10:19Police in the Päijät-Häme region are investigating if any crime has been committed in relation to the discovery of a potentially radioactive object in the town of Asikkala police in the region had not made any information public about the discovery until now The Häme Police Department confirmed to Yle on Friday that the investigation was launched after officers responded to a call placed to the Emergency Response Centre in which a person reported they had possibly found a radioactive object told Yle that police are probing a suspected offence involving the use of nuclear energy The department is cooperating with other authorities in its investigation but declined to give any further details at this stage — including what kind of object it is He also refused to comment on which other authorities are involved in the investigation An offence involving the use of nuclear energy is an extremely rare occurrence in Finland Open image viewerAsikkala is located about 25 kilometres north of the city of Lahti Image: Ruuti Kotkanoja / YleAccording to Statistics Finland only two such offences have previously been recorded since 2006 Although specific details on the two previous incidents are not available the offences could for example involve using nuclear energy without a licence or relate to negligence in nuclear waste management such crimes involving the use of nuclear energy are punishable by a fine or imprisonment for up to a year YIT Corporation Investor news 3 February 2022 at 10.00 am  YIT and the municipality of Asikkala have signed a contract on the planning and implementation of the Vääksy upper secondary and high school using a life cycle model the acquisition of which was carried out through a competitive negotiation procedure The total value of the contract is approximately EUR 28 million The contract will be entered in the order book of the first quarter of the year and maintenance of the new school building for 20 years The contract also includes an additional five-year option for maintenance The size of the school building is approximately 6,700 gross m2 and it will provide premises for a total of 530 upper secondary school and high school students A multi-purpose hall and stage will be built in the building which will also serve the evening use and hobby activities of local residents The premises will be available for use by sports clubs associations and other educational institutions “Vääksy upper secondary and high school will be a modern and adaptable learning environment that is used by Wellamo College organisations and associations in the evenings There will also be facilities for events and concerts for 600 people in the school building The municipality of Asikkala wants to invest in a highly functional and modern school network and the construction of a new school building supports this goal,” says Rinna Ikola-Norrbacka The versatile facilities are designed with a focus on ecology The project has also prioritised energy efficiency as well as low-carbon design solutions "It is great that we are finally able to implement the school project in cooperation with the municipality of Asikkala," says Kari Löytynoja Construction work will start in spring 2022 and the school will be commissioned at the start of the autumn semester in 2024 The design of the project has taken into account the landscapes and views of Lake Vesijärvi and Lake Päijänne Arkkitehtitoimisto Perko Oy is responsible for the architectural design of the school building These extraordinary images show the incredible sport of free-diving under ice as divers brave the chilly depths of the 119km-long Lake Päijänne in Asikkala where the water is said to be so pure it is drinkable Freedivers came from all over Europe to Päijänne on the Rocks Alex Roubaud/Alex Voyer/Fish Eye Freediving Photograph: Alex Roubaud/Alex Voyer/Fish Eye Freediving/REX/Shutterstock HELSINKI FINLAND JUser: :_load: Unable to load user with ID: 58 Rapala VMC on Monday announced its decision to discontinue the manufacture of Rapala lures in Finland RAPALA-BRANDED LURES and Marttiini-branded knives will no longer be manufactured in Finland Rapala VMC on Monday communicated that it has decided to pull the plug on its manufacturing operations in Vääksy The operations will be moved to its long-standing manufacturing plant in Pärnu and a total headcount of roughly 50 in Vääksy The staff were notified of the decision on Monday The decision was made after a round of consultative negotiations that began in October on Monday said altogether 53 employees will be affected by the redundancies and changes to employment contracts although the company continues to look into the possibility of offering some employees jobs at the plant producing Peltonen skis in Heinola The changes will be undertaken and completed as soon as possible the chief shop steward at Rapala and Marttiini told YLE and Helsingin Sanomat that around 45 production workers are set to be laid off during the course of next year came as a disappointment and surprise to the staff after almost two months of consultative talks “People are absolutely disappointed with the outcome, depressed. We offered different alternatives and negotiated for seven weeks, and still this was the outcome,” he commented to the public broadcasting company The news was a surprise because knife production at the plant did not start until a couple of years ago, Kolehmainen added to Helsingin Sanomat “Also the guys have been working overtime because production has not kept pace with order volumes They’ve wondered is this really the thanks for all the flexibility they’ve shown.” The decision will put a stop to the long tradition of