Summary: Teemu Pukki stands alongside other Finnish footballers Sami Hyypiä and Mikael Forssell in receiving the award.

Finnish footballer  Teemu Pukki  has been formally named August Player of the Month by Britain’s Premier League. The Norwich striker was previously voted player of the month  in a fan poll organised by player associations . However on Friday the League officially dubbed Pukki the month’s best player.
 Pukki, who is playing his first season in the premier league, showed excellent form during fixtures he played in August and scored five goals.
 "I feel really honoured. Of course I believe that I can score goals in the Premier League and hold my own, but this is more than I dared hope for when the season began. A couple of years ago I wouldn’t have believed that I’d be holding this," Pukki said in a statement, referring to the award.
 "I hope I can keep scoring goals. That's the way I help the team the most," he added.
 Last week Pukki demonstrated his accuracy on goal in a match for the Finnish national team when he guided penalty kicks into the net in matches against Greece and Italy.
 Pukki is the third Finn to have nabbed the Premier League Player of the Month award, standing alongside former Finnish football greats  Sami Hyypiä  and  Mikael Forssell .

It’s official: Finland’s Pukki formally named English Premier League August Player of the Month


Summary: Organisers of the annual event, which was due to be held on Sunday, said the risks outweighed the benefits.

Organisers of Helsinki's annual Puppy Parade have cancelled the event due to concerns about the risk of a mysterious canine illness in Norway.
 Symptoms of the disease include severe bloody diarrhoea and the serious malady has reportedly claimed the lives of at least 26 dogs in the Nordic country.
 Last week in the western Finnish region of South Ostrobothnia,  suspicions began to grow  that the canine illness had spread to dogs in the area, after a pet reportedly died within a week of exhibiting similar symptoms.
 The Finnish Food Authority suggested the cause could be any number of acute illnesses, and that the situation is being closely monitored.
 Risk too big
 The three-member Helsinki Puppy Parade association issued an announcement about the cancellation on social media.
 "We are sad to announce that Sunday's parade is cancelled," the group wrote, noting that it had consulted veterinarians and that the risk of the disease spreading was not worth holding the event.
 In previous years, Puppy Parade onlookers created a sort of gate through which dogs and their owners marched, so that audience members had a chance to see each hound up close.
 Earlier this week, organisers of the canine FCI Agility World Championship - scheduled next week in Turku - announced that dogs from Norway were not allowed to participate.

Helsinki Puppy Parade cancelled over fears of mysterious canine illness


Summary: Police and rescue officials were kept busy overnight with accidents and a shooting incident.

In Espoo, an elderly couple died when their detached house burned down late on Friday evening.
 A neighbour in the Lintuvaara district called the rescue department after seeing smoke and flames around 11 pm. When firefighters arrived the house was full of smoke and efforts to resuscitate the residents were unsuccessful. The flames were extinguished by 1 am.
 Police suspect that the fire was started by an electric device in the living room.
 Fire chief  Riku Rantala  said that there were no smoke detectors in the building.
 Young man dies in Karvia crash
 Early Saturday morning, a young man died in a car crash in Karvia, southwest Finland.
 Two men aged around 20 were in the car when it went off a road at high speed around 4 am, snapping a streetlamp pole and a tree. The car was completely destroyed, but one of the men managed to escape and walk to a nearby house to seek help.
 The other man died instantly. Police say it is not yet clear which of them was driving. The road was closed for about an hour.
 Police officer hit by car in Porvoo
 In Porvoo, east of Helsinki, a police officer was struck by a car while on duty late Friday evening. The officer was hospitalised after being hit by a speeder while monitoring traffic.
 The driver was detained and could face charges including grievous bodily injury and endangering traffic.
 "At this point it does not seem that the police officer was injured intentionally," Detective Superintendent  Juhani Vuorisalo  said, adding that the driver was not apparently intoxicated.
 The case has been handed over to Helsinki Police for investigation.
 Window shattered by gunshot in Iisalmi
 Meanwhile police in eastern Finland are investigating a shooting incident in Iisalmi.
 Around 3.30 am, police were alerted to shots being fired in the town's Lippuniemi neighbourhood.
 The shooter fled in a car after shooting in through an apartment window. There were people in the flat at the time. Police say the suspected shooter is in custody, along with the likely weapon.

Three die, several injured in fire and crashes overnight


Summary: According to Statistics Finland, the number of people granted citizenship last year was a quarter less than in 2017.

New data from Statistics Finland indicate that significantly fewer people received Finnish nationality in 2018 compared to the previous year. A total of 9,211 foreign citizens permanently residing in Finland were granted citizenship last year. This is about a quarter less than 2017, when  a record 12,219 applicants  were given Finnish nationality.
 Altogether 1,766 Russian citizens were given citizenship last year, the largest group to gain the right to dual citizenship. This was followed by Somalia, with 856 citizens granted Finnish nationality, and Iraq with 621. Estonians were the fourth-largest group.
 The average age of the people who received Finnish citizenship last year was 28. There were more women than men, with 4,876 women and 4,335 men receiving nationality.
 Statistics Finland also found that 97 percent of applicants granted Finnish passports also retained their former citizenship. At the end of last year, nearly 126,000 permanent residents in Finland held dual citizenship.
 A total of 21,757 dual nationals were born in Finland and were granted nationality in another country and 104,086 were foreign citizens who were granted Finnish nationality. The largest dual citizenship groups were those from Russia, Sweden and Somalia.

Decline in foreign citizens receiving Finnish nationality


Summary: The Finnish Grocery Trade Association says the comprehensive reform of alcohol laws did not boost sales in Finland.

Elinkeinoelämän järjestöt, työnantaja- ja ammattialajärjestöt

Elintarvikkeiden, juomien ja tupakan vähittäiskauppa

Preliminary findings by market research firm Taloustutkimus revealed that alcohol sales in Finnish grocery stores fell between January and August this year. Sales in terms of litres decreased by two percent and in terms of pure alcohol by 1.8 percent.
 Surprisingly, sales were especially low in the summer months. The previous eight months indicate that retail alcohol sales have returned to a downward trend this year. Last year, domestic sales of pure alcohol increased by 0.1 percent.
 "It seems that the comprehensive reform of alcohol laws has not boosted retail alcohol sales in Finland. According to research published in August, traveller imports of beer and lonkero have clearly grown instead," CEO of the Finnish Grocery Trade Association (PTY)  Kari Luoto  said in a statement.
 The new Alcohol Act came into force last year, allowing retailers to sell beverages with up to 5.5 percent of alcohol content such as alco-pops.
 Taloustutkimus conducted the research, which was commissioned by the Finnish Grocery Trade Association (PTY), in September. It is a follow up to studies conducted in 2017 and 2018. The firm collected sales data for January to December from companies affiliated with PTY.
 Other sources included alcohol consumption statistics from the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health (Valvira) and sales statistics from the state-owned alcohol monopoly Alko.

Alcohol sales down this summer


Summary: Efforts to attract foreign labour, a Finnish manufacturer sets up stateside and researchers develop new plastic material.

"Finland should attract more highly skilled, high-paid workers," writes business magazine  Talouselämä , reporting on views put forward by the Finland Chamber of Commerce (FCC).
 The business lobby has called for officials to slash the four-month waiting period for foreign workers to enter the country to one month. The FCC also said it wanted Finland to abandon the practice of  prioritising job applicants who are citizens of an EU member state  or a country that is a part of the European Economic Area.
 Furthermore, the FCC wants to downgrade the government’s 5,800-euro monthly salary requirement for people entering on ‘top performer’ visas to 4,000 euros to help Finnish companies fill positions.
 In addition, the FCC called for all foreign degree students in Finland to automatically gain permanent residency status after graduation.
 Made in USA
 While Finnish manufacturer Nokian Tyres is engaged in  layoff talks in Finland , the company is set to open a large plant in Dayton, Tennessee, located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, reports  Helsingin Sanomat .
 The plant will employ 400 people and produce four million tyres annually, making it one of the most significant Finnish investments in the American market in recent times, according to HS.
 The Finnish company negotiated significant tax breaks with the small rural town whose economy has been struggling.
 CEO  Hille Korhonen  said the company could have expanded production in Russia, which has so far supplied tyres for the US market. The company, however, opted to “minimise risk with greater geographical distribution.”
 Scientists spin faux plastic
 A group of Finnish researchers have developed a material to rival plastic that combines wood fibres and spider silk, writes Swedish-language daily  Hufvusdtadsbladet .
 Aalto University and VTT researchers said the  material was both strong and flexibl e as well as biodegradable, meaning it won’t cause the same  damage to nature as microplastics .
 The spiderweb silk used was, however, not actually taken from spiderwebs. Scientists used bacteria and synthetic DNA to produce it.

Thursday’s papers: Lobbying for foreign labour,  Finnish firm heads to US and spiderweb plastic


Summary: Finance Minister Mika Lintilä called for a ban on beef from Brazil to pressure its government over the Amazon fires.

