Summary: With graduation ceremonies set for Saturday, many people in Finland are closely monitoring the weather forecast.

Henkilökohtaiset juhlat ja elämäntapahtumat

One of the main graduation days in Finland, Saturday 1 June, will see unsettled weather, according to Yle meteorologist  Matti Huutonen .
 In southern and central Finland the weather will be dry and sunny on Saturday, with clouds and rain showers arriving later in the day.
 "In the afternoon around 3:00pm rain clouds will hover above Åland and the outer archipelago. By 6:00pm the zone of precipitation will reach western Finland," forecasts Huutonen.
 Country's driest spots will be in the north
 Northern Ostrobothnia and Western Lapland will be Finland’s driest places.
 By 9:00pm on Saturday evening showers are expected to hit western and central regions, with southeastern Finland and North Karelia to follow later during the night.
 "Graduation caps will definitely get wet (in eastern Finland)," predicts Huutonen.
 In Northern Lapland on Saturday it will be rainy all day and southern Lapland may see showers in the morning. Meanwhile, southern Lapland and Northern Ostrobothnia will be spared the evening's showers.

Sunshine and rain in store for graduation day


Summary: Look before you leap is the general advice coming from APN's panel on the subject of starting a business in Finland.

Service designer  Pamela Spokes  and food designer  Vahid Mortezaei  couldn't have had more different approaches to entrepreneurship. Spokes' entry into the business world was carefully-researched and methodical, while Mortezaei took a leap of faith.
 According to 2017 data from the Federation of Finnish Enterprises (Suomen yrittäjät), micro enterprises like Spokes' and Mortezaei's generated 70 billion euros in revenue, so small businesses are an important driver of the economy, but sometimes people just don't know where or how to get started.
 Both Spokes and Mortezaei cited taxation and mandatory pension contributions as areas where fledgling entrepreneurs should be especially careful.
 Freedom only imagined
 The micro entrepreneurs told APN that there were many other lessons to learn on their journeys as business owners. Mortezaei said he chose to start his own food design and catering business because he wanted to have freedom but found that in practice, running a business was entirely different.
 "The reality is that there are many limitations. As an entrepreneur you have to take care of many things. Taxation, hiring someone, online marketing, being on social media all the time and marketing your business, networking," he explained.
 "Know your customers, know whom you'll sell to and how you're going to reach them. Network as much as you can, because a lot of your connections and contracts come through connections, and get an accountant," was Spokes' advice to newcomers to the world of business ownership.
 Teemu Polo , a business development adviser with Newco Helsinki, an organisation that aims to give enterprising people a leg up into business, said people should seek help before they get started.
 "There are a lot of people who are super happy and eager to help and share their knowledge so you just need to reach out. And finally to not only listen to advice but to use it as well," he counselled.
 Apart from  Newco Helsink i, persons interested in taking the plunge into entrepreneurship can contact their local  employment offices  (TE-toimistot), on the  Suomi.fi website , and at the  Federation of Finnish Enterprises  (Suomen yrittäjät), among others.
 Join the conversation!
 If you have any questions, or would like to share something on your mind, just contact us via WhatsApp on +358 44 421 0909, on our Facebook or Twitter account, or at yle.news@yle.fi.
 The All Points North podcast is a weekly look at what's going on in Finland. Subscribe via  iTunes  (and leave a review!), listen  on Spotify  and  Yle Areena  or find it on your favourite podcatching app or via our  RSS feed .
 This week's podcast presenters were  Denise Wall, Mark B. Odom  and  Zena Iovino . The episode was produced by  Priya Ramachandran D'souza  and the audio engineer was  Juha Särkkinen.

All Points North #56 - Entrepreneurship in Finland - what you should know before taking the plunge


Summary: A growing number of communities across the country are pledging to reduce their carbon footprints well beyond national targets.

Eight municipalities have announced a pledge to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 80 percent from 2007 levels by the year 2030. The target of communities taking part in the  Carbon Neutral Municipalities project  (Hinku) is twice as ambitious as the Finnish government's  official emissions goal  of curbing emissions by 39 percent compared to 2005 levels by 2030.
 More than 40 other local governments have already adopted the project's targets. New members to sign on this year include the municipalities of Ylöjärvi, Nokia, Pirkkala, Kouvola, Parkano, Tampere, Kotka and Orivesi, bringing the total number of residents under the framework of the carbon-cutting initiative to about 1.3 million.
 Carbon-neutral cathedral
 The biggest challenges that municipalities face are the carbon emissions from heating and traffic, according to project founder professor  Jyri Seppälä  of the Finnish Environment Institute (Syke).
 Porvoo's Lutheran Evangelical Church Cathedral in southern Finland is also aiming for carbon neutrality by the year 2030, partly by phasing out the use of oil heating by 2025.
 "We're ahead of our time here in Porvoo," said property manager  Dan Tallberg , one of the team members in charge of the cathedral's infrastructure.
 "The city can't make the target on its own, so the cathedral's involvement is a perfect example of how other organisations can support climate change action," said Porvoo city's sustainable development head  Sanna Päivärinta .
 Help from abroad
 Municipalities in the Hinku programme were able to decrease emissions by about 25 percent over the last decade, which is a few percentage points higher than the national average. They receive funding for developing their climate work from institutions such as the EU.
 "We can now channel support in a new way, thanks to the  EU Life project ," Seppälä said, referring to a 3.4-billion-euro EU funding mechanism for the environment and climate work. The programme provides funding for an array of bodies in the region, including NGOs, private entities and public bodies.

Finnish municipalities pledge ambitious carbon emissions target


Summary: A pair of snus smugglers harnessed social media to reach buyers.

Finnish Customs suspects two men in their 30s of smuggling and distributing more than 2,200 klos of snus, an orally-ingested tobacco product, in the greater Helsinki area.
 Customs officials said the excise duty on the cache would have amounted to 850,000 euros. The men used social media to reach out to potential customers, including other distributors and buyers.
 The pair made made more than 30 snus-buying trips to a shop in northern Sweden between last summer and early this year. They were remanded by police in January after officials seized some 150 kilos of snus from their van.
 Sales of the substance are banned in all EU countries except Sweden. However Finland allows residents to import a certain amount for personal use.
 Story continues after photo.
 A photo of the contraband seized by police. Tulli
 The long arm of the law is also reaching people who purchased the moist tobacco from the pair as buyers are also facing charges.
 Finland has set a target of phasing out all tobacco and nicotine products by 2030. Key proposals for achieving this include increasing tobacco taxes and raising the age limit for purchasing tobacco products from the current 18 to 20 years.
 Customs regulations currently permit Finnish residents to bring in up to one kilogram of snus into the country in a 24-hour period or one calendar day. The Finnish Medical Association (FMA) has, however, called for the import of snus  to be banned  altogether.
 The preliminary investigation into the case will soon wrap up after which it will head to the prosecutor’s office for consideration of charges.

Smugglers import 2,200 kilos of snus into Finland


Summary: Most Finnish schools end their academic year on Saturday.

Saturday, 1 June is the end of the school year for a majority of primary and upper secondary school students in Finland. Some 560,000 primary schoolers started their summer holidays and 60,000 of them experienced the summer break for the first time, after completing the first grade.
 Upper secondary school graduates receive their traditional white caps on the same day. This year about 25,000 teens graduate high school, while 80,000 finish their vocational school studies. There were roughly 5,000 more vocational graduates in 2019 than one year previously.
 Graduation day weather starts out sunny in much of the country, but rains will move across Finland from the south-west on Saturday evening.
 Weather forecasters said they expect temperatures to warm up next week, possibly to Finland's elusive 25-degree-Celsius heat threshold, should predictions come true.

School's out: Holidays begin for more than 600,000 students


Summary: The beach rose or Rosa rugosa has been designated an invasive species and must be eradicated within three years.

Ministerit, ministeriöt ja valtioneuvosto

Gardening enthusiasts may have spotted the brightly-hued petals of  Rosa rugosa  or beach rose in backyards and even on roadsides across the country, as the plant has proliferated across Finland.
 However the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has now added the flower to a list of harmful invasive plant species. As a result, the importation and sale of the plant has been banned, starting 1 June.
 In addition to the ban, agricultural authorities are calling for the plant to be eradicated from gardens, parks, beaches, roadsides over the next three years.
 The ministry's register of invasive species has advised using machinery to rip up large expanses of vegetation, while individual rose bushes can be removed manually.
 The register noted that since the plant was introduced to Finland in the 1990s, it has spread and become very commonplace.

Finland bans imports, sales of invasive rose species


Summary: The law change also allows officials to confiscate asylum seekers' travel documents.

Migrant employees who have worked in Finland for at least one year will no longer be subject to restrictive availability considerations before starting in a new job, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Development.
 Essentially, employees with a worker's residence permit can now switch professions more easily than before due to an amendment to the Aliens Act that takes effect on 1 June.
 An availability assessment (saatavuusharkinta) is an evaluation used by employment offices to determine whether there are already domestic workers available for a job before granting a foreign employee their (work-based) residence permit.
 In other words, if a foreign worker now comes to Finland on a work permit for a specific job, they will no longer need an availability assessment in order to renew the work permit to switch professions or jobs.
 The ministry said in April that waiving the assessment phase is meant to improve opportunities for professional mobility among immigrant employees already in the Finnish job market. Some dozens of people applying for residence permits will be affected by the amendment yearly, according to the ministry.
 Justification, confiscation
 According to the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) three other changes were made to the Aliens Act, affecting renewed applications, the right to work and travel document confiscation.
 The first of the three further changes means that any asylum seeker who reapplies for asylum with new reasoning must indicate why they did not present those reasons previously.
 The second change means that, from 1 June, an asylum seeker's right to work ends the moment that they may be legally deported. If a migrant has received a negative asylum decision (or has submitted a pending reapplication based on an enforceable negative decision) he/she does not have the right to work.
 However, if an asylum seeker is granted asylum they may continue to work in Finland, in most cases. An asylum seeker may also work without a permit if he/she has been in Finland three or six months after filing an asylum application.
 The third further change means that starting 1 June officials are authorised to confiscate an asylum seeker's passport or other travel documents and hold them until he/she is granted a residence permit or leaves the country.

