Summary: Yle and cyber security firm F-Secure browsed 300,000 election-themed tweets and found they served to divide people.

Working with a cyber security analyst, Yle found that Twitter was a hotbed of activity aimed at undermining EU citizens’ confidence in the region. While a few accounts were responsible for disseminating misleading information and outright fake news, ordinary citizens were also unwitting allies in  spreading disinformation .
 A man with a long beard dressed in white robes reminiscent of Arabic attire furiously attacks a statue with a hammer. A passerby hurls stones at the man and police eventually intervene. The video was tweeted at the beginning of May by an account owned by Compact News (more on this account later).
 "A muslim #migrant destroying a statue in #Italy, because part of the body is showing. #Europe does not know what is coming their way in next (sic) 5 to 15 years. #EUelections2019 #EU #NWO."
 The video had previously been debunked as fake in October 2018, but it is still widely shared online. According to an extensive analysis of roughly 300,000 tweets by Yle, it was also one of the most popular pieces of EU-related content on Twitter between 29 April and 9 May ahead of European Parliament elections.
 Fake news content shared in Finland
 Yle’s analysis showed that Compact News’ fake statue vandalism video had been shared in Finland, the UK and the Netherlands, at least. The study further identified several Finnish troll accounts that pushed the fake video. The Compact News account and another account, Partisan FB, both counted active Finnish troll accounts among their followers.
 Public broadcasters from Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Austria and the UK complied suspected troll accounts active in each country for the analysis, a total of more than 4,200 Twitter accounts.
 Troll accounts were defined as accounts devoted mainly to agitating or provoking other users or trying to steer online discussion in a particular direction. Tweets from troll accounts were compared to 300,000 other posts.
 The public broadcasters examined how Twitter users were discussing the EU election and whether or not the platform was being used for the dissemination of deliberately misleading information or disinformation.
 The project found that among hundreds of thousands of tweets, the most popular sharers deliberately disseminated distorted information. The Yle analysis corroborated suspicions that a growing number of EU citizens are being exposed to distorted or fake news.
 According to a recent analysis US data security firm SafeGuard Cyber reported in The Guardian, as many as half of the EU’s 500 million residents have been targeted by disinformation shared by hundreds of thousands of social media accounts.
 Top-ranking tweets from dubious accounts
 The video tweeted by Compact News at the beginning of May received more than 1,300 "likes" and was retweeted nearly 1,800 times, making it the third most-popular tweet in the analysis.
 Other tweets in the top three came from an account titled Partisan FB, which was strongly anti-EU. Both accounts also shared a great deal of content from Russian propaganda media such as Russia Today and Sputnik.
 Yle was not able to determine who was behind these accounts. According to one expert, it could be "our neighbour to the east, independent groups or isolated individuals." These accounts spread a narrative in which global threats are explained in a manner that suits Russia.
 "In any case these tweets support Russia’s strategic narrative, the purpose of which is to stir up confusion and disrupt normal discourse," said communications chief of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE),  Päivi Tampere . The US and Canada as well as most EU member states have a stake in the Helsinki-based organisation.
 According to Tampere, the most popular tweets in the Yle analysis are typical examples of attempts to influence opinion with the aim of undermining trust in the EU and democratic society.
 Amplifying protest movements
 Researchers gathered tweets tagged with more than 30 commonly-used Europarliament election-related hashtags, including #EUElectios2019, #Europawal2019 and #EUvaalit.
 Andrew Patel , an expert with Finnish cyber security firm F-Secure, analysed the material employing methodology similar to that used to review Twitter activity ahead of the deadline set for the UK to leave the EU -- Brexit.
 In another video, a seemingly-disabled young person appears to hobble down a street. Riot police appear and knock over her walker, causing her to fall.
 "More evidence how inhuman #Macron's #France is in 2019. A disabled protester was humiliated by #regime forces, her walker was knocked out of hand. She fell down. No comment of these violations of humanity from any #EU country. #GiletsJaunes #EUElections2019"
 The video shared by an account titled Partisan FB was retweeted 6,000 times and racked up 4,200 likes. Yle could not determine the origin of the video.
 The tweets mentioned in this article generated significantly more retweets than likes, which is unusual. According to F-Secure’s Patel, the impact of the tweets was likely amplified artificially by purchasing retweets from other accounts. He noted that tweets typically attract twice as many likes as retweets.
 "Those accounts all retweeted similar, unrelated stuff, so they definitely look like a 'purchase retweets' service," Patel concluded.
 The stand-off between the French government and the demonstrations by yellow vest protesters are examples of situations where external forces attempt to amplify the reach of protest movements. For example, research by a working group of the EU’s East Stratcom Task Force identified many manipulated Twitter posts that boosted the yellow vests’ message.
 The Partisan FB account deleted the video on Thursday, just one day after Yle reached out to an individual believed to be linked to the account.
 Links to Russian state-backed media
 At first blush, Compact News, the account that shared the video of the man destroying a statue with a hammer, appears to be that of a news organisation. However that impression fades upon closer inspection.
 The account appears to focus on two main themes: Islam and immigration. A link in the account’s info section leads to a blog that mainly features opinions defending France’s “yellow vest” protesters, with ample mentions of police violence, curbs on freedom of speech and a refugee crisis in the country.
 Both the Compact News and Partisan FB accounts appear to disseminate a large number of articles from Russian state-backed outlets, with one-third of Compact News’ content coming from Russia.
 The sources used include Russia Today, Sputnik News, Voice of Europe and Ruptly, the largest multilingual Russian state-funded media, which circulate fake news and content that is strongly sympathetic to the policies of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
 F-Secure researcher Patel said that tweets from these two accounts’ were amplified by random accounts that don’t seem to line up with the content they were retweeting. For example, accounts from different parts of the world have spread Compact News’ tweets about Brexit and British far-right MEP candidates.
 Patel observed that the language Compact News and Partisan FB use indicates that the people behind the accounts are not native English speakers. According to F-Secure’s linguistic forensics team both accounts probably have several content contributors.
 Yle was unable to determine the identities of the persons responsible for Compact News and Partisan FB. However Compact News’ Twitter account indicates that one  Robert Kearney  works as a journalist with the outfit.
 Targeted by a Russian operation?
 Yle reached out to Kearney via his personal Twitter account. He responded, explaining that he is an Italian-background freelance journalist living in the United States. He told Yle that he writes for Compact News but does not know who manages its Twitter account or whether more than one person is involved.
 He said that he is very active on Twitter, usually posting up to 150 times a day. He described some of his interests as the rise of nationalism and populist parties. His recent Twitter activity has focused on a recent meeting of European populist parties in Milan and he appears to be an ardent admirer of the divisive head of the anti-immigrant Lega party and Italian Interior Minister,  Matteo Salvin i. Recent images tweeted by Kearney of a meeting of far-right parties in Milan last weekend also depict Finns Party MP and MEP candidate  Laura Huhtasaari .
 Many of the Twitter accounts pushing nationalist and far-right content are automated bots, but Kearney seems all too real. He responded to many of Yle’s questions unequivocally and sent photos of himself as well as a link to his Instagram account.
 Yle showed the results of its Twitter analysis social media platform researchers. They speculated that multiple people were likely responsible for maintaining the Partisan FB and Compact News accounts, suggesting that their content did not come from automated accounts or bots.
 One London-based hybrid threat expert agreed that Kearney appears to be genuine, adding he seems to embrace a far-right worldview, and was a typical case who was susceptible to content from Russian anti-EU media.
 "That is definitely the demographic RT and Sputnik targets. So he looks like a classic target of a Russian operation rather than a person who is actually creating the operation, he is their audience. So I think this is why he is sharing RT and Sputnik content," said researcher  Ben Nimmo  of the London-based Digital Forensics Lab, which specialises in disinformation research and receives support from the US’s Atlantic Council think tank.
 Nimmo added that there was no indication that the accounts managed by Kearney, Partisan FB and Compact News were controlled by any state actor such as Russia. However he noted that Russia-friendly media outlets such as Russia Today and Sputnik produce the kind of distorted content that people like Kearney are inclined to disseminate on social media.
 "He [Kearney] is their audience. So i think this is why he is sharing RT and Sputnik content."
 EU citizens unwitting allies in disinformation campaigns
 Ordinary citizens who may be disappointed in their politicians or their daily lives may also unwittingly spread fake news. Russia benefits when emotive and divisive subjects like immigration grab headlines, according to the EU’s East Stratcom Task Force, a group that focuses on proactive communication of EU policies and activities in areas east of the bloc.
 It described one of the most commonplace narratives of Russian disinformation as the claim that some EU member states are no longer truly independent. This theme is closely tied to the claim that Islam is a threat to national identity.
 Many experts said that the spread of disinformation appears to have changed in the runup to Europarliament elections. Russian election interference efforts appear to lean more heavily toward using a number of local players in European countries.
 According to DFPLab’s Ben Nimmo, it may be even more challenging to combat disinformation when instead of Russian state actors, EU authorities have to deal with their own citizens.
 "It’s when you have individual citizens of the EU in their own countries spreading false information and doing the kind of thing than Russians did. It’s much more difficult to work out what to do about it politically," he observed.

Yle analysis: Fake news accounts active on Twitter ahead of EU Parliament elections


Summary: State-owned number cruncher Statistics Finland says 890,000 Finnish residents were at risk of poverty or exclusion in 2017.