EU finance ministers wrapped a meeting in Helsinki on Saturday, with the focus on energy taxes and stronger measures to mitigate climate change.
 Hosted by Finance Minister  Mika Lintilä  at Finlandia Hall, the conference began on Friday with resilience to hybrid threats as the main theme. The ministers agreed that the financial sector must beef up its capacity to combat hybrid threats and infrastructure disruptions.
 As it was an informal meeting, no concrete decisions were expected and little information has been released officially.
 Finland, which holds the rotating six-month EU presidency, aimed to focus on economic policies' impact on the climate and environment, with strong backing from Germany, France and others.
 The news agency Reuters cites unnamed top officials as saying on Friday that the EU is considering new energy taxes, including on the aviation sector, to meet its climate targets.
 Scholz: International emissions trading needed
 While the EU has led the global shift towards renewable energy over the past decade or so and established the world's biggest emissions trading system, its energy taxation rules have not been updated in more than 15 years.
 They are "outdated and poorly adapted to climate change challenges and developments in energy policy at EU level," said a draft document discussed in Helsinki, according to Reuters.
 Possible measures listed in the document prepared by the Finnish presidency are higher minimum tax rates on energy, fossil fuel levies and the end of waivers for the air and sea transport sectors.
 German Finance Minister  Olaf Scholz  said "drastic steps" are needed to counter climate change, urging a more international approach on emissions trading.
 "We are currently in a situation where many say 'we'd like to do something on a national level, but no one else is,'" he told DW.
 "We're in the process of finding out how we can limit CO2 consumption in agriculture, small businesses or transport," he added.
 Le Maire: Aviation must contribute more
 His French counterpart,  Bruno Le Maire , called on tougher measures on Europe's airlines, which now enjoy tax exemptions and other waivers to help it compete with those outside the bloc.
 According to Le Maire, the aviation sector must step up and contribute more to climate measures "either with taxes or with the purchase of more allowances" from the EU's emissions trading system.
 Dombrovskis: Energy taxes must be reformed
 At a press conference on Saturday afternoon, the EU's top economic commissioner, former Latvian PM  Valdis Dombrovskis , told reporters that options also included a carbon tax and an overhaul of energy taxation, an area where "EU rules are clearly out of step with the considerable evolution of technology and energy markets over the past 15 years," he said.
 Dombrovskis reiterated "the Commission's view that energy taxation has a key role to play in achieving the Union's climate and environmental objectives".
 "There are a number of possible solutions to address the main challenges we are facing," he said. "Some countries raised the option of aviation taxation, tackling the imbalances between the tax rates of energy products such as diesel and petrol, or promoting the use of renewable energy and increasing energy efficiency."
 He promised that the next Commission will take these all into consideration as it prepares a plan known as the European Green Deal.
 "We must make concrete progress on this issue during the next mandate because we must live up to the promises we have made to Europeans on climate and environmental issues," said Dombrovskis.
 Ambitious targets for reducing carbon emissions by at least 50 percent by 2030 are part of the agenda of the new European Commission, which is to take office in November. Finland argues that in order to achieve EU carbon neutrality by mid-century, the 2030 emissions reduction goal must be tightened  to at least 55 percent .
 Lintilä seeks Brazilian beef boycott
 On Friday, Lintilä called for an EU block on imports of Brazilian beef and perhaps soybeans to put pressure on the Brazilian government to counter wildfires in the Amazon, which are blamed for boosting CO2 levels in the atmosphere.
 Finland, in its capacity as European Council president, has asked EU authorities to "discontinue the import of beef from Brazil," he told reporters.
 He added that he was considering doing the same about soybeans with the aim of "increasing pressure, so the Brazilian government would do something on forest fires."
 Starting next Sunday, EU agricultural ministers will hold an informal meeting in Helsinki to discuss soil carbon sequestration as a way to slow climate change. The ministers are to visit a Finnish farm and a forest management site, hosted by Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Jari Leppä.

EU finance ministers weigh aviation tax, fossil fuel levies in Helsinki


Summary: On Sunday authorities are investigating an apparent killing in Joensuu, a shooting in Järvenpää and a group fight in Salo.

The body of a 26-year-old local man was found early Sunday in the eastern city of Joensuu. Police are investigating the death as a case of manslaughter. There were signs of violence on his body, which was found near the Noljakka school.
 Police have detained two suspects, and are asking for any eyewitnesses to contact them by email (vihjeet.ita-suomi@poliisi.fi) or phone (0295 415 232).
 The police promise more information about the case on Monday morning.
 Shots fired in Järvenpää
 Police in the southern town of Järvenpää are seeking assistance from the public regarding a shooting incident in the city centre on Saturday evening. Several people reported hearing gunshots, but there have been no reports of injury.
 Law enforcement officials say a suspect was detained on Sunday.
 "At the moment it appears to have been a settling of scores between two people," said Police Commissioner  Simo Kauppinen .
 Police carried out searches after 9 pm at flats in the Pajala neighbourhood of Järvenpää, some 40km north of Helsinki.
 Police Commissioner  Jarmo Ojala  said earlier that the case was being investigated as an attempted aggravated assault along with various firearms offences. Police are asking with knowledge of the incident to contact them at vihjeet.ita-uusimaa@poliisi.fi.
 One hospitalised after barroom brawl in Salo
 In Salo, southwest Finland, two young men were detained on suspicion of three counts of assault. Around 1 am, police responded to reports of a large fight outside a nightspot in the town centre.
 Several people said they had been beaten by two young men. Most were only slightly injured but one victim was hospitalised. Police later detained two local men aged around 20 at another bar in connection with the assaults.
 The overnight incidents followed a shooting in Iisalmi and a  police office being struck by a car  in Porvoo the previous night.
 12:50 Updated with police statement that Järvenpää suspect was detained.

Police seek public assistance on Joensuu and Järvenpää incidents


Summary: The Finnish postal service reported problems with online services and deliveries on Sunday.

The state-owned postal and logistics firm says that its Posti.fi web portal was been down from at least 5.30 am to 3:30 pm Sunday due to an IT glitch.
 "The problems were due to a widespread telecommunications problem at Posti's service provider Tieto," Posti's communications director  Ulla Parviainen  told Yle.
 The company announced that its site was back up and running shortly before 4 pm.
 Due to the malfunction, Posti's customer service chat lines and Omaposti services were not working properly. With the online chat lines down, Posti's traditional telephone call service was overloaded.
 Paper routes from memory
 Some customers were calling to enquire about Sunday morning newspaper deliveries, which were delayed in some areas. For instance the leading daily Helsingin Sanomat warned its subscribers of delivery disruptions around 7.30 am.
 The disruptions were apparently due to delivery staff's inability to access subscriber information. However a Posti manager in charge of early deliveries,  Eikka Urpilainen , told the news agency STT around midday that some 95 percent of papers were eventually delivered, as distributors remembered the correct addresses.
 Posti's corporate website, Posti.com, was accessible. There were notifications of delays on its Finnish version but not the English version. The state-owned company's site does not carry any information in the second official national language, Swedish.
 4:10 pm: Updated with news of service being restored.

Posti website back online, newspaper deliveries delayed


Summary: Two young women and two older men have been remanded on suspicion of killing a Turku man at his home.

The District Court of Southwest Finland have remanded two young women and two older men into custody for the murder of a 34-year-old man last weekend.
 The homicide took place at the victim’s private residence in Härkämäki, Turku in southwest Finland, sometime before before 6 pm last Sunday. Härkämäki is in northwest Turku, some 4 km from the city centre.
 Police are investigating the case as murder. They have remained tight-lipped about details such as the method and possible motive, saying only that the victim had been subjected to grievous physical violence.
 Police took the suspects in custody early Monday morning and formally placed them under arrest on Thursday. That was just before the expiration of the maximum four-day period in which suspects can be held without be remanded.
 The detained men are aged 34 and 41, while the women aged 21 and 22.
 The ongoing crime investigation will include interrogations, a forensic investigation and a coroner’s inquest.

Four suspects arrested in murder of 34-year-old Turku man


Summary: Despite recent rain, groundwater levels remain at near-record lows.

After two summers with below-average rainfall, lake water levels are exceptionally low in many parts of Finland, and private wells are running dry.
 For instance, residents around Lake Särkemä near Hämeenlinna estimate that the lake water level is 60 cm below normal.
 Markku Rantti , head of the local Kokkila village association, says some wells in the area only have about 20 cm of water at the bottom.
 Conditions are driest in central Finland, southern Kainuu and North Savo. This is a result of scarce precipitation in July and August. Based on long-term statistics in Finland, such low rainfall levels typically only occur once every 30 years or so.
 "The driest place seems to be around Kuopio," says  Bertel Vehviläinen , chief hydrologist at the Finnish Environment Institute.
 Recent rains will not provide any immediate relief. Rather, regular, plentiful rains are needed through the autumn, at least in central parts of the country, he tells Yle.
 "The worst is if winter comes early"
 "It's raining there now, but that doesn't make it down to the groundwater level. First it fills the surface levels of the soil," Vehviläinen says.
 Before winter begins most areas need 100-200 mm of rain, he estimates. The average monthly rainfall is less than 60 mm. As winter usually begins in November in central Finland, there are only a couple of months left.
 Rain is more effective at replenishing the groundwater in autumn than in summer, as it does not evaporate from the soil due to cooler temperatures. During a snowy winter, though, groundwater aquifers do not refill at all.
 "The worst is if winter comes early. Then the wells will remain dry until next spring," says Vehviläinen.
 Snow is still common in April in most of Finland, even into June in the north.

After two dry summers, lakes and wells running low


Summary: Surveys reveal falloff in foreign languages, dissatisfied daycare staff, anguish over self-image and a frigid forecast.

