Summary: Unions and employer reached agreement on Wednesday morning.

A postal strike that had threatened to bring Finnish ports to a standstill  via sympathy strikes  has come to an end after union and employer reached an agreement at the national labour conciliator's office.
 The union had been locked in a dispute with employer Posti over a new agreement covering terms and conditions of work for about 10,000 workers.
 "This wasn't about the principles for me, I just wanted that their salaries and conditions of work were maintained," said PAU leader  Heidi Nieminen . "They are still low-paid people and I am satisfied that we were able to secure what they have had before."
 Palta negotiator  Tuomas Aarto  said that he hoped for a sustainable solution.
 "I hope that we don't end up in the same situation when the next contract ends," said the employers' representative.
 Employer and employees representatives were also at odds  over the fate of about 700 parcel sorting workers , who were transferred to a new collective agreement in August that effectively slashes their pay by what the union says amounts to as much as 30 percent.
 The solution envisages those 700 workers returning to the previous collective agreement, which is negotiated by trade union PAU and employers organisation Palta.
 The company had wanted their pay negotiated by Medialiitto on behalf of the outsourced subsidiary Posti Palvelut Oy, with the Industrial Union representing the workers.
 This agreement will be in force until January 2022.
 Efforts spearheaded by national labour conciliator  Vuokko Piekkala  to resolve differences over the collective bargaining agreements proved fruitless until Tuesday evening when the breakthrough came and a proposed resolution was presented.
 That was accepted on Wednesday morning when the two sides gave their response.

Strikes end as postal workers reach deal with Posti


Summary: Major war games take place at two year intervals, this time focusing on the defense of Finland's south-eastern region.

From Wednesday the 27th through December 4th, Finnish defense forces will be mounting resistance to an imaginary attack from the north along an equally imaginary border running across the country at about 62° north.
 That was all some 12,000 personnel preparing to meet the hypothetical threat knew on Wednesday morning.
 "The rest is only known to the planners and exercise controllers. So, for example, to conscripts the situation looks like the real thing," explains Lt. Colonel  Tomi Pekurinen  of Finland's Army Academy.
 The exercise, dubbed "Kaakko 19", is aimed at testing the Defense Force's readiness to react to a fluid, swiftly changing situation. Taking part are 6,200 conscripts, 3,200 reservists, and 2,600 regular army and Border Guards.
 "It has happened all over the world that situations have escalated quickly and led to the use of military force. Previously, it was assumed that we'd have weeks or months to prepare our own response," says Pekurinen.
 Story continues after photo.
 Troop movements may affect road traffic in the southeast during the exercises. Toni Pitkänen / Yle
 Land, sea and air
 All branches of the military will have a part in the exercise, including coordination with the Border Guard.
 Many residents of the south-east are likely to see military activity over the next week. War gaming will be going on in areas around Savitaipale, Taipalsaari, Lappeenranta, Mikkeli, Mäntyharju, Valkeala, Hamina, Kotka and Porvoo.
 Locals may encounter military road convoys made up of mainly lorries and buses. Most of the action, however, will take place in Defense Forces training areas.
 At sea and in coastal areas, naval units will be involved in coordinated exercises along Upinniemi-Kotka-Hamina, as well as in the archipelago and further out in the Gulf of Finland. Ten naval vessels and coastal artillery are taking part.
 Seven Air Force jets will be operating in a zone covering Hamina–Imatra–Savonlinna–Mikkeli–Jyväskylä–Lahti–Porvoo. Air Force exercises kicked off last Friday with practice bombings using precision-guided munitions at a range north of Kouvola.

12,000 Finnish soldiers start war games


Summary: The six-day lockout in the wood products industry is a response to a three-day strike previously announced by the Industry Union.

The Finnish Forest Industries Federation has announced a six-day lockout of union workers from the wood products industry, starting 12 December.
 During the lockout, workers of the Industrial Union will not be allowed to access their workplaces at sawmills and plywood mills. They also won’t be paid any wages during the period, Federation officials said in a release.
 The lockout is a direct response to a three-day strike previously announced by the union which is to be held from 9-11 December.
 The strike was declared when the union and employers' organisation couldn’t agree on a collective agreement for the wood products industry, which includes sawmill, plywood, chipboard, fibreboard and wood construction industries.
 In response, Forest Industries Federation officials announced the lockout which they said would put pressure on the Industrial Union to return to the negotiating table.
 Mills to shut down
 The lockout will target employees of all the member firms affected by the union strike. — a total of 32 saw, plywood, veneer and glue mills.
 Mills affected by the union strike will remain shut during the lockout, Federation director  Jyrki Hollmén  told the STT news agency on Wednesday.
 The union strike will involve 35,000 employees from a total of 180 companies. According to union workers, the employers’ demands would significantly worsen their working conditions.
 Dispute over working hours
 The biggest bone of contention between the two parties, Hollmén said, is working time and  competitiveness pact  hours.
 According to the Federation, the union abruptly concluded collective bargaining negotiations for the wood products industry well before the end of the contract period.
 "Industrial Union has not been willing to negotiate the agreement if working hours are not reduced," said Hollmén.
 The Federation director also told STT that the forest industry is facing tough competition and that the business cycle is in a downturn.
 “We compete with Baltic countries, Poland and Russia. They have lower labour costs and longer working hours than in Finland. It is absolutely impossible that Finland's response would be to reduce working hours during a declining business cycle,” Hollmén said.
 The lockout will last from 12-18 December.

Forest industries counter strike threat with a lockout announcement


Summary: The culture ministry bankrolled the thespian’s cultural activities to the tune of 126,000 euros after a critical report.

Ministerit, ministeriöt ja valtioneuvosto

The ministry of education and culture continued to fund the activities of theatre director  Veijo Baltzar  even after  a report raised questions  about his programmes' teaching methods. Baltzar  has been accused of human trafficking  as well as preying on teenage girls in his theatre company.
 The ministry commissioned an inquiry into Baltzar’s work in 2012. The aim was to determine if Baltzar’s experiential and multicultural teaching methods could be a suitable basis for a higher education programme.
 The Humak university of applied sciences conducted the analysis and was paid 180,000 for its work. Education and culture ministry permanent secretary  Anita Lehikoinen  said that the payment was not especially large in light of the amount of work done.
 "There were several researchers and we wanted to know whether there was any value to this approach and the answer we got was no," Lehikoinen added.
 She said that the report revealed that in principle, Baltzar’s programme was quite good, however it contained many elements that flagrantly violated the ethical principles of the university of applied sciences.
 "It also clearly indicated that it involved self-taught instructors and trainers. There are major risks in using inexperienced people for [teaching] psychodrama methods, for example," she added.
 Ministry funding continued after report
 Even after the report was completed, in 2013, Baltzar received 126,000 euros in different forms of assistance from the ministry as well as from Taike, the Arts Promotion Centre.
 The steering group of Baltzar’s cultural association Drom featured many prominent politicians, such as current foreign minister  Pekka Haavisto  and former Europarliamentarian  Liisa Jaakonsaari .
 Lehikoinen denied that the presence of well-known backers played a role in funding granted to Baltzar’s organisation. However Taike director  Paula Tuovinen  said a line-up of big names may have played a part in how people viewed the thespian’s projects.
 Helsinki seeks to recover 3,000 euros
 Baltzar’s theatrical association Drom has received a total of nearly 30,000 euros in funding from the city of Helsinki, according to culture services head  Veikko Kunnas . The money was disbursed in sums ranging from 2,000 – 6,000 euros for various individual projects and theatre shows, and was not granted to bankroll the association itself.
 Drom petitioned Helsinki for 20,000 euros to organize an international festival, and received 3,000 euros for the purpose. However Baltzar told the city that he would not be able to execute the event as planned and requested permission to use the money for other purposes.
 The city rejected the request and asked the organisation to return the funds. "Because the money could not be used for the purpose indicated, we asked the association to send a new funding petition once they clarified their plans. However we never heard anything about it," Kunnas explained.
 On 30 August, the city sent Drom a letter calling for repayment of the 3,000 euros. According to Kunnas, one of the city’s objectives is to support culture and the arts in many different ways. In this respect, Drom has been an important player, he noted. The association’s last production was a theatrical presentation at the Alexander Theatre in downtown Helsinki in 2018. The city granted Drom 2,000 euros to support that effort.
 Recent allegations against Baltzar now mean the city may cut off assistance for Drom altogether.
 "The way that Baltzar’s activities have been represented in the media recently does not correspond in any way with the values and practices of the city of Helsinki. We completely distance ourselves from this kind of action," Kunnas declared.
 He said that the city intends to continue to support Roma culture.
 "I truly hope that Roma culture will not suffer from this," he concluded.

Ministry paid €180K to probe alleged theatre predator, gave €120K in funding


Summary: Finnish author Statovci, who was recently shortlisted for the prestigious National Book Award, snagged Finland's top prize for fiction.

Finland’s most prestigious book awards for fiction, non-fiction and junior literature were awarded by the Finnish Book Foundation (Suomen Kirjasäätiö) in Helsinki on Wednesday afternoon at the Bio Rex Theatre.
 The fiction award went to  Pajtim Statovci  for  Bolla  (Otava), which the jury called "a shocking and touching novel that enchants with its power of expression."
 The book is set partly in Kosovo, the country of Statovci's birth. The author moved to Finland when he was two-years-old.
 The winner was chosen by Yle’s CEO  Merja Ylä-Anttila . Statovci has been garnering rave reviews for his work around the world, including a recent nomination for the prestigious National Book Award for his second novel  The Crossing .
 The non-fiction award was chosen by economist and author  Sixten Korkman  and went to  Metsä meidän jälkeemme  ("The Forest after Us), which was published by Like and written by journalists  Anssi Jokiranta ,  Pekka Juntti ,  Anna Ruohonen  and  Jenni Räinä .
 The jury praised the book as a: “A topical, non-judgmental and multi-faceted book about the state of Finnish forests and climate change, where people's natural perceptions, experiences and emotions, as well as expert knowledge, merge with each other in a natural and natural way."
 The Finlandia Junior Literary Prize, chosen by musician  Olavi Uusivirta  went to  Marisha Rasi-Koskinen  for  Auringon pimeä puoli  ("The Dark Side of the Sun") published by WSOY.
 The jury called the book intended for young adults "an ambitious and multilevel novel takes its readers on a journey of time and challenges you to wonder if linear time is the only way to conceive of life."
 Each award is accompanied by 30,000 euros of prize money, and winning the Finlandia can also boost book sales in the lead-up to Christmas.

