According to Minister of Migration and European Affairs, Astrid Thors, Finland has toughened its family reunification regulations. The changes came into force in the beginning of August. "Foster children are to have been in an actual relationship of dependency to the family reunifier before his or her coming to Finland. This is to ensure that these foster children are in fact in the position of a family member," the minister says.

The conditions for granting a residence permit to an underage person on the basis of a family relationship were also changed in the same legal reform. Now the granting is normally only possible when the child is underage at the time when the decision on the permit application is reached.

A series of high-profile cases of wrongdoing have not dented the reputation of the police.

SUSPECTED cases of malfeasance in recent years do not appear to have undermined Finns' faith in the police.

According to the latest "police barometer", Finns faith in the police force has strengthened slightly over the last three years. Ninety-six per cent of respondents felt that the Finnish police are either very trustworthy, or fairly trustworthy.

Police officers have recently been found in the dock as a result of operations by the Helsinki drug crime squad, undercover purchases by the National Bureau of Investigation...

As the number of suspected cases of narcolepsy nears 20, health officials fear a breakdown in the reporting procedures on suspected side effects.

THE MINISTRY of Social Affairs and Health does not believe that a possible link between the swine flu vaccine Pandemrix and narcolepsy has been subject to a widespread cover-up. According to now-public information, researchers were already aware of a possible link months ago, but withheld their suspicions while finalising a report on the matter.

Commenting on 26 August, Aino-Inkeri Hansson, Director-General of the Ministry's Department for Promotion of Welfare and Health, said:

Anti-corporal punishment feeling continues to harden in Finland, though many parents still admit using it as a last resort – despite being illegal.

A recent case reported in Finland where kindergarten staff allegedly used tape to restrain children has brought the issue of child discipline into the limelight once again. Two members of staff at a nursery in Helsinki were accused of taping children to a dining table or a chair during a boisterous mealtime. At the time of writing a police investigation is ongoing, although children at the school have admitted the use of taping as a disciplinary measure was not extensive, according to chief superintendent Tom Lotta. The measure was apparently instigated due to staff shortages and an inability to control the nursery's pupils.

The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (KRP) made a statement on Wednesday that it is looking into suspicions of a national security secret leak.

The KRP does not intend to reveal the details of the case. However, Erkki Rossi, head of the inquiry, told the Finnish News Agency (STT) that the investigation began during the summer of last year and has been conducted in cooperation with the Finnish Security Police (Supo).

The national security secret leak is suspected of having taken place in 2004. In addition, two cases of suspected fraud are also part of the ongoing investigation. They are to have taken place between 2004 and 2009.

Police have confiscated materials from at least the Population Register Centre and the company Fujitsu Services.

The investigation is to be sent to the Helsinki district prosecutor this month.

STT

The Helsinki University Hospital (Hyks) told on Wednesday, that it has already diagnosed nine children with narcolepsy this year, and six more are waiting for tests.
In the Helsinki and Uusimaa region, between nought and two cases are on average found every year.

Across Finland, the average is some three narcolepsy cases a year. By Wednesday, the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) had received reports of 19 suspected cases of child narcolepsy.

The child neurology unit has increased the number of doctors available to help examine and care for the children.

Hyks is not conducting its own research into child narcolepsy, but it is cooperating with the research by officials into the possible connection between the recent increase in diagnosed cases and the swine flu vaccine.

STT

Irja Askola, Finland's first ever female bishop, is to start as the of bishop of Helsinki on Wednesday.

The Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church elected Askola to replace retiring Eero Huovinen on 3 June.

Askola gained a narrow victory in the second round of the episcopal elections over Matti Poutiainen, with 591 votes to 567 among the electoral college.