Protesters in central Helsinki on Saturday (image: Lehtikuva)

PROTESTERS GATHERED IN CENTRAL HELSINKI on Saturday to protest the deportations of Afghan asylum seekers, a practice that Amnesty International has repeatedly condemned and which is likely in breach of UN guidelines. 

Katri Kulmuni, the newly appointed chairperson of the Centre Party, outlined her policy objectives in Helsinki on Thursday, 12 September 2019. (Martti Kainulainen – Lehtikuva)

KATRI KULMUNI, the newly appointed chairperson of the Centre Party, shed light on her views on a broad range of issues including immigration, child poverty, and economic and employment policy in a speech delivered in front of the party faithful in Helsinki on Thursday.

“The Centre wants to eradicate poverty in families with children in Finland,” she outlined.

Senior officers at the National Bureau of Investigation shed light on a long-running effort to bring down United Brotherhood in Vantaa on Monday, 9 September 2019. (Emmi Korhonen – Lehtikuva)

THE DISTRICT COURT of Eastern Uusimaa has been asked to prohibit the activities of United Brotherhood and its affiliate, Bad Union.

Helsingin Sanomat on Tuesday reported that a claim calling for the ban and subsequent dissolution of the criminal organisations was filed with the court by district prosecutor Anna-Riikka Ruuth and the National Police Board on Friday, 6 September.

A screen capture of a one-euro listing of a 503-square-metre commercial property in Merihaka, Helsinki. (Screen capture – Etuovi.com)

AN UNUSUAL 29-room, 503-square-metre property is for sale in Merihaka, Helsinki.

The massive commercial property, which is currently housing a hostel, is listed for a price of one euro, but the listing states clearly, in capital letters, that the property will be sold on the basis of offers – a detail that appears to have gone unnoticed by some prospective buyers.

A German solider on board a warship on Wednesday (image: Lehtikuva)

US NAVAL FORCES have joined up with dozens of warships from 18 countries, including Germany and Denmark, in the Baltic Sea for one of the largest NATO exercises of the year. 

Jutta Urpilainen, the European commissioner-designate for international partnerships, spoke to reporters outside Le Berlaymont, the headquarters of the European Commission, in Brussels on Tuesday, 10 September 2019. (Anniina Luotonen – Lehtikuva)

JUTTA URPILAINEN (SDP), the Finnish nominee to the European Commission, is set to take charge of developing the international partnerships of the European Union.

The European Commission’s portfolios were distributed between the nominees in Brussels on Tuesday by Ursula von der Leyen, the new president of the European Commission and former German Minister of Defence.

Central American migrants and asylum seekers await a bus near the US border on Friday (Image: Lehtikuva)

THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES has upheld a Trump Administration law that prevents virtually all Central and South American migrants from seeking asylum in the country, reversing decades of asylum policy. 

Prime Minister Antti Rinne (SDP) took part in a panel discussion organised in conjunction with Kuntamarkkinat in Helsinki on Wednesday, 11 September 2019. (Emmi Korhonen – Lehtikuva)

PRIME MINISTER Antti Rinne (SDP) has conceded that the government does not have the funds needed to hire 4,000 new nurses and physicians by the end of the current electoral term, provoking the dismay of the Finns Party and the National Coalition.

It has been estimated that 4,000 health care professionals are required to raise the staffing level at facilities providing around-the-clock care to 0.7 per patient.

A vest with United Brotherhood’s insignia hangs on a chair in a photograph distributed by the National Bureau of Investigation (KRP). (Handout – National Bureau of Investigation)

FINNISH law enforcement authorities have conducted a series of raids over the past week or so in connection with what they currently consider the most dangerous criminal organisation in Finland, United Brotherhood.

The National Bureau of Investigation (KRP) on Monday revealed that raids have been carried out in a total of nine cities and three prisons.

Sirpa Paatero (SDP), the Minister of Local Government and Ownership Steering, has revealed that the government has begun considering what to do with Posti. (Roni Rekomaa – Lehtikuva)

SOMETHING has to be done about Posti, views Sirpa Paatero (SDP), the Minister of Local Government and Ownership Steering.

Paatero on Thursday estimated on YLE Radio 1 that the Finnish state-owned postal services provider cannot continue its operations in their current form and added that the government is weighing up its options when it comes to the company.

Jutta Urpilainen (SDP), the European commissioner-designate for international partnerships, spoke to Finnish reporters outside the headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels on Tuesday, 10 September 2019. (Anniina Luotonen – Lehtikuva)

THE PRELIMINARY DISTRIBUTION of European Commission portfolios has kindled a heated debate in Finland.

Jutta Urpilainen (SDP), the Finnish nominee to the European Commission, was on Tuesday announced as the commissioner-designate for international partnerships – to the disappointment of those who had expected her to be in the running for a role with more budgetary and legislative influence.

Kashmiri youth wounded by pellet guns protest in Islamabad this week (image: Lehtikuva)

INDIA AND PAKISTAN are set to make their opposing cases for Kashmir in front of assembled world governments at the 42nd UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva this week, the first such meeting since India unilaterally removed Kashmir's semi-autonomous status last month. 

Posti in August announced it is looking to create cost savings of up to 200 million by 2021. (Jussi Nukari – Lehtikuva)

POSTI, the Finnish state-owned postal services provider, is intent on slashing the wages of up to 8,000 employees, according to information obtained by Helsingin Sanomat.

Media reports that emerged some two weeks ago indicated that the state-owned service provider is set to slash the base wages of roughly 700 parcel-handling employees in order to align them with those of its competitors.

An image of the type of armoured personnel carrier involved in the accident (Image: Lehtikuva)

A COLLISION BETWEEN TWO ARMOURED PERSONNEL CARRIERS in Finnish Lapland has left over a dozen conscripts injured and hospitalized. The collision is believed to have occurred in an attempt to avoid a reindeer on the road.

The Ministry of Justice has reported that district courts have failed to forward hundreds of sentences for criminal offences to the authorities responsible for enforcing them in recent years. (Timo Heikkala – Lehtikuva)

A COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN has led to hundreds of sentences for criminal offences not being enforced in Finland between 2013 and 2019, according to the Ministry of Justice.

The Ministry of Justice on Monday reported that district courts have failed to submit a minimum of 579 sentences to the two authorities responsible for enforcing prison and fine sentences: the Criminal Sanctions Agency and the Legal Register Centre.