Finlandia fiction prize goes to Pajtim Statovci


Summary: Decision-makers in Vantaa need to approve or reject a proposal for a new tram line in December.

A new tram line in Vantaa could significantly boost the economy, but may bring new costs for the municipality, according to reports commissioned by the city.
 Located just north of Helsinki, Vantaa has traditionally been home to car-owning commuters, with public transport users restricted to commuter trains and buses.
 “At the moment, it looks like we won’t manage with the current buses,” said Vantaa transport engineer  Tiina Hulkko . “The 562 bus route is already congested.”
 Consultants hired by the city produced five reports published this week looking at different aspects of the tram project. They predict the new infrastructure will help serve the estimated 90,000 new residents expected to be living in Vantaa by 2050.
 Land value increase
 As it grows, the city authorities are planning to expand public transport with a tram line linking Mellunmäki metro station in the far east of Helsinki via the airport to Vantaa's Tikkurila district in the east.
 The goal is to have trams running along the new line by 2028. Next year some 1.5 million euros has been allocated for planning the project, so long as the city board approves the move before the end of the year.
 The municipality’s technical committee has already given it the green light.
 The project rose to the top of local politicians’ agenda in the autumn, as they demanded precise calculations and cost-benefit analyses.
 Consultants hired by the city estimate in a report out on Tuesday that the tram line will raise land values and spur building.
 There is estimated to be potential to build more than 3 million square metres of living space near the tracks, and more than 1.6 million square metres of commercial space.
 “The biggest positive financial implications for the city are clearly in property and for example land sale proceeds from the areas near the tracks,” said Hulkko.
 New taxpayers
 The tram would, argues the report, provide the conditions for new home building which could bring additional taxpayers and businesses to the municipality. New residents have also brought new costs to the city in social and healthcare provision, for example.
 If the new residents reflect the current socio-economic mix in Vantaa, their tax revenues would not suffice to pay for the services they use. In that case the new residents would cost the city some 101 million euros a year over a 40-year period.
 If the new residential districts constructed near the tram attract a wealthier demographic, the benefits to local government finances could amount to 45 million euros a year.
 Both calculations are very sensitive to changes in the underlying assumptions, as it is very difficult to estimate the economic impacts of new infrastructure spending.
 'Superbuses'
 The reports also looked at the option of running ‘superbuses’ on the same route, that is fully electric vehicles that are not yet on the market.
 They would be substantially cheaper, at 155 million euros compared to a 393 million euro price tag for the tram.
 But they do not bring any of the reputational benefits that a tram system would, according to Hulkko.
 The report estimates that by 2050 some 10,000 people would live along the tram tracks, while a superbus option would only inspire construction housing some 4,000 residents.

Vantaa weighs impact of proposed tram line


Summary: The ombudsman says a group called Suomen Apteekkiyhtiöt (Finnish Pharmacy Companies) violated a ban on misleading telemarketing.

Lääkealan turvallisuus- ja kehittämiskeskus

The consumer ombudsman is demanding that a group called Suomen Apteekkiyhtiöt (Finnish Pharmacy Companies) be required to pay a 100,000-euro fine for violating a ban on misleading telemarketing.
 The group, which is registered as an advertising agency, was told in 2017 it would have to pay the fine if it continued to practice misleading advertising.
 In 2017, the consumer ombudsman forbade the firm from misleading consumers by using the term "pharmacy," "pharmacy companies," or any other term containing the word "pharmacy" in their telemarketing calls.
 The ombudsman says that in 2019 the company also gave the false impression via telemarketing that it is an authorised pharmacy in the vitamin sales market, even though the company does not hold a pharmaceutical license. As such, the ombudsman is demanding a new ban that should be enforced with the threat of a 150,000-euro penalty payment if broken.
 Pharmaceutical licenses in Finland are granted by Fimea, the Finnish Medicines Agency.

Consumer ombudsman fines false pharmacy 100,000 euros


Summary: The press on Thursday suggests that retailers' discounts might not be all they seem.

Although the  postal strikes and associated sympathy actions were called off on Wednesday , Finland could still see a wave of industrial action this autumn, as strikes and lockouts threaten in different industries across the economy.
 Ilta-Sanomat  suggests  that the current round of negotiations could see strikes affecting some 100,000 workers, with the  forest products industry's lockout  just the start.
 This is a symptom of particularly difficult negotiations across the labour market. Since the Confederation of Finnish Industries announced in 2017 that it would no longer co-ordinate talks across the economy on behalf of employers, unions in each sector have been left to fight their own battles.
 This time around employers and unions have a number of demands in most talks. Unions want to eliminate the 'kiky' competitiveness pact rules, which increased working hours by some 24 hours a year.
 Employers want to keep hold of that change, and according to the Pro trade union some are also proposing they stop deducting union fees directly from workers' salaries and further restrictions on strike actions.
 SDP in trouble
 All this is problematic for Prime Minister  Antti Rinne  and his Social Democratic Party. Rinne used to lead the Pro trade union, and has come under pressure from unions to intervene and from employers to stay neutral in his role as PM.
 Helsingin Sanomat  publishes  an analysis piece that outlines the lead-up to the current strife, including the  Juha Sipilä  government’s controversial competitiveness pact and Rinne's harsh criticism of it.
 The piece then suggests that employers' organisations are not being terribly constructive in working groups set up by the government to explore ways to increase employment, and that many informed observers believe employers' organisations are waiting for the Rinne government to fall — and might even be willing to try and speed up that process.
 Another headache for the SDP is the performance of their Minister for State Ownership Steering,  Sirpa Paatero .
 She has given a confused account of what she knew about Posti's plan to slash pay for 700 workers, and when she knew it.
 The state of ownership
 HS has seen the documents that referred to the plan and agrees that yes, they are unclear. But a comment piece  asks  if the minister doesn't understand them, what is the future for the system of government oversight of the state’s many and varied holdings in Finnish companies?
 The question remains, though, of how a government led by a labour market expert (Rinne), which has said it prevented all 10,000 postal workers' pay being reduced, could fail to understand what it was reading.
 Two further stories added to the difficult reading for social democrats:  tabloid stories  about the SDP links of theatre impresario  Veijo Baltzar’s  assistant, who is also his co-accused in  a human trafficking case .
 And finally, a poll from Helsingin Sanomat that suggests the party's support stands at 15.2 percent — some seven percentage points behind the right-wing populist Finns Party who leads the polls.
 Black Friday business
 Iltalehti has a warning about 'Black Friday', the US phenomenon around Thanksgiving in which people spend the day after one of their few public holidays shopping for discounted goods.
 It has arrived in Europe, and Iltalehti  reports  that all is not as it might seem.
 The paper spoke to a price comparison website which suggested that companies might (shock, horror) increase their prices in the run-up to Black Friday in order to ensure they have a large discount percentage on the day itself.
 Retailers might also compare the discounted price to the recommended retail price, which in practice almost nobody ever pays.
 Another trick is to allow only a small percentage of stock to go at the discounted rate, which gives a big marketing hit for a small cost.
 So whatever the deal is, be sure to do your research and read the small print before you buy.

Thursday's papers: Strike wave, SDP woes continue and Black Friday warning


Summary: Liisa Kauppinen has been granted a Light for the World award for her long international career advocating for the rights of deaf people.

Finnish deaf advocate  Liisa Kauppinen  has been awarded a lifetime achievement award for her long international career campaigning on behalf of deaf people.
 The award was given by the Light for the World group, an international disability and development NGO with the goal of creating an inclusive society.
 Kauppinen, 80, has held many posts including executive director of the Finnish Association of the Deaf, a position she held from 1976 to 2003. She was also the first female president of the World Federation of the Deaf, a position she held in 1976-2006.
 In 2013, Kauppinen was the first Finn to receive a UN Human Rights award, which she received for her work on behalf of deaf rights.

Lifetime achievement award for Finnish deaf advocate


Summary: There is a growing number of single-person households in Helsinki, Turku and Tampere.

Ina Virtanen  is an only child. She was born in Pori and moved to Turku to study and work there. Now aged 30, she has lived alone for a decade.
 "I like it on my own, but on the other hand I am quite sociable," says Virtanen. "I don’t spend much time at home. But when I do come home, I like to have some peace and quiet alone."
 Virtanen’s friends have started serious relationships, and many of them have moved in with their partners. She has faith that she would have people to help out if, for example, she broke her leg or suffered an illness.
 "My own parents can help and I have a wide circle of friends in Turku," says Virtanen.
 44 percent of households are single
 The main reason people are now more likely to live alone is likely to be that they can now afford it. The change has happened quickly.
 In 2018 there were 1.2 million single households in Finland, representing some 44 percent of all households. In 1985 the figure was just 28 percent.
 Story continues after photo
 Eetu Pietarinen / Yle
 Finland is well above average in Europe, as in 2016 the  number for the whole of the EU  was 32.5 percent.
 In absolute terms, single households are most numerous in Helsinki, Turku and Tampere. Last year there were 163,000 one-person households in Helsinki, 66,000 in Tampere and 55,740 in Turku.
 The same phenomenon is evident in other high-income countries. In Sweden and the Netherlands the number of single households has risen even quicker than it has in Finland. In Sweden those living alone are now a majority.
 In Finland, Turku and Tampere also have single-household percentages above 50, along with eight other Finnish municipalities both big and small.
 The biggest rise in single-household living has been among women. They live longer than men, and 75 percent of women aged over 75 live alone.
 Men at risk of marginalisation
 Social policy professor  Heikki Hiilamo  produced a report for the last government on people living alone.
 The report found that those living in single-person households were more likely to be living on basic income support.
 Men are more likely to be marginalised by living alone, according to Hiilamo.
 "For men, the situation is often that they don’t find a partner and are at risk of marginalisation in middle age," says Hiilamo. "For women, typically their partner dies and they live their last years alone."
 Story continues after photo