New rule makes switching professions easier for migrant workers


Summary: Viral-based gene therapy products company FinVector has invested 25 million euros in the new medication, reportedly the world's sixth gene therapy drug.

FinVector, a manufacturer of gene therapy and antiviral drugs, is starting to trial a new bladder cancer medication and has applied for market authorisation. The company is investing 25 million euros to produce the gene therapy drug.
 The drug has been tested in three phases in the US on patients, and the Kuopio University Hospital has also started trialing the medication on patients with promising results.
 Strong US demand
 According to FinVector's managing director  Timo Ristola  there is strong demand for the medication in the US.
 "Each year 20,000 new patients are diagnosed with bladder cancer. This is medication that should never run out, whether there's one patient or 10,000," says Ristola.
 In Finland 1,300 new cases of bladder cancer are diagnosed annually. Eighty percent of those diagnosed per with with bladder cancer are men.
 For that reason the company will start producing the drug before it is authorised for the pharmaceutical market.
 "When the permit comes, we'll have stock ready in the warehouse," says Ristola.
 FinVector will hire 50 new employees to create the medicine. The company is owned by the Swiss Frederik Paulsen Foundation, which owns the drug company Ferring Pharmaceuticals. The bladder cancer drug is licensed to Ferring, although FinVector operates as a separate entity within the Ferring organisation.
 World's sixth gene therapy drug
 The development and production of gene therapy drugs is expected to increase significantly in the future. FinVector's bladder cancer drug is reportedly the sixth gene therapy drug in the world.
 Gene therapy refers to the delivery of nucleic acid (containing DNA) into a patient's cells with the intent of using genetic information to create new proteins to fight off infections.
 In addition, FinVector also has anti-ovarian and pleural anti-cancer drugs in production.

High US demand for bladder cancer drug created in Kuopio


Summary: Exemptions to the law are no longer allowed, beginning 1 June.

Persons under the age of 18 may no longer be married in Finland, as the ban on the practice of special exemption came into effect on Saturday. Only persons aged 18 years or older may now be married.
 The Ministry of Justice has previously been able to confirm about 10-30 exemptions to the Marriage Act. The justification for the exemption in couples aged under 17 years has been pregnancy, the ministry said.
 Banning the practice is based on safeguarding the rights of children, said the ministry.
 The Nordic countries of Sweden, Norway and Denmark have all banned underage marriages in recent years. The National Church Council  has long said  that legislation should be used to prevent child marriages and overturn the exemption rule.

Child marriage ban takes effect in Finland


Summary: Police said there has been a steady decline in disruptive behaviour in Helsinki during end-of-academic-year celebrations.

Heavy rains in many parts of the country served to curb the exuberance of traditional festivities  to mark the end of the academic year  and the start of the summer vacation, according to police officials.
 Inspector  Katja Nissinen  of the Helsinki police department said that the city centre had been unusually calm and that traditional party spots such as the Hietaniemi beach and Kaivopuisto had been virtually empty during Saturday evening and well into the night.
 "This time there were groups of young people out and about mainly in the city’s eastern and northern suburbs," she told Yle.
 Nissinen added that overall, the evening passed or rather peacefully. She noted that there were some inebriated young people among the crowds but that there were no reports of serious clashes. Some of the youngsters found to be under the influence were taken home, while police disposed of alcohol that they confiscated from underage drinkers.
 "It seems that every year the partying has become more restrained," Nissinen remarked.
 "End-of-school celebrations have passed off mostly peacefully and disturbances have been decreasing from year to year. Well done! However as a final reminder tonight: If your friend is in bad shape, get help immediately and call 112," police commented on Twitter.
 26 cases of alcohol poisoning in Helsinki
 Emergency service workers also said that the situation in Helsinki was subdued and that young people out partying did not cause an increase in emergency calls. They noted however that there were 26 cases of alcohol poisoning logged during the night. At the same time the number of first aid cases was lower than during the average 24-hour period.
 The Itä-Uusimaa police department noted that about 150 school kids had gathered at recreational facilities at Vantaa’s Kuusijärvi lake. Meanwhile Central Finland police said that in spite of the rainy weather on Saturday night, large groups of youngsters had gathered at the outdoor area in Pyynikki, Tampere.
 Officials and volunteers were on hand to assist several of the revellers, while a few were taken into custody to sober up. However they reported that the area was empty before midnight.
 Southwest Finland police said that in Turku, inclement weather had put a damper on celebrations by local school children. However they noted that more persistent merrymakers made their way to the Uittamo beach, a popular spot for young people in the area. Turku emergency services also noted that the end of the academic year did not cause any additional tasks for them.
 Officials in Oulu reported large groups of young people out on the streets, with many gathering at the local market square as well as at Kiikelinranta beach, however their merrymaking was peaceful.
 "The cool air and brisk wind likely affected the number of revellers," senior constable  Petri Puranen  of the Oulu police department commented around 3.00am on Sunday.
 By midnight, Oulu police had issued 12 fines, mainly related to the consumption of alcohol by minors.

Rain puts a damper on schoolkids' end-of-year festivities


Summary: On Wednesday, another defendant received a three-year sentence after conviction on similar charges involving the same victim.

The Oulu district court has convicted a 29-year-old man for the sexual abuse of a minor, who was 13 years-old at the time the offences were committed.
 The court sentenced the defendant,  Javad Mirzad , to three years and four months in prison after he was found guilty of aggravated child sexual abuse.
 The court found that the offences occurred at a private residence in the Oulu region last August and that the victim and the defendant had been in contact via a messaging service.
 The conviction is the fourth in a series of similar cases in which the same 13-year-old girl is believed to have suffered abuse at the hands of of eight different foreign-background men between June and October last year. On Wednesday, another defendant -- a 22-year-old man --  received a three-year sentence after conviction on similar charges .
 Defendant likely to appeal
 Oulu district prosecutor  Kaisa Kytömäki  said that she hadn’t fully reviewed the court’s arguments for the sentence, but remarked that it was in line with previous sentencing handed down in the series of related cases, adding that it aligned well with the prosecutor’s demands.
 "The sentence appears to be well-reasoned," she continued.
 Defence attorney  Heikki Aspegren  said that he had not yet spoken with his client, but told Yle that he believed that they would appeal the sentence.
 "There is justification for an appeal. The prison sentence seems rather long. I believe that the sentence has been a disappointment for my client," Aspegren added.
 Tabloid daily Iltalehti reported on Friday that the defendant denied the charges against him and told the court that he believed the girl was 16. In Finland, the legally-defined age of consent is 16.

Court hands down 30-month prison sentence in 4th Oulu child sex abuse case


Summary: Tests showed that small sequins came off the toys too easily. The ban applies only to products tested by Finnish Customs.

Kansainväliset organisaatiot ja sopimukset

Finnish Customs officials have banned a number of popular sequined plush toys form the local market because of the risk of choking. The EU Commission has also issued a warning about the products and is encouraging EU member states to pass on the advisory.
 In tests conducted by Customs, small sequins attached to the toys were found to detach too easily. The soft toys were a hit product that came to market in Finland last winter. Customs officials decided on the prohibition following tensile tests conducted on the plushies.
 "We have investigated 13 different sequined toys and they were all rejected. None of them has met the [safety] requirements. Small pieces have separated from all of them and they all present a choking risk," Customs head of monitoring  Mikko Grönberg  said.
 "They are now being monitored by Customs. They cannot be allowed onto the market at the moment," Grönberg added. However he noted that there is no blanket ban on selling sequined toys, only the items that failed the Customs tests.
 Warning from EU Commission
 EU members send information about risk products to the EU Commission. The Commission may then decide to publish information about such products on its website, it if deems it useful for other EU states.
 The Commission has now published a warning about the sequined plushies on its website. The advisory can be found in the Safety Gate – Most recent alerts'  weekly reports section and is dated 31 May .
 Story continues after photo.
 Small sequins fell off the toys during tensile tests. Markku Pitkänen / Yle
 "We assume that the warning published on the Commission’s website will lead to a broader collection and testing of samples of this type of toy across the EU," Grönberg remarked.
 He noted that toy manufacturers also follow the Commission’s warnings site, which results in remedial as well as preventive actions on their part.
 "This complicates market access across the EU of these kinds of non-conforming products that present a choking risk to small children,"  Grönberg commented.
 Thousands of products tested annually
 The Customs laboratory performs safety tests on up to 700 toys annually and according to officials, a surprising number are found to be deficient in one way or another.
 "About 15 percent of them fail the tests and roughly 100 batches of toys are rejected every year," Grönberg continued.
 Other trendy toys that Customs officials have found wanting include different kinds of slime and spinners.
 "Batteries can detach from spinners and slime has chemical problems," Customs lab physicist  Mikko Kontiainen  explained.
 In addition to toys, lab experts run tests on various consumer products such as clothing, cosmetics and food items. Altogether, the lab examines up to 5,000 samples to ensure they conform to safety requirements.
 Grönberg said that across the board, approximately 20 percent of products are rejected, but he noted that failure rates vary depending on the category of product tested.

Finnish Customs bans popular sequined plush toys over choking risk


Summary: Airport officials said the situation is normalising but warned that luggage could still be left behind.

IT problems were said to be affecting baggage handling and having a knock-on effect on some flights at Helsinki Airport on Sunday, according to airports operator Finavia.
 Finavia announced that afternoon flights in particular would be affected and advised passengers to reserve more time than usual for check-in.
 "If you have a departing flight on Sunday 2 June, you should prepare to spend more time at the airport and plan for the possibility of travelling with carry-on luggage only," Finavia said in a statement on its website.
 The airports operator said that passengers should consider taking necessities on board in carry-ons and warned that some baggage might be left behind.
 Later on Sunday Finavia said that the situation was returning to normal but warned that not all luggage would follow accompany passengers on their flights.
 Edit: Updated at 5.45pm to include Finavia comments that the situation was returning to normal but that luggage could still be left behind.

