Summary: The Swedish manufacturer denies that the colourful, flavoured nicotine products are specifically targeted at women.

Lääkealan turvallisuus- ja kehittämiskeskus

A new tobacco-free nicotine product imported from abroad is quickly gaining popularity in Finland, according to Finnish Customs.
 These "nicotine pouches" come in multi-coloured packaging and are flavoured with extracts such as ginger, orange, blackcurrant and rhubarb. They do not contain tobacco and are smaller than classic snus packets, and thus easier to insert and use.
 Customers use both types of product by inserting the pouches between their gums and cheek.
 "It's kind of like snus for women," said customer  Kaisa Laurila  from Kokkola next to a candy-coloured snus display at a store in the border town of Haparanda (Haaparanta in Finnish) in northwest Finland.
 Health care professionals have noted that girls and women are using snus or similar tobacco products more often than before.
 Dental hygienists say they have seen a clear rise in young use of snus. Jutta Marjakaarto / Yle
 Dental hygienist  Annica Marjamaa  from private sector healthcare provider Mehiläinen has worked with children for more than two decades.
 "When I visit schools I ask whole classes of kids whether they've used snus. These days more and more girls are raising their hands. It used to be unheard of for girls to try these products," Marjamaa said. "We have to take this trend seriously."
 Communications manager for snus manufacturer Swedish Match,  Johan Wredberg  denied that his company is marketing its products specifically to women – or to underage customers.
 "Our products are marketed to adult people regardless of their gender," Wredberg said. "We feel that men and women alike are able to make sensible decisions about what products they use."
 Fimea: Nicotine pouches "medicine"
 Apart from marketing strategies for the tobacco-free nicotine pouches, the products also fall into a grey area when it comes to their classification in Finland.
 The Finnish Medicines Agency (Fimea) considers the nicotine pouches a form of medication based on the effects the chemical ingredients have on the metabolism.
 "Nicotine is a well-known medical compound, which affects users in a medicine-like way," said Fimea head pharmacist  Kristiina Pellas .
 However, the legality of the nicotine pouches is very difficult for consumers to determine ahead of time due to inadequate labelling on snus packages.
 The flavours of the snus products vary greatly. Antti Heikinmatti / Yle
 Fimea equates tobacco-free snus with non-prescription medicines whose nicotine content per sachet is 4 mg. This is the official legal limit in Finland for all snus-like products; anything stronger is considered a prescription drug and thus illegal to import from abroad without a license.
 "In terms of Customs, it's simple: the nicotine pouches are treated as a medicine and their import status is regulated by the applicable laws," Finnish Customs inspector general  Anne Pullinen  said, adding that a rise in imports of the flavoured snus is likely.
 The import limit for four-milligram sachets from ETA countries such as Sweden corresponds to an estimated 12 months of personal use. Customs calculates that this adds up to about 8,500 doses or hundreds of cartons of the product.
 However, many of the products contain no information about the quantity of nicotine they contain. In such cases Customs seizes the contents for study in its laboratories. So far only a handful of analyses have been conducted though, Customs said.

Barely legal faux-snus products gaining popularity


Summary: The presidents expressed concern over a US missile test following its withdrawal from a decades-old arms control treaty.

Finnish President  Sauli Niinistö  has described as "worrying" US plans to locate mid-range missiles in Europe and called for dialogue on the matter. Speaking during a joint press conference with his opposite number from Moscow  Vladimir Putin  on Wednesday, Niinistö said that the situation was not governed by any agreements, something that was especially troubling from the European perspective.
 "We hope that talks aimed at [negotiating] a new agreement progress," Niinistö told journalists while referring to the US government’s decision to repudiate the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF treaty), followed by a recent test of a medium-range cruise missile weeks after scuppering the decades-old deal with Russia. Analysts worry that the breakdown of the treaty could spawn a new nuclear arms race.
 Responding a question about the US missile test from Russian media, Putin said that he was disappointed by the development, which he said threatened security and breached the terms of the INF. Putin added that the test came too soon after the treaty was abandoned on 2 August and suggested that plans for the missile launch had been developed before the US tore up the treaty.
 The Russian president said he was concerned that modified Tomahawk marine missiles could be deployed in Romania and Poland, where NATO already has missile defence systems.
 "We don’t know if the US will tell the Europeans where they are to be located. I agree with the Finnish president that we need dialogue. There is none now. We are ready to engage in dialogue with the US as well as with Europe," Putin said.
 Putin defends crackdown on protesters
 Host Niinistö trod a fine diplomatic line in response to a question from Yle’s  Sanna Uosikainen  about  the return of full Russian voting rights  in the Council of Europe and Moscow's perceived failure to comply with the Council’s mandate to honour human rights with respect to a crackdown on ongoing protests in Moscow.
 Niinistö said that it would be too easy to say that nothing similar happens in Finland. He noted that the Finnish government maintains active dialogue with civil society and that perhaps this is the reason. He also noted that membership in the Council of Europe is also important to Russian NGOs.
 Putin said that Russia respects human rights and noted that similar, sometimes more damaging demonstrations occur in other European countries. He explained that some local election candidates had been banned from standing for election because they had broken the law. He added that citizens have the right to demonstrate and noted that two protests had been lawful. However he said that if citizens did not have the required permit to demonstrate, then authorities would react the same as in any other European country.
 With respect to the Council of Europe, Putin said that if members were not satisfied with Russia, the country could pull out. But he noted that if Russia left, citizens would not have recourse to the European Court of Human Rights.
 Free electronic visas for EU citizens
 Both presidents praised the state of bilateral relations and Putin mentioned a number of initiatives where Russia and Finland would step up cooperation. Tourism was one such area where he said he hoped to see increased activity. He noted that roughly 3.5 million Russians visit Finland while one million Finns travel across the eastern border.
 He said that he hoped the number of EU visitors would rise with the introduction of free electronic visas for EU citizens hoping to visit St. Petersburg. He said work is underway to resolve issues relating to traveller identification.
 The presidents continued Putin's working day trip with a dinner at Finland's historic former fortress, Suomenlinna.

Call for dialogue: Niinistö, Putin discuss recent US missile test at Helsinki meeting


Summary: Russian President Vladimir Putin was about two hours late for his meeting with opposite number Sauli Niinistö.

After touching down at the Helsinki Airport just shy of 4.30pm, Russian President  Vladimir Putin  finally met his host  Sauli Niinistö  at the Presidential Palace in downtown Helsinki just after 5.00pm, around two hours behind schedule.
 The heads exchanged pleasantries as their meeting began, with Putin saying via an interpreter that bilateral relations between the two countries had developed positively.
 The Russian President’s arrival in Finland resulted in a major security operation in which the route between the airport and the city centre was closed to allow his motorcade to proceed unfettered.
 Tourists and other members of the public were prohibited from the market square area near the Presidential Palace in downtown Helsinki. Laura Hyyti / Yle
 Helsinki police also said on Twitter that mass transit had been suspended on Mannerheimintie, while the market square opposite the official presidential residence had been cleared out and sealed off to the public, catching many tourists off-guard.
 Activists with a message for Putin
 Meanwhile NGOs and activists took advantage of Putin’s visit to the Finnish capital to send messages about the country’s human rights record, among other things.
 Human rights organisation Amnesty said it wanted to use the opportunity to raise the issue of free elections while Putin was in Helsinki.
 Amnesty protesters with a message for the Russian President, "Putin, why are you afraid?" Laura Hyyti / Yle
 Three young activists,  Jasmiina Salin ,  Iida Niva  and  Maria Kiiskinen  of the National Coalition Party’s youth wing said that they wanted to draw attention to concerns about democracy and minority rights in Russia.
 Meanwhile demonstrators representing another organisation, Fee Russia (Vapaa Venäjä) called for the arrest of the Russian president.
 Members of the National Coalition Party youth wing turned out to see Vladimir Putin. Laura Hyyti / Yle
 On Tuesday President Niinistö told an annual gathering of Finnish ambassadors that he might raise the issue of ongoing demonstrations in Moscow with Putin.
 Protesters have been picketing and calling for free elections, following a decision to ban some opposition figures from local elections.
 Niinistö said that there are no special frictions in Finnish-Russian bilateral relations and he stressed the importance of maintaining open discussion channels.
 Niinistö and Putin arrive at Suomenlinna for dinner on Wednesday evening. Jussi Nukari / Lehtikuva
 The presidents and their staff completed the working day trip with dinner at the historic former island fortress, Suomenlinna.

Russian president's tardiness tests activists' patience in Helsinki


Summary: Finnish dailies analyse the Russian leader's Wednesday visit, and clock concern for the planet's welfare.