 Soon after Hiilamo’s report came out the government resigned, and the topic did not re-appear on the government’s agenda.
 Before the elections there was talk of young families, students and pensioners’ incomes. Policy has a significant impact on how people organise their lives, and one concrete example is the Finnish system of housing benefit, which helps many people pay their rent.
 "Many aspects of our social security system support living alone," says Hiilamo. "An 18-year-old can move out and live on his or her own using housing benefits."
 No more spinster tax
 Policy has historically worked in the opposite direction. From the 1930s until 1975, a spinster tax was collected in different forms, with unmarried women taxed the most, childless couples the second-highest amount and families with children taxed the least.
 Those living alone became liable for the tax the day they turned 24, and were thus encouraged to get married, move in with a spouse and make babies.
 Hiilamo emphasises that the Nordic model of social welfare is based on individual, not family benefits.
 Taxation is also individual, so a spouse’s income does not affect an individual’s tax rate.
 Finland is now afflicted by  falling birth rates , which have drawn a lot of attention from politicians who have suggested  ways to support families .
 The growing number of single people, on the other hand, has not. The Minister for Equality Thomas Blomqvist says there are currently no initiatives on improving things for single people.
 More common spaces
 Virtanen does not demand lobby groups or parties to advance the cause of single people. She is happy with her own life situation.
 "Things are good in Finland," says Virtanen. "Prices in Turku are lower than in the capital city region and one person has the chance to buy or rent a studio or even a one-bedroom apartment."
 In practice, widows, urban singles and farmers living alone have little in common.
 Single-living is in any case a topic that will soon have to be taken into account. People’s life expectancy is increasing, and they are likely to suffer more illnesses and need more help in old age.
 Hiilamo suggests changes to planning that could help single households.
 "There’s a need for more apartment buildings where there are for example common spaces," says Hiilamo. "A person living alone is not necessarily lonely, but when you live alone there is more interest in social contact."

The single society: In some towns in Finland, one-person households are now a majority


Summary: Regionalisation and urbanisation are reshaping Finland’s real estate market. Do young people still stand a chance?

This week Yle News' podcast All Points North asks where  Finland's property market  is heading, and how young people can gain a foothold.
 With demand for homes going through the roof in urban growth centres like Helsinki, Tampere and Turku, housing prices will continue to rise unless a financial crisis hits Finland. That's according to  Juhana Brotherus , chief economist at mortgage lender Hypo, who told All Points North that the skyrocketing prices do not necessarily reflect a housing bubble in sought-after urban areas.
 "There is more demand than supply. Housing prices will continue to increase in areas like Helsinki and Tampere," Brotherus said.
 This does not bode well for young adults looking to buy homes in big cities, he admitted.
 A pipe dream
 With home ownership rates  declining  among millennials, the dream of owning a home is slipping further out of reach.
 Eero Löytömäki , chair of the Finnish National Youth Council Allianssi, says that's because they have it worse than previous generations.
 "We are the children of two recessions in Finland — one in the 1990s when we were kids — and the 2008 financial crisis that hit us hard when we were studying or graduating. It’s been difficult for young people to get jobs, especially long-term ones. We can’t afford mortgages," Löytomäki explained.
 He says that Finland's 20 and 30-somethings are  worried about their prospects  for the future.
 "A survey found that only one in four young people in Finland think they will be better off than their parents," he added.
 Banks tighten purse strings, investors swoop in
 Housing in Finland has been financialised just as elsewhere in the world, according to Brotherus. This means property investors are hiking up the prices of small urban homes that would otherwise cater to young buyers.
 "The prices of smaller apartments that youngsters usually buy as starter homes have increased the most due to the rise of property investors," he said.
 Securing a mortgage in Finland today generally requires a 15 percent down payment, although rules for first-time buyers are more relaxed, as they may only need to put five percent down of the purchase price, according to Brotherus.
 Cloudy with a 50-50 chance of a home
 So how likely is it that kids growing up in Finland today will become homeowners?
 "It’s probably a coin toss," said Brotherus said. “At the moment in Helsinki, Tampere and Turku, the larger cities in Finland, approximately 50 percent of people live in their own homes and 50 percent rent. It’s hard to see any significant changes to this number going forward."
 Join the conversation
 If you have any questions or comments or would like to participate in the discussion, contact us via WhatsApp on +358 44 421 0909, on our Facebook or Twitter accounts, or at yle.news@yle.fi. You can also give us your feedback on our English language news services via our  survey .
 The All Points North podcast is a weekly look at what's going on in Finland. Subscribe via  iTunes  (and leave a review!), listen  on Spotify  and  Yle Areena  or find it on your favourite podcatching app or via our  RSS feed .
 This week's show was presented by  Zena Iovino ,produced by  Priya Ramachandran D'souza , and the sound designer was  Laura Koso .

Is home ownership in Finland slipping out of reach?


Summary: Finland is still one of the world's highest per capita consumers of milk, but changes are afoot.

Consumption of fluid milk is declining steadily in Finland, but cheese consumption is on the rise, outpacing that in many other European countries. Meanwhile sales of oat-based and other non-dairy milk products are also strong, but no precise statistics are so far available.
 According to the Dairy Nutrition Council, the average Finn consumed 110 litres of cow's milk last year. Various comparative studies suggest that this was just behind Ireland, with Belarus, Cyprus, New Zealand, Australia, Estonia, the UK and Canada also heavy consumers.
 Dairy products have long been a dietary staple in Finland, where the climate is not conducive to producing non-animal-based protein sources. Most nuts, beans and high-protein grains besides oats are imported.
 However dairy consumption trends have changed significantly in the past half-century as the country moved from an agrarian to an industrialised, urban society.
 For instance, Finns traditionally consumed whole milk, with low-fat milk not appearing on the market until 1969 and fat-free in the 1980s.
 Story continues after photo
 Milk packing at the Kainuu Dairy Cooperative in eastern Finland. Kainuun Museo
 Yoghurt began to appear in shops in the early 1960s, and sales of viili, a similar sour milk product, which has since lost popularity. Yoghurt consumption continued to grow until this past decade, when sales have dipped. There is a still a somewhat bewildering range of yoghurt products, including many low-lactose, lactose-free, probiotic and organic versions.
 Functional and organic foods
 Since the 1990s, there has been more public interest in the health impact of food, says  Johanna Mäkelä , professor of food culture at the University of Helsinki. She says that milk was one of the first raw materials to be developed into so-called functional foods, such as dairy products with beneficial bacteria known as probiotics.
 Consumers also began to be willing to pay a bit more for food products produced through organic methods. They are seen as better in terms of purity, environmental impact and animal welfare. Since then dairy shelves have filled with a wide array of certified organic products. According to the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), about a quarter of consumers buy such items on a weekly basis.
 Mäkelä says that since the turn of the millennium, many new variations on traditional dairy products have appeared in shops, many of them disappearing after failing to win over customers.
 Cheese sales rise tenfold
 Meanwhile consumption of fluid milk has continued to decline, sharply from the mid-1950s to the early '60s and more moderately ever since.
 Erja Mikkola , a senior specialist at Luke, says there are many reasons for this, beginning with urbanisation and a shrinking number of dairy farms. More recently it has been affected by various dietary trends and climate concerns, which have encouraged some people to turn away from milk.
 Last year fluid dairy products (including buttermilk and flavoured milks) fell to an all-time low, about three percent less than in 2017. Luke says that milk production has dropped so far this year.
 Meanwhile the popularity of cheese has risen tenfold since the 1950s.
 Story continues after photo
 Cheese comes in many shapes and sizes. Trond H. Trosdahl / Lehtikuva
 Besides liquid milk, cheese is the most widely consumed dairy product in Finland. Statistically quark and cottage cheese are classed as cheeses. One driver of cheese consumption is the vogue for low-carbohydrate diets and focus on protein.
 Mikkola says that the expanding range of cheese products has also stimulated overall sales.
 However she does not foresee any drastic changes in consumption of dairy products, since they have long been a cornerstone of Finnish food culture.
 Carbon calculations tricky
 The climate debate has not yet had a clear impact on sales, says Mikkola, because widespread discussion of dairy products' carbon footprint has only begun recently.
 "We'll have to see what happens in the next few years," she says.
 Mikkola says it is clear, though, that a growing number of consumers are making food choices based on ecological reasons. They generally assume that plant-based drinks and yoghurt-like products have lower environmental impact than dairy products.
 However she points out that calculating the carbon footprint of specific items is complex, and that so far there is little scientific research into oat-based drinks, for instance.
 She does expect milk drinking to decline further in Finland, slowly but surely.
 Mäkelä notes that 40 years ago, debates over food focused on its health effects, but that now the discussion has widened to include ethical, environmental and other issues. She points that this is emblematic of the overall trend in consumer choices, as shoppers take an ever-wider range of issues into consideration when picking products off the shelf.

Milk consumption drops, cheese on the rise


Summary: About a quarter of students say that the cost of books and equipment is a challenge.