Finland runs the risk of  foreign language skills narrowing to include only English  and a new focus on proficiency in mathematics in matriculation exams may be to blame, writes largest circulation daily Helsingin Sanomat.
 The backdrop to the HS article is matriculation exams in foreign languages that begin this week, with basic tests taking place on Monday and advanced level exams due on Friday. The paper highlights a survey by the Federation of Language Teachers in Finland, Sukol, which revealed that while educators have nurtured the teaching of English, there have been challenges providing instruction in other languages, especially during upper secondary school.
 The paper points out that student groups for foreign language courses have shrunk by up to half in some upper secondary schools. For learners this may often mean more independent study or commuting to another school that provides instruction in their language of choice.
 "It’s unfortunately quite common," Sukol chair  Sanna Karppanen  told HS. Nearly 60 percent of language teachers said in the survey that when few students sign up for a foreign language course, instruction is then provided by other schools. For example, upper secondary schools in Tampere offer English and German as foreign language options.
 "In practice each school concentrates on [the teaching of] other languages. Timetable-wise they are scheduled so that the classes are either at the beginning or the end of the school day to allow students from other schools to attend," said Tampere’s director of upper secondary schools,  Jorma Suonio .
 The language teachers’ association attributed the decline in the popularity of foreign languages to a shift towards universities emphasising mathematics proficiency in matriculation results. Some language teachers who responded to the survey said that at worst, this could lead to a reduction or even a complete abandonment of basic foreign language studies, Karppanen warned.
 Dissatisfied daycare workers in Espoo
 Tabloid daily Iltalehti turns its focus to Espoo, just northwest of Helsinki, where yet another survey of 700 respondents reveals  daycare personnel who say that they are fed up of a chronic shortage  of permanent staffers as well as qualified substitutes.
 The survey of Finnish- and Swedish-language daycare professionals aimed to unearth information about their working conditions and covered about one-third of the city’s early childhood education workers. According to IL, a recurring theme in survey responses was the fact that the recruitment process failed to produce employees who met the eligibility criteria for permanent and substitute staff. Several wondered about the value placed on childcare work and its future and noted that the pay was too low for the demanding nature of the work.
 Early childhood education professionals named oversized groups as one of three areas that they’d like to address in their work. In addition they mentioned onerous work routines that kept them too busy and created a feeling of inadequacy, while others raised the issue of too much paperwork, cleaning and maintenance tasks.
 Just over 50 percent of respondents worked in early childhood education roles, while 43 percent had childcare duties. Six percent represented other professionals working in the field.
 Social media worsening self-image woes
 Another Sanoma Group paper, this time tabloid daily Ilta-Sanomat also turns to survey data to report on  young people’s concerns about their appearance  as part of a series on the issue. In an online survey of just over 5,000 readers, the paper found that 96 percent of women who responded said that they worried about their appearance, some more than others. Just four in 100 said they never gave their outward appearance a second thought.
 The paper described as "extremely worrying" the fact that up to 40 percent of women in the survey said they fretted about their looks daily, compared to 28 percent of men.
 Young readers in particular seemed to struggle more with the pressure of how they looked, with nearly half of under-20-year-olds saying that concerns about their appearance occupied them on a daily basis. Just one percent said such thoughts did not bother them.
 Young female respondents tended to obsess about different body parts such as breasts, stomachs, thighs and rear ends with insecurity tending to revolve around weight in most cases. However facial features were also a source of distress, most often focusing on the nose and teeth as well as uneven skin and perceived hairiness. Young men on the other hand, tended to worry about their height – or lack thereof.
 IS noted that more than half of women said that social media exacerbated the pressure they felt about their looks – a quarter of male respondents concurred.
 Overnight freeze, black ice and snow
 Last week’s  promises of record heat  have evaporated in the face of  an arctic chill due to descend on Finland  this week, IS writes in another piece. Instead, Finnish residents can expect sub-zero overnight lows, black ice and even snowfall in some areas, according to the Finnish Meteorological Institute FMI.
 "Black ice may appear during the early morning and at night as far as southern Finland after mid-week," duty meteorologist  Hannu Valta  told STT in the IS article.
 Valta said that cold air currents blowing across Finland from the Arctic Sea will cause temperatures to be a few degrees lower than usual. In the south, daytime highs will struggle to rise above 10 degrees Celsius, while in Lapland they will hover around five degrees.
 Winds will subside by Wednesday or Thursday and the clouds will roll back, making for frigid conditions at night and in the early morning. Overnight frost and sub-zero lows may be felt as far as southern Finland too.
 After mid-week, snow or sleet are likely, at least in northern Lapland and possibly even in central Lapland.
 "Snow is especially possible in northern Lapland. I don’t know whether or not it will be enough to stay on the ground, but it’ll be a few centimetres, at least in elevated locations," Valta explained.

Monday's papers: Faltering foreign languages, daycare discontent, appearance angst, Arctic chill


Summary: A leading credit rating agency says economic growth in Finland will be increasingly reliant on household consumption.

Credit rating agency S&P Global Ratings announced in a credit rating analysis dated Friday that it would hold Finland’s credit rating at AA+, with a stable outlook.
 The agency noted that although growth was slowing, it expected that economic activity would still support the labour market. It also projected that economic growth would largely come from domestic consumption, rather than investments.
 "As Finland's economic cycle shifts into a lower gear, we believe that economic growth will come less from investments and exports and rely more on domestic consumption, as the strengthening labour market should revive private consumption and become the key growth driver", the agency's report read.
 Improved exports, more reforms would boost rating
 S&P Global Ratings analysts said they could raise the rating if external metrics such as exports improved, leading to bigger market shares for Finnish exports and in turn longer-lasting government current account surpluses. More reforms to address the country’s declining and ageing workforce would also boost sustainable public finances and could also encourage a better rating, the report added.
 Conversely, factors that could worsen Finland’s rating include failed structural reforms that result in poorer economic growth. In addition, any deterioration in Finland’s fiscal position and possible rising debt could see the rating downgraded.
 Ultimately, the current rating was said to be based on Finland's wealthy economy and "track record of stable, transparent, and effective governance and political institutions."
 "The rating remains constrained, however, by Finland's relatively large external debt, which stems from its extensive pan-Nordic financial system and the resulting significant external financing needs," the report noted.

S&P Global Ratings maintains Finland’s AA+ rating


Summary: Google CEO Sundar Pichai called Finland's infrastructure "supportive and welcoming".

International tech giant Google's CEO  Sundar Pichai  announced at a press conference on Friday that the company would be investing 600 million euros more in its main data centre in Hamina, southern Finland.
 In May  Google pledged a similar amount  to construct and maintain the data centre. Friday's announcement means that the original sum will now double, bringing further jobs to the area, Pichai said.
 The additional spending pledge will bring Google's total investment in the Hamina centre to some two billion euros, out of the company's total renewable energy project budget of 3 billion euros.
 Pichai was joined by Prime Minister  Antti Rinne  at the press conference at the Government Palace overlooking Helsinki's Senate Square.
 The investments will be paid out over 2020.
 Two new wind parks
 Pichai also said Google would be constructing two wind power parks in Finland in response to the increased electricity demands of the Hamina data centre. The wind parks will produce an estimated 250 megawatts of electricity.
 One of the wind power projects will be based in Kainuu, in eastern Finland Pichai said. Google plans to purchase 125 MW of electricity from the upcoming 211.4-MW Piiparinmäki wind power park from Ilmatar Energy.
 The Piiparinmäki park will be constructed in 2019-2020 without government support, and is set to begin energy production in 2020.
 Pichai did not divulge any information on the second wind power park on Friday morning.
 Supportive infra, SAK partnership
 Rinne said that Finland's stability, security and high level of know-how are the top reasons Google has decided to invest so heavily in Hamina. Pichai agreed with the sentiment.
 "We have found Finland to have a very supportive infrastructure, it's very welcoming for us to be able to make investments," Pichai said on Friday. "Our Hamina data centre is our most state-of-the-art data centre, and so we found it easy to invest more and expand and I thank the government for its very supportive policies, which make it possible."
 Pichai also brought up artificial intelligence (AI) multiple times and said he was "impressed" by Finland's focus on training Finland's population in AI.
 Google's philantropic arm, Google.org, will also be awarding the UK-based innovation foundation Nesta with some 1.8 million euros. Nesta will set up partnerships with trade unions in the Nordic countries as well as the Netherlands and Belgium. In Finland the money will be used to fund training programmes in emerging technology to be provided by the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK).
 "The training will be carried out in 30–35 workplaces all over Finland in companies in the industrial, logistics and service sectors,"  SAK said in a press release. .
 "Each training period will last two to four working days. Using innovative methods such as nano learning, gamification, and machine learning tools, the programme will generate robust evidence about what affects learning behavior and motivation."
 European energy
 On Thursday Pichai  wrote in his Google blog  that his company had made its "biggest renewable energy purchase ever", leading the way as the world's largest corporate buyer of renewable energy in the world.
 "This purchase is made up of a 1,600-megawatt package of agreements and includes 18 new energy deals," Pichai wrote. "Together, these deals will increase our worldwide portfolio of wind and solar agreements by more than 40 percent, to 5,500 MW – equivalent to the capacity of a million solar rooftops."
 Google is relying heavily on European electricity production to power its future plans.
 "Almost half (793 MW) of the new renewable energy capacity purchased will be located in Europe, specifically Finland (255 MW), Sweden (286 MW), Belgium (92 MW), and Denmark (160 MW)," Pichai wrote online.
 Other investments will be made in the United States and Chile.
 Giant firm hit by sanctions
 Google's investments in Finland are massive in scale, mirroring the size of penalties imposed for running afoul of various regulators.
 Early in September Google paid 170 million dollars in penalties in the US over illegally gathering data on underage users and distributing it on YouTube.
 Prior to that in March Google coughed up almost 1.5 billion euros after the European Commission found the company had misused its leading position in search engine advertising.
 In July, 2018 the EU fined Google more than 4 billion euros, again for abuse of a leadership position. The record-breaking fine was based on the installation of Google applications on Android phones.
 In 2017 the EU slapped Google with a 2.4 billion-euro fine for manipulating internet searches related to online shopping.