IT glitch slows baggage handling, flights at Helsinki Airport


Summary: The administration led by outgoing prime minister Juha Sipilä became Finland’s longest in office  on Saturday.

On Saturday outgoing Centre Party chair and prime minister  Juha Sipilä ’s administration became Finland’s longest-serving as Social Democratic Chair  Antti Rinne  continues painstaking negotiations to form a new government following  parliamentary elections in April .
 As of Sunday, Sipilä’s government had served for 1,466 days – albeit partly in a caretaker role -- eclipsing the previous record held by  Paavo Lipponen ’s first and second administrations, 1,464 days.
 Juha Sipilä became prime minister on 29 May, 2015 after  leading the Centre Party to election victory  in that year’s general election. At the time the former business leader was seen as a breath of fresh air who would bring the efficiency of private enterprise to the public sector.
 Shortest term affected by illness
 A series of eye-watering  spending cuts  and unpopular  labour market reforms  soon drew widespread condemnation and voters repudiated the Centre in both parliamentary and  Europarliament elections  this year, making Sipilä a one-term premier.
 Just weeks prior to the general election, Sipilä tendered  his government’s resignation  on 8 May, after failing to push through the administration’s flagship reform to social and health care services.
 Finland’s shortest-lived administration lasted from 8 August 1944 to 21 September 1944 and was led by National Coalition Party politician Anders Verner Hackzell. He was chosen to form a government of public servants and other officials with the aim of signing a peace treaty with the then-Soviet Union, however he never completed the negotiations due to illness.
 The first government in Finland to exceed 1,000 days was that of Toivo Mikael Kivimäki of the National Progressive Party, which held office from 14 December 1932 to 7 October 1936, a total of 1,394 days.
 See the full listing of  Finnish governments and their terms in office here .

Juha Sipilä government now Finland’s longest-serving


Summary: Yle expects that the new government programme will be released early on Monday as local media have already leaked many of the details.

Five party leaders gathered at the House of Estates on Sunday expressed a desire to go public with the broad strokes of its agenda for the next five years, since some aspects of the programme had already been leaked to the media, according to information obtained by Yle.
 Social Democratic Party chair  Antti Rinne , who is leading the five-party negotiations, is aiming for balanced public finances by 2023, in spite of increasing government spending to the tune of at least one billion euros. He has also set an ambitious goal of 75 percent employment by the same year.
 Additionally, media pundits expect that some extensive reforms would be placed on the back burner. For example, the social and health care overhaul that  brought down the outgoing administration  will be handed over to Parliament for further work.
 The five parties involved in the talks include Rinne’s SDP, as well as  Juha Sipilä ’s Centre Party, which suffered heavy losses in recent parliamentary and Europarliament elections, the Greens, which made great strides in both polls, the Left Alliance and the Swedish People’s Party.
 In practice, the incoming government will put an end to eight years of austerity, adding 1.2 billion euros to government’s spending bill.
 Also on Sunday, the five-party group was expected to sit down to discuss ministerial portfolios. Yle understands that of a total of 18 ministries, the SDP would hold seven, while the Centre would occupy five. The Greens, Left Alliance and SPP would be responsible for three, two and one respectively.
 50-euro boost for small pensions and activation model recall
 The government programme proposes a 50-euro increase for persons with the smallest pension incomes over a period of four years, half of the sum that had previously been bandied about.
 Story continues after photo.
 The 50-euro boost will apply to persons earning small pensions. AOP
 It has also been agreed that the contentious activation model introduced last year  would be terminated . The scheme effectively cut unemployed jobseekers’ unemployment benefits if they did not meet certain criteria in a three-month evaluation period.
 Longer compulsory education and Swedish back as a compulsory subject
 The new administration wants to  extend compulsory education to include upper secondary and vocational schooling . It also plans to restore a Swedish-language test as a compulsory part of upper secondary school matriculation exams, a practice that ended in 2005.
 The Rinne programme would also roll back deep cuts to spending on universities and other tertiary education institutions implemented by previous administrations.
 According to daily Helsingin Sanomat, funding for universities will increase by 40 million euros annually, while colleges of applied sciences will receive 20 million euros a year. At the same time, appropriations for higher education institutions will once more be subject to index increases, meaning that they will reflect annual changes in the cost of living.
 Additionally municipalities will receive a total of 235 million euros over five years to hire more teachers for vocational education.
 Household expenses tax credit to fall, paternity leave to rise
 This year the maximum deductible amount for household expenses is 2,400 euros with 50 percent of the total applicable to labour costs. The new administration plans to reduce the maximum tax credit to 2,250 euros, with labour at a maximum 40 percent of the total. The measure is expected to put an estimated 95 million euros annually into state coffers.
 Parental leave reform was a subject that rose to the surface during parliamentary election campaigning. The new government has now decided to extend paternal leave quotas. The measure will not affect maternal leave entitlements. It will also continue to support caring for children at home and will introduce a modest increase in child allowances.
 Change to definition of rape offences
 The definition of rape in the criminal code has also come under scrutiny, according to Helsingin Sanomat. According to information obtained by the paper, new laws will ensure that sex without consent is always defined as a criminal offence. Last year a citizens’ initiative  pushing for amendments to the law  gathered more than 50,000 signatures.
 HS also reported that contraception would become free for everyone under the age of 25 and that guaranteed access to a doctor would be amended to ensure access to care in seven days, in non-critical cases. The minimum nursing quota in institutions would be set at 0.7 per patient.
 Higher tobacco, alcohol and fuel taxes
 The government programme also takes aim at curbing the consumption of harmful substances by hiking taxes on them. This means a five-cent increase on the litre price of petrol and diesel. The administration has estimated that higher taxes on fossil fuels will net the state an additional 250 million euros in tax income.
 Story continues after photo.
 Tax hikes on alcohol will be more moderate than on tobacco products. Jyrki Lyytikkä / Yle
 Meanwhile taxes on tobacco products will be significantly higher. A packet of cigarettes that now costs eight euros will in future cost 9.80 euros after the tax measure is implemented. However tax increases on alcohol will be more moderate, to the tune of about 50 million euros annually.
 Altogether the schedule of tax hikes will net government 700 million euros annually.
 Lower taxes on income, jury still out on capital gains tax
 The five-party group has agreed to ease up on taxes on earned income to the tune of 200 million euros annually. The tax relief will mostly benefit lower-income groups as a means of offsetting the pain of the increase in sin taxes.
 The fledgling coalition has not yet reached a decision on capital gains and withholding taxes and the jury is still out on the possible sale of state assets to patch the 1.2-billion-euro hole caused by proposed additional spending.
 Hornets to be replaced, police ranks to be beefed up
 According to tabloid paper Iltalehti, the government programme includes an aspiration to fully replace Finland’s ageing fleet of 64 Hornet jets. Officials  have been evaluating offers  from different suppliers and are due to decide on a purchase in 2021.
 In terms of internal security the administration aims to  fund the recruitment of additional 300 officers , while it will also boost resources in prosecutors’ offices, HS reported recently.
 Shift in Nato policy
 Iltalehti also cited plans to modify Finland’s stance on Nato, with the new government’s position written thus, “The foundation of Finland’s security and defence policy includes maintaining its national room to manoeuvre and options. This includes the possibility of applying for Nato membership.”
 Membership in the military alliance has been hotly-debated in Finland for decades and although support for membership has risen in recent years, a  majority still oppose joining  the US-led alliance.
 Increased refugee quota, one-month target for processing asylum applications
 According to HS, the government programme calls for an increase in Finland’s  complement of quota refugees  to 850 in 2020, from the current 750. Thereafter the number will be reviewed depending on the number of applicants, within the range of 850 to 1,050. The incoming administration also set a one-month target for processing asylum applications.
 The use of ankle monitors will be considered in cases where asylum applications are rejected. The new government also aims to look into reported problems relating to family reunification cases, ensuring children’s best interests and income requirements set for family members seeking re unification under international protection.
 Major infra projects on the drawing board
 Starting in 2020, the new government plans to bankroll basic road maintenance to the tune of an additional 300 million euros annually, HS said, citing drafts it obtained of the new government agenda.
 The administration is also keen on advancing major rail projects, including the main line and planned extensions as well as the possible design of an eastern line. It also plans to get a  one-hour rail connection  rolling between Helsinki and Turku.

Higher sin taxes, more education spending in new govt agenda


Summary: The new government agenda calls for 'sustainability', the man behind Airiston Helmi talks and why girls drop out of sports.

Helsingin Sanomat’s political analyst  Marko Junkkari  says  Finland will see more left-leaning policies  over the next four years, even though two of the parties in the new government are on the right. The incoming government will put an end to eight years of austerity, adding 1.2 billion euros to government’s spending bill.
 The  new government agenda  crafted under the leadership of Social Democratic Party chair  Antti Rinne  calls for a “socially, economically and environmentally sustainable Finland,” according to an agenda draft obtained by HS.
 The new government will formally unveil its programme and ministers on Monday at 10.30am at Helsinki’s central library Oodi.
 Airiston Helmi's mystery man speaks out
 Swedish-language daily  Hufvudstadsbladet  digs into Russian millionaire  Pavel Melnikov’ s interview with HS. Last autumn police stormed Melnikov’s 17 properties in the Turku archipelago in a raid and ensuing investigation that came to be known as Airiston Helmi - the name of Melnikov's real estate firm.
 HBL said the public relations offensive by the Russian millionaire did little to shed light on the source of his fortune. Melnikov told HS he was "fond of islands" and reiterated that he was not an operative for the Russian state.
 Police said that the raid on the island municipality of Pargas in southwest Finland last September  uncovered approximately three million euros in cash  as well as 210 terabytes of data stored on devices seized during the operation.
 The firm at the centre of the investigation is believed to have laundered millions of euros and suspected of having used off-the-books labour to construct the properties in the archipelago.
 Uneven playing fields
 Over a third of high school girls attending athletics-focused high schools abandon plans of professional sports careers before they graduate, compared to 15 percent of boys,  reports HS , citing a new study by Jyväskylä University.
 Professional sports opportunities are far more limited for women than men in Finland, with few women able to support themselves in the field, the study found. Many girls begin to drop out of sports after reaching puberty, according to the study.
 Research from Jyväskylä University last year found that physical education in Finnish schools  perpetuates gender stereotypes  and risks preventing youth from reaching their full potential.