manufacturing Rapala lures in Finland Rapala has grown over the past roughly 85 years from a one-man operation to the world’s largest lure manufacturer The Vääksy plant was opened in 1973 and its staff include people who have been with the company for four decades, according to YLE This has always been one of the largest employers in Asikkala Gradually it has become smaller rand smaller and now it’s becoming a lot smaller,” said Kolehmainen Advertisement inquiries and other after-sales issues: info@helsinkitimes.fi Helsinki Times is the first and only English language newspaper providing news about Finland in English A weekly print edition of Helsinki Times was published from March 2007 up until Feb Helsinki Times is an online-only publication and other groups and individuals interested in Finland from all around the world © Helsinki Times All rights reserved.  Terms of Use | Privacy Policy Open image viewerFinland is seeing a steady decline of the younger population in rural areas Pictured here: Kalkkinen village school in Asikkala Image: Petri Haapanen / Asikkalan kuntaYle News Kristo Mikkonen3.4.2024 15:32•Updated 5.4.2024 13:39Situated in Finland's lake district in the municipality of Asikkala (population 8,000) the picturesque village of Kalkkinen offers a slice of rural tranquillity for residents and visitors alike Nestled along tourist routes by the country's largest lake Kalkkinen once thrived on agriculture and forest industries as the population of around 500 doubles in the summer as second-home owners and holidaymakers flock to enjoy cottage life That makes the village emblematic of a broader trend in Finland: a steady decline of the younger population in rural areas This demographic shift is forcing cuts to local services that could change the face of these communities Asikkala has lost a tenth of its residents since 1990 leaving the local government scrambling to balance the books It has proposed plans to close down three of the municipality's six schools as a cost-cutting measure One school in the firing line is in the village of Kalkkinen Egle Ilves settled in Kalkkinen after meeting her now partner "I came for work and then stayed for love," she told Yle News The pair now run the local berry winery Pihamaa the closure of the local school will bring drastic changes to her routines "Currently my eldest daughter attends the school which is a five-minute walk from our house but soon that journey will be a 45-minute bus ride each way," said Ilves When discussing her two younger children aged one and three she worries about them being so far away when they turn six and start school "If anything were to happen I feel safer knowing that I’m close by," said Ilves Kalkkinen is not alone in facing school closures due to falling enrolment Driven by declining numbers of younger people school shutdowns and consolidations have become common across the country The number of under twenty-year-olds in Finland has been in decline for the past six decades In 1963 the number of 0 to 19 year-olds peaked at 1.74 million today there are 1.16 million and this is projected to fall to under a million by 2037 All of Finland's municipalities are fighting to try to entice young families to move within their borders in order to increase their tax bases according to Asikkala Mayor Rinna Ikola-Norrbacka "As the age profile of Finland changes municipalities need to rebalance the services we provide," she added of course we'd keep the schools open," Ikola-Norrbacka told Yle News When the number of school children drops below a certain tipping point it becomes too expensive to keep a village school open so it makes sense for the local government to bus the children to a bigger school The Finnish population has not declined overall but rural areas are emptying out and any growth comes from immigration — and newcomers don't tend to settle in smaller rural areas when they first move to Finland Since 1990 Asikkala's population has fallen roughly 10 percent while Helsinki's has increased by 25 percent This population increase in larger cities helps mask a lot of the effects of falling birth rates For residents of sparsely populated rural areas losing local services like schools means longer journey times the municipality's plan is to transport the children to a newly refurbished school 30 kilometres away in neighbouring Vääksy "We have to remember a village is not only about one school the reason for the consolidation is that we want to keep the same high level of quality of services for every child we can’t just give up and do nothing," Rinna added the research director for the city of Turku who has spent his career studying demography told Yle News that Asikkala is a microcosm for what is taking place across Finland Aro said that the further a municipality is from a large city the harder it is to keep and attract new residents "The school closures first started in the further flung municipalities and now have moved closer to places like Asikkala that neighbour a large city like Lahti." Aro says the population decline started even earlier for sparsely populated municipalities far away from bigger hubs These communities had to grapple with school closures first especially in Northern and Eastern Finland "The situation is much worse when a local school closes and the next closest one is 40 to 50 kilometres away," he added a country’s population stays static when the fertility rate number of children a woman can expect to have in her lifetime a figure that Finland last reached in 1968 according to the World Bank Today Finland’s fertility rate is below 1.5 "The last time we had this few babies born in the country was in 1836 when