Google investment in Hamina data centre rises to 2bn euros


Summary: Players learn to wield the tools that trolls use as they seek to influence public opinion.

A game developed by Yle’s News Lab team takes users into the dark underbelly of social media information operations, where likes and shares are hard currency for online trolls looking to sow  fear, bias and suspicion .
 Titled "Troll Factory", the game aims to promote digital media literacy, especially among people who don’t consume traditional news, and helps social media users understand how they play a role in spreading false information -- even unintentionally.
 Players learn to wield the tools that trolls use as they seek to influence public opinion: botnets, paid marketing and internet memes in a realistic mobile setting. This gives them an opportunity to reflect on their real-life choices, and to better understand the consequences of their actions.
 Troll Factory combines authentic social media content with game-like simulation that’s personalised based on the user’s choices. Yle News Lab chose the theme – immigration -- based on data-driven background research. Continuing information operations around immigration using fake news, internet memes, conspiracy theories and the polarisation of public discourse are systematic and organised in the U.S. and in Europe.
 US tech-focused online publication  TechCrunch recently reviewed the game .
 Enter the Troll Factory here:  http://trollfactory.yle.fi/
 Yle News Lab  collects direct feedback from users to understand the impact of the game. The team develops new forms of journalism by combining journalism, data science, software development and service design.

Yle's "troll factory" game unmasks how fake news spreads via social media


Summary: On average, each person in the country still used nearly 160 disposable plastic bags last year.

People living in Finland have been slow to change the practice of using plastic bags to carry purchases from shops, according to information collected by the non-profit service company Finnish Packaging Recycling (Rinki).
 Last year, shoppers in Finland used more than 860 million plastic bags, a decrease of almost 90 million in comparison to the previous year. However, the average number of plastic bags used was 68 per person, which is only three less than the per-person usage in 2017.
 Efforts to decrease the usage of plastic bags are set out by the terms of the Plastic Bag Agreement, signed in October 2016 by the Finnish Commerce Federation and the Ministry of the Environment. The agreement is rooted in the EU Packaging Directive, which requires member states to take action aimed at reducing the use of plastic bags.
 The very slight decrease in usage means there is still a long way to go to for Finland to reach the goals set out in the agreement, which is to have a maximum of 40 disposable plastic bags per person in 2025. Reaching that target will be challenging, according to the federation's lead expert  Marja Ola , but at least Finland is moving in the right direction.
 "There's still time. We were delighted at how fast this started. With a reduction of three bags [per person] each year, we would be close to 40,” Ola says.
 Reduction in use of lighter plastic bags
 The 40-bag target does not apply to lightweight plastic bags which are commonly found in supermarket produce aisles, but their consumption is also reported to have decreased. In 2017, about 102 of those bags were used per person, but last year fell to 89 bags.
 As a result, the total annual use of plastic bags by people living in Finland has decreased from 173 to 157 per person.
 According to Rinki, factors which have led to the reduction in the use of plastic bags include their removal from points of purchase, the increased supply of alternative options, and changes in consumers' purchasing behaviour of fruits and vegetables - in particular, the carrying of peelable fruits and vegetables without the use of a plastic bag.
 Stores must offer more alternatives
 Within the S Group's grocery and other retail stores which are involved in the Plastic Bag Agreement, sales of plastic bags decreased by six million last year.
 "In Sokos stores, plastic bags must now be paid for, and this has led to a steep decline in their consumption", explains  Senja Forsman , Corporate Responsibility Manager at the S Group. "In general, there are certainly many other reasons for the decline: consumer awareness has increased, and plastic bags have become more viable and therefore more likely to be used."
 In the K Group's grocery stores, sales of plastic bags decreased by three million last year compared to 2017. Additionally, 69 million fewer lighter plastic bags were used as their availability at the cash counter was reduced. The smaller bags are no longer on display at the checkout, but customers can request one if needed.
 "Initially, some customers reacted negatively to the reduced availability of the lighter plastic bags. There is no more negative feedback, as everyone now understands that small bags are not always available, but that there is still a need for them," says  Timo Jäske , Corporate Responsibility Manager of the K-Group Grocery Store.
 Jäske believes that big steps are needed to reach the 2025 goal of the Plastic Bag Agreement.
 "A good start has been made, but stores must develop their operations and offer alternatives."
 Forsman, Jäske's equivalent at the S Group, agrees with this outlook.
 "I sincerely hope that the reduction will be achieved, but it will require hard work and action," Forsman adds.
 Finnish scientists developing new alternative to plastic
 One possible solution which could help accelerate the reduction of plastic bag usage in Finland might come from research published on Monday by Aalto University and the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.
 In a joint project, researchers glued together cellulose fibres extracted from wood with a silk protein found in spider webs. The result was a rigid and durable material which could be potentially used in the future, as a replacement for plastic, as well as for bio-based composites, medical applications and textile industry products.
 Story continues after photo.
 Researchers discovered that the combination of cellulose and silk protein produced a strong, elastic fibre. Eeva Suorlahti / Aalto-yliopisto & VTT
 According to  Markus Linder , an Aalto University professor who led the research, nature offers great raw materials for developing new products. The advantage of both cellulose and silk over plastic is that they are bio-degradable.
 "We just need to be able to reproduce these good qualities found in nature," Linder says.
 The spider silk used in the study did not come from a natural source, but was made by researchers using synthetic DNA and bacteria.
 "Because we know the structure of its DNA, we can copy it and use it to make chemically similar silk protein molecules that are in the spider web. The DNA has all that information ready," Linder further explains in the press release.

Finland slow to give up plastic bag habit


Summary: The group said it plans to hand over proof of support from 5,000 citizens to the Ministry of Justice on Friday.

The political group chaired by businessman and MP  Harry Harkimo , Movement Now ( Liike Nyt ), announced on Monday that it had collected the necessary 5,000 signatures needed to officially register as a political party.
 The group said it plans to hand over the supporters' cards to the justice ministry on Friday. Movement Now began collecting signatures from supporters last month.
 At the time, Harkimo - who first  started the group  soon after his  2018 departure  from the National Coalition Party with six other non-career MPs - said the movement claimed no direct political role models, and distanced it from party politics.
 However, last April,  Harkimo ran  and won a seat in parliament as a candidate nominated by a Movment Now electors' association.
 Influence cited as motivation
 The group has said their motivation for becoming an official party was in order to have more influence. Due to its lack of official party status, Movement Now candidates - as well as other non-sanctioned groups - were not included in parliamentary debates or voter support polls.
 The organisation has also said that registering itself as a party would make it easier to get its candidates in elections, because official party status means candidates do not require support from an electors' association.
 Additionally, each candidate is required to garner the support of 100 people before being able to establish a voters' association.

Economically liberal Movement Now to register as political party


Summary: Three-fifths of babies born this year were baptised, with the baptism rate higher in northern Finland than in Helsinki.

Henkilökohtaiset juhlat ja elämäntapahtumat

There has been a sharp decline in the number of babies baptised in Finland. According to statistics from the Population Register Centre and the Lutheran Evangelical Church, only three-out-of-five babies born by August this year had been baptised.
 According to a new survey on baptism, there are two key reasons for this decline. First, there has been a  decrease in church membership in Finland  for some time, and those that leave the church generally do not baptise their children. Second, even current church members do not consider baptisms to be the only available option for their children.
 "According to the baptism survey conducted early this year, an important reason for not baptising children is that parents do not want to make the decision for the child. The idea is that the child can make the decision about their baptism themself once they get older. This reinforces the child’s own decisions about religion,"  Hanna Salomäki , director of the Church Research Institute, said.
 Another key reason behind not baptising children is that the parents themselves are not church members.
 "The difference in the prevalence of these two reasons is currently insignificant. Children making their own choices about baptism and parents not belonging to the church are almost equally responsible for the child not being baptised," Salomäki added.
 Significant regional differences
 Salomäki pointed out that the percentage of babies baptised in Finland was very high in the past; amounting to some 90 percent.
 "In the early 2000s, the percentage dropped so much, that about ten years ago, four-fifths of children were baptised. After that, there was an acceleration in the decline of baptisms. Last year, just less than 65 percent of all babies born in Finland were baptised."
 The decline has been particularly sharp this year: only 60.4 percent of babies were baptised from January to July. There are significantly major regional differences in the rate of baptisms, however.
 "In the Oulu diocese, which includes Lapland, more than 80 percent of babies were baptised last year. Helsinki is at the other extreme of the nine dioceses. The number of babies baptised there was more than 40 percent," Salomäki said.
 The percentage of babies receiving the sacrament in northern Finland is therefore double that of the capital city.
 There are also marked differences in the baptism rates of cities compared to the countryside. "Generally, the number of baptisms are higher in rural parishes than in cities," said Salomäki.
 Christianity "still strong" in the north
 "The percentage of baptisms in Helsinki surely reflects the decreased attachment people feel towards the church,"  Aki Niemi , a statistician from the parish union, said.
 The general assumption is that young fathers are primarily responsible for the decreasing number of baptisms, as young men make up the largest population of those that have left the church.
 Recent statistics from Helsinki do not seem to support this assumption. "In Helsinki more women left the church than men did last year," Niemi noted.
 Veijo Koivula , director of the parish regional registry in Oulu, said that the high rate of baptisms in the diocese was reflective of the role that religion plays in the lives of people in northern Finland.
 "Of course the fact that Christianity retains a very strong status in the Oulu diocese region has a big impact on the number of baptisms. Baptisms are considered perfectly normal here."
 Koivula stressed that parents, as well as extended family members, play a role in determining whether or not the child gets baptised. "What people in the neighborhood or a small village think could also have an impact," he said.
 Koivula revealed, however, that the number of baptisms in the north has also decreased, just as leaving the church has become more common.
 "There is such a trend, but it also gives us work [swaying them in the other direction]," Koivula said.

