Summary: The government agreed in the budget to support regional aviation.

A fifty seat plane landed at Jyväskylä airport on Wednesday carrying just three passengers. One passenger boarded the return flight to Helsinki.
 "Jyväskylä's flight link has been created with international connections in mind, and because of the Covid situation passenger numbers are really low," says  Pipsa Eklund  from Traficom, the Finnish Communications and Transport Agency.
 Before the pandemic around 80 percent of passengers from Jyväskylä transferred to another plane at Helsinki Airport.
 Traficom pays the Estonian airline NyxAir 5,577 euros for each return flight between Helsinki and the Central Finland hub. With present passenger numbers, therefore, the public subsidies for this link run at more than a thousand euros per passenger.
 Story continues after photo
 Jari Tanskanen / Yle
 Helsinki Airport is just over three hours from Jyväskylä by train, with tickets available in advance for around 20 euros, but the flight link takes 45 minutes and currently costs less than a hundred euros each way.
 Traficom's subsidies were brought in to prop up the route, given that ticket revenues were not close to covering its costs.
 In the spring Finnair ended flights from Helsinki to Jyväskylä, Joensuu, Kokkola-Jakobstad, Kajaani and Kemi-Tornio.
 The government is still ploughing some 13.8 million euros into keeping those airports afloat to ensure they retain their links to Finland's main aviation hub via other airlines.
 Statistics Finland says that domestic aviation causes 0.2 of a megatonne of greenhouse gas emissions annually, double the emissions of all rail transport in Finland. Sitra  estimates  that international aviation attributable to Finland comes in at 5.2 megatonnes, attenuated by non-CO2 pollutants.
 Finland's total emissions are more than 50 megatonnes per year, and the country's government has stated it wants to be carbon neutral by 2035.
 Support continues past next summer
 In the spring it was hoped that passenger numbers would recover before the turn of the year, with traffic becoming profitable again. That hope has proven forlorn as the pandemic continues and travel restrictions continued.
 The government agreed on Thursday that these subsidies would continue until mid-August 2022.
 "Sure some flights would have become profitable anyway, but the subsidies are a very relevant factor for customers to understand that the plane will still be flying in a fortnight's time," said Pipsa Eklund from Traficom.
 Story continues after photo
 Jari Tanskanen / Yle
 Highest passenger numbers have been seen on the Kajaani-Helsinki route, with every flight in August carrying at least 20 passengers. On flights to Joensuu, Kokkola-Pietarsaari and Kemi-Tornio an average of eleven passengers boarded each flight, while for Jyväskylä the average was three.
 "The timetable for Joensuu flights is not currently optimal, because it's based on flights to Europe which are currently very few in number," said  Erik Salen  of Amaplaflyg, which operates the Joensuu route.
 Domestic aviation unprofitable for another year
 Danish airline DAT flies a 40-seater plane between Kajaani and Helsinki. The company's Managing Director  Jesper Rungholm  says that transport will not recover by the end of the year.
 Without continued state subsidies, airlines would have stopped flying to provincial towns at the end of the year.
 "The subsidies continue until August [2022], after that we can take care of it on market terms," said Rungholm.
 During the winter the route sees some international arrivals coming to see Kainuu's icy wilderness. DAT has a so-called 'Interline' contract with Finnair, allowing Finnair to sell tickets all the way to Kajaani using the DAT link.
 A third of all travellers on the Kajaani route currently change to another flight at Helsinki.
 Meanwhile in Jyväskylä, it's hoped business travellers will start travelling in greater numbers.
 "If we have a good airline in Jyväskylä, good timetables and transfer partners, the aviation link from Jyväskylä out into the world will liven up," said  Ari Hiltunen  of the city's Chamber of Commerce.

Unprofitable regional aviation routes get €1,000+ subsidies per passenger


Summary: Papers on Monday ponder tweens' vaccine certificates, TV controversy and a mysterious rabbit plague.

Schools will be off for autumn break next month, but many parents planning holiday trips are finding that their tweens' Covid certificates are not visible in Finland's omakanta.fi service, according to tabloid  Ilta-Sanomat .
 Kela told IS that this was due to guardians generally not being able to access the health records of children over the age of ten.
 The institute noted that tweaks are being made to the system throughout Finland to allow parents to access the records of kids over ten, but these adjustments hinge on the integration of local patient records systems with omakanta.
  Räsänen on entertainment show
 The inclusion of former interior minister  Päivi Räsänen  (CD) on The Masked Singer, a reality singing competition show, is drawing criticism, reports Swedish-language daily  Hufvudstadsbladet . Räsänen, a Christian Democrat, has made numerous negative statements about homosexuals, and this spring she was accused of three counts of  incitement against a minority group .
 Commercial broadcaster MTV3 defended its decision to include Räsänen on the show, saying producers booked participants earlier in the year, before the prosecutor filed charges against Räsänen. The broadcaster also said it did not want to discriminate against anyone.
 "I can't help but comment on the matter. From a personal standpoint, the situation is very strange, laughing and applauding a person who has spent decades fighting against rights for people like me,"  Christoffer Strandberg , one of the show's hosts, said on social media over the weekend.
 Dying bunnies
 A virus is decimating Helsinki's feral rabbit population, which has plagued areas of the city for more than two decades to greater and lesser degrees.
 Dead bunnies have turned up around the capital over the past week. Korkeasaari Zoo vet  Anna Mykkänen  told  Helsingin Sanomat  that she suspected the rabbits had either contracted myxoma virus or rabbit plague.
 The city urges residents to call its animal rescue number to aid animals in distress. Dead animals can be disposed of in a plastic bag with mixed waste, according to Mykkänen.
 The so-called "city bunnies" are descendants of former pets that were let loose— or escaped from their owners—in the 1980s and 90s. In 2009, the city eventually decided to cull the animals, as they had become a growing nuisance in the capital.
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Monday's papers: Vaccination certs for kids,  outrage after anti-gay politician appears on TV show and dead bunnies


Summary: International media has shown Covid suffering, but this has been largely absent in Finland, says a NYT photo editor.

The striking image of the body of a coronavirus victim wrapped in yellow infectious-waste plastic and lying in an Indonesian hospital won second prize in this year's World Press Photo awards.
 When the image—captured by Indonesian freelance photographer  Joshua Irwandi  in April 2020—was first published, it sparked widespread debate across social media in a country that was at the time struggling to cope with the first wave of the virus.
 Many people accused Irwandi of contriving the image in order to spread fear, but by the end of 2020 Indonesia had officially recorded 22,000 Covid-related deaths.
 The 2021 World Press Photo winner also captured a moment that showed the human effects of the virus. The image, entitled 'The First Embrace' and taken by Danish photographer  Mads Nissen , shows 85-year-old  Rosa Luzia Lunardi  receiving her first human embrace in five months from nurse  Adriana Silva da Costa Souza  at the Viva Bem care home in São Paulo, Brazil.
 Story continues after the photo.
 'The First Embrace' captured by Danish photographer Mads Nissen shows nurse Adriana Silva da Costa Souza hugging care home resident Rosa Luzia Lunardi (85). Mads Nissen / Politiken / Panos Pictures. Kuva lähde: World Press Photo
 "Coronavirus has been dominating the flow of news images for a year and a half," Finnish photo editor  Mikko Takkunen  told Yle. "However, the pandemic has been displayed very differently in different parts of the world."
 Takkunen works on the New York Times' foreign affairs news desk, ordering and selecting photos for NYT articles. He has been based in Hong Kong for a number of years and is responsible for selecting news images for the whole of Asia.
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 New York Times photo editor Mikko Takkunen. Heikki Haapalainen / Yle
 He has therefore very closely followed the pandemic, and how it has been told through news imagery, since the very first cases were reported in Wuhan, China.
 Covid images "sanitised" in Finland
 Takkunen said he has noticed that there have been far fewer images appearing in the Finnish media of Covid-related deaths or very ill people compared to other parts of the world.
 "The photos [from Finland] have been more sanitised. The pictures coming out of Finland to the rest of the world have been of concrete boulders during the Uusimaa lockdown or neat lines of people awaiting vaccination," Takkunen said.
 Story continues after the photos.
 People waiting to be vaccinated in Helsinki, April 2021. Tiina Jutila / Yle
 Concrete boulders being placed on the motorway as Uusimaa entered was shut off from the rest of the country in spring 2020. Ilkka Klemola / Yle
 Although Finland has escaped many of the worst effects of the pandemic that have devastated other countries, Takkunen said he believes that cultural differences are also a factor in the images that photographers in Finland choose to capture.
 Photographers and journalists have, for example, not been present in the intensive care units of hospitals, and the threshold for media presence at a funeral in Finland is very high.
 As an example of how this differs to other countries, Takkunen cites the example of the impact the virus had on the Italian city of Bergamo in the spring of 2020, a story extensively covered by the  New York Times  as well as other news outlets.
 Photographers captured images of sick people lying on beds in crowded hospital corridors, of exhausted healthcare workers, and of the scenes at city cemeteries, as the army was drafted in to help transport the dead.
 Story continues after the photo.
 The Italian army was drafted into the city of Bergamo to help transport the dead to cemetries.
 Photographers in the United Kingdom also gained access to hospital wards to document the extent of human suffering during the height of the pandemic. These images, including one which made the front page of the New York Times, show the toll the virus has taken on patients.
 These types of images have not been seen coming out of Finland at all throughout the entire pandemic, Takkunen pointed out.
 Story continues after the photo.
 A photograph of a patient receiving treatment at a hospital in London on the front page of the New York Times in March 2021. Andrew Testa / New York Times
 "If a photo has been taken for us, we always ensure that we have permission from the person himself or herself or his or her relative. This is not compromised," Takkunen said, adding that even the harshest images are justified.
 "They bring the reality of the pandemic closer. Without them, many would be completely unfamiliar with what Covid is at its worst," he said.
 Story continues after the photo.
 A New York Times front-page photograph of the effects of the pandemic in Brazil, August 2020. Tyler Hicks / New York Times
 As examples, Takkunen recalled seeing images from India and Brazil as the virus took an enormous toll on human life in both countries.
 In India,  Danish Siddiqui , a photographer for the news agency Reuters,  captured the chaos  in hospitals, graveyards and crematoriums as coronavirus "tore through Indian cities, towns and villages" while images of additional cemeteries being built in Brazil to bury the dead has stayed with Takkunen.
 Story continues after the photo.
 Images from crematoriums in India spread worldwide. Idrees Mohammed / EPA
 In the United States, images of the pandemic fall into two broad categories, as do most people's attitudes towards the virus.
 Vaccine critique and even denial of the entire pandemic is more common in the US, and appears more generally within the media. Fox News’ images of the pandemic look very different than, say, the New York Times, Takkunen added.

