Blood Service Keeps Ban On Gay Donors

According to the Finnish Red Cross Blood Service, same gender sexual activity between men will continue to be a barrier to donating blood in this country.

Restrictions in neighbouring Sweden on blood donations by gay men were recently eased. As of March, they will not be permanently banned from donating, but will not be allow to give blood for a year after having sexual contact.
The director for donations at Finland's Blood Service, Satu Pastila, says that there are no plans to introduce such a system here.
"Sexual contact between men will continue to bring a permanent ban on donating blood, as is the practice in nearly all European and other industrialized countries," says Pustila.
According to Pustila, during the 1980s the HIV virus was spread especially through male homosexual activity. At that time, a decision was made in Finland to restrict blood donations.
"Reversing the decision would require that the risks within this segment of the population would be the same as the population in general, and that is not the case in Finland. The risk of an HIV infection from sex between men is higher by about a factor of ten, than it is for the rest of the population," explains Satu Pustila.
A single sexual encounter between men is enough to gain a lifetime ban.

Vanhanen: Term Fees For Foreign Students

Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen says that he hopes that the "sale" of Finnish university education to students from outside the EU can start as soon as possible. "It is time to abandon our allergy to selling Finnish education for term fees to students from other countries," he said on Friday.

"I hope, that we can... as quickly as possible start selling the Aalto University’s high-quality education to students outside the EU, while at the same time also safeguarding, in future, opportunities for students from developing countries with the aid of scholarship arrangements."
Vanhanen made his remarks at the opening of the new Aalto University in Helsinki. He later told YLE that the issue of fees for foreign students is likely to be handled by the next government.
"I hope that the matter is written into the next government programme," said the Prime Minister.
According to Education Minister Henna Virkkunen, trials of selling education have already begun and will be expanded during the term of the next government.
In her address at the opening on Friday, President Tarja Halonen congratulated the new institution on the level of its targets.
"The expectations facing the new university are high, especially given its own aim to belong to world class in technology, economics and art and design by 2020."
The Aalto University was created by merging the Helsinki School of Economics, the University of Art and Design and the Helsinki University of Technology.

Helsinki-Vantaa Baggage Handlers Deny Deliberate Slowdown

Baggage handlers at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, who were recently outsourced by the airline Finnair, deny allegations of a deliberate slowdown. Shop Steward Pekka Kähönen says that claims that bags would have been deliberately placed on the wrong planes are provocative and without foundation.

The Finnish News Agency reported on Saturday that anonymous airport personnel had said that the baggage handlers are not doing their jobs right.
Shop Steward Pekka Kähönen and Finnish Aviation Union Chairman Juhani Haapasaari reject the claims.
“Not even management has been telling such shocking lies. If someone would be doing that, he would be sacked,” Kähönen told YLE.
He noted that luggage is tagged with a bar code when the passenger checks it in. The code is cecked twice before it is loaded onto the plane.
Kähönen blames the bproblems in handling baggage on insufficient personnel. He said that there are between 10 and 15 percent less staff at a time when there is 25 per cent more baggage than usual.
He also says that more than ten employees have resigned since Finnair’s baggage handling operations were passed on to Barona.
Finnair says that baggage services at Helsinki-Vantaa were slightly backed up on Saturday, but that the situation is good, under the circumstances.

Nokia Wants Mobile Services in Poor

Mobile telephone giant Nokia is organising a competition to find a mobile product or service that would best improve the quality of life of people in poor countries. The company is investing a million dollars in the campaign.

The idea was announced by the company’s CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo at the ongoing electronics show in Las vegas.
In his speech he also praised mobile telephones as a revolutionary invention. He said that the devices have improved people’s lives more than any other technological solution.
Kallasvuo pointed out that mobile telephones offer most people in the world their first and only contact with the internet.

What employers in America can do for example…

Irma Johnson never really thought of herself as a crusader.

But the quiet widow from The Woodlands has been featured in a Michael Moore movie, watched her story retold on Good Morning America and is trying to let others know that their employers may have purchased secret insurance policies on their lives and stand to profit handsomely when they die.

The industry darkly refers to the policies as “dead peasant” life insurance.

And but for a post office error, Johnson might not have learned that when her husband, Dan Johnson, died of brain cancer in 2008, the bank that had fired him years earlier got $4.7 million in insurance proceeds on his life.

After accidentally destroying an envelope containing a check for nearly $1.6 million made out to Amegy Bank, the post office misdirected it to Johnson's home because Dan Johnson's name also was on the check.

Her attorney, Mike Myers of McClanahan Myers Espey in Houston, said she wasn't supposed to know that Amegy had the insurance policy on her husband, a project manager whose annual salary had been about $70,000.

“How could they be profiting off my husband?” Johnson asked recently during an interview with the Chronicle.

Myers filed a lawsuit on her behalf and forced the bank to reveal it bought policies in 2001 on more than 40 bankers, including coverage on Johnson — who had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer about 18 months earlier and been out sick for several months.

Myers is trying to force Amegy to reveal the names of those other bankers. A hearing is scheduled for later this month, but in the meantime, Amegy officials are planning to meet with Johnson today to try to reach a settlement. She's asking for the net proceeds Amegy received, $3.8 million — the death benefit minus the premiums it paid.

Amegy Bank spokeswoman Leigh Akin said she can't comment specifically and referred all questions to the bank's formal response in the lawsuit.

In that document, the bank said it purchased life insurance policies on a group of vice presidents and other officers to offset the cost of providing employee benefits.

Amegy said taking out such policies is a “common practice among banks and other industries and is recognized and permitted by the applicable banking regulatory authorities.”

The policies were voluntary, the bank noted, and Dan Johnson understood that he would be covered indefinitely, even if he left the bank.

Banks have purchased hundreds of billions of dollars of “bank-owned life insurance” on the lives of their employees. The policies typically remain in effect years after an employee leaves the bank, Myers said.

He said banks receive significant tax advantages on the policies. They can write off the interest they pay on loans to buy the insurance, money invested in the policies grows tax-deferred and if the insured person dies, the death benefit is tax-free.

“It's a very significant investment return for a company in the 40 percent tax bracket,” said Myers, one of the lawyers who sued Wal-Mart Stores over its dead peasant policies and ended up settling for $15.4 million for surviving family members in Texas and Oklahoma. Cases in other states are still pending.

“There are probably a lot of former Amegy employees who are walking around right now who are worth millions of dollars dead to Amegy, and they don't know it,” Myers said.

U.S. Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston, charges that companies buy the policies solely for the tax advantage. He's been pushing a bill that would remove the incentive.

“If you don't have an insurable interest in someone, it's an investment,” he said, and should be subject to regular income tax.

Green also regularