jouni Koutonen / Yle
 The proposed rapid rail link between two of Finland's main urban hubs has been on the table for a number of years, and is contained in the  current government's agenda  announced in June.
 Business groups have been lobbying the government to build the so-called One Hour Train as a means of  cutting Finland's greenhouse gas emissions .
 The current rail link between Helsinki and Turku takes an hour and a half by Pendolino train, and up to two hours on other services leading to many people opting to travel by road or air links.

Petition against one hour Helsinki-Turku train sent to Transport Minister


Summary: Cancer is more common in the south while residents in eastern areas have more heart disease, according to the THL.

While Finland has seen an overall decrease in diseases since 2000, there are marked regional differences in the occurrence of various types of illnesses, according to a recently published index by the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).
 The health watchdog's disease index shows that the healthiest people in Finland live on the Åland islands and along the south-western coast. The index was updated with data from 2014-2016 and now reflects the country's disease levels from 2000-2016.
 THL Research Professor  Seppo Koskinen  said that while Finland's overall health levels have improved, regional differences were major and stark.
 "Illness levels across the country went down by 16 percent during the 2000s , and [decreased] by 36 percent in the ten healthiest municipalities but only went down by five percent in the ten sickliest municipalities," Koskinen explained.
 Indexed by region, municipality
 THL's index measured the incidence levels of seven serious health conditions by region, including cancer, coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular diseases (affecting brain blood vessels), musculoskeletal illnesses (affecting muscles, ligaments and tendons as well as bones), mental illnesses, accidental injuries and various forms of dementia.
 Regions with the highest level of illnesses were found in northern Ostrobothnia and a swath of communities across the centre of the country, from Raahe in the west, south-east towards Tohmajärvi near Finland's eastern border.
 The disease index for the entire country was set at a base level of 100 points, and communities which scored lower numbers were considered healthier.
 The healthiest municipalities home to 50,000 residents or more were found in the greater capital region; Espoo (73 points), Helsinki (81) and Vantaa (83).
 The highest levels of sick leave taken by residents were in Kuopio (129) and in Ostrobothnia (89), while the highest levels of illnesses were found in the central region of northern Savo (130), northern Karelia (122), northern Ostrobothnia (122), Kajaani (118) and Lapland (115).
 Incidents of coronary heart disease, musculoskeletal maladies as well as mental illnesses were most common in eastern and northern Finland, according to the index. The rates of cerebrovascular diseases, meanwhile, were distributed fairly evenly across the entire country.
 Cancer rates were marginally higher in southern regions than in central and northern areas. The regions with the highest accidental injury rates were found in Lapland and North Karelia.

Finnish residents overall healthier but major regional differences, watchdog reports


Summary: A new law addresses a long-running debate over a possible security threat from people who hold foreign passports.

As of Monday, individuals with dual or multiple citizenship are barred from working at military posts in the Finnish Defence Forces (FDF) except with special permission.
 The acts governing the FDF and the National Defence University have been revised to allow only people with solely Finnish citizenship to be appointed to military positions or officer posts.
 Under the new legislation, no-one named to such posts may hold foreign citizenship that might pose a security risk. The law stipulates that candidates must be screened to make sure they don't have "foreign nationality or other foreign ties that might endanger security, the national defence or Finland's international relationships".
 It allows exemptions from the citizenship requirement if necessary and includes transitional provisions for anyone who holds dual citizenship and has already been appointed to a military post or admitted to officer training.
 The Border Guard was also to have been covered by the law, but last autumn it  opted out .
 Ex-defence minister denied informal ban
 In early 2017, then-defence minister  Jussi Niinistö  launched efforts to revise the law, saying it was "needed to improve Finland’s national security when appointing someone to a military post in the Defence Forces and selecting students for studies that lead to officer posts".
 The original aim was for the new legislation to take effect in early 2018. However it was not approved by Parliament until this past March, just before the end of the legislative term and before Niinistö left office.
 The defence minister also became embroiled in a dispute with Yle over the issue,  denying a report by the public broadcaster  that the FDF already had an informal practice of denying jobs or certain kinds of training to anyone with Finnish-Russian dual citizenship. Yle stood by the story, citing confidential sources and email documents.
 In mid-June this year, the  Helsinki District Court ruled that there had been discrimination  against a woman with Finnish-Russian dual citizenship who was barred from a job as a kitchen assistant at the Vekaranjärvi Karelia Brigade military base in Kouvola, southeast Finland. She had lived in Finland for 26 years.
 However the court threw out charges against a recruiter working for the catering firm that runs the base's cafeteria, declaring that the order against hiring dual citizens had come from the FDF. The firm's manager said he had been instructed not to hire dual citizens by a security officer at Vekaranjärvi.
 Last week the state prosecutor declined to appeal the District Court decision.