Finnish photojournalist says Finland "sanitised" Covid reality


Summary: The government will begin budget negotiations this week, with the draft budget allocating €794m for police next year.

With government coalition partners  set to begin  official budget negotiation—known colloquially as the "budget barn"—later this week, the topic of police funding has been the subject of much debate.
 The Ministry of Finance's draft budget proposes 794 million euros for Finland's police force in 2022, down from the 806 million euros allocated this year. The Police Board argues this figure could lead to an overall deficit of 35-40 million euros next year if there are no changes to the budget proposal during government negotiations.
 Police resources are already stretched under the current amount of funding, the board adds, and the proposed reduction could therefore lead to a "medium-sized disaster".
 The need to find savings of 35-40 million euros corresponds to the annual expenditure of one small police station. For example, the annual cost of running the Western Uusimaa Police Department is about 39 million euros.
 Most police funding is spent on staff salaries, but the renting and maintaining of premises as well as information technology spending also represent significant outgoings.
 Staff costs account for lion's share of budget
 The amount of money allocated to the police force has grown steadily throughout the 2010s, with the exception of a dip during the administration of  Juha Sipilä  (Cen) in 2017, when the figure dropped below 700 million euros.
 This budget was substantially increased the following year, however, with a significant section of the money earmarked specifically for combating hate speech and extremism, a move prompted by the  terrorist attack in Turku  in August 2017.
 Story continues after the graphic.

 The Police Board's Director of Administration,  Anne Aaltonen , told Yle that the police face a constantly-changing operating environment, where "traditional crimes" must be tackled alongside the new threats that have emerged from the online world.
 "We constantly need new types of expertise and equipment. Legislative changes have contributed to the creation of more tasks. That means more staff and information systems are also needed," Aaltonen said.
 Staff salaries constitute the lion's share of the police's budget, accounting for about 70 percent of expenditure, with the year's costs estimated to hit 605 million euros.
 The number of police officers has dropped by about 400 over the past decade, according to the latest figures provided by the police.
 Story continues after the graphic.

 However, salary costs alone do not convey the whole picture, Aaltonen added, as the costs associated with getting one two-person police patrol on the streets is much broader.
 "A vehicle, clothing, protective equipment and tactical equipment are required. When ICT costs, such as workstation and telephone costs, are added to it, one new patrol costs about 230,000 euros," Aaltonen pointed out.

Finland's police force faces budget cuts


Summary: The cat breeder told authorities she was unsure of how many cats she had.

As in many other countries, the pandemic has led to more people in Finland  buying pets . Last year saw 49,000 new dogs registered, an increase of over eight percent over 2019.
 Yle's Swedish-language investigative programme Spotlight has homed in on the cat trade. The programme found that often by the time animal abuse cases capture authorities' attention, the animals in question have been suffering for years.
 Spotlight's  investigation  centred on a kitten mill owner in southern Finland who was sentenced to day fines, but still continued selling kittens.
 Photos on social media
 In 2018, animal welfare group Rekku Rescue took to Facebook to publicise images of five cats it had rescued. The cats had, according to the group, come from poor, mill-like conditions. The animals had matted fur, feces and urine ingrained in their tails and eye infections in addition to being malnourished.
 Rekku Rescue
 While Rekku Rescue's post attracted some media attention, the story quickly faded and little was known about the cats' origins.
 Spotlight, however, found that this case was a small part of a broader animal abuse case spanning several years and involving dozens of cats in southern Finland.
 Breeder could not count cats
 The breeder in question was a middle-aged woman who claimed to have had cats for over 20 years. Animal welfare authorities were initially alerted to the woman in 2013, after a buyer of one of her kittens filed a complaint, noting that the woman seemed to be running a mill.
 The municipal veterinarian sent to investigate the woman's home found that it was not clear how many cats the breeder had, and noted that the breeder needed to improve the animals' conditions. On a follow-up visit a few months later, the vet reported that while some improvements had occurred, the breeder was still unable to say how many cats she had.
 Two years later, in 2015, the breeder again caught the authorities' attention when a couple paid the woman 300 euros for a cat that turned out to be seriously ill. The couple also said the woman appeared to be operating a kitten farm. This animal welfare notice was followed by several more, including one instance in which a vet had to put a seriously ill kitten down. At that point the woman was still unable to detail how many cats she had bred or sold.
 Police step in
 The police did not take action until 2017, when they looked into whether the breeder was committing fraud or animal welfare crimes.
 A court eventually found the kitten mill operator guilty of animal welfare offences, though it did not consider the matter of selling sick cats. The court ordered the woman to pay 35 day fines, totalling 210 euros for animal neglect.
 The court did not remove cats from the woman's care, which meant she continued breeding cats and selling them on various websites.
 The same municipal vet continued to file reports about the breeder. In 2018, the woman was in court again. This time she received a suspended 30-day prison sentence and was banned from keeping animals. Shortly after these events, the five neglected cats arrived at Rekku Rescue.
 This kitten mill case is only one of many similar animal welfare cases illustrating the extent to which problems can escalate before there's an intervention. That's according to former policeman  Toni Lahtinen , who now runs Team Rokka, an animal welfare group.
 Lahtinen said it was remarkable that the authorities did not step in earlier to stop the cat breeder's operation, despite several witnesses filing reports about a suspected kitten mill.
 He said the cat abuse could have ended far earlier had the cats been taken away. Lahtinen pointed out that the prosecutor should have sought tougher sanctions to have the animals removed, as parliament's legal affairs committee already in 1998 stated that individuals found guilty of abusing animals should lose the right to keep them.
 "Unfortunately this is just one example of the weaknesses surrounding animal welfare crimes in Finland," Lahtinen said, adding that an earlier intervention would have minimised a lot of suffering.

Kitten mill operator who sold sick cats for years fined €210


Summary: In an article published by an online sports magazine, Tim Sparv said awareness needs to be raised about human rights violations.

The captain of Finland's men's international football team,  Tim Sparv , has called on players, fans, journalists and "anyone who simply cares about human rights" to put more pressure on Qatari authorities and world governing body FIFA over the treatment of migrant workers building stadiums for next year's World Cup finals.
 "I'm not an expert, but as the captain of the Finnish national team, I know that I might soon be playing in stadiums that have cost workers their lives," Sparv wrote in an  article  for The Player's Tribune, an online sports magazine which publishes first-person stories from professional athletes.
 The Finland and HJK midfielder cited an  article  by The Guardian newspaper from earlier this year which revealed that up to 6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar since the Gulf state was awarded the World Cup by FIFA in December 2010.
 Despite adding that "we woke up too late" to this issue, Sparv said that there is still time to improve and even save the lives of migrant workers and put an end to human rights violations in the country.
 'Fans need to talk about it'
 "To do that, though, we need to keep the spotlight on Qatar. Fans need to talk about it, journalists need to write about it, organisations need to highlight it. And players really have to speak up about it," he wrote, adding that he first started to look deeper into the subject after his HJK teammate  Riku Riski   refused a call up  from the Finnish national team to join a training camp in Qatar, citing ethical concerns.
 "It seems crazy that while migrant workers were suffering and even dying in Qatar I was worrying about the distance between our midfield and our defence," Sparv wrote. "Luckily, Riku saw the bigger picture."
 The Finnish captain therefore called on his fellow professional players to consider how the migrant workers and their families are being treated.
 "If you can summon the courage, get informed, get involved and speak up," Sparv advises. "Get in touch with workers' representatives, human rights organisations or your players' union, and ask how you can help make an impact for the workers on the ground."
 Finland's men's national team has never qualified for a World Cup finals but they currently sit in second position in qualifying Group D after a 1-0 win over Kazakhstan in Helsinki on Saturday.
 The  Huuhkajat , or Eagle Owls, next face World Champions France on Tuesday in Lyon.

Finnish football captain calls for activism over Qatar World Cup worker exploitation


Summary: Prime Minister Sanna Marin has estimated that the vaccination level of 80 percent would be reached next month.

