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Festival attendees at the Architects of Air exhibition in central Helsinki (Image credit: Lehtikuva)

FINLAND'S LARGEST MULTI-ARTS FESTIVAL officially kicked off last night, with performances, acts, and openings occurring across the city. The two-week festival is expected to draw close to half a million attendees from across the country and beyond. 

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Protestors block the entrance to the airport terminals after a scuffle with police at Hong Kong's international airport on August 13, 2019. - Hundreds of flights were cancelled or suspended at Hong Kong's airport on August 13, 2019

Viewpoint by: Chen Li, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China in Finland

Recently, the situation in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China drew wide attention from the international community. For a long time, Hong Kong has always been a global metropolitan city, one of the most robust economy and a center of international banking, trade and cargo. It has a beautiful name “Pearl of the Orient”, and is seen as a paradise for shopping. But today’s Hong Kong turns into a scene of chaos. What on earth has Hong Kong become?

Juha Mäenpää (PS), a first-term Member of the Parliament from Vaasa, could be charged with ethnic agitation for likening asylum seekers to introduced species. (Vesa Moilanen – Lehtikuva)

POLICE will open an investigation into a statement made by Juha Mäenpää (PS), a first-term Member of the Finnish Parliament from Vaasa, Western Finland.

Pekka Hätönen, a detective chief inspector at Helsinki Police Department, on Tuesday confirmed to Uusi Suomi that police will launch a pre-trial investigation into the statement in which the lawmaker used the term “introduced species” in reference to asylum seekers.

Issue-specific task forces were a key feature of the coalition formation negotiations led by the Social Democratic Party. A photograph from a meeting of the task force focusing on biodiversity and carbon neutrality. (Handout – Laura Kotila, Office of the Prime Minister)

PRIME MINISTER Antti Rinne’s (SDP) comments about the coalition formation negotiations have raised eyebrows among members of the National Coalition.

Matias Marttinen (NCP), a first-term Member of the Finnish Parliament from Satakunta, reminded on Thursday that the National Coalition’s economic policy approach was based on recommendations made by the Ministry of Finance.

The income tax cuts planned for next year will not suffice to offset the rises in social security contributions, says Teemu Lehtinen of the Taxpayers’ Association of Finland. (Mesut Turan – Lehtikuva)

THE TAX BURDEN of Finnish middle and high-income earners will grow considerably as of next year due to an increase in social security contributions, predicts Teemu Lehtinen, the managing director of the Taxpayers’ Association of Finland.

The contributions, he explained in a press release yesterday, cannot be offset with the income tax cuts laid out in the budget proposal of the Ministry of Finance.

Minister of Finance Mika Lintilä (Centre) talked to the media in the midst of the first day of budget talks at the Ministry of Finance in Helsinki on Tuesday, 13 August. (Martti Kainulainen – Lehtikuva)

MINISTER OF FINANCE Mika Lintilä (Centre) has cast light on the contents of the budget negotiations that began yesterday at the Ministry of Finance.

Lintilä on Tuesday stated that consumers should prepare for the eventuality that tax rates on alcohol, tobacco and fossil fuels are raised as soon as at the beginning of next year. “We’ll look into the timetable as far as [the increases] are concerned on Tuesday and Wednesday,” he commented to Kauppalehti.

Prime Minister Antti Rinne (SDP) spoke at the summer meeting of the Social Democratic Parliamentary Group in Helsinki on Thursday, 15 August 2019. (Markku Ulander – Lehtikuva)

PRIME MINISTER Antti Rinne (SDP) offered a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the coalition formation negotiations at the summer meeting of the Social Democratic Parliamentary Group in Helsinki on Thursday.

“There was a clear difference between those looking to reform and those looking to slow down the society in the coalition formation talks held after the elections,” he said.

The Finns Party Parliamentary Group will thwart any attempt to bring formal charges against Juha Mäenpää, who is being investigated for drawing a comparison between introduced species and asylum seekers in the Finnish Parliament. (Roni Rekomaa – Lehtikuva)

PEKKA HÄTÖNEN, a detective chief inspector at Helsinki Police Department, will remain in charge of the ongoing inquiries into statements by three Members of the Finnish Parliament: Juha Mäenpää (PS), Hussein al-Taee (SDP) and Päivi Räsänen (KD).

Lasse Aapio, the chief of Helsinki Police Department, told YLE on Wednesday that Hätönen will remain in charge of the investigations but the processes will be discussed with him.

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Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto (Greens) says Hungary’s criticism of Finland is an indication of its disappointment with the progress made on strengthening the rule of law in the EU. (Roni Rekomaa – Lehtikuva)

THE OFFICE of the Hungarian Prime Minister has continued to carp at Finland.

Zoltán Kovács, the head of public diplomacy and relations in the government of Prime Minister Victor Orbán, on 6 August suggested that Finland has no right to criticise Hungary in light of the notorious case of Jari Aarnio, a former head of drug enforcement at Helsinki Police Department, and land purchases by Russian oligarchs.

Lieutenant General Timo Kivinen took over as the commander of the Finnish Defence Forces on 1 August 2019. (Jussi Nukari – Lehtikuva)

FINNISH ARMED FORCES can have a significant role in the integration of young immigrants, believes Lieutenant General Timo Kivinen, the newly appointed commander of the Finnish Armed Forces.

“People entering the [military] service are equal regardless of background. The training teaches you how to work together and that everyone is an equal member of the group they’re serving in. I view that working together and getting the same training promotes integration,” he told Uusi Suomi on Thursday.

Western Uusimaa Police Department has wrapped up its pre-trial investigation into a case in which a roughly 30-year-old man is suspected of sex crimes against a total of 52 girls from all over Finland. (Roni Rekomaa – Lehtikuva)

WESTERN UUSIMAA Police Department on Wednesday announced it has completed a pre-trial investigation into a case in which a roughly 30-year-old man is suspected of sex crimes against a total of 52 girls.

The Espoo resident is suspected of a total of 12 counts of aggravated child sexual abuse, 39 counts of child sexual abuse and two counts of attempted child sexual abuse.

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Hungary's Victor Orban at an EU summit in Brussels in July (Image Credit: Lehtikuva)

THE FAR-RIGHT GOVERNMENT OF HUNGARY has launched further verbal attacks on Finland, continuing months of hostile language from the Orban administration in response to Finland's strong stance against Hungary's clampdown on civil liberties and an escalating corruption situation. 

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A four-year-old labrador retriever at Helsinki Vantaa Airport this week (Image: Lehtikuva)

THE TEAM AT HELSINKI-VANTAA AIRPORT have boosted their ranks with the help of some four-legged friends. Golden retriever dogs have been recruited to help airport staff detect contaminated foodstuffs and anything that may be carrying African Swine Fever.

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The Architects of Air city outside Oodi Library (Image Credit: Lehtikuva)

AN INFLATABLE, EXPLORABLE MINI-CITY by the UK-based art collective Architects of Air has sprung up outside the Oodi Library in Central Helsinki, just in time for the two-week-long Helsinki Festival that kicks off this Friday. 

Manufacturing companies have taken a variety of approaches to implementing the 24-hour increase in annual working time set forth in the competitiveness pact, says Riku Aalto, the chairperson of the Industrial Union. (Mikko Stig – Lehtikuva)

A NEW STUDY by the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (Etla) of the impacts of the so-called competitiveness pact has been refuted by trade union representatives.

Etla on Monday reported that the measures set forth in the pact – such as, raising annual working time by 24 hours and shifting social security contributions from employers to employees – have boosted the ranks of the employed by up to 42,000 people.