Summary: Criticism of a model to activate jobseekers, freeway saving lives and snowstorm causing train delays in Western Finland.

An editorial in daily  Aamulehti  highlights the problems in government's so-called activation model designed to energise the unemployed to seek work. While the paper applauds the idea of encouraging people to work, the "current activation model kicks those who are already down", it claims.
 The scheme, which  came into effect at the start of 2018 , obligates unemployed jobseekers to undertake at least 18 hours of paid work in a 65-day monitoring period, take part in job-related training or earn 241 euros as an entrepreneur. Otherwise they face a 4.65-percent cut in unemployment benefit payments.
 Even though the government never stated publicly that the model was meant to save money by reducing unemployment benefits, that’s what has happened, Aamulehti writes. At the same time, the results of the model are not encouraging. Figures from the Social Insurance Institution Kela show that close to a half of all jobseekers saw their benefits cut by 4.65 percent for some period of time between April and November last year.
 There are also indications that while the amount of unemployment benefits Kela pays has fallen, those affected by the cuts have increasingly applied for basic income support. The active model penalises older unemployed in particular, Aamulehti says. Over 50-year-olds have trouble finding work or training opportunities, because employers consider them too old.
 As a result, for many older jobless persons the model represents an automatic cut to benefits that are small to begin with, the paper writes. What is more, meeting the conditions of the model is difficult in Northern Finland and sparsely populated areas in the countryside.
 The good news is that the government has agreed to work with labour market organisations to improve the model and make it easier for unemployed folk to demonstrate their efforts, Aamulehti writes. The proposal is expected to be ready in February.
 Safe highway
 Daily  Turun Sanomat  writes that opening a new stretch of highway between Lohja and Muurla 10 years ago has saved dozens of lives. During its first decade, three people died and 37 were injured in traffic accidents on the 51-km stretch, which forms a part of the Helsinki-Turku highway, whereas three people on average lost their lives on the old road every year.
 "The old road was – and continues to be – extremely dangerous," says  Jaakko Klang  from the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment. "In contrast, highway 1 could well be the safest road in Finland."
 The number of serious accidents has fallen radically despite a constant increase in traffic between Lohja and Muurla, TS writes. About 11,000-13,000 vehicles traveled daily on the old road before 2009, and about 1,500-2,000 still do now. However, 14,000-16,000 vehicles travel on that section of the highway every day.
 Accident statistics are not quite as rosy at the eastern end of the highway between Lohja and Espoo, TS reports, where fatal crashes have claimed five lives in the past decade. The 32-km stretch called Tarvontie is Finland’s first highway and opened in 1962.
 There are many reasons for these figures, Klang said. "Tarvontie has many sharp turns, a lot of traffic, high speeds and short safety distances between cars."
 In all, 14 people died and 428 were injured in traffic accidents on the Turku-Helsinki highway between 2009-2018, TS reports.
 Train delays
 In other traffic news, tabloid  Iltalehti  reports that trains are running late on Wednesday morning due to the stormy weather. Iltalehti writes that trees have fallen on the tracks and damaged the railroad's electricity lines between Laihia and Vaasa in western Finland. As a result, trains to Seinäjoki will be replaced by buses.
 Meanwhile, heavy snowfall has hampered the operation of a rail switch on the track between Seinäjoki and Parkano, resulting in delays of at least 30 minutes in the direction of Tampere, Iltalehti reports.
 On Wednesday morning, about a half of all inter-city trains were delayed.
 On the other hand, commuter traffic is experiencing fewer problems, with trains between Helsinki and Riihimäki and Kirkkonummi running largely on time, Iltalehti said.

Wednesday's papers: Activation model criticism, safe freeway and train delays


Summary: The eurozone will stop printing 500-euro notes over concerns that they are the bills of choice for criminals.

Eurozone member states will stop producing 500-euro banknotes from 27 January, following a decision taken back in 2016 to discontinue printing the note.
 At the time, the European Central Bank expressed concerns that the high-value bill could be used to facilitate illegal activities.
 Some experts believe that the bill’s high value and mobility has made it useful for  criminals looking to launder money  or even finance unlawful activities such as terrorism.
 Back in 2014, police in Finland called for the denomination to be taken out of circulation over similar concerns, but the Bank of Finland noted that the 500-euro note accounted for only a small proportion of payment transactions.
 From 27 January, 17 of the zone’s 19 national central banks will no longer issue the bills, while central banks in Germany and Austria will continue to release them until 26 April "in order to ensure a smooth transition," the ECB said.
 Notes still legal tender
 Consumers holding the currency need not panic however as the banknotes will continue to be legal tender. This means they can still be used to pay for goods and services and they will also retain their value, meaning they can be used for saving.
 Additionally, while no new notes will be printed after April, banks, bureaux de change and other commercial agents will continue to circulate the existing currency notes.
 Consumers can also continue to exchange their 500-euro notes for bills of other denominations at any time.
 The 500-euro note is one of the most valuable bills in circulation worldwide, along with the 1,000 Swiss franc note, valued at about 888 euros.
 The 500-euro bill represented just over two percent of the region’s 521 million banknotes in circulation at the end of November, according to ECB statistics. The big-value bill accounted for around 20 percent of the value of notes in the euro currency bloc.

Eurozone to stop printing 500-euro bank note


Summary: Record wind speeds have been clocked in southern maritime districts as a storm dubbed Aapeli causes widespread power cuts and train delays across Finland.

An exceptionally strong winter storm has caused widespread power cuts and traffic problems across Finland.
 Authorities in the Åland Islands have requested that residents remain indoors due to strong winds.
 “We have instructed people to stay at home. Do not go out or drive,”  Johan Ehn  from Åland’s Emergency Response Centre told Yle. “Fallen trees obstruct many roads here and most of Åland is without power,” he added.
 The strongest-ever winds were recorded on the Bogskär islets in the western part of the Northern Baltic on Tuesday night. The average wind speed over a 10-minute period was 32.5 m/s while gust speeds reached as much as 41.6 m/s. A new wave height record of 7.9 meters was set in the Southern Sea of Bothnia, says the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI).
 Power cuts
 As many as 60,000 households were without power around Finland on Wednesday, mostly in southern and central parts of the country. The Pirkanmaa region around Tampere has been particularly hard hit, with up to 30,000 households losing electricity.
 As of mid-afternoon the national total was down to some 40,000 households.
 “This is the worst possible weather combination,” said  Heini Kuusela-Opas  from electricity company Elenia, which distributes power in Pirkanmaa. “The snow is wet and sticks to the trees, and the winds then cause the trees to fall. During the night, the conditions were so severe that we couldn’t start any repair work for safety reasons.”
 Power cuts have also caused disruptions in the mobile phone networks, Finland’s biggest operators Telia, DNA and Elisa said. DNA’s network has been affected in Ostrobothnia, Pirkanmaa, central Finland and Southern Savo, while Elisa reports disruptions in Northern Savo and Satakunta.
 Traffic trouble
 The FMI also warns that driving conditions may be potentially dangerous in Southern, Eastern and Western Finland where most of the snow is falling. According to the FMI, winds will start to die down in land areas on Wednesday afternoon, but gusty winds will continue in the Sea of Bothnia, Sea of Åland, Sea of Archipelago and the Gulf of Finland.
 Trees have fallen on rail tracks and damaged electric lines between Laihia and Vaasa in western Finland. As a result, trains to Seinäjoki are being replaced by buses. Similarly, trains have been replaced by busses between Joutseno and Muukko in southern Karelia where lines have been damaged by fallen trees. On Wednesday, most long-distance trains were experiencing delays of between 20 and 85 minutes.
 Meanwhile, ferries between Finland and Sweden were unable to call at the port of Mariehamn in the Åland Islands on Tuesday night, and are unlikely to do so through Wednesday.

Strong winter storm batters Finland, causing power cuts, traffic delays


Summary: Increased body and health consciousness among young men could be causing the aversion to prepared foodstuffs, a Finnish professor argues.

A survey by one of Finland's major food producers, Saarioinen, shows that men between the ages of 18 and 34 are most critical of processed foods. About 40 percent of them have either a negative or very negative view of prepared foods.
 Director  Mirja Lonka  from Saarioinen calls them a conscious group of consumers.
 “They feel that processed food does not provide them with a sufficient amount of protein or offer gluten-free or vegan alternatives,” she said.
 While the survey of 1,522 people indicated that many young women also disapprove of processed food, their views were not as extreme as men’s.
 “Compared with the rest of people, young men tend to have a more critical view of everything,” Lonka said. “Their attitude will change when they get older,” she predicts.
 Mari Niva , Professor of Food Culture at the University of Helsinki, disagrees. Instead, she says nutritional issues play a big role in men’s notions of prepared foods.
 “Young men today are quite body and health conscious: They work out at the gym and count calories. For a group of consumers interested in protein, processed foods are not high up on the list,” Niva said.
 According to Niva, the results could also be slightly skewed due to the fact that traditionally young men are uninterested in responding to food surveys. Thus, those taking part may have a more passionate opinion about food.
 However, Saarioinen is not concerned that the negative view on processed foods among young men will spread to other consumer groups. A majority of the respondents said they plan to eat the same amount or more processed foods over the next two years.
 “Nevertheless, we take such indicators seriously and will explore whether we need to expand our selection of processed foods in order to appeal to young men,” Lonka said.
 Two million Finns eat processed foods at least once a week, while 90 percent eat them sometimes, the survey showed.

Poll: Young men most critical of processed foods


Summary: The new year brings a burst of activity at thrift shops and reuse centres – as well as an influx of unusable donations.