Dual citizens now barred from military posts, with exceptions possible


Summary: Fishing with nets on Lake Saimaa is permitted once again, despite the threats to Finland's only endemic mammal species.

The annual springtime ban on fishing with nets on Lake Saimaa in southeast Finland ended on Monday.
 Saimaa is the largest of Finland's approximately 180,000 lakes and is home to one of the world's most endangered and rarest subspecies, the Saimaa ringed seals.
 In the early 1980s, the seal population fell to an alarmingly low level of 100-150, but conservation efforts and stricter regulations on fishing nets have helped the endangered mammals to replenish to a  current estimated population of 400 . However, many seals still die every year after becoming entangled in fishing nets, according to the environmental organisation WWF Finland.
 Fishing nets the biggest threat
 The group says fishing nets pose the single most significant threat to the ringed seals species, and have made appeals to residents of the Saimaa region to do their utmost to ensure that no seals will die in fishing nets this year.
 The practice of placing nets in the lake to catch fish is banned every year between April 15 and June 30 in the Saimaa lake region, particularly in order to protect the newly-born seal pups that are born in February and March.
 Climate change also presents a further threat to the Saimaa ringed seals, as warmer winters with less snowfall lead to the  species relying on human help  to find places to build dens, according to WWF.

Fishing ban lifted near habitat of endangered ringed seals


Summary: The number of Finnish residents who have received payment default notices increased by thousands last year.

Last year around 380,000 consumers in Finland were handed late-payment notices, which is an increase of more than 4,000 compared to the previous year, according to data from credit scoring firm Asiakastieto Group..
 The number of default notices increased in particular for those over the age of 30 as well as people over  retirement age . Overall, the firm said, the numbers of default notices issued to consumers have been steadily rising for the past decade by total of around 70,000.
 More than 15 percent of men aged 25-44 have received default notices, and were also the most likely among all groups to have received them.
 Payment default notices were most commonly issued in the southern region of Päijät-Häme - home to the city of Lahti - with more than nine percent of residents in the region having received them last year.
 On the other hand, however, late payment notices sent to younger adults have continued to steadily decrease since 2012, according to Asiakastieto.

More debt problems among over-30s


Summary: Finland plans to spend money on offsetting flight emissions rather than handing out goodies to attendees.

On Monday Finland began a half-year term as president of the Council of the EU, for the third time since joining the Union in 1995. Its previous terms were in 1999 and  2006 .
 During the rest of the summer and autumn, Helsinki is to host half a dozen ministerial meetings and about 90 more for civil servants. The Prime Minister's Office is responsible for arranging them.
 Several ministries are also organising their own seminars and conferences during the six-month term.
 Between now and Christmas, Finland will also chair 37 ministerial meetings, 40 ambassadorial meetings and 1,500 meetings for other officials in Brussels and Luxembourg. The arrangements for these are up to the General Secretariat of the Council in Brussels. Nearly every one will be chaired by a Finn.
 No 'civil servant tourism'
 In its arrangements, Finland will emphasise an ecological meeting culture in line with the term's theme: 'Sustainable Europe - Sustainable Future'. Last week Prime Minister  Antti Rinne  said the main target of the EU presidency is for the Union to commit to sharp emissions cuts, aiming for  climate neutrality by 2050 .
 Story continues after photo
 Most meetings will be at Finlandia Hall, site of the landmark 1975 CSCE conference. Antti Lähteenmäki / Yle
 The meetings held in Finland will be concentrated in Helsinki, mostly at Finlandia Hall. During Finland's previous presidency, under Centre Party PM  Matti Vanhanen , meetings were farmed out to 21 towns around the country.
 This time there will be none of the lavish 'civil servant tourism' of the past: no junkets to opera festivals, Lapland's autumn foliage or ski resorts.
 No-nonsense approach
 Anja Laisi , who heads the Secretariat for Finland’s presidency, says that Finland intends to make a virtue of asceticism.
 "Most of the EU's work is very mundane. These are working meetings, and many of them last only a day or two," she says.
 "EU professionals are even relieved by Finland's practical approach to keeping meetings concise and businesslike. Everyone can travel around at other times and on their own budget however they like."
 EU presidency countries have traditionally handed out all kinds of souvenirs and presents to meeting attendees. This time no-one will get a tacky tie or scarf or even a Marimekko bag.
 Story continues after photo
 Anja Laisi Thomas Hagström
 Instead of doling out gifts to participants, Finland will offset flight carbon emissions by financing emission-reduction projects.
 "Host countries spend large sums on gifts during each EU presidency," Laisi says. "We're putting that money into emissions compensation. We'll spend half a million euros on offsetting the aviation emissions of those attending the meetings."
 Tap water and organic meals
 Tables will not be covered with stacks of paper at Finnish-chaired meetings.
 "We'll try to handle things electronically whenever possible. Mountains of paper print-outs are passing into history," Laisi says.
 Nor will plastic water bottles be available.
 "The new sustainable meeting culture is born out of small things. Finland has excellent, pure water, so we'll no longer offer packaged water. We'll serve Finnish tap water in carafes."
 Meals will focus on domestic, locally produced organic food.
 "We'll serve meeting participants and media high-quality local food. Fortunately our presidency term is in the second half of the year, so we can serve fresh products from each harvest season," says Laisi.