Monday’s papers: Sustainable Finland, Airiston Helmi’s mystery man and equality in sports


Summary: Finland will experience a genuine heatwave between Thursday and Sunday, according to Yle forecasters.

The weather will heat up significantly by Tuesday across Finland, leaving Monday’s cool conditions behind, according to Yle meteorologist  Kerttu Kotakorpi .
 While temperatures will be in the low 20s at the beginning of the week, the mercury could reach 30 degrees Celsius by the weekend.
 “In some parts of southern and central Finland it could be up to 30C this weekend,” Kotakorpi explained.
 The warm spell will also reach Finnish Lapland, though residents in northernmost Finland can expect highs of 20C, at the most.

 ”But as the air heats up, so does the likelihood of thundershowers,” Kotakorpi explained.
 Pupils across Finland began their first week of summer vacation on Monday.

Summer heat to make comeback by Thursday


Summary: The initiative on explicitly banning female genital mutilation received more than 61,000 signatures.

A citizens' initiative on creating a law to specifically ban the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Finland is headed to the new Parliament for consideration by MPs. The initiative garnered a total of 61,266 signatures by the beginning of last October, but already reached the required  50,000 signature mark  a few months earlier.
 The document will be handed to MPs by humanitarian advocacy group World Vision Finland'sprogramme director  Annette Gothóni  and expert advisor  Ujuni Ahmed , as well as the managing director of fashion textile firm Finlayson,  Jukka Kurttila .
 According to Finnish law, the act of genital mutilation is already considered to be aggravated assault. But Gothóni said a more specific law should be created.
 "A separate law [on banning FGM] would be important for preventative work and changing the attitudes of parents [who might be considering carrying it out on their girls]. If the practice was specifically forbidden by law, it would be easier for various authorities to discuss the matter [with parents] before it happens," Gothóni said.
 "The problem is that parents who cut their girls do not consider the mutilation to be assault. The current legislation is inadequate. A separate law is needed to protect girls," Ahmed added.
 FGM still common
 An estimated 200 million girls and women around the world have undergone FGM, with more than three million girls facing the practice every year, according to the  World Health Organisation .
 Late last year, the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) estimated as many as 3,000 girls in Finland faced the risk of being subjected to FGM. The public health watchdog estimated  more than 10,000 girls and women  resident in Finland have already undergone the procedure.
 Even before receiving the citizens' initiative on the matter,  the incoming government  is reportedly already making plans to ban FGM in new legislation.

Citizens’ initiative on FGM ban heads to Finnish Parliament


Summary: President Sauli Niinistö has sworn in Finland's new centre-left government, which has a female majority.

SDP chair  Antti Rinne , 56, was sworn in as prime minister on Thursday to lead Finland's 75th government. Rinne, whose Social Democratic Party narrowly won April's election, is a former finance minister and union boss.
 He was approved as the new premier by a vote of 111 to 74 in a Parliamentary session that began around noon, with Rinne serving as interim Speaker of Parliament. Fourteen of the new MPs were absent.
 All the 'no' votes came from the three main opposition parties, with the sole MP from the Liike Nyt (Movement Now) group voting with the five government parties.
 Story continues after photo
 Rinne was elected by a 111-74 vote. Jussi Nukari / Lehtikuva
 After the vote, Rinne and the 18 other cabinet ministers walked to the Presidential Palace to meet with President  Sauli Niinistö .
 At 2pm, the president approved the resignation of outgoing PM and Centre Party chair  Juha Sipilä  and then formally appointed Rinne as the new prime minister. The new ministers were then sworn in, using either Finnish or Swedish and either a Bible or law book, according to their own preferences.
 Earlier on Thursday, Rinne met with Niinistö and was formally appointed to form a new government.
 Story continues after photo
 Rinne met with Niinistö on Thursday morning. Jussi Nukari / Lehtikuva
 On Friday MPs will elect the new Speaker of Parliament and two deputy speakers. The new Speaker is expected to be former Centre PM  Matti Vanhanen , 63. Former minister  Tuula Haatainen  of the SDP is to continue as the first deputy speaker while  Juho Eerola  of the Finns Party will likely become the second deputy speaker.
 Comfortable majority in Parliament
 Rinne aims to lead a five-party centre-left coalition government for the next four years. Besides the SDP and Centre, it includes the Greens, the Left Alliance and the Swedish People's Party.
 The cabinet parties have a comfortable 117-seat majority in the 200-seat Parliament.
 However they will likely face pressures from within as well as from the two main opposition parties, the right-leaning Finns Party and National Coalition Party. They each have nearly as many MPs as the SDP, wit the top three parties holding 40, 39 and 38 seats respectively. The nationalist Finns Party, led by immigration hardliner  Jussi Hallo-aho , is just one seat shy of being the largest and has been leading opinion polls since the election.
 One holdover from Sipilä cabinet
 About 58 percent of the ministers in Rinne's cabinet are women. That is up sharply from the previous Sipilä government, but still short of the 60 percent ratio in Vanhanen's 2007-10 cabinet.
 Story continues after photo
 Cabinet ministers walked to the House of the Estates on Helsinki's warmest day of the year so far. Pekka Tynell / Yle
 The new ministers range in age from 31 to 61. The youngest is Minister of Economic Affairs  Katri Kulmuni , a second-term MP and deputy Centre Party chair from Tornio in Finnish Lapland, while the eldest is Foreign Minister  Pekka Haavisto , an MP, Greens chair and former minister from Helsinki.
 The only minister to carry over from Sipilä's cabinet to Rinne's is Centre Party MP  Annika Saarikko . She moves from being Minister of Family Affairs and Social Service to Minister of Science and Culture, a newly-renamed post that operates under the Ministry of Education.
 Lintilä represents Centre at press conference
 In the late afternoon, the new government held a brief press conference at the House of the Estates, where they had hashed out their agenda over the past month.
 Story continues after photo
 Henriksson, Lintilä, Rinne, Haavisto and Andersson meet the press. Pekka Tynell / Yle
 Four of the five parties were represented by their chairs, while the Centre was represented by Finance Minister  Mika Lintilä . Party chair Sipilä, who is  to be replaced as leader in September , declined to take a post in the new government or parliament.
 Besides Rinne and Haavisto, the two other party chairs in the cabinet are  Anna-Maja Henriksson  of the Swedish People's Party, who returns as Justice Minister, and  Li Andersson  of the Left Alliance, who is now Education Minister.
 The ministers only answered a couple of questions about the timing of eldercare reforms and attaining their 75-percent employment target, giving rather non-committal answers. They then headed for the traditional 'class picture' photograph session and coffee reception.
 5:56pm: Updated throughout and corrected date of Speakers' election

Antti Rinne appointed as Finland's new PM


Summary: The SDP will dominate the ministerial top jobs in Finland's new 19-member, five-party coalition government.

From a total of 19 ministerial portfolios in the new Finnish cabinet, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) will hold seven and the Centre will occupy five. The Greens will hold three while the Left Alliance and Swedish People's Party (SPP) will have two each. The names of the ministers are to be announced later.
 The  incoming government will put an end to eight years of austerity , adding 1.2 billion euros to government expenditure. Spending will be offset by higher tobacco, alcohol and fuel taxes.
 The Social Democrats, with  their razor-thin victory  in April’s general election, had their first pick of ministerial portfolios, naturally taking over the premiership and gaining seven portfolios, including those for European Affairs, Local Government and state ownership steering, Development and Foreign Trade, Family Affairs and Social Services, Transport as well as Labour.
 The Centre Party, which is stepping down as the prime minister’s party following a  crushing defeat in the election , will take over five portfolios: Finance, Economy, Defense, Agriculture and a new combined Science and Culture portfolio, under the Education Ministry.
 Juha Sipilä , premier of the outgoing centre-right government, said he’d be following the new government's employment targets from the back benches. He explained later that he will not be a minister before leaving his post as party chair in September.
 SPP chair  Anna-Maja Henriksson  said she didn’t see any obstacles to Finland  reaching its goal of 75-percent employment  as it has been achievable in the other Nordic countries.
 Finland’s next foreign minister will be from the Greens. The party, which saw it's  best ever EU election resul t in last month's Europarliament elections, will also run the Environment and Interior ministries.
 Green Party chair  Pekka Haavisto  called the environmental agenda the "most ambitious climate plan globally," aiming for carbon neutrality by 2035, though the government did not provide concrete plans at its press conference at Helsinki's central library Oodi on Monday. Ahead of government formation talks, Rinne said all parties forming the new government must commit to keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels, in line with recommendations from the  UN climate group IPCC .
 The Left Alliance will oversee the ministries of Education and Social Affairs and Health, which could signal a turnaround in recent efforts to  open the Finnish healthcare sector  to private providers.  Li Andersson , Left Alliance chair, said Finland would roll back a  contentious 'activation model'  and make upper secondary school materials free for students. The new administration wants to  extend compulsory education to include upper secondary and vocational schooling .
 The Swedish People’s Party will hold on to the Justice Ministry while also picking up the equality minister's post.
 Referring to the five-group coalition and her childhood memories of libraries, Henriksson quipped, “everything usually ends well for the Famous Five, and that’s what happened here,” she said referring to children’s adventure novel series from the 1940s and '50s.

Finland's new government: SDP, Centre dominate ministerial portfolios


Summary: The names of Finland's new ministers began to drip out on Monday, but will not be finalised until Tuesday.