The Kierrätyskeskus Reuse Centre in Espoo’s Nihtisilta area is Finland’s largest of its kind, a combination recycling centre and department store for second-hand goods. Nearly a thousand people visit the centre on an average day to donate goods and/or to hunt for bargains on its shelves.
 They are stacked with carefully-organised furniture, clothing, dishes, electronics and home appliances.
 Story continues after photo
 Large bookshelves are no longer in demand. Jussi Koivunoro / Yle
 Store manager  Jani Sintonen  tells Yle that unfortunately many of the items donated to the centre are not usable, though.  "About 40 percent of the items that we receive don’t end up being reused. Usually they are broken or soiled. They are waste items that cannot be sold,” he says, adding that the centre tries to recycle or reuse as many goods as possible.  "Fortunately the volume of unusable donations decreases every year. People have started to have a better understanding of what we do here,” says Sintonen.
 Don’t drop off those zipper-less trousers
 Kontti Second Hand Department Stores, run by the Finnish Red Cross (FRC), face the same problem, says retail director  Leevi Heimonen . The 12 shops around the country also sell donated clothing, furniture and other housewares.
 Heimonen points out that the FRC must pay to dispose of unusable items, which reduces the amount of money available for its charitable and emergency work.
 Story continues after photo
 Dishes and kitchenware are always popular. Jussi Koivunoro / Yle
 "We don’t have the resources to mend broken zippers or sew missing buttons onto clothing,” he says.
 Wanted: Laptops, flat-screen TVs
 The new year usually brings an upswing in activity at reuse centres and thrift shops, as does the turn of each month as people move into new homes and get rid of unused items.
 "We also receive people’s unwanted Christmas presents, as well as holiday lights and other decorations,” says Sintonen.
 Story continues after photo
 Bulky furniture items have trouble finding new homes. Jussi Koivunoro / Yle
 Although generally such centres only accept working and usable items, the Kierrätyskeskus Reuse Centres do make some exceptions.
 "We do accept home appliances, flat-screen televisions and computers, even if they are broken,” he says.
 Electronic and electrical appliances are repaired or broken down for spare parts.

 Story continues after photo
 Flat-screen TVs sell like hotcakes. Jussi Koivunoro / Yle
 "For instance TVs usually sell right away as soon as they are fixed. There is also a great shortage of laptop computers,” explains Sintonen.
 Bulky furniture goes unsold
 Sintonen says there is always demand for dishes and other small housewares.
 When it comes to furniture, customers are most often looking for small cupboards and chests of drawers as well as sofas, dining tables and chairs in good condition.
 Some items don’t sell even if they are in excellent condition. These include large bookshelves from the 1970s and ‘80s.
 "Flats are smaller now and people no longer want massive bookshelves that cover entire walls,” he says. For the same reason, reuse centres do not accept large desks, corner tables or professional copying machines.
 Officially known as Pääkaupunkiseudun Kierrätyskeskus or the  Helsinki Metropolitan Area Reuse Centre Ltd , his company runs seven stores in Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa.
 It bills itself as a non-profit social enterprise that provides environmental education and consulting services and hires many previously long-term unemployed people and those just learning Finnish.
 Each year the shops sell some 2.7 million products, while giving 1.4 million items away for free.

Reuse and recycling centres enjoy upswing, but nearly half of donations unusable


Summary: Finnish tax authorities want tourism firms to reserve adequate time for processing seasonal workers' tax cards.

As tourism in Lapland hits its winter high season, tax officials in northern Finland are facing a deluge of work caused by  an influx of seasonal workers .
 Officials at tax offices in Ivalo and Kittilä have reported a doubling of customers requiring tax cards, which provide employers with information on withholding taxes to be deducted from workers' pay.
 Authorities say that more than half of the customers requesting assistance are foreign workers employed in the travel and tourism industry.
 The Finnish Tax Administration Vero said Wednesday that companies in the sector should make advance group reservations to deal with tax matters for their seasonal workers and that they should remind their employees to take along all the necessary documentation to do business.
 "Our goal is to ensure that seasonal workers begin working as quickly and as smoothly as possible. Appointments will help us to even out the worst backlogs," manager  Sari Jokelainen  said in a statement.
 The tax authority has drawn up guidelines advising firms how best to handle tax matters for seasonal workers. The new hires need a Finnish personal ID number for a tax card, which in turn can only be obtained by visiting the local tax office in person.
 "Employees also need to take along other material such as a written job contract," the tax office advised.
 Members of the public can book an appointment to deal with tax matters  on the administration's website .

Spike in seasonal workers causing Lapland tax office backlog


Summary: Laitila officials recommend that children in grades 1-6 should be home by 7.30pm on weeknights, while their older peers should not be out later than 9.00pm.

The town of Laitila in southwest Finland, with just over 10,000 residents, has introduced an unofficial curfew for school-age children.
 Municipal officials recommend that children in grades 1 -6 should be home by 7.30pm, while their older peers should not be out later than 9.00pm.
 The guidelines allow kids to stay out later on weekends - up to 8.30pm for lower school students and up to 11.00pm for their seniors.
 Laitila's head of education,  Tuomas Kankaanpää , told the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat that the town can only issue a recommendation on the matter, since a strict curfew would be unlawful and would also be a human rights violation.
 According to Kankaanpää, the push for an informal curfew began with the municipality's youth wellbeing group, which comprises representatives of social services, educational institutions, police and children's hobby groups as well as local students.
 Model echoes Icelandic success story
 The homecoming deadlines were based on an online survey distrïbuted to parents and guardians, while the city's youth council also had a say in the matter. Kankaanpää said that so far he has only heard positive comments about the measure.
 The new recommendation resembles a nationwide youth curfew that has been in place in Iceland since 1997, and under which children under the age of 16 must get home by 10.00pm during the winter, and by midnight during summer.
 For under-12s the winter and summer time curfews are 8.00pm and 10.00pm respectively, with summer defined as beginning 1 May and ending on 1 September. However the restriction is relaxed for young people getting home late because of sports or other extra-curricular activities, or who are in the company of their parents. The so-called Icelandic model has been credited with  helping to reduce teen alcohol and drug abuse  in that country.
 Curfew bids in other Finnish cities
 According to HS, similar moves have been afoot in other Finnish cities. For example in 2004, police in Hyvinkää said they could contact the parents of under 15-year-olds found out and about after 11.00pm.
 At the same time curfew recommendations for teens were issued in places such as Seinäjoki, Pori, Eurajoki, Rovaniemi, Laukaa, Hämeenkoski and Lammi. Vantaa municipal leaders also raised the issue in 2004, citing an increase in unlawful behaviour by young people as well as a rise in cases of kids taken out of the home and into care.
 However the motion was defeated as the city stressed parents' responsibility for their children and the inability of police to enforce a possible curfew.
 Yle's Swedish language service spoke with a Porvoo youth parliament member, 18-year-old  Pipsa Kaikkonen , who said that the Icelandic model isn't a good fit for Finland.
 "The Icelandic model is probably well-intentioned, but I feel that many young people would at least think that it is restrictive and violates their rights and freedom," she noted.
 Kaikkonen said that there hasn't been an active discussion on the issue in Porvoo, which lies 50 kilometres east of Helsinki. And she added that the idea of what constitutes a sensible curfew varies among young people.
 "It probably depends on the peer group and there is also group pressure. If your friend gets to be outside then you also want to stay out longer."

Southwest Finland town trials Icelandic teen curfew model


Summary: As the highest wind speed ever was recorded on a Finnish island Tuesday night, turbines churned out electricity, although output fell short of the record.

Record-strong winds pushed the price of electricity down early Wednesday as they kept wind turbines spinning during a  major winter storm . The market price of electricity fell to just over four euros per megawatt-hour (MWh). That is roughly one tenth of the recent average price.
 "Electricity was certainly cheap last night. Of course electricity consumption is significantly lower at night than during the day, but when there is high output from wind turbines, it tends to depress the market price," says  Arto Pahkin , network operations manager at national grid operator Fingrid.
 During the night the market price for electricity dipped to 4.04 euros per MWh, about 10 percent of the normal price of late.
 Although record-strong winds were recorded, this was hardly a record low price. Pahkin notes that, for instance, one night in the middle of last October, the market price fell to 1.92 euros per MWh. Pahkin explains that the market price is simply determined by supply and demand.
 Strongest wind ever recorded on land
 According to the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), the strongest wind ever recorded on land in Finland was clocked overnight on Bogskär, a cluster of small islands that marks the country’s southernmost point, south of the Åland Islands and east of the Swedish capital, Stockholm. A 10-minute average wind speed of 32.5 metres per second was recorded, with gusts of up to 41.6 m/s.
 Even such brisk winds were not able to churn all of Finland’s turbines at full capacity, though. The average output overnight was around 1200 megawatts, well short of the record 1800 megawatts.
 As of Wednesday afternoon, prices were back up to around normal levels. During some daytime hours, the price typically rises above 50 euros/MWh.
 Electricity price can become negative
 Pahkin notes that customers with dynamic electricity price contracts, which fluctuate according to the market price, see immediate benefits from low prices, while others benefit in the long run.
 Experts say that in future Finland may have situations where wind-generated electricity exceeds demand, as already occurs in windpower-heavy Denmark and Germany. In this case, the price becomes negative as utilities struggle to find users for their surplus output – which can be shared over national borders.
 In 2017, windpower accounted for 5.6 percent of Finland’s electricity consumption, well below the level in Nordic neighbours Sweden and Denmark.

Storm windfall: Whirling turbines push down electricity price


Summary: At its worst queues for Helsinki's new subterranean museum have snaked in front of the venue for hundreds of metres.