Among all Finnish households, 16.4 percent were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2017, according to fresh figures from Statistics Finland. The agency found that most of the people in this group, 654,000 people, had low incomes, accounting for a 12.1 percent share of the total population.
 Some 7.6 percent were found to be living in what the state agency defined as a 'low work intensity' household, and 2.6 percent were deemed to be suffering from severe material deprivation.
 Finland's risk of poverty or social exclusion is lower than the European average, measured at 22.4 percent in 2016. Finland's 2017 figures place it at third from the bottom, comparatively. Even so, for young adults and people over 75 in Finland, the risk is on par with the European average. For children, people of working age and younger pensioners, however, the risk is considerably lower.
 The EU hopes to reduce the number of persons living at risk of poverty or social exclusion by 20 million by the year 2020. In 2016, a total of 113 million persons were judged to face these risks in the EU.
 Older people most lonely
 Social exclusion is often linked to loneliness. In 2018, as part of a regular Survey on Income and Living Conditions, Statistics Finland asked people aged 16 and older how often they had felt lonely in the past four weeks. Respondents could answer one of the following: all the time, most of the time, some of the time, a little of the time and none of the time.
 Some 179,000 people, or 4.0 percent of the population felt lonely all the time or most of the time last year.
 Close to a million Finnish residents, or more than one-fifth of the population at 21.2 percent, reported feeling lonely all the time, most of the time, or some of the time.
 People over the age of 75 were the loneliest, with 7.3 percent saying they were lonely all the time or most of the time, and 28.7 percent lonely at least some of the time.

Over 16% at risk of poverty or social exclusion, statistics show


Summary: The acquittal is not related to another series of rape cases in the northwest city involving eight defendants.

Charges against a 20-year-old male suspected of the aggravated rape of a 17-year-old female in Finland's northwest coastal city of Oulu were dismissed on Friday, after a decision from the Oulu District Court.
 The alleged crime occurred two years ago in April, according to the prosecution, but the Oulu court said the evidence presented was insufficient to prove the defendant's guilt.
 The ruling of the court was unanimous. The rest of the details about the case have been kept confidential in order to protect the privacy of the persons involved.
 The prosecution had called for the defendant, who had been taken into custody in March, to be punished for aggravated rape.
 The case is one of a string of sexual offenses involving minors in Oulu that received a great deal of publicity in Finland when they came to light in December 2018.
 This case's court ruling is not connected to a separate series of cases, for example, in which  eight men  who had come to Finland as asylum seekers are suspected of the aggravated assault and rape of an underage girl.

District court dismisses charges against Oulu rape suspect


Summary: Reporters in Finland who are targeted by trolls, defamation campaigns and hate speech may find it easier to seek redress.

Finland's top media houses have joined with the Union of Journalists in Finland and several other representative organizations working in the media sector to create a fund to support reporters who find themselves subject to persecution or threats.
 In an interview on Yle's morning programme on Saturday, the Finnish Broadcasting Company  Yle's CEO   Merja Ylä-Anttila  announced that the new support fund is intended to assist journalists with legal costs, for example, in seeking redress in courts of law.
 The fund will be officially launched on Monday, she reported, and will be available to all journalists - contract workers and freelancers alike.
 The fund will be financed by five of Finland's leading media companies: A-lehdet, Alma Media, Keskisuomalainen, Sanoma Media and Yle.
 In addition to the Union of Journalists in Finland, the support fund will also be financed by the Foundation to Promote Journalistic Culture, the Finnish Media Federation, the Finnish Periodical Publishers' Association and the Finnish Newspapers Association.
 "Anyone who is interested in joining and supporting the fund is welcome, no matter whether they are businesses, foundations, unions or private individuals, with large or small donations," the Union of Journalists in Finland's chair  Hanne Aho  said in a press release.
 The support fund idea was founded to provide people working in the media sector with the means to respond quickly to unexpected attacks or problems.
 Many professions at risk
 Yle's Ylä-Anttila says that the most significant threat to freedom of expression in Finland is  pressure from the realm of social media . She says journalists, researchers and even judges are now vulnerable to aggressive online behaviour.
 "People are singled out and then persecuted and made subject to hate speech. It is a blatant attempt to silence people, because they could start to think twice about having to deal with the backlash. In my opinion, it poses the biggest risk to freedom of speech we have in Finland," she said.
 The head of the country's public broadcaster was asked how journalists can be protected from this kind of pressure.
 "It's important to maintain an open workplace atmosphere, so concerns can be aired freely. Reporters must also feel as if they have the full support of their supervisors. They can't be shy about  reporting cases to the police , either," she says.
 Ylä-Anttila said she believes that the threat of a police investigation could reduce attempts to influence content in many cases.
 She said that there is a tendency in Finland to take freedom of speech for granted.
 "If we don't take care, it could be chipped away insidiously, before we even know it. It’s a good thing if the media keeps up an active discussion about freedom of speech and looks after it," said Ylä-Anttila.

Finnish media companies, unions establish journalist support fund to counter harassment


Summary: Lions' captain Marko Anttila scored the only goal of a thrilling semi-final in Bratislava.

Finland will play in the final of the World Ice Hockey Championships on Sunday against Canada after a 1-0 win in the semi-final over Russia.
 Marko Anttila  pounced on a rebound late in the third period to send Finland into the final and their supporters into raptures. Nicknamed the 'Red Machine', Russia were the clear favourites to advance to the final, having come through the tournament unbeaten and scoring 40 goals in their eight games. However, a solid defensive display by the  Leijonat  (or Lions) and in particular a 'Player of the Game' performance from Finland's goaltender  Kevin Lankinen  gave Finland the unlikely victory.
 Tight and tense
 Finland had a very strong start to the first period, but failed to capitalise on a number of excellent goal-scoring opportunities. Anttila, scorer of the dramatic late equaliser against Sweden in the quarter-final against Sweden, had a clear sight of goal in the very first minute but was denied by Russian goaltender  Andrei Vasilevski .
 Another big chance fell to defenseman  Mikko Lehtonen  midway through the period, but Vasilevski came to his team's rescue again. After these early scares, Russia slowly began to grow into the game and had a number of efforts onLankinen's goal, but the period ended goalless.
 Finland began the second period much as they had the first, and  Niko Ojamäki  was very unlucky not to give the Lions a deserved lead when his shot came back off the post. Russia's best chance of the game up to this point fell to  Kirill Kaprizov , but Lankinen made a sharp save. The score remained 0-0 at the end of the second period, despite both teams accumulating a total of 45 shots on goal between them.
 Captain Marvel
 The third period started badly for the Lions, with Oliwer Kaski sent to the sin bin for an infringement. Finland survived the 5-on-4 Russian power play, with Lankinen again instrumental in frustrating the Russian attack.
 With nine minutes left on the clock, and the game looking like it was heading into overtime,  Henri Jokiharju 's shot bounced off a Russian defender and fell at the feet of captain Anttila, who swept the puck through the legs of Vasilevski and into the Russian net.
 Russia searched desperately for an equalising goal in the closing stages, but Lankinen and the Finnish defense held firm as the clock ticked down to zero.
 The Lions last won the World Championships in 2011, which was also played in Bratislava, and also came after a semi-final victory over Russia.

Finland beats Russia to reach ice hockey championship final


Summary: Police in Helsinki have put extra officers on duty in anticipation of crowds gathering to celebrate the hockey final.

Finland will play against Canada in the final of the World Ice Hockey Championships on Sunday at 9.15pm after a 1-0  win in the semi-final over Russia  on Saturday.
 A win on Sunday would bring Finland its third hockey gold medal in history.
 Crowds celebrating ice hockey victories tend to gather at Helsinki’s Market Square. Wins in 1995 and 2011 drew crowds of around 100,000 to the harbour area.
 Police: Wet weather may dampen spirits
 Riku Korpela  of the Helsinki Police said rainy weather typically dampens revelers’ enthusiasm.
 “Past experience has shown that silver medals don’t cause much in the way of celebration, apart from more people flowing into streets as the game finishes,” Korpela explained.
 Police in other parts of the country have not called in backup, although some ecstatic Tampere residents took a dip in the city's main fountain following Finland’s last world championship win in 2011, which was also played in Bratislava, and also came after a semi-final victory over Russia.

Helsinki calls in extra police ahead of world hockey final


Summary: The Greens picked up an additional six percent of votes and will be sending two MEPs to Brussels.

Election result 2019 With 99.9% of votes counted NCP 20.8 % (3 seats) GREENS 16% (2 seats) SDP 14.6% (2 seats) FINNS 13.8% (2 seats) CEN 13.5% (2 seats) LEFT 6.9% (1 seat) SPP 6.3% (1 seat) CD 4.9% (0 seats)
 With nearly all votes counted (99.9 percent) in Sunday’s European Parliament elections, Finland’s Green Party was celebrating  major strides in the poll . The party ended the night with 16 percent of votes and picked up an additional 6.7 percent of ballots and another seat to send two MEPs to Brussels.
 It was the party’s best-ever Europarliament election result, eclipsing any outcome it had seen in parliamentary elections.
 "The Greens are now among the big parties," party chair  Pekka Haavisto  said as he reacted to the results.
 The Greens may have been the evening’s biggest winner, but the National Coalition Party led by  Petteri Orpo  topped the poll with 20.8 percent voter support to retain its three MEP seats, although voter enthusiasm in this election slipped by 1.8 percentage points. Earlier in the evening, Orpo reacted to advance voting results that showed his party at the top of the table.
 "This does look like an election win. It’s a very strong first place. Taking the parliamentary election result into consideration, you have to be satisfied."
 The Social Democratic Party also protected its two Europarliament seats, snapping up an additional 2.3 percent of votes in this election to close the night on 14.6 percent support. Earlier in the evening party chair  Antti Rinne  had characterised the advance voting result that put it in second place as an "election win".
 Centre trounced in second consecutive poll
 Juha Sipilä ’s Centre Party was once more repudiated by voters as the party haemorrhaged 6.1 percent of votes to lose one seat in the European Parliament. This means it will be represented by two MEPs in the next session. Sipilä had already departed the election watch and left vice chair  Katri Kulumni  to field questions about the party’s performance.
 "It is a sad ending to the [political] career of Juha Sipilä, whose star seemed so bright just a few years ago," Helsinki University world politics professor  Teivo Teivainen  remarked to Yle News as he harked back to the Centre’s  ignominious defeat in parliamentary elections  just about one month ago.
 The Finns Party, which was widely expected to dumbfound critics as it did during the parliamentary elections, picked up an additional one percent of votes and held on to its two MEP seats. However the result appeared to fall short of  the populist wave that political pundits anticipated  across the continent.
 "It looks like political parties were better able to mobilise voters who were concerned about issues like climate change and social exclusion and equality than the far-right was able to mobilise about closing borders," social commentator and writer  Maryan Abdulkarim  told Yle News. She noted that Green parties had posted big gains across the EU on election night.
 The Swedish People’s Party and the Left Alliance both kept their single MEP seats safe in this election, although the Left saw 2.4 percent of voters abandon it compared to a negligible 0.4 percent for the SPP. The parties closed off the evening with 6.4 and 6.9 percent voter support respectively.
 SDP's Heinäluoma the biggest vote magnet
 Candidates who secured Europarliament sets on Sunday included familiar names such as the Greens’  Heidi Hautala  and  Ville Niinistö , as well as  Laura Huhtasaari  and  Teuvo Hakkarainen  of the Finns Party in addition to the Centre’s  Mauri Pekkarinen ,  Henna Virkkunen  of the NCP and  Nils Torvalds  of the SPP.
 The SDP’s  Eero Heinäluoma  was the evening’s biggest vote magnet, with Ville Niinistö also proving to be a popular candidate, as well as Huhtasaari.
 Election officials’ initial estimate is that 42.7 percent of eligible voters turned out to cast their ballots in this year’s election, compared to five years ago, when the voter turnout was 39.1 percent. Based on the initial results, the average age of Finnish MEPs is 55 with not a single MEP under the age of 40 elected.
 Finland will seat 13 Europarliamentarians in Brussels, but if and when the UK exits the EU, a 14th member will be elevated. Based on the results so far, Christian Democratic Party chair  Sari Essayah  could nab the seat, however Yle’s forecast gives the position to the NCP’s  Eija-Riitta Korhola .