The Research Foundation for Education (Otus) on Friday announced the release of  its first national barometer on student welfare in secondary education . The survey asked 3,000 high schoolers about their studies and personal wellbeing in the spring of 2019.
 A majority of respondents (91 percent) said they felt safe in their school, and around 70 percent said they were mostly happy with their facilities, the quality of teaching and their school's community spirit.
 However, the barometer finds that academic high school students are less motivated to engage fully in their education than before.
 "It is worrying that a culture of performance may be prevalent in upper secondary education, where students feel they have to perform despite needing help," said Otus researcher  Kiira Sarasjärvi .
 For instance, respondents were asked to rate how strongly they agreed with statements such as "when I wake up in the morning, I feel happy about going to school". Only some 20 percent agreed while nearly half disagreed.
 Mental strain, independent work
 All signs in the high school barometer point to a growing trend of student exhaustion; about 40 percent of respondents said they find studying to be psychologically stressful. One in five high school students said they need more help with schoolwork than they currently receive.
 High school students reported that the factors most slowing down their academic success were their own attitudes, mental and physical exhaustion and the workload demanded by teachers. Even so, most respondents were content with the pace at which their studies were progressing.
 The amount of time students spent on independent studies and homework varied wildly between respondents. However, the majority or 32 percent of high schoolers said they spent 2-5 hours a week on independent school work. Just six percent said they spend less than an hour a week on independent work.
 Responses varied from 0 hours to a staggering 120 hours spent on independent work each week, but only three percent of respondents said they spent more than 20 hours a week on course work outside school.
 One in four struggles to afford supplies
 Students were also asked about their financial standing. A third of respondents said they had  worked for pay outside of school , though parents and guardians accounted for the expenses of most children.
 Two out of three pupils said they had enough money at their disposal during the past six months, while 21 percent said they struggled to afford their course books. Only some three percent said they had been unable to purchase their books.
 Story continues after photo.
 School books can be expensive. Marko Väänänen / Yle
 National pension organisation Kela instituted a new study material supplement to the student benefit system this past August, after the survey was conducted. Students from low-income families may be eligible for the supplementary allowance, which is 46.80 euros per month.
 Kela  reported in September  that thousands of eligible students had not yet applied for the additional material support.
 "I hope more students wake up to this possibility and start to receive monetary aid," Sarasjärvi said.
 Choice of profession strongly gendered
 The Otus barometer also asked students about their prospects for the future.
 The most popular professional sector at 31 percent was in health and welfare, with respondents listing professions such as doctor, nurse and bioanalyst, followed by social services at 28 percent. However, the choices for future professions went along all-too-familiar gendered lines.
 "Most girls wanted a future in health care or social work, while boys were most interested in science and technology," Sarasjärvi said.
 Nearly half of all respondents (45 percent) said they would apply to study in a Finnish university after their matriculation exams. About 13 percent said they would pursue a polytechnic degree, and another 13 percent said they would take a year off after high school.
 The survey was conducted by Otus together with the Union of Upper Secondary School Students (SLL), the Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff in Finland (Akava) and the Ministry of Education and Culture. The project was also supported by the Finnish National Agency for Education and the University of Helsinki.

High school barometer: Most students exhausted, but feel safe


Summary: A new law will automatise traffic monitoring next year while police resources dwindle.

The number of officers on patrol in Finland has been falling for a decade, while  police and the National Audit Office  (VTV) say that Finnish roads have never been safer.
 The amount of hours spent by humans on traffic monitoring fell by 17 percent in 2012-2018. Officers now typically respond to emergency calls while robotic sensors take care of the day-to-day road safety business, said  Maria Hoikkala  from the National Police Board.
 A new traffic law will come into effect in June 2020, leading to the wider use of technologies and devices such as drones in traffic monitoring.
 "Automatic systems will be able to monitor things like mobile phone and seat belt use for the first time," Hoikkala said.
 Safe roads not safe enough
 In spite of cuts to traffic monitoring, fewer people relative to the population die in traffic accidents in Finland than the EU average.
 Hoikkala said that reasons other than traffic coverage have affected the trend.
 "Cars are built to be safer than before and traffic environments in general are safer," she said.
 In 2018 a total of 237 people died on Finnish roads, compared to 375 people in 2004. The rate at which deaths dipped was rapid in the early 2000s, but then slowed down; traffic fatalities have stayed virtually the same in Finland for the past ten years.
 The VTV report shows that Sweden and the Netherlands have managed to decrease their number of road deaths more than Finland has. These countries had low traffic fatality statistics to begin with.
 Hoikkala said she doesn't believe that Finland can reach its target of halving all traffic fatalities by 2020, which in Finland's case would mean 135 deaths by vehicle per year.
 "The positive trends are slowing all over Europe," she said.
 Traffic police units missed
 The biggest recent change in Finnish traffic monitoring came about six years ago, when police management reforms led to the shuttering of the 70-year career of the mobile traffic patrol unit.
 Police departments around the country monitor their local traffic with what resources they can muster. The fewer officers, the fewer can be spared to patrol the roads.
 "I'd say the situation is pretty good considering, and departments are doing good work. But it's true that there has been a decrease in personnel that also affects the quality of police traffic work," Hoikkala said.
 An old-fashioned traffic cop waiting by the roadside. Liikkuva poliisi
 Sergeant  Timo Harjaluoma  from the Eastern Finland Police Department is the chair for the Association of Mobile Police. He went as far as to say that getting rid of the mobile units was a mistake, and that information used to flow better all around the country.
 "Police officers who monitored the roads themselves received responses and instructions very quickly," Harjaluoma said. "The responses were also relayed to units across Finland, so that the same information and methods were used everywhere."
 Harjaluoma said that traditional human monitoring increased the "feeling of getting caught" in road users, which dissuades drivers from taking risks and causing accidents.
 "If all the different pieces including mobile traffic monitoring were up to scratch, the statistics would be much better."
 Fewer cops, more tech
 The government allocated about 52 million euros to traffic monitoring this year, which appears to be paying for itself; automatic cameras bring tens of millions of euros into the government coffers, and added automation has improved the productivity of the system as a whole.
 One of the most important tasks of traffic monitoring programmes is to prevent the activities of taxis, trucks, and other vehicles  related to the grey economy , which VTV said is worth some 500 million euros a year.
 The Police Board wants additional technology to pick up the traffic monitoring slack. Hoikkala said that improvements to the big picture of Finnish traffic are on the way.
 "The Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Transport and Communications are presently drawing up strategic documents related to traffic safety," Hoikkala said.

Police: Roads safer than ever, robots to monitor phone and seat belt use


Summary: Centre Party supporters were evenly split over support for the cabinet.

As Prime Minister  Antti Rinne 's centre-left government approaches its first half year in office, just one third of Finns surveyed say that it has succeeded quite well so far.
 That is according to a Kantar TNS party tracking poll published on Thursday. Just over half of respondents disagreed, saying that the government has performed poorly or quite poorly so far.
 Meanwhile the opposition scored even lower, with just one in four saying that it has performed well or quite well. On the other hand the opposition had slightly fewer detractors than the government, with 48 percent evaluating its performance as poor or quite poor.
 Kantar TNS interviewed more than 1,300 Finns aged 15-74 in the first half of November. It estimates the margin of error at 2.7 percentage points.
 In a similar poll conducted last February, a slightly higher share of respondents, 35 percent, were satisfied with the government – at that point the previous cabinet led by Centre Party chair Juha Sipilä.
 Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Rinne took over in early June after narrowly winning April's parliamentary election.
 Left Alliance backers most content
 Most content with the Rinne government were supporters of the Left Alliance, with 72 percent expressing satisfaction. The corresponding figure among backers of Rinne's own SDP was just 69 percent.
 Centre Party supporters were split with about 40 percent happy with the government so far and as many displeased. Among Greens supporters, 42 percent say they were satisfied while 33 percent were not.
 The strongest criticism of the cabinet came from backers of the largest opposition bloc, the Finns Party, with 81 percent giving it a thumbs-down. Amid backers of the other main opposition party, the conservative National Coalition, 65 percent gave it poor marks.
 Raising the employment level was considered the government's most important task, nearly one third of respondents said it should be the top priority.

Less than half of Finns satisfied with Rinne government – but even fewer with opposition


Summary: Positive stories dominate the news on one of the darkest days of the year in Finland.

On  Black Friday , one of the greyest days of the year in Finland, the media explores bright spots in the economy and Finns' high life satisfaction.
 Finland’s economy experienced a surprising  third-quarter uptick , says business daily Kauppalehti, citing new figures from national number cruncher Statistics Finland.
 Compared to the same period one year earlier,  gross domestic product grew  by 2.2 percent.
 Exports were also up by 5.3 percent from the same time in 2018.
 Responding to the encouraging figures, Nordea economist  Olli Kärkkäinen  tweeted that private consumption was the main growth driver. He speculated that the  earlier payout of tax refunds  could partially explain the sudden jump.
 Satisfaction vs joy
 It’s cold, wet and dark but Helsingin Sanomat  reports  that Finns’ are the most satisfied people in the EU, according to a fresh  Eurostat poll  that surveyed people on their subjective well-being. Austria, Denmark and Poland also topped the ranking, whereas residents of Lithuania, Croatia and Bulgaria were the least satisfied with their lot in life.
 Finnish  studies  have also found that residents are increasingly pleased with their life.
 Philosopher  Frank Martela  said the results reflected the social security afforded by the Finnish welfare state.
 “Satisfaction is an indicator of how well the state functions and whether there’s a safety net in times of crisis. Finland’s high ranking doesn’t mean that people are fully satisfied, but that there are fewer less satisfied people.”
 Martela added that joy is something completely different from satisfaction. When it comes to perceived joyfulness, Finland generally draws an average score.
 Fur farming's future
 Animal rights campaigners often ramp up messaging ahead of the festive season to highlight animal suffering in Christmas dinners.
 Now animal rights groups Animalia and Oikeutta eläimille have put out a  study  that says 36 percent of Finns are prepared to ban fur farming if the state helps transition producers into new careers. A slightly greater number—38 percent—said fur farming could continue if animals had better conditions.
 Heidi Kivekäs , the director of Animalia, said policies in other countries to improve animal welfare have led to many fur farms closing down as these changes led to businesses becoming less viable.
 Some 1,000 people in Finland responded to the survey which was carried out by Taloustutkimus.

Friday’s papers: Economic surprise, satisfied Finns and fur farming


Summary: Paatero had offered to resign after it emerged she had failed to prevent a pay cut for 700 workers.