Kulttuuri- ja taidetapahtumat ja -näyttelyt

Museot, näyttelyt sekä historiallisten paikkojen ja rakennusten suojelu

The management of the highly popular  new Amos Rex museum in Helsinki  are considering introducing a reservation system for some displays in a bid to regulate large turnouts at the venue.
 Located in the heart of the city, the cultural attraction has exceeded all expectations. During its opening year last year, the goal was to attract 100,000 visitors but according to museum director  Kai Kartio , the final number was more than twice the target.
 Earlier this week official visitor estimates for the museum's first exhibition, a massive multimedia art installation by the Tokyo-based collective teamLab, were put at more than 250,000. The collection, put together by 500 artists, programmers, computer graphics animators, mathematicians and other creators from various disciplines, will be available for viewing until Sunday and queues for the exhibit have stretched hundred of metres.
 Story continues after photo.
 Queues for the museum's premiere exhibition by the Tokyo-based collective teamLab stretched hundreds of metres on occasion. Jouni Immonen / Yle
 Kartio told Yle that in order to prevent the lengthy queues, the museum is considering a pre-booking system that would allow patrons to purchase online tickets to certain shows in advance. "It's very possible that it will be implemented in connection with certain exhibtions," Kartio added.
 However he noted that a reservation system is not appropriate for all kinds of displays. For example, the teamLab exhibition that launched the new museum could only be safely enjoyed by about 400 visitors at a time. London bookings gone in days
 Writing in a Helsingin Sanomat opinion piece on Monday, Kartio said that one risk associated with pre-booking the teamLab exhibition was that the show would have sold out in record time and management would have had to keep a "Sold out" notice posted at the location.
 London show sold out in days
 He added that a teamLab display staged in London a few years ago had been reserved in just a few days. Without visitor volume restrictions as in the case of the teamLab show, the space can accommodate roughly 800 patrons at a time, the museum director said.
 "In such a case a reservation system would work much better," he explained. "It would work better because if you have a lot of space, you could admit those with pre-bookings and at the same time reserve a small quota for people who didn't have the opportunity to book tickets and are random visitors," Kartio added.
 The director noted that a reservation system is an excellent option for cases where audiences are used to it and can plan accordingly. Although Kartio said that Amox Rex will likely have a pre-booking system at some stage, he is not promising it will be in place for an upcoming show by Belgian surrealist  René Magritte .
 "The next exhibition will have pretty much the same problem as teamLab. It could be that we will see queues again," Kartio remarked.

Huge visitor turnout prompts Amos Rex to mull pre-bookings


Summary: Finland's press covers reactions to the President's choice of words, likely evidence of tax fraud in the Airiston Helmi case, and the return of the Quadrantids.

Tabloid Ilta-Sanomat provides a  status report  on damage from the storm that pummelled the west coast and other areas with high winds on Tuesday and Wednesday, saying that some 12,000 inhabitants are still without power near the cities of Ylöjärvi, Vaasa and Korsnäs.
 The  record-breaking Aapeli storm  also halted railway traffic in the area, and IS says trains throughout the country are still running 20 to 50 minutes late as a result. The weather is predicted to calm down considerably today, and so repair workers estimate that things should soon be back to normal.
 Reactions to President's speech
 Helsingin Sanomat carries a  story  on responses to President  Sauli Niinistö 's  New Year's Day speech , in which he spoke of migration in Finland. He said those residing here have to be given the opportunity to be a part of Finnish society, but "in turn, there is the right to require a willingness to adjust to our society". He then asked that migrant communities "bear responsibility by guiding their own".
 The paper speaks with  Hussein al-Taee , a Finnish citizen born in Iraq who now works at the Crisis Management Initiative to promote asylum seeker integration. He tells HS that migrant communities already do a lot "to build bridges between their own culture and the Finnish culture". He says the problem is that programmes such as the Finn Church Aid's Reach Out project to prevent radicalisation and extremism are acutely underfunded.
 He also points out that immigrants in Finland do not make up one cohesive block, as they contain a wide variety of people with divergent ways of thinking.
 Imam  Abbas Bahmanpour  from the Helsinki district of Mellumäki agrees with the President.
 "If you come here as an asylum seeker, seeking peace, than it is incompatible that you would yourself stir up unrest. On the other hand, it isn't right for racists to label entire communities. Criminals can be found everywhere," he says.
 He says mosques are often the first contact with society for many asylum seekers after they leave reception centres, and talks of his own mosque's active youth organisation that helps young newcomers find friends. But he too says a lack of resources also means that the group is run on a volunteer basis, and services are not as comprehensive as they could be.
 Ujuni Ahmed , head of the civil organisation Fenix Helsinki, is most critical of Niinistö's comments. She says the President isn't the right person to speak of "guiding their own", because he should be promoting the idea of a united society.
 "Saying something like that just feeds the idea that 'your people are doing something bad to us', in my opinion. […] 'Keep your own people in line'. This kind of division is dangerous," she says.
 Proof of tax evasion in Airiston Helmi case
 Kainuun Sanomat features  more news  on the Airiston Helmi money laundering case, writing that the National Bureau of Investigation says it has found evidence of what it suspects is over one million euros in tax evasion.
 "Right now we are talking about tax evasion of about 780,000 euros", NBI inspector  Antti Perälä  tells the paper. "We suspect that false information has been submitted and things were hidden from the tax authorities."
 A Russian-born man is still being held on suspicion of aggravated money laundering, aggravated tax evasion and aggravated bookkeeping offences, each of which poses a maximum prison sentence of up to six years. The  sting of the Airiston Helmi real estate firm last September near Turku recovered close to 3.5 million euros in cash and up to 200 terabytes of data. Police and the Finnish Security Intelligence Service Supo are now examining the retrieved material.
 Meteor showers over Finland tonight
 And the tabloid Iltalehti contains a  story  on night sky activity this Thursday night, as the annual Quadrantid meteor shower will reach its peak at around four in the morning overnight.
 One of the most reliable meteor showers each year, the Quadrantids appear to fan out from a spot on the sky midway between the Big Dipper's handle and the four stars marking the head of Draco, the dragon.
 IL's astronomy expert predicts that at least 10 meteor showers will be visible in the space of one hour – if the weather cooperates and there are clear skies.

Thursday's papers: Storm damage, presidential message, unpaid taxes, meteor showers


Summary: The coldest winter temperature so far this season was measured in the wee hours of Thursday morning in the municipality of Salla.

A winter storm brought frigid temperatures of -32.2 degrees Celsius (-26 F) to Finnish Lapland early Thursday morning. The Finnish Meteorological Institute recorded the freeze in the Naruska district of Salla, located in the eastern part of Finnish Lapland.
 The previous record for this winter season, -30.2 degrees Celsius, was measured shortly before the Christmas holidays on 23 December in the more central Lapland municipality of Sodankylä.
 Weather conditions will be mostly clear and dry for the rest of the day on Thursday, although a new front of clouds will move in from the southwest in the evening, Yle meteorologist  Joonas Koskela  said.
 Temperatures in central areas will be between -15 and -20 degrees Celsius, with between -10 and -15 forecast for the southern part of the country. New snow will start falling on western parts of Lapland by the afternoon on Thursday, bringing stronger winds. By the evening, western areas farther south will also receive more snow.
 On Friday, temperatures are expected to rise back up to near the freezing point, with more snow predicted for southern and central Finland. Temperatures on Friday will be slightly colder in the east and north, at between -5 and -10.

Temps in northeast Finland drop to icy -32.2C overnight


Summary: Heavy snow and the danger of new avalanches have hampered the search for four downhill skiers who disappeared in northern Norway on Wednesday afternoon.

A search has begun for three Finnish men and one Swedish woman who went missing after an avalanche in the county of Troms in northern Norway on Wednesday afternoon.
 A forecast for more heavy snow has prohibited a search party being sent out, but a rescue helicopter has been sweeping the area, looking for signs of the missing foursome.
 Local authorities say a team will be sent out to search for them as soon as the weather allows, as they haven't been able to contact the missing skiers.
 The four missing off-piste skiers were last seen Wednesday afternoon, when they said they were heading to the peak of Blåbärfjellet to downhill ski.
 A Swedish man who had been a part of the group says he had seen ski tracks left by the group leading towards but not away from an area that was later covered with snow by an avalanche.
 "This is a very bad sign,"  Morten Augensen , the head of the search operation, told the Norwegian paper Aftenposten.
 Police fear that the missing persons may be trapped under the avalanche, which is 300 meters wide and 500 to 600 metres long. They have recruited between 30 and 40 volunteers to help their own staff in the search, along with the Norwegian Red Cross, the army and rescue dogs.

Three Finns and one Swede missing after Norway avalanche


Summary: Police are investigating a case of suspected sexual abuse of minors by a sports club coach in Hyvinkää, some 50 kilometres north of Helsinki.

The coach of a sports club in Hyvinkää, southern Finland has been remanded into police custody on suspicion of sexual abuse of minors he was coaching, the Itä-Uusimaa police department said on Thursday.
 Officials said that they are investigating the case as suspected child abuse but did not disclose the ages of the alleged victims.
 The suspect in the case, a 50-year-old man, was remanded into custody on Wednesday. The suspected sexual abuse is believed to have taken place between June and December last year, according to documents tabled during the court hearing.
 The club in question has terminated the man’s employment contract and he is no longer coaching. Police said that the investigation is still at an early stage.

Southern Finland coach in custody on suspicion of child sexual abuse


Summary: The average price of a turnkey home in Finland is currently 230,000 euros, not including the cost of the plot, landscaping or permits.

Rakennusten tai niiden osien rakentaminen sekä maa- ja vesirakentaminen

Finns increasingly forego do-it-yourself construction of prefab elements in favour of completely completed homes.
 Turnkey homes (where homes are fully finished and owners can immediately occupy them) have become more popular than traditional house packages, says the Finnish Association for Manufacturers of Prefabricated Houses.
 “About 7,500 detached homes are built in Finland every year, and about 70 percent of them are prefabricated houses of some kind,” says Director  Kimmo Rautiainen  from the association.
 Traditionally, prefabricated elements are delivered to buyers who then assemble the house themselves. On occasion, the sale of elements includes some construction work, such as building the roof.
 In contrast, turnkey homes contain everything, including kitchen appliances. "All you need to do is to carry in the furniture," says chief executive  Jukka Vaaramo  from Kastelli, a major prefabricated home supplier.
 Vaaramo says detached homes are mostly built in growth centres and the surrounding areas. At the same time, the average size of a prefabricated home has fallen to 165 square metres from 175 square metres 10 years ago.
 “This is because plots in big cities are smaller and a simple rectangle-shaped house offers the most efficient use of space,” says Rautiainen.
 The average price of a turnkey home in Finland is 230,000 euros. This does not include the cost of the plot, landscaping or permits.

Finns increasingly opting for full-service home construction


Summary: Papers write about MPs getting back to work, a man facing online drug charges and Finnair announcing flight cancellations due to blizzards.