The country's most widely-read daily Helsingin Sanomat  discusses  Finnish President  Sauli Niinistö 's  meeting with Russian President  Vladimir Putin  yesterday in Helsinki. The National Defence University's Russian security expert  Katri Pynnönniemi  called Niinistö out for "not questioning any of Putin's interpretations" in his remarks.
 "In my opinion, the most important thing was that Putin got all of his key talking points across. The thrust of his message matched Russia's long-term communication strategy which says that the US is making decisions over Europe's head, without consideration for the interests of its allies," she told the paper.
 She said President Niinistö could have challenged many of Putin's comments about the US' lack of communication with EU allies about its missile technology or US involvement in the European energy market – the latter of which conveniently painted the Russian-backed  Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline  as better-suited to European interests.
 "He [Niinistö] surely could have said that the relationship between European and Nato countries and the US is a good one, or that Europeans still make their own, independent decisions," Pynnönniemi said.
 Another missed opportunity in her eyes concerned the subject of  a crackdown on demonstrations for free elections in Moscow . At this juncture, the Finnish President commented that it would be "too easy to say that nothing similar happens in Finland".
 "Niinistö's criticism on this point was quite cloaked in that [...] there is no way you can compare the Finnish political system to what is happening in Russia right now," she told HS.
 Scrambled GPS and a downed police site
 Finland's tabloids talk about some of the knock-on effects the working visit had in Helsinki, in addition to the enhanced security presence and the  closure of streets, markets and harbours . Ilta-Sanomat reports that  GPS systems were apparently jammed  for about a half-hour around the time of Putin's  late arrival  at roughly 4:30 pm.
 Readers told IS that while Putin's motorcade was en route from the Helsinki Airport to the Presidential Palace, map services on their phones provided inaccurate location data. One man said he checked both his work and personal phone at his home in the Helsinki district of Viikki, only to have one show that he was sitting in the neighbouring city of Espoo and the other pinpoint his location in the district of Itäkeskus, in eastern Helsinki. He said that once Putin had arrived at his destination downtown, the services once again worked accurately.
 The incident is not the first of its kind in Finland, as air navigation authorities detected GPS jamming in  November 2018 during NATO exercises  in northern Finland and Norway. Norwegian authorities said at the time that their data indicated that the signal disruption was coming from Russia.
 Meanwhile tabloid Iltalehti reports that the  website of the Finnish Police crashed  on Wednesday evening while the Russian leader was in Helsinki, although "there is no information yet if the disturbance is associated with Putin's visit".
 Worried about the planet's future
 The Lahti-based newspaper Etelä-Suomen Sanomat reports on a  poll assessing climate change anxiety  in Finland's population.
 Some 27 percent of the over 2,000 respondents to the Sitra-commissioned poll said anxiety is "very or somewhat good" descriptor of their feelings about climate change. For the subset of people between the age of 15 and 30, this percentage rose to 38 percent, or more than one in three.
 Finns in the survey also reported feeling frustration, inadequacy, powerlessness and hope in the face of climate change. 60 percent said they have noted scepticism of global warming in their social circles, but less than half a percentage point said they have encountered outright climate change denial in Finland.
 The poll also inquired after people's  happiness levels . 55 percent said they felt very or somewhat happy, with about a quarter saying they were "a little or not at all happy".

Thursday's papers: Free pass for Putin, GPS jamming and climate change anxiety


Summary: The Finnish Immigration Service admits to granting two-year extensions, instead of the four applicants are entitled to.

The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) has been granting underage asylum seekers two-year residence permits to stay in the country when they would have been entitled to a four-year permit, according to an Yle investigation. The cases in question concern individuals who entered the country as minors, and are now applying to Migri for a permit extension for the second time, as their two-year term has expired.
 Migri is supposed to grant a first-time extension of two years, with four year extensions the norm for the second round of extensions.
 Immigration Service unit director  Olli Koskipirtti  says the confusion was due to ambiguous in-house guidelines.
 "The guidelines say that extensions can be granted for one or two years, if the applicant has reached adult age during the period of the previous permit. However they don't say whether the customer is applying for a renewed permit for the first or second time," he says.
 Koskipirtti says Migri is taking steps to amend the situation, and will write up clearer instructions in the early autumn. He points out that renewed permits can be granted for shorter periods on other grounds, as well, as things like school performance and criminal records are considered in the permit decisions.
 Long processing times lead to restrictions
 The authority for granting renewed residence permits in Finland was transferred from the police to the Immigration Service at the start of 2017.  Hanna Laari , a lawyer with the Finnish Refugee Advice Centre, said that reports of inconsistent and truncated permit extensions began to surface shortly after this. She says she has come across several cases in her work.
 The Finnish Immigration Service pays for legal representatives to be appointed for unaccompanied minors that arrive in the country to seek asylum. This representative is responsible for making sure the child's best interests are being considered in different situations.
 Finnish law stipulates that the first residence permit issued on the basis of individual humanitarian purposes be valid for one year. Processing of the permits may sometimes drag on for up to a year.
 "Young people have to manage without a residence permit card. They are legally in the country because they have a certificate that they have applied for a residence permit, but it is impossible for them to travel and difficult to receive services," says  Jukka Kursula , who has worked as legal representative for unaccompanied minor asylum seekers for close to two decades.
 Legal reps dropped when applicants turn 18
 Laari says the onus is on the legal representatives to make sure that the decisions minors are receiving are in line with the law. Some minors that arrived to Finland in 2015 have had a poor "luck of the draw" in this area, she says. The fact that the legal representative drops out of the picture when the applicant turns 18 is also a problem.
 Migri's Koskipirtti says that the processing time for renewed permits is currently in the neighbourhood of four months. The Refugee Advice Centre's Laari says in her experience, the wait is often seven to eight months.

Migri botches extended permits for underage asylum seekers


Summary: Police, tax and population centre websites are operating normally again after Wednesday night's service disruption.

The websites of several state organisations in Finland were inaccessible due to a denial-of-service (DoS) attack late Wednesday night. A DoS is a cyber-attack in which the perpetrator disrupts the services of a host connected to the internet.
 The attack downed the websites of the Finnish Police, Tax Administration and the Population Register Centre, and caused disturbances at the websites of the Border Guard and the Suomi.fi online information portal.
 Juha Tretjakov , an IT security expert with the Ministry of Transport and Communications, says the disturbances started on Wednesday evening.
 For the most part, the services were once again in operation by mid-day on Thursday, although some problems with logging in to e-services of the Social Insurance Institution (Kela) were still being reported.
 The cause of the disturbances is not known. An investigation has been launched.
 The tabloid Iltalehti  reported Thursday  that the  website of the Finnish Police crashed  on Wednesday evening while Russian President  Vladimir Putin  was in Helsinki for a working visit, but said "there is no information yet if the disturbance is associated with Putin's visit".

DoS attack downs public service websites


Summary: The country's two main food retailers say they'll inform consumers of the carbon footprint of select product groups.

The second-largest Finnish grocery retailer, the K-Group, is to begin providing customers with statistics on the carbon footprint of some food purchases. This autumn K-Group will begin providing those enrolled in its Plussa customer loyalty programme with data on the climate impact of their food shopping.
 The system will not pinpoint details for individual products but simply generate data based on popular product groups such as milk, bread, beef and root vegetables. Initially the programme will cover 40 product groups.
 The K-Group is the second major Finnish retailer to roll out such a scheme. Last month its main rival, S-Group, said it would start letting shoppers know the carbon impact of their purchases.
 Together the two chains control more than 83 percent of the Finnish groceries market, according to the Finnish Grocery Trade Association. Last year the association said that the S-Group had a market share of more than 46 percent, followed by the K-Group at just over 36 percent and German budget chain Lidl with less than 10 percent.
 Story continues after photo
 Experts say such trackers are a small step in the right direction. Ismo Pekkarinen / AOP
 Like that of the S-Group, the K-Group tracker will be based on climate impact estimates from Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), one of Finland's official statistics authorities.
 The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra meanwhile estimates that 68 percent of Finland's greenhouse gas emissions are related to household consumption.
 "Responsible choices"
 The K-Group says that many clients have asked for support in making sustainable choices when shopping for food.
 "We want to help our customers to make choices that are responsible and in line with their values," head of the company's grocery divison,  Ari Akseli , says.
 Meanwhile at S-Group, "our aim is to offer help and tools to consumers so they can check and reduce the climate impact of their food purchases," says Senior Vice President for Sustainability and CSR  Lea Rankinen .
 The S-Group has already begun showing carbon figures for some product groups to loyalty card holders who log into a website.
 "For instance you can see your purchases of meat, fish, fruit and vegetables, in other words practically all the major product categories, and an estimate of their carbon footprint," says S-Group product manager  Vesa Riihelä .
 He told Yle last month that some 150,000 people had signed up for the service, with the number growing by 25,000–30,000 per month.
 No silver bullet
 Environmental scientists say such trackers are a small step in the right direction.
 "Many companies estimate the climate impact of their products, but we are not yet in a situation where reliable product- and brand-specific data is available on a comprehensive, comparable basis for all products," notes  Merja Saarinen , a senior scientist at Luke.
 According to  Marja Salo , a researcher at the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), "all solutions that increase transparency in consumption are good in terms of boosting consumer awareness, especially when that information is tied to everyday life."
 However she does not see such trackers as a silver bullet to change consumption habits in a more sustainable direction. For instance, WWF Finland estimates that residents of Finland used up their share of the planet’s natural resources  by early April this year .
 "I wouldn't rely on everything changing when consumers get information about their carbon footprints," Salo tells Yle.
 "Even if we have plenty of information, that alone is not enough. We need many forms of guidance."

Finland's grocery giants help consumers track climate impact of food


Summary: Mental illness adversely affects income, education and employment. Schizophrenics have the lowest employment rates.

Hospitalisation for mental disorders in youth and early adulthood has the potential to hinder future careers, according to a study by a consortium of five Finnish universities. Researchers found a link between mental health disorders and low salaries, poor education and unemployment.
 The study revealed that income levels, educational attainment and employment rates of people under 25 who have been hospitalised due to past mental illnesses are notably lower than that of the general workforce. They also face a greater risk of joblessness and often may not pursue secondary or tertiary education.
 Individuals who had been hospitalised for schizophrenia had the lowest employment rates of all subjects in the study.
 Less than 10 percent of this group was found to be gainfully employed during the duration of the study. Just under half of subjects who had been hospitalised with mental illnesses were still employed after the age of 25.
 Wages remain low
 The study also found that average incomes of those hospitalised for severe mental illness in their youth remained quite low throughout their career and did not increase at any point. More than half had no income at all during the survey period.
 The researchers examined data on more than two million individuals between the ages of 25 and 52 in Finland from 1998 to 2015.
 "People diagnosed with mental illness do not participate in the labour market for a variety of reasons. However, in treating severe mental illness it would be good to ensure at an early stage that patients have the opportunity to participate in working life and training," Helsinki University researcher  Christian Hakulinen  said in a statement.
 The study was published in the  Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica  journal, and was funded by the Academy of Finland and the wage earners' association.

Study: Severe mental illness in youth has detrimental effect on future career


Summary: Many kids are starting the school year in temporary buildings as their schools undergo repairs to remove mould.