The Finnish government approved a new Covid hybrid strategy on Monday which hinges on at least 80 percent of the population being fully vaccinated against the disease, Prime Minister  Sanna Marin  (SDP) said.
 "We will open society and keep it open," Marin told reporters on the steps of the House of Estates in Helsinki at about 5pm on Monday.
 "We ensured that the [new strategy's] various measures would affect people's lives as little as possible economically, socially and [in terms of their] well-being," she said.
 Marin said that the strategy was pointed more towards the opening of society, rather than its previous strategy of testing, tracking and quarantining.
 The key to doing that is more vaccinations, according to the PM.
 "When we reach 80 percent vaccine coverage, we can lift the restrictions," Marin said.
 When asked for a more precise timetable, Marin said that the government did not discuss a specific schedule but noted that the coalition has aims to relax restrictions on restaurants and bars before the 80 percent proportion is reached.
 "At least, that is the will of the government," she said.
 Coronavirus-related restrictions on eateries and pubs remain in effect across many parts of the country. For example, in the Greater Helsinki area, establishments are mandated to shut down at 11pm.
 As of Sunday, about 53 percent of Finland's population had received both doses of a Covid vaccine. At the same time, 72.4 percent had one of the two jabs.
 Meeting in Helsinki
 Marin and members of the government convened to discuss the dismantling of the Covid-19-related restrictions that have affected the country to varying degrees almost since the epidemic began in Finland.
 Before the meeting began, Marin said that there was fairly broad consensus about lifting the restrictions among the five-party coalition's members.
 "The goal is to open up society and vaccinations play a key role in that," she told reporters on Monday afternoon on the steps of the House of Estates.
 Marin has previously said that restrictions could be lifted after 80-90 percent of the population has received both doses of a Covid vaccine. The PM told Yle Radio on Sunday that she estimated that proportion would be reached in October.
 The following day she clarified her earlier statements.
 "Perhaps the exact expression would be at least 80 percent, but of course we are aiming much higher [than that]. The starting point is based on the premise that when restrictions are lifted they will be lifted in all respects," she said.
 Marin added that once vaccination coverage was adequate that the various rules and recommendations on the use of protective face masks would also be eliminated.
 Questions about testing, tracing and passports
 Finland's current strategy in combating the spread of new Covid cases involves testing for the disease, tracking infection chains and stopping them by quarantining people potentially exposed to the virus.
 Marin said that the health care system's coronavirus tracking efforts have taken a toll on health care services' staffing levels.
 "Currently, dental and other health care services are not available in a timely manner because resources are being put towards tracking," she said, adding that the matter would be addressed later.
 There is apparent disagreement between the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and the Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) about the lowering of restrictions and related topics.
 According to information obtained by Yle, the ministry and THL have differing opinions on how long restrictions should be in place and, for example, how long Finland plans to continue tracking infections.
 On Monday, THL published information about settings where coronavirus infections commonly tended to spread — as well as where such risks were likely to be lower.
 The riskiest places included bars, nightclubs and large festivals, while the institute said infection risks were lower at libraries, the cinema, public transport and school classrooms.
 The government is planning to abandon the three-phase hierarchy of baseline, acceleration and spreading phase of the epidemic situation by region, a system it  adopted  in September 2020.
 Instead, health authorities will try to keep coronavirus outbreaks in check on a more local basis, as well as start to use a so-called Covid passport.
 Such a document is a certificate stating whether the passport holder has been vaccinated, recently recovered from the illness, or has had a recent negative test result.
 PM Marin said on Sunday that the government intends to present its pandemic passport plans to Parliament in the middle of this month, adding that she expected they would receive quick approval.

PM: Finland to lift Covid restrictions after 80% of population fully vaccinated


Summary: Matilda Castrén is the first Finn to compete in golf's Solheim Cup.

Finland's 'budget barn' begins on Tuesday with talks between the government parties. The process started in August with a proposal from the Finance Ministry, and now that gets chewed over by the politicians before a final version emerges.
 There are disputes over funding for research and academia, police and unemployment benefits, but the big row is expected to be over climate measures.
 The government has targeted carbon neutrality by 2035, but has so far not said much about how it will get there. The Green party wants to see concrete measures announced this autumn, but its government partner the Centre Party is less keen.
 Helsingin Sanomat  publishes  a deep dive on agricultural subsidies on Tuesday, looking at how much has been ploughed into farmers' pockets on the promise of emission reductions.
 Between 2014 and 2020 some 1.6 billion euros of EU money has been handed over to farmers to pay for environmental measures, but greenhouse gas emissions from the sector have remained constant.
 The APN podcast looked at what a 'budget barn entails last year. You can listen to the full podcast via the embedded player here or via  Yle Areena ,  Spotify ,  Apple Podcasts  or your usual podcast player using the  RSS feed .
 Story continues after audio
 The most effective measure to take right now, says HS, is to stop burning peat for heat and power. That would be staunchly opposed by the agrarian Centre Party, however.
 And Iltalehti  explains  just why that is.
 On Tuesday morning peat producers left 2,000 litres of their product on the steps of the parliament building as a reminder of their 'distress and existence', according to one of the peat producers who joined the demo.
 This phase of the budget process is scheduled to end on Thursday, with agreement between the government parties on spending and other measures to take in 2022 and 2023.
 Story continues after graphic

 Council defections
 Helsingin Sanomat also  takes a look  at councillors who have switched parties after the local elections in June.
 The paper found that the Finns Party suffered the most defections, with some 83 councillors switching to a new party after they were elected.
 The biggest beneficiary of that movement was the Centre Party, which got 23 Finns Party councillors. Overall the Centre lost 82 councillors, with the National Coalition in third spot in the defectors league table with 47.
 Solheim success
 Finnish golfer  Matilda Castrén  hit the headlines on Monday when she holed the winning putt in golf's Solheim Cup.
 Castrén secured victory for Europe in the inter-continental competition, and Ilta-Sanomat  reports  her joy on Tuesday.
 "Right now I'm shaking," Castrén told reporters. "I was looking at the scoreboard and I knew it was going to be an important putt. We read it perfectly and it went in. I'm just so happy now."
 Castrén is the first Finn to compete in the Solheim Cup, which Europe has now won two years in a row.

Tuesday's papers: Climate pondering, council defections and golf victory


Summary: Nearly 25% of migrant respondents to the study said their economic situation had deteriorated during the epidemic, compared to a corresponding figure of just 6% for the rest of the population.

People who have moved to Finland from abroad have suffered much more from the Covid epidemic than others, according to the results of a recent study by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare THL.
 When compared to the rest of the population, immigrants were more likely to report that their physical health, mental health and quality of life had diminished as a result of the epidemic.
 The study also found that the Covid crisis caused more problems for immigrants than for the wider population as a whole, as people in the immigrant community reported difficulties getting to sleep, an increased sense of loneliness and isolation, and diminished hopes for the future.
 Nearly a quarter of the immigrants who took part in the study said that the coronavirus epidemic had worsened their financial situation quite a lot or very much. The corresponding proportion of the total population was just six percent.
 "This is a worrying finding, considering that the economic situation of immigrants has often been worse than average compared to the entire population, even before the coronavirus epidemic," THL research manager  Natalia Skogberg  wrote in a press release announcing the research results.
 "Difficult experiences often accumulate for people who are already in a weaker social position."
 The report further found that loneliness increased during the pandemic for 36 percent of immigrants compared to 28 percent for the total population, while just six percent of foreigners and only two percent of the wider population said that loneliness had decreased.
 Some 38 percent of immigrants reported that their hopes for the future had diminished as a result of the epidemic and its effects, compared to 30 percent of the general population. Hope for the future, meanwhile, increased for 20 percent of immigrant respondents and 7 percent of the total population.
 "This can tell a lot about resilience in crisis situations. Those who have experienced crisis situations in the past may feel more strongly that this can also be overcome," Skogberg said.
 The study also found that about 15 percent of people who had moved to Finland said they had first-hand experience of discrimination during the coronavirus epidemic.
 The results of the THL report are based on a study entitled  Impact of coronavirus epidemic on wellbeing among foreign born population (MigCOVID) . The study was conducted as a questionnaire from a population register of randomly selected foreign-born people who participated in the FinMonik study conducted abroad in 2018–2019 (Welfare Study Abroad).

THL: Covid crisis takes greater toll on immigrants in Finland


Summary: Finland announced a revised strategy on Monday, but HUS Chief Physician Asko Järvinen told Yle that he would have liked clearer guidelines on each agency's role and responsibility.

Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District's (HUS) Chief Physician  Asko Järvinen  has called the government's new Covid hybrid strategy "confusing" during an interview on Yle TV1's breakfast show  Ylen aamu .
 Prime Minister  Sanna Marin  (SDP)  announced on Monday  that her cabinet had approved a revised strategy, which will allow for the lifting of Covid restrictions when at least 80 percent of the population is fully vaccinated against the virus.
 However, Järvinen told  Ylen aamu  that he would have liked clearer guidelines from the government regarding the division of labour between the different agencies, as well as more precise instructions with regard to testing and tracing.
 "There were no concrete decisions on what to do and how to act. Practical measures were not given, and the recommendations of experts and calls for urgent action were ignored," Järvinen said, adding that the new strategy did not, for example, clarify the roles and responsibilities of the government, regional authorities and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.
 "At the same time, more responsibilities were placed on the regions [regional authorities], but the testing strategy and the operations of schools, how to respond if cases are found in schools, remains open. The experts have been communicating this to the ministry for a long time and have been growing increasingly concerned," Järvinen said.
 If the testing of children is continued as per the current version of the Covid strategy, he added, it will lead to school closures.
 "Since the end of July, THL's recommendation for testing has been that twice-vaccinated people do not have to apply for a [Covid] test unless they are a healthcare worker or there was a known exposure. This was in stark contrast to when the government said action should not be targeted at children and young people," Järvinen said.

HUS physician criticises "confusing" Covid strategy


Summary: Surveillance camera footage appeared to show the man following the former Prime Minister after an exchange of words and then pushing him from behind.