Fewer babies baptised in Finland, statistics show


Summary: The discovered cash - hidden in crisp containers - led to a legal dispute between police and a lost and found firm.

On Monday, the Helsinki Court of Appeal upheld a district court's decision to hand over around 400,000 euros in cash - found in a Finnair airplane cabin 10 years ago - to the Finnish state, and not to a lost and found company that also claimed it.
 The unusual dispute had its origins in Madrid in October 2009, when a female Chinese national was removed by Spanish authorities from a flight bound for Helsinki after a significant sum of cash was found in her checked luggage.
 When the plane arrived in Finland, 400,000 euros was found hidden inside crisp container tubes and chocolate bar wrappers in the plane's cabin, which the woman had left behind as she was taken off the plane by authorities.
 The money, in denominations of 50 and 100 euro notes, was eventually handed over to Finnish police over suspicions the cash find was linked to money laundering.
 Finland's National Bureau of Investigation subsequently opened a money laundering investigation, which concluded in 2013.
 Woman left behind the cash
 In 2014, police informed the Chinese woman that if the money was not claimed within three months, it would be awarded to the Finnish state. However, the owner of the bag made no further inquiries about the matter, according to police.
 At this point, the money raised the interest of Lost and Found International Finland, a company which also operates as the airport's - as well as Finnair's - lost and found services provider.
 The firm said that the money should be handed over to them, but the NBI refused to release it, saying that it belonged to the Finnish state.
 The firm eventually took the case to Helsinki District Court, but in spring of last year the court ruled the money belonged to the Finnish state, and not to the company.
 If Lost and Found International is not satisfied with the appeal court's decision, it may still apply for leave to appeal to Finland's Supreme Court.

€400,000 found on Finnair plane should go to state, appeals court rules


Summary: After fleeing his hotel, the journalist asked officials for international protection, Swedish broadcaster SVT reports.

Last month, when a delegation with Iran's Foreign Affairs Minister  Javad Zarif  visited Stockholm, Sweden,  Amri Tohid Fazel  - a journalist also on the diplomatic junket - escaped and applied for asylum in Sweden.
 According to Swedish public broadcaster SVT, when Fazel left, he fled his hotel, changed his clothes and threw out his phone's SIM card.
 However, SVT reports, it appears that Fazel will have to turn to Finland for asylum instead, because that's where he and the rest of the delegation first arrived to Europe, the journalist's appointed lawyer,  Maria Teresa Vanacore , said.
 "We have just learned that his application for international protection has been moved from Sweden to Finland, which has said is the appropriate member state to decide his asylum application, as it was the first European country in which Fazel arrived, in line with the Dublin regulation," Vanacore was quoted saying by SVT.
 The Dublin regulation determines which EU state is responsible for processing asylum applications.
 No specifics from Migri
 Citing rules on privacy, the Head of Dublin Section at the Finnish Immigration Service (Migri),  Mikko Montin , said he was unable to comment specifically on any individual case.
 However, he said that all asylum seekers who arrive to Europe are subject to the Dublin rules and that each international protection application should be processed by the state which carries that responsibility.
 Montin noted that, according to news reports, it appears the journalist likely entered the country with a visa, as Iranian citizens who enter the Schengen area are required to have them.
 "In such a situation, it would at least appear that the responsible country is the one that issued the visa," Montin said.
 "If this individual's application is the responsibility of Finland, and is moved there, then naturally the application will be handled [by Finland]," he said.

SVT: Iranian journalist seeks asylum in Sweden, directed to Finland


Summary: A conservative MP criticises planned tax hikes, authorities seek an end to a violent gang and more people than ever refuse armed service.

Average earners could be out of pocket after planned tax increases, according to conservative National Coalition Party MP  Elina Lepomäki , who said  in Tuesday's Taloussanomat  that Prime Minister  Antti Rinne  should keep a promise he made in August to vouchsafe the real earnings of consumers with a mid-range income.
 The financial paper quotes the opposition MP as saying that contrary to Social Democrat Rinne's avowal that the government would improve the purchasing power of all Finnish people, current public policy would see the net income of middle class earners fall drastically.
 The Taxpayers Association of Finland  (TAF) calculates that middle-income workers (who make an average of 3,452 euros per month) would see a tax increase of about 0.4 percent, up to 30.8 percent. The association said this would amount to annual losses of around 160 euros per household.
 CEO  Teemu Lehtinen  from TAF agreed with Lepomäki in the Taloussanomat article, saying that tightening taxes would take Finland "in the wrong direction".
 The government is also seeking to downsize the funding of the so-called  tax credit for household expenses  by 95 million euros. The income compensation for at-home work such as child care, cleaning and renovations will fall from 2,400 euros a year to 2,250 euros per annum.
 "Limiting this tax credit will make life harder for households who need lots of public services, such as the elderly and families with children," Lepomäki said in a release. "It will also slow job growth, despite the government programme's plans for the contrary."
 Fast track for gang shutdown
 Finnish authorities are calling for courts to expedite a temporary prohibition on the activities of the " most dangerous criminal organisation in Finland ", the United Brotherhood (UB). It would be the first time Finland has officially banned a criminal outfit.
 The District Court of Eastern Uusimaa issued UB and its sub-organisation Bad Union a cease and desist order, to which the gangs have until the end of September to reply. District prosecutor  Anna-Riikka Ruuth  said  in Tuesday's Aamulehti  that the legal process could stretch on almost indefinitely; no date has been set for the district court session.
 "That's why we have sought for the ban to be placed into effect immediately," she said.
 With an official order in place, police could raid and seize UB properties and otherwise directly disrupt their activities even before the gang members see the inside of a court room.
 "Police need a court order. Otherwise they would have done more by now," Ruuth said.
 National Bureau of Investigation operations chief  Ari Lahtela  said in AL that the United Brotherhood has also been cosying up to motorcycle gang Hells Angels. The UB could pre-emptively foil a ban by switching their black-and-red vest insignia for the white-and-red Hells Angels colours.
 "Police are actively considering how the prohibition case in the works may affect these alliances," he said.
 Record year for conscientious objectors
 Conscientious objectors to Finland's military conscription who also refuse civilian service may again go to jail for their convictions after a brief amnesty was lifted in April,  Helsingin Sanomat wrote .
 From February 2018 to April 2019 Finnish conscientious objectors were briefly freed from legal consequences over complaints of special treatment for Jehovah's Witnesses.  That group is no longer exempt from service  since the law change in April, and almost all Jehovah's Witnesses since then have opted for the civilian option, HS reported.
 The waiving of sanctions led to a boom in the number of men who rejected both options in Finland's conscription scheme. That surge has now died down since jail and monitoring sentences were reintroduced in the spring. Even so, 2019 is shaping up to be a record year for the number of total objectors, said civilian service director  Mikko Reijonen .
 "The first verdicts on total objectors who have come in after the waiver was lifted are likely to be handed down sometime next year," Reijonen said.

Tuesday's papers: Opposition fights tax rises, quicker United Brotherhood ban, conscription refusals


Summary: Finland's gambling monopoly Veikkaus says it's taking steps to address the problems that gambling can cause.

Kasinot, uhkapelit ja rahapeli- ja vedonlyöntipalvelut

Slot machines are a not just a moral problem, they also pose a financial problem, says  Pinja Hiltunen , who is campaigning to remove slot machines from Finland's shops. That's because Veikkaus, the state-owned gambling monopoly that has some 21,500 slot machines installed across the country, also contributes one billion euros in profits to government and pays 200 million euros in taxes.
 Hiltunen has lived with her mother's gambling addiction and told All Points North how it affected her childhood. She is also a member of a gaming addiction support group Pelirajat'on -- roughly translated as Limits on Games -- that has launched a citizens' initiative to get Veikkaus to pull slot machines from supermarkets, kiosks and other public spaces and to cut back on advertising.
 Veikkaus manager for responsible gambling,  Hannu Rinkinen , told APN that starting in 2021 mandatory identification at slot machines will help curb problem gaming. He also pointed out that players who gamble online can set daily and monthly transfer limits as well as daily and monthly loss limits.
 Veikkaus came under fire during the summer for an ad campaign that seemed to encourage players to indulge their gambling habits. Rinkinen said that the firm has introduced new ethical rules governing advertising and is also cutting down advertising of its slot machines. Ultimately, he said it is up to the firm's owner -- the government -- to decide what to do about the prevalence of slot machines in Finland.
 Join the conversation
 If you have any questions, or would like to share something on your mind, just contact us via WhatsApp on +358 44 421 0909, on our Facebook or Twitter accounts, or at yle.news@yle.fi.
 The All Points North podcast is a weekly look at what's going on in Finland. Subscribe via  iTunes  (and leave a review!), listen  on Spotify  and  Yle Areena  or find it on your favourite podcatching app or via our  RSS feed .
 This week's podcast presenters were  Denise Wall  and  Egan Richardson .  Pamela Kaskinen  produced the show and the audio engineer was  Juha Sarkkinen .

All Points North #60: Gambling with addiction -- does Finland have a problem?


Summary: Adoptive families in Finland say they are mystified by letters from Local Register Offices informing them of dual citizenship.