Greens surge in Finland’s EU Parliament election, Centre Party spurned


Summary: Goals from Marko Anttila and Harri Pesonen gave Finland a 3-1 win over Canada in the gold medal decider in Bratislava

Finland won the ice hockey world championship in Slovakia on Sunday evening, making it the third world title for the Lions(or Leijonat), following previous championship wins in 1995 and 2011.
 Captain  Marko Anttila , who scored the only goal of the team’s  semi-final win over Russia , delivered once again with two goals.  Harri Pesonen  secured the conquest with a third goal late in the final period.
 Strong start from Canada
 Canada had a very strong start to the game and aimed a number of early attempts on  Kevin Laskinen 's goal. Finland looked to be in real danger of conceding the first goal when Anttila was sent to the sin bin for a heavy tackle.
 Despite the numerical disadvantage, Finland defended resolutely and it was the Lions who created the game's first big goal-scoring opportunity.  Jere Sallinen  broke away on a counterattack but before he was able to get a shot away, he was tripped by a retreating Canadian defender and Finland were awarded a penalty shot. However,  Oliwer Kaski 's effort went wide of the Canadian goal.
 Five minutes later, Canada punished Finland’s defence for their inattention as  Shea Theodore  cut through the back line and dispatched a rising shot past Lankinen to give Canada the lead. Finland were fortunate not to fall even further behind when  Philipe Myers ' shot came back off the post, and were just one goal down at the end of the first period.
 Lions roar back
 Finland began the second period much stronger, and were immediately rewarded. Anttila latched onto a pass from  Sakari Manninen  to drill a shot through the legs of Canadian goaltender  Matt Murray  and into the net. The Lions capitalised on the momentum and dominated the second period, peppering the Canadian goal with a total of 22 shots, but without adding a second goal. The game was finely balanced at 1-1 at the end of the second period.
 Finland fans celebrating Anttila's goal  Markku Ulander / Lehtikuva
 The third period began exactly as the second had, with an Anttila goal. The captain was once again in the right place at the right time, arriving to meet  Veli-Matti Savinaien 's pull back from behind the Canadian goal to give Finland the lead for the first time in the final.
 Canada exerted huge pressure on the Finnish goal for the remainder of the third period, but were unable to find a way past the well-organised Finnish defence or the tenacious Lankinen.
 With just four minutes left on the clock, Finland broke out of defence and Harri Pesonen secured the championship with a third definitive goal. As the buzzer sounded to end the game, the Finnish players swarmed goaltender Lankinen to celebrate their hard-won victory.

Finland's Lions claim ice hockey world championship


Summary: Finns vote for a strong EU, national implications of Sunday's green surge and Finland's 'Miracle on Ice.'

Finns voted for a strong European Union, said journalist  Joonas Kuikka  in  Turun Sanomat ’s analysis of the Europarliament election result.
 While internationally minded urbanites cast votes for a unified Europe and climate action,  convicted sex offender Teuvo Hakkarainen  of the Finns Party was the choice of stagnating remote areas, explained TS.
 Political parties in Finland who want to fortify the EU will be sending 11 MEPs to the 751-seat European legislature, compared to just two nationalist and eurosceptic Finns Party representatives. In an interview with  Helsingin Sanomat ,  Teija Tiilikainen , director of Finland’s Institute of International Affairs, said a new dividing line is emerging within the European Parliament between the promoters and sceptics of European integration.
 The National Coalition Party was the  biggest winner in Sunday’s election , attracting 20.8 percent of the vote while support for the Greens rose to 16 percent, handing them their best European poll result to date.
 Green wave hits home
 With Green parties posting their strongest ever showing in the European elections,  Helsingin Sanomat  speculated that Finland could see more  intense debate over climate policy  in the future, as Finnish political parties hold divergent views on concrete climate action.
 HS also contemplated Finland’s next pick for commissioner. Social Democratic Party chair  Antti Rinne , who is leading government formation talks, previously said it’s time for Finland to put forward a  woman commissioner . However, with SDP veteran  Eero Heinäluoma  drawing 130,000 votes, Rinne may have to reconsider this idea, according to the daily.
 Finland's 'Miracle on Ice'
 Residents celebrated Finland’s gold medal hockey title well into the morning hours on Monday, reported  Ilta-Sanomat . The newsstand tabloid said a wild carnival-like atmosphere enveloped downtown Helsinki--complete with fireworks--as 10,000 fans streamed into the streets after  Finland’s 3-1 win over Canada .
 9C and rain did not deter revellers from taking a dip in the Havis Amanda fountain. Tuomo Björksten / Yle
 The festivities passed off mostly peacefully, according to the paper, though some inebriated sports fans posed a danger to their own safety in the harbour area.
 Elated by Finland’s gold medal, some Finns decided to strip down for a celebratory dip in the Havis Amanda fountain in Helsinki’s Market Square. Tourists visiting the market area told Swedish-language daily Hufvudstadsbladet they wished Finns could be ‘ this happy every day .’
 Tampere daily  Aamulehti  reported that hockey fever took over state-owned railway company VR's digital displays as celebrations peaked.
 Iltalehti  said the Finnish Ice Hockey Association will on Monday provide further details regarding a national celebration to be held in the Lions’ honour.

Monday’s papers: Finns vote pro-EU, climate priorities and Finland's 'Miracle on Ice'


Summary: The new server farm will be located in Hamina, where the American tech giant previously opened a data centre in 2011.

Google announced on Monday that it has invested close to 600 million euros in building a new data centre in Hamina, Finland.
 The new data centre will be located on the premises of the former Summa paper factory lot, just like the first data centre in Hamina that Google opened in 2011. This brings Google’s total investments in Hamina to 1.4 billion euros.
 Hamina, a town and municipality, is located about 145 kilometres east of the Finnish capital Helsinki and has a population of slightly over 20,000 people.
 Largest-ever investment in Hamina
 ”Google’s significant data centre investment is good news and an indication of a stable and competitive environment. This investment strengthens Finland’s digital infrastructure," says  Jari Gustafsson , Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment.
 Hamina’s municipal head  Hannu Muhonen  is also pleased with Google’s decision.
 ”This is the largest ever single investment in Hamina’s history and it will have a positive effect on employment during the construction phase and after," says Muhonen. "The investment also increases the attractiveness of the whole region. For over a decade, cooperation between Google and the City of Hamina has worked very well," he adds.
 According to Google's country director for Finland  Antti Järvinen , "the need for Google's services is growing day by day; we are building our data centre infrastructure to meet this need, which in turn has a positive impact on the Finnish economy, including through the creation of jobs."
 Data centre growth in Finland
 Google's announcement follows on the heels of last  October's news that US-headquarted consortium Silent Partner Group  is planning to build three massive data centres in Finland.
 One of the centres is reportedly to be built in the town of Hamina, which is the same location as the two of Google's data centres, while the other site is planned in the municipality of Sotkamo, located in the Kainuu region.
 In November, the Finnish Data Centre Forum reported that Silent Partner Group will open a fourth data centre in Tornio, Finland.

Google to invest €600m in new data centre in Finland


Summary: Jussi Niinistö used "inappropriate and personal" terms to attack constitutional law experts in his February blog.

Ministerit, ministeriöt ja valtioneuvosto

Chancellor of Justice  Tuomas Pöysti  has let Defense Minister  Jussi Niinistö  off the hook with a reprimand for allegedly using "inappropriate" language to criticise constitutional law experts in a blog post he wrote in February 2019. Niinistö referred to experts as "constitutional law Talibans" among other things in the scathing post.
 However, the matter was resolved with Pöysti reprimanding Niinistö, with the Chancellor noting that he had no reason to suspect that the minister had committed an offence and that he didn't see any reason to initiate a preliminary investigation.
 In his statement, Pöysti also justified his position on the matter by stating that the constitution sets a higher threshold for prosecution in the case of a minister. He said the terms used by Niinistö were in some respects inappropriate and personal and pointed out that the minister could have criticised the activities of constitutional experts without resorting to such language.
 Niinistö's attack against experts
 In February, Jussi Niinistö labelled members of the Constitutional Law Committee "constitutional law Talibans" who "mask their own ideological goals under the guise of expertise." The minister was referring to their experts' criticism of  draft military intelligence laws,  which he said was unjustified and "damaging to the security of the fatherland and its citizens."
 The matter first came to light in February during a parliamentary question time session, when Prime Minister  Juha Sipilä  said he did not support Niinistö’s statements.
 "Minister Jussi Niinistö has presented his own views in his blog and they do not reflect the position of the government," Sipilä said at the time. The PM had confirmed that a complaint had been filed with the Chancellor of Justice to look into the matter.
 Niinistö also made headlines earlier this year for  criticizing a government-commissioned study  that investigated the activities of  Finns serving in the Wiking Division of German’s Waffen-SS  in the 1940s.