Finland’s Minister for State Ownership Steering,  Sirpa Paatero , has resigned after it emerged that  she had failed to act to prevent  a state-owned company from cutting the pay of around 700 workers.
 Prime Minister  Antti Rinne  announced her resignation at a press conference on Friday after a war of words between senior politicians and the management of Posti, the state-owned postal company.
 Rinne also accused Posti's management of giving misleading information about the plan to cut the 700 workers' pay.
 He announced that Paatero would take sick leave until 13 December. The government was yet to announce her successor in the challenging state ownership portfolio.
 Outsourcing contradictions
 On Thursday SDP leader Rinne had stated in parliament that his party colleague Sirpa Paatero had opposed plans to cut the pay of some 700 workers.
 "The Posti board proposed that Paatero accept decisions to move 8,100 people to another company on 1 November, and that 700 parcel sorters be moved to a different collective agreement on 1 November," said Rinne during parliament’s weekly question time.
 "Minister Paatero made it clear that this was not acceptable to the owner. After that discussion Posti changed the situation and 700 people were transferred. That was against the owner’s clearly-expressed wishes."
 On Friday, the chair of the Posti board Markku Puhjola released a statement denying that Posti had concealed its plans.
 "As has been public knowledge, Posti informed the minister of our outsourcing plans during the preparation stage," said Pohjola.
 "If the owner had a different opinion and had made that known, we would have absolutely reacted to that, even though this is a matter to be decided by the company’s board."
 Different agreements
 PAU leader  Heidi Nieminen  had also told Yle she had tried to inform Paatero and the state ownership steering unit, speaking to officials or advisers in the minister’s circle. Paatero said that she had not received or heard about those calls.
 The postal strikes that came close to paralysing Finland this year were sparked by the state-owned postal firm Posti’s decision to reduce the pay of those 700 parcel sorting office workers.
 They did this by transferring them to a different collective agreement than the one covering most Posti staff, and the move threatened to collapse the entire wage-bargaining round.
 Union PAU refused to agree a deal for the company’s 10,000 workers until the fate of those 700 parcel sorters was resolved.
 In the end the dispute became political when Rinne and Paatero made conflicting statements on when they heard about Posti’s plans and how fiercely they were opposed.
 The issue is especially sensitive for the union-backed social democrats in general and Rinne in particular, as he was a trade union leader before he won the leadership of the SDP.
 The dispute was  eventually settled  when Posti agreed to allow the 700 workers to retain their current pay package.

Minister Paatero resigns over Posti outsourcing scandal


Summary: Face-to-face fundraising  has become an efficient strategy for charities in Finland to raise income.

Face-to-face fundraising has become a permanent feature in many Finnish cities.
 The system of young recruiters signing up supporters in the street for regular donations has proven to be a highly effective strategy for organisations -- even if Finns find these encounters troubling. Pollster Taloustutkimus found that the majority of residents want to make charitable donations, but they don’t like being approached on the street. This type of fundraising has, however, become a key source of income for many charities operating in the country.
 Reko Varilo , a 22-year-old recruiter for environmental organisation Greenpeace, told Yle it can take him up to 100 attempts to stop someone. He said charity recruiters use a variety of techniques to approach people, with workers sharing tips and practicing their strategies off the job.
 "Signing up two new supporters on a 4.5 hour shift is a good day's work," he added.
 "Do you care about human rights?"
 Anssi Peräkylä , an expert in the dynamics of social interaction, said being approached by a recruiter blends personal and institutional spheres, enveloping the encounter in moralisation that can make people uncomfortable.
 "We’re used to having a personal safety zone that these street fundraisers in some way encroach. For us, the encounter doesn’t happen on our initiative, leaving us helpless in the situation," Peräkylä explained. "Saying no is a visceral experience, and nobody wants to feel like a bad person."
 Eighty-three percent of 15–79 year-olds in Finland told pollster Taloustutkimus they had made charitable contributions during the past year—ranging from donating cash to volunteering their time.
 Effective strategy
 "Finns want to support causes related to children and youth, fighting disease, helping the elderly and supporting developing countries—themes finances by face-to-face recruitment," explained  Marika Laakso  of Taloustutkimus.
 Children’s rights advocate Unicef said face-to-face fundraising brought in 8,000 new regular givers in 2018. Human rights advocate Amnesty meanwhile said street recruitment accounted for 60 percent of its fundraising last year. Greenpeace said their troops signed up 75 percent of all new ongoing monthly donations on the street last year.
 Varilo said he doesn’t take it personally when he sees people manoeuvring to the other side of the street to avoid him.
 "A simple 'no thank you' will do just fine," he explained.

Street fundraising: Guilt-tripping into giving or welcome opportunity to donate?


Summary: Children of parents with low educational attainment are likely to dislike school, fresh research finds.

The higher parents' educational level and socioeconomic status, the more positive children feel about school, according to research published in public policy journal  Yhteiskuntapolitiikka  on Friday.
 Inequalities in educational opportunities  begin before a child begins schooling, according to the study. As a result, policy alone is not enough to promote educational equality, as family background plays an important role.
 Helsinki University education sociologist  Sonja Kosunen   has argued  that despite Finland's veneer of an equitable education system, well-off families have an upper hand in helping their kids secure a spot in Finnish universities, as their location, status and pocketbooks give their offspring a tangible advantage.
 Pessimism high among low-income groups
 The study divided pupils into three groups according to their commitment to schooling.
 Of the ninth graders in the study, 29 percent had a positive outlook on school and 11 percent a negative one. The third or middle group made up 60 percent of the pupils.
 While the same number of boys and girls shared a pessimistic outlook towards school, more girls felt optimistic about their education.
 About one in five young people who came from a low socio-economic family background had an unfavourable view of school. The corresponding number in other groups was about eight percent.
 More than a quarter of parents with kids who had a negative attitude towards school had at most a basic degree and less than a tenth held a university degree.
 In contrast, nearly one-third of parents of school-loving kids had academic qualifications.
 Involved parents, happy kids
 The differences between the groups also reflected how involved parents were in their offspring’s schooling.
 While 86 percent of kids who liked school said their parents joined parents' evenings, the corresponding number among those who don’t enjoy school was 60 percent.
 The majority of school-positive students also reported that their parents oversaw their homework. This was, however, the case for only half of the pupils in the negative group. Researchers, however, pointed out that these parents are not necessarily indifferent towards their children's schooling. They may lack the necessary resources to support schooling — one-fifth of kids who feel negatively about school said their parents were often hard up.
 On the other hand only nine percent of parents whose kids enjoy school had financial problems, the study revealed.
 Uncertain future
 The overall outlook towards school also had an effect on the kids’ higher education plans, the study revealed.
 While more than three-quarters of those who favoured school intended to go to academic high school, among kids who shared a negative view, only one in five were planning to do so.
 In Finland children around the age of 16 can choose either an academic high school or a vocational education leading to a trade.
 A pessimistic outlook can also lead to uncertainty among these kids — one in five such kids said they were unsure about what to do after their compulsory basic schooling, which ends after ninth grade.
 Only four percent of the kids with a positive view of schooling felt the same.
 The research suggested that young people who don’t view school favourably run a greater risk of exclusion from further education and employment.
 Markku Vanttala, Piia af Ursin  and  Tero Järvinen  authored the study, which is part of a research project on education systems funded by the Academy of Finland. They drew on Finnish survey data collected in the International Study of City Youth in 2014. Just over 1,000 ninth-graders from twelve upper secondary schools in the Turku region answered the online questionnaire.

Study: Parents heavily influence children's attitude towards school


Summary: The theme of this year’s official Independence Day reception is knowledge.

President  Sauli Niinistö  spoke on Friday to set out the thinking behind the theme of this year’s Independence Day reception.
 Last month  it emerged that the theme would be ‘knowledge and discussion ’. Niinistö said that there is now more information than ever, but that along with that glut there are also half-truths and straight lies in public discussion.
 "And if we start heading in that direction, this will become a difficult place to live for everybody," said Niinistö. "Maybe the most concerning thing is the hurtful style of discussion where people also attack individuals. It’s quite a tough spot for the victim."
 Niinistö said that everyone should defend discussion and debate in society, but also said that critical debates are important.
 On the menu at this year’s reception are organic treats, including the famous traditional punch. There are also vegan wines on offer alongside tee and a beer brewed using leftover bread.
 Secrets of the ball
 Much of the food comes from small producers in the countryside, but organisers of the number one social event of the year do not reveal their names.
 "This year we have for the first time a  salmiakki  (salt liquorice) pastry, for instance," said head chef  Jyrki Jääskeläinen . "The sandwich cake also has new fillings, including pike and smoked salmon."
 A cappella group Club for Five will perform at the event, alongside singers  Laura Voutilainen  and  Lauri Mikkola  and the Cantores Minores Helsinki Cathedral choir.
 There will be some 1,700 guests at the reception to be hosted by Niinistö and First Lady  Jenni Haukio , including 30 veterans of the Second World War. Some of those are women who served in the Lotta Svärd auxiliary organisation.

President Niinistö: If lies become common, Finland will be a difficult place to live


Summary: Critical drugs such as the breast cancer treatment letrozole and epi-pens have been in short supply.