Parents across Finland are finding that their involvement with local officials is key in their battle against mould in schools.
 In Helsinki’s Vartiokylä neighbourhood elementary pupils have a new routine this term. They gather in the yard of their former school shuttered for mould before being bussed to an interim facility in Malmi for lessons.
 Tuula Putus , an indoor air expert from the University of Turku, told Yle that a number of schools around Finland  face problems with indoor air quality .
 She said city officials often drag their feet before taking corrective measures, pointing out that children’s symptoms are likely to be dismissed as regular colds. Meanwhile some teachers have been led to believe that menopause is the cause of their symptoms, rather than mould exposure.
 "Children's rights aren’t being met in Finland. We react very slowly when it comes to mitigating risks affecting children and youths. Kids are the future and they deserve healthy daycare and school environments," Putus explained.
 Parents advocate for kids
 In Vartiokylä, pupils’ parents spent years leveraging their professional expertise as doctors, lawyers and construction experts to lobby local decision makers as well as the Regional State Administrative State Agency to initiate testing and ultimately shut down the school. The parents also took an active role in relocating the elementary school to an interim facility in Malmi.
 One of these active parents is  Kimmo Laine , who transferred his son to another school after three years of upper respiratory problems.
 "Many things would have been better if the city had improved communication. Hiding information will never improve situations like these," Laine said.
 Critics blame poor inter-agency communication and decentralised decision making for mould complaints taking so long to wind through the system. In any school, the principal, school healthcare, occupational healthcare and industrial safety representatives all deal with indoor air quality complaints. The final responsibility, however, rests with the property owner, which is often a subdivision of the municipality.
 The rehoused Vartiokylä pupils are now facing yet another move as mould has appeared at their temporary school facility in Malmi.
 The interim school building in Malmi also has mould, parents recently found out. Matti Myller / Yle
 Aware of the growing problem, the government has launched a "Healthy Spaces 2028" initiative to tackle the dual problem of mouldy buildings and residents suffering from allergic symptoms triggered by damp and mould. Helsinki has meanwhile vowed to improve communication on air quality matters, according to  Sari Hildén , a property manager for the city.

Parental involvement key in fight against mouldy schools


Summary: Warm late-summer weather could still bring toxic algae to the surface though, experts warn.

Toxic blue-green algae, technically known as cyanobacteria, has been unusually rare on Finnish inland waters this summer despite spells of hot weather that usually trigger the growth of surface algal blooms.
 Since last week, the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) has detected fewer cyanobacterial blooms on Finnish lakes and sea districts. In maritime areas, cyanobacteria are mostly mixed into the water, but there are some surface blooms in southern and southwestern regions. Meanwhile the incidence of cyanobacteria in lakes has dropped significantly.
 "Usually blue-green algae is at its heaviest in Finnish lakes in August, but this summer levels in August are lower than at any time in the 20 years of national monitoring," says  Marko Järvinen , head of SYKE's algal bloom monitoring unit.
 Most abundant in southern Finland
 This week blue-green algae has been detected at 30 observation points around the country. At six of them the level was rated as abundant, with one classified as 'very abundant'.
 That was at Haapajärvi, a lake between the eastern city of Lappeenranta and the Russian border. Most of the 'abundant' spots are in the south and southwest, between Sipoo, just east of Helsinki, and Rymättylä, near Naantali.
 Järvinen attributes the paucity of blooms to unsettled weather. Meanwhile low levels of rain means that less nutrients have been washed in from lakes' watershed areas. Runoff from agriculture, including fertiliser and animal manure, is a key driver of cyanobacteria growth.
 Although blue-green algae levels have declined, he says it's too early to declare the season over.
 "Blue-green algae is now mixed into the water. If the weather warms up again, it will collect on the surface again," Järvinen predicts.
 "Along the coast, the blue-green algae situation can vary significantly even between places close to each other and can change quickly," adds another SYKE researcher,  Sirpa Lehtinen .
 "Blue-green algae may form different types of toxins and agents that irritate the skin. Significant blue-green algae blooms should always be treated with caution," warns SYKE. Exposure to the bacteria can cause illness or even death in humans and animals such as dogs.

Excellent summer for Finnish lakes: August blue-green algae level lowest in 20 years


Summary: Layoff season is around the corner, drug traffickers in the archipelago and a manhole turns into a geyser in Helsinki.

Autumn in Finland is the season of union codetermination talks in many workplaces, where management outline their plans for redundancies. With fall approaching, business magazine  Talouselämä  says there's no reason to panic about the state of the economy just yet as most layoffs are due to organisational restructuring, with a slight uptick in redundancies in the IT and technology sectors.
 Elina Pylkkänen  of the Labour Institute for Economic Research, a think-tank, told the magazine that recent layoff rounds mostly reflect evolving economic structures and changing consumer habits.
 She said unemployment figures are the best indicator of where the economy is headed. Finland's  jobless rate stood at 6 percent  last month, according to national number cruncher Statistics Finland.
 Drug runners in the archipelago
 Finland's autonomous Åland Islands have become a transit point for drug smuggling, writes Swedish-language daily  Hufvudstadsbladet  in an interview with border guard investigator  Rasmus Friman .
 Finland’s coast guard said it suspects that narcotics are increasingly shipped in small vessels, such as yachts. It is next to impossible to monitor all small boat traffic in the Finnish archipelago, according to Friman.
 Drug traffickers move narcotics through cargo ships, over land, and by mail. But more sophisticated cartels also have access to yachts, "so they have no reason not to use them," Friman said in the paper.
 Sewer eruption
 Friday morning's downpour in the capital forced vehicles to drive around a sewer geyser  shooting out of the street  in front of central library Oodi in downtown Helsinki, reports newsstand tabloid  Ilta-Sanomat  – whose online article features a video of the dramatic surge.
 Monsoon-like conditions on Friday morning kept rescue workers busy as they were called in to prevent water damage at several central locations.
 Over the next 24 hours, the rain front is expected to travel north, reaching Northern Ostrobothnia and Kainuu.
 "We're very close to issuing a heavy rain warning, which means 20 millimetres of rain falling within one hour," meteorologist  Juha Tuomala  of the Finnish Meteorological Institute told IS.

Friday's papers: Layoff season, archipelago drugs and sewer geysers


Summary: Perceived intergenerational inequality in Finland is eroding young people's faith in the pension system.

Suomen Ammattiliittojen Keskusjärjestö SAK

The youth wings of several political parties say pensions should be cut in the name of generational equality.
 The divide between young and old is raising debate among Finland's political youth groups. Young adults are questioning whether comfortable pensions will be out of their reach as they struggle to  find steady jobs  and  get a foot on the housing ladder .
 This summer the new government of PM  Antti Rinne   announced it would raise minimum pensions , a key election promise made by his Social Democratic Party (SDP). But that hasn't stopped the youth wings of the Greens, Centre — and even the SDP — from questioning the sustainability of the system as a whole.
 In Finland, any discussion pertaining to lowering pensions has long been seen as political suicide as retirees are the country's most active voters.
 Breaking a 'holy' promise
 Meddling with pension payments is an unfathomable idea to many in Finland, but the Green youths told Yle that many young people have lost their faith in the system.
 "We're interpreting pensions from a 1960s legal perspective which sees retirements — a social benefit — as personal property," Green Youth chair  Amanda Pasanen  told Yle.
 "We should radically minimise the cost of maintaining pensions for the system to remain sustainable and fair for future generations,"  Sameli Sivonen , Pasanen's co-chair added.
 The Green Youths point out that the Finnish and Swedish systems rely on opposite approaches for shoring up money in the face of dwindling state coffers. While Finland has resorted to raising the level of statutory pension contributions from wage earners, Sweden's response has been to cut pensions. The Swedish system includes a 'brake' mechanism on index adjustments that triggers when the economy weakens.
 Suvi Mäkeläinen  of the Finnish Centre Party Youth has also come out in favour of a 'brake' mechanism, saying it would mainly affect those with large pensions and not retirees on the lower end of the scale.
 Vesa Rantahalvari  of the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) said that while slowing down index adjustments could be a good way to shore up funds, he said his organisation is primarily focused on raising Finland's  falling birthrate , increasing  work-based immigration  and  improving employment  overall.
 Meanwhile  Sinikka Näätsaari  who heads pension policy matters at the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) pointed out that  recent retirement age hikes  have increased the pool of people paying into the system to ease the state's burden.
 But  Mikkel Näkkäläjärvi  of the SDP's youth organisation is not convinced that increasing the contribution base will be enough.
 "People born during or after the 1970s are definitely not winners in the system," he said. "The next pension reform will have to address generational equality."

Young Finnish politicians want to roll back pensions


Summary: A 3.5-million-euro holiday resort scheme, started in 2015, is now on ice.

Construction of an Israeli-backed cabin complex billed as a "eco-village" in Kaavi, Northern Savo has been stalled over unpaid building permit fees and other unspecified causes.
 Local paper Koillis-Savo reported Friday that the last time construction work had been done on the property was last November. It wrote that part of one sauna and the foundations for a handful of cabins had so far been started.
 Kaavi municipal manager  Ari Sopanen  told Yle on Friday that Ecoland has yet to pay the municipality the required construction license fee, some 2,400 euros. He also said work would continue in the winter, but had no comment on the specific reasons for the construction shutdown.
 "It's nothing unusual. Building projects don't always go as planned," Sopanen said.
 Changing plans
 Back in 2015 Yle reported that an Israeli investment coalition called Gillerit Ltd – information on which is scant – had purchased some 17 hectares of land on the island of Petäjäsaari for 115,000 euros.
 Public interest in the international project was then high, with  Sanna Sillman  of the local entrepreneurs' association praising the venture for its expected boost to tourism and employment.
 At that time Ecoland Finland Kaavi, the Israel-based company in charge of building the resort's luxury cabins, said they planned to open the completed holiday village to tourists in 2017. Construction did not begin until October 2018.
 The number of cabins proposed in the "eco-village" plan also changed over time, from 24 to "about 40" across three years.
 In October Ecoland announced it would complete 12 cabins by the end of 2019, with a final opening date sometime in 2021.
 Israelis laud "magical island"
 The original owner of Ecoland,  Amir Weil , said four years ago that Finland's richness of natural environments presented a golden opportunity for financial gains.
 "I think Finns are missing something," Weil said. "Sometimes familiarity with a beautiful landscape can make people forget to appreciate it. We want to show you how amazing this country is."
 The Hebrew-language Ecoland website promotes Petäjäsaari as a "magical island".
 "We come from a country without islands. Coming to Kaavi is like a dream for us. The people we'd bring are looking for quiet environments to visit," Weil said in 2015.
 He also cited the region's beautiful and optimal location in the midpoint between Helsinki and Lapland as well as the interests of the local populace as reasons for building the resort.
 Today the company's Israeli CEO  Jonatan Orlev  heads the resort's construction efforts.
 "With a 2021 deadline, there is ample time to discuss and develop ideas, and think about how the locals can respond to an uptick in tourism," Orlev said last year.
 According to the Kaavi municipal zoning report the holiday village will be composed of privately owned cottages. The owners would use them for 2-8 weeks per year, and rent out the cabins the rest of the year. Ecoland boasted in 2015 that it had already sold 12 of its cabins but this has not been corroborated.