Helsinki District Court has sentenced a 38-year-old man to pay 80 income-linked "day fines" — equivalent in his case to 480 euros — over an incident involving former Prime Minister  Juha Sipilä  (Cen) outside Parliament buildings last January.
 The incident was captured by closed circuit surveillance cameras and  appeared to show the suspect  following Sipilä after an exchange of words and then pushing him from behind.
 The court ruled that the act had no motive other than that the accused had recognised Sipilä as a politician and a former prime minister.
 "Such activities should not be given a foothold in this country," District Court judge  Joona Miettinen  said when delivering the reasons for the decision.
 The court also took into account the man's previous conviction when deciding on the final amount of the fine.
 District Prosecutor  Annamari Lappalainen  told Yle that she is pleased with the verdict, which was in line with the outcome she had demanded at the outset of the trial.
 "It is a good judgment. The District Court took the position very clearly that such conduct was not acceptable," Lappalainen said. "Given that this act was directed at a politician, it was considered important to bring this here to the district court for resolution."
 Sipilä: "I took the threat seriously"
 The incident took place in early January near the Parliament building in downtown Helsinki.
 Sipilä told the court that he was speaking on the phone as he waited to cross the road when a passerby approached him.
 "He started to say something about a 'whore' and about beating [Sipilä] up. Nothing appropriate came out of his mouth," the former PM said, adding that he did not realise at first that the defendant had then started to follow him, until he felt a blow to the back.
 Story continues after the photo.
 Surveillance camera footage captured the incident. Eduskunnan videotallenne
 "Then he said that now it's really going to be a fight. I told the person on the phone that this can't be just ignored, and to call the police," Sipilä told the court.
 "I took the threat seriously," he added.
 Witness: Sipilä was "slightly anxious"
 Sipilä also told the court that the person he was speaking to on the phone at the time of the incident called the police, but officers did not arrive until three quarters of an hour, or even an hour later, to ask for a statement.
 The court also heard from this witness, who said Sipilä was "slightly anxious" about what was happening and that's why he asked to call the police.
 Although he did not suffer any injuries in the incident, Sipilä said that he did have to see a doctor.
 The police investigation did not reveal any particular reason for what happened, but concluded that the defendant acted as he did on a whim. He had denied the charge of assault.
 Parliament's director of security  Jukka Savola  was  subsequently sacked  for breach of duty and a resulting loss of trust after he leaked the security camera footage to the media.

Court fines man €480 for incident involving ex-PM Sipilä


Summary: The guard says Finland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not responded.

As the last American soldiers left Kabul airport and Taliban fighters filled the air with celebratory gunfire, one man who worked at the Finnish embassy for years decided he would have to leave under his own steam.
 Finland's evacuation lists had not included the man, who was employed to guard the embassy via a subcontractor.
 Yle has seen his keycard badge and reference, and checked the reference with the Finnish citizen who signed it. He is not identified in this story because of the ongoing threats he faces.
 On 26 August he still lived in hope that he might be evacuated by Finland, even though he had not yet been named on an evacuation list. Like thousands of others, he headed to the airport.
 "Those were the final days, that's why I went to the airport," said the guard.
 The security guard was not far from the Isis bomb blast that killed some 175 people that evening. The next day Finland announced its own operations at the airport had ended.
 Some of the guard's colleagues were evacuated from Finland later, thanks to assistance from American forces, but those not on the evacuation lists were left in Kabul.
 The Finnish government had decided to evacuate about a third of the embassy's guards, leaving behind some 40 people employed as security guards by a subcontractor.
 "I lost hope," said the guard.
 Threatened at night
 The same night that the last Americans left Kabul airport, one of the guard's colleagues received a voice message from an unknown number.
 The message is recorded in Pashto and features a man claiming to be a Taliban fighter saying that the organisation has lists of people who had worked with foreigners, and was now deciding what to do with them.
 The message has been shared many times. Yle has heard the message, but has not verified its source.
 US Secretary of State  Antony Blinken  had denied immediately before the US withdrew that any lists of people who had worked with foreign organisations had been given to the Taliban.
 Blinken said that names had only been given to the Taliban so that those on lists could make it through checkpoints to the airport.
 The Taliban, meanwhile, has said it would not seek revenge on former enemies and those who worked against it. Many Afghans find those assurances difficult to believe, however.
 Journey to Pakistan
 The man interviewed by Yle did not want to wait and see if the Taliban would stick to their word. He left at 4am with his brother, who also worked at the Finnish embassy.
 They drove for twelve hours to reach the Pakistani border, leaving most of their documents at home for fear that the Taliban would find them at a checkpoint.
 "There's nothing for us in Kabul any more," said the guard. "We would have died there if we'd stayed."
 The journey to Pakistan went relatively smoothly, in the end.
 "There were a lot of checkpoints on the way, but fortunately I had my family with me, women, sisters and our mother, so they didn't check our documents or phones too carefully," said the guard.
 Story continues after photo
 Pakistani troops patrol their border with Afghanistan on 26 August. AFP / Lehtikuva
 At the border, however, they got stuck. There were thousands of Afghans waiting there to get into Pakistan.
 The Pakistani authorities have tightened up recently, with four million Afghan refugees already resident there. The government has said it cannot take any more, and border guards now turn back anyone who doesn't have a visa, residence permit or Pakistani passport.
 The guard and his group did not have the documents, so they were forced to take a longer route skirting the official border crossings, on motorcycles along mountain tracks.
 Disappointed in Finland
 Now the guard and his family live with friends in Pakistan and he still hopes that he might make it to Finland or some other country.
 His colleagues remaining in Kabul hope that he might somehow be able to help them too.
 Finland does not have an embassy in Pakistan, however. The guards' emails to the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs have gone unanswered.
 The man fears that he will be left as an undocumented migrant in Pakistan. He is running out of money, and says he has not received any wages for the two weeks he worked in August, let alone any notice period.
 Security at the embassy was contracted out to a Finnish company which in turn farmed out the contract to an Afghan firm called Tahiri Protections Risk Management Consulting.
 "I don't know if I should stay and live here," said the guard. "I don't have anything here, no ID and no visa."
 He says he is losing hope in the future.
 "I wanted to study in Afghanistan. I had lots of plans there."
 He's also disappointed with the way he was treated by Finland.
 "We protected them from threats for years," said the guard. "We were with them in difficult conditions, but now they left us behind."
 MFA: We aim to answer everyone
 Yle asked the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA) why the man's email had not been answered.
 The ministry said they had received many emails from individuals, and they are still working through the backlog, but added that it understands people's concerns and aims to answer everyone.
 Yle also asked if Finland plans to take any further steps to help security guards who had protected its embassy in Kabul.
 MFA said that in Afghanistan there remain some Finnish citizens and people with residence permits, along with people on evacuation lists, who they will try to help.
 Their spokesperson emphasised however that the ministry can only act to help those on official evacuation lists as approved by the Finnish government. The ministry says that evacuation decisions prioritised those in exceptionally visible roles who were felt to be at the greatest risk.

Embassy guard flees overland after Finland refuses evacuation: "I lost hope"


Summary: Left Alliance city councillor Suldaan Said Ahmed replaces outgoing party colleague Paavo Arhinmäki in Parliament.

Suldaan Said Ahmed  (Left) has been officially sworn in as a Member of Parliament, becoming Finland's first Somali-background MP.
 The Helsinki city councillor replaces party colleague and outgoing MP  Paavo Arhinmäki  (Left), who left Parliament to take up a role as Helsinki Deputy Mayor.
 Said Ahmed told Yle News that he still "cannot quite believe" he is now an MP.
 "If someone had told the refugee-background, single-mother raised, teenage Suldaan, that you would one day become a Finnish legislator, I would not have believed it," he said. "There were no people like me in Parliament when I was growing up."
 He added that he intends to help "build a better Finland" during his time in Parliament.
 "I want a Finland where every young person, regardless of their background or starting point, can pursue their dreams. I hope that my selection here will send a message to young people that anything is possible," he added.
 Said Ahmed and two other incoming MPs —  Atte Kaleva  (NCP) and  Jari Kinnunen  (NCP) — were officially announced as Members of Parliament by parliamentary speaker  Anu Vehviläinen  (Cen) at a plenary session on Thursday afternoon.
 Kaleva and Kinnunen are replacing party colleagues  Anna-Kaisa Ikonen  and  Juhana Vartiainen , who became mayors of Tampere and Helsinki respectively.
 Said Ahmed was born in Somalia in 1993 and moved to Finland in 2008. He was elected to Helsinki City Council at the municipal elections in 2017, garnering over 1,000 votes, and was re-elected to the council at the last municipal election in June, increasing his vote count to 1,634.

Finland's first Somali-born MP officially sworn in


Summary: The varying duration of the boys' sentences, of about eight to ten years each, were affected by how much violence they had each inflected on the victim before leaving him on the ground that night in December.