Members of Finland's Parliament return to their tasks after the Christmas holidays on Tuesday, and  tabloid Ilta-Sanomat writes  that MPs will first tackle potential changes to the notice period for large political demonstrations.
 The main argument for  extending the minimum notice period  of organised protests from six hours to 24 hours is that police need enough time to assemble and safeguard the security of protesting citizens, said Minister of Justice  Antti Häkkänen  before the winter break.
 IS writes that the preliminary debate is meant to resolve which committee should handle the drafting of the bill, not to produce actual legislation as yet.
 Government previously planned a three-day minimum notice period for large-scale demos, but scrapped the proposal after the Parliamentary ombudsman decried the proposed time frame as being unnecessarily long. Even if Parliament approves the one-day change, smaller spontaneous demonstrations will still be allowed with less than a day's notice, IS writes.
 Another item still dangling on Parliament's to-do list is the social service and health care renovation, known as "sote". The Constitutional Law Committee continues its round of expert consultations on Tuesday, but no news is forthcoming yet on the committee's schedule or stance on the intricacies of the nationwide reform, said the group's chair  Annika Lapintie .
 Webmaster's drug charges
 In an historic case in Finnish law, on Tuesday a Vantaa court begins hearing the case of a man born in 1973 who is suspected of aggravated drug trafficking after maintaining a website in the off-the-grid Tor network that openly sold illegal narcotics.
 The case is the first one in Finland in which a court has brought drug trafficking charges against a website administrator.
 Local daily Aamulehti  writes that the man allegedly founded and maintained a clandestine website called Sipulikanava ("Onion channel") from 2014-2017, and trafficked illegal substances through a service accessed through the site.
 The Eastern Uusimaa District Court told AL that the accused has admitted to founding and maintaining the Tor-connected website, but has denied the drug offense charges.
 Apart from being unique in its charges, the case is also unusually extensive, with a 17,000-page pretrial report and eight scheduled days of court, said prosecutor  Anna-Riikka Ruuth  in AL.
 "We need to find out if managing a website that users use to procure drugs is offense enough to warrant an aggravated drug charge," she said.
 Snow snarls runways and roads
 Meanwhile the weather is frightful in Southern Finland on Tuesday as daily  Helsingin Sanomat reports  that flag carrier Finnair has cancelled at least 14 flights due to severe snow conditions.
 A majority of the cancellations are domestic afternoon flights, with one Helsinki-Brussels connection also called off due to weather conditions slowing air traffic, Finnair announced.
 The Finnish Meteorological Institute also said in HS that driving conditions would be equally poor in at least 11 regions in Satakunta, Central Finland and Southern Karelia.
 Some 10 cm of snow isexpected to fall inland over Tuesday and Wednesday, said meteorologist  Kaisa Solin .

Tuesday's papers: Parliament returns, online drug case begins, snow cancels flights


Summary: The 25-year-old man was arrested in the western city of Saarbrücken on Wednesday.

A 25-year-old man suspected of sexual abuse of an underage girl in Oulu has been taken into custody in Germany, Oulu police said.
 The man was arrested in the city of Saarbrücken in western Germany on Wednesday evening.
 The suspect, who is one of eight men being  investigated for sexual offences against minors , will likely be extradited to Finland by the end of January, police said.
 The man had already been  taken into custody by German authorities  in December, but he was  released  due to a communication lapse before he could be transferred to Finland.
 Police subsequently issued an international warrant for his arrest.
 The man is suspected of aggravated sexual abuse of a minor, aggravated rape and assault.

Oulu child sex abuse suspect arrested in Germany - again


Summary: The scam to entrap targets looks real, as the texts and emails resemble a real parcel delivery notice, the postal carrier says.

Fake text messages and emails are being sent in the name of the Finnish postal carrier Posti as part of a phishing scam, the mail service provider reports.
 The messages announce either the arrival of a parcel, that an award of some kind that has been won, or that there are unpaid delivery costs associated with a parcel delivery. Each of the fraudulent phishing attempts asks the recipient to click on a link to continue.
 The messages use the Posti name and look authentic. They may also arrive to phones or email accounts as part of previous mail or messaging threads that informed recipients of package deliveries from Posti, for example.
 Posti warns against opening any unusual or unexpected links, and advises recipients of the messages to delete them without opening them. Clicking on the links may result in unknowingly ordering a product or registering as a long-term subscriber to a publication, the company says.
 The national postal carrier points out that a genuine parcel delivery notice would not contain a link that must be opened to proceed, or require that the recipient provide personal information. Normal notices of this kind from Posti simply supply the pick-up location and address where a parcel can be retrieved.
 Most phishing schemes to trick unsuspecting customers into divulging their sensitive information are done in the name of a well-known company or organisation, Posti notes.

Posti warns of text and email phishing scam


Summary: Helsinki Regional Transport HSL has removed locally-made Linkker buses from the roads until the cause of the steering defect has been identified.

Helsinki’s fleet of electrically-powered buses have been pulled from traffic after a steering defect was detected in one of the vehicles on New Year’s Day.
 "Some kind of rod in the steering broke," said HSL group chief  Mika Häyrynen , adding that the vehicle had been in service with passengers on board at the time.
 "It was in service but we don’t know the precise number of passengers. As far as I know it was not a hazardous situation, because the rod snapped at a traffic light and the bus had stopped," he added.
 However Häyrynen noted that the situation could have been dangerous.
 "Of course if the steering goes and the bus is moving fast then the consequences could be unimaginable," he commented.
 Buses back on the road in Sweden
 The Helsinki public transportation authority had been using 10 Finnish Linkker electric buses. Häyrynen said that Turku had also stopped using a similar kind of vehicle.
 Swedish public broadcaster SVT said that Linkker buses used in Luleå in northern Sweden had also been taken off the road but had been put back into service.
 According to Häyrynen the buses will not be used in the capital region until the manufacturer has been able to investigate the malfunction and repairs the defect.
 "It depends on whether or not it was a matter of an isolated steering rod for example, or if it was caused by a material defect. Then it will be enough to change it to a working part. But if it’s a question of some kind of structural flaw, in other words if some kind of vibration caused a stress rupture then we would have to look more closely at the structure of the entire bus and consider what needs to be done," the city manager explained.
 Several different transportation providers had been using the Linkker buses. HSL was due to purchase 30 fully electrically-powered buses, but it is not yet known who the manufacturers will be. HSL’s goal is for 30 percent of Helsinki buses to run on electricity by the year 2025.

Helsinki pulls electric buses from traffic over steering defect


Summary: The city of Espoo is piloting a carpooling app in a bid to optimise vehicle use and reduce traffic emissions.

"Butts on the seat" (Peput Penkkiin) is the catch phrase for a ride-sharing app the city of Espoo will be trialling until mid-January as one strategy to achieve emissions-free status by the year 2030. City leaders also want to ensure the efficient use of the stock of private cars in the region.
 Participants in the experiment can download the app on their Android or iOS devices to either offer a ride in their cars or try to find someone to drive them to their destination.
 The trial focuses on Espoo Centre as well as Otaniemi, Keilaniemi, Tapiola and western Espoo. Designers of the app also expect the option to be used as an element of commuter trips alongside public transportation and city bikes.
 No money will change hands during the pilot as it is based on volunteerism. Participants will however, get a chance to win an exercise voucher as well as cinema tickets for supporting the experiment.
 Easier than a Facebook group
 So far, some 400 people have used the carpool app, but some have wondered if it is any better than turning to Facebook to find a local ride-sharing group.
 "The application is better suited to large numbers," said  Johanna Nyberg , Espoo city traffic control manager. She noted that once users download the app, they don’t have to search for and join a particular group.
 "In a Facebook group there can be many trips that are not personally relevant," she noted. App users simply create an account, enter their contact information and then they’re ready to offer a ride or find one.
 Once the pilot ends on 10 January, the city will assess the project’s performance. "We will also evaluate the potential for car sharing in Espoo."
 Although the app is experimental at this stage, it is not at all unlikely that the service will continue in its present form even after 10 January.
 Nyberg pointed out that Espoo's long-term goal is to become a carbon-neutral city. Traffic is responsible for a large proportion of the city's carbon dioxide emissions.
 "We have not yet measured the reduction of carbon dioxide emitted using the app. We will calculate it for our final report," she noted.
 The project was implemented at a total cost of 45,000 euros, the city said.

Espoo trials ride-sharing app to reach 2030 zero-emissions goal


Summary: Finland's press covers different views of changes in alcohol sales, a presidential rebuttal, and the market for toys since the bankruptcy of two major chains.