Justice chancellor scolds defense minister for "constitutional Taliban" blog post


Summary: The star-studded, festive concert at Helsinki's Kaisaniemi Park is scheduled to start at 6:00 pm on Monday.

Finland's capital announced it would host a free concert Monday evening in Helsinki’s Kaisaniemi Park, in honour of  Finland's 3-1 win over Canada  at the Ice Hockey World Championships on Sunday night in Bratislava, Slovakia.
 The festivities were scheduled for around 6:00 pm, with the gold medal-winning guests of honour, Finland's Lions ( Leijonat ), expected to arrive at the park with a police escort between 7 and 7:30 pm.
 According to a press release from the city of Helsinki, members of the winning team including goal-scorers  Marko Anttila  and  Harri Pesonen  were due to appear on stage.
 Top Finnish artists like singers  Paula Vesala  and  Samuli Edelman  and bands including the Teflon Brothers and JVG were also due to perform.
 The entire event can be watched  live on Yle Areena , starting at 6:00 pm.
 Traffic disruptions
 The Helsinki Regional Transport Authority (HSL) has  warned commuters  to expect possible delays and changes to transit routes on Monday evening owing to the celebrations.
 All tram routes that run through the city centre will be affected, as will buses that depart and arrive from the Railway Station, according to HSL.
 Local trains will operate on schedule but will be longer than normal to accommodate extra passengers attending festivities in the city centre. Buses will run according to regular Monday schedules but no additional night buses will be added to the roster.
 Members of the public can follow the festivities on a large screen outside the Railway Station in downtown Helsinki, according to the city.

Helsinki throws party in honour of Finland's hockey championship


Summary: Incoming Finnish MEPs include a sawmill owner-turned-politician, a dairy farmer and several former journalists.

Like many people across Europe on Sunday, Finnish citizens  went to the polls  to elect representatives to the European Parliament. The overall voter turnout was 42.7 percent, and the Greens made the biggest gains, while the Centre Party suffered major losses.
 SDP party veteran and former government minister  Eero Heinäluoma , former Greens chair and one-time environment minister  Ville Niinistö  and Finns Party frontwoman  Laura Huhtasaari  bagged the most votes in the election.
 The 42-year-old  Ville Niinistö  – a nephew of President  Sauli Niinistö  but no immediate relation to defence minister  Jussi Niinistö  – led the Greens from 2011 to 2017 as it gained popularity to become one of the four or five largest parties.
 Story continues after photo
 Ville Niinistö All Over Press / Jarno Kuusinen
 Heidi Hautala , 63, was another vote magnet for the Greens. She stood as a presidential candidate in 2000 and 2006, chaired the Greens in the late 1980s and helped establish Finland’s first vegetarian restaurant. EU think tank Votewatch named Hautala Finland’s most influential MEP, having served in the EU legislature for 15 years.
 Hautala was at the centre of a political storm in Finland earlier this decade amidst allegations of  abuses of power  when she served as minister for state ownership steering. At the time she also made a public apology for paying off the books for domestic work while serving on a ministerial working group combating the informal economy.
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 Heidi Hautala. EU
 Eero Heinäluoma , 63, had a long career with labour confederation SAK before moving on to holding a number of key positions in the Social Democratic Party. The former speaker of parliament and finance minister said that while he supports EU-wide cooperation on a number of issues, he does not want to see the EU evolve in a federalist direction nor does he agree with debt solidarity across the bloc.
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 Eero Heinäluoma. Yle
 SDP politician  Mia-Kumpula Natri , 47, secured a second term in the European Parliament and has called for the EU to lead the battle against climate change. However she said the EU should ensure that climate action doesn’t widen disparities in welfare or income across the region.
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 Mia-Kumpula Natri. Kimmo Brandt / AOP
 Forty-year-old  Laura Huhtasaari  who has run on a eurosceptic platform in numerous elections will now also be heading to Brussels. A classroom teacher by training, Huhtasaari has been dogged by reports that  she plagiarised major parts of her Master's thesis .
 The Finns Party’s former presidential candidate is a creationist, climate change sceptic and has also said she wants to limit immigration from outside Europe.
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  Laura Huhtasaari. Derrick Frilund / Yle
 Three-term Finnish MP  Teuvo Hakkarainen  will join his party colleague Laura Huhtasaari in Belgium, where they will form an alliance with Italy’s  Matteo Salvini  who is spearheading an ultra-right alliance.
 Hakkarainen has had many run-ins with the law and is  no stranger to controversy . Last year a court found him  guilty of sexual assault  against a fellow MP during a Finns Party Christmas event at the Parliament.
 Hakkarainen has a record of seven criminal convictions since 1985, for offenses including chopping down trees illegally while drunk, stealing silverware and wine from a church, drink driving, speeding and  incitement against an ethnic group  for anti-Muslim comments on Facebook in 2016.
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 Teuvo Hakkarainen. Jarno Kuusinen / AOP
 Former Yle journalist and National Collation Party politician  Petri Sarvamaa , 58, will also return to his seat in the EU legislature. Sarvamaa, who supports Finland's Nato membership, said he wants to intensify European cooperation on matters of security and integration.
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 Petri Sarvamaa. Mathieu Cugnot / EP
 NCP politician  Henna Virkkunen , 46, will also continue as an MEP for a second term. Like Sarvamaa, she backs Finland applying for membership in Nato and wants to see the EU work towards an energy union.
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 Henna Virkkunen. Jarno Tiihonen / Yle
 Sixty-year-old  Sirpa Pietikäinen  of the NCP also renewed her mandate in the Parliament, where she has served since 2008 when she replaced  Alexander Stubb  following his appointment as Finland's foreign minister.
 First elected to the national parliament in 1983, the veteran MP briefly left politics after being caught driving under the influence in 2003.
 Story continues after photo
 Sirpa Pietikäinen. Yle
 Mauri Pekkarinen , 71, a ten-term Centre Party parliamentarian and thrice a former minister, also won a seat in the European Parliament on Sunday. His nickname in Finnish politics is "The Parliament Terrier," and is also an avid long-distance runner.
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 Mauri Pekkarinen. Jussi Nukari / Lehtikuva
 Pekkarinen will be joined by fellow Centre Party member  Elsi Katainen , 52, representing the electoral district of Northern Savonia (formerly Kuopio). Katainen's family owns a dairy farm.
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 Elsi Katainen. Jarno Kuusinen / AOP
 Former reporter, 42-year-old  Silvia Modig  of the Left Alliance also nabbed a seat.
 Her election platform called for the EU to step up efforts to prevent interstate tax evasion. Modig has also made efforts to raise awareness of youth marginalisation, saying she was also at risk of falling on the fringes of society when growing up.
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 Silvia Modig. Nella Nuora / Yle
 Another former journalist,  Nils Torvalds , 73, of the Swedish People’s Party, also hung onto his seat in the EU Parliament as a representative of the Swedish People's Party.
 A former member of the Finnish Communist Party, Torvalds has called for the bloc to streamline research and innovation policy. His son Linus Torvalds may, however, be more well known around the world, as he was the creator of the open-source computer operating system Linux.
 Nils Torvalds. Derrick Frilund / Yle

Meet Finland's 13 freshly-elected Europarliamentarians


Summary: The new banknotes to be introduced on Tuesday come with enhanced security features.

Brand new 100- and 200-euro banknotes will start circulating in Finland and other eurozone member countries on Tuesday, according to the Bank of Finland.
 The introduction of the new banknotes marks the completion of the upgraded Europa series, with revamped 5, 10, 20 and 50 euro banknotes already in circulation. There is no  500-euro banknote  in the series.
 Enhanced security features
 "The bank notes make use of advanced technology. The new security features ensure we continue to stay several steps ahead of  counterfeiters ," said  Päivi Heikkinen , head of Bank of Finland’s Payment Systems department.
 According to officials, the 100- and 200-euro notes include a satellite hologram with small euro symbols floating around the number and an upgraded version of the emerald green digits with euro symbols embedded in the numerals.
 The notes are sturdier and more durable than the previous series, so they don’t have to be replaced as often, according to Bank of Finland officials. They are also designed to be narrower to fit better in people’s wallets and reduce wear and tear.
 All old euro notes will remain legal tender in the eurozone and don’t have to be exchanged for new notes.

New 100- and 200-euro notes go into circulation


Summary: Someday, the process could help reduce or eliminate the reliance on fossil fuels, according to the researcher.