Most Finnish pharmacists want more rights to substitute drugs when filling prescriptions to help manage a shortage of pharmaceutical products, according to a survey by the Association of Finnish Pharmacies (AFP).
 Around 65 percent of respondents said that supply problems had worsened over the autumn, with just four percent saying the problems had eased.
 There have been supply problems with painkillers, birth control pills, blood pressure medication, epi-pens, adrenaline pens and cancer drugs in Finland, according to the survey.
 Some 95 percent of respondents agreed either completely or to some extent with the idea that they should be able to swap out unavailable medicines for ones they can get hold of, and adjust the dosage to account for the replacement medicines' strength.
 Currently, it is possible for pharmacies to substitute prescription meds with a cheaper generic. The right to exchange is package-specific — the strength of the medicine or dosage cannot be changed.
 By the end of September, pharmaceutical companies had made 1,151 notifications about medicine supply problems.
 The  drug availability problem  is exceptionally widespread, said  Aila Aitamurto , who runs two pharmacies in Oulu and has been working in the industry for 35 years.
 "The situation has never been this bad," said Aitamurto, who added that pharmacies have to work extra hard to find replacement.
 "Pharmacy workers need to call the prescribing doctor to switch the prescription drug to one that is available," she said.
 Of the 386 pharmacies that responded to the survey, 65 percent reported that the problem had worsened during the fall. Pharmacies estimate that disruptions in supply cause pharmacists to work an extra 6.5 hours per week on average, most of which is spent on customer service.
 Health centres burdened
 Hannu Halila , deputy CEO at the Finnish Medical Association, says more flexibility in the rules would be a good idea. He hopes that Fimea and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health could provide guidelines to pharmacies.
 "For instance, it would make sense to replace a two-milligram pill with two pills of one-milligram each without changing the medicine. It should be allowed to use common sense," said Halila.
 However he added that the drug should not be changed if the patient does not approve.
 Halila observed that the shortage of drugs is embarrassing for doctors, and the constant calls from pharmacies can burden health practitioners, who may already be suffering from burnout.
 "It would be ideal for a doctor to check what kind of medicine is not available when writing an electronic prescription," Halila said.
 While a nearly daily list of unavailable drugs is available on Fimea's website, it is not always possible for doctors to go through the list every time they prescribe drugs, said Halila.
 No substitutes for some drugs
 While the Finnish Medicines Agency Fimea’s list of interchangeable drugs is extensive, there are still a lot of drugs that don’t have accepted substitutes.
 Aitamurto said that one such drug is penicillin, which has been in short supply worldwide for years.
 "With temporary permissions, substitutes are sometimes brought to Finland based on availability. However, medicines cannot be switched to another one containing the same active ingredient if they are not on the list of interchangeable medicines," he added.
 Since 2003, pharmacies have been allowed to substitute prescription meds with cheaper generic drugs.
 This has resulted in savings of more than one billion euros, revealed  Erkki Kostiainen , director of communications at AFP.
 Granting pharmacies more rights to switch medication in the event of a supply disruption would reduce unnecessary contacts with doctors, said Kostiainen, who added that a similar practice exists in neighbouring Norway.
 "The risk of errors while making a switch is low. Of course, explaining the change to the customer could add to the work of pharmacies, especially in the case of a memory-impaired, older patient," he said.
 Shortage of birth control pills, pysch meds, cancer drugs
 According to statistics from Fimea, this year the shortage has most affected pain and psychiatric meds and drugs for cardiovascular disease. There has also been a scarcity of drugs for sexual and urinary disorders, as well as birth control pills.
 Johanna Linnolahti , a senior pharmaceutical inspector at Fimea, adds that the most critical drugs that have been in short supply are the breast cancer drug letrozole and epi-pens.
 “The cancer drug is needed for a very vulnerable group of patients. Epi-pens are used to treat severe allergic reactions and it has been difficult to find a replacement for them,” Linnolahti said.
 According to Linnolahti, it has been difficult to find substitutes for drugs in fewer than ten cases each year.
 In addition to prescription drugs, there is also a shortage of over-the-counter medicines.
 Global supply problem
 The drug shortage has been increasing since 2016 and 2017. The problem is not limited to Finland, as shortages have affected markets across the globe.
 Finland is dependent on imported medicines — up to 80-90 percent of medicines are imported from outside Finland. A lot of drug manufacturing is now concentrated in plants located in India and China. However, production problems have been observed in the manufacturing of several generic drugs. Factories in China have even been closed due to the environmental issues that they cause, according to Kostiainen.

Pharmacists want more flexibility to help manage drug shortages


Summary: Early on November 30, 1939, the USSR launched a massive attack against Finland, the start of the 105-day Winter War.

At around 5:30am on the morning of 30 November, 1939, Border Guard  Mikko Kallionpää  returned from a night-time patrol to his station at Pielisjärvi, near the town of Lieksa in North Karelia. He had just started sipping a cup of coffee when a report was received that a column of soldiers had been seen crossing the border.
 Kallionpää and fellow Border Guard  Tauno Moisander  were ordered to carry out reconnaissance to determine if it was a Soviet incursion. They had gone only a kilometre when they sighted Soviet troops advancing in close formation, bayonets fixed.
 Kallionpää returned to base with the news and led out a small contingent to meet the intruders.
 At about 6:30, Kallionpää made out a figure following the tracks he’d left in the snow, pausing to aim a rifle here and there in the still-dark forest. When the figure was within 30 metres, Kallionpää could see the greatcoat and cap that identified the invader as a Soviet soldier.
 He took cover behind a tree, watching, and decided that if the soldier’s aim were to find him, he’d have to fire first.
 Now only eight metres away, the soldier turned and raised his weapon directly at Kallionpää, who had taken a bead on the man’s belt buckle. Kallionpää pulled the trigger. The soldier dropped his rifle, falling forward into the snow without a sound.
 This was the first casualty of the conflict that would come to be known as the Winter War.
 Some 20 minutes later, the Soviet Union unleashed attacks by 21 divisions, totalling 450,000 men along Finland’s eastern border. Soon after, it began bombing the capital, Helsinki
 Story continues after photo.
 Finnish newspapers on November 30th headlined Moscow's announcement of a break in diplomatic relations with Finland. By the time this newspaper, published in Käkisalmi (present day Priozersk, Russia), was in the hands of its readers, fierce fighting had already started just 70km away. The National Library of Finland
 The Soviet ground offensive from 30 November to 22 December 1939 displayed in red. (click for full image) Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain
 On the day the conflict started, 80 years ago, Finland had approximately 300,000 men under arms to defend the whole of the country. It was woefully short of supplies, with only enough cartridges, shells, and fuel to last about two months.
 Finland had a mere 32 tanks, only 10 of which were fit for combat when the war started, and 114 mostly obsolescent combat aircraft that could enter the fight.
 The Soviets had secretly built roads leading to the border, allowing them to deploy their 2,514 tanks and 718 armoured cars.
 Even so, what Soviet military planners thought would be a swift advance on the first day made little headway in the face of fierce resistance at the border.
 Story continues after photo.
 A captured Soviet T-28 tank. At the start of the war, the Soviet Union deployed 1,450 tanks on the Karelian Isthmus alone. SA-kuva
 Story continues after photo.
 With few anti-tank weapons available, the Finnish troops relied on satchel charges and Molotov cocktails to stop Soviet armour. SA-kuva
 Story continues after photo.__.
 Finnish ski troops played a crucial role during the Winter War. SA-kuva
 The main Soviet attack began at 6:50am on 30 November with an artillery barrage on the Karelian Isthmus, followed by an all-out attack by land, sea and air.
 Some of the Red Army prisoners taken by Finnish troops in the first day of the war. SA-kuva
 Finnish troops made delaying actions before falling back to prepared defensive lines, and carried out scorched-earth tactics along the way, destroying anything that could be of use to Soviet forces.
 The Finns had long planned a strategy of defence in depth on the Karelian Isthmus. Coordinated attacks by large Soviet forces further north along the border came as more of a surprise.
 Story continues after photo.
 A farmstead burning on the Karelian Isthmus. SA-kuva
 Story continues after photo.
 Finnish civilians flee the fighting on the Karelian Isthmus. Around 50,000 locals had voluntarily evacuated from eastern border areas during the autumn, but many had returned to their homes before the end of November. SA-kuva
 Helsinki bombed
 Soviet bombers, flying out of airbases in Estonia, just across the Gulf of Finland, carried out the first attack on targets in Helsinki. At 9:20am, five minutes after the first air raid sirens where heard in the Finnish capital, a formation of three Soviet SB-2 bombers appeared over Helsinki headed for an attack on Malmi airfield on the city's outskirts.
 The first bombs fell near an elementary school in Santahamina. Because of cloudy conditions, the planes failed to find their target, instead unloading their bombs in residential parts of Malmi, Pasila and Tikkurila.
 Story continues after photo.
 The first warning sirens sounded in Helsinki at 9:15am on the 30th of November. Civilians filing into a bomb shelter under Esplanadi park. SA-kuva
 A second wave of 12 bombers came at 10:35am. Anti-aircraft gunners downed one plane, causing the rest to break formation and hurriedly drop their bomb loads near the Santahamina naval airfield without damaging the facility.
 Story continues after photo.
 The aftermath of a Soviet bombing raid in Helsinki. Soviet bombers struck at both military and civilian targets in the Finnish capital on the first day of the war. SA-kuva
 A third wave hit the city between 3pm and 4:20pm.
 These targeted the city centre, mainly hitting the area between Hietalahti and the Kamppi bus station. Among the buildings bombed was one housing the Soviet Embassy.
 Along with renewed bomber attacks the next day, these were the most devastating, in terms of life lost, of the entire Winter War. Altogether, 91 people were killed and 36 seriously wounded.
 Story continues after photo.
 The tail section of a Soviet Tupolev SB-2 bomber shot down over the Munkkiniemi district of Helsinki, 30.11.1939. SA-kuva
 Story continues after photo.
 A fire set by an incendiary bomb on the corner of Abrahaminkatu and Lönnrotinkatu in Helsinki. SA-kuva
 In a 1930's case of "fake news", Soviet state radio claimed Finnish reports of the air raids were false and that the Soviet Air Force had merely been dropping bread to the starving masses of Helsinki.
 A secret agreement
 The Winter War did not take place in a political and military vacuum, but rather was linked to Soviet expansionism and power plays for dominance in central Europe
 Following Finland's independence in 1917, and  a bloody civil war in 1918  in which the Reds were defeated, relations with the Soviet Union were strained throughout the 20's and 30's. In 1931 the Communist Party was declared illegal in Finland.
 In the late 1930's Soviet leaders launched a policy aimed at regaining parts of the Russian Empire lost after the October Revolution. Finland was also seen as a threat. Moscow was worried that Finnish territory could be used to invade the USSR or to block sea routes in the eastern Baltic. Leningrad (present-day St. Petersburg), only 32 km from the Finnish border, was considered particularly exposed.
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 Secret additional protocol to the Nazi–Soviet Pact of 23.08.1939 that relegated Finland to the sphere of Soviet influence.  Article 1 states, "In the event of a territorial and political rearrangement in the areas belonging to the Baltic States (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), the northern boundary of Lithuania shall represent the boundary of the spheres of influence of Germany and U.S.S.R". Public Domain
 In August of 1939, the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression treaty with Nazi Germany, known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. It included a secret protocol in which Eastern European countries were divided into spheres of influence. Finland fell into the Soviet sphere, in effect guaranteeing the USSR a free hand to take military action.
 On 1 September, Germany began an invasion of Poland. Soon after, on the 17th, the Soviet Union invaded Eastern Poland. The USSR then forced Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia to accept Soviet military bases and troops on their soil.
 In early October, Moscow demanded that the border with Finland on the Karelian Isthmus be moved westward and Finnish fortifications on the isthmus be destroyed. Demands were also made for some Finnish islands in the Gulf of Finland, territory on the Barents Sea, and a 30-year lease of the southernmost Hanko Peninsula, around 120 km west of Helsinki, for use as a military base. In exchange, the Soviet Union offered Finland areas in Eastern Karelia.
 The Finnish government rejected Soviet demands and made a counter-offer that did not satisfy Moscow.
 On 26 November, a Soviet border guard post on the Karelian Isthmus was shelled, reportedly resulting in the deaths of four border guards, with nine injured.  A false flag attack, carried out by a Soviet unit , the incident provided the USSR with a pretext to start the war four days later.
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 Outmanned, outgunned
 Joseph Stalin  and his generals expected Finnish defences to be overwhelmed and for Finland to capitulate within a matter of weeks. Instead, for close to four months, the Soviet Union had to commit over three-quarters of a million men and vast amounts of its superior armour and air power to battle before the Finnish nation was too exhausted to fight on.
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 During the Winter War, Finnish forces suffered around 70,000 total casualties, the USSR perhaps more than 380,000. SA-kuva
 A peace treaty was signed on 12 March, 1940. Finland lost 11 percent of its territory and 30 percent of its pre-war economic assets. The USSR got a 30-year lease to use the Hanko peninsula as a military base, but Finland retained its independence.
 Over 420,000 Karelians, 12 percent of the nation's population, were evacuated from the ceded territories.
 An odd quirk of fate
 By late June 1941, Finland was again at war with the Soviet Union, this time as a co-belligerent of Germany, in a conflict the Finns refer to as the Continuation War.
 After more than three years of fighting, Finland sued for peace in late August 1944. Under the terms of an armistice signed in Moscow, Finland was obligated to drive out the more than 200,000 German soldiers on Finnish territory in an area stretching from the Oulu River to the Arctic Ocean.
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 In 2009, Mikko Kallionpää, then 94 years of age, re-enacted the first engagement of the Winter War for Yle cameras. Yle
 The first battle of what is known as the Lapland War took place on 28 September, 1944.
 On that day,  Mikko Kallionpää , who as a Border Guard had fired the first shot of the Winter War in 1939, was serving with the 5th Jäger Battalion when it came across a small German unit to the northeast of Oulu at Pudasjärvi.
 The German commander rejected a demand to surrender. A firefight ensued, leaving two German soldiers dead, four wounded and two taken prisoner.
 The first shot of the first clash of this war, too, came from Kallionpää's rifle.