Adoptive families in Finland say they are struggling to understand why Local Register Offices are sending notifications of Finnish citizenship to 22-year-olds who were adopted to the country as children. The letters generally outline that an adoptee has retained their Finnish citizenship while also possessing the nationality of their birth country.
 Every year the Population Register Centre identifies dual Finnish citizens turning 22 years old. It then sends a list over to the Local Register Office in Northern Finland which is charged with examining whether an individual can prove ties to Finland as outlined by the Nationality Act.
 "I didn't know I had Indian citizenship"
 When  Amanda Öst  turned 22 she was shocked to receive a letter from the Local Register Office stating that she had retained her Finnish citizenship because officials could prove she had strong ties to Finland.
 Öst was adopted from India at the age of three and has lived in the western town of Pietarsaari ever since. She told Yle she assumed she became a Finnish citizen at the time of her adoption and was not aware that Finnish authorities believed her to be an Indian citizen until the letter arrived. To this day, she is not entirely sure whether or not she actually is an Indian national, as Interpedia, the agency which managed her adoption, could not provide any clarity on the matter.
 More questions than answers
 The Finnish Association of Adoptive Families told Yle they decided to carry out a survey on adoptees' purported dual citizenship after receiving numerous inquiries from confused families.
 The questionnaire drew 140 responses. Mostly, families could not fathom that Finland automatically identified adopted children as nationals of their birth country. Families were also interested in understanding the rights and obligations associated with a second citizenship.
 Working together with a number of other actors in the field of international adoption, the Finnish Association of Adoptive Families is now seeking funding to pull together an informational package on citizenship issues.
 "We need to figure out what birth country citizenship means in terms of travelling to that country, buying property, or for military conscription," explained  Anu Uhtio  from the Finnish Association of Adoptive Families. "Finding the right official to talk to can be difficult, especially if Finland no longer has an adoption agreement with that country."
 The Finnish Association of Adoptive Families said that so far they were not aware of any adoptees in Finland losing their Finnish citizenship at the age of 22.

"I didn't know I was a dual citizen": Adoptive families in Finland stumped by citizenship notifications


Summary: Operators of a new facility aim to recycle domestic as well as foreign textile waste.

A new infrared-based technology promises to give textiles recycling a giant leap forward by replacing manual sorting with an automated method, according to its developers.
 Southwest Finland-based recycling firm LSJH has developed technology for sorting waste textiles in collaboration with the Lahti University of Applied Sciences and materials sensor equipment manufacturer Spectral Engines.
 "Recognition technology based on an infrared sensor is familiar in sorting plastic packaging, but it is new in textile recycling," LSJH project engineer  Jaakko Zitting , who had a hand in developing the technology, said in a statement.
 LSJH is currently in the pilot phase of a processing plant that aims to accelerate the textile circular economy. The goal is to create a facility that will be able to use the new infrared sensor to process all discarded textiles from Finland as well as textile waste from abroad.
 Reliable textile recognition key
 So far waste textiles have been manually sorted in Finland as well as in other parts of Europe. This means that workers have checked labels to identify different kinds of materials. However labels can be inaccurate or may even be missing. This becomes problematic given that industries using recycled fibres to manufacture new products need to be certain of the raw material they are using.
 The optical recognition technology currently under development will improve the reliability of identification of fibres in fabrics and will help ensure better quality textile products, LSJH said in the statement.
 The recycling firm will deploy the new technology to sort waste textiles starrting this autumn. Different fibres will be used for different products, with better quality material reserved for thread that could be used to manufacture new clothing. Recycled fibre can also be used for purposes such as composite products or even insulation material.
 Story continues after photo.
 Sorting of waste textiles is currently a manual process. The infrared sensor could make that a thing of the past. Dani Branthin / Yle
 However collecting and processing waste textiles would be futile if there isn’t sufficient demand for recycled fibres.
 "Textile recycling is only possible if the entire textiles value chain is aligned with the circular economy, in other words if we use [recycled] fibres to bring new products to market. It is therefore of utmost important to find new businesses that want to utilise recycled fibres to develop new products," LSJH project leader and circular economy specialist  Sini Ilmonen  noted.
 Funding for the processing plant was provided by municipal waste facilities and the Ministry of Employment and the Economy. Additionally, public funding agency Business Finland contributed a 1.5-million-euro investment grant.

New technology to advance textiles recycling in Finland


Summary: The postal company says it will allow a two-year transition period before cutting wages.

Suomen Ammattiliittojen Keskusjärjestö SAK

After a major backlash, the state-owned postal firm Posti has delayed plans to shift some employees to a lower pay scale.
 Posti said on Tuesday that it will keep total remuneration for its Parcel and eCommerce sorting personnel at its current level for more than two years, until the end of January 2022.
 It also promises a new compensation model beginning next April that it says will make it possible for some employees to receive higher remuneration than now.
 “The objective of the change in the collective agreement of parcel sorting personnel is to increase flexibility,” says  Turkka Kuusisto , SVP of Posti’s Parcel and eCommerce business group. "It allows us to offer more flexible services to our customers and will help us keep jobs and also create new jobs in the future," he adds.
 Media group calls more competition
 Late last month Posti announced that some 700 sorting staffers in its Parcel and eCommerce division business group would be to a firm called Posti Palvelut (Posti Services) as of 1 September.
 That company's workers are covered by an Industrial Union collective agreement with lower pay terms. The transferred personnel will be moved under the new collective agreement on 1 November this year, but will not see any pay differential for more than two years, Posti pledges.
 The Finnish Post and Logistics Union (PAU) dismissed the announcement, saying it was simply a delaying tactic and does not offer any guarantees to individual workers.
 Also on Tuesday, the Finnish Media Federation, an employers' group, argued that all mail and magazines should be delivered at the same as newspapers, in the early morning. It also called for more open bidding by distribution companies that now compete with Posti, and a clarification of what it called Posti's "contradictory roles".

Posti: Sorting personnel wages to remain steady until early 2022


Summary: The man was travelling with a former Finnish government minister and representing the state arms supplier when he died.

Ugandan prosecutors have re-opened the  case of a Finnish businessman found dead  at a luxury hotel in the capital Kampala last year.
 Yle has learned that three suspects have been charged with murder in a Kampala court, which has not however made any public announcement. They had previously been charged with negligent homicide and released on bail pending sentencing. Now they have been jailed again and face tougher charges.
 Meanwhile charges filed earlier against two other suspects have been dismissed.
 The man's unexplained death in February 2018 aroused considerable speculation when it was revealed that he had travelled to Uganda with  Suvi Lindén , a long-time conservative National Coalition Party politician.
 She served as minister of culture in 1999-2002, resigning amid a  corruption scandal  related to an Oulu golf course, and minister of communications from 2007 to 2011.
 The man was also carrying an official license as a marketing representative of the majority Finnish state-owned defence equipment manufacturer Patria, which has been embroiled in  corruption scandals  in Croatia, Austria, Egypt and Slovenia.
 Case re-opened after long hiatus
 Yle has learned that after a long hiatus, the case was re-opened and passed on to a prosecutor with the strong suspicion that the three had the intention and motive to kill the arms dealer. Previously they were found to have unintentionally caused his death. He was believed to have died after overdosing on drugs brought to his room by one of the suspects.
 Story continues after photo
 A hearing on the case at Buganda Road Chief Magistrate Court in Kampala in April 2018. A-List Communications
 One of the suspects is a woman who has been referred to in the Ugandan press as the Finn's girlfriend, and two accomplices. If convicted of murder, they could face the death penalty.
 On 6 February 2018, the man was  found dead  in a room at the five-star Pearl of Africa Hotel, about a kilometre from the city centre. At that point Ugandan police said that traces of cocaine and insecticide were found in his body.
 Lindén remains tight-lipped
 The purpose of the businessman's and Lindén's Uganda trip remains unclear. The man, who worked an entrepreneur across various sectors, had sent a letter to a contact in Uganda saying that he was representing several companies in Africa, selling products ranging from defence materiel to online surveillance systems and encryption programmes.
 Lindén has not spoken of her role other than to say she was on the trip  to promote issues related to the information society . A local journalist says that Lindén said she went to Uganda to look into business opportunities.
 She served as a special envoy for the Broadband Commission of the International Telecommunication Union, a UN agency, from 2010 to 2015, and  still used the title after this .
 The businessman was also found to be in possession of a seemingly counterfeit invitation, which he apparently believed was signed by Col.  Frank 'Kaka' Bagyenda , a former rebel guerrilla who is now director of Uganda's Internal Security Organisation, a counter intelligence agency.

Three charged with murder of Finnish businessman in Uganda


Summary: Ari Koponen, better known as Brother Christmas, was convicting of fundraising without a permit.

MP  Ari Koponen  was found guilty of illicit fundraising through his Brother Christmas association.
 Eastern Uusimaa District Court fined him just over 1,000 euros on Tuesday for improper fundraising.
 The court ruled that he violated fundraising laws over the first seven months of 2017. During that time his group received about 180,000 euros in donations, of which only 20,000 euros were in return for a product.
 The group distributed buttons and bracelets in exchange for donations of 10-25 euros. The court found that the group should have had a permit for this activity under the terms of the Fundraising Act.
 The court ruled that the statute of limitations had already run out on another case of suspected fundraising by Koponen in 2016. That collection, under the name of his personal company, raised 24,000 euros.
 The court declared that Koponen was aware that he should have had a permit for the fund drives.
 The prosecutor had sought much stiffer fines for Koponen and other members of the association's board.
 Koponen claims negative publicity "harmed his health"
 Koponen meanwhile argued that he should not be punished at all because the publicity around the case had been harmful to his health.
 The court dismissed this, noting that any fundraising drive is an open public activity that may result in negative publicity.
 Story continues after image
 Screengrab from Koponen's Facebook page Brother Christmas, Facebook
 It decided not to punish the other board members, noting that in practice Koponen was responsible for the organisation's operations. All the defendants had denied breaking any laws.
 In a Facebook post on Tuesday afternoon, Koponen decried the ruling as unfair and unreasonable. He pledged to carry on his Brother Christmas activities alongside his parliamentary duties.
 Koponen was  elected to Parliament  on the nationalist Finns Party ticket last spring.