Two teenagers who were found guilty of taking part in the violent murder of another teen in the Koskela neighbourhood have expressed dissatisfaction with Helsinki District Court's verdict, the first step towards appealing their prison sentences.
 Last week the two boys, along with a third defendant, were all convicted of murder committed as a minor. The district court  sentenced  one of the defendants to a prison term of 10 years and 1 month. The second defendant was sentenced to 9 years and 2 months and the third was handed a prison sentence of 8 years and 2 months.
 On the evening of Friday, 4 December 2020, the teens lured the boy to a hospital area in the district. Then, after brutally beating him, they left the victim at the scene, where his body was discovered three days later.
 The perpetrators and victim were all 16 years old at the time of the deadly attack. Their sentences were reduced on grounds that the defendants were minors at the time of the murder.
 The varying duration of the boys' sentences were affected by how much violence they had each inflected on the victim. The defendants' dissatisfaction with the verdict has so far been voiced by the teen who received the longest sentence as well as the boy who received the shortest sentence.
 "A decision about an appeal or its contents has not yet been made, but it will be made later in September," said  Dan Palvinen , the lawyer of the teen handed the shortest prison sentence.
 All three of the defendants denied the murder charge they faced. The two boys who received the longer sentences plead guilty to aggravated manslaughter and aggravated assault.
 'Brutal, cruel and humiliating'
 The defendant who received the shortest sentence only admitted to assaulting the victim. Testimony was heard that the teen was not present at the crime scene for part of the evening that the violent and prolonged attack took place.
 All three of the defendants based their cases on the premise that the killing was not intentional. Additionally, their defence was based on the extent to which each boy participated in the violence.
 However, in its ruling, Helsinki District Court found that the boy's death was intentional. It said that the defendants had jointly agreed to take part in the violence and that they must have considered the victim's death a quite probable consequence of their violent acts.
 Court-ordered psychological evaluations found that the defendants were of  sound mind  and therefore criminally responsible on the night of the killing.
 The district court's decision noted that the victim was subjected to brutal, cruel and humiliating violence for several hours and was left lying on the ground in the cold and that none of the defendants had even made an attempt to get help for the victim.
 Prosecutor still deciding
 The prosecution also has the opportunity to appeal the district court's decision, but as of Tuesday had not decided whether to submit a report about their dissatisfaction about the verdict.
 During proceedings in district court the prosecution had demanded sentences that were one or two years longer than the defendants received last week.
 "We will make a decision at the end of this week," prosecutor  Satu Pomoell  said.
 Janne Nuutinen , the victim's lawyer, said shortly after the district court handed down its decision last week that the victim's relatives accepted the verdict. During the trial, the victim's relatives had demanded that all three of the defendants receive 12-year prison sentences.
 According to the law, a complaint of dissatisfaction with a court's decision in such a case can be filed with the court within a week after a verdict is handed down. After that there is a one-month window to take the case to the Court of Appeal for consideration. In this case, that deadline is 4 October 2021.

Two teens convicted in Koskela murder to appeal sentences


Summary: However, the new rules will not come into effect until Russia opens its borders more widely to tourists after the pandemic subsides.

The Russian government has added the international land border crossing stations of Torfyanovka and Brusnitšnoje to the list of points where it will be possible to enter Russia with an electronic tourist visa.
 The Torfyanovka station is located opposite the Vaalimaa border station on Finland's eastern border while Brusnitšnoje is located about 100km further north, opposite Finland's Nuijamaa border station.
 The decision was signed into law last week by Russian Prime Minister  Mikhail Mishustin , but will not come into effect until Russia opens its borders more widely to tourists after the pandemic.
 The electronic tourist visas have previously been made available for use by Finnish citizens as well as citizens of certain other countries, but only for air travel to Russia.
 Svetlana Levinskaia , the Finnish representative of the Russian Union of Travel Industry, told Yle Novosti that the decision will open up new opportunities for the development of tourism between the two neighbouring nations.
 "It is good that the wishes of the players in the field have been heard. Hopefully the decision will soon be extended to the Allegro train," Levinskaia said, referring to the high-speed rail service linking Helsinki and Saint Petersburg.
 Russia eased entry regulations at the beginning of this year, but tourism is still heavily affected by coronavirus restrictions.
 Dual citizens living in Finland and Finnish citizens who have close relatives living in Russia can also travel to the country via the border crossing stations of Vaalimaa, Nuijamaa and Niirala.

Russia rolls out electronic tourist visa for land border points


Summary: Police found there is a broad age range of buyers and sellers of illegal substances on the dark web, spanning different social groups.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and other authorities have stepped up surveillance of the trade of illegal goods on the dark web this year, but without appropriate funding the job will become increasingly challenging, according to the head of a crime prevention unit.
 The dark web refers to sites on the internet that require special software or configurations to reach and cannot be accessed with ordinary web browsers. On that part of the internet, a person's online activity can be anonymised.
 More than 90 percent of the dark web activity monitored by Finnish authorities dealt with the sale of illegal drugs. However, the head of the NBI's crime prevention unit, chief inspector  Lars Henriksson , said that conducting illegal activities on the shadowy network isn't entirely a risk-free proposition.
 "Anonymity doesn't eliminate the risk of getting caught and being held criminally liable. Contrary to popular belief, criminal activity on the dark web is not out of the reach of law enforcement," Henriksson said in a statement.
 Dark web drugs common in Finland
 Even so, the volume of drug trafficking on the anonymous web remains significant in Finland, even when compared internationally.
 According to an international  survey  of drug use, Finland was found to be the country with the largest proportion of individuals who acquired drugs on the dark web. Around 45 percent of the nearly 2,200 respondents who had used or bought drugs in Finland over the past year said they had acquired them via the anonymous network.
 The next-highest ranking country was the UK, with 29 percent of respondents saying the same, and in third place was Australia with 15 percent.
 Due to low respondent numbers, all of the Nordic countries were not included in the international comparison. The share of dark web drug buyers in Norway was 14 percent while four percent of Danish respondents said they had purchased drugs on the dark web.
 Law enforcement's monitoring of the network has also found that there is a broad age range of buyers and sellers of illegal substances — like recreational drugs, for example — and that users of the dark web were not unified by any particular social status.
 According to Henriksson, the network has also helped spread the illicit drug trade to increasingly remote areas of Finland, and the criminal activity was no longer concentrated in larger cities.
 He said that casual recreational drug users were among the most likely to be drawn to the dark web to buy their drugs, as they may not otherwise have the contacts or acquaintances needed to do so.
 The platforms and marketplaces used to sell drugs on the dark web are changing rapidly. The bureau also noted that the international drug trade is also increasingly focused on Finland.
 The dark web monitoring work carried out this year by the NBI and other authorities was initiated through extra funding from Parliament.
 However, in the release Henriksson also noted that due to inadequate resources and ability to conduct police operations online, the outlook on preventing crime was challenging.

NBI: Fighting online crime in Finland at forefront of dark web drug trade


Summary: Getting involved in the sport doesn't necessarily mean having to be an excellent skater, according to the coaches of the new programme in Tampere.

Tampere's Samke central upper secondary school is rolling out Finland's first specialised high school skateboarding programme this autumn.
 The institution is a specialised high school offering programmes in sports as well as communications, both of which are incorporated into the skateboarding-emphasised coursework.
 "A similar programme has been going on in Malmö, Sweden since 2005," explained  Teemu Grönlund , Samke's skateboarding curriculum coordinator.
 The skater boys and girls are still expected to take part in traditional high school classes, but the  programme  also emphasises subjects such as audiovisual communication as well as event organisation. Photography and video production are key elements of the skating culture, Grönlund said.
 Skateboarding tricks only last a few moments but skaters often record the manoeuvres for posterity and share them with friends.
 If a student wants to put more emphasis on the competitive sports, then they can take advantage of the opportunities offered by the school's sports side, Grönlund explained.
 "But competitive sports are just a small part of skateboarding," he emphasised.
 Story continues after photo
 Teemu Grönlund Timo Turpeinen / Yle
 "Clearly this group [of students], which just got started, is interested in skate culture. This includes, for example, the development of urban culture, community spirit and events. And fashion," he exclaimed.
 "Skateboarders have always been at the forefront of innovating fashion trends, and a couple of years after they do, the trends can be seen in retail shop windows," he said.
 Grönlund is a researcher as well as a biology and geography teacher. He also helped to establish — and chairs — the Pirkanmaan Kaarikoirat association, a collective skateboard organisation promoting the sport as well as DIY culture often associated with skateboarding.
 The skating students get to practice in Finland's largest indoor concrete skateboarding hall in the city's Hiedanranta district, a skater's obstacle course built by local skateboarding enthusiasts.
 "This has long been a wish and dream of mine. Now it really seems that everything has come together," Grönlund said.
 "The environment here at Hiedanranta certainly inspires everyone to develop their own areas of strength, whatever they may be. These days going to high school is tedious and time consuming — this is the counterbalance to it," he said.
 'It's what I want to do'
 Skater student  Oona Kaskinen  began skateboarding nine months ago but moved around 140km northeast from Turku to Tampere so she could take part in the specialised programme.
 "I wanted to make sure that, in addition to school, I could do the sport as much as possible," she said.
 Story continues after photo
 Oona Kaskinen Timo Turpeinen / Yle
 Meanwhile,  Ruu Ahlstedt  from Fiskars has skated for about a year-and-a-half.
 "I skate every single day. I take the sport seriously because it's what I want to do," Ahlstedt said, although he isn't necessarily looking to make a living at the sport.
 "I don't have the aspiration to become a professional. I just want to skate as much as I can and develop my skills as much as possible," he explained.
 Kaskinen said she's aiming to learn new skills.
 "I want to learn new tricks, the kind I have dreamed of doing. I'd also like to show people that skateboarding is a good thing and not just [the source of] some noisy voices on the street," she explained.
 "I just want to skate and graduate with good grades," she added.
 Coaching is a "strange word"
 Two coaches — professional skaters  Jussi Korhonen  and  Samu Karvonen  — help to teach and train the students to learn new skills twice a week. Korhonen is a trained physical education instructor and Karvonen is in the process of finishing up a professional coaching degree.
 Korhonen has been skateboarding for more than 30 years and even carved out an international career in the sport. Meanwhile, Karvonen is one of Finland's best known representatives of skateboarding.
 Korhonen noted that some people think he might be too old to be involved in the sport anymore.
 Conceding his relatively high age for the sport, he said "it does take longer to physically recover from [skateboarding]. Every time I hop on the board, I'm 14 years old. And with these high school students, in many ways I feel like them," Korhonen said.
 Karvonen said that the title "skateboarding coach" didn't quite fit his actual job at the school.
 "'Coaching' is a bit of a strange word. Rather we are mentors or tutors," he explained.
 Getting deeply involved in skateboarding doesn't necessarily mean having to be a great athlete, according to Karvonen.
 People can participate in the sport as photographers, event coordinators or as a local club operator who builds skate parks and promotes skateboarding, he said.
 "Now we're giving and showing [the kids] there are more possibilities of what can be done together within the discipline, while enjoying the hobby," Karvonen explained.
 The school's new programme for skaters was set up with help from the City of Tampere and the institution's Rector  Tuija Ylöniemi . Additional cooperation came from the Olympic Committee as well as the Tampere sports academy ( Tampereen Urheiluakatemia ).