Ilta-Sanomat features a story on the  effects of the reformed Alcohol Act  that came into force in early 2018. One year later, the brewer's federation and the national health watchdog have "completely different evaluations" of the repercussions of the new statues, the tabloid says.
 Among other things , the new law allowed for stronger alcoholic drinks to be sold in shops and kiosks. Alko's business manager  Kari Pennanen  tells IS that overall sales at his state-owned chain of liquor stores had fallen by over 8 percent in 2018 on the previous year. He says the sale of "lighter products" such as non-alcoholic drinks, rosé and white wine, and champagne have grown since 2017, while the sale of long drinks, beer and cider have fallen.
 Kari Luoto  of the Finnish Grocery Trade Association says the sales of long drinks in particular have gone up by over 60 percent in food shops, and sales of beer and cider have dropped off slightly in the last year.
 Research professor  Pia Mäkelä  of the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) says the reformed alcohol law has brought an end to a steady decline in alcohol consumption in Finland "or it has even started to go up, which would not be a good thing in terms of the health hazards," she says.
 Finland's Federation of the Brewing and Soft Drinks Industry will have its final statistics on 2018 sales in February, but CEO  Riikka Pakarinen  tells IS that preliminary data shows that more strong beers and ciders were sold in 2018, but that total sales by litre were down. Mid-strength beer continues to dominate the market, accounting for 90 percent of beer sales.
 "Non-alcoholic drinks are selling better, and at this stage, it looks as if the fears surrounding the Alcohol Act reforms have not come true, because there has not been a surge in alcohol sales. Higher taxes on alcohol have reduced sales," she tells IS, adding that taxation on alcoholic drinks in Finland must be lowered so that it is "closer to European levels".
 President's last word
 Verkkouutiset features a  comment from Finnish President Sauli Niinistö  in response to  criticism of his choice of words in his annual New Year's Day address  to the nation.
 Green MP Ozan Yanar joined  several others  in criticising Niinistö's phrase asking migrant communities to "bear responsibility by guiding their own".
 Yanar took to  social media  on Thursday to comment on why he felt the President's choice of words was inappropriate, urging his readers to imagine that a Finn was accused of an extremely offensive crime in a foreign country, after which the president of that country encouraged the immigrant groups there to "guide their own".
 The Turkish-born MP said it was an "absurd" suggestion from the point of view of an individual who had nothing to do with it.
 Niinistö responded to Yanar's tweet on Twitter by explaining that "I spoke of 'those here', i.e. all individuals in Finland, regardless of their background. Both in my speech and in my interview with Helsingin Sanomat, I did not use collective expressions like immigrant community or group, because I was taking about individuals."
 Changing toy market
 And to finish, Helsingin Sanomat reports on how the  retail market for toys in Finland has shrunk to between 10 and 20 stores  since the  sudden bankruptcy of the Danish parent company behind the BR and Toys 'R' Us chains  in late 2018.
 The toy industry association Leluyhdistys tells that the wholesale trade in toys grew by 11.7 percent in 2017, but that most of the toys sold in Finland today aren't sold in dedicated toy stores, but in large supermarkets and the like. The owner of the Prisma chain of big box stores, S-Group, says its toy sales have fallen by a few percentage points every year.
 S-Group's  Emilia Lehtonen  tells HS that the reason for flagging sales is the "changing nature of play. Children are switching to mobile and computer games at younger and younger ages."
 Kesko representative  Hannele Åberg  tells the paper that sales of toys have grown in the last few years in K-Citymarket locations.
 "At first, when the electronic games and digitalization hit, it hit toy sales very hard. But toys have made a good comeback in the last few years, in our experience. Children will always need to play," she says.

Friday's papers: Reformed alcohol law fallout, President's response to criticism, toy market


Summary: Air traffic controllers will stop work from 3 to 5pm on Friday, in the first of a planned series of weekly walkouts in response to an unresolved labour dispute.

The National Conciliator's Office has announced a breakdown in labour negotiations between Finland's air traffic controllers and the representative association of service sector employers Palta, meaning that the first in a series of two-hour air traffic controller work stoppages will take place on Friday, from 3 to 5pm.
 The office says negotiations will continue once some concessions are on the table, as at present, the two parties to the dispute are deeply divided on the terms and conditions of a future work contract.
 "The air traffic controllers have brought many things to the conciliator's table. This makes it hard to imagine that there would be a quick remedy to the dispute," Palta's director general  Tuomas Aarto  said in a press release.
 The Palta press release said that during the work stoppage, supervisors will be charged with directing air traffic, in addition to other arrangements to cover the shortage.
 The air traffic controllers' union SLJY said it was sorry about the breakdown in negotiations in its own bulletin, and regretted the inconvenience that the work stoppage would create for customers. The union issued a  warning about the plan to stage a series of brief walkouts  before Christmas.
 Weekly walkouts scheduled for Thursdays
 After the first work stoppage on Friday, SLJY is planning a weekly two-hour walkout every Thursday from 1 to 3pm until a satisfactory agreement is reached.
 Finland's air traffic controllers and their employers have long been unsuccessfully negotiating a new work contract. The previous contract that determined the terms and conditions of the work expired in November 2017. Talks to draw up a replacement hit an impasse on 21 December.
 An initial mediation session between the disputing parties with the state conciliator present took place in the days between Christmas and New Year's Eve, but was unable to broker a deal.
 SLJY claimed that Palta was unwilling to commit to a general policy with regard to salaries and wages. The employer group said that it had submitted several such policy suggestions to the workers.

Air traffic controllers begin two-hour work stoppage


Summary: People in Finland need to change their dietary habits, according to the country's health institute.

Adults in Finland eat too much meat and not enough vegetables. According to a fresh report from the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), men in Finland should eat significantly less meat, and increase their daily intake of fruits and vegetables.
 Nearly 80percent of men exceeded the weekly recommendation of 500 grams of meats and processed meat (like sausages and preserved meat products) while 26 percent of women consume too much animal protein - particularly red meat.
 THL's research specialist  Niina Kaartinen  said people who want to eat healthier can choose to put fish, poultry or even legumes on their plates rather than red meat.
 Story continues after graph.
 Yle
 Additionally, a large proportion of both men and women do not appear to be getting enough vegetables into their diets.
 According to nutritional guidelines, individuals should eat at least 500 grams of vegetables, fruit and berries every day. However, only 22 percent of women eat morethan the recommended amounts and just 14 percent of men do the same.
 Story continues after graph.
 Yle
 Nearly everyone eats too much fat and salt
 The vast majority of adults - some 95 percent - eat too much saturated fat, which is found in copious amounts in delicacies like butter, cheese and sausage.
 The report said that when cooking, it is best to choose vegetable-based fats like olive, canola or rapeseed oils. Also, vegetable-based spreads are healthier alternatives to butter on things like sandwiches, according to THL.
 People in Finland also eat far too much salt. Dietary guidelines recommend that a person consumes a maximum of one teaspoon of table salt per day.
 But 90 percent of adults in Finland eat more than that.
 There was some good news in the report, however. Adults in Finland do appear to be getting adequate amounts of vitamins and minerals in their diets.
 THL's  FinRavinto  study was carried out in 2017 in 50 communities across Finland, and examined the dietary habits of around 3,100 people aged between 18-74.

Finnish adults eat too much red meat, study says


Summary: Finland international Riku Riski has refused to join a training camp in Qatar citing ethical concerns.

A Finnish footballer has declined the opportunity to join a warm-weather training camp in Qatar because he’s concerned about the host country’s human rights record.
 Riku Riski, an attacking midfielder who plays for HJK Helsinki, told Helsingin Sanomat that he felt he could not play in Qatar.
 ”I got the call and after that I discussed the issue with the team’s fixer and head coach,” HS quoted Riski as saying. ”The reasons for my decision were ethical ones, and the values to which I want to stay true. In my opinion that was important.”
 He added that the national team coach Markku Kanerva and the team’s fixer Lennart Rangel understood his decision, but disagreed with it.
 Qatar has been criticised for the way it uses migrant labour for construction projects, including the eight stadia expected to be built for the tournament.
 In September last year Amnesty  said  that the country’s ’kafala’ system of permits for migrant workers left them beholden to unscruplous employers who witheld wages, charged fees for placing workers and illegally retained workers’ passports.
 NGOs have  criticised  Qatari authorities for failing to properly investigate and record the deaths of construction workers during the building of World Cup facilities.
 The Finnish FA faced a deluge of criticism over the training camp after news of Riski’s decision broke. The FA confirmed on Twitter that it paid all its expenses for the training camp, and was not subsidised by Qatar for the trip.
 Story continues after photo
 AOP
 FA chair Ari Lahti, who also chairs KuPS and led the ill-fated effort to bring the Guggenheim franchise to Finland, said he felt Riski’s decision was ’silly’.
 ”It is of course his decision,” said Lahti. ”National team activities are voluntary, nobody can be compelled [to play]. But from an ethical perspective it feels strange that I am here with Nordic union leaders and football association chairs drawing attention to the same issue as Riku. In that sense Riku’s decision seems silly.”
 Finland’s national team is in Qatar for warm weather training, taking a squad of players from clubs in Nordic leagues that are currently taking a winter break. They beat Sweden 1-0 on Tuesday night thanks to a goal from Eero Markkanen and will play Estonia on Friday.
 Riski started out at TPS Turku and has previously represented Widzew Lodz in Poland, Rosenborg in Norway and IFK Gothenburg in Sweden, among others. He has 26 caps for Finland.

Finland star takes ethical stand, refuses to play in Qatar


Summary: Police say that a wide range of drugs were sent around Finland by post, hidden in outdoor caches and delivered in person.

Police in Eastern Uusimaa, southern Finland, are investigating a wide-ranging criminal scheme involving suspected illicit drug sales via the encrypted Tor network, part of the so-called Dark Web.
 Eight people are suspected of committing or assisting in aggravated drug offences. Four of them have been detained, and three remain behind bars. The principle suspects are men aged 18 and 21.
 "The 18-year-old is suspected of using the nickname ‘TeknoJeesus’ on the Tor network. Based on monitoring by authorities, this user name has been one of the most active drug vendors on the Tor network’s drug sale sites or so-called markets,” Detective Inspector  Rauno Jämsä  said in a statement on Friday.
 Police say they raided the 18-year-old’s flat last August, seizing large quantities of amphetamines, ecstasy, MDMA and cocaine. They also found and confiscated dozens of envelopes containing drugs and labelled with address stickers.
 "The recipients’ addresses were all around Finland, as far away as Lapland. These individuals have been interviewed during the preliminary investigation,” Jämsä says.
 Sales continued after first arrest
 Police also say they seized a handgun and about 22,000 euros cash from the apartment. The 18-year-old was placed under arrest. After this a 21-year-old man is suspected of carrying on the drug sales with other accomplices.
 The rest were taken into custody in early November.
 Altogether authorities have confiscated more than four kilos of amphetamines along with about 3,000 ecstasy tablets, 1.3 kilos of MDMA, 60 grams of cocaine, 80 grams of methamphetamine and smaller amounts of cannabis, ketamine and LSD during the preliminary investigation.
 Bitcoin and forest stashes
 Police say they also found amphetamines, ecstasy and cocaine buried in three outdoor caches.
 They say that the suspects had sold at least 160,000 euros worth of controlled substances, mostly paid for with Bitcoin virtual currency or cash.
 Police say that more than 110,000 euros worth of currency passed through the men’s Bitcoin wallets in 2018. Most of this came from drugs sales on the Tor network, and some of it was reinvested there through the acquisition of new batches of drugs.
 The preliminary investigation wrapped up this week and is being passed on to a prosecutor for consideration of charges.

Finnish teen accused of running major drug ring on Dark Web


Summary: The 72-year-old politician claims his Seven Star Movement has "good chances" of winning a seat in each of Finland's 12 constituencies.