Israeli resort construction halted in Eastern Finland


Summary: Helsinki Region Transport (HSL) says that Metro service may be disrupted until around midnight.

Heavy downpours hit the capital region on Friday morning, causing transport disruptions and delayed opening hours. Water flowed into tunnels and buildings, hampering morning commutes and closing roads and buildings.
 Yle meteorologist  Matti Huutonen  says that more plentiful rains are moving in from the southwest in the afternoon.
 Story continues after photo
 Rescue workers pumped water out of a building on Mikonkatu. Antti Aimo-Koivisto / Lehtikuva
 "I wouldn't be surprised if today brings the whole monthly average of rain," Huutonen said in the early afternoon.
 Helsinki usually gets 70-80 millimetres of rain during August. Friday morning alone brought 56 mm of water to Kaisaniemi Park, where the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) has a weather station.
 Tunnels under train station flooded
 With many roads and tunnels flooded, the Helsinki Region Transport (HSL) reported many delays.
 In the early afternoon it said that Metro trains were not running between the Ruoholahti and Helsinki University stations, a stretch that includes the Central Railway Station stop, which suffered significant flooding.
 Story continues after photo
 Metro platforms were awash in downtown Helsinki. Ulla Malminen / Yle
 Metro trains are running to the east and west of the city centre, but at irregular intervals and skipping some stops. Service may be disrupted until around midnight, HSL says.
 As a replacement, the Lauttasaari buses 20 and 21 are driving directly to the Kamppi terminal, skipping the Bulevardi and Eira segments of their routes.
 The Helsinki Rescue Department says that worst hit by the morning floods were the Metro stop under the Railway Station and the nearby Eliel underground parking garage, where water was up to a metre and a half deep.
 Story continues after photo
 Many cars were stranded or submerged in the Eliel parking garage.  Kustaa Valtonen
 Rescue workers were still pumping out water in the afternoon. During the morning the department tackled water damage at 27 sites, included overflowing sewers and flooded cellars.
 The Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art said that its exhibition areas would not open until 3 pm due to water damage. The Kaari shopping mall in Kannelmäki was partly closed, with escalators and lifts at a standstill.
 Fuel spill and slippery roads
 In Helsinki's Pikku Huopalahti neighbourhood, pedestrian walkways were impassible due a stream overflowing its banks. On Varikkotie, a cloudburst knocked over a 3,000-litre fuel tank at a construction site, spilling some of the contents.
 Story continues after photo
 Water spurted out of a sewage pipe in Ruoholahti. Pasi Rein / Lehtikuva
 The FMI warns of more heavy rain, with an additional 50 mm possible, and a risk of hydroplaning on road surfaces in the Uusimaa region, especially in underpasses and lower elevations.
 It also issued a wind warning for the Gulf of Finland, with southwesterly gale force winds of 15 metres per second in the afternoon and evening, making it hazardous for recreational craft and small boats. The FMI also warns of rough waves of more than 2.5 metres on Friday evening.
 Story continues after photo
 Work to pump water out of the Eliel parking hall went on into the afternoon.  Irene Stachon / Lehtikuva
 In neighbouring Espoo, 48 mm of precipitation was recorded on Friday morning, and at least one major road, Tekniikantie, was closed. Besides Espoo, rescue officials responded to water damage calls in Kirkkonummi and Siuntio.
 Elsewhere in Finland, areas just south of Oulu received 5-10 mm of rain per hour, while some parts of North Savo and North Karelia received as much as 20-30 mm an hour, says meteorologist  Nina Karusto  of the FMI.

Heavy rains spur flooding, snarl transport in Helsinki region


Summary: Police focused on those driving over the limit in school zones.

Police caught 4,600 motorists driving over the speed limit in a 24-hour speeding-related operation on Wednesday, coinciding with the start of the new school year. The heightened surveillance was announced in advance.
 Traffic police deployed 19 specialised speed monitoring vehicles to spot heavy-footed drivers. Most motorists caught speeding were driving less than 15 kilometres per hour above the limit.
 During the morning commute hours of 6-8 am, law enforcement intercepted some 1,000 violators as part of the operation. Police also switched on automatic speed cameras during the bust.
 Heikki Ihalainen , chief superintendent at the National Police Board, said the targeted morning traffic as well as areas in close proximity to daycares and schools.
 "We hope that this type of monitoring will encourage people to abide by the speed limit and look out for pedestrians," Ihalainen explained.

4,600 motorists caught in 24-hour speeding op


Summary: PM Antti Rinne and European Commissioner Jyrki Katainen were among those calling for urgent steps on Friday.

From across the political spectrum, Finnish politicians voiced concern over the wildfires raging the Amazon rainforests of Brazil.
 Prime Minister  Antti Rinne  called the fires "a threat to our whole planet, not just to Brazil or South America."
 "When it comes to climate change, the situation is extremely serious and we need to act immediately," he said in a statement on Friday, pledging to discuss the situation within the European Council.
 "We must find out whether the Europeans have something to offer to Brazil to help prevent this kind of fires in the future. It goes without saying that in terms of climate change the world cannot sustain such fires...I am truly worried about the attitude Brazil seems to have adopted right now regarding its own forests. Brazil should do all it takes to end the fires that are a danger to our whole civilisation," he added.
 The Amazon produces an estimated one fifth of the world's oxygen, making it a crucial player in efforts to limit climate change.
 Brazilian beef ban?
 Finland, which holds the EU Council presidency, said the EU should consider banning Brazilian beef in response to the devastation caused by the fires, widely attributed to the clearing of land for farming of soybeans and beef.
 “Finance Minister  Mika Lintilä  condemns the destruction of Amazon rainforests and proposes that the EU and Finland urgently look into the option of banning the import of Brazilian beef,” he said in a statement released in Finnish only on Friday afternoon.
 He added that he was "prepared to raise the issue for discussion with my EU finance minister colleagues when they arrive in Helsinki in September if progress is not made before that," he said.
 "We should think broadly about various measures through which we could bring pressure in this acute situation, both trade policy measures and certainly also diplomatic means. And to think together at the EU level as well, and for that reason of course we're calling the EU together for a meeting," Environment Minister  Krista Mikkonen  told Yle on Friday.
 Meetings this weekend
 European Commission VP  Jyrki Katainen  told the daily Helsingin Sanomat that he planned to find out on Friday what kinds of measures the EU could implement. According to the paper, he plans to call an emergency meeting of the Commission to discuss the issue on Saturday morning.
 Meanwhile French President  Emmanuel Macron  and German Chancellor  Angela Merkel  say the crisis which must be discussed at the G7 summit that begins in France on Saturday.
 Petteri Orpo , chair of Finland's opposition National Coalition Party, posted a tweet saying that "the destruction of the Amazon rainforests must stop. The EU must take its place at the forefront of the work against climate change and condemn Brazil's actions. This madness threatens the world's valuable carbon sinks."
 Protests and coffee beans
 Meanwhile as in several other capitals, the climate group Extinction Rebellion organised a small demonstration outside the Brazilian Embassy in Helsinki's Kaivopuisto district on Friday morning.
 Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) says its satellite data shows an 85 percent increase in wildfires compared to the same period of last year.
 Environmental NGOs says that President  Jair Bolsonaro , a long time climate change denier, has encouraged clearing activities, while he has accused them of lighting the fires themselves. On Thursday, he conceded that farmers could be behind the fires.
 Bolsonaro has repeatedly called for opening the Amazon to business interests, to allow mining, agricultural and logging companies to exploit its natural resources.
 While Brazil is Finland's largest trading partner in South America, trade between the two countries is relatively small, accounting for less than one percent of Finnish imports. Bilateral trade totalled less than a billion euros last year.
 Finland mainly imports pulp and food products from Brazil – including less than five million euros' worth each of beef and soybeans annually, along with some 70 million euros' worth of coffee beans.

Finnish pols demand action over Amazon fires


Summary: The domestic company promises to transport goods in the same way that Uber transports people.