Finland's first skateboarding high school opens in Tampere


Summary: Some families in Finland's bible belt are worried about vaccinating their children, reports Iltalehti on Wednesday.

Finnish President  Sauli Niinistö  is about halfway through his second term in office, prompting the media to speculate who will be Finland's next head of state.
 According to a survey of residents by  Helsingin Sanomat , Bank of Finland governor  Olli Rehn  (Cen) is the current top pick for Finland's next president.
 Other popular choices for 2024 include Prime Minister  Sanna Marin  (SDP) and Foreign Minister  Pekka Haavisto  (Green).
 The survey was carried out by pollster Kantar TNS at the end of August.
 Ostrobothnian anti-vaxxers
 This week Finland said it was lifting Covid restrictions when at least  80 percent of the population  is fully vaccinated against the virus.
 Reaching that level is, however, unlikely in Liminka, a municipality south of Oulu, according to  Iltalehti .
 Liminka's leading physician  Pauliina Sarajärvi  said coronavirus vaccine hesitancy was preventing local residents from getting the jab.
 The area is home to many adherents of the Laestadian evangelical Lutheran revival movement, known for large families and conservative values.
 The movement has previously been linked to vaccine opposition in Ostrobothnia's Luoto area, which currently also has a low uptake of the coronavirus vaccine.
 Forest therapy for office workers
 The southern city of Lahti has installed "forest workstations" on trees to promote working outdoors, reports Swedish-language daily  Hufvudstadsbladet .
 Most of the standing workstations are near the town's centre, though one of the standing desks is located 16 kilometres outside the city in the Lapakisto nature conservation area.
 The roofed workstations include a telephone and cup holder, space for a laptop, and a hook for bags.
 The stations do not, however, have chargers.
 "The risk of vandalism was too great if we had used expensive solar panels," said city spokesperson  Saara Piispanen .
 _ Do you want the main stories from Finland curated and delivered straight to your inbox?  Sign up for our weekly All Points North newsletter ! _

Wednesday's papers: Presidential race, anti-vaxxers and remote working in a forest


Summary: Finland didn't see an influenza season last year because of the large number of people working and going to school from home.

Earlier this week Finland's government announced plans to  dismantle restrictions  that have kept people socially distanced and safer from being infected by coronavirus once 80 percent of the population is vaccinated against Covid.
 But what does that mean for other contagious diseases — will the flu make a comeback as life gradually returns to normal?
 The chief physician at the Institute for Health and Welfare (THL),  Hanna Nohynek  — who has become well-known in Finland as an expert vaccinologist during the Covid crisis — said that it's pretty likely the flu will make a comeback as people start moving around again.
 "The expectation is that as society opens up and people start to travel, viruses will also travel with them. There's likely to be more influenza than there is when society is completely or mostly closed," she explained, adding however that it is difficult to say when the flu season could start.
 "That really depends on when the borders open, when people travel and how many other precautions are in place, like face masks and remote working and so on. All of this affects the degree to which viruses are transmitted between people. In a normal flu season, the first individual cases would have been seen by now," she said, adding that usually influenza epidemics don't get started until the end of the year.
 "There have been isolated cases and a few outbreaks, but large numbers of cases usually come after Christmas and the New Year," she explained, saying that it was very difficult to know when the flu could arrive.
 Lower resistance possible
 However, if and when the influenza wave does arrive, Nohynek said that due to its extended absence, people's resistance to the virus would likely be lower than under normal circumstances.
 "One concern is that people have not had the flu for some time and may not be naturally protected from it," she said. "It's possible there could be an even bigger flu epidemic [than normal]. On the other hand, 1.7 million people in Finland took the flu vaccine last season. Which means they hopefully have immunological resistance."
 Meanwhile, the severity of an eventual flu epidemic also depends on how well the vaccines match the antigens of the virus variant that eventually circulates.
 But doing that could be challenging this year, as very few influenza types have been isolated by immunologists recently, she explained, noting that the World Health Organisation (WHO) meets twice a year to examine viruses that have been isolated around the globe.
 "Based on those findings, the WHO estimates which strains are likely to be the main ones in the next flu season. This year the decision-making process has had to rely on very few [types]. Then, there is the question of whether the viruses chosen for the vaccine are the ones that will end up circulating," she said.
 "At worst, an entirely new flu virus which we have very little protection against from previous years, or from an earlier vaccination, then it could be a tumultuous season ahead of us," Nohynek explained.
 Double vaccinations?
 The decision about which viruses to include in this season's flu vaccinations was made at the end of February.
 "The WHO selected the virus strains and notified the manufacturers. We can no longer influence the vaccine's composition. Currently, some vaccines are already in the packaging phase and headed to different countries where they will be distributed soon," she said.
 Flu vaccinations within public health care usually begin in November and in the private sector they start a bit later.
 Like many countries around the world, Finland is planning to roll out second booster Covid vaccinations at some point as well. Nohynek said Oxford University has studied whether people will be able to take both a Covid jab and a flu vaccine at the same time.
 "Based on the biological mechanisms, there's no reason to think that either vaccine would significantly interfere with each other. It's likely that both vaccines can be given at the same time," she said, adding that administering both vaccines at the same time would prevent people from having to make a second appointment to be protected.
 Who should get flu jabs?
 Nohynek said that previous guidance on groups that should get vaccinated would continue, in other words the flu vaccine is recommended for people belonging to risk groups, including individuals with health conditions that put them at higher risk of complications, people over the age of 65, children aged 6 months to 6 years old, expectant mothers as well as health care professionals.
 She noted that being vaccinated doesn't provide 100 percent protection against a case of the flu, but does help to avoid more serious symptoms in people who do get infected.

Questions remain over flu's awaited return


Summary: One of the car's passengers texted a message about being scared before the ride turned deadly.

The trial of an 18-year-old man facing three murder charges related to a fatal car crash in August of last year began at Pirkanmaa District Court on Wednesday.
 The single-vehicle crash took place in Nokia, near the city of Tampere, at just after 1am on 16 August 2020. The car veered off the road and  collided with a tree , instantly killing three teenage passengers and mildly injuring the driver.
 The driver, who was a minor at the time of the collision, also faces charges of aggravated drunk driving and aggravated traffic safety endangerment.
 The prosecutor,  Pasi Vainio , charged the man with murder, rather than manslaughter, due to three exceptional features of the case.
 The first was the large number of victims, secondly that the victims were all in the same car and no other vehicle was involved in the crash.
 The third factor, according to the prosecutor, was related to intent, claiming the collision was not a case of negligence. Therefore, he said previously, the charges were murder, not aggravated manslaughter.
 The court was shown evidence of video footage that was uploaded to the social media platform Snapchat before the vehicle slammed into the tree.
 The defendant has denied driving the vehicle at the time of the crash but said that he had driven it earlier that night.
 He also said that he did not recall uploading posts to Snapchat at the time of the accident.
 As the defendant was a minor at the time of the crash, the prosecutor has demanded that the man be sentenced to nine years imprisonment.
 'Scared' passenger
 The prosecutor said video evidence showed that the car had reached a speed of up to 170kmh and on impact with the tree was going at least 120kmh, saying that the driver's reckless and life-threatening actions had come as a surprise to others in the car.
 According to the prosecution, one of the crash victims sent a message during the ride about being frightened.
 The prosecutor also said that the defendant had engaged the emergency handbrake, causing the car to drive off the road, slipping sideways. The force of the vehicle caused the tree to snap in half.
 The defence said it was not clear whether the parking brake was applied while the car was in motion or if it was engaged after the crash.
 The man escaped serious injury in the collision because the vehicle's right side hit the tree, which deployed the driver's seat air bag, largely protecting him.
 The young man in the passenger seat, born in 2003, was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash, but the female victims sitting in the back, both of whom born in 2002, were not wearing seat belts. All three were killed instantly in the collision.
 Mood changed
 The prosecutor said the young man was drinking while driving and that his blood alcohol concentration level (BAC) of 1.86 promille (mg per ml of blood).
 Among other things, the videos uploaded to social media showed various situations from that night, including images of the four youths riding in the car. A video taken at one point that night showed someone else besides the defendant driving the car.
 The prosecutor said the video evidence also showed the defendant driving the car in the oncoming lane of traffic and that the mood inside the vehicle had changed.
 The defendant, according to the prosecutor, was also using a cell phone as he drove, filming videos and texting. The evidence for this was seen in the defendant's Snapchat messages, photos and videos.
 The court has set aside three days for the criminal trial.

18-year-old faces murder charges in crash killing three youths


Summary: Does smashing things reduce aggression or validate violence?