One day, it may be possible to fuel vehicles with biodiesel made with blue-green algae, according to doctoral student  Mikael Jämsä , who researches molecular plant biology at the University of Turku.
 Jämsä extensively studied the topic for his doctoral dissertation and said that converting algae into biodiesel would also help clean wastewater.
 He examined how quickly tiny algae and cyanobacteria — commonly referred to as blue-green algae — are able to bind nutrients from wastewater and how well certain types of algae are suited to produce bio fuels.
 "We did this during the first stage of our research," Jämsä said.
 At the beginning of this year, the  EU Commission scolded Finland  over shortcomings in the country’s water conservation efforts — particularly in respect to limiting fertiliser in runoff from agricultural activity.
 Increased levels of nutrients like phosphorous or nitrates either used in fertilisers or originating from poor waste treatment in farming, can accelerate plant and algae growth in bodies of water in a process called eutrophication.
 Second phase
 During the next phase of the study, Jämsä examined which types of wastewater was suitable for cultivation of the types of algae which are best at producing bio fuel — as well as clean up the wastewater itself.
 "The best alternative we found was in municipal wastewater," he said, explaining that the algae are removed from wastewater systems — then the algae's fat is separated and extracted. This removed fat is then converted to fuel.
 "You can use the biodiesel 'as-is' in things like vehicle engines," he said.
 Some of the types of algae Jämsä examined included the infamous blue-green algae which appear in varying amounts on Finland's coastlines and waterways every summer. But the researcher said the best results for biodiesel production were found in green algae.
 "The blue-green algae are not as effective as green algae because the carbohydrates in the blue-green algae are more easily converted into bio-ethanol, while the fats in green algae are more readily converted to biodiesel," he explained.
 More research needed
 Similar studies on converting the fats in algae into biodiesel have been carried out around the world, including in southern Europe, the US and other countries in warmer climates.
 In Finland, Jämsä said the topic has been studied by the Technical Research Centre VTT and at the Tampere University of Technology.
 However despite the widespread research, Jämsä said that he's not aware of any country which has started using algae in the production of biodiesel because of challenges involved in collecting algae and converting its fats into fuel.
 "At the moment, it is not viable from an economic and energy-efficiency perspective," he said.
 However, if and when large-scale production of algae-based biodiesel does become viable, it could help end the world's reliance on fossil fuels. But Jämsä said a good deal more research needs to be done before that happens.
 Jämsä's  doctoral thesis , "Improving the efficiencies of photoautotrophic biofuel production: from biomass to biocatalysts" was published by Turku university on Monday.

Finnish researcher looks to blue-green algae for biodiesel production


Summary: Celebrations of Finland’s Ice Hockey World Championship dominated newspapers on Tuesday morning.

Finnish daily  Helsingin Sanomat (HS)  carried a multi-page feature on the massive celebrations that lit up Helsinki on Monday night, following Finland’s gold medal win over Canada 3-1 at the Ice Hockey World Championships in Bratislava on Sunday.
 According to HS, 50,000 people gathered in Helsinki’s Kaisaniemi Park for a free concert and festivities featuring the new reigning world champion team the Lions ( Leijonat ), Finnish President  Sauli Niinistö  and vocalist  Paula Vesala  who sang a rendition of "Finlandia," an unofficial Finnish anthem composed by Sibelius in 1899.
 HS wrote that when the Lions team arrived in Kaisaniemi, the crowd started cheering and chanting “ Mörko ” for Team Finland captain  Marko “Mörkö” Anttila  who scored two goals in the match. Team Finland coach  Jukka Jalonen , goalkeeper  Kevin Lankinen  and player  Kaapo Kakko  also received boisterous cheers from the crowd.
 “You are dear, golden brothers. You have just made Finnish sports history. These matches will not be forgotten,” said Niinistö as he addressed the crowd, writes HS. Niinistö also joked about the fact that team captain Anttila’s popularity has surged so much that many people have suggested he should be the country’s president. Niinistö went on to say that thankfully Sunday night's amazing win didn’t take place before the presidential elections.
 Story continues after photo.
 Nearly 50,000 people gathered in Kaisaniemi Park to celebrate Team Finland's win. Seppo Samuli / Lehtikuva
 And back to business, temporarily
 On a political note,  HS also reports that Social Democratic Party leader Antti Rinne , who's leading government formation talks, said negotiations on reaching a financial framework for the new government are coming together.
 He spoke with the daily late Monday night at Helsinki’s House of Estates, where politicians convened throughout the evening. According to Rinne, "about ten questions" still need to be answered (he wouldn’t elaborate on them) but said that the incoming government's programme should be ready by Wednesday night as "revenue and expenditures are in balance."
 And back to the celebrations
 Tabloid  Iltalehti  also ran extensive coverage of festivities on Monday following Finland's hockey victory.
 One of the paper's quirkier features was a piece about how all of the churches in Helsinki chimed their bells at 4 pm on Monday to welcome the winning team who'd just landed at Helsinki Airport on their return from the match in Bratislava. According to Iltalehti, the idea came from Helsinki vicar  Juha Rintamäki .
 Finland's ice hockey win and the ensuing festivities also caught the attention of regional Finnish dailies, including  Lapin Kansa , the main newspaper of Lapland.
 One of its lead stories was headlined: "Marko Anttila’s father knows how his son will calm down following the championship buzz: 'He will disappear to the cottage, turn off his phone, and heat up the sauna.'"
 According to the paper, who interviewed Anttila's father, even the captain of Team Finland needs to take it easy and remain humble in order to maintain work-life balance.

Tuesday’s papers: Hockey, hockey and hockey!


Summary: Stora Enso's Oulu Mill will be converted into a facility which manufactures packaging board.

Finnish-Swedish forest industry firm Stora Enso has confirmed that it is shedding 365 jobs at its Oulu Mill, following the conclusion of co-determination talks with unions.
 The company had announced plans to cut  as many as 400 jobs  at the mill in March.
 Meanwhile, the company said it will invest around 350 million euros to convert the mill into a packaging board factory, according to CEO  Karl-Henrik Sundström .
 "The conversion of Oulu Mill will enable Stora Enso to further improve its position in the growing packaging business and take a major step forward in its transformation," Sundström said in a press release issued Tuesday.
 The type of packaging board that will be made at Oulu Mill, called kraftliner, is used to store food products and in heavy duty packages, according to the firm.
 Cuts finalised by end of 2020
 The firm said after the restructuring is complete, the mill will employ around 180 people. As of last March, the facility had around 400 employees.
 Stora Enso said the looming job cuts will be carried out by the end of 2020 and that the company would provide support to those who lost their jobs.
 A maximum of 20 percent of the layoffs will be managed through pension arrangements, according to Stora Enso's paper division executive vice president  Kati ter Horst .
 "We will be working closely together with other Stora Enso locations, the city of Oulu and other stakeholders to support in re-employment for those employees who will not have a position in the new organisation. Our support will include outplacement services as well as individual and group trainings for re-employment. We will also offer financial support for employees starting up their own companies," ter Horst said in the release.

Paper firm Stora Enso confirms 365 job cuts in Oulu


Summary: From January to April, 980 fewer children were born than for the same period the previous year, new data show.

During the first four months of the year, 14,647 children were born in Finland, 980 fewer than for the corresponding period in 2018, according to preliminary data released by Statistics Finland on Tuesday.
 This figure is in keeping with the overall trend of  a declining birthrate during the past few years .
 For January to April, the number of births was 3,825 lower than the number of deaths, which totaled 18,472 -- this is 1,287 fewer than for the same time period one year earlier.
 Overall population growth
 On the other hand, Finland's population increased by 833 people during the January-April period, says the number crunching agency, bringing Finland's total population to 5,518,752 at the end of April.
 Statistics Finland reports that the reason for population growth was migration gain from abroad, since immigration exceeded emigration by 5,050.
 According to the preliminary data, 9,189 persons immigrated to Finland from abroad and 4,139 persons emigrated from Finland.
 The number of immigrants was 76 lower and the number of emigrants 792 lower than for the corresponding period during the previous year. In total, 2,094 of the immigrants and 2,741 of the emigrants were Finnish citizens during the first four months of the year.

Deaths outstrip births in Finland during first quarter


Summary: Police said they are investigating the tweet as an ethnic agitation offence and aim to wrap up the probe in a few weeks.

Helsinki police have launched a preliminary investigation into  a tweet shared and later deleted by the youth wing  of the nationalist Finns Party during the European Parliament election campaign.
 Helsinki police investigation lead Chief Inspector,  Pekka Hätönen , said that the department decided to begin the probe a few days ago.
 "We discussed the matter with a prosecutor on Friday. We decided to begin the investigation," Hätönen told Yle.
 The tweet depicted an immigrant family and bore the text, "Vote for the Finns Party if you don’t want Finland’s future to look like this."
 Last week, Finns Party youth arm deputy chair  Toni Jalonen  owned up to posting the tweet, which fired up social media.
 Police considering two suspects
 Hätönen said that investigators have two suspects under consideration. One is the individual who posted the tweet, while the other suspect commented on it.
 "In practice it’s a pretty straightforward investigation. We will question two people," the police chief remarked, adding that the offence is being investigated as ethnic agitation.
 Finns Party chair  Jussi Halla-aho  previously said that the party’s youth organisation is a small group who "are in the wrong party".
 This year the youth arm received 115,000 euros in state support. Following the youth wing member's tweet, the Ministry of Education and Culture - which oversees that funding - has said that it is considering what action to take. Ministries have the discretion to withhold funding for a group they support if it's found that the organisation has broken the law.
 The youth wing has since said that the tweet was "ill-advised" and "thoughtless". Police said that they hoped to wrap up the investigation in a few weeks.
 Several of the party's politicians, including Halla-aho, have been suspected or  convicted of hate speech  in the past.

Police launch criminal probe into Finns Party youth wing tweet


Summary: Police said on Tuesday that they will be keeping a keen eye out for underage drinking as school closes for the summer.

Police said in a statement on Tuesday that they would be cooperating with youth- and social workers in a bid to curb under-age drinking and drug use as students gather to celebrate  the end of the school year . They will also focus on adults procuring drugs and alcohol for minors as well as cases where young people are suspected of disruptive behaviour and vandalism.
 Officers will be keeping an eye on areas where young people like to congregate, such as city centres, parks and marketplaces. They will also attempt to track locations where young people have agreed to gather on social media.
 Police have intensified monitoring of young people’s activities at end-of-term festivities since 2010. Officials have filed between as many as 1,200  child welfare notifications  and confiscated up to 2,500 litres of alcoholic beverages during the annual merrymaking.
 However according to police sources, the number of alcohol-related offences and child welfare reports has declined in recent years.
 Police: Parents, answer your phones
 Meanwhile the National Police Board called on parents to answer calls from unfamiliar numbers during the weekend, since they might be coming from the police or youth workers, especially on Saturday.
 In previous years, authorities have observed that many children and young people use the occasion to try alcohol for the first time. They noted that since it is not always possible to predict the effect it will have on first-time drinkers, booze consumption can increase the risk of alcohol poisoning.
 "An inebriated child or teen also runs the risk of becoming a victim of crime, as well as suffering harm from narcotics," Police Board inspector  Ari Järvenpää  said in a statement on Tuesday.