A new Finnish consumer service provider called I Carry It will begin transporting light cargo person-to-person starting this autumn. The service will be mobile application-based in the same way as ridesharing company Uber or food delivery company Wolt.
 Workers at I Carry It – aged between 16 and 50 – will all be freelancers using their own transport, not salaried employees, so the company will not be offering them insurance.
 I Carry It CEO  Jukka Tarkiainen  said the service will "supplement" the Finnish postal system, Posti, and other long-distance delivery concerns.
 "Other courier services could be competitors. But their business model is different," Tarkiainen said.
 The app is the first of its kind in Finland, although an Uusimaa-based newspaper delivery company called Early Bird has been in operation for a few years.
 Heidi Nieminen , chair of the Finnish Post and Logistics Union (PAU), said many of Early Bird's workers have contacted the trade union, saying that couriers are effectively entrepreneurs but are still subject to company working hours.
 Story continues after photo.
 The I Carry It application would work very similarly to other delivery service programs. Mikko Koski / Yle
 The working conditions and workers' rights at many food delivery companies such as Wolt and Foodora have also caused public outrage. How would I Carry It deal with such scrutiny?
 "We will endeavour to provide flexible forms of work, where employees can choose their hours freely," said Tarkiainen. "You can do a few hours a week, or just an hour a month if you like, or even full time – starting this year. We will not actually be directing the work flow, other than by offering gigs."
 I Carry It announces that it intends to deliver thousands of packages a month once it is up and running.
 I Carry It has received 350,000 euros in aid from the ELY Centres for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, covering half of the development costs and expansion abroad, city by city.
 The courier service is to first begin in Helsinki, Lappeenranta and Kirkkonummi, and later extend to Turku and Tampere.
 The I Carry It app's visual design is by a London-based designer, while an eight-person team in India is responsible for the program's coding.
 Environmental impact unknown
 Senior researcher  Toni Ryynänen  at the University of Helsinki said that platform-based businesses have proven to work when transporting people, so switching humans for cargo is a logical step.
 However crowd-sourced transport may create environmental problems, as traffic will likely increase due to people leaving their deliveries up to the company instead of commuting to deliver it themselves.
 Tarkiainen said he hopes that I Carry It couriers will work on foot and by bike over shorter distances.
 Legislation lags behind
 The regulators at PAU decided several years ago that self-employed workers may be accepted into the union, where they will receive help whenever possible. Nieminen argues that app-based businesses should be better covered by law though.
 The government programme, drafted in May, proposes that legislation be altered to better suit the needs of new forms of work, and that the tax authority must provide the necessary means to gather app-based employees' information.
 "The tax man has given I Carry It a preliminary ruling so that we know how to abide by the letter of the law," Tarkiainen said.
 Anybody at all can basically apply to be an I Carry It courier. First the applicants are interviewed, and the company takes down their information. Each delivery is insured for up to 300 euros.
 Hourly wages, ideal prices
 Nieminen said that new courier workers should read Finland's collective agreement policy (for instance,  on the PAU site  or other union sites), and demand far higher pay than salaried employees normally would receive due to the limitations of freelance work – such as having to payroll tax and insurance themselves.
 "Our goal is to get our wages to a place where everyone is happy. Basic deliveries will likely pay 20 euros an hour," Tarkiainen said.
 This average wage was negotiated with the help of freelance food delivery couriers working for similar app-based companies – whose practices have been decried over and over again.
 The I Carry It algorithm will combine delivery orders so that one courier can pick up and deliver multiple packages on a single route. Tarkiainen said that the average price per delivery for the consumer should be about 3-6 euros.
 The company intends to take 18 percent of the delivery price in intermediary fees, and pay the rest to the courier.

App-based courier service challenges Finland's postal system


Summary: Finland's press looks at reluctance to comply with e-commerce rules, resistance-building bacteria, and hate mail.

Finland's most widely-read newspaper Helsingin Sanomat covers  postponed changes to payment and banking standard s that were set to shake up e-commerce in Europe.
 The European Union's  second payment services directive , designed to harmonise and improve existing rules for electronic payments, will enter into force in mid-September. In addition to imposing strict security requirements for e-payments across Europe, the new directive is also meant to open up markets and give consumers more choices.
 HS writes that banks and companies throughout the EU have uniformly dragged their feet on implementation of the new rules that will, for example, make several current mobile services more complicated. The paper says the only firms that have eagerly adapted the changes in Finland are payday loan peddlers, as they are "eager to get their hands on customer bank information".
 Three major changes are expected, HS says. First, lists of bank security codes for accessing online banking services will be phased out. Banks operating in Finland have come up with different replacements, following differing timelines. At Nordea and Danske Bank, a  mobile app  that generates a security code will replace the lists, while OP banks will introduce a "mobile key" that is in effect an extra PIN code, the paper writes.
 Second, consumers making purchases online will be required to jump through more hoops. Mobile services that allow commuters to buy tickets for public transportation with just one click, for example, will in future redirect buyers to an identification verification service before the transaction is approved. For items costing less than 30 euros, consumers will only have to verify every sixth purchase, HS writes.
 The third main change will be an option allowing customers to authorise third-party merchants and authorities to  access personal bank accounts  and secure payments directly. The paper writes that interest in this area has been weak in Finland, as only six applicants have sought permission from the Financial Supervisory Authority to explore this alternative.
 Kids benefit from more contact with dirt
 Joensuu-based daily Karjalainen carries a STT story on a new study that concludes that  exposure to microbes in the home wards off asthma in children.
 The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) examined microbiota from over 400 Finnish homes and determined that those with larger amounts of bacteria from outdoors may reduce children's risk of developing asthma. The study says contemporary Finns spend 90 percent of their time indoors on average, leading to less contact with microbes from the natural world.
 "In this study, we identified certain groups of bacteria found in soil that protect against asthma. These groups of bacteria provided more effective protection against asthma than the previously observed diversity of microbiota", senior THL researcher  Anne Karvonen  tells the paper.
 She encourages families with small children to forgo rubber-coated urban playgrounds and regularly "play in the nature".
 "Extremely offensive" letter
 The Jyväskylä-based newspaper Keskisuomalainen reports on  Social Democratic Helsinki city councillor  Abdirahim "Husu" Hussein , who says he plans to file a crime report with the police after receiving a threatening letter containing a hangman's noose.
 The paper says the message "referred to Hussein's ethnic background in an extremely offensive manner" and warned him not to interfere in the activities of Finnish politicians.
 In July, the Somali-born politician created turmoil by tweeting that all Finns Party politicians, voters and supporters were racist. Several complaints, including those from Finns Party MP  Jouni Kotiaho  and Nurmijärvi city councillor  Maiju Tapiolinna , calling for an investigation were submitted to the police.
 Helsinki police announced in early August that they would not be opening a pre-trial investigation into Hussein's tweet.

Thursday's papers: Deferred e-payment updates, deterred asthma and a hangman's noose


Summary: The quirky event has been held in the northern Finnish town of Oulu for the last 24 years.

One of the strangest events in Finland’s sporting calendar concluded on Friday with a first victory for US national champion  Rob ”The Marquis” Messel  in the World Air Guitar Championships.
 The event was held on Friday evening in the city of Oulu.
 Messel had previously reached the final in the air guitar championship in 2016, and told Yle afterwards that victory in the imaginary strumming competitiomn was a long-held ambition.
 "It's unreal, I wanted this for so long, I pictured it happening, I hoped that I wasn't wrong and it turned out,” said a jubilant Messel. I just did the best thing I could and the rest, the scores took care of themselves, I'm honoured and I'm just stoked."
 The championship has been held in Oulu for the last 24 years, and this year is part of a city-wide festival featuring other cultural events.
 It is part of a clutch of weird and wonderful competitive 'world championships' hosted in Finland, including mobile phone throwing, swamp football and ice fishing.

Air guitar world championship won by Rob ”The Marquis” Messel


Summary: Helsinki’s metro system is recovering from Friday’s flash flooding, but trains will not be stopping at one station in the city centre.

Public transport in Helsinki is running almost normally on Saturday after some 50 milimetres of rain fell in a single day on Friday, causing  flash floods and severe disruption to metro services .
 The metro station at the central railway station, however, remains closed on Saturday and as of Saturday morning metro operator HKL said it did not know when services would resume.
 Services will pass through the station without stopping while engineers work to fix technical faults after floodwater was pumped out of the facility on Friday.
 On Friday metro services were cancelled between Helsinki University and Ruoholahti stations, effectively cutting off the city centre from the underground network.
 HKL advises passengers on Saturday to use buses or trams to reach Kamppi or Helsinki University stations, although both are around a 500 metre walk.
 Friday's precipitation was exceptionally heavy, with 62.5 mm of rain falling over the course of the day.
 That is the ninth highest figure on record at Kaisaniemi weather station, and the highest since 22 August 2011,  according  to meteorologist  Mika Rantanen .
 The metro network’s recovery is just in time for the Finnish football league Veikkausliiga’s ”metro derby” between HJK Helsinki and FC Honka, which will go ahead as planned at Tapiola, Espoo, at 1pm.
 EDIT This story originally stated that more than a month's worth of rain fell in a single day. This is incorrect, as the average for August is 80mm and the rainfall on Friday 23 August was 62.5mm.

Helsinki metro returning to normal, central station remains closed after flooding


Summary: The largest ever win in the trans-national Eurojackpot lottery has gone to eastern Finland.

North Savo is home to the winners of a 92 million euro jackpot that constitutes the biggest ever lottery win in Finland, reports the state gambling monopoly Veikkaus.
 The winning ticket was purchased at a K-Supermarket in Siilinjärvi, and according to tabloid Iltalehti it was purchased for a 50-strong syndicate.
 “The win went to a good group,” store manager  Jyrki Huttunen  told IL. “There has been a general syndicate in this shop, and there are 50 happy people.”
 The jackpot sum would be enough to pay off the local municipality’s 74.3 million euro debt in its entirety and, according to the council’s website, is equal to all taxes paid in the 20,000-population town last year.
 This win was the sixteenth time the Eurojackpot winning ticket has been purchased in Finland.

Finnish syndicate scoops 92 million euros in biggest ever Eurojackpot win


Summary: Christian Democrat leader Sari Essayah was re-elected on Saturday after successful treatment for breast cancer.