No swag bags or bottled water: Finland to host nearly 100 EU meetings in ascetic, sustainable style


Summary: Asylum seekers in a multi-tiered labour market, social problems driving foster care, a Helsinki resident's moon mission.

Finland’s multi-tiered labour market is under the microscope in  a Lännen Media feature highlighted by southwest Finland-based Turun Sanomat . The paper focuses on the experiences of highly-educated  Qasem , who was granted asylum in Finland and found work with a cleaning firm in the capital area. However he soon noticed that he was being exploited.
 "On paper I had an eight-hour work day. In reality, the eight hours were spread out throughout the day so that my first shift began early in the morning and the last late at night. Breaks were spent moving from one workplace to another," Qasem said, explaining how an eight-hour day stretched far longer.
 Katja-Pia Jenu , an occupational health and safety inspector with the southern Finland regional administrative authority said that Finland’s labour market has been divided into a three- or even four-tiered system in which  people waiting for asylum decisions  or asylum seekers who’ve already received residence permits occupy the third tier.
 "It seems like a fourth layer is forming that is related to undocumented individuals and human trafficking," she conjectured.
 On-the-job exploitation often appears to be above board. In such cases, employers may record fewer hours than employees actually work or they may not pay for overtime. In the most extreme cases, employers  may even restrict their workers’ movements  outside of the workplace.
 Victim support specialist  Saara Pihlaja  said that in other cases, employees work on a legal basis but employers control their bank accounts. However the paper pointed out that not all cases of workplace abuse are intentional, as some migrant business owners may not be familiar with all their responsibilities as employers.
 Asylum seekers have the right to work in Finland once they have been in the country for three or six months, depending on whether or not they have valid travel documents. The number of work-based residence permits granted to people who arrived in Finland as asylum seekers has increased, according to data from the Finnish Immigration Service Migri. In 2015, 58 such permits were issued, compared to 168 in 2016. The number has remained steady at just over 100 since then.
 Mental health problems, substance abuse, joblessness behind foster care
 Tampere-based daily Aamulehti examined recently-released data on  the number of children placed in emergency foster care  (€) and found instances of alcohol and drug use as well as joblessness in affected families.
 Tarja Heino , research professor with the National Institute for Health and Welfare THL, led the team that  revealed the increase in urgent placements . She told AL that many of the children placed in foster homes had problems at school, including truancy and learning difficulties. Mental health problems were also evident among some children and in the home.
 A 2016 analysis of 410 children from 368 families in the foster care system found that three out of four children had health issues, while two-thirds had mental health problems. One-third of children in middle school and the majority of teens were experiencing problems at school, and 40 percent of children displayed violence while 37 percent exhibited other behavioural problems.
 The research further showed that in a quarter of cases, parents’ alcohol consumption affected their children’s circumstances. One-fifth of parents admitted to using other narcotic substances. Additionally, a quarter of 13-year-olds were heavy alcohol users and almost as many were believed to users of narcotics.
 Nearly all of the parents in the study group said they were worn out and 75 percent could not provide for their families. The parents of children placed in foster care were more often jobless than the rest of society, a problem that was particularly acute among families with young children.
 According to AL in the Tampere region, statistics show that since 2000 the number of children in care has increased 90 percent and more than 50 percent nationwide. Overall emergency placements in foster care are four and a half times more frequent than 18 years ago.
 Finland’s rocket man offering "a piece of heaven"
 In its city pages, largest-circulation daily  Helsingin Sanomat introduces readers to 52-year-old  Vesa Heilala  – a Helsinki resident living the dream of travelling to the moon. The paper writes that Heilala pooled his savings, borrowed more than 100,000 euros from the bank, and in 2010, he purchased a 200,000-dollar ticket to the moon on businessman  Richard Branson ’s Virgin Galactic commercial space shuttle.
 Heilala’s long-anticipated interstellar trip has yet to materialise, however. Branson’s space tourism project suffered a major setback in 2014 when the Virgin SpaceShipTwo disintegrated during a test flight, killing one of the pilots on board.
 Undaunted, Heilala is making use of his time trying to raise the money needed to repay the loan for his space trip. He sold his Audi A-8 and purchased a used Fiat for 900 euros, the interior of which he has been pimping to look like a spacecraft. He spent another 900 euros on a special registration plate for the vehicle: KUU-1 (MOON-1).
 Among the many special features the vehicle boasts, HS reports that one of the most striking is an advertisement for men’s underwear. Heilala has managed to productise his space dream and finance the project by selling so-called "rocket briefs".
 Not shy of venturing into the unknown or double-entendre territory, Heilala’s marketing tag line for the briefs is, "Buy a piece of heaven". He has sold 150 items so far.
 "I still need to sell 15,000 to repay my space trip loan," the enterprising dreamer calculated.