Former Centre Party chair  Paavo Väyrynen  has announced he will run for Parliament in the Uusimaa electoral district as a candidate of his new party, the Seven Star Movement.
 The 72-year-old independent MP and former foreign minister, who has been elected to Parliament 11 times since 1970, said in his blog he had made “a difficult choice” between Uusimaa and Lapland, where his political career began in 1970. Väyrynen has lost his seat only once in 2011 when he ran as Centre Party candidate in Uusimaa, southern Finland, some 700 km from his hometown of Kemi.
 The veteran politician said the Seven Star Movement aims to nominate 200 candidates across the country, excluding the autonomous Åland Islands. According to Väyrynen, the search for candidates who he would be responsible for training begins on Friday.
 Väyrynen asserts that based on last year's  presidential election , where he received 6.2 percent of the vote, the movement has “good chances” to win a seat in each of Finland’s 12 constituencies.
 The former MEP  founded the Seven Star Movement  in July last year after he was  expelled  from the nationalist, eurosceptic Citizens’ Party – another political group he established – amid allegations of financial irregularities. He and his former party have since been embroiled in legal battles. By December, his new movement gathered  5,000 formal voter endorsements , making it eligible to be registered as a political party.
 The general election will be held on 14 April.

Ex-Centre veteran Väyrynen to run for Parliament in Uusimaa


Summary: Industrial electricity consumption and emissions grew in Finland, but still remain lower than in peak years.

Last summer’s hot arid weather dried up hydroelectric power generation in the Nordic region, causing wholesale prices to spike by 40 percent.
 In 2018, Finland burned through 87 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity, two percent more than the year before. Nearly half of this, 41 TWh, went to industrial manufacturing, the Finnish Energy (ET) association said on Friday.
 The industrial share of 47 percent is lower than before the long recession spurred by the financial crisis of a decade ago, and the industrial restructuring that accompanied it.
 Chemical, metal sectors hungrier for power
 In 2006, Finland’s industrial sectors used 48 TWh of electricity, which was 53 percent of overall national consumption.
 Last year the biggest increases in electricity demand came from the chemical and metal refining industries, where consumption jumped by three percent. The forest industry, Finland's biggest electricity consumer, nudged up by about one percent.
 Overall consumption in industrial sectors and constructions has held quite steady in recent years, says the lobby group, noting that it is less than one fifth of the historical peak consumption.
 Nearly half from renewables
 Wholesale prices for electricity shot up by an average of 41 percent last year, the biggest increase since 2011. This was mostly attributable to the exceptionally dry, hot summer across Northern Europe, which slashed hydroelectric output. Last winter was also colder than usual in many areas.
 "As hydroelectric was unavailable, more fuel was used. Its use is clearly more expensive than in the past due to higher costs for emissions allowances,” ET head  Jukka Leskelä  said in a statement.
 “The EU has finally gotten emissions trading, aimed at encouraging emissions-free energy production, to work. This is good. In Finland, decisions have already been made to invest in several wind parks without subsidies,” he added.
 Finland still imported much of the electricity it used last year, to the tune of 20 TWh. Leskelä said this is a record-high level by European standards.
 "We will get some relief from this when we are able to access  more nuclear  and wind power, among other sources,” Leskelä said.
 Renewable energy sources accounted for 47 percent of electricity production last year. The association says that 79 percent was carbon neutral.
 Emissions up 15%
 Carbon dioxide emissions from electricity production climbed by some 15 percent, which the ET blames on the need for more heating in early 2018.
 That spurred the use of more high-emission peat to heat city buildings, for instance. Meanwhile last autumn’s wet conditions led to lower energy output from wood than usual.
 While total emissions from electricity production rose slightly last year, they remain well below the recent peak year of 2010. The ET predicts that emissions from electricity output and district heating will fall by half over the next decade.

Electricity consumption – and prices – up in 2018


Summary: Danske Bank forecasts that the Finnish economy will grow 1.7 percent this year and 1.5 percent in 2020, making it the weakest-performing Nordic country.

Finland’s economy will grow at a slower rate than previously forecast this year, banking group Danske Bank said on Friday. Compared to a previous forecast of annual growth of two percent, the bank now estimates that Finnish GDP (gross domestic product) will increase by 1.7 percent this year.
 Next year, growth is expected to slow further to 1.5 percent. Finland’s economic growth will be the weakest of the five Nordic countries, Danske said, as a period of economic recovery, low inflation and interest rates will come to an end.
 At the same time, Finland and the other Nordics, whose economies rely on exports, will suffer from a downturn in the global economy and investments.
 "Even this forecast may turn out to be too optimistic," Danske Bank chief economist  Pasi Kuoppamäki  told Yle, as the bank’s forecast is based on data gathered just before and after the New Year.
 "Data released after the report was written shows that the slowdown in global economic growth may be even quicker than previously expected."
 Signs of trouble
 The most serious problem for Finland is the ongoing slowing in eurozone economic expansion to about 0.2 percent last autumn, the bank said. Europe is faring worse than China and the US because of many factors working in unison, Kuoppamäki said.
 "Germany is the engine of Europe’s economy, but its car industry has problems. In addition, there are European countries that never got swept into the global economic growth of the past few years. Italy is one example," he said.
 Industrial production figures released by the US on Thursday show that manufacturing orders there have fallen to a two-year low.
 "We remain optimistic about the US but new figures could give rise to weaker expectations," Kuoppamäki added.
 "While the trade war between the US and China has not yet made a dent in the global economy's major indicators, there are likely other companies besides Apple where investors’ profit expectations have been too high," the economist noted. "Apple’s profit warning on Wednesday is an example of how a slowdown in China and its trade war with the US will impact on companies’ results."
 Nevertheless, Danske is not predicting a recession in Finland. The economy will still grow, albeit at a lower rate, which in turn could have a negative effect on employment, for example.
 Compared to its Nordic neighbours, Finland also benefits from lower consumer debt and the absence of housing bubbles, the bank said.

Danske: Finnish economy to lag behind rest of Nordics in 2019, 2020


Summary: Police said it detected signals from two avalanche transceivers in the Blåbærfjellet area where the four skiers were last seen on Wednesday.

Police in Norway said the three Finnish men and one Swedish woman who went skiing on Blåbærfjellet on Wednesday are presumed dead, buried under an avalanche.
 In a press conference held at 3pm Finnish time, Troms police said it detected signals from two avalanche transceivers in the area. Because the avalanche had occurred 38 hours earlier and the signals come from the avalanche area, police said it assumes the skiers buried under snow are dead.
 As a result, the rescue operation organised by police has turned into a recovery operation. Police said it will attempt to retrieve the two bodies and will continue to search for the two other skiers who also carried avalanche transceivers.
 The avalanche transceiver signals were detected from helicopters.
 The four missing off-piste skiers were last seen Wednesday afternoon , when they said they were heading to the peak of Blåbærfjellet to downhill ski.
 A Swedish man who had been a part of the group said he had seen ski tracks left by the group leading towards but not away from an area that was later covered with snow by an avalanche. The avalanche is 300 metres wide and 500 to 600 metres long.

Four off-piste skiers missing in Norway presumed dead


Summary: Monthly salary increases range from 10 to 225 euros, but some daycare workers say the overall pay level in early childhood education is still "shameful".

The clear majority of municipalities in the Uusimaa region, which includes Helsinki, have decided to give pay raises to their daycare teachers in 2019, an informal Yle survey has found.
 "As far as I know, there haven't been pay increases in other parts of Finland. Of course, there might have been some in individual municipalities, but it looks as if they have been concentrated in the Uusimaa region," says researcher  Paula Koskinen Sandberg , a central figure in last year's  movement  to improve the salary levels of the country's daycare teachers.
 According to figures from Statistics Finland, the average basic salary of daycare teachers in Finland in 2017 was 2,356 euros per month for men and 2,362 euros per month for women.
 The pay increases in the capital Helsinki and surrounding municipalities will bring salary levels in this area up to between 2,431 and 2,634 euros per month.
 A good start, but not enough
 Timo Mäki , a labour market advisor for the OAJ teachers' union, says that early education teachers and supervisors have long considered their pay too low in light of the demands and responsibilities of their work.
 Yle broke a  story  last spring about how the largest municipalities in the Helsinki area had entered into a "gentleman's agreement" to not pay higher salaries to hire competent daycare teachers, in spite of hundreds of vacancies and a severe shortage of skilled professionals in the field.
 The local governments later denied the deal, but not before OAJ called them out for "cartel-like" and "illegal" behaviour.
 Salary levels may have improved this year in the largest capital region cities of Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa, but the shortage of daycare workers there continues. There are currently 48 permanent or temporary early childhood education vacancies open in Helsinki, 33 in Espoo and 51 in Vantaa.
 Daycare teacher and Kerava resident  Karoliina Veikkonen  says she is happy for the example the southern municipalities are showing the rest of the country, but says the general salary level for her work is still "shameful".
 "Salaries slightly increased in Kerava to match those in Vantaa. Compensation levels have been higher in Tuusula for quite some time, and that's why they find it easier to fill open positions there," she says.
 Activist vows to continue protests
 Veikkonen says she has to count her pennies carefully as a resident of the capital region, where half of her monthly net salary goes towards housing costs.
 "The salary level of early childhood education teachers is downright shameful, when you consider the amount of schooling we have and the demands of our work. I've thought of moving and switching jobs because of the pay, but it isn't realistic because of my social support network," she says.
 Koskinen Sandberg vows to continue the "Ei leikkirahaa" (No play money) group protests until there is lasting change.
 "We're happy about the pay increases in Uusimaa, but elsewhere they've been few and far between. Salary levels in the early education field are so low that even the improvements that we have seen are pretty modest. We need more," she says.

Modest pay hike for daycare teachers in capital region


Summary: Residents would strip anti-vaxxers of child benefits and public daycare, reports Uutissuomalainen, a news conglomerate, on the heels of Finland’s measles scare.

