Turquoise, florals and coastal chic are the key trends in stylish interiors this spring.

It may still be cold outside but there are plenty of ways to bring a sense of spring warmth indoors. Hot colours, fresh florals and seaside breezes are the inspiration for this season’s trends in interior design.

Tropical tones

Turquoise has been named “colour of the year” by Pantone, the international authority on colour, and interior designers have followed suit with a host of tropical hues for our homes.

Acupressure mats have found their way to Finnish homes.

Gone are the days when spike mats only brought to mind scenes of long-bearded fakirs lying on beds of nails. The household version of this ancient Indian remedy is becoming a common utility also for Nordics seeking ways to relieve their pains and stresses. The mat, consisting of no fewer than 6,510 plastic spikes placed in yantra-shaped discs, promises to release energy and hormones by stimulating the body’s acupressure points and as a result provide relaxation, ease muscle and joint pains and tensions, improve your circulation and help you fall asleep. Reportedly, it has even helped some people get rid of their back pains and injuries.

EMMA’s current exhibition shows how African art continues to inspire Western artists.

Espoo Museum of Modern Art EMMA stages its spring exhibition The Power of Africa: Three Perspectives from 24 February to 6 June 2010.

The three perspectives of the title has a double meaning. It refers to the three artforms featured in the exhibition, namely sculpture, painting and mask-making, and also to the three thematic approaches taken.

In the heart of the Design District Helsinki lies Sushibar, a chic little restaurant bringing together Finnish design and Japanese food.

SUSHIBAR is a fairly new entity to the Design District Helsinki scene. It opened in December after a month of renovation, transforming the corner space from an interior shop into a restaurant. Within only a few months of existence, Sushibar has already witnessed a growing amount of customers and loyal regulars.

The restaurant is the brainchild of Matti Sarkkinen and Anders Westerholm, two young entrepreneurs who are also the owners of a popular Japanese restaurant Raku Ya. “The idea for Sushibar actually started from Raku Ya.

CINEMATIC history is punctuated by many successful directors and their actor muse. David Lean had his Alec Guinness, Woody Allen had his Mia Farrow, Martin Scorsese had his Robert De Niro and, well, someone sure had his Pauly Shore.

After their first collaboration Edward Scissorhands in 1990, audiences have been privy to a further five occasions where Johnny Depp and Tim Burton have worked together over the last twenty years. From Ed Wood, to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, via Sleepy Hollow, Sweeny Todd and The Corpse Bride, their combined imagination has made a lasting impression around the globe.

Lauri Kivinen brings experience in telecommunications technology to a changing media landscape.

THE NEW Director-General of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE), Lauri Kivinen, has some advice: bickering will lead us nowhere in the media world. He is calling for a collective discussion on the challenges facing the industry.

“I’m absolutely convinced that we in the media world are all in the same boat. We face the same challenges irrespective of ownership or distribution channels.”

AFTER escaping the bun fight that is Helsinki’s rental market a couple of years ago, it was with great relief that my wife and I became owners of our first apartment together. Although the real estate agent muttered something about a putkiremontti occurring within three years, it was difficult to comprehend just what lay ahead.

Now, aside from an awkward smell that would emerge from our shower from time to time first thing in the morning, we didn’t encounter any major trouble with our plumbing. The Finnish media, however, suggested that pipes in residences around Helsinki from a similar era were either choked with rust and sludge, or leaking.

A majority of the divided Supreme Administrative Court decided that humanitarian reasons were no grounds for Finnish residency.

AN EGYPTIAN grandmother will not be allowed to stay with her son in Vantaa. On 8 March the Supreme Administrative Court turned down an appeal against the refusal of a residence permit to, and deportation of, Eveline Fadayel.

Fadayel, who was born in 1945, could be expelled from the country in the coming weeks.

For the first time since September 2006, Mahmoud Abu Rahma, a leading figure in the Palestinian human rights group Al Mezan, has been granted permission to travel outside Gaza. More than 30 applications to travel had previously been turned down by the Israeli authorities, and it was not until German diplomats made appeals on his behalf that he was finally allowed to visit Europe.

Mahmoud Abu Rahma, Gazan human rights worker, has been calling on European Union diplomats to hold Israel accountable for its attacks on innocent Gazans during the war it waged in late 2008 and early 2009. Yet convincing the EU to take a more robust line against Israel...

I’M on strike. I got the idea from the truck drivers, bus drivers, stevedores, baggage handlers, flight attendants and probably a few other professions I have since forgotten about. It’s too hard to keep track. Anyway, striking is a very Finnish thing to do. Since previously I haven’t had the opportunity to go on strike, now seems a good time to start.

MY demands are simple. I told the managers of the Helsinki Times I deserved a cost-of-living raise three times higher than the actual cost-of-living increase. That seems to be what the other strikers are asking, so this is also my demand. In response, management demanded that I stopped drinking heavily prior to negotiations. Touché.

Small parties would generally benefit, but a three per cent threshold could spell danger for the Swedish People’s Party.

Finland’s minor political parties will have reason to celebrate come 2015. Current figures suggest they will pick up parliamentary seats thanks to planned electoral reforms.

Under a model of reform partly approved by the government on 4 March, parliamentary seats would be distributed by crunching the total number of nationwide votes with the current d’Hondt method. Constituency-specific results would be calculated under a new format. The reform would benefit middle-sized and minor parties at the expense of the major players.