Tuesday's papers: Workplace exploitation, tragedy behind foster care placements, Finland's "rocket man"


Summary: Rescue services in the east were also put to the test responding to fires and other damage caused by lightning strikes.

Hailstones rained down on the south-eastern city of Lappeenranta on Monday evening, turning it from a summery green to a wintry white. Local resident  Janna Airas  recorded the wild weather for posterity.
 According to Yle meteorologist  Matti Huutonen , the seemingly unseasonal weather was not at all unusual. He noted that thunderstorms and hail often go together.
 "There are always hailstones in thunderclouds. Now they have been so large, that they have not had time to melt before hitting the ground," he explained.
 While yesterday’s thundery weather in the southeast has now migrated toward Russia, a new low-pressure zone moved over the west on Monday night, bringing more thunderstorms across the country. However Huutonen said that he did not expect more hail.
 Finnish news agency STT reported that Monday’s wild weather resulted in many calls for emergency service workers in Lappeenranta, as residents struggled to repair damage caused by the hail.
 Lightning strikes hit buildings, one person
 In Koli, eastern Finland, rescue services were also put to the test during violent thundershowers that plagued the region on Monday evening.
 Lightning strikes started a fire at an old school building at Niinilahdentie. The building, which was being used for accommodation, held 14 people at the time, however no one was reported injured.
 Meanwhile another explosive lightning bolt struck an oil container igniting a fire that spread to the cellar of a building on the property and badly damaged the structure. Other parts of the building that were used for residential purposes were spared from serious damage. Work continued late into the night to extinguish the blaze and residents were evacuated.
 Lightning also struck and mildly injured one individual in the Mäkränaho outdoor area. The patient was taken to the North Karelia central hospital for treatment. Meanwhile the electrical discharges also set a small cottage on fire on an island in the Koli region, completely destroying the structure. No one was injured.
 The violent storm also caused a malfunction in the Koli Sokos Hotel’s fire alarm system.

Watch: Hail pummels south-east Finland, turns ground wintry white


Summary: Four day program of meetings and cultural events will mark 100 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The Japanese Crown Prince  Akishino  and his wife, the Crown Princess  Kiko , arrive in Finland on Tuesday for an official state visit, marking 100 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
 The program for the four-day visit includes a number of cultural events and official engagements.
 On Tuesday, the royal guests will visit the National Museum of Finland on Helsinki's Mannerheimintie, the Ateneum National Gallery on Kaivokatu and Helsinki Cathedral on Senate Square.
 On Wednesday, the Crown Prince and Princess will lay a wreath at the Hietaniemi Cemetery in Helsinki. They will then travel to the southern city of Naantali, where they will meet Finnish President  Sauli Niinistö  and his wife  Jenni Haukio  at the President's Kultaranta summer residence.
 Thursday's schedule will see the Crown Prince familiarise himself with documents relating to the establishment of diplomatic relations between Finland and Japan held in Finland's National Archives. In addition, the guests will be introduced to the New Children's Hospital on Helsinki's Stenbäckinkatu, the Oodi Central Library and a Finnish maternity clinic in Espoo's Iso Omena shopping centre.
 Crown Prince Akishino is the younger brother of  Emperor Naruhito , and rose to his current position when their father  Emperor Akihito  abdicated power in April this year.
 The Crown Prince's visit, as well as the EU ministerial meetings taking place around the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, will affect traffic arrangements from Tuesday to Friday, particularly in Helsinki and Vantaa.