Speaking at Helsinki's main library on Monday morning, Prime Minister-designate  Antti Rinne  announced that his new  government will include 19 ministers  from five parties – but did not reveal the names of the new cabinet members. They will likely be confirmed by the parties on Tuesday.
 The ministers will most likely include the party chairs who flanked Rinne at the event, except for outgoing PM  Juha Sipilä , whose Centre Party is continuing in government despite suffering dramatic defeats in April's parliamentary election. After that, Sipilä announced that he would step down when the party elects a new leader at an extraordinary conference in September.
 "I led my own party to a major electoral defeat, so I am not available for a position of responsibility, not as a minister or speaker of Parliament. This is my way of taking responsibility in this situation," Sipilä said on Monday. The Centre has been handed five portfolios: Finance, Economy, Defense, Agriculture and a new combined Science and Culture portfolio, under the Education Ministry.
 SDP deputy chair  Sanna Marin , who led the party through much of last winter's election campaign  while Rinne was on sick leave , is on the other hand widely expected to hold a cabinet seat. The SDP will hold seven portfolios, including Labour, European Affairs, Local Government and state ownership steering, Transport, Development and Foreign Trade, Family Affairs and Social Services.
 SPP in justice, equality and Nordic posts
 After the event,  Swedish People's Party (SPP) chair   Anna-Maja Henriksson  said that MP  Thomas Blomqvist   from Raseborg , western Uusimaa, will be minister of equality and Nordic cooperation. Yle has learned that Henriksson will resume her old post of justice minister, which she held in two cabinets between 2011 and 2015.
 Left Alliance chair  Li Andersson , the youngest of the five government party chairs at 32, told Yle that she is interested in the position of education minister. Like the SPP, her party has been allocated two seats in the cabinet. Besides education, it will oversee social affairs and health.
 Greens take foreign affairs, environment and climate portfolios
 Greens chair  Pekka Haavisto , a former environment minister and UN official, is widely expected to become the new foreign minister. That role will be key as Finland takes on the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union on 1 July. His party will hold three seats in the new cabinet, with one likely to be the renamed post of Minister for the Environment and Climate.
 According to the daily Helsingin Sanomat, former Greens MP  Oras Tynkkynen  hopes to take that post, despite losing his seat in Parliament in April, only earning a spot as a substitute. Tynkkynen, a former leader of the Greens parliamentary delegation, was Advisor on Climate Policy to former Centre Party PM  Matti Vanhanen . He is now a  senior advisor on the carbon-neutral circular economy  at the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra and a Tampere city councillor. Finnish government ministers are usually – but not necessarily – members of parliament.
 The Greens are to chose their ministers on Tuesday. MP  Maria Ohisalo ,  the only candidate to take over from Haavisto  as party chair later this month, is also expected to take on a cabinet post. The Greens' third seat will be Minister of the Interior.

Names of new Finnish cabinet ministers emerge


Summary: May was exceptionally wet in Finland, with the heaviest rainfall measured at Koli National Park in eastern Finland.

May brought more rain than usual throughout Finland. The heaviest precipitation came in central and eastern areas as well as parts of southern Lapland, which received more than twice the average rainfall for the month.
 The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) says that many places around the country received rainfall amounts that occur less than once a decade according to long-term averages. The weather station in Alavus, Southern Ostrobothnia, recorded the highest rainfall amounts since it was set up more than half a century ago.
 Some spots received rainfall totals that typically happen three times a century at most – as scientists note that Finland's weather is gradually becoming wetter due to climate change.
 Wettest in the east
 For the spring season of March through May, precipitation of all types varied from around 70 millimetres in the far north to some 200mm in eastern Finland. There, the municipalities of Lieksa and Savonlinna received the most plentiful rains in 50 years.
 May's biggest rain total, 121.8mm, was measured at Koli National Park in Lieksa, eastern Finland. This hilly area also had the highest total for the three-month period, 220.9mm.
 The heaviest rainfall in a single day was recorded in Sysmä, south-central Finland, where 33.3mm fell on 11 May.
 Meanwhile the driest places in May were in south-western coastal areas and eastern Lapland.
 Heat records in the west, frosty in Lapland
 Mean temperatures for May were close to the long-term average. They were around 8-10 degrees Celsius in southern and central Finland and about 4-8 degrees up north.
 The highest reading of 27.8 degrees was recorded on 20 May in Kokemäki, southwest Finland, matched the following day in Turku's Artukainen district, about 100 km further south.
 The mercury exceeded 25 degrees – "hot" by Finnish standards – somewhere in the country on six days during May. That was twice as many as usual.
 The month's coldest temperature, -11.8 degrees, was measured on 3 May at a weather station on Saana Fell in Kilpisjärvi on the far northwestern border with Norway.

Along with flowers, May brought plenty of showers


Summary: Finnish dailies examine the new government's ambitious programme, which was officially announced on Monday.

Tuesday's papers lead with stories reviewing the new five-party coalition's proposed programme and goals, which include making the country carbon-neutral by 2035 and significantly increasing spending by 1.2 billion euros.
 Finnish daily  Helsingin Sanomat (HS)  runs several articles looking at what’s in store, including a two-page spread entitled "Will the parties keep their promises?"
 The daily examines both pre-election promises and what was unveiled on  Monday at Helsinki's main library Oodi  where Prime Minister-designate  Antti Rinne  (SDP) and coalition party chairs  Pekka Haavisto  (Greens),  Juha Sipilä  (Centre),  Li Andersson  (Left) and  Anna-Maja Henriksson  (SPP) revealed the draft agenda.
 Promises, promises
 According to HS, one of the details that has been much mulled over by the press is Rinne’s pre-election vow on May Day 2018. "I promise an additional 100 euros a month to those who receive a pension that's less than 1,400 euros a month."
 HS writes about the new government's proposal to increase the pension of those who receive less than 1,000 euros a month by 50 euros.
 "Fifty euros isn’t 100 euros," writes HS, but goes on to point out that, "Rinne didn’t promise 100 euros in the first year, he often (went on to) emphasise that the top-up would be made according to what the budget would allow."
 "Too good to be true"
 HS also ran a straw poll of people on the street about the incoming government's plans.
 "In theory the new government budget sounds very good. But we’ll still have to wait and see where all the money comes from and how realistic the programme really is at the end of the day,"  Ella Salminen , a 24-year-old student, told HS.
 Meanwhile,  Toivo Koivisto , 74, told the paper that presenting the new government plan in a library "was an awesome spectacle" but that "the first thought that came to mind was that this is too good to be true."
 Effects of the sin tax
 Tampere-based daily  Aamulehti   also explored the proposed plan at length, including a concrete list of what will change if it takes effect.
 Examples of the so-called sin tax will most affect those with unhealthy habits. For example, according to Aamulehti, the increased cost of a packet of cigarettes by 1.8 euros would increase the annual sum for pack-a-day smokers by 657 euros.
 Other examples include the increased cost of sugary soft drinks – a 1.5-litre bottle would go up by 10 cents increasing the annual cost for 1.5 litre-a-day soda drinkers by 36.50 euros a year.
 Meanwhile, added taxes on a bottle of wine ( .75 litre) would increase the cost by a total of 10.92 euros per year, based on consumption of a bottle of wine per week.
 Far north cabinet hopefuls
 And at the top of Finland, the main daily of Finnish Lapland,  Lapin Kansa , leads with a story speculating whether Lapland will get its own minister in the new cabinet with the region’s  Markus Lohi  and  Katri Kulmuni   of the Centre Party as the strongest candidates.
 HS, Aamulehti and Lapin Kansa also carried news of the five-party leaders' choice of the nickname "the Famous Five", which brings to mind British writer  Enid Blyton ’s popular children’s book series of the same name.
 Many papers speculate on whether all of the Famous Five’s ambitious plans will be realised. Avid readers may recall that the Famous Five’s adventures all took place while the kids were on holiday.

Tuesday's papers: Will proposed government programme come to fruition?


Summary: New THL data indicate that one in one hundred children was placed in care in 2018.

The number of child welfare reports filed with authorities increased last year, along with the number of children placed in emergency foster care, according to new data released by the National Institute of Health and Welfare, THL.
 Last year, child welfare reports were filed with authorities about 79,000 children, which is close to five percent more than the previous year. However the total number of reports filed was nearly twice that at roughly 146,000. This means than on average, whistleblowers lodged 1.8 reports per child.
 According to the fresh THL data, 4,390 children were placed in emergency foster care last year, seven percent more than in 2017.
 Fewer customers in open care
 THL research professor  Tarja Heino  said that children, young people and families living in difficult circumstances had not received interventions early enough.
 "In order to focus help on the right areas, we need to understand the phenomenon better and also to provide diverse [kinds of] support in this area," Heino said in a THL statement.
 Last year more than 18,500 children were removed from their homes and placed in foster care, a slight increase over the previous year. Otherwise, 11,000 children lived in care during the year, accounting for about one percent of all children under the age of 18.
 However the number of customers of the open care system declined two percent last year, representing a total of 55,000 children or four percent of under-21s.

Failed early intervention system behind rise in child welfare reports, care placements


Summary: Award-winning player Kaapo Kakko will be honoured at a ceremony at his former school in Finland.

Winning Ice Hockey World Championship team member  Kaapo Kakko  will be honoured with an evening of festivities at his former school in Lieto on Thursday, according to  Esko Poikela , mayor of the small municipality in southwestern Finland.
 "At the festivities, the municipality will give an award to the three-time world champion," Poikela said.
 Kakko was part of Team Finland, which  won the gold medal at the Ice Hockey World Championships  on 27 May by 3-1 against Team Canada. The 18-year-old plays forward and right wing, and scored the gold medal winning goal for Team Finland at the 2019 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in January of this year.
 He is the youngest player in hockey history to win gold in all three IIHF World Championship tournaments: the World U18 Championships, the World Junior Championships and the World Championships. Kaapo is he is expected to be picked up the New Jersey Devils or the New York Rangers in the current draft round, according to  NJ.com . The first round of the 2019 NHL Draft starts in Vancouver on 21 June.
 More festivities in store
 The Lieto festivities, which start at 5pm on Thursday, will be held at Kakko’s old school, Pahkamäen Koulu, where he will be honoured for his achievements on behalf of the municipality.
 "Everyone is welcome to celebrate Kaapo Kakko, who has promised to bring his hockey stick," Poikela said.
 TPS, the Turun Palloseura, one of the biggest sports club in Finland and the City of Turku will organise a Kulta-Kaapo (Golden Kaapo) evening open to everyone on Wednesday evening next week at the Gatorade Center.