Finns Party MP fined for charity scheme


Summary: The list of signatures was handed to the Kolari municipal council on Tuesday.

More than 51,000 people have signed  a citizens' initiative  calling for the cancellation of plans to construct an open mineral mine in the municipality of Kolari, in western Finnish Lapland.
 The list of signatures was delivered to the Kolari municipal council on Tuesday. Concerned citizens from around the country added their names to the initiative online (13,529) and physically at a local supermarket (37,529).
 At that time a firm called Northland Mines Ltd had attempted to begin operations in the area, but went bankrupt and closed down not long afterwards.
 However, Hannukainen Mining Ltd acquired rights to the mine in 2015, and the municipality of Kolari approve zoning plans for the open pit mine in 2017, which is when opposition to the venture revived a previous citizens' initiative.
 The Hannukainen mineral mine has yet to acquire an environmental permit for the mine, and technical zoning plans for it are incomplete.
 Excavations threaten commerce
 Sponsors of the initiative want the Hannukainen mining project to be aborted and have called for the Ylläs region, popular with tourists, to be designated a nature reserve. The initiative also notes that environmental damage caused by mining activities will affect the region for years to come.
 Travel agent  Heli Kaulanen , a principal sponsor of the initiative, said she was a little surprised by the large number of supporters that signed it.
 "I got messages from people all over Finland, cheering us on and saying we're on the right path. I'm very happy about that," Kaulanen said.
 She said that the mine would be a massive threat to the Ylläs region's tourism.
 "Lapland is gaining popularity among travellers from abroad. They come here for the peace and quiet of nature's beauty. If tourism can't cope with the mine, neither can the municipality," she said.
 Old impressions die hard
 Even though tens of thousands oppose the mine in Kolari, many residents – particularly some municipal leaders – support it.
 "Kolari is an old mining region and people here have a rosy picture of what it was back in the day," Kaulanen said. "The mine was much smaller then and underground. Those days will never return."
 Hannukainen Mining Ltd said it wants the mine to be operational by 2023.

Anti-mining citizens' initiative garners over 50K signatures


Summary: Finnish Defence Forces have previously used simulants instead of authentic chemical warfare agents in training.

The Pori Brigade, a unit of the Finnish Army, will begin using genuine chemical warfare agents including mustard gas and sarin in defence training.
 Finland has previously used substitute chemicals rather than genuine warfare agents in its chemical warfare defence training.
 According to tabloid Iltalehti, the army said the primary purpose of the new chemical warfare training is to equip military personnel with the skills and abilities required for combat in an authentic environment. IL reported that the army said other countries, including Sweden, have been using chemical weapons in their training for years.
 The Pori Brigade has plans to set up a separate area exclusively for chemical warfare drills. The exercises will be the first of its kind in Finland, and the brigade will be the only entity in the country to provide instruction concerning chemical weapons.
 Around three hectares of land will be used as a training area this autumn, and exercises for military personnel will begin in January Instructions on chemical warfare will also be provided to other authorities, according to the army.
 The chemicals in the weaponised agents are known to be lethal to humans and hazardous to the environment, but the army has said that the training will pose no threat to the surroundings or to bystanders in the area.
 Deadly chemicals: Sarin and mustard gas
 The chemical warfare agent mustard gas, also known as sulfur mustard, can form large blisters on exposed skin and in the lungs and is also a known carcinogenic. Mustard gas was first used during the First World War by the German army. Most recently the gas was used by the terrorist organisation Isis in 2016, according to Syrian state media.
 Sarin, considered a weapon of mass destruction by international convention, is a synthetic compound nerve agent that can be lethal even in very low concentrations. Unless victims receive an antidote quickly, they generally suffocate from lung muscle paralysis when exposed to the substance.
 Chemical warfare was outlawed by the Geneva Protocol of 1925 and was again prohibited by the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993.
 EDIT 18.9.2019: An earlier version of this story erroneously claimed that the first use of mustard gas was by the British Army against Soviet Russia occurred in 1919. The first use was actually by German troops in Poland in 1915.

Finnish Army to use mustard gas in chemical warfare training


Summary: The historian said the UK's "Chunnel" took 25 years to turn a profit, despite having many more potential passengers.

Ambitious plans by businessman  Peter Vesterbacka  to dig a pair of rail tunnels below the Gulf of Finland to link Helsinki with Tallinn, Estonia are not economically feasible, according to railway historian, journalist and author  Jan-Erik Wiik .
 Wiik, who has also written a number of books about Finland's railroad history, said he is very sceptical about the project.
 "I've seen those plans and I have looked at the calculations Vesterbacka has presented. As far as I can see, there is no economic [benefit to it] at all, it's not possible to make it profitable," he said.
 The historian drew parallels to the Channel Tunnel - often referred to as the "Chunnel" - the undersea rail tunnel which crosses the English Channel between the UK and France, and the economic circumstances of the project.
 "It has been about 25 years since the Chunnel was completed and it cost about 15 billion euros, if you take inflation into consideration," Wiik said.
 "Only recently has the Chunnel project been able to start paying investors. It has been operating at a loss for 25 years. Then, you have millions of people on both sides of the Channel who benefit from the tunnel. I once estimated that there are around 200 million people living in the area [of the Chunnel]. Only 10 million people live around Vesterbacka's [planned] tunnel," Wiik said.
 Tunnel more subway than Chunnel
 In response to criticism about the economic sense his project makes, Vesterbacka said one cannot compare the Helsinki-Tallinn tunnel with the Chunnel, adding that the Finnish-Estonian tunnel would be more like a metro line rather than a train connection.
 "Our goal is to reduce travel time to 20 minutes. You can compare it to Helsinki's  western metro extension  [into neighbouring city Espoo]. [Around] 250 million trips were made during its first year of operation - and Helsinki and Espoo are not the world's largest cities," Vesterbacka said.
 The businessman said that another good comparison to the Tallinn tunnel project would be the Øresund Bridge which connects Sweden and Denmark, noting that there has been significant economic growth in the metropolitan areas the bridge serves.
 Vesterbacka said that the tunnel would also connect airports in Tallinn and Helsinki, virtually making them a single entity.
 According to an  employment outlook  (PFD file download) regarding the project, which was commissioned by Vesterbacka's Finest Bay and carried out by market research firm Taloustutkimus, more than 11 million people annually will travel via the airports by the 2030s.
 However, the outlook said that the biggest economic returns of the Helsinki-Tallinnn tunnel would come from commuter travel between the capitals. Taloustutkimus estimated that the tunnel would increase the GDPs of both Finland and Estonia by up to 0.15 percent.
 "If you can reduce the travel time for freight by half or even one-third, the tunnel becomes a very attractive alternative. The most expensive component of freight traffic is the drivers' time and salaries," Vesterbacka pointed out.
 €15 billion in Chinese funding
 Earlier this year, Vesterbacka's company Finest Bay Area Development, which is leading the Helsinki-Tallinn tunnel project, announced that it had secured  15 billion euros  in financing from an investment firm helping to advance China’s Belt and Road initiative.
 Over the summer, Vesterbacka said his company was set to sign a letter of intent with  China Railway Group Limited  (CREC) to carry out the project.
 Vesterbacka has said the 100 km tunnel would be ready by the end of 2024.

Vesterbacka's Helsinki-Tallinn tunnel would "not be profitable," rail historian says


Summary: Drivers and smokers to pay more tax, Finland expands number of quota refugees and a subsidised housing controversy.

National daily  Helsingin Sanomat’ s calculations on the government's budget proposal show that an average middle income earner pulling down 3,452 euros per month will pay some 13 euros more in taxes and pension contributions next year.
 To help cover rising pension and healthcare costs, the government will raise the price of a pack of cigarettes by 45 cents. Motorists will also feel the pinch as the petrol tax on gasoline will rise by 6.3 cents per litre and 6.9 cents for diesel fuel, according to calculations by the Taxpayers Association of Finland (TAF).
 More quota refugees
 When unveiling the budget on Tuesday the government also announced it would raise Finland’s refugee quota by 100 people annually to 850 in 2020, according to Swedish-language daily  Hufvudstadsbladet .
 Finland will accept 400 Syrian refugees from Lebanon and Turkey, 200 Congolese refugees from Zambia as well as 130 Nigerian refugees.
 Under the refugee quota, Finland admits persons recognised as refugees by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
 Housing lottery
 Helsingin Sanomat also follows up on a letter from one of its readers earlier this week regarding  perceived inequality in Helsinki’s subsidised housing scheme.
 The letter claimed that people with earnings of up to 4,000 euros per month were living in heavily-subsidised flats in the city centre, such as two-room apartments costing 500 euros per month.
 HS now reports that after calling the city council, only one councillor, a National Coalition Party representative, said he proposed earnings caps for people living in subsidised housing.
 In 2017, officials announced plans to carry out periodical checks of occupants' incomes, but the scheme was scrapped the following year as a report by the Environment Ministry found that income limits could lead to incentive traps whereby a tenant may turn down a new job in fear of losing their home.