Japanese Crown Prince arrives in Finland for state visit


Summary: The ski group of three Finns and one Swede triggered an avalanche that killed them when they went off-piste, a Norwegian report concluded.

A group of skiers  who went missing  in the Blåbærfjellet region of Norway’s Tamok Valley and were later declared dead likely triggered an avalanche that buried them as they pursued an alternative route up a mountain, according to an accident report released by Norwegian officials.
 The group, which comprised three Finns and one Swede, disappeared in January. Authorities recovered the bodies of three of the four skiers, however the remains of one of the victims – a Finn –  has eluded search efforts .
 The skiers were said to have been moving in a group in the shadow of a steep cliff at an altitude of about 1,000 metres when the terrain above them skipped, according to the report issued by the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute NGI.
 The avalanche swept the skiers along for nearly half a kilometre at a speed of over 70 kilometres an hour, eventually burying them under about two metres of snow.
 NGI researchers used location data from a group member’s sports watch to plot the route they had taken during the fateful trip. Geo-location data indicated that they had covered steep terrain sometimes at an angle of more than 40 degrees.
 The uphill route usually used by locals to reach the upland fells circles the top of the ridge in a gentle curve, the report noted. Researchers speculated that the skiers perished long before any alarm was raised and rescue officials were contacted.
 Avalanches of a similar scale and intensity occur in the same location at least once every winter, the report said. The size of the slippage was at least 200 metres wide and the snow had been about a metre thick where it broke off from the mountain.
 No insight into decision-making
 The report did not determine whether or not the skiers took breaks during their ascent. In addition, researchers could offer no insights into their decision-making.
 “In professional circles we are reluctant to speculate about what was decided on the mountain, because no one can tell anymore,” said snow safety trainer and ACMG ski guide  Eeva Mäkelä .
 Mäkelä, who has been involved in designing snow safety training in Finland, said that courses focus on making rational decisions and identifying human factors. Participants also get a chance to familiarise themselves with Norwegian avalanche and weather forecast services.
 Rising numbers of skiers and avalanches
 Freeride skiing, where athletes seek un-touched, un-groomed surfaces for their descent, has seen a rise in popularity in recent years. At the same time the number of people who’ve been caught up in avalanches and died has also increased.
 Last winter 13 people died in avalanches in Norway, a number only previously matched in 2010. However the majority of people who end up in avalanches survive – a total of 56 people have had such close calls. Nearly two-thirds of deaths resulting from avalanches have occurred in northern Norway.
 Authorities in Norway say they have records of 118 avalanches that have swept people away. Altogether a total of 64 people died in avalanches in Norway this decade – more than double the number in the previous decade. The majority of people who’ve lost their lives in this way have been freeride skiers.

Report: Finns who died in Norway triggered avalanche


Summary: Only one in five applicants currently secure accommodation in Helsinki, with waiting lists of up to a year.