Twenty-four-year-old  Jasmin Vertanen  says thrashing junked-up household appliances is a good way for her to release anger built up over coronavirus restrictions. But not everyone agrees this is the best way to deal with pent-up emotions.
 In rage rooms, patrons pay to smash away at broken household appliances.
 Rage rooms have cropped up around the world over the past decade. Patrons pay to smash things to smithereens, purportedly to relieve stress.
 Finland's first rage room opened in Jyväskylä in 2017 but has since closed. Today people can pay to obliterate objects in Tampere, Turku—and now—in Helsinki.
 Janne Raninen ,who runs the Raivoomo rage room in Helsinki's Merihaka district, said he wanted to create a place where young people can let off steam and release aggression.
 "I've had a pretty wild youth. When I was carrying out my prison sentence, I had the idea that it would be good if young people had a place to relieve their rage," he said.
 Raninen, who was  convicted of a double murder  in the capital's Vuosaari neighbourhood, spent 17 years incarcerated both in Finland and Sweden.
 Female rage
 According to Raninen, women aged 25 to 40 make up most of Raivoomo's clientele.
 One of them is Vertanen, who said she comes to the rage room to relieve pressure brought on by Covid restrictions.
 "Smashing things up gives me a good, relaxed feeling. The day gets off to a good start, and it beats a morning coffee," she explained.
 Mental health professionals, however, don't necessarily see rage rooms as a form of therapy.
 "Research has shown that this type of cathartic activity doesn't reduce aggressiveness," psychologist  Satu Kaski  told Yle.
 She said some emotionally stunted and inhibited individuals may feel a moment's release from this kind of activity. Kaski, however, added that she still had reservations about these types of places.
 "Anger is a feeling, just like other emotions. It occurs when people sense they've been treated unfairly," she explained.
 Kaski said that instead of allowing blind rage to take over, people should explore their feelings to manage anger.
 But she said she wouldn't be opposed to introducing rage rooms to one specific type of person.
 "I could maybe imagine going to see a place like this with a patient who has trouble expressing or recognising their own anger," she said.

Ex-con opens rage room in Helsinki


Summary: Radical movements are actively attracting young people in Finland online, says Pelastakaa Lapset, the Finnish branch of Save the Children.

Extremist movements are actively seeking to recruit young people in Finland online, according to a report published on Wednesday by Pelastakaa Lapset, the Finnish branch of the global NGO Save the Children.
 The study, part of the organisation's state-funded RadicalWeb project, indicates that extremist groups use many means to try to attract young people.
 These include social media, online messaging, video game platforms, dark network forums and meetings. According to the report, such movements aim to boost their appeal through means such as humour, conspiracy theories and non-sexual grooming.
 Extremist movements often have specific action plans that seek to recruit youngsters through a variety of methods and tactics. Extreme thinking is especially evident in online communication and social media, but recruitment also takes place to some extent through direct contacts, for example through a circle of friends or hobbies.
 However, each radicalisation process is unique, according to RadicalWeb project manager  Annukka Kurki .
 "Young people are a good target for propaganda by extremists and terrorist groups, as they are vulnerable to extremism and other harmful effects due to their sensitive stage of development. Extreme movements are very innovative in their recruitment," Kurki said in a statement on Wednesday.
 Supo: Violent radicalisation on the rise
 According to the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (Supo), the threat of violent radicalisation is minimal in Finland compared to many other countries. However, violent radicalisation and related violent activity have also  increased in Finland  in recent years, and this is reflected in crime statistics, Pelastakaa Lapset notes in its report.
 Youth radicalisation can be difficult to identify and distinguish from other behaviour associated with their age or difficult life situations. Triggering risk factors for the development of extremism can include exclusion, exposure to one-sided views, and disappointment with democracy and political activity.
 According to the organisation, factors that can protect young people include social coping skills, autonomy, family support, a sense of inclusion, religious awareness and the strengthening of democratic citizenship.
 These may increase a young person's capacity for mental recovery and coping. Parents and professionals working with young people have an important role to play here, the NGO says.
 "By strengthening social relations, the experience of inclusion and a sense of belonging, young people can be protected from radicalisation, says  Veera Tuomala , project designer at RadicalWeb.
 Warning signs
 Possible warning signals of youthful radicalisation may include changes in behaviour, opinions or dress, as well as opposing social order and following propaganda online, according to Save the Children.
 A parent, guardian or other adult who notices such signs should find out which platforms the young person is frequenting online and help them to identify hate speech. They may also suggest how to influence decision-making through peaceful means.
 Providing time and support can be crucial to a young person's life, the organisation says.
 "Make sure the conversation is as calm and neutral as possible. An open, appreciative, understanding, compassionate and constructive dialogue is key. In contrast, questioning, belittling, condemning, overreacting, and blaming should be avoided," the report says.
 The report is based on information gathered from research and reports, online data collection by Save the Children Finland and expert interviews. The RadicalWeb project is funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture.

Save the Children: Extremist groups recruiting youth via social media, gaming


Summary: Ministerial sources told Yle that a budget deal had been reached besides the hot-button issue of emission taxes.

The five-party government's budget framework negotiations were to have wrapped up on Wednesday, but in the late afternoon Prime Minister  Sanna Marin  (SDP) said that they would resume on Thursday.
 In the meantime, she asked the leaders of two cabinet parties to reach an agreement on emissions taxation, which she said was the last remaining area of disagreement.
 According to Finance Minister  Annika Saarikko  (Cen), "negotiations on the budget will resume when the prime minister reconvenes them. The Centre is ready to approve a climate package in accordance with the government programme," she added via Twitter on Wednesday afternoon.
 Ministerial sources told Yle that a budget deal had been reached besides the controversial issue of climate taxation.
 Speaking to reporters outside the House of Estates in Helsinki's Kruununhaka neighbourhood, Marin said she had asked the Greens and the Centre to negotiate a one-on-one solution by Thursday morning on how to reduce climate emissions in the so-called effort-sharing sector, which includes transport and agriculture.
 The farming industry, which has close historical ties to Centre Party, is one of the few sectors of the Finnish economy where greenhouse gas emissions have not significantly dropped since the turn of the millennium.
 Long-running friction
 Differences of opinion over Finland's climate measures have long been a source of friction between the two parties in particular. That was seen in the dispute over the use of  peat for energy , which led to a long delay during last spring's budget talks.
 The smaller Left Alliance has generally backed the Greens' insistence on concrete measures to reach the government's target of national carbon neutrality by 2035, with the two other government parties taking a more middle-of-the-road approach.
 Left Alliance chair  Li Andersson  tweeted on Wednesday afternoon: "Measures must now be found to ensure that sufficient emission reductions are achieved. This is an absolute demand of the Left Alliance. We are confident that we will find a common solution."
 Greens chair  Maria Ohisalo  said that this was a question of the overall credibility of the government's climate plans.
 The talks between the two parties on Wednesday evening were being led by Environment Minister  Krista Mikkonen  of the Greens and former Centre prime minister  Juha Sipilä , now chair of Parliament's Environment Committee.

Budget talks to continue on Thursday; Centre and Greens wrangle on climate taxation


Summary: Chief physicians argue that the government has failed to listen to health expert advice while drafting their Covid strategy.

Prime Minister  Sanna Marin  (SDP) has given the Centre Party and the Greens until Thursday morning to find common ground in a row that has brought budget negotiations to a standstill, Finland's largest circulation daily  Helsingin Sanomat  reports.
 The Greens had been eager to continue Wednesday's climate measure negotiations into the night, however the Centre Party was not as keen, according to Minister of the Environment and Climate  Krista Mikkonen  (Green),  Iltaleht i writes.
 "Yes, the discussions took place in a good spirit and in a civilised way, but no consensus was found," Mikkonen, who has been acting as the Greens' chief negotiator, told the tabloid on Wednesday evening.
 The Finnish government's goal is for the country to be carbon neutral by 2035 and in order to ensure this, annual greenhouse gas emissions need to be reduced by 11 megatonnes. The row over how to implement this, however, is yet to be resolved and ministers are now racing against the clock for a common consensus to be reached.
 You can read more about the details of the row  here .
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 New defence report addresses threats of coming decade
 Finland's latest national defence report is due to be published on Thursday, upon its submission to Parliament,  Helsingin Sanomat  (HS) writes.
 This is only the second report of its kind, the guidelines of which will extend to the end of this decade.
 The report aims to ensure that Finland's defence capability is in line with changes occurring in the country's operational environment, that is, the land, sea, air, space, and cyber networks where the Finnish military has a presence.
 According to interviews carried out by news agency STT, cyber attacks and the corresponding responses, as well as various threats posed by hybrid and information interference are at the forefront of the new report.
 Defence Minister  Antti Kaikkonen  (Cen) and Commander of the Defence Forces  Timo Kivinen  will present the report at a press conference on Thursday afternoon.
 Chief Physicians criticise government's Covid strategy in letter
 Chief physicians from five hospital districts have issued a "harsh" letter in which they call for an improved pandemic strategy from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, tabloid  Ilta-Sanomat  (IS) writes.
 In the letter, written on the last day of August, the physicians expressed concern over the amount of resources and effort focused on contact tracing and isolation decisions at the expense of primary healthcare provision services.
 "The current large-scale quarantine and testing guidelines are causing congestion in healthcare services which in turn has detrimental effects on healthcare on all fronts," the letter read according to IS.
 The health experts further argued that the current coronavirus strategy did not reflect the changed pandemic situation, IS reports.
 THL and local physicians have not been listened to enough in the decision making processes, the chief doctors added. In their view, the core issue at hand is "the slowness of the preparation of a national strategy and the inability to listen to experts in the fight against communicable diseases," according to the letter which was read by IS reporters.
 The letter rounds off with a seven-point list of suggestive measures that the government should adopt in their Covid strategy, mainly focusing on the efficacy of testing and revision of quarantine guidelines.

Thursday papers: Climate budget row, new defence report and Covid strategy criticism


Summary: Many workers have expressed concern about a move toward privatisation, which they say would undercut working contracts, quality and safety.