Police step up youth supervision as school term ends


Summary: Helsinki deputy mayor Nasima Razmyar described the historic Havis Amanda statue in the city harbour as "fragile".

Party-goers  marking significant events such as Finland’s Ice Hockey World Cup win  on Sunday night need to find a new place to celebrate, says  Nasima Razmyar , Helsinki Deputy Mayor responsible for culture and leisure activities.
 On Tuesday, Razmyar tweeted her suggestion and warned that the fragile 111-year-old  Havis Amanda  statue is in danger of sustaining damage.
 "It has been lovely to follow the festivities following the championship gold and people's joy. Many people have embraced Manta, however Manta is already 111 years old and very fragile. The statue as well as the revellers are in danger. We need to come up with another location for the next gold medal celebration," Razmyar wrote.
 Thousands of revelers gathered around the statue on Sunday, with many jumping into the surrounding fountain, while others also clambered onto the depiction of a nude female created by sculptor  Ville Vallgren .
 Tampere's Central Square fountain suffers damage
 In Tampere, Finland's second largest city outside of greater Helsinki, the fountain in Central Square suffered from festivities on Sunday night when a small piece of the fountain valued at thousands of euros disappeared.
 Tampere Art Museum curator  Aki Silvennoinen  told Tampere daily newspaper Aamulehti that the piece likely came off when hockey fans climbed to the top of the fountain.

Helsinki deputy mayor appeals to revellers: Stop climbing historic statue


Summary: The women told Yle that the younger detainee was imprisoned at the age of 17.

Two women living in an Isis camp in Syria say that two Finnish men are being held in an Isis prison. The revelations emerged when Yle foreign correspondent  Antti Kuronen   interviewed five women during a visit to the al-Hol camp  run by the extremist group Isis.
 One of the women said that her brother had been imprisoned. "I know that my brother is in prison, but I don’t know where. I have tried to find out but I don’t know where he is," the woman said.
 Another woman, Sanna , said that a younger Finnish man was also being held in detention. "Kurds attacked a building and grabbed the boy. He is still in prison. He was 17 years old when he was taken. He wasn’t fighting but had been at home when they barged in and took him prisoner," she explained.
 Sanna noted that the younger man had been held one year ago and is now 18 years old.
 "The brother of the woman I interviewed had apparently gone to Syria independently and voluntarily, but according to information obtained by Yle, the other - who is now 18 - came to Syria with his parents when he was 13 or 14," journalist Kuronen said.
 Finland’s security and intelligence police Supo declined to comment on the number of Finnish Isis prisoners or their circumstances.
 Little known about prison conditions
 Foreign men detained by the extremist group are held in closely-guarded prisons, where estimates put the number of foreigners at more than 1,000.
 Not much is known about the conditions at these facilities. However Kuronen gained some insight into the situation during an interview 18 months ago with a European man who'd been imprisoned by Isis at a security services facility while working on a documentary about Raqqa in northeast Syria.
 "The man was brought in, hooded and chained, from some distant prison. He was made to sit in front of me before they took the hood off. It was completely different from the camp where the women I interviewed are," Kuronen recounted.
 "The man said that the prisons have a kind of mini-caliphate, so people are probably from all over Europe, the former Soviet Union, North Africa and elsewhere," he added.
 No trials for foreigners yet
 So far, no foreigners have been put on trial in Syria. The local administration run by Syrian Kurds would like to deport prisoners back to their homelands.
 However trials are held for Syrians, and convictions are being handed down. A large number of locals found innocent have also been freed. The Kurdish administration would like to establish an international tribunal in the area, so they can try foreigners.
 "The Kurdish view is that these people have come from Europe and elsewhere to terrorise the area. And when the war is over the Kurds will end up having to look after them," Kuronen noted.
 Iraq has offered to set up trials for all foreigners involved with Kurdish SDF troops and imprisoned in Syria. Four French nationals who belonged to Isis were sentenced to death in Iraq last Sunday. US-backed forces had originally detained the men in Syria.
 On Tuesday, Iraq handed down capital punishments to an additional two French citizens held by Isis.
 Yle’s A-studio discussion programme will consider the fate of Finnish women and children languishing in Isis camps on Tuesday evening from 9.00 pm (in Finnish). The broadcast can be viewed on Yle TV1 or online on Yle Areena. Guests will include caretaker Interior Minister  Kai Mykkänen , Turku University international law professor   Outi Korhonen , Save the Children Finnish director  Riitta Hyytinen  as well as Yle journalist Antti Kuronen.

Two Finnish men in Isis prisons in Syria, according to Isis brides


Summary: The city says the planned history museum will be a "museum of the future."

Kulttuuri- ja taidetapahtumat ja -näyttelyt

Museot, näyttelyt sekä historiallisten paikkojen ja rakennusten suojelu

By the end of the next decade, the Turku Castle area is set to become a bustling museum zone as plans are underway to build a new Museum of History near the castle and the Forum Marinum Maritime Centre by the Aura River.
 The museum is due to be completed in 2029 to coincide with Turku's 800th anniversary. The Turku City Board unanimously agreed on the location of the museum at a meeting on Monday. The next step is to prepare the project plan.
 The interactive museum will showcase the history of both Turku and Finland, and is currently estimated to cost 26.2 million euros.
 Authorities have zeroed in on the exact location for the museum — the plot now used by shipping company Viking Line as a car check-in area. The company will relocate the facility when the joint terminal of Tallink Silja and Viking Line is ready.
 Turku city council originally devised the plan to establish the Museum of History as part of Finland's centenary anniversary celebrations in 2017.

"Interactive" Museum of History to be built near Turku's medieval castle


Summary: Finland could see a new cabinet by week's end, alleged police power abuse and Finnish schools miss out on cheap veg.

Helsingin Sanomat’s  political analyst Marko Junkkari speculates  that 18 government ministers will form Finland's new cabinet as government formation talks wind down this week.
 A cabinet of this size would give the Social Democratic party seven ministerial portfolios, the Centre Party five, the Greens three, the Left Alliance two and the Swedish People’s Party one government post.
 HS pegs Greens party chair  Pekka Haavisto  as Finland’s next foreign minister and predicts Left Alliance leader  Li Andersson  could nab the health and social services top job.
 Helsinki policeman indicted for misuse of power
 HS also  runs a story  about a case regarding alleged misuse of police power, denting Finland’s reputation  as one of the world’s least corrupt counties .
 The prosecutor has charged a Helsinki police officer with dereliction of duty after he allegedly requested money from the parents of a teen who uploaded a video on YouTube of him removing a man from Helsinki’s Central Railway Station.
 The family said the officer and his partner requested an after-hours meeting at Pasila station where they each requested 1,000 euros in compensation, having earlier threatened the boy’s mother over the phone that her son could face two years in jail or a 10,000-euro fine if they pursued the case. The following day the officer sent the mother an email including his bank details.
 In his closing statements, the officer, who was also indicted for unlawfully accessing information from police databases, accused the parents of ‘systematic lying.’
 Helsinki District Court will hand down its decision in the case in a few weeks.
 Finnish schools fail to fill plate with subsidised veg
 Most municipalities in Finland have missed out on an EU fruit and veg subsidy for schools, according to local news conglomerate Uutissuomalainen, reports  Hufvudstadsbladet .
 In the 2017-2018 term, schools left 90 percent of a 1.6-million-euro fruit and vegetable subsidy on the table. While schools were thirstier for the EU’s school milk scheme, Finland only used half of its allotted dairy subsidy, totalling 3.8 million euros, according to the Finnish Food Authority.
 The Finnish Glasshouse Growers’ Association said few local authorities seemed to be aware of the existence of EU subsidies for school meals.

Wednesday’s papers: New cabinet takes shape, police power and Finnish schools miss out


Summary: The most popular physical activities included cycling and jogging - but walking and going to the gym topped the list.

The vast majority of Finnish residents responding to a survey said they are regularly physically active, according to a fresh survey on exercise habits.
 However, the remainder - about 20 percent - said they haven't gotten any exercise at all in the past year.
 Results of a study  published last summer found that on average, adults in Finland spend nearly nine waking hours each day either sitting or lying down, and kids are sedentary about eight hours a day.
 The survey - commissioned by the Research Institute for Olympic Sports (Kihu), Research Centre for Physical Activity and Health (Likes) and the University of Jyväskylä - queried more than 3,200 residents between the ages of 15-74 about their activity levels.
 The survey found that walking was the most popular, while 82 percent of respondents said they work out regularly or set aside time to take part in outdoor activities.
 Working out at the gym was the second-most common way people said they stay active.
 Yoga for women, e-sports for men
 In addition to walking and going to the gym, other popular forms of exercise included cycling, swimming, skiing and jogging.
 There were differences between men and women in terms of the types of activities they pursue, however.
 Female respondents commonly said they participate in group activities like yoga and dance classes, while males said they preferred team sports and were more likely to be members of sporting clubs.
 Around 40 percent said they would like to try out new activities, for example women said they're curious about yoga while men often said they'd like to try e-sports.

Majority in Finland exercise regularly - but 20% don't at all


Summary: Yle meteorologists are carefully optimistic that the mercury could reach 20C on Saturday, rising to 25C next week.