Finland had a population of 1.5 million and we were dealing with a cholera outbreak," Aro noted Yle News spoke to landscape gardener Harri Taavila He went to the local school in the mid- 1970s when there were 45 students in attendance His daughter went to the same school in the 2000s when there were 30 students This autumn there would have been nine students enrolled in the Kalkkinen school "I hope that Kalkkinen doesn't become a place solely for holiday homes where the village is only active over the summer months," Taavila told Yle News In Asikkala around 40 percent of the 10,000 homes are classed as leisure homes as opposed to permanent accommodation according to the mayor's office That has significant effects on the local economy even for businesses that also serve cottage-owners who are absent during the winter I don’t want it to be harder to attract workers and their families to our village," Egle concluded Users with an Yle ID can leave comments on our news stories. You can create your Yle ID via this link. Our guidelines on commenting and moderation are explained here One of them is Hotel Tallukka in Asikkala in southern Finland that has hired a Chinese agent to attract more tourists from China the agent attended a travel fair in Chengdu the home city of Lumi and Pyry – the two pandas now living in Ähtäri – to make Asikkala known Virve Walander from Tallukka says that the reception in Chengdu was enthusiastic “We ran out of brochures and business cards Our expectations from that trip are quite high.” Finland’s nature and clean air are assets that attract Chinese visitors “The Chinese are looking for activities that Finns would consider simple and every-day: walking in a forest “We just need to let them know that such things are available in Finland,” Walander adds Most Chinese tourists who come to Finland go to Lapland Is there a risk that the Chinese no longer want to visit Lapland because it is too crowded Jari Ahjoranta from Visit Tampere does not believe that Lapland’s allure will fade soon there is an ongoing trend in China for more individual travel instead of touring countries in large groups” Ahjoranta expects Finland’s lake region to attract more visitors too the Finns still have quite a ways to go learning about Chinese culture Therefore it is important to cooperate and build networks “There’s a huge market waiting for us but nobody can conquer that alone,” he says In terms of food the Chinese are quite open-minded “They are happy to taste the Karelian hot pot but the menu should also include some Chinese foods.” “That shows the guests that they are taken care of,” she adds Canada: Cruise through Northwest Passage has set sail Finland: Flights to Lapland help Finnair triple 2017 profits Iceland: High peak in low season, Iceland’s mass-tourism boiling over Norway: Electric planes could arrive sooner than we think in Norway Russia:  Arctic Russia to get a military-themed amusement park Sweden: Millions more flights from Swedish airports despite environmental toll United States: Northwest Passage cruise marks turning point in Arctic tourism For more news from Finland visit Yle News. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. information that could help prevent bullying Open image viewerThe children at the Aurinkovuori school said they are excited about the new application Image: Juha-Petri Koponen / YleYle News20.9.2019 19:00•Updated 22.9.2019 20:31The Aurinkovuori school in Asikkala part of the Lahti region of southern Finland believes it is the first in the world to introduce students to a mobile phone application to help them monitor and report their emotional states The app asks students once a week a different question concerning the emotions they have been feeling Students respond by choosing one of 20 different emoticons It's your own business," said student Moona Sillman "Because I know it's just my own personal thing I have the courage to say what I really feel," added classmate Sampsa Tura Open image viewerTeacher Ismo Kotilainen works at the world's first emotion-tracking school Image: Juha-Petri Koponen / YleTeachers may only intervene if the emotions the children report are consistently sad or angry "Children don't necessarily express how they feel or speak up if they are upset even at home," said teacher Ismo Kotilainen from Aurinkovuori anonymous system on their personal phone can help them see their feelings as real." The application's algorithm anticipates positive and social behavior said it bases the programme on scientific research on emotions and behaviour The company's shareholders include Geneva University emotional intelligence researcher Marcello Mortillaro Naya Daya's founder and CEO Timo Järvinen said he sees his company as fulfilling a communicative need and bringing empathy into interpersonal situations "People often think that digitalisation is robbing us of our emotional understanding but it can also be used to solve problems in emotional interaction," Järvinen said Naya Daya has many customers in addition to the innovation-driven Asikkala school Media conglomerate Keskisuomalainen received a 300,000 euro grant from Google last spring money which is being used to track the emotional reactions of media users and their commitment to a product Open image viewerThe app uses emoticons and questions to track children's emotional wellbeing Image: Juha-Petri Koponen / Yle"We can analyse how a news article makes people feel It highlights the ethical responsibilities of media outlets showing whether a medium produces content that generates negative reactions on purpose or if it tries to promote empathy." The application also provides conglomerates with data