The annual scramble for student accommodation in Finland is in peak season, with demand especially driven by the huge numbers of students who have recently received confirmation of their place at third level institutions starting in the autumn.
 Studio apartments are usually the most sought-after property type for students in Finland, but the demand for them is much greater than the supply. One significant factor in the popularity of the small flats is the housing support that a student receives from Finland's Social Insurance Institution Kela.
 Sharing with roommates affects the amount of housing support that students receive, unless the occupants take out separate leases on the property.
 Otherwise, Kela may raises questions about the living arrangement, leading to a potential impact on housing support payments.
 House hunting easier in smaller towns
 According to  Kirsi Koski , Managing Director of the Tampere Student Housing Foundation TOAS, waiting for a period of up to one year for a studio apartment is quite common - but worthwhile nonetheless.
 "Yes, you will get it if you wait patiently and keep your application up to date," Koski advises.
 TOAS Managing Director Kirsi Koski advises students to be patient.  Marko Melto / Yle
 Koski believes that another reason for waiting on a studio apartment is that students can stay in the same property throughout their entire study period.
 In total, approximately 4,000 housing applications will be submitted to TOAS over the course of this summer. The number of applications registered in the south western city of Turku is slightly lower, while housing authorities in Helsinki receive the largest number of applications.
 Vacant apartments are currently assigned to only 20 percent of applicants in Helsinki.
 However in smaller towns, such as in Vaasa on Finland's west coast and Mikkeli in eastern Finland, student accommodation is much easier to find.
 Situation eases in Autumn
 According to the different student housing foundations around Finland, the situation is normal and they expect supply to increase as student housing leases are terminated and current residents move elsewhere.
 Alternatively, many students can also find accommodation from the private market. Koski says that, as is usually the case, the situation will ease over time.
 "We cannot house all students immediately, but Tampere has so much else to offer and in recent years the early autumn period has always been successful, ”says Koski.
 Temporary accommodation is another option available to students. In Tampere, the student union association organizes temporary premises for those who do not have a roof over their heads by the time their studies begin.
 Kati Aaltonen of Tampere Students Union, which offers students temporary accommodation solutions.  Marko Melto / Yle
 However this system, known as Emergency Housing, has been under-utilised in previous years, according to  Kati Aaltonen , Housing and Communications Manager at Tampere Student Union.
 "Last year, there was hardly any need for temporary accommodation, and overall I think that the housing situation in Tampere is good," says Aaltonen.

Demand for student housing in Finland outstrips supply


Summary: The new ship will run on liquefied natural gas and is expected to be delivered in 2025.

Meyer Turku Shipyard has signed an agreement to build a third Icon class cruise ship for Royal Caribbean Cruises, the companies announced on Tuesday.
 The deal is still subject to financing, but Meyer Turku said construction of the 200,000 gross tonnage cruise ship will begin in spring 2020 and should be ready for delivery by 2025. The estimated pricetag of the deal was not disclosed.
 Icon ships are among the first generation of massive sea cruisers to be fully powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG), a fuel which can cut greenhouse gas emissions by one fifth compared to heavy fuel oil.
 Meyer Turku sealed a deal to build the first two Icon-class ships for Royal Caribbean Cruises  in 2017 . Those vessels are scheduled to be delivered in 2022 and 2024.
 Story continues after photo.
 File photo. Kalle Mäkelä / Yle
 Royal Caribbean Cruises Chairman and CEO,  Richard Fain , said the company is committed to clean power technologies at sea.
 "We've designed a class of ships powered by liquefied natural gas that leverages the latest, environmentally-friendly applications. We believe that innovative shipbuilding can reduce our carbon footprint and boost energy efficiencies to help to build a cleaner future," Fain said in a company release issued Tuesday.
 Meyer Turku CEO,  Jan Meyer , said he is grateful for the confidence that Royal Caribbean has in the company, even before the first Icon ships have been delivered.
 "Icon III further extends our order book until 2025, which gives the shipyard and the Finnish maritime cluster a long term stability, which we need to further develop our capabilities for a future with new emerging and often government owned competition," Meyer said in a company statement on Tuesday.

Meyer Turku to build third LNG cruise ship for Royal Caribbean


Summary: Consumers borrowed 290 million euros in unsecured consumer loans in May, as mortgages also rose to a seven year high.

The rate of borrowing in Finland reached record highs in May, according to the Bank of Finland, as new mortgage loans increased by 1.9 billion euros and unsecured consumer loans by 290 million euros.
 The stock of unsecured consumer credit has now grown at an annual rate of 12 percent to 5.4 billion euros, making it the highest amount on record.
 According to the bank, an increasing share of the consumer debt is coming from outside the credit institution sector, or it's borrowed from abroad.
 Mortgage borrowing was 130 million euros higher than in the same month last year, making May 2019 the busiest month for mortgages since June 2012.
 From January to May of this year, the number of mortgage loans increased by 1.5 percent, compared to the same period last year.
 The mortgage loan stock grew to 98.5 billion euros in May, just as the annual interest rate on new housing loans fell to 0.78 percent.
 Loans for the purchase of summer cottages also increased in May to 93 million euros, a year-on-year increase of seven percent.

Unsecured consumer loans at all-time high in Finland