Summery conditions could stage a comeback in some parts of Finland on Saturday, but it is expected to be windy across the country over the weekend, according to Yle meteorologists.
 Most of Finland has seen unsettled conditions all week, but a possible break in the cloud cover could be in store on Saturday, which is graduation day across the country.
 “It’s possible that the clouds will blow over by Saturday, giving the sun a chance to shine in southern and central Finland,” Yle meteorologist  Joonas Koskela  said.
 More rain, too
 A low pressure area will, however, still hang over Lapland on Saturday, bringing scattered showers to northern areas. Another band of rain is moving in from Sweden to western Finland on Saturday.
 Up north temperatures on Saturday will hover between 5-10 degrees Celsius and range from 15-20 degrees in central and southern parts.
 Weather forecasters said they expect temperatures to warm up next week, possibly to Finland’s elusive 25-degree-Celsius heat threshold, should predictions come true.

Finland could reach 25C 'heat threshold' next week


Summary: As Estonia prepares to slash booze taxes, industry advocates in Finland are concerned business could head south.

Estonia will reduce taxes on alcoholic beverages sold in the country by 25 percent on 1 July, in an effort to keep Estonians from travelling to buy cheaper booze in neighbouring Latvia.
 Nearly two years ago, Estonia raised alcohol taxes by a whopping 70 percent, aiming to reduce alcohol-related problems in the country. The move reportedly helped to reduce alcohol consumption levels in the country but also stemmed the flow of tourism from Finland and cut into state coffers.
 At the moment, a 24-pack of Karjala-brand Finnish beer costs 15.99 euros at a shop in the port of Tallinn while an eight-pack of the same beverage costs 14.72 euros at state-alcohol monopoly Alko in Finland.
 Many Estonians - as well as people visiting from Finland - simply began travelling further south to Latvia to buy cheaper alcohol.
 According to news outlet  Bloomberg , Latvia is watching developments in Estonia very closely and may well cut booze taxes after its northern Baltic neighbour does.
 Managing director of the Finnish Grocery Trade Association (PTY),  Kari Luoto , said Finland needs to react to Estonia's booze tax reforms, because he thinks Finns will increasingly head to Estonia rather than buy it at home.
 "[Following the tax increase] Estonia lost a third of their alcohol tax revenue last year, mainly to Latvia. There are clear parallels to Finland, where alcohol taxes have been raised two years in a row," Luoto said.
 Booze tax affect imports, but not travel plans
 Finland's Federation of the Brewing and Soft Drinks Industry  agrees , and has told lawmakers involved in government formation talks to refrain from raising taxes, according to business newspaper Kauppalehti.
 Finnish travellers imported the equivalent of 7.1 million litres of pure alcohol to Finland last year, according to the Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), a slight increase compared to the previous year, when the figure stood at 6.9 million litres.
 THL senior researcher  Thomas Karlsson  said there is a clear link between the price of booze and how much of it Finnish travellers bring home.
 "When Estonia raised the tax on beer by 70 percent in July 2017 [personal] imports clearly dropped," Karlsson said.
 However, he said he doesn't anticipate a deluge of Finns heading to Estonia in search of cheaper alcohol following the tax cut, saying that alcohol has played a significantly smaller role for Finnish international travellers over the past 15 years.

Finnish trade sector worries about looming booze tax cuts in Estonia


Summary: The young delegates will discuss pressing issues in the week-long event that will culminate on World Environment Day.

Nearly 200 school children and 90 teachers from around the world poured into the North Karelian region of eastern Finland for the World Summit of Students for Climate 2019 (WSSC) on Wednesday. The event aims to include  young voices in the climate change conversation , challenge the  Paris Climate Accord  of 2016 and vote on a joint agreement.
 The first half of the week-long event will take place in the city of Joensuu and the municipality of Liperi in North Karelia before moving to Helsinki, where the students will declare their climate agreement on 5 June — World Environment Day. Finnish President  Sauli Niinistö  is the patron of the summit.
 Finnish educator at the helm
 The main organiser of the summit is ENO (Environment Online) Schoolnet — a global school network and web community for sustainable development — founded by  Mika Vanhanen , a primary school teacher in North Karelia, in 2000. To date, around 10,000 schools from almost 160 countries have participated in its activities.
 Story continues after photo
 Finnish teacher Mika Vanhanen founded a global web community for environmental issues. Jouki Väinämö / Yle
 "This campaign challenges schools around the world to commit to the goal of drawing out three million tonnes of CO2 by 2026 through initiatives like planting trees in areas where they are most needed," Vanhanen explained.
 100 million trees planted
 ENO's most-lauded initiative was encouraging schools from around the world to plant trees — they met a goal of planting 100 million trees in 2017. In the same year, the organisation developed a plan for an international climate conference for school students.
 "Together, we want to find solutions that kids can incorporate into their own everyday lives. Through schools, climate awareness can spread to homes and other communities.  Climate strikes  by pupils are already a visible phenomenon but we need other initiatives, too," Vanhanen said.
 In Finland, the project is backed by several ministries in addition to the cities of Helsinki and Joensuu. Apart from President Niinistö, the presidents of France and Slovenia have also expressed their support for this summit.
 The 14-17-year-olds participating in the World Summit of Students for Climate Change have carried out preliminary groundwork in their own countries. At the meeting, they will vote on a joint statement and agree on future action to mitigate climate change.

School kids from nearly 70 countries in Finland to discuss climate change


Summary: An unexpected drop in private consumption could signal trouble for the next government's plans.

Finland's economy grew more slowly than expected in the first part of the year, mostly due to a dip in private consumption. If the trend keeps up, Finland's next government could have a hard time financing its proposed economic blueprint.
 According to preliminary data released by Statistics Finland on Wednesday, gross domestic product (GDP) adjusted for working days grew by 1.2 percent in the January through March period, compared with a year earlier.
 Growth from the previous quarter was just two-tenths of a percent.
 The figures represent quite a drop from those predicted by Statistics Finland just a few weeks earlier, when it projected that GDP growth in the early part of the year at 2.2 percent. According to Wednesday's figures, GDP growth was actually a full percentage point lower.
 "A major factor in explaining this seems to be private consumption, which shrank since the end of last year and compared to a year earlier," Danske Bank's chief economist  Pasi Kuoppamäki  told the Finnish News Agency STT.
 In January through March, private consumption declined by 1.2 percent from the previous quarter and by 0.6 percent from a year earlier. Kuoppamäki said that areas such as retail sales and automotive sales are showing downward trends.
 "Households have been slightly cautious. We know that the employment situation has been reasonably good, the wage level rose in the first quarter by 2.5 percent and therefore household purchasing power has been rising steadily," he notes.
 Gov programme assumes "normal growth"
 Social Democratic Party chair  Antti Rinne , who is wrapping up negotiations on forming a new cabinet, said on Tuesday that the next government will expand permanent expenditures by around 1.2 billion euros annually. Rinne said the boost in spending will be bankrolled by employment measures, tax elements and reappropriations as well as selling off state ownership.
 Rinne predicted that as long as growth conditions remain normal, the state will not take on extra debt and employment will reach 75 percent during the next four-year legislative term.
 According to Statistics Finland, that rate stood at 71.2 percent in April.
 As Kuoppamäki sees it, these latest figures throw cold water on Rinne's predictions.
 "GDP growth is clearly below the level that was expected," he said.
 In an economic forecast last month, the Finance Ministry predicted that private consumption would continue to grow strongly this year, a prospect that now looks unlikely.
 "This underlines the fact that the government negotiations must bolster private consumption," Kuoppamäki said.
 Rinne was expected to announce the status – and possible conclusion – of government formation talks on Wednesday afternoon.

Danske Bank: Modest GDP growth a challenge for new cabinet


Summary: Kela is warning physicians about rising consumption of strong painkillers, fearing a US-style opioid crisis here.

Finland's Social Insurance Institution (Kela) is concerned that some physicians may be prescribing strong painkillers known as opioids on flimsy pretexts. Public health authorities fear that a drug crisis like that ravaging the United States could also develop in Finland.
 Health insurance-reimbursed purchases of the powerful pain medication oxycodone (also sold in Finland as Oxanest, OxyContin and Oxynorm) have risen significantly in Finland in recent years.
 During the summer and autumn, Kela will send out letters to those doctors and dentists who have prescribed the powerful opioids oxycodone or fentanyl to patients other than those suffering from cancer or in hospice care.
 The letters will be sent to around 7,000 doctors and dentists, urging them to be cautious in prescribing strong opioids due to the risk of addiction.
 Not seeking "guilty parties"
 "The intention is not to seek out guilty parties or to say that someone had done something wrong," Kela Research Manager  Leena Saastamoinen  told the news agency STT. There are more than 22,000 doctors in Finland.
 Kela officials are worried by the example of the opioid crisis in the US, where strong opioids have been prescribed on dubious grounds. many patients have become addicted to these strongly habit-forming pharmaceuticals, and the number of overdoses has spiked. More than 200,000 people died in the US from overdoses related to prescription opioids between 1999 and 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
 "In Finland, too, there has been a significant increase in oxycodone purchases reimbursed by health insurance in recent years," Saastamoinen noted.
 Kela has sent doctors similar letters of guidance on prescriptions since 1997.
 "In recent years these have been sent on a targeted basis regarding prescriptions of drugs with clearly harmful associations," Saastamoinen explained.
 In 2017, for example, Kela warned physicians against prescribing large quantities of co-codamol pills combining two painkillers, codeine and paracetamol (also known as acetaminophen).

Finnish health officials move to ward off potential opioid crisis


Summary: Norwegian police said they are resuming their search for the body of a Finnish skier missing since January.

With spring's arrival in northern Norway, police said they will continue their search for the last missing Finnish skier of a four-person off-piste ski group  killed by an avalanche on 2 January .
 Norway said it planned to helicopter up to three police officers along with an avalanche rescue dog to the Tamok Valley, where they will also assess current conditions.
 Searchers  found the remains of three members  of the Finnish-Swedish ski group in mid-January, though stormy weather frustrated search efforts at the time in the Tamok Valley.
 The group had been attempting to reach the summit of Blåbärfjellet mountain, a 1442m peak in the Tamok Valley. A fifth member of the group turned back from the mountain prior to the avalanche and alerted local authorities.
 The victims ranged in age from 29 to 36. The Finns were from Swedish-speaking towns in the western Ostrobothnia region.