80 years ago: First day of the Winter War


Summary: The Finnish economy has expanded by 2.2 percent in the past year, dispelling recession fears – for now.

"No sign of recession: Finland's GDP romped like a young foal in the third quarter," wrote Danske Bank economist  Jukka Appelqvist  in a tweet responding to data showing solid economic growth in the summer and early autumn.
 The volume of Finland’s gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 0.7 percent in the July-to-September period, compared to the previous quarter, Statistics Finland said on Friday as consumers flocked to Black Friday sales.
 Compared with the third quarter of 2018, GDP was up by 2.2 percent – outpacing the  Bank of Finland's projection  of 1.6 percent growth this year.
 Danske Bank described the results as stronger than expected, observing that "last year looks surprisingly weak in retrospect [as] Finland went to the gates of a recession and GDP basically remained in place for three quarters. At the same time employment rose sharply, unlike this year."
 "The  construction boom  has turned into a mild slump, which will probably continue in early 2020. Households' purchasing power will continue to grow, which will help to boost consumption, not counting services," Danske Bank adds.
 Private consumption in the third quarter was 2.4 percent higher than a year earlier, up by 1.5 percent from the spring and early summer. Investments, too, were up, as were imports.
 Exports were also strong, with volume up by 5.3 percent year-on-year and by half a percent from the previous quarter.
 "Pushing forward in a headwind"
 Economists were generally bullish about the latest figures.
 "The Finnish economy just keeps pushing forward in a headwind. Last year were near at stagnation instead. This Finnish GDP trend is quite unusual and differs clearly from the rest of Europe," tweeted  Markku Lehmus , head of forecasting at the employer-owned Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (Etla).
 At the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK), chief economist  Sami Pakarinen  pointed out that growth is being driven by private consumption.
 "The Finnish economy is growing at a good rate. Now we should ask why. Last year we saw extremely feeble growth. Almost in a technical recession. We're now largely moving ahead based on private consumption," Pakarinen wrote on Twitter.

"Romping like a young foal": Finnish economy dodges recession fears


Summary: Ceremonies in Lappeenranta and Helsinki honoured those who took part in the war, including foreign volunteers.

On Saturday, Finns commemorated the 80th anniversary of  the beginning of the Winter War  against the Soviet Union.
 President  Sauli Niinistö  said that the importance of the war experience for Finland will not fade even though "we will soon enter a new era in which those who experienced the Winter War first hand will only live in our memories. But it does not mean that the significance of those experiences would be diminished," he said in a statement.
 "Commemorating a war does not equal its idealisation. The Winter War was brutal and cruel. Many sacrificed life and limb to allow Finland to live," the president added.
 The statement was issued as he and other officials took part in a memorial ceremony in Helsinki. Other participants included Deputy Speaker of Parliament  Tuula Haatainen , Defence Minister  Antti Kaikkonen ,Helsinki Mayor  Jan Vapaavuori  and representatives of veterans' groups and the Finnish Defence Forces.
 They laid wreaths at a Winter War memorial on Kasarmitori Square, which was  unveiled two years ago .
 After the wreath-laying, 105 candles were lit, one for each day of the war. The candles were meant to honour the Finns of the wartime era as well as the foreign volunteers and other international supporters. Most of the foreign volunteers came from Sweden and other Nordic countries, but there Finnish-Americans and others.
 The war ended in March 1940 with Finland retaining its independence but forced to cede and lease large swaths of territory to the USSR.
 Performing were the YL Male Voice Choir (Ylioppilaskunnan Laulajat) and the Guards Band (Kaartin soittokunta). Both groups date back to the nineteenth century, when Finland was a Grand Duchy under the Russian tsars.
 Lappeenranta event honours evacuees
 Another wreath-laying ceremony took place at a Karelian monument near the military cemetery and Army Academy in Lappeenranta, eastern Finland.
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 A wreath-laying ceremony by a Karelian monument at a military cemetery in Lappeenranta, eastern Finland on 30 November.  Silva Nieminen / Yle
 The main speaker at the event was the Chief of Defence, General  Timo Kivinen .
 The event was hosted by the Karelian Association (Karjalan Liitto), founded in 1940 by Karelian evacuees who lost their homes in areas ceded to the Soviet Union. Some 442,000 people from these areas were resettled elsewhere in Finland.

Finns commemorate outbreak of Winter War


Summary: Helsinki is seeing demonstrations by neo-Nazi groups as well as those condemning the far right on Friday.

Around 4pm the neo-Nazi Soldiers of Odin began assembling on the Kansalaistori “citizens’ square” outside Helsinki’s central library Oodi. The “Helsinki without Nazis” counter-demonstration is set to leave Narinkkatori Square in Kamppi around 5.30pm.
 Police said some 150 people had joined the Soldiers of Odin demonstration, which had drawn people from as far away as Estonia and Sweden.
 Police have been actively monitoring the area surrounding Helsinki's Central Railway Station, as members of the Finnish chapter of the Nordic Resistance movement PVL were sighted in the area, according to the Finnish News Agency (STT).
 Police had earlier announced that they had  barred the neo-Nazi Towards Freedom group (Kohti Vapautta! in Finnish) from organising an Independence Day procession . The group is considered illegal and is widely viewed as an offshoot of the banned neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement (PVL). Police believe the PVL and the Towards Freedom Movement have the same active members.
 Demonstrations across Helsinki
 3pm – 5.30pm
 A procession in honour of Independence Day will gather near the National Museum in Taka-Töölö and proceed toward Mäntymäki Field at around 4pm. Police have assessed this march as being a far-right event.
 4pm – 7pm
 The fourth annual "Helsinki without Nazis" march will assemble at Narinkkatori Square and proceed to the Taivallahti plaza or the park near Hesperiankatu. Marchers will set off at about 5.30pm.
 The "Helsinki without Nazis" event has traditionally been held to protest the far right in Helsinki. According to organisers, in previous years it has attracted between 2,000 and 3,000 participants. Organisers have said that they want to condemn the 612 far-right torch procession, which starts at 6pm.
 5pm – 6pm
 Helsinki’s traditional university students’ Independence Day procession will depart from Hietaniemi and make its way to the Presidential Palace before ending at Senate Square.
 6pm – 8.30pm
 The sixth annual far-right 612 torch procession is expected to move from the market square in Töölö on Runeberginkatu toward the Hietaniemi cemetery. Marchers are expected to get moving from 7pm.
 The 612 procession has been profiled as far right, as it has brought together intensely nationalist and anti-immigrant participants. Members of the banned Nordic Resistance Movement have joined the ranks of this procession in recent years.
 9pm – 11.30pm
 An Independence Day memorial will take place in the park outside the Parliament Annex building.

Police detain five Independence Day protesters


Summary: Would-be parents sometimes have to wait five years to adopt a child born in Finland.