Some 43 percent of respondents said they wanted pediatric vaccinations to become mandatory, according to a survey commissioned by local news conglomerate Uutissuomalainen.
 A quarter of those polled said Finland’s national insurer Kela should suspend monthly child benefit payments to parents of unvaccinated children. This group also wanted to refuse unvaccinated kids from entering publicly funded daycare.
 Another 20 percent said they would like to see financial support, such as an extra child benefit payment, for parents whose kids’ immunisations are up to date. About half of those favouring the idea of compulsory vaccinations were over the age of 45.
 Carrot vs stick
 When news emerged that a young unvaccinated child in the Finnish region of Ostrobothnia  had contracted measles  at the end of last year, Finland's Minister of Education  Sanni Grahn-Laasonen  proposed making children's vaccination  a condition for the payment of state child and family benefits , saying the country had to find more effective ways to secure proper vaccine coverage.
 In some western coastal areas, only 75 percent of the population has received the MMR vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella, significantly below the required 95 percent needed for herd immunity.
 Minister of Family Affairs and Social Services  Annika Saarikko  has, however, argued that making immunisations obligatory would likely  increase ideological opposition  to vaccinations.
 Pollster Tietoykkönen interviewed 1,000 people last month. The poll's margin of error is +/- 3 percent.

Poll: Many in Finland want financial penalties for vaccine refusal


Summary: This week snow and ice  transformed landscapes around Tampere's Näsiärvi Lake, but the ice cover remains thin nationwide.

Finland's lakes have been freezing behind schedule this winter, according to Finland's Environmental Administration, which urges those venturing out on the ice to exercise caution.
 In Lapland, most lakes iced over two to three weeks behind schedule in November, while waters in central and southern Finland froze by mid-December, some two weeks later than usual.
 Story continues after photos.
 Antti Eintola / Yle
 Antti Eintola / Yle
 Antti Eintola / Yle
 Antti Eintola / Yle
 Antti Eintola / Yle
 Thin ice
 Lapland's lakeshores have an ice thickness of 20 to 40 centimetres, the thinnest recorded since 2011.
 The ice cover in central areas and the Kainuu region is around 25 centimetres, while measurements put the ice depth on southern Finland’s lakes at less than 20 centimetres.
 Antti Eintola / Yle
 Antti Eintola / Yle

In pictures: Frigid temperatures produce otherworldly landscapes


Summary: Finland’s parliamentary speaker, Paula Risikko, wants to make it easier for Finland to cancel residence permits held by convicted criminals.

Speaker of Parliament  Paula Risikko  told Yle's Ykkösaamu programme on Saturday that Finland should update laws to make it easier to deport permanent resident holders convicted of crimes.
 Risikko said that while Finland will continue to offer protection to those in need, ”the country’s system can also be abused," according to Risikko,  echoing a similar message delivered by president Sauli Niinistö  in his New Year’s address earlier this week.
 ”We must have the possibility to nullify residence permits, including permanent ones,” she explained.
 Laws governing residence permits should include consideration for ’national threats,’ Risikko told the breakfast programme.
 ”If a person is deemed a national threat, it should be possible to cancel their residence permit.”
 Once granted, it is very difficult for the state to rescind residence permits.
 ”I know this is a very sensitive subject, but the cases in Oulu are extremely shocking,” she said, referring to recent  sex abuse cases involving minors and asylum seekers .
 ”[Sex crimes] are punishable offences and perpetrators will, if necessary, be sent back to their countries of origin. In Finland we play by our laws,” she stated.

"Finland should strip residence permits from criminals," says parliamentary speaker


Summary: Three months before Finland's general election, an Yle poll suggests the Social Democrats could gain 13 seats to become the largest party in Parliament.

The nationalist Finns Party scored the biggest gains in the latest Yle/ Taloustutkimus party poll. The party's support has risen by more than two percentage points to 10.2 percent since the last survey, still within the poll's 2.1-percentage-point margin of error.
 This is the first time the populist party’s support has passed 10 percent since last June – but still far below its peak of 19.1 percent in the  2011 election .
 According to pollster Taloustutkimus research director  Tuomo Turja , Finns Party support clearly rose immediately after recent news of crimes attributed to immigrants  in Oulu  and  Helsinki .
 SDP and NCP neck-and-neck
 Meanwhile the rivalry between the two most popular parties, the Social Democrats (SDP) and the conservative National Coalition Party (NCP), is heating up. The SDP again emerged in the top spot, but its backing dipped to 21.2 percent – as the NCP was breathing down its neck, rising to 19.6 percent.
 Prime Minister  Juha Sipilä ’s Centre Party saw voter approval slide to 16.1 percent, its lowest level in nearly a year and a half. Turja notes that the biggest losses in Centre support were among men and residents of the Oulu region – Sipilä’s home district.
 Greens' rise levels off
 Two months ago, the opposition Greens chose former chair, government minister and presidential contender  Pekka Haavisto  as their new leader after the previous chair stepped down for health reasons.
 That sparked a  sharp rise in party support  in November, which has now dropped off. Party support edged down slightly to 13.6 percent, still enough to keep them within shouting distance of the traditional ‘big three’ parties.
 Turja points out that if the Greens’ electoral result is between 13.5 and 14 percent, that would be a major gain since the last parliamentary and municipal elections.
 The Left Alliance’s popularity was up by one percentage point to 9.5 percent. Turja says the opposition party is gaining popularity among women as well as white-collar workers.
 The other parties – including junior government partners the Blue Reform – all garnered well below five percent support.
 Red-Greens could gain 26 seats in Parliament
 With less than three months to go before advance voting begins on April 3, Taloustutkimus has made preliminary projections as to how the parties might fare in terms of seats in Parliament, based on the last six monthly polls.
 Parties now in opposition stand to gain the most seats, says the pollster.
 The SDP could pick up 13 more seats to give them a bloc of 47 MPs in the 200-seat legislature, raising them from the third-largest to the biggest party in the chamber.
 The Greens would gain 10 seats for a total of 25, while the Left Alliance might add three for a 15-member delegation.
 Of the three current government parties, the NCP is poised to add six seats for a total of 43 MPs. The premier’s Centre, meanwhile, looks likely to drop seven seats, falling behind the NCP with one seat less at 42.
 The number-crunchers compared the latest data with figures from the spring 2015 parliamentary election.
 They predict that based on current polling, the Finns Party are on track to lose two seats from their current 17, giving them a 15-seat bloc, on par with the Left. That would be a precipitous drop of 23 seats from the 2015 election – as the party split in mid-2017.
 A splinter group left to establish the Blue Reform party, which despite ministerial posts has failed to excite voters’ interest so far – sttracting support of just one percent in this poll.
 Taloustutkimus interviewed 2,443 people between 10 December and 8 January. It puts the margin of error at +/- 2.1 percentage points for the larger parties.

Poll: Finns Party set to gain seats, NCP close behind SDP


Summary: The award-winning Finnish stamp shows a reflection of islands and clouds on a sunny day in the archipelago.

A Finnish stamp depicting a summer scene in the Turku archipelago has won first prize in Best Stamps of the World competition in Spain.
 The jury of the International Nexofil Awards said the stamp "represents the calm and tranquility of Finnish nature". The stamp named "Calm and Tranquil" was designed by  Stiina Hovi  and is based on  Jari Hakala 's a photograph "Archipelago Clouds" taken in Nagu (Nauvo) in southwest Finland.
 Finns rated it  the most beautiful stamp of 2017  in a contest organised by Posti last year.
 In all, the international jury, which included philatelists from 37 countries, awarded prizes in 10 categories. The prize for the best original shape went to an Austrian stamp contoured like an oak and made of the tree's veneer. Meanwhile, New Zealand won the award for the most innovative stamp. Its “Grow your own – Sustainable: Carrots” stamp includes carrot seeds for planting.

Summer-themed Finnish stamp voted world's best


Summary: In Finland escape rooms operate without special regulations, but organisers claim they are safe. On Friday an escape room fire killed five teens in Poland.

Escape rooms in Finland abide by the same rules as other inhabited spaces. Escape games involve players getting locked inside a room and have to solve a series of timed puzzles to get out.
 ”Security is a priority for all escape room entrepreneurs,”  Yvonne Karsten  of Helsinki Escape Room told Finnish News Agency STT, following news of a deadly fire killing five teenagers playing an escape room game in Poland on Friday evening.
 In Finland, fire and emergency precautions are handled well, according to  Ira Pasi  of the Finnish National Rescue Association SPEK. ”In general, event organisers in Finland understand the importance of safety regulations.”
 Karsten of Helsinki Escape Room said her venues have an emergency button that will immediately release players from the room - even if the supervisor who monitors the game over a video link faints or has a medical emergency.
 She urges people entering escape room games to request information regarding security procedures.
 "Because there are no special regulations in place [regarding escape rooms], visitors have to be vigilant. Emergency exits must be clearly marked,”  Jari Pouta , a safety expert at SPEK, added.

Escape rooms in Finland safe, say organisers


Summary: The young Finns beat Team USA 3-2 in the World Junior Championship final on Saturday night in Vancouver, bringing home the squad's first gold since 2016.

Finland has won the World Junior Championship for under-20-year-old men's hockey, with  Kaapo Kakko  scoring the winning goal with less than one and half minutes left on the clock.
 The young Lions beat the second-place US team 3-2 in an exciting final match. A US goal in the first period was waved off because of a controversial crease violation ruling after a video check, meaning that the game was scoreless into the second period.
 Finland's forward  Jesse Ylönen  capitalized on a power play opportunity halfway through the second period to score Finland's first point in the match, with help from  Oskari Laaksonen .
 At the top of the third period,  Otto Latvala  surprised US goalkeeper  Cayden Primeau  with a shot to the net. This put Finland ahead 2-0 with under 15 minutes to go in the match.
 A mere minute after Latvala's goal, Team USA's  Alexander Chmelevski  scored a goal, and 90 seconds later the US team managed to tie the game at 2-2.
 With just a minute and a half left on the clock, Finland's 17-year-old Kaapo Kakko scored the game-winning goal – thereby securing himself the player of the game honours. The winning point was Kakko's second goal and fifth point in the seven-game tournament.
 Goalie  Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen  made 26 saves for Finland in the final match.
 "The boys were fantastic; they really gave it their all. Even after they evened it up, we didn't lose faith," the young Lions' head coach  Jussi Ahokas  enthused.
 The world championship is the Finnish junior men's team's fifth, with previous titles dating back to 1987, 1998, 2014 and 2016.