Norway continues search for last Finnish avalanche victim


Summary: Antti Rinne, who is leading government formation talks, said he hopes to unveil the new cabinet's agenda on Friday.

Social Democratic Party chair  Antti Rinne  said he expects to finalise the next government's programme on Friday.
 Rinne, who has been negotiating with coalition partners since the  conclusion of general elections  last month, said meetings will convene on Friday at Helsinki's historic House of Estates to iron out final details.
 "On Friday we'll address any unresolved issues and make sure everyone is on board with the text, and after that it's all done," Rinne summed up.
 The Finance Ministry is poring over the proposed agenda's figures on Thursday to ensure that numbers add up. Political party representatives involved in government formation talks are meanwhile taking a day off on Thursday, a public holiday as Finland observes Ascension Day.
 The next government plans to expand permanent expenditures by around  1.2 billion euros annually . Rinne has said the boost in spending will be bankrolled by employment measures, tax elements and reappropriations as well as selling off state ownership.

SDP chair: New gov programme ready on Friday


Summary: This spring Swedish-speaking graduates earned higher marks than their Finnish-speaking counterparts.

Students matriculating from Swedish-speaking high schools this spring had an average grade of 4.62 in four compulsory subjects, compared to 4.35 earned by students matriculating from Finnish-speaking high schools or  lukio .
 Swedish-speakers were also more likely to nab the top three grades of  laudatur ,  eximia  or  magna . In both language groups,  young women scored better results on the final exam than young men . However, boys from Swedish-speaking schools on average pulled down better grades than girls educated in Finnish.
 Swedish is the native language of 5.2 percent of the population.
 Language aficionados
 The Finnish National Agency for Education and Matriculation Examination Board told Yle that Swedish-speakers in Finland are used to speaking more than one language and this could explain the small difference in results.
 ”Swedish-speakers tend to be good at Finnish and English, so these are subjects they choose for their final exam,” said  Pamela Granskog  from the Finnish National Agency for Education.
 Swedish-speakers received higher grades than their Finnish-speaking peers in exams for English, Russian, French, German and Spanish.
 Finnish speakers excel in Pisa
 Robin Lundell  from the Matriculation Examination Board said people shouldn’t draw too many conclusions from this year’s matriculation result.
 “But one clear difference is that Swedish speakers do better in the English-language exam,” explained Lundell.
 But when it comes to the results for Pisa (Programme for International Student Assessment), a test that 15-year-olds take in 72 countries and regions, Finnish-speaking youths come out on top.
 The standardised triennial exam tests aims to gauge the literary, mathematical and scientific skills of schoolchildren worldwide—but not foreign language learning.
 ”What Pisa assesses is different from what the matriculation exam measures, so the two aren’t directly comparable. Pisa doesn’t look at knowledge of English, an area in which Swedish-speaking Finns excel,” said Granskog.
 University admittance in Finland requires applicants to pass at least four compulsory subjects, one of which must be the student's native language (Finnish, Swedish or Sami). The others may include one of the following: Finnish or Swedish, a foreign language, mathematics or arts and sciences subjects.
 High school graduation ceremonies will take place across the country this Saturday.
 31 May at 3.26pm: This story was edited to reflect that students are required to sit for an exam in their native language.

Swedish-speaking students outperform Finnish peers in final exam


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

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

Wednesday's papers: Green ministers announced, police resources mulled, author thanks goalie


Summary: Two Finnish people were found dead in Mijas, a minister criticises school plans and more farms are going under.

Several domestic dailies on Friday reported on a grisly find in the Spanish city of Mijas on the Costa del Sol. Locals discovered the dead bodies of a Finnish man and woman in an apartment,  Spanish sources  said.
 Tabloid Ilta-Sanomat quote Spanish papers, which indicated   that neighbours contacted police over a bad smell emanating from the apartment in the Las Lagunas area. Emergency services found the bodies of a 26-year-old woman and a 34-year-old man on arrival.
 One local paper wrote  that a preliminary medical examiner's report suggested drugs may be involved in the deaths. Blood was also found in the apartment hallway, IS reported.
 The relationship between the two deceased people and the Spanish apartment's Finnish owner is not yet clear.
 IS said that autopsies will be performed on the bodies on Friday. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs told IS early on Friday that they had not yet received word of the deaths.
 Minister: "Fund education, not free books"
 The next government, still forming under the leadership of Social Democrat chair  Antti Rinne , vowed on Thursday that compulsory schooling in future would extend from primary education (grades 1-9) through to upper secondary education or vocational school. MPs from the National Coalition Party (NCP), which appears to be heading to the opposition opposed the plan, with caretaker Education Minister  Sanni Grahn-Laasonen  tweeting her criticism of the proposal,  according to Tampere-based daily Aamulehti .
 "It would be more effective to increase support and strengthen daycare and primary education. Fix the foundation first! Fund education, not free books," Grahn-Laasonen tweeted.
 The minister was referring to the required reading and studying materials for upper secondary education, which are known to be  costly for students and their families . Rinne's SDP, the Left Alliance and the Greens all campaigned on a platform of making upper secondary education free, including text books and other learning materials, the paper noted.
 Another NCP MP,  Timo Heinonen  took to Twitter to say that extending compulsory basic education to around the age of 20 "would not be easy".
 AL noted that the outgoing government headed by  Juha Sipilä  slashed Finland's education budget by some 690 million euros, nixing about 250 million from upper secondary education.
 Struggling farms going under
 Iltalehti reported Friday  that many Finnish farms are declaring bankruptcy, according to regional paper Maaseudun Tulevaisuus, as dairy entrepreneurs who invested in their farms in previous years when the price of milk was high are now facing dire straits and having to shutter their gates, in turn pushing cattle-breeders to the brink of their financial resources.
 Agriculture expert  Osmo Autio  from financial firm Wikli Group told IL that he has had to file about one bankruptcy notice per week for failing farms – and that the worst may be to come.
 "Our company's backlog is about 12-13 cases long at the moment, all of them going under. Bankruptcy will be declared by the taxman, creditors or the entrepreneurs themselves," Autio said.
 Autio emphasised that the farms facing closure are not small or badly run businesses; some of the dairy farms seeking financial guidance produce an average yield of more than 10,000 kg of milk products a year.
 IL also wrote that fur farms are in for grim prospects in the future as well, as fur operations are often a side business for farmers.
 Yle News has  reported  on the  woes  of  farmers  for  many years . The price paid to Finnish farmers for raw milk  fell by 12.5 percent  in 2015, a dip caused in part by Russian sanctions on EU products and a fall in consumer spending power.

Friday's papers: Finns found dead in Spain, high school to be compulsory, farms going bankrupt


Summary: The state is stepping in to take control of the books in four financially-beleaguered municipalities.

Four municipalities in Finland have landed on the Finnish state's crisis financial management list, according to a release issued by the Ministry of Finance on Friday. The municipalities are Vehmaa in Southwestern Finland, Kyyjärvi in Central Finland, Honkajoki in the Satakunta region, and Rantasalmi in the Lake Saimaa region.
 One of the four municipalities targeted by the state, Vehmaa was reportedly 1.5 million euros in the red for 2018. Earlier this spring Vehmaa launched a savings programme in an effort to avoid ending up on the financial assessment procedure list.
 According to the Ministry of Finance, the assessment procedure begins if a local government's economic performance has been flailing for more than two years in a row and it lags financially behind other municipalities in the country.
 Rising health care costs cut into budgets
 Rising social and health care expenditures are contributing to the growing costs incurred by municipalities, says the ministry, which published year-end financial statements for 2018 for Finland's municipalities on 31 May.
 The Ministry said that expenses have rapidly grown owing to increased social and health care spending. As a result of increased expenditures, reduced taxes, and growing investments, cash flow for local government operations and investments declined significantly during 2018.
 At the same time, loans by municipal groups grew by approximately 1.34 billion euros, bringing the total amount of municipal loans to nearly 36 billion euros during 2018.

Four municipalities in financial crisis, state steps in


Summary: Finland's first gender sensitivity educators said they want to challenge gender stereotypes.

The work of six newly-certified gender sensitivity trainers involves teaching professionals in the education sector on how to approach and guide children as they navigate puberty and develop their own identities.
 Organised by youth organisation Loisto Settlement, the new trainers work at youth outreach centres such as  Girls' Houses  and other youth support services in cities across Finland, including Rovaniemi, Kemi, Kuopio, Joensuu, Turku and Helsinki.
 Training coordinator  Tatu Tossavainen  from the Loisto Settlement said that gender issues limit, direct and otherwise affect the lives of very many children and teens in Finland. Work is still needed in all sectors, he said.
 Myths in need of busting
 The fluidity of gender and sexuality has emerged as a social talking point in Finland with the rise of LGBTQ activism and the passing of the same-sex marriage law in 2017.
 "Gender sensitivity is not about dissolving genders, but rather about identifying gendered biases in society and trying to affect them so that everyone can live more equally," said volunteer coordinator  Matti Virtasalo  from Kemi. "If a woman wants to work as a dressmaker, that is considered fine and the woman can be happy with her decision. If a man wants to do the same work, and has been told that boys aren't supposed to know how to sew, that is miles away from the thinking on equality that we want to represent," said Virtasalo.
 According to Tossavainen, an idea central to gender sensitivity is to let people be who they are.
 "It is crucial that we recognise the spectrum of gender identities. Outreach work can be gender sensitive whether working with boys, girls or non-cisgender people," Tossavainen said. "We want children to have the best opportunities, unhindered by gender norms."

Finland's first gender sensitivity trainers start work