Ice hockey champ and NHL hopeful Kakko to receive award


One-third of Finnish residents said they felt guilty about the environmental consequences of their air travel, while 15 percent said they're ashamed about flying, according to a survey commissioned by insurance company If.
 However, few respondents said they actually took steps to avoid travelling by plane.
 Roughly one-third of people surveyed said they were planning a holiday abroad or in Finland this year - about the same level a similar survey found last year.
 Meanwhile, nearly 60 percent of respondents to this year's survey said they were either somewhat or very worried about global climate change.
 People who said they were the most concerned were residents of Uusimaa in southern Finland, female, highly-educated and under the age of 30.
 Few cancelled plans over environment
 Just two percent of respondents said they decided not to fly on holiday trips due to climate concerns.
 Meanwhile, 12 percent said they have reduced the amount they travel, and nine percent said they chose holiday destinations closer to home, with 13 percent saying they choose modes of transportation that cause lower carbon emissions.
 Those claiming to be most worried about climate change appeared more prepared to change their travel habits. Sixty-three percent of those most concerned about the environment said they had adjusted their travel habits over the past year.
 About two-thirds of respondents said they expect that climate change would be a factor in their travel plans within five years.
 The majority of respondents said airlines and tourism firms should take action to reduce the environmental impact of air travel. Around 75 percent said that companies should do more to mitigate climate change.
 Nearly half said they would be prepared to pay more for their travel tickets if planes' carbon emissions were significantly reduced.
 One-third said they think air travel by individual passengers does not affect climate change.
 Around 1,000 people over the age of 18 participated in the survey, which was commissioned by insurance firm If and carried out by YouGov Finland. The survey had a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points in either direction.

One-third in Finland feel guilty about flying - but most head abroad on holidays


Summary: The woman and the child's father had been involved in an ongoing custody dispute at the time of the incident.

Itä-Uusimaa district court has sentenced a 35-year-old woman to four years in prison for trying to kill her three-year-old child in a car crash in Loviisa, southeast Finland in autumn 2017, while under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
 The court found that the woman intentionally drove her car towards an oncoming truck.
 "The court ruled that the woman deliberately tried to kill her child," the court judgment stated.
 The court said that the car was travelling at about 100 km/hour, while the lorry’s speed was about 80 km/hour.
 Upon seeing the oncoming vehicle, the lorry driver steered his truck as far as possible toward a roadside ditch, however the woman’s car crashed into the left side of the lorry, after which it veered into the side of another vehicle that had been behind the truck.
 The court found the defendant guilty of attempted manslaughter, aggravated drunk driving and aggravated traffic endangerment.
 Custody battle behind manslaughter attempt
 At the time of the incident, relations between the defendant and the child’s father had been bad and they had been involved in a custody dispute. Three days before the crash, the court had threatened the mother with a fine unless she granted the father visitation rights.
 On the evening of the accident, the woman had picked up the child from his father’s home. The woman then drove the child to a petrol station where she sat in the car for about an hour.
 During that time, she ingested strong pain medication, among other things. After leaving the service station, she stopped once more to drink some alcohol.
 The defendant admitted to driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs but denied attempting to kill the child. Rather, she claimed it was an accident. In a written response to the charges, the woman claimed that the father had filed a request for an investigation in a bid to get sole custody of the child.

Four-year prison term for woman over attempted manslaughter of child


Summary: Loxam's offer nearly doubled the Finnish firm's listed value.

French equipment rental service Loxam has offered 970 million euros to acquire Finnish-owned Ramirent, which also provides machinery and tools for hire. The bid cited a price of nine euros per share, nearly double the 5.44-euro value Ramirent has on the Helsinki Stock Exchange.
 "The price offered by Loxam presents an attractive cash premium to our shareholders. With a history of making acquisitions and integrating companies, I believe Loxam offers a good home for Ramirent,"  Ulf Lundahl , Ramirent's board chair, said in a press release.
 Loxam is Europe's largest equipment rental company, with over 700 branches in 13 countries. The company posted revenue of 1.48 billion euros in 2108, and has more than 8,000 employees.
 Ramirent Group's turnover last year was more than 700 million euros. The Finnish company was founded in 1955, employs around 2,900 people and operates in nine countries.
 "The combination of Ramirent and Loxam represents a unique opportunity to build a truly pan-European leader in the equipment rental market. Loxam has known, followed and highly regarded Ramirent for a number of years, and appreciates its experienced management team and employees, as well as its strong positions in all the markets where it operates," said  Gérard Déprez , president and CEO of Loxam.

French firm makes €970m bid for Finland's Ramirent equipment rental outfit


Summary: Finns Party MP Teuvo Hakkarainen was elected to the European Parliament two weeks ago.

A past conviction for assault and sexual harassment against  freshly-minted Finns Party MEP   Teuvo Hakkarainen  has become enforceable, the Helsinki Court of Appeal ruled on Tuesday.
 This means that Hakkarainen will have to pay the 80-day fine for the offences, which were committed in December 2017.
 A lower court  had convicted the then-Finns Party MP  and sentenced him to a 45-day fine for assault and sexual harassment of National Coalition Party MP  Veera Ruoho.
 However, the appeal court stiffened the sentence to an 80-day fine, which based on Hakkarainen’s income at the time, amounted to 5,440 euros. The lower court had also ordered the former sawmill owner to pay Ruoho an additional 1,400 euros in damages.
 During the district court trial, prosecutor  Eija Velitski  had called on the court to hand down a two-month suspended sentence. However she said last spring that she would not appeal the appellate court’s ruling.
 Ruoho is a former Finns Party MP who quit the nationalist party when immigration hardliner  Jussi Halla-aho  became chair in June 2017.
 Hakkarainen has a record of seven convictions since 1985, including chopping down trees illegally while drunk, stealing silverware and wine from a church, drunk driving, speeding, and  ethnic agitation  for anti-Muslim comments on Facebook in 2016.

New Finns Party MEP's assault, sexual harassment conviction to stand


Summary: There are plans for free contraception, an age limit for energy drinks, lengthier compulsory education, a fast fibre network and more.

The  new government  led by the Social Democratic Party’s  Antti Rinne  on Monday unveiled an ambitious 200-page programme that touches upon a gamut of areas that could specifically affect the under-30 population in Finland. Here’s a lowdown on what to watch out for.
 1. Job guarantee
 If a young person under 25 years of age or a student under 30 is  unemployed , the government will guarantee an internship or apprenticeship — this could include a workplace, work trial, training workshop or a rehabilitation program.
 2. Tougher taxes on sugary drinks and alcohol
 Taxes on  sugary drinks  and cigarettes will rise and  alcohol taxes  will increase moderately. According to calculations, an eight-euro cigarette packet will cost 9.80 euros after the tax hike.
 Story continues after photo.
 Kalle Mäkelä / Yle
 3. Compulsory secondary education
 Every primary school student will have to complete secondary education i.e. high school or vocational training. The compulsory school age will be  increased to 18 years.
 4. Energy drink ban
 Government will ban the sale of energy drinks to consumers under 16 years of age.
 5. Swedish compulsory for matriculation
 Government wants to strengthen the learning of another domestic language at school and aims to  restore Swedish  as a compulsory subject for matriculation exams.
 6. Free contraception
 Contraception will be provided free of charge  across the country for people under 25 years of age — this is an experiment that will be reviewed at the end of the parliamentary term.
 7. Fiber-optics for everyone
 The government plans to build a fiber-optics network across the country, so everyone will have  access to high-speed broadband . In addition, data transfer speeds will increase.
 8. More vegetarian and organic food
 A new national food program aims to reduce the climate footprint of Finnish food and increase understanding of food production. The proportion of  vegetarian meals in schools and public offices  will rise and municipalities will be encouraged to favour domestic and organic production of meat, eggs and milk.
 9. Combating over-indebtedness
 The term of payment default entries is to be reduced. In addition, a positive credit register will be introduced — essentially a database where lending companies can see the borrower’s outstanding loans and income data real time. The purpose is to give the lender a better chance of assessing the borrower's solvency.
 10. Support for rape victims
 The penal code definition of rape will expand to include lack of consent. Services and coverage of support centers for sex crime victims will be widened across the nation.
 11. No tuition fees for higher education
 Higher  education leading to a degree  to remain free of charge.
 12. More sports facilities
 Government plans to support the  construction of sports facilities  and renovation of local sports facilities, parks and outdoor trails.
 13. More recycling
 The new administration plans to introduce separate collection of textile waste before the 2025 deadline set in EU Waste Framework Directive, and ramp up  plastic recycling .
 Story continues after photo.
 Greater attention will be paid to recycling plastics. AOP
 14. Higher gasoline prices
 Lower emissions are to be taken into consideration in vehicle taxation. Taxation of fossil fuels will be increased in line with the projected increase in consumer prices — the price of  petrol and diesel  may rise by about five cents per litre.
 15. Crackdown on child sexual offenders
 Minimum sentencing to be increased especially in cases of serious  sexual offenses against children .
 16. Tackling discriminatory recruitment
 Government plans to develop an action plan against  racism and discrimination in the labour market . It also plans to look into anonymous recruitment — many people feel foreign names in applications act as a deterrent despite appropriate training and experience.
 17. Equal opportunities for young athletes
 Young people interested in sports will get  similar access to training in vocational schools  as in sport-oriented high schools.
 18. Basic education for undocumented migrants
 The government program plans to guarantee the right of every young person — including  undocumented migrants  or those in immigrant integration programs — to complete basic education.
 19. Ban female genital mutilation
 Government plans to secure funds to work on preventing  female genital mutilation  (FGM) in Finland.
 20. Criminalise forced marriages
 Proposed plans aim to abolish and criminalise  forced marriages .
 21. Media literacy to combat false news
 The aim is to  prevent the spread of disinformation  by teaching media literacy in schools and youth centres and helping kids protect themselves  from online risks . There are also plans to support responsible journalism on digital platforms popular with youngsters.
 22. Reduce attractiveness of payday loans
 Regulations on consumer- and  quick-loans to be tightened  and plans to reduce the attractiveness of consumer credit by curbing aggressive marketing.
 23. Reducing gender pay gap
 Plans are on the table to increase wage transparency to reduce  the pay gap  between women and men.
 24. Families and work
 The administration is considering legislation that will prevent pregnancy and  parental leave from jeopardising fixed-term employmen t.
 25. Gender neutrality in personal ID
 Gender identification will be abandoned during the  renewal of personal identification .
 Story continues after photo.
 Personal IDs will get a revamp. Poliisi
 26. Transgender law revamp
 Transgender laws will likely be amended so that people who choose to have gender reassignment surgery won’t have to  undergo medical sterilisation . In addition, medical treatments are to be juridically differentiated from gender reassignment procedures. However, adults will still be able to apply for gender reassignment.
 27. Ban on child cosmetic genital surgery
 Cosmetic, non-medical genital surgery of very young intersex children will be abandoned to protect their autonomy.

