US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC. Photo: Kent Nishimura / AFP / Lehtikuva

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo has condemned an agreement between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to supply Russian diesel to American and global markets, describing the decision as a major disappointment.

Speaking to Finnish broadcaster Yle on Saturday, Orpo questioned whether the agreement would have any significant effect on fuel prices, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Washington of providing financial support to Russia during its war against Ukraine.

Pedestrians with umbrellas in rainy weather in Helsinki. Photo: Vesa Moilanen / Lehtikuva

Finland faces heavy rainfall, strong winds and possible snowfall as a low-pressure system moves across the country on Friday, 9 October, with the first measurable snow of the autumn expected in parts of the northeast by Saturday morning.

The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) said on Thursday that the weather system would bring widespread rain to southern and central Finland, with precipitation reaching 30–40 millimetres in some areas.

File photo of Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen (National Coalition Party) during Parliament’s oral question time in Helsinki on 24 September 2026. Photo: Markku Ulander / Lehtikuva

Finland has rejected six applications involving buyers from outside the EU and European Economic Area seeking to acquire properties in four municipalities, with one transaction blocked over concerns about national security and security of supply.

Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen issued the decisions on Wednesday, covering properties in Kotka, Viitasaari, Miehikkälä and Imatra.

First snow at Rukajärvi in Kuusamo, captured by a road weather camera on Highway 5 early on the morning of 10 October 2026. Photo: Fintraffic

Finland has recorded its first snowfall of the autumn season, with snow reaching depths of 20 centimetres in parts of the country on Saturday, 10 October. The Finnish Meteorological Institute confirmed snow cover across Kainuu, Koillismaa, Lapland and North Savo, marking the arrival of winter conditions in northern and eastern Finland.

Snow began falling in Kainuu on Friday and continued overnight, leaving several areas covered by Saturday morning. The heaviest accumulation occurred in Puolanka, where measurements reached approximately 20 centimetres.

Photo: Vesa Moilanen / Lehtikuva

Helsinki will require pupils, teachers and other staff to keep their faces visible in schools and nurseries under new safety guidelines, while rejecting proposals for a blanket ban on headscarves and other face-covering clothing.

The decision follows a Helsinki City Council meeting on Wednesday, 7 October, where councillors considered two proposals seeking restrictions on face coverings in educational institutions.

Agence France-Presse's (AFP) photographer Jaafar Ashtiyeh is carried by Palestinian first responders to seek medical assistance after being beaten by several Israelis in Aqraba in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on October 6, 2026. Photo: John Wessels / AFP / Lehtikuva

Armed Israeli settlers beat an AFP photographer and took his camera equipment while he covered violence involving Palestinian olive farmers in the occupied West Bank, according to the news agency.

Jaafar Ashtiyeh, 58, suffered injuries to his head and torso during the attack near the village of Aqraba on Tuesday. Emergency workers took him to hospital in Nablus.

Ashtiyeh, a Palestinian photographer who has worked for AFP for years, was reporting alongside AFP photographer John Wessels when the incident began.

The main defendant (left) and his brother at the Varsinais-Suomi District Court in Turku on 11 September 2026. The man, in his 80s, is accused of freezing and storing his parents’ bodies for decades in Turku. Photo:

A Finnish court has fined an 81-year-old man nearly €2,000 for keeping his parents' bodies in freezers for almost three decades at a property in Turku. The Varsinais-Suomi District Court convicted him of three offences involving the improper treatment of human remains and the violation of a grave. His 70-year-old brother also received a fine for his involvement in unauthorised digging at a family burial plot.

Firefighters working at the scene where two buses were struck by projectiles in Kramatorsk, near the frontline in eastern Ukraine on October 8 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Photo: Ukrainian State Emergency Service / AFP / Lehtikuva

A Russian air strike on two passenger buses in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk killed at least 33 people and injured 18 on Thursday, 8 October, Ukrainian authorities said. On the same day, a drone attack disrupted operations at Russia's largest Yandex data centre in the Ryazan region.

The attack in Kramatorsk struck a street near a public transport stop at around 10am, setting buses on fire and leaving bodies and debris scattered across the road, according to Ukrainian police and emergency services.

Nokia logo photographed at Nokia Campus in Espoo. Photo: Elsa Paakkinen / Lehtikuva

Nokia plans to cut up to 253 positions in Finland as the network equipment maker seeks to reduce costs and direct investment towards areas including defence, artificial intelligence and data centres, Helsingin Sanomat reported on Wednesday.

The company informed employees about the plans but did not issue a public statement, according to the newspaper. Nokia later confirmed to Yle that it had started the change negotiation process.

Finnish passport. Photo: Lehtikuva

Finland will introduce a citizenship test from 1 March 2027, requiring most applicants aged between 18 and 64 to demonstrate knowledge of Finnish society, laws and history before obtaining citizenship. The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) announced the arrangements on Friday as part of changes to the country's Citizenship Act.

The amendments will enter into force on 1 January 2027, but a two-month transition period means the test requirement will apply only to applications submitted from March.

File photo of the Kaipola mill in Jämsä, Finland in 2021. Photo: Tiia Monto

French artificial intelligence infrastructure company Sesterce has announced plans to invest more than €10 billion in a data centre campus at the former Kaipola paper mill in Jämsä, central Finland, with construction scheduled to begin before the end of 2026.

The project, announced on Thursday, 8 October, would create around 2,000 jobs during construction and approximately 300 permanent positions once the facility becomes operational, according to the company.

A view of an infectious diseases hospital in the town of Shelekhov, where an employee of the Irkutsk Antiplague Research Institute had died, in the Irkutsk region on October 7, 2026. Photo: Stringer / AFP / Lehtikuva

The World Health Organization has asked Russia for more information about the death of a 28-year-old laboratory worker at a Siberian institute that studies plague, while Russian authorities say testing has found no cases of the disease and no risk of an epidemic.

Darya Shipilova died on Friday after developing severe pneumonia from a cause that authorities have yet to establish.

South African judge Navi Pillay, chair of the independent United Nations Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, photographed in 2025. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini / AFP / Lehtikuva

South African jurist Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, who spent decades pursuing accountability for war crimes and human rights violations, has won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for her contribution to international law. The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the award in Oslo on Friday, recognising the 85-year-old former UN human rights chief.

The committee credited Pillay with helping establish legal principles used to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Her career spans South Africa’s apartheid era, the prosecution of those responsible for the Rwandan genocide and investigations into alleged violations of international law in Gaza.

The Finns Party’s tent at the Hakaniemi farmers’ market in Helsinki on 4 October 2026. Photo: Heikki Saukkomaa / Lehtikuva

The Finns Party has overtaken Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s National Coalition Party (NCP) in Yle’s latest opinion poll, marking the first time the two governing parties have exchanged positions during the current parliamentary term.

The poll, published on Thursday, 8 October, puts the Finns Party in second place with 16.5 per cent support, ahead of the NCP on 16.3 per cent. The opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) retains its lead with 22.7 per cent.

Protesters stand in front of bins and furnitures set on fire during a demonstration of high-school students, in Paris on October 6, 2026, as part of a nationwide protest movement over learning conditions. Photo: Kenzo Tribouillard / AFP / Lehtikuva

France has suspended police use of stun grenades during school protests after a 15-year-old boy lost a hand, as demonstrations over teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms and school buildings continue across the country.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez announced the measure on Wednesday following the incident near the Auguste Béhal high school in Lens on Monday. Nuñez told RTL radio that use of the grenades would stop during the high-school protest movement “until we know exactly what happened”.