Tram and metro workers in Helsinki are threatening a two-day strike next week unless the city reconsiders a plan to incorporate the city transport authority HKL.
 Tram and Metro Staff Union president  Petri Lillqvist  called the plan to turn the municipal authority into a limited company in January "an extreme measure".
 The new firm would at first be owned by the cities of Helsinki and Vantaa.
 The Tram and Metro Staff Union says that unless the city commissions a new study of the proposal, it will launch a shutdown on Thursday and Friday, 16-17 September.
 "We really hope that the city employer understands the seriousness of the matter for the employees and all residents of Helsinki. The last thing we want to do is to cause inconvenience to our passengers. But this is a cry for distress on behalf the traditional HKL, which is something that we all share," said.
 Last Tuesday, tram and metro maintenance staff staged a 24-hour walkout to protest the incorporation plan.
 The Helsinki City Council was to have considered the plan at its meeting last Monday, but left it on the table.
 Last summer, more than half of HKL's 1200 employees signed a petition questioning the incorporation plan. Many have expressed concern about a slide toward full privatisation, which they say would lead to weaker working contracts, quality and safety.

Helsinki tram and metro staff threaten strike next week


Summary: The initiative sought to prevent the privatisation of Finland's water supply, and is the first to receive unanimous backing from MPs.

A citizens' initiative entitled 'Water is ours' (Finnish:  Vesi on meidän ) has been unanimously approved by Parliament.
 The initiative had sought to prevent the privatisation of Finland's water supply, and to date is the first such citizens' initiative to receive unanimous backing by MPs. Parliament has previously approved only two other citizens' initiatives.
 The proposal was brought to Parliament after  collecting more than 89,000 signatures , well over the required 50,000 threshold.
 The 'Water is ours' initiative was launched by six members of the Left Alliance Party from across Finland, including  Olli Kohonen , chair of the party's Northern Ostrobothnia branch.
 The privatisation of water supply has led to rising water prices, the Left Alliance politicians argued, negatively affecting the quality of the water as well as the environment.
 "Prices have risen, the level of service has suffered, and the environment has suffered. Health security, which is becoming increasingly important today, could be a problem if water supply were given to an operator who wants to make a profit from it," Kohonen said at the time the initiative was passed to Parliament.
 Kohonen initially began the initiative after learning about the City of Jyväskylä's plans to sell a minority stake in its water and energy company last year.
 The approved initiative will now enter the legislative process of being turned into a bill, which will be debated and voted on by Parliament at a later date.

Parliament unanimously approves "Water is ours" citizens' initiative


Summary: Increasing numbers of employees are coming from outside the EU to work in Finland with permits granted by other EU member states, according to YIT.

Construction company YIT has said it will start demanding Finland-issued residence and work permits from its employees that have arrived from outside the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA).
 The company's decision will apply to all of the company's contractors and subcontractors, and will take effect from October.
 The move came after an internal audit revealed serious hurdles in the clarification of work permits, according to YIT's vice president  Juhana Häkkänen . The company has for instance, previously struggled with verifying documents that vary in language.
 "The verification of work permits of non-EU employees is very challenging. We are unable to fully comply with the legal obligation of verifying the work permits for this group of people," Häkkänen said.
 Most of the foreign employees working in Finnish construction sites are Estonian. Other large groups are from Poland and the Czech Republic as well as non-EU states Ukraine, Belarus and Uzbekistan.
 YIT's decision contradicts the EU law that would allow employees to work in Finland with a work permit issued by any country belonging to the EU. A non-EU, EEA or Swiss citizen must first have a work permit in the country of destination.
 However they can temporarily work in another EU country, according to EU law.
 Häkkänen argued that such exceptions should only be granted in posts requiring specialised expertise.
 "The trend is that more and more people [belonging to the group mentioned above] are brought to Finland to work in ordinary construction posts, where no specialised skills are required," he said.
 Non-Finnish permit holders prone to exploitation
 Employees whose permits are not issued by the country where they work are in a weaker position and more vulnerable to labour exploitation, according to Häkkänen.
 "[That worker] will rely on one card, meaning that the company that sent them can ask them to leave at any time. If they have a Finnish work permit however, they can apply to work for another employer more easily. They would thus be in a much better position," Häkkänen said, adding that the company did not want to wait until disadvantaged workers fell victim to exploitation at their construction sites.
 The company's internal investigation did not reveal any blatant abuses, he added.
 Story continues after photo.
 YIT's vice president Juhana Häkkänen. Markku Rantala / Yle
 This tightening of the licensing policy will only see a marginal loss of labour for YIT, the company said, as only a small number of employees working for the company currently lack Finnish work permits.
 Häkkänen estimated that only around 100 workers lack Finnish permits, out of some 8,000 employees now working at YIT construction sites.
 He called for authorities to process permits more quickly, as the construction industry is suffering from a labour shortage.
 "All nationalities are welcome to work. However, equal treatment is the number-one priority," Häkkänen said.
 Bouncing of workers a "systematic activity"
 Construction Workers' Union chair  Matti Harjuniemi  described the transfer of workers from outside the EU to Finland as a "systematic activity."
 According to Harjuniemi, contractors -- who are not necessarily construction entrepreneurs -- make use of this grey area in the EU law by sending workers to Finland as soon as a residence permit is issued in another EU country.
 "This is the activity of 'labour force traders'," Harjuniemi said, adding that "the idea is to trade cheap labour into the country precisely through this loophole, which is difficult to block and check."
 Harjuniemi said YIT's new policy could tackle this budding area of the economy, which is neither appropriately taxed nor monitored by any form of government.
 YIT's model an example for other companies?
 Executive Vice President of the Confederation of Finnish Construction Industries RT (CFCI),  Kim Kaskiaro , agrees that YIT's decision could better facilitate site routines.
 "When a large construction company undertakes such an operation, it may be that the practice will rapidly become more common," Kaskiaro said.
 Over the past few years, various taxation measures have been used by the construction industry to tackle the grey economy, but there seems to be a lack of consensus.
 "Undeclared labour has been reasonably curbed, but financial crime is rampant within some companies. Each time one hole is blocked, a couple more are discovered," Kaskiaro said, referring to the systematic falsification of accounting data.
 "Nobody knows what's actually going on inside companies. It is difficult for the subscriber, the main contractor, to catch up," he said.
 The eradication of 'grey' workforce in the sector has been further hampered by exhaustingly long subcontracting chains.
 YIT has limited contracting chains to at most one subcontractor, with the company's permission also required. The new requirement for a Finnish residence and work permit will apply to the entire employment chain.

Construction company to require Finnish residence and work permits from employees


Summary: The Centre and Greens reached a compromise over measures to cut emissions, paving the way for the overall budget deal to go ahead.

The government has reached an agreement on next year's budget as well as measures aimed at cutting climate-warming emissions, Prime Minister  Sanna Marin  (SDP) said early on Thursday afternoon during a brief joint press conference held with the leaders of the other four government parties outside the House of the Estates in Helsinki.
 Cabinet ministers are to provide further details at another press conference beginning at 3 pm.
 Marin said all the outstanding budget issues had been resolved.
 "I think the package we have come up with together is very good. It is broad and we can be proud of it," said Marin.
 The chairs of the five government parties praised both the outcome of the budget talks and their mutual willingness to cooperate despite differences of opinion.
 "I would not have agreed to this latest solution if I wasn't satisfied with its sensible green policies," Minister of Finance  Annika Saarikko  (Cen) said, referring to the climate dispute between her party and the Greens.
 On Wednesday, Marin asked the Greens and the Centre to find a bilateral solution on cutting climate emissions in what the EU defines as the effort-sharing sector, which covers most transport, buildings and agricultural production.
 The Centre said late on Wednesday that it had submitted a proposal to the Greens on how to resolve their disputes over cutting climate emissions. The Greens offered their own compromise solution, and talks among all five parties resumed on Thursday morning.
 This round of budget negotiations lasted three days, compared to eight days last spring – when the Centre and other parties also locked horns over emissions, at that point focusing on the use of highly-polluting  peat for energy .
 "A package that takes us forward"
 Greens chair and Interior Minister  Maria Ohisalo  also said that she was satisfied with the latest climate solution.
 "This is a package that takes us forward. All the governing parties have brought solutions to the table and made compromises," she said.
 According to Left Alliance chair and Education Minister  Li Andersson , the negotiations ensured that sufficiently credible action was taken on the 2035 climate-neutral goals.
 Swedish People's Party chair and Justice Minister  Anna-Maja Henriksson  thanked the prime minister for skilfully leading the process and her colleagues for wise solutions.
 "This is the management of the situation that this country currently demands, needs and deserves," said Henriksson.
 Thursday afternoon's parliamentary schedule remains uncertain. The ministers were to attend parliamentary group meetings at 2 pm and Parliamentary question time beginning at 4 pm.
 Meanwhile Saarikko will miss an informal meeting of European Union finance ministers in Slovenia due to the protracted budget dispute.
 The two-day meeting starts on Friday in Brdo pri Kranju, a castle estate located in the west of the country.

Governing parties reach agreement on budget, emissions cuts


Summary: Centre Party MP Juha Pylväs made the comments during a speech at the party's summer congress in August.

Police in Ostrobothnia have received a request to investigate a speech by Centre Party MP  Juha Pylväs  at the party's summer congress in the city of Seinäjoki on 25 August.
 The Oulu politician, who is chair of the party's parliamentary group, referred to asylum seekers as "surfers living off social welfare" during the speech.
 He later apologised for his choice of words via a Facebook  post  (in Finnish) in which he addressed the debate that has ensued as a result of his speech.
 "I stated that we need skilled workers from abroad to work in Finland. I also said that we do not need social welfare abusers," Pylväs wrote. "This is in line with the longer-term policy of the parliamentary group and the party."
 Police confirmed that a request for an investigation into the matter has been filed, on the basis of which an assessment will be made as to whether there is reason to suspect a crime has been committed and if a preliminary investigation should be launched.
 Some pundits saw Pylväs's immigration comments as part of the Centre Party response to the opposition Finns Party's stated aim of attracting rural Centre supporters.

Police asked to probe Centre Party politician's "social welfare surfers" comments