27 ways the new govt programme could affect young people


Summary: Three Greens MPs get their portfolios, police need more officers and novelist Hanya Yanagihara sent a letter to the world ice hockey champion goalkeeper.

Finland's next government is gradually taking shape, and daily  Helsingin Sanomat reports  that the Green Party's choices of minister were announced late on Tuesday.
 The five-hour meeting to determine the Greens' new ministers ended at 10.20 pm on Tuesday. The results: current Greens chair  Pekka Haavisto  will likely become Minister of Foreign Affairs, the incoming chair  Maria Ohisalo  is pegged for the Interior Minister's portfolio and MP  Krista Mikkonen  will probably step in as Minister of the Environment at the Greens party conference on 15 June.
 Before the announcements  speculation surrounded  the possible nomination of Greens MP  Oras Tynkkynen , who is not in the party's parliamentary group but proposed that the Environment Minister's post be shared between himself and another party colleague. His bid was unsuccessful, losing by just one vote (29-28), HS wrote.
 More than 60 Greens politicians took part in the marathon meeting on Tuesday, and the lengthy talks ended on a high note, said Haavisto.
 "People wanted to hear the details, so we went through the government programme page by page," he said. "There was discussion around issues such as the contents of animal rights legislation and refugee quotas. All in all the assessment was positive."
 The Left Alliance (whose MPs will become Minister of Education and Minister of Social Affairs and Health) and the Centre Party (ministers of Finance, Science and Culture, Economic Affairs and Development, Defense, and Agriculture) have yet to announce their nominees.
 Police Federation calls gov't proposition "hallucination"
 Meanwhile  regional paper Turun Sanomat  published an article on police resource allocation. Finnish Police Federation (SPJL) chair  Jonne Rinne  called the new government programme unrealistic in terms of how many new officers would need to be trained by 2022.
 The programme calls for 300 more police officers to be trained within three years, to bring the total number of Finnish cops up to 7,500. Rinne told TS that this is not at all what the SPJL had in mind.
 "We would need close to one thousand new recruits for the government programme to work. Vision without the capacity to enact it is hallucination," Rinne told the paper.
 The programme also calls for several requirements: police must in future clearly define response times in rural areas as well as develop community policing practices, monitoring of heavy traffic, preventive crime-fighting and measures to combat and investigate internet crime, human trafficking, terrorism and money laundering.
 SPJL's Rinne told TS that his organisation is glad that plans are being made to improve police resources. The number of police officers per citizen is by far the lowest in the Nordic countries, the paper wrote.
 Celebrated author writes to celebrated goalkeeper
 Finland became the world champion in men's ice hockey in late May, and tabloids rushed to interview the star players.  Ilta-Sanomat featured  a follow-up story on the national team's goalkeeper  Kevin Lankinen , who said he was reading a book to relax when not playing or training.
 The specific book Lankinen mentioned at the time was American author  Hanya Yanagihara 's thousand-page novel  A Little Life , an international bestseller that has gained multiple awards and shortlist mentions.
 The author herself reached out to Lankinen this week, thanking him for bringing her novel to a new audience and saying she was "deeply honoured and grateful".
 "You've already inspired your fans and countrymen with your skills on the ice – now you're making them readers, as well!" IS quotes her letter.

Wednesday's papers: More ministers announced, police mull resources, author thanks goalie


Summary: The Finnish Football Association handed its top award to Norwich City striker Teemu Pukki.

Footballer  Teemu Pukki  added to his impressive haul of awards and trophies for the 2018-2019 season when he received the player of the year gong from the Finnish Football Association on Tuesday evening.
 The 29-year-old Kotka native had already picked up the English Championship player of the year; the division's top scorer of the year; as well as a Championship winner's medal during a very successful first season in English football. Pukki's goals and performances were instrumental in ensuring his Norwich City side will play in England's top division, the Premier League, next season.
 On the international stage, Pukki's three goals in six games propelled Finland to the top of their Nations League group. He now sits in fourth place with 15 goals on Finland's all-time goal-scoring chart behind  Mikael Forssell  (28 goals),  Jari Litmanen  (25), and  Jonatan Johansson  (18).
 Teemu Pukki in action for Finland against Estonia in the Nations League  Martti Kainulainen / Lehtikuva
 Pukki will be hoping he can further add to his goal tally on Saturday, 8 June, at Tampere's Ratina stadium where the "Eagle-Owls" continue their quest to qualify for next summer's European Championship finals against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
 'Respect Award' for long-serving physio
 Paavo Leiramo , who has served Finnish national teams for more than four decades as a physiotherapist, received the 'Respect Award' from the Football Association at the awards ceremony. The award recognises the efforts of individuals who show a spirit of respect in their actions either on or off the field.
 Juventus defender and stalwart of the Finnish women's national team,  Tuija Hyyrynen , also picked up the Frenckell Medal - awarded to players who represent Finland 100 times.

Footballer Pukki named Finland's player of the year


Summary: Finland's national post office said the cuts are due to a reduction in mail volumes and a three-year savings plan.

Finland's national postal service Posti on Wednesday announced job cuts of 94 workers, following the conclusion of co-determination talks with unions.
 Posti initiated restructuring  negotiations in April , citing a drastic decline in the volume of mail deliveries and an aim to save at least 150 million euros over the next three years. The firm initially had plans to cut as many as 120 jobs.
 At the same time, Posti began a separate round of redundancy talks concerning 124 other jobs. The firm said those cuts, which would affect a maximum of 106 employees, are due to the shuttering of 18 post offices by March of next year.
 The firm said it plans to close four post offices in Helsinki (in the neighbourhoods of Punavuori, Etu-Vallila, Hakaniemi and Herttoniemi), Espoo (in Tapiola), Lahti, Turku, Pori, Tampere, Kouvola, Mikkeli, Lappeenranta, Lemi, Vaasa, Kuopio and Rovaniemi.
 More service points planned
 Meanwhile, the company has plans to expand the number of service points across the country by around 700. The company said that over this and next year there will be more than 2,800 Posti service points in Finland.
 Posti's retail service points – often located in supermarkets and shops – feature mail drop-off, pick-up and other services. The company said its services will continue to be available in communities across the country.
 The company said it needed to make the changes in order for it to reduce costs by at least 150-200 million euros over the next three years. It also cited a drastic reduction of volume of mail, including letters as well as publications.

Posti to cut 94 jobs – with more redundancies on the way


Summary: There was a total of 163 victims in Finland in 2018, according to a report by Council of Europe's expert team.

The number of victims of human trafficking has tripled in Finland over the course of just three years,  according to a report  published by Council of Europe's Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (Greta).
 The group published a report on  Finland's situation  regarding human trafficking in 2015 — when 52 people were suspected to have been victims of the crime. Now the group said it suspected that there were 163 victims of human trafficking in Finland in 2018.
 Greta said a total of 572 victims — 53 of whom were children — received care from aid organisations in 2015-19. The majority of the victims were from Nigeria, Somalia, Thailand, Afghanistan and Iraq. At least seven of the victims were Finnish citizens, according to the group..
 Labour exploitation
 A press release on the report  noted that "the most common purpose of trafficking in human beings in Finland is  labour exploitation , followed by sexual exploitation, forced criminality and forced marriage." Traffickers have forced victims to carry out crimes include prostitution, theft and street begging, according to the group.
 Greta said most work-related exploitation in Finland took place in the restaurant sector.
 The topic of human trafficking gained attention in Finland earlier this year after daily Helsingin Sanomat reported on the organised, wide-scale abuse of employees in  some Nepalese restaurants .
 The Greta report also noted a case in which a Nepalese restaurateur in Northern Savo had been sentenced to pay fines for wrongdoing against its employees.
 The majority of the suspected victims had been exploited even before their arrival in Finland, according to the report.
 Improvements and faults
 Despite the notable increase in cases, the group said Finland has made some progress in preventing human trafficking, such as "developing the legislative framework for combating trafficking in human beings, conducting research, raising awareness and providing training to a range of professionals, including health-care staff and social workers."
 However, their findings also showed that Finland needs to do more when identifying and aiding victims —and when sharing information among other agencies and organisations.
 The group said it approved of Finland establishing a human trafficking shelter for women and children, the group said that many more safe houses are needed, as well as shelters intended to help male victims.
 "Further, Greta urges the Finnish authorities to ensure that unaccompanied and separated migrant children arriving in Finland benefit from effective care arrangements, including safe and appropriate accommodation," the group said. "The police should systematically carry out investigations into disappearances of migrant children and strengthen follow-up and alert systems on reports of missing children."
 The Greta delegation interviewed officials from several ministries, the police and the Border Guard; the Ombudsmen for Children and for Equality; and NGO employees. The delegation also visited Finnish women's shelters and reception centres.
 Regional daily  Satakunnan Kansa  first reported about the Greta report on Wednesday.