Team Finland wins gold at ice hockey junior championship


Summary: A fresh survey suggests that the needs of society's most vulnerable have become voters' most pressing policy concerns ahead of Finland's general election in April.

Care for the elderly, sick and marginalised youth came out on top in a recent survey that asked a sample of Finnish residents to rank 47 different policy issues ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections on 14 April.
 The topics of unemployment, education, energy issues, the status of the poor, state finances and climate change were also rated high in the survey, with four-fifths of respondents showing support for these themes.
 Themes that were seen as less important were civil activism, the level of development aid, and the adverse effects of alcohol.
 The survey was commissioned by the local government advocacy group Municipal Development Foundation, and it was conducted by the Finnish pollster Kantar TNS. It contains answers from over one thousand survey respondents, resulting a margin of error of less than three percentage points in either direction.

Care for infirm, marginalised youth top public survey ranking of pre-election issues


Summary: Young fitness enthusiasts are joining the ranks of an estimated 150,000 active winter swimmers in Finland, saying it does wonders for sore muscles.

People of all ages have traditionally engaged in winter swimming – especially in Finland – but regulars have begun to notice a spike in the number of youngsters getting hooked on the pastime.
 Jukka Vuorinen , president of the Finnish Outdoor Association Suomen Latu, says dipping in icy water is clearly becoming a trend among young adults, especially those active in sports and fitness.
 Päivi Pälvimäki , a member of Suomen Latu's winter swimming committee and a winter swimming instructor, says she is thrilled that the younger generation is finding its way to the practice.
 "It does have this cool 'extreme' element – challenging yourself to an extent. Young people find this important," she says.
 Post-workout muscle relief
 Anna Savolainen  took her first dip in the icy sea three years ago in the southwestern city of Turku.
 "Who in the heck would do that? It is a totally crazy thing to do. But then, when you realize how good it makes you feel, you understand," she says.
 A fan of regular cross fit workouts, Savolainen says the main reason she started winter swimming is because it helps her muscles recover. She has also come to believe that the cold water relieves stress and improves her general wellbeing.
 "After a session, I feel as if I have been reborn," she says.
 Anna Savolainen started winter swimming three years ago. Mika Halme / Yle
 Pälvimäki says many regular winter swimmers report sleeping better, feeling less stressed and having a more upbeat outlook. Others say it improves blood circulation and muscle metabolism, while some say it helps them relieve pain.
 "We know that it brings blood pressure down a bit for people who winter swim three or four times a week for several months," she says.
 Annual competition coming up in March
 Suomen Latu expects a record 2,000 participants to join in its 30th annual national  winter swimming competition  in Turku in March.
 Pälvimäki reports that there are an estimated 150,000 regular winter swimmers in Finland, but that the number of people who occasionally take an icy dip far exceeds this.
 She notes that 240 new locations have been added to an online  list of winter swimming spots  in recent years.
 "There are many places where people have to wait in line because there's no room in the sauna or changing rooms. There is a clear desire for more winter swimming locations in Finland," Pälvimäki says.

Winter swimming attracts more devotees, younger crowd


Summary: Four political parties without a current seat in the Finnish Parliament have decided to form an electoral union, in the hopes of winning at least one MP post.

Finland's Feminist Party, Pirate Party, Animal Justice Party and Liberal Party have decided to come together to create a joint electoral union in Helsinki ahead of the parliamentary elections on 14 April.
 "With this configuration, we only need a few thousand more votes to give our electoral union a seat in parliament," says  Katju Aro , Feminist Party chair.
 "Our minimum objective is one place; it is a realistic goal. It looks as if we will be able to achieve this with our union,"  Petrus Pennanen , chair of the Pirate Party, agrees.
 A total of 13,528 votes was enough to gain the final parliamentary seat representing Helsinki in 2015, which went to a Finns Party candidate.
 About 3,000 votes short
 In the  2017 municipal elections , the four political parties in question earned 10,395 votes when counted together in the capital city, meaning that the new electoral union would only need a slightly over 3,000-vote improvement on this turnout to earn a MP post.
 The Pirate Party is the largest of the four future electoral union's parties on the national level, but the Feminist Party gained the largest share of votes from Helsinki in the municipal elections two years ago.
 "During the municipal elections we surprised everyone and gained a spot, even though our party had only been registered two months earlier. We will try to do the same thing now," Aro says.
 Story continues after the photo
 Pirate Party chair Petrus Pennanen Yle
 Nine extra-parliamentary parties are vying for parliamentary seats in mid-April. In addition to the four parties of the newly-formed electoral union, there's the Communist Party, the Communist Worker's Party, the Citizen's Party, the Independence Party and Finnish People First.
 Borg: Outlier parties rarely see election success
 Ten extra-parliamentary parties ran for seats in the Finnish Parliament in 2003 and 2007, but only 7 or 8 ran in 2011 and 2015. Tampere University researcher and election expert  Sami Borg  says outlier political parties rarely receive enough votes to secure a MP position.
 "There have been exceptions, of course, such as with the Greens and Young Finns," he says.
 Borg says the reason for this is clear.
 "Parliamentary parties have completely different financial resources to use in their election campaigns and gain visibility during the parliamentary term," he says.
 Unlike in other countries, Finnish residents are spoiled for choice when it comes to election candidates, as two new parliamentary parties ( Blue Reform  and  Seven Star Movement ) have been established over the last parliamentary term alone, in addition to one new political movement ( Movement Now ).
 This is in addition to the eight political parties that were voted into the Finnish Parliament in 2015: The Centre Party, National Coalition Party, Social Democratic Party, Finns Party, the Greens, Left Alliance, Swedish People's Party, and Christian Democrats.
 A total of 19 registered political parties and one political movement are therefore vying for a position in the upcoming general elections. Local electoral organizations can add even more candidates to the roster in some areas.
 Tough competition for Helsinki representation
 Analysts predict that there will be  tough competition for parliamentary seats  in the electoral districts of Helsinki and the Uusimaa region to which it belongs this spring. Smaller parties like the Blue Reform, Movement Now and Seven Star Movement are expected to target capital city voters.
 "We're still holding out for that Helsinki seat. If we can push a candidate through in Uusimaa, then maybe it will give rise to another opportunity," says the Feminist Party's Aro.
 "Our strongest support areas are university cities. We've currently got a municipal representative in both Helsinki and Jyväskylä," Pirate Party's Pennanen says.
 The reason so many of the more marginal political parties are concentrating their efforts in Helsinki is because of the low threshold of votes required to gain a parliamentary seat there. In the last general elections, winning just 3.7 percent of the vote was enough to become an MP in Helsinki, while 2.5 percent was sufficient in Uusimaa.
 Several Uusimaa MPs have also said that they would be relinquishing their parliamentary seat in the next election, freeing up close to 63,000 votes. In Helsinki this number is close to 30,000. Both leave room for new faces.

Extra-parliamentary parties band together ahead of April elections


Summary: Police investigate a video of a young child being force-fed snus, police face massive case loads and rail company VR can't use its pricey new locomotives.

Southeast Finland police have said they are investigating a criminal report into a social media video showing a teen forcing snus into the mouth of a young child.
 Tabloid  Iltalehti said it had obtained a copy  of the 45-second long video, which has been widely shared on social media and was reportedly recorded by a friend of the teen in Hamina, southeast Finland on Saturday evening. According to IL, police visited the scene of the incident but have not yet indicated which category of offence they are investigating.
 IL contacted the Poison Information Centre, which said that even small doses of snus and its main ingredient, nicotine, can cause symptoms of mild poisoning in young children. They include headaches, stomach pains, dizziness and weakness. Cases of more severe nicotine poisoning could lead to heart problems, arrythmia or seizures.
 The commercial sale of snus is banned in Finland, but consumers are allowed to import it for personal use -- up to one kilogram per 24-hour period,  according to current regulations .
 68,000 cases on the blotter
 Police at the Itä-Uusimaa police department in southern Finland "killed" some 15,500 preliminary investigations for various reasons, according to  largest circulation daily Helsingin Sanomat . Rationales included the insignificance of the suspected offence or cases that involved the foolhardy actions of minors.
 Overall, investigators receive about 68,000 criminal reports annually and are currently working on about 8,500 active cases, HS said.
 Monday's story is part of a deep dive into the state of police resources and a follow-up to a report last week, in which the paper brought to light a 2014 precinct policy of abstaining from further processing of some cases after initial vetting.
 The background to the directive was that police simply don't have the means to thoroughly probe all of the criminal reports lodged. HS wrote that prosecutors also have the power to pull the plug on certain cases, for example if the cost of trial and sentencing are deemed to be disproportionate to the seriousness of the crime being considered.
 HS spoke with Sargeant  Anneli Kalervo , an investigator with a 25-year career, who said that without preliminary vetting, each of the department's 60 investigators would have between 200 and 300 open cases. Itä-Uusimaa deputy police chief  Ari Karvonen  told the paper that last year roughly 90 officers left the department and said the turnover rate is relatively high in the Helsinki region.
  VR's 300m-euro engines that couldn't
 State-owned rail services company VR shelled out more than 300 million euros for engines that it hasn't been able to use with its stock of commuter trains, writes  tabloid daily Ilta-Sanomat .
 The paper explained that the Vectron locomotives' automatic access control systems have not performed as expected in the local rail environment, and for unknown reasons unexpectedly activate the emergency brake system. The defect is so serious that it has short-circuited commissioning of the new engines for use on commuter and freight trains.
 As a result, Traficom (a merger of the former Finnish Transport Safety Agency, Trafi and the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority, Ficora) has not granted VR Group permission to use the engines, manufactured by the German conglomerate Siemens.
 The most expensive engine procurement in Finnish history was competed in 2013 and saw VR Group purchase 80 Vectron electrically-powered engines for over 300 million euros. VR also had an option to pick up another 97 locomotives as part of the deal. Finland received the first deliveries on schedule at the end of 2016.

Monday's papers: Underage snus video, large police case load and the engines that couldn't