Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R) speaks with Finland's Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, on May 27, 2022, at the State Department in Washington, DC. LEHTIKUVA / AFP

Turkey's objections to Finland and Sweden's membership in NATO can be resolved and it is very important for Helsinki that this happens before the NATO summit in Madrid scheduled in June, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said on Friday.

An aerial view of a clear-felling area in Mikkeli in August 2021. Data from Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) reveals that the harvesting of logs for the needs of the forest industry rose to an all-time high of 65 million cubic metres in Finland in 2021. (Roni Rekomaa – Lehtikuva)

THE LAND USE SECTOR turned from a carbon sink into a source of emissions for the first time ever in Finland in 2021.

Statistics Finland on Wednesday reported based on its preliminary data that greenhouse gas emissions stayed roughly unchanged last year, but the carbon sink of forests contracted significantly as a result of intensive felling and the falling trend in the increment of the growing stock detected in compiling the national forest inventory.

LEHTIKUVA / AFP

The Finnish Immigration Service has issued new guidelines for decision-making regarding asylum applications from Afghans. The new guidelines concern the security situation in Kabul province.

On 9 July 2021, the Finnish Immigration Service suspended issuing negative decisions to Afghan citizens that would entail removal from the country.

Finlands ambassador Klaus Korhonen (L) handing in the NATO membership application to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Bryssels on 18th of May 2022.

The decision by Finland to apply for membership in NATO stems from obvious and unarguable security concerns engendered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Indeed, this decision is so predictable from the Realist perspective on international relations that it will surely be used in future textbooks.

Commuters at Helsinki Central Station on 23 March 2022. The Finnish Business and Policy Forum (Eva) believes Finns are realistic about the risks associated with the pursuit of Nato membership by Finland. (Heikki Saukkomaa – Lehtikuva)

FINNS believe Russia is 86 per cent likely to recourse to hybrid tactics and 30 per cent likely to recourse to military action during the Nato membership process of Finland, finds a survey conducted by the Finnish Business and Policy Forum (Eva).

Joining the defence alliance, on the other hand, is estimated to shield against actions by Russia.

Pearla Pigao: Discoterium, 2022 / Photo: HAM/Maija Toivanen

The music- and technology-oriented Vuosaari Upper Secondary School in Helsinki has unveiled a new public artwork that allows you to play music with your body movements. Artist Pearla Pigao’s interactive installation Discoterium spans the airspace of the building’s stairwell.

President Sauli Niinistö of Finland and Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson of Sweden held a joint press conference in Stockholm, Sweden, on 17 May 2022. (Markku Ulander – Lehtikuva)

DELEGATIONS from Finland and Sweden on Wednesday talked to Turkey about their countries’ applications to join Nato.

İbrahim Kalın, the Turkish presidential spokesperson, said Turkey called on Finland and Sweden to take concrete action against groups it considers terrorist organisations and a security threat against it. Such groups include the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), People’s Defense Units (YPG) and Democratic Union Party (PYD).

Controlled blasting at the site of what was to become a nuclear power plant in Pyhäjoki, Ostrobothnia, in November 2021. Fennovoima in May 2022 announced it has terminated the supplier contract and withdrawn its application for a building permit for the plant. (Vesa Moilanen – Lehtikuva)

FENNOVOIMA on Tuesday announced it has withdrawn its application for a building permit for a nuclear power plant in Pyhäjoki, Ostrobothnia, delivering what many believe was the final blow to the controversial project.

The Finnish energy company reported earlier this month that it has terminated the supplier contract for the plant with Raos Project, a Finnish subsidiary of Russia’s Rosatom.

The headquarters of OP Financial Group in Helsinki in July 2021. The Finnish financial group expects the national economy to expand by 2.0 per cent in 2022 and 0.6 per cent in 2023. (Mikko Stig – Lehtikuva)

ECONOMISTS at OP Financial Group expect the Finnish economy to grow by 2.0 per cent in 2022 and 0.6 per cent in 2023.

While the economic growth will be supported by the recovery of exports and service consumption from the coronavirus pandemic, it will slow down gradually as a consequence of rising inflation, more stringent monetary policy and declines in the growth of export markets, as well as the war of aggression waged in Ukraine by Russia.

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posed for a photo taken in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, 26 May 2022, by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service. (AFP Photo – Ukrainian Presidential Press Service)

PRIME MINISTER Sanna Marin (SDP) has urged the West to increase its support for Ukraine and expand its sanctions against Russia.

“The war is continuing and material reserves are being depleted. That’s why we must provide support for as long as the war continues and, after that, we must help with the rebuilding,” she stated in an interview with YLE in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday.

As NASA's exploration continues to push boundaries, a new solar sail concept selected by the agency for development toward a demonstration mission could carry science to new destinations.

The Diffractive Solar Sailing project was selected for Phase III study under the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program.

Markku Jalonen, the managing director of Local and County Government Employers (KT), spoke to reporters in the national conciliator’s office in Helsinki on 11 May 2022. (Emmi Korhonen – Lehtikuva)

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING TALKS over the terms and conditions of employment of some employees in the municipal sector have fallen through.

Local and County Government Employers (KT) and the Public Sector Union (Jau) and Negotiating Organisation for Public Sector Professionals (Juko) had continued the talks after the latest settlement proposal was rejected by the Union of Social and Health Care Professionals in Finland (Tehy) and Finnish Union of Practical Nurses (Super).

Borge Brende, President, World Economic Forum. Copyright ©️ World Economic Forum/Pascal Bitz

The annual meeting 2022 of the World Economic Forum (WEF) wound up on Thursday in the Swiss town of Davos, calling for closer global cooperation to achieve win-win solutions.

"We are better off in a world where we meet and act together than in one where everyone is for themselves," President of the WEF Borge Brende said in the closing remarks, adding, "We should recreate a win-win world."

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. LEHTIKUVA / AFP

World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has been reelected for the second term, WHO said on Tuesday.

"Today at #WHA75 (the World Health Assembly Member) States re-elected @DrTedros to serve a second five-year term as Director-General of the WHO.

The Finnish gaming market has been taking the world by storm, with some of the games by Finnish developers receiving global acceptance. Finland’s national bird could be the Whooper swan, but gamers around the world will disagree in favor of The Angry Birds. This video game by Finnish developer Rovio Entertainment is a famous title internationally.