Infants born in Finland are very rarely given up for adoption.
 The few cases each year typically involve a surprise pregnancy that is not detected until a late stage, when the child's mother may consider finding another family for the infant, says  Kaisa Tervonen-Arnkil . She oversees domestic adoptions at Pelastakaa Lapset, the Finnish branch of the international NGO Save the Children.
 "The parent who gives birth to the child always has at least eight weeks to consider the decision, and both parents must agree to giving the infant up for adoption," she explains.
 Save the Children handles about 70 percent of all adoption counselling cases in Finland. An average of 13 Finnish babies are adopted through the organisation annually, out of nearly 50,000 births in the country.
 Meanwhile the number of children adopted from abroad has dropped from over 300 annually in the early 2000s to  just 52 last year .
 Waiting time can be 4-5 years
 Save the Children regional director  Kristiina Mattinen  says that the NGO is being approached by more and more couples who want to adopt from abroad.
 "Many of them know that waiting times in Finland can be as long as 4-5 years, and that it may be faster to adopt from another country," she says.
 In domestic adoptions, the biological parents may express preferences as to what kind of family they want to child to grow up in.
 "For instance, some want the child to go to a family that has dogs, because they have always had them at home. Some prefer a rural family while others specify an urban family," Mattinen says.
 She notes that in Finland it is much more common for children to go to foster homes than to be adopted.
 "We actively aim for adoption to be better taken into consideration as a option in these cases," says Mattinen. "Adoption brings stability into a child's life, which forms the best basis for his or her favourable development."
 Age can be an obstacle to parenthood
 Tervonen-Arnkil explains that all adoption applicants in Finland undergo at least a year of adoption counselling and training before they can apply for a permit from the Finnish Adoption Board. It operates under Valvira, the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health, which in turn is overseen by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.
 An approved permit is valid for two years, but can be extended.
 Applicants must be under the age of 50 at the time of adoption, so the process must be started years before that point. In addition, the age difference between the adopting parent and child must be at least 18 years but no more than 45 years. Each parent must be in good physical and mental health and have no criminal record.
 Tervonen-Arnkil notes that many cases involve intra-family adoption, most often in so-called 'new families' where people adopt their partners' biological children from previous relationships.
 According to the Family Federation of Finland (Väestöliitto), the number of babies born in the country annually has dropped from around 60,000-65,000 in the 1980s and early '90s, dipping around the turn of the millennium and rising again slightly to just over 60,000 in 2011.
 Since then, it has  dropped steadily  to just over 47,000 last year. The total fertility rate fell to 1.4 per woman, the lowest ever recorded in the country's history.

Adoptions within Finland remain rare


Summary: Opposition parties plan to hold government ministers' feet to the fire this week over the Posti dispute.

The leaders of the five government parties are to meet on Sunday evening to discuss the fallout from the Posti labour dispute ahead of a parliamentary challenge in the next few days.
 Prime Minister  Antti Rinne  of the Social Democratic Party has invited the other four party chairs to meet at an undisclosed location at 8.30pm.
 They are to go over the events in the dispute, which has dominated domestic politics this autumn. The crisis has led to the resignation of the minister in charge of overseeing state-owned firms, and even to calls for the resignation of Rinne, a former labour boss.
 On Friday, three of the opposition groups in Parliament filed an interpellation over the government's handling of the Posti dispute. Opposition MPs are expected to grill cabinet ministers over the issue on Tuesday before the government faces a vote of confidence on Wednesday.
 The conservative National Coalition Party, the Christian Democrats and the Movement Now (Liike Nyt) filed the challenge. The largest opposition group, the Finns Party, has criticised the government harshly over the matter but did not co-sign the interpellation.
 Centre and Greens sought clarification
 On Saturday, Minister of Economic Affairs  Katri Kulmuni  called for the cabinet partners to meet as soon as possible to discuss future policy on labour disputes, with more looming in the coming weeks.
 Greens chair and Interior Minister  Maria Ohisalo  has also sought further clarification from Rinne.
 There are also two smaller parties in the centre-left coalition, the Left Alliance and the Swedish People's Party. They are led by Education Minister  Li Andersson  and Justice Minister  Anna-Maja Henriksson  respectively.
 The government is just under six months into a planned four-year legislative term.
 On Friday, veteran SDP politician  Sirpa Paatero  stepped down as Minister of Local Government and Ownership Steering after it emerged that she had misled Parliament about her role in the Posti labour dispute. Her replacement has not yet been named.
 The company's plan to shift some 700 employees to a lower-paying contract led to a 17-day strike, which ended on Wednesday as sympathy strikes were set to expand.

Under fire, cabinet leaders meet to discuss Posti crisis


Summary: An indigenous hip-hop musician and a disability rights activist are among the winners of this year's state arts prizes.

Hip-hop musician  Ailu Valle  from Finland's indigenous Sámi people has won this year's State Prize for Children’s Culture. That's the largest of 14 state arts prizes handed out by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike).
 Valle, 34, raps primarily in his native Northern Sámi language, but also in Finnish and English. Valle is from Kaamasmukka, a small village in Finland's northernmost municipality, Utsjoki. He now lives in Inari, further south in Finnish Lapland.
 Between touring the Nordic countries, Valle has released three solo albums, with the most recent,  Viidon sieiddit , released last July.
 "Everyone has the right to art in their own language"
 Valle becomes the third Sámi artist to win the children's culture prize, after painter  Merja Aletta Ranttila  in 1993 and Northern Sámi poet  Inger-Mari Aikio  four years ago. The award is worth 30,000 euros.
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 Ailu Valle Vesa Toppari / Yle
 In a statement, Taike noted that "for some young people, rap is their own way of expressing themselves [that] can act as a social awakener in the world of young people or as a vehicle for their own social messages".
 The jury went on to say that Valle represents multiculturalism and "serves as an example for children and young people, inspiring them to make art on their own terms, regardless of their cultural or linguistic background".
 Valle's work, it said "reinforces the identity of children and young people who speak minority languages: everyone has the right to art in their own language".
 Disability rights activism in art
 This year Taike handed out 14 State Prizes for the arts, with the children's culture award the heftiest.
 The second-largest, the State Prize for Multidisciplinary Art, went to  Jenni-Juulia Wallinheimo-Heimonen , 45, who "combines disability rights activism with her art in new and creative ways," the jury said, adding that her "personal works address the structural violence faced by people with disabilities, especially women".
 Wallinheimo-Heimonen's multidisciplinary work ranges from installations and performances to video and textile art and design.
 The other prizes are worth 14,000 euros, with the music awards going to opera singer  Camilla Nylund  and rock musician  Paula Vesala , formerly of the duo PMMP.
 Minister of Science and Culture  Hanna Kosonen  presented the awards at the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki on Friday.

Sámi rapper Ailu Valle wins state art prize


Summary: Most papers on Monday report how the government is trying to deal with blowback from recent labour unrest.

The leaders of Finland's five government parties met on Sunday evening to discuss the fallout from the Posti labour dispute ahead of an opposition no-confidence vote later this week.
 According to the nation's largest circulation daily,  Helsingin Sanomat , the gathering of party leaders decide that Social Democrat PM  Antti Rinne  will continue to lead the government "at least for the time being".
 In a tersely worded press release late Sunday, the government simply stated that party leaders discussed "the political situation" and that the cabinet is preparing to respond to the opposition's interpellation - the first step in a non-confidence vote - on Tuesday.
 According to Helsingin Sanomat, information leaked from Sunday's meeting indicated that the situation within the cabinet is not entirely clear.
 The cabinet will, however, writes HS, have to present a common front before Tuesday.
 Rovaniemi's  Lapin Kansa  reports on three speaking engagements Prime Minister Rinne had in Lapland on Sunday where he conceded that he is under a lot of pressure.
 He declined to say directly if it is possible that the government will collapse. He did say that while the situation has been exaggerated by the media, "anything is always possible".
 Tensions in the foreign ministry
 The newsstand tabloid  Ilta-Sanomat  reports that Finland's foreign minister,  Pekka Haavisto , ousted his ministry's director of consular services,  Pasi Tuominen , after he tried and failed to pressure him into short circuiting procedure and repatriating the  children of ISIS fighters  from Syria without a political mandate.
 According to the Ilta-Sanomat report, Haavisto also bumped heads with Tuominen who has been relieved of his duties, over visa regulations for Russian citizens.
 Ilta-Sanomat says it has information that a plan was formulated at the Foreign Ministry to repatriate the children of Finnish ISIS members being held at the al-Hol refugee camp.
 The plan was they would come to Finland without their mothers. According to the paper, Foreign Minister Haavisto attempted to convince Tuominen to carry out the plan in his own name and on his own authority.
 Tuominen reportedly replied that as a responsible civil servant, he could not carry out an operation that would violate Finnish law and international agreements.
 In addition, Ilta-Sanomat reports that Haavisto was displeased by changes in tighter visa regulations for Russian citizens introduced this past autumn. Up until this autumn, Finland had a more streamlined visa application process for Russians than in the rest of the Schengen zone.
 The paper describes the atmosphere within the ministry as tense, with growing dissatisfaction with Haavisto who insiders see as bossy and quick to anger.
 Foreign Minister Haavisto declined to answer questions on the details of the Ilta-Sanomat report.
 Chinese language boom
 The  HS Metro  freesheet reports that Chinese is becoming an increasingly popular choice in Finnish schools, enjoying what it says is something of a boom in both elementary and secondary schools.
 Chinese is available to pupils in several elementary schools in Helsinki, Espoo, Turku and Tampere, even as a long-course, or so-called A1 language.
 In addition, close to 20 upper secondary schools offer Chinese language courses.
 The National Agency for Education is  funding a project aimed at increasing Chinese course offerings  nationwide and making it a standard option in school curricula.
 There are challenges in meeting the growing interest in studying this language. One is a lack of qualified teachers. The other is a lack of teaching materials specifically designed for Finnish schoolchildren.
 Holiday taxi rides
 The economic and business daily  Kauppalehti  passes on some advice about using taxis during the holiday season.
 The paper warns that with Independence Day coming up and Christmas parties in full swing, there are likely to be more independent taxi drivers behind the wheel, some of whom will be looking to take advantage of peak demand by charging exorbitant fares.
 Cabonline CEO Kati Rajala, whose company operates taxis under the Kovanen and FixuTaksi brands, advises anyone planning to party and take a taxi to either download an app, or to save the number of a trusted taxi service on their phones.
 By law, anyone using a taxi must be informed before setting off if the ride will cost more than 100 euros.
 Legislation regulating the taxi business  that came into force in 2018 has come in for heavy criticism, and revisions are being considered.
 One idea that is being examined is a requirement for cars to carry some sign that they are licensed for use as taxis. In Sweden, for example, all registered taxis can be identified by the colour of their registry plates. Another possible change may be a requirement that taxi permits be issued only to people with a  commercial tax ID number .

Monday's papers: Gov't in crisis, foreign ministry tensions, taxi scam warning