The Christian Democrat party conference re-elected current leader  Sari Essayah  on Saturday, four days after she announced the success of an operation to remove a cancerous tumor.
 “Lots of party members have expressed the hopes that I might be able to continue,” said Essayah. “Of course in this situation I consider first and foremost my own recovery and whether I could continue in this role.”
 On Wednesday Essayah had announced that the  treatment for breast cancer  had been successful and the cancer had not spread.
 Earlier in the month the former world champion race walker had announced her illness, a two-week spell of sick leave and said she was considering stepping down as party leader.
 Alternative government
 Although she faces further treatment in the autumn, the success of her initial treatment meant she decided to put herself forward for another two-year term as leader of the party.
 At the age of 52 Essayah is the youngest of the party’s five MPs. At the last election the party received 3.9 percent of the vote.
 In Oulu she said that the parliamentary arithmetic would allow for a more conservative government to be formed if the Centre Party switched sides.
 “Together with the Centre Party the three opposition parties could form a majority government supported by 113 MPs,” said Essayah. “This is surely noted in government meetings and government parties’ offices.”
 The current government led by SDP chair  Antti Rinne  and composed of the Left Alliance, SDP, Swedish People’s Party and Centre Party has the support of 117 MPs.
 Story continues after photo
 Tiina Kokko / Yle
 Essayah also took the opportunity to comment on the  ongoing police investigation  into former leader  Päivi Räsänen  over comments in June criticizing Pride week, and particularly the Finnish Lutheran church’s participation in it.
 “As a party we don’t handle church business, but Päivi has done so in her role [as a member of the church],” said Essayah. “She has exercised her freedom of speech and her freedom of conviction, which has traditionally been very broad in Finland and that’s the viewpoint from which she has acted.”
 “We have wanted to emphasise the importance of freedom of religion in Finnish society,” said Essayah. “For example if you think about marriage, it is important to us that parishes can themselves decide on their understanding of marriage based among other things on who can marry and who cannot.
 Finland passed a law allowing same-sex marriage in 2015, and the law took effect in 2017. The Lutheran Church, however, still holds that marriage is between a man and a woman and does not recognize gay marriage, although some priests have blessed gay unions.

Essayah re-elected Christian Democrat leader after cancer treatment


Summary: Police have advised the public to call emergency services at 112 in a crisis or if they see anything suspicious.

Police are asking members of the public to contact the authorities if they have any information relating to last night’s shooting in Porvoo, in which two officers were injured. The National Bureau of Investigation NBI said Sunday afternoon on Twitter that the assailants are "armed and dangerous".
 The organisation also noted however that they had no information about any concrete threats. Police are still attempting to locate the fugitives and advised the public to call the emergency services at 112 in the event of a crisis or if they see anything suspicious. Investigators have given no indication about the possible location of the suspected shooters. A news conference has been scheduled for 5.00pm on Sunday.
 The National Bureau of Investigation is looking into the case of two police officers who were reportedly shot while on duty shortly after midnight on Saturday in the southern Finland town of Porvoo, some 50 kilometres east of Helsinki. Police said in a brief statement around 10.00am Sunday morning that the officers were responding to a call in the town's Eestinmäki district when they came under fire.
 According to the statement, the shooting is being investigated as a case of attempted murder. Regional paper Uusimaa reported Sunday the suspected shooters had been detained by police. However the in the NBI stressed in the statement that suspects had not been detained and that police were still "actively searching" for the shooters.
 Police mum on suspects' possible location
 Police commissioner  Seppo Kolehmainen  told Yle that police have an idea of how the incident unfolded on Saturday night and that officials are continuing to develop the narrative. The police chief said he could not go into details, citing the ongoing investigation.
 He did confirm to Yle that the suspected perpetrators had not yet been found. However he declined to reveal whether or not they were still in the Porvoo area or had managed to slip through the police dragnet.
 The incident reportedly occurred at Koneistajantie in Eestinmäki. Media reported that authorities conducted a large-scale operation in the area following the shooting, in which heavily armed police stopped and searched motorists on the Porvoo highway.
 A helicopter was deployed to sweep the area for the suspects while tactical officers from the specialist Bear Team unit also joined the manhunt, local media reported.
 Yle reporter  Emil Johansson  said that the operation appeared to wrap up around 6.30 on Sunday morning, when the last police vehicles left the area. The wounded police officers received treatment for their injuries and were said to be in no grave danger, field chief  Olavi Merihaara  told Uusimaa.
 "They are now in good hands at the hospital and doing well," Merihaara said.
 Meanwhile officers continued technical investigations in the Ölstens industrial areas in western Porvoo on Sunday, according to Johansson. Resident  Vesa Karinaho  told Johansson that police asked him for access to a storage warehouse where he kept a motorcycle. They wanted to check surveillance footage of the property.
 Police sweep industrial area
 Police issued a terse statement about the shooting at about 2.50 am on Sunday, but have so far not disclosed the exact time that the shooting took place. Officials sealed off the area surrounding an ST1 petrol station in Eestinmäki.
 According to Yle’s man on the scene Johansson, police could be seen sweeping an area near the Eestinmäki daycare centre, adjoining the ST1 compound.
 A photographer working with the Lehtikuva photo agency, which is jointly owned by the country’s largest news organisations, said that another team could be seen checking the nearby Ölstens industrial park.
 The Porvoo incident was the second time this weekend police had been shot at. In a separate incident in Jyväskylä early Saturday morning, an officer was reportedly shot in the face with an air rifle. The officer was said to have sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
 This is a developing story.
 Edit: Updated at 9.40am to indicate that police said the suspected shooters had not been held. Updated at 10.14am to add information about efforts to track the shooters and another shooting incident in Jyväskylä. Updated at 10.33am with details about the circumstances and time of the shooting and the nature of the NBI investigation.

"Armed and dangerous": Suspects still at large in shooting of two police officers in southern Finland


Summary: Travel between Brussels and Helsinki is expected to rise significantly during Finland's EU presidency.

Kansainväliset organisaatiot ja sopimukset

EU foreign policy council officials reportedly received a note on Friday recommending that they consider booking cheaper flights between Brussels and Helsinki as an alternative to pricey direct flights with Finland’s national carrier Finnair.
 According to a report by Finnish news agency STT, the message noted that during Finland’s six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union which began in July, the number of trips between the two capitals is expected to increase significantly.
 "On Friday a message came from the budgeting department to the entire staff urging [people] to use other airlines than Finnair for budgetary reasons, because their [other airlines’] prices might be up to one-third of what Finnair charges," foreign policy council employee  Tuula Peussa  told STT.
 Peussa said she did not know whether or not the same message had been sent to other EU organisations.
 "Because the price difference of a KLM, Lufthansa or Air France flight with a direct Finnair flight is quite significant (a flight via Amsterdam, Munich or Paris may cost only one-third of Finnair’s suggested price) and the layovers are very short (40 – 45 minutes) and in some cases departures and arrivals are at Brussels’ Midi railway station, we strongly recommend that you consider using cheaper alternatives where possible," the message urged.
 In practice, the cheaper option for EU officials would be to purchase a flight with a layover or to begin the trip to Helsinki by train as some airlines offer combination rail-flight tickets.
 Less than €100 to Oslo and Tallinn, €280 to Helsinki
 There is certainly a noticeable difference between the prices of Finnair flights compared to other alternatives. Finnair is the only airline providing direct flights between Brussels and Helsinki so there is no competition in terms of direct connections. However passengers on this route are typically EU employees and do not pay the fares themselves.
 A return flight on Finnair from Brussels to Helsinki at the beginning of November would set passengers back a minimum of 280 euros. The same trip at the same time with either SAS or Air Baltic with a single one-hour stopover would cost around 170 euros. The price difference between Finnair and other carriers would be at least 100 euros, even for flights as far ahead as next February.
 Fights with stopovers are known to be cheaper than direct options, but Finnair’s Brussels-Helsinki flights are also expensive compared to other direct flights to destinations like Oslo, Stockholm or Tallinn. A direct return flight in November from Brussels to any of these three cities would cost less than 100 euros, and would be even as low as 20-odd euros if passengers are willing to hop on a budget Ryanair flight from a most distant airport. Getting to Helsinki would cost nearly 300 euros.
 No competition direct to Brussels
 In addition to Finnair’s costliness, it appears that the flag carrier’s flights to Brussels are among its most expensive. While Finnair will fly passengers return from Amsterdam for about 130 euros, it would be more than 100 euros more if flights depart from Brussels.
 Finnair communications chief  Päivyt Tallqvist  said that the airline’s fares are based on demand, time of booking, services included such as luggage as well as the flexibility of the ticket and competition – there’s none on the Brussels route.
 "Flights pricing is market-based. For example, there are other airlines flying direct on the Stockholm route so the fare must be competitive," she noted.
 Finnair’s fare differ so much from other airlines’ that Peussa told STT that she and many others had already switched from Finnair to cheaper stopover flights even before Friday’s recommendation was issued. She pointed out that the savings are especially noticeable during the holiday period when fares are generally higher than usual.
 Choices have environmental impact
 Although cheaper flights are easier on the pocket, they may have a more detrimental climate impact than direct flights.
 Planes may burn up to 25 percent of the fuel consumed in an entire flight during takeoff, airports operator Finavia noted.
 "People who are interested in the emissions impact of their flights will hopefully also consider flight emissions. In other words, the most direct route possible is also usually the best option from an emissions perspective," Tallqvist declared.
 STT was unable to reach a representative of the foreign policy committee to comment on the reported message. However EU Commission spokesperson  Johannes Bahrke  said on a general level that the commission and foreign policy organ had strict guidelines that all staff should travel as cost-effectively as possible.
 "This includes a ceiling on hotel expenses, depending on the location in addition to rules on selecting the most appropriate modes of transport," Bahrke said via email.

STT: EU officials urged to avoid pricey Finnair flights between Brussels and Helsinki


Summary: Helsinki collective helps consumers and professionals create fellowship based on the appreciation and care of Afro hair.