Report: Human trafficking in Finland tripled in 3 years


Summary: A report estimates there are around 200 wolves in Finland, with pack numbers dwindling in the west but growing elsewhere.

Finland's wolf population is currently estimated to be between 185 and 205 specimens, according to a report complied by Luke, the National Resources Institute Finland. In March of last year, the institute estimated the total number of wolves in Finland to be at 165-190 and around 150-180 wolves in 2017.
 Numbers increase in the east
 The report said that the number of packs has fallen in the west of Finland; down to 13 from last year's 16. There were significantly less wolves found in the areas of North Satakunta and South Ostrobothnia, around the city of Seinäjoki, in south-western Finland.
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 Location of packs of two or 2/3 wolves in Finland, March 2019 Picture: Mikko Airikka / Yle
 However, this decline was counter-balanced by a rise in the number of packs in the east, from eight to eleven. The presence of wolves in eastern regions was concentrated around the areas of Kainuu, North Karelia and northern Savo.
 In the reindeer-herding areas of northern Finland, there were only two reported sightings of wolves during that 12 month period.
 Population in flux
 Luke's report also detailed how the number of wolves fluctuated significantly over the course of a year.
 Wolf populations usually peak during April and May, following the birth of many wolf pups. By the end of May, the wolf population is usually at its maximum, but then starts to quickly decrease due to the high mortality rate of the pups.
 In Finland, young wolves usually leave their native pack in the spring, when they are about one year old, and may walk up to a thousand kilometers from their birthplace in search of a mating partner and breeding area.

Finland's wolf population grows by 10%


Summary: The victim in this case was 13 years old, while the male perpetrator was around 22.

Oulu District Court sentenced a man on Wednesday to three years in prison for charges of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and luring a child for sexual purposes.
 The defendant,  Osman Humad,  was 22 to 23-years-old at the time of the crimes, which took place on a number of occasions between June to October 2018, while the female victim was 13.
 The perpetrator first made contact with the girl via Facebook, after which the two communicated on messaging apps Messenger and Snapchat.
 The court said it considered the abuse charge to be aggravated because of the major age difference between the defendant and the victim.
 Humad denied throughout his case that he had committed a crime.
 Third of eight cases
 Wednesday's verdict and sentencing marked the third of  several cases of suspected child sex abuse  in Oulu, in which eight men "of foreign background" stand - or stood - accused. Two of those defendants have already been  convicted and sentenced .
 Special prosecutor  Pia Mäenpää  said she was satisfied with Wednesday's sentencing, saying that the court met the demands of the prosecution.
 The victim's lawyer  Jani Vuoti  said the conviction and sentencing was in line with the previous cases.
 "The rulings were well-grounded and thorough," Vuoti said, adding that he would not comment in any way on his client's current situation.

Three year prison sentence in third of Oulu child sex abuse cases


Summary: Nearly 150 kids from 70 countries unveiled a climate action plan in Helsinki on World Environment Day 2019.

A  week-long World Summit of Students for Climate (WSSC)  concluded in Helsinki on Wednesday with the declaration of a Climate Action Plan 2019-2025. The agreement promises to plant 100 million saplings around the world.
 Around 135 pupils and 100 teachers from 70 countries participated in this summit, where young delegates vowed to plant and adopt trees, and spread the message of combating climate change in their own countries. They said once the trees grow, three million tonnes of carbon dioxide is expected to be drawn out of the air by the year 2025.
 More than 370 schools from 50 countries — including a few schools from Joensuu, Finland — have already signed up for the tree planting and adoption initiative.
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 Schoolkids at the climate change summit in Helsinki. Markku Pitkänen / Yle
 Adopt a tree for a euro
 The schoolchildren's climate agreement specifies that participating schools can either plant trees or adopt trees to be planted by pupils in other schools.
 Each year between 2019 to 2025, participating schools will plant half a hectare of tree saplings in places where forests have not been felled in the last 10 years.
 Pupils from schools that will adopt trees, as suggested in the agreement, can collect money for the effort by taking up chores at home. The cost of adopting a tree is one euro apiece. The tree-planting activities will be undertaken in cooperation with local municipalities and states, who will help them find suitable locations.
 The young delegates also vowed to adopt a number of initiatives in their own schools, including proactive recycling, weekly ecology lessons, eliminating the use of disposable plastic, climate issue training for staff and reduced consumption of foods with high carbon emissions.
 "A lot has been accomplished here compared to adult climate change meets"
 Finland's chief negotiator for climate change  Outi Honkatukia  extended her support to the pupils’ climate action agreement. "It's so great to see the kids’ energy, enthusiasm and concrete action plans. If we compare this to the previous climate conference we debated for two weeks whether to accept the IPCC 1.5 degree report or not, so much more has been accomplished here," Honkatukai said at the event.
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 Finland's chief negotiator for climate change Outi Honkatukia addressed the students. Markku Pitkänen / Yle
 Many industry leaders were at the event to encourage the schoolkids. "Keep on pushing. We will push too,"  Mika Tuuliainen , Chief Policy Adviser at Confederation of Finnish Industrie, said.
 Pupils practice planting saplings in Eastern Finland
 One part of the climate summit took place in the city of Joensuu and the municipality of Liperi in North Karelia, Eastern Finland, while another took place in Helsinki. The program included group work, workshops, lectures and visits to various destinations.
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 Delegates of the World Summit of Students for Climate, who learned to plant seedlings in Finland. Korpipaja/ ENO Schoolnet
 Pupils spoke about the effects of climate change in their own countries and discussed ways to combat it. One of the meeting days was dedicated to learning how to plant trees.
 Story continues after photo.
 Primary school teacher Mika Vanhanen established ENO (Environment Online) Schoolnet — a global school network and web community for sustainable development. Markku Pitkänen / Yle
 The purpose of the summit was to make the voices of young people aged 14-17 heard in climate matters and to highlight the importance of education in solving the challenges of climate change.
 Joensuu’s ENO (Environment Online) Schoolnet — a global school network and web community for sustainable development — was responsible for organising this climate conference, which was supported by  President Sauli Niinistö  and many Finnish municipalities, local communities and companies.
 Story continues after photo.
 Joanna Chang, Grace Libongani, Otso Välimäki, and Juan Wehinger said learned a lot from each other at the school climate conference. Laura Kosonen / Yle
 Schools can sign up for the tree planting or adoption on the  project's website .

Youth pledge to plant 100 million trees to combat climate change


Summary: Stories in the press focus on the official transition to Antti Rinne's new government.

Lahti-based daily Etelä-Suomen Sanomat reports on today's  government handover , as the five-party coalition led by  Social Democrat chair   Antti Rinne  takes over the reins from the outgoing three-party cabinet of the Centre Party's  Juha Sipilä .
 According to protocol, Finnish President  Sauli Niinistö  will meet the Speaker of Parliament and Rinne at 10am in his official residence of Mäntyniemi and, having heard the Speaker, will notify the Parliament of the nominee for Prime Minister.
 The Parliament then elects a Prime Minister at its plenary session starting at noon, and at 2pm, the President formally appoints  the PM and the government ministers  the new premier proposes. The previous government will officially resign at this time.
 A subsequent constitutive session will see the ministers take an oath of office, divvy up responsibilities, and formally submit their Government Programme to Parliament. This session will be followed by the new government paying a complimentary visit to the Presidential Palace, on the heels of a similar 'farewell' visit from the outgoing administration.
 The paper writes that Parliament will select a new Speaker on Friday and begin discussion of the incoming government's programme next Tuesday.
 11 women ministers, 8 men
 Capital city area daily Helsingin Sanomat features a story on the  gender balance of the new government , as women account for 11 of the incoming cabinet's ministers, while eight are men.
 HS says this is still not the most female-heavy government in Finnish history, as the second 2007-2010 coalition fronted by Centre Party PM  Matti Vanhanen  still holds the record for the largest percentage of women, with 12 female ministers out of 20.
 In contrast, five of Juha Sipilä's outgoing 16 ministers were women, and of the 23 various ministers that shuffled through his administration over the past four years, only nine were female.
 Fortifying the welfare state
 HS's political analyst  Marko Junkkari  writes in a  column  today that the incoming PM  Antti Rinne  repeatedly mentioned the welfare state in his government's programme, saying several times that his new left-leaning coalition will work to "strengthen" it.
 Junkkari points out the contrast to outgoing PM Juha Sipilä's coalition, which made no mention of Finland's  hyvinvointivaltio  in its government programme – the first coalition to not do so since the 1950s.
 The paper's analyst says the Finnish public is traditionally very supportive of the welfare state, with polls consistently indicating that residents are willing to pay considerable taxes to keep the social system in motion. "I dare say it's doubtful there will be any downsizing over the next four years," he says.
 Payback time
 And the tabloid Iltalehti wraps up this Thursday's paper review with news of an audit at the state benefits administrator Kela which found more than  800 individuals had received unemployment benefits under false pretences .
 Kela said in a statement that it regularly checks the income of people receiving the different kinds of  unemployment benefits  that are available in Finland, and their latest appraisal examined income from earnings and other sources during 2016. The agency's website says that the relevant data from 1,167 unemployment benefit recipients were analysed, and the income from 812 indicated that their benefits had been granted based on faulty information.
 Most of the cases involved salaries or wages that the beneficiary had not reported to Kela, although there were also a few cases of unreported earnings from business activities and copyright payments.
 The agency says it will be asking recipients to pay back the excess – an average of close to 7,000 euros for the year per person, accounting for a total of nearly five million euros. In 2016, Kela distributed over two billion euros in unemployment benefits to approximately 388,000 people.

Thursday's papers: New gov't takes office, women outnumber men in cabinet, benefits bust