Common reed. Photo: Picasa

The current technology of biorefineries would enable the utilization of the common reed for product manufacture. The efficient harvesting of the reed would also help control the nutrient content of water bodies and promote the green transition.

The common reed holds great potential as a raw material for many processes aiming for highly refined end-products for international markets.

Autumn colours around Lake Inari in Malla Strict Nature Reserve in Finnish Lapland on 12 September 2021. (Roni Rekomaa – Lehtikuva)

THE FINNISH Ministry of the Environment is drafting an ambitious strategy to halt biodiversity loss, reveals YLE.

The public broadcasting company reported yesterday that the strategy seeks to halt biodiversity loss by 2030 and restore biodiversity to the level of 2020 by 2035. Human activity is thereafter set to have a positive net impact on biodiversity.

Scaffolding around a block of flats in Helsinki on 17 June 2022. (Anni Ågren – Lehtikuva)

MANY real-estate investors have hit the brakes in recent times in Finland, reports YLE.

The number of housing loans taken out for investment purposes decreased by about 25 per cent year-on-year between March and April. The Finnish Landlord Association has reported that investor interest in buying real estate has declined since last autumn, with a growing number of lessors also considering downsizing their portfolio.

Mia Laiho (NCP) attended a plenary session in the Finnish Parliament on 22 June 2022. She believes there is readiness to move forward quickly with, for example, the proposal to do away with the stipulation that referrals from two physicians are required to access abortion services. (Heikki Saukkomaa – Lehtikuva)

A CITIZENS’ INITIATIVE to revise the act on the interruption of pregnancy is moving forward in the Finnish Parliament, reports Helsingin Sanomat.

Markus Lohi (Centre), the chairperson of the Parliament’s Social Affairs and Health Committee, on Monday stated to the daily newspaper that the committee is set to finalise its report on the initiative in September.

LEHTIKUVA / AFP

World Health Organization (WHO) after convening a meeting said on Saturday that the Monkeypox presently does not amount to a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

"The WHO Director-General concurs with the advice offered by the IHR Emergency Committee regarding the multi-country monkeypox outbreak and, at present, does not determine that the event constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)," said WHO in its press release.

Migrants sit on the road with belongings during the evacuation of a migrant camp in Grande-Synthe, norhtern France, on May 25, 2022. LEHTIKUVA / AFP

More than 2 million refugees will be in need of resettlement next year, according to the Projected Global Resettlement Needs Assessment for 2023 released on Tuesday by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.

The 2023 figure represents a 36 per cent increase compared to resettlement needs for this year, of 1.47 million.

Rail passengers were ushered into coaches at the Tampere railway station on Sunday, 26 June. (Kalle Parkkinen – Lehtikuva)

RAIL TRAFFIC in Finland was in disarray on Sunday and Monday due to a nearly 24-hour delay in a railway bridge replacement project undertaken in Lempäälä, near Tampere.

The replacement was not completed until midday on Monday, 21 hours behind the scheduled completion of 3pm on Sunday. Helsingin Sanomat wrote that trains were also unable to cross the bridge at full speed following the resumption of traffic because the finalisation phase dragged on at least into yesterday evening.

A member of Team USA (R) swims to recover USA's Anita Alvarez (L), from the bottom of the pool during an incendent in the women's solo free artistic swimming finals, during the Budapest 2022 World Aquatics Championships at the Alfred Hajos Swimming Complex in Budapest on June 22, 2022. LEHTIKUVA / AFP

Here are the most interesting news images of this week, from all around the world.

LEHTIKUVA

As the crisis in Ukraine sends global fuel prices spiraling higher, governments in European Union (EU) member states are scrambling for ways to reduce the economic impact their citizens are feeling at the gasoline pumps.

Prices for gasoline surpassed 2 euros (2.1 U.S. dollars) per litre in most of the 19 eurozone countries in recent days, according to media reports.

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Finnish President Sauli Niinistö on 12 June discussed topics such as the war in Ukraine and the Finnish bid to join Nato at the opening of Kultaranta Talks, a foreign and security policy seminar hosted annually by Niinistö in Naantali, Southwest Finland. (Markku Ulander – Lehtikuva)

PUBLIC SUPPORT for Nato membership has once again crept up to a record high in Finland.

Helsingin Sanomat on Monday reported that its latest opinion poll found that 79 per cent of the public want the country to join the defence alliance, representing an increase of six percentage points from the beginning of May.

Finlands Glen Kamara, Robin Lod, Nikolai Alho, Richard Jensen ja Sauli Väisänen thanking supporters after a lost game at the football Nation's League match Bosnia-Hertsegovina vs Finland in Zenic 14. June 2022. LEHTIKUVA

Oh the Nation's League, to some, is a mere friendly tournament that holds little relevance let-alone importance. However, to others, a competition designed for smaller nations to flourish, and climb up the leagues. While some may add Finland to that bracket, Suomi has recently risen up the ranks, all the way up to 57th in the FIFA World Ranking. However, despite their relatively poor performances in the Nation's League group 3 League B so far, the full story was not told solely by the scoreline in each game.

Photo: Antero Hein

Ice Hot Helsinki brings 200 Nordic dance professionals and almost 300 theater and festival directors from around the world to the capital of Finland. The main venue for the event is the brand new Dance House Helsinki.

Ice Hot Nordic Dance Helsinki is a professional platform presenting a large number of performances and artists at the turn of June-July 2022.

Hot weather drew people to the Marjaniemi beach in Helsinki on Sunday, 26 June 2022. The spell of hot weather is to continue well into this week, according to forecasts. (Antti Aimo-Koivisto – Lehtikuva)

THIS WEEK will be the warmest of the summer so far as temperatures are expected to stay above 30°C in large parts of Finland, tells Matti Huutonen, a meteorologist at YLE.

“The 30-degree mark may be breached especially in Southern and Central Finland. And in large parts of the country the 25-degree mark will be hit. The mercury will occasionally rise above 25 degrees also in Northern Lapland,” he commented on Sunday.

Doses of a Covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination centre in Jätkäsaari, Helsinki, on 25 February 2022. (Emmi Korhonen – Lehtikuva)

THE FINNISH INSTITUTE for Health and Welfare (THL) is to lower the age limit that defines whether one is eligible for a fourth injection of a coronavirus vaccine in the autumn.

YLE on Thursday reported that the institute will collect data on the efficacy of fourth doses and the expectations that can be vested in new vaccines during the summer, with a view to presenting its updated recommendation in late August or early September.

Petri Alava, the CEO of Infinited Fiber Company, posed for a photograph outside a paper mill shut down by Stora Enso in Kemi, Finnish Lapland, in 2021. The Finnish producer of regenerated textile fibre announced earlier this week it will invest 400 million euros in converting one of the production lines into its first commercial-scale production facility. (Nina Susi – Lehtikuva)

INFINITED FIBER COMPANY, a Finnish startup developing textile fibre from clothing waste, announced earlier this week it will invest about 400 million euros in building its first commercial-scale production facility in Kemi, Finnish Lapland.

The facility is to be built in one of the buildings that made up the paper mill shut down by Stora Enso in 2021.