It’s a sunny Saturday afternoon and there’s a palpable buzz of excitement in the air as animated children and smiling adults -- some with freshly-finessed locks -- walk around admiring hair professionals’ handiwork and exchanging compliments on trendy dos.
 The place is Caisa multicultural centre and the occasion is Helsinki’s fourth annual Good Hair Day event (GHD), where Afro hair-focused styling demonstrations and competitions, workshops, lectures, panel discussions, DIY hair product sessions and Afro blooming are all on offer.
 Afroblooming pro adorning a young customer's hair with fresh flowers. Yle News / Denise Wall
 The grassroots event put on by a collective of Afro-Finnish women draws a wide cross-section of the community to roll up their sleeves and get their fingers into Afro hair trends.
 "It’s my first time here. I came with my daughter. I thought it would be nice for her to see the event and to see lots of people with hair like hers and maybe get some ideas how to do her hair -- sort of to get inspired," said  Carina , a white Finnish mother of an adopted youngster sporting neatly-pinned micro dreadlocks.
 "I’m not very good with Afro hair. I don’t really know what to do. Sometimes I try something and I maybe watch YouTube to learn but it has been really difficult for me. I try and sometimes I make mistakes and I don’t know much about the products," added  Meri , who is at the event with a boisterous adopted son.
 Oils, coils and conditioners
 Afro hair care isn’t as easy as it may seem to the uninitiated -- the more tightly hair is coiled, the more difficult it is for natural oils from the scalp to reach the ends of the hair shaft. The result is that coiled or curly hair is more vulnerable to dryness than straight hair. In some cases, this can also make the hair brittle and prone to breakage. Hence the reason moisture, oils and conditioners are essential to black hair care. Afro hair that has been processed by straighteners also needs extra attention and care as the chemicals break down curls and may weaken hair.
 For mothers like Carina and Meri and the many Afro-haired families who have bookmarked the annual outing in their calendars, GHD is perhaps the only event where they can gather to share ideas and experiences and get first-hand information about Afro hair care and hairstyles. It’s also one of the most important hubs for tracking down Afro hair products that cannot easily be found at conventional retail stores.
 SukiMilayi plant-based hair products are available online and via partners. Yle News / Denise Wall
 If GHD Helsinki is anything to go by, there is intense interest in Afro hair care products. Small local merchants exhibiting at the event are receiving a great deal of attention.  Hendrina Nsumbu  of SukiMilayi cosmetics is one of the micro entrepreneurs showing off products for curly, wavy and "coily" hair. Established in 2017, the Helsinki-based business is still fairly new on the block and therefore doesn’t have its own brick and mortar outlet.
 "We sell mainly online and also reach our customers through partners," Hendrina explained, noting that events like Good Hair Day are an important fixture to help move their products.
 More established vendors on the Helsinki Afro hair scene include well-known names like the Natural Beauty Shop, located on Hämeentie, Helsinki’s epicentre for ethnic offerings. Among the city's Afro community, it’s the go-to location for cosmetics and hair products, especially for younger consumers who prefer items manufactured from natural ingredients and which conform to fair trade practices.
 A space for fellowship and collaboration
 A growing part of the Afro hair scene is the styling element, and Afro Akatemia is a new force helping to shape styles, skills, and attitudes to curly and coiled hair types.
 "We provide training for our clients and for hair professionals in how to care for and style curly and Afro hair," a spokeswoman said, as her colleagues offer a live on-stage demo on how to ensure that curls remain glossy and bouncy.
 "Next we will be looking to get into schools to reach young people and help get them started early with Afro hair care," she added.
 The GHD collective provides an opportunity for the small firms involved in providing Afro hair care expertise to network and create a kind of specialist ecosystem -- Afro Akatemia also promotes the SukiMilayi product line to its customers.
 A DIY leave-in conditioner station proved to be a hit with patrons looking for reliable curl care. Yle News / Denise Wall
 One of the most popular attractions at GHD is the DIY leave-in conditioner station, where attendees are provided with a simple set of instructions, a small spray bottle and basic ingredients for concocting personalised batches of Afro hair gold.
 As one group of amateur chemists exits the “lab” clutching customised phials of hair conditioner, another settles in swapping ingredients, tips and chatter. According to GHD organiser  Michaela Moua , this is the kind of community that GHD aims to foster.
 "The number one thing is to bring the community together because many of us don’t know about each other, and also to celebrate Afro-Finnishness and Afro hair."
 Big Finnish retailers: "No demand" for Afro hair care products
 London-based market research firm  Mintel estimated last year that black consumers in the US  would spend 2.5 billion US dollars on hair care products in 2018. It noted that this consumer group had pumped up spending on conditioners and shampoos as the popularity of natural hair takes root globally, leaving behind styles that require chemical straightening of curly tresses.
 However according to major retail groups in Finland, the natural Afro hairstyle wave and related demand for specific hair care products do not seem to have washed into Finland.
 "At the moment K Group does not have any products specifically for Afro hair. K Group has not received any feedback or requests from customers about afro products so it is difficult to estimate the demand for such products," K Group product manager  Virve Pusa  told Yle News via email.
 "K Group has a wide range of products (shampoos, conditioners, hair masks and oils) available for curly hair. These products moisturize dry hair. In addition to these K Group has styling products that reduce the frizziness of curly hair," she added.
 Meanwhile  Outi Hohti , communications vice president at Finland’s other leading retailer S Group, told Yle News that its S and Prisma grocery chains do not sell products specially formulated for Afro hair, nor do its specialty chains Sokos and Sokos Emotion.
 "When there is enough demand, this will certainly change," she added.
 GHD challenged the view that there is no demand for Afro hair care products in Finland. Yle News / Denise Wall
 Organiser Moua dismissed the retailers’ premise that there is no demand for Afro hair products.
 "I think that’s not true at all. There’s a large Afro-Finnish community in Finland. There are ethnic stores in the Hakaniemi area that are doing extremely well. Many times I go in and the products are finished. I don’t think the big companies are really in touch with the reality of Finnish society today and how diverse it has become," she declared.
 "Also we are not seen as a potential consumer base, which is ridiculous. Like any other woman, if I find a good product for my hair I will buy it so it’s just ignorant to not see us as a potential consumer base," she continued.
 Hair as celebration of identity
 The sense of belonging woven around hair is reminiscent of the affinity and kinship that people of the African diaspora recreate in hair care establishments the world over. Barber shops and hairdressers don’t just provide hair care services, they are also safe spaces where patrons and service providers swap news, views and life-changing advice.
 According to Moua, GHD is an important arena for young Afro-Finns to affirm and celebrate identity. "There is a whole second and third generation of black and brown kids who have the possibility to come here at least once a year to see people who look like them, professionals that look like them, touch hair like their hair and learn how to do a few things with their hair," she told Yle News.
 Afro hair care is not just about taming tangled tresses, it's also about celebrating identity and building community. Yle News / Denise Wall
 And although the primary target of the event is Afro Finns, GHD is not exclusive, Moua added. "I think for many white mothers of brown children, this is a place for them to learn to see people that look like them. They want their children to see others like them because representation is a very important part of growing up. If you don’t see anyone that looks like you doing anything, it can limit how you see yourself in the future," she added.
 It’s a sentiment with which mothers Meri and Carina agree.
 "We also really want Vanessa to see a place where there are lots of beautiful women with hair like hers,” said Carina.
 "I think for my son it’s good to see other people with African hair and the atmosphere is really nice," Meri concurred.
 Edit: Updated at 6.10pm to indicate that the location of the event was Caisa multicultural centre, rather that Kaiku nightclub as previously reported.

Afro hair celebration weaves community with identity in Finland


Summary: The NBI said that the suspects shot at police from the vehicle in which they were attempting to escape.

The National Bureau of Investigation said Sunday evening that it believes that two men detained in the Tampere region after a chase were responsible for shooting two police officers in Porvoo late Saturday night.
 The NBI took to Twitter to announced that police had held the two individuals shortly after 8.30pm and that they were involved in the shooting.
 "We are currently determining the identities of the persons involved in the chase and whether they were connected to last night’s shooting. The NBI is leading the investigation," police commissioner  Seppo Kolehmainen  told Yle.
 The police chief said that he could not yet disclose any information about the suspects’ nationalities or other background information. Police also did not confirm whether the shooting involved organised crime.
 "The NBI will provide more information later," Kolehmainen remarked.
 He had previously said that the men had been detained in Tampere heading in the Ylöjärvi direction. He added that at the time, the suspects had shot at police from the vehicle in which they were attempting to escape.
 The commissioner warned Tampere residents to exercise caution. It was not yet known whether or not anyone was injured in the chase.
 Investigators confirmed late Sunday afternoon that they suspect two men of  opening fire on two policemen on Saturday night  as the officers responded to a routine call in Porvoo, some 50 kilometres east of Helsinki.
 National Bureau of Investigation lead investigator  Kimmo Huhta-aho  told journalists gathered for a press conference that the men are both suspected of attempted murder.
 However he said that at this stage police could not disclose any distinguishing marks that might be used to identify the perpetrators. He added that some details of the case are only known to police and the perpetrators and therefore could not be shared. He promised to provide more information in the next few hours.
 Possibility suspects have left the country
 Huhta-aho said investigators’ reticence on certain issues did not mean that they do not have an idea of the suspects’ whereabouts. However he added that the time elapsed since the incident occurred had increased the possibility that the suspects have left the country.
 Huhta-aho said as far as police know the suspects were not injured in the incident. In response to a question about their nationalities he responded that this is still being checked and that police would say more when the time is right.
 Aki Karvonen , deputy chief of Itä-Uusimaa police department outlined the evening’s course of events for journalists. He said that a patrol from the Porvoo police department responded to a routine call from the emergency dispatch at about 12.22am, arriving at the scene at around 12.30am.
 According to Karvonen, upon arrival at the industrial area in Ölstens in western Porvoo, the officers were almost immediately accosted and ordered to hand over their weapons. Following the gunfire, a backup patrol arrived on the scene "within minutes".
 The area was sealed off and checkpoints were set up in the vicinity of the shooting to ensnare the suspects.
 Speculation about an ambush
 In response to a question about whether or not the incident was an ambush, Huhta-aho commented that it was too soon say but the possibility was being investigated.
 Head of the Itä-Uusimaa police department  Kari Rantala  disclosed that one of the police officers injured in the shooting was still in hospital but not in any immediate danger. The other had already been discharged.
 He speculated that the men’s protective gear may have saved their lives and protected them from more serious injury.
 The police operation that followed the shooting wrapped around 6.30am on Sunday. Roni Rekomaa / Lehtikuva
 Police commissioner Kolehmainen noted that Finnish police put their lives on the line every day to safeguard society and added that instances of violence against the police had doubled since 2000.
 However he said that cases like the Porvoo incident were still rare in Finland compared to other parts of Europe.
 During his first monthly "PM’s hour" radio interview as premier, Prime Minister  Antti Rinne  said that violence against the police reflected "fundamental changes in society". The last time  a police officer was killed on the job was in 2016 .
 He said that his administration had recognised the need for more police resources and pointed out that his administration was the first in 10 years to beef up police ranks.
 "It may not be as much as needed but 300 new police officers would be a plus in this situation," he remarked.
 Edit: Updated at 9.17pm to indicate that the suspects were held in the Tampere region.