Wednesday's papers: Higher taxes, more quota refugees and state-subsidised rental flat rumble


Summary: Some 2,900 people are currently on holidays organised by Thomas Cook subsidiary Tjäreborg, and plenty more had holidays cancelled on Monday.

Matkatoimistot ja muu matkailua palveleva toiminta

Travel agent Thomas Cook’s bankruptcy caused misery for travellers in Finland on Monday as travellers arrived at Helsinki-Vantaa airport, checked in for the flights and discovered that their holidays were cancelled.
 ”All of a sudden it was announced that the flight was cancelled,” said  Peter Lindström  from Naantali, who only discovered he wasn’t getting a break at the departure gate. ”Nothing was said at check-in.”
 Around 2,900 people are currently on holidays outside Finland organised by Thomas Cook’s Finnish subsidiary Tjäreborg. On Sunday the company said that those already on holiday would be repatriated and if the firm went bankrupt their customers would be contacted immediately.
 Information did not seem to have reached the Lindströms ahead of their trip to Cypriot sunspot Larnaca.
 ”We got one leaflet which explained our rights, but we haven’t read it yet,” said Lindström. ”There were no Tjäreborg representatives around. Of course we’re disappointed and we’ll try to find some resolution to this, but we’ll probably have to go home.”
 In total some 600,000 tourists worldwide were left stranded when the British travel agent went bust. The British government has asked the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority to activate repatriation plans for 150,000 British citizens on Thomas Cook holidays.
 The Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was following the situation and that Finns left stranded and unable to get help from their tour guides should contact their nearest Finnish diplomatic mission, or if there is no Finnish embassy or consulate nearby then a Nordic or EU post.

”Nothing was said at check-in” — Finns left stranded by Thomas Cook bankruptcy


Summary: Helsinki Regional Transport will stop paying commissions to ticket-selling kiosks and shops.

Helsinki Regional Transport (HSL) has announced that from the start of next year, it will no longer pay shops and kiosks to load  travel cards  — a move that will save the company five to six million euros annually, according to HSL chair  Risto Rautava .
 The change will mean that each vendor can decide how much they will charge for the service and could result in public transport users' ending up paying to top up their cards.
 HSL’s board was not unanimous on the decision to remove commissions, with the Social Democrats, Greens, and Left Alliance party representatives resisting the proposal.
 Meanwhile, Rautava, a conservative National Coalition Party member, said he believed competition among vendors would mitigate any costs trickling down to individual consumers.
 "Only time will tell, but I do believe in competition. Loading travel cards may even become more affordable for users if shops use the service as a means of attracting customers," he told Yle.
 HSL users can currently  top up  their transport cards at R-kioskis, hotels, bus and tram stops, as well as some supermarkets and shops across the region. Single tickets can be bought at several car parks outfitted with ticket automats around the city, as well.
 As of last year, HSL has been  encouraging users to migrate  from physical cards to the company’s ticketing app.

Topping up Helsinki transport cards could become pricier


Summary: Several centimetres of snow fell at higher elevations of northwest Finland.

The first snow of the season fell in Finland's northwestern arm on Wednesday morning, from the village of Karesuvanto in Enontekiö to the nearby fells, where reindeer herder  Per-Antti Labba  was looking after his livestock.
 "It's snowed a few centimetres. It's foggy, cloudy and cold," he told Yle after sending in the above photo.
 For local herders, the date of the first snowfall came as no surprise.
 "It often snows for the first time exactly during this week of September in the northwestern fells. The snow will still melt many times before the real winter arrives, though," says Labba.
 A week earlier than last year
 Last year the first snow was recorded on 25 September in the village of Kilpisjärvi, about 100 km further north, where the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) has a weather station. There are no official weather stations in the surrounding fells.
 Yle meteorologists say that local snow and sleet flurries are predicted for northern Finnish Lapland over the next few days, but that accumulations are expected to be negligible.
 Karesuvanto is known in the indigenous Sámi language as Gárasavvon, while the twin village on the other side of the river that divides Finland and Sweden is called Karesuando. Finland's highest peak, Halti (1324 m) is further north in the municipality of Enontekiö, on the Norwegian border.

Lapland's first snow comes as no surprise to reindeer herders


Summary: Learners' attitudes toward education are improving, but academic performance is still below 2001 levels.

The results from a national survey on the ability of schoolchildren to learn and retain information shows that a downward trend in academic performance is levelling out after years of decline.
 Even with positive attitudes toward learning on the rise among the teens surveyed, proficiency levels are still well below those recorded by a similar survey in 2001.
 Differences in learning ability were glaring between boys and girls, with female students far out-performing their male classmates.
 The results are from 2017, which was the third year that the survey was conducted. The most recent survey asked 7,800 ninth-grade students (from 83 different secondary schools) questions about the instruction they had received and their attitudes towards education.
 Researchers first detected indications of negative attitudes towards learning among students in 2012. However the dip in scholastic achievement that began seven years ago appears to have tapered off, according to Helsinki University's  Centre for Educational Assessment  (CEA).
 Educated mothers tip scales
 The study measured academic attainment among secondary school students in three areas: literacy, logical reasoning and mathematical skills.
 End-of-year grades for female students significantly outpaced those of boys. Girls averaged 8.1 points out of 10, while the male average was 7.6 points.
 Girls were also more confident about their academic prospects while boys were found to hold more negative assumptions about learning.
 The study also found that family income correlated with children's performance in school. In particular, highly-educated mothers were found to be most likely to pass on their keenness for education to their children – the more educated the mother, the more motivated the child.
 Regional discrepancies in learning were also identified. Learning and performance were ranked highest in southern and southwestern Finland, poorest in eastern Finland and Lapland.
 The CEA report also included the introduction of adaptive assessment tasks, which were used to evaluate students' commitment to various tasks and to improve the testing procedure itself.

Survey: Downward trend in academic performance tapering off


Summary: After Paris, the Finnish PM plans to visit Budapest and the Finnish town of Rauma.

Fresh off completing domestic budget negotiations on Tuesday evening, Finnish Prime Minister  Antti Rinne  headed to Paris on Wednesday for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron. The two are to meet at the Élysée Palace around 3 pm (4 pm Finnish time).
 With Finland currently holding the rotating EU Council presidency, their discussions are to focus on major EU issues.
 According to the Finnish government, these will include concluding talks on the Union's multi-year budget framework as well as the rule of law within the EU, work on climate change, EU enlargement talks, defence cooperation, hybrid threats and Brexit.
 Finland has sought to push ahead negotiations on the multi-annual financial framework by surveying the views and priorities of each member state, and is now crunching these numbers into written form. Funding decisions will determine how ambitiously defence cooperation, for instance, can be advanced.
 At their October 17-18 summit in Brussels, the member states are expected to decide on formally opening membership negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania. They were unable to reach unanimity on the question in June.
 Rinne also plans to travel soon to Hungary to meet with his counterpart  Viktor Orbán , who over the summer criticised Finland in response to pressure over his right-wing government's implementation of the rule of law.
 From France to Satakunta
 On Monday Rinne will visit Rauma on Finland's southwest coast. The PM, a former union boss, is to visit a UPM paper mill that launched redundancy talks on Tuesday. Rinne's office says he aims to find out about the status of the plant and its impact on the town's employment situation.
 Last week, paper giant UPM said it  will close one of the mill's three large paper machines  by the year's end. This will likely lead to one third of the facility's workforce, or nearly 180 people, losing their jobs. Stunned by the extent of the planned job cuts, workers protested last week with a one-day work stoppage.
 Before becoming leader of the Social Democratic Party five years ago, Rinne led three trade unions between 2002 and 2014.

Rinne to discuss EU's budget and climate with Macron in Paris


Summary: Opposition parties are criticising the government's plan to sell state assets to cover expenditure.

PM  Antti Rinne 's budget proposal drew broad criticism on Wednesday from the political opposition.
 Next year’s budget projects Finland to be two billion euros in the red, even after the state sells off 1.37 billion euros in assets.
 "The government seems to have left the tab running. Money is being spent in a lot of different directions while there’s no certainty of what's coming in. This will lead to the state becoming more indebted," conservative National Coalition Party chair  Petteri Orpo  told Yle.
 Orpo also slammed the government’s employment-boosting measures such as  wage subsidy programmes  as having little impact.
 Opposition Finns Party chair  Jussi Halla-aho , while also critical of the state’s plans to sell off assets to shore up funds, praised the cabinet’s plans to target a 200-million-euro tax break on low- and middle-income earners.
 Christian Democrat leader  Sari Essayah  meanwhile took to Twitter to criticise the budget plans for "eroding consumers' purchasing power."
 "Stimulus budget"
 "Overall, this was a stimulus budget that added more expenditures than it raised taxes. I would have saved the stimulus measures for when there’s a recession on the horizon,"  Ilkka Kaukoranta , chief economist with the blue-collar labour confederation SAK, told Yle’s morning television show on Wednesday.
 He also welcomed the government’s commitment to attracting more work-based immigration.
 “It was a smart decision to ease labour migration [into Finland]. The idea was to streamline the process and shorten waiting periods,” he added.
 The Finnish Association for Nature Conservation (FANC) said it was pleased with the 100 million euros in additional funding the government has earmarked for environmental protection.
 FANC did, however, slam the government’s  policies on peat energy , saying high-emission peat should be taxed in the same way as fossil fuels.

Opposition slams 'spendy' state budget