on what draws readers to a certain service or product; a crucial function -- as media companies live and die based on the kinds of content users are willing to pay for Keskisuomalainen group CEO Vesa-Pekka Kangaskorpi said he finds the collaboration interesting and promising "It's very important that we get feedback on the feelings our articles raise in people and especially on how to get people to stay with us," Kangaskorpi said EDIT 22.9.2019: The passage ”The application's algorithm anticipates abusive behaviour based on the responses hopefully flagging them before they escalate In this way schools hope to nip bullying cases in the bud.” was edited to better reflect how the app works and now reads "The application's algorithm anticipates positive and social behavior it may indicate bullying is taking place." Open image viewerA summer cottage in Asikkala Image: Juha-Petri Koponen / YleYle News17.5.2020 15:00The demand for summer cottage rentals in Finland has escalated as a result of the coronavirus pandemic Uncertainty over when travel restrictions and will ease and curbs on large gatherings are prompting people in Finland to seek refuge at rental cabins Sari Tuomaala's lakeside home at Pielinen in eastern Finland will become a seasonal rental as soon as the teacher's summer holiday begins Tuomaala made a practical decision when she purchased the summer cottage-like property in Nurmes as her winter home When she heads off to her second home in Leppävirta she will rent her home in Nurmes as a summer home to people who don't have a summer retreat of their own Tuomaala said that she has noticed that the coronavirus crisis has increased demand for the rental "Many don't have the chance or can't go to a relative's for a summer vacation as we did in the past pensioners long for a place of refuge and a change from isolation," she added but noted that she intends to travel domestically during her annual holiday "I will visit remote small places where I don't need to be in contact with a lot of people," she explained The teacher said that she will deep clean her home before new guests arrive "I believe that there is a lower risk of getting coronavirus here than in [other] kinds of accommodation where you would be exposed to contact with many people," she declared Tuomaala noted that young people are increasingly switching on to summer cottage rentals "Groups of under-30-year-old friends want to spend time with each other and because there are no places to hang out [now] they rent a cottage," Sebastian Lagerlöf of online cottage rental service Nettimökki.com said Nettimökki is part of a cluster owned by publisher Otava which also maintains other online portals for boat Traffic on the other sites has also picked up but the demand for cottages is in a class of its own -- searches have soared by 111 percent compared to one year ago "About 100,000 people in Finland search for rental cottages every week Demand usually peaks at the beginning of June," she added A cottage rental from Nettimökki costs on average 800 euros for a week Prices are not determined so much by location as they are by amenities provided Although the sealing off of the Uusimaa region during spring hiked demand in the area many residents are prepared to look further afield for longer summer holiday stays the closure of many hotels and inns has contributed to the spike in demand for summer cottages Tori.fi currently has more then 6,500 adverts for summer cottage rentals The number of notices posted by private renters has especially increased and have risen more than 50 percent compared to last year Meanwhile the overall number of notices has doubled from last year "Usually searches peak at the beginning of June but this year people have been searching more than during the high period last year," Kuusela noted She added that some of the most-searched-for locations in Finland have been Kuusamo Nettikökki's Lagerlöf said that he doesn't believe that large numbers of people begin renting their cottages "People want their own cottages right now Many have already spent more time there this year than they have in years The business benefits are relative," he commented people are on the lookout for all kinds of cottages Some want a place that is close to a sports field or boating facility while others just want a peaceful spot in the wilderness According to Tori.fi others are happy to find a place on dry land or in an allotment garden southern Finland has sacked controversial MP James Hirvisaari from the position of first vice chair marking the final step in his separation from the party Open image viewerImage: Yle10.10.2013 8:07•Updated 10.10.2013 16:15The local party group's move follows similar action taken by the party's national leadership Last Friday Hirvisaari was stripped of his party membership by a unanimous decision of governing council members after a series of highly public missteps Hirvisaari’s expulsion followed widespread criticism for hosting the Tampere extreme right figure Seppo Lehto at the parliament taking a photo of his guest posing in a Nazi salute and posting it online The colourful politician has since joined the Change 2011 movement (Muutos 2011) the party says it accepts all outlooks and political orientations and makes a point of having no party discipline Hirvisaari is the fringe party’s first Member of Parliament In the picture caption "extreme nationalist group Change 2011" was changed to "the Change 2011 group" "infamous" MP James Hirvisaari was changed to "controversial" MP "anti-immigrant and nationalist group" was replaced with "a group which gained party status in 2010 and makes a point of having no party discipline."