Police: Porvoo shooting suspects held in Tampere


Summary: The press on Monday is dominated by the two suspects apprehended near Tampere on Sunday evening.

The newspapers were understandably dominated by the high-speed chase through the countryside on Sunday evening that ended with the  detention of two suspects  on Sunday evening.
 As of Monday morning, police still had not confirmed that the two were suspected of involvement in the shooting of two police officers in Porvoo  earlier in the weekend . One of those officers is still in hospital with serious injuries, but the patient’s condition is stable.
 As they were stopped by police just outside Tampere, the local paper Aamulehti  goes big  on the story. It has a gallery of pretty grainy phone pics, which is unfortunately behind the papers’ paywall.
 Ilta-Sanomat  has  a video from reader Arto’s dashcam, which shows the aftermath of the police operation. The paper describes it as ‘like in the movies’, which would be a very generous appraisal of Arto’s cinematography.
 HS  has  perhaps the most relevant story about the weekend’s events, offering five open questions that are yet to be resolved after two separate (yet possibly linked) instances of people shooting at police. They are:
 What was the emergency call police attended in Porvoo? Were the police ambushed? What kind of exchange of fire took place there? Did the police shoot at the suspects? Were they forced to give up their weapons? Who are the suspects? How did the suspects get away? Why did they shoot police?
 Siilinjärvi millions
 Aamulehti also  goes to Siilinjärvi  in search of Eurojackpot millionaires after  Friday’s big win . The winning ticket scooped 92 million euros in the transnational European lottery, and was a syndicate ticket sold to some 50 different people at the local supermarket.
 Each won some 1.8 million euros, and the town of 20,000 in rural eastern Finland has been awash with media ever since.
 AL spoke to  Ebla Katainen , a pensioner who managed to grab a piece of the winning ticket.
 “A week ago in the same syndicate I won 50 cents in the Eurojackpot, so now we got a slightly bigger sum,” said Katainen. “One week I didn’t get to play at all as I was too busy picking berries in the forest. Luckily not this week.”
 She told AL that on Friday, after checking and re-checking the ticket, she had a couple of glasses of cognac and slept “really well”.
 Her plans include giving decent amounts to her children and grandchildren, a special holiday with her seven siblings and either a renovation of her current home or moving to live by the lake. But staying in Siilinjärvi, of course.
 '5AM club' advocate starts the week
 If you’re struggling to look lively at the start of the week, Helsingin Sanomat has some  advice . It comes from  Robin Sharma , the Canadian life coach to billionaires and business leaders, whose book has just been translated into Finnish.
 The book is called  The 5AM club: Own your Morning. Elevate your Life  and its central point is that people should, well, get up at 5am and spend time exercising, relaxing and studying.
 Or rather they should get up at 4:45AM so they’re ready to get cracking straight away once it’s time to join the exclusive club of 5AM risers.
 HS interviewed the motivational guru by Skype, and sounded a little sceptical about his advice.
 What about people who aren’t aiming to become international business leaders? What about ordinary people who just want to get through their hectic family routines?
 Sharma was not happy to hear the words ‘ordinary people’.
 “There’s no such thing as an ‘ordinary person’,” chides Sharma. “If you can change your own routine and get up at five o’clock, you can concentrate and do your work better than before and at the same time get a better life.”
 So if you’re struggling to adjust to the daily grind after a pleasant weekend off, you know what to do tomorrow. Starting at 4:45AM.

Monday’s papers: Shooting suspects, lotto win rocks Siilinjärvi and 5AM club guru lectures those who like a lie-in


Summary: Police confirm the two men arrested in the Tampere region on Sunday are suspects in the shooting of two police officers in Porvoo.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) confirmed on Monday morning that the  two men arrested on Sunday evening in the Tampere area  are suspects in the shooting of  two police officers in Porvoo  on Saturday night.
 According to the police statement, the suspects were born in 1989 and 1994 and are both Swedish citizens.
 Later on Monday, information obtained by Yle indicated that the two suspects speak both Swedish and Finnish, and that at least one of the men held dual Finnish and Swedish nationality.
 Police said earlier today that the suspected men were known to be of Swedish origin. Later, the head of investigation,  Kimmo Huhta-aho , told Yle that one of the suspects is of dual nationality, i.e. he holds Swedish and Finnish passports.
 The NBI also detailed that the two men are being held on suspicion of two counts of attempted murder in connection with the events in Porvoo. The men are suspected of firing on two East Uusimaa Police Department police officers as they responded to a call in a small industrial area in the city of Porvoo, about 50 kilometres east of Helsinki, after midnight between Saturday night and Sunday morning.
 Both police officers were injured in the incident. One remains in hospital with serious injuries.
 "The police patrol went to Koneistajantie to investigate a routine call involving a suspected property crime. Police are well aware of the subsequent events, but interviews with the suspects and other pre-trial investigations are expected to provide further information," said  Kimmo Huhta-aho , Director of Investigation at the NBI.
 The two suspects were apprehended by police at about 8.30pm Sunday in the town of Ikaalinen, near the city of Tampere, after a half hour long car chase. A number of shots were fired at police during the pursuit and three police cars were damaged, but no injuries were reported.
 Story continues after image.
 According to police, preliminary investigations are ongoing and will include the interrogation of the suspects, as well as technical investigations and the examination of clues. Police also thanked the public for their tips and observations about the incident on Saturday night and during the pursuit of the suspects.
 We will continue to update this story as it develops.
 Updated at 16.40 on 26.8 to include information regarding the languages the suspects speak, and that one of the suspects has dual nationality.

Latest: Porvoo shooting suspects are Swedish nationals


Summary: The health app has the potential to reduce waistlines and improve food habits.

Preliminary research on mobile health app  Pienet Teot , known in English as StopDia, which aims to reduce type 2 diabetes risk through changes in diet and exercise habits, has yielded promising results.
 The app, which was developed by the University of Eastern Finland in collaboration with the state-owned VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, is designed to help users take small, everyday steps to improve their lifestyle. The app seeks to encourage the formation of new, lasting healthy habits, with the ultimate aim of preventing or delaying the onset of type 2 diabetes.
 Results of the Stop Diabetes research project indicate that the app helped slim waists and improve eating habits and was most effective when used in conjunction with group coaching. StopDia has been tested on approximately 3,000 people who were at risk for diabetes in the healthcare districts of Päijät-Häme, North Savo and South Karelia.
 "Using nothing but the app is sufficient for approximately one third of people, but for the remaining two thirds, the app can be used in conjunction with other methods," said  Jussi Pihlajamäki , nutrition professor and lead researcher of Stop Diabetes. "The app can make a difference in certain target groups’ diets, exercise habits and to an extent, waist circumference," he said.
 First study to examine effectiveness
 Health apps have been rapidly gaining popularity. Public health centres and healthcare districts offer digital services and apps. However, there have been no similar studies monitoring the impact of these services, according to Pihlajamäki.
 "The key concern was fully integrating the research into the healthcare system. Risk identification was directly linked to risk assessment, which included lab testing, digital applications that continue to be offered and the control group. That way we could measure the effect,"he said.
 Three steps to better health
 The basic principle of the StopDia app is simple: after opening the app, the user selects small, easy lifestyle changes from a lifestyle library and incorporates these changes into his or her everyday life.
 The app, which is aimed at promoting the automatic development of healthy habits, is based on the habit formation theory. According to this theory, the formation of healthy habits involves three components: a familiar context where the new behaviour is introduced, repeating the behaviour in the same context and a meaningful reward for the behaviour. If the behaviour becomes systematic, a permanent habit is formed.
 Users can select a suitable healthy action from the list and mark it done once completed. For instance, one healthy habit the app suggests is taking a nutritious snack to work to prevent unhealthy choices and fatigue in the evening.
 "We have compiled a lifestyle library of small actions, which people can select from freely according to their own requirements. The action is then carried out every day," said VTT Senior Scientist  Marja Harjumaa .
 Unexpected number of male and elderly users
 The preliminary results of the study subverted expectations, as researchers were surprised by the high number of active male users. "Surprisingly, male users were more active than female users," said Harjumaa.
 Researchers were similarly surprised that the app was more actively used by the slightly older age group. "The reasons behind this are yet to be analysed," said Pihlajamäki.
 According to Harjumaa, the results of the study did not indicate differences between various regions or individuals, but demonstrated differences in the operations of healthcare districts.
 "Some places have been implementing preventive measures and these places provide more fertile ground to work with. Similarly, work communities for whom preventive measures are not new provide much better results," she noted.
 Not for everyone
 "An important lesson related to the app’s usage is that clearly over half of users are motivated to use the app for a long time, but around a third do not use it at all," Pihlajamäkisaid. "The final outcome should be targeting the right people with the right app."
 The next step for researchers is to determine which active users benefit from the app and which do not. Following this, researchers can gain a more in-depth solution to reach the missing risk group.
 StopDia will continue to be developed after the end of the project. However, the open access application has not yet reached this point. Healthcare provider HUS plans to use the model to treat patients on the waiting list for surgery.

App aimed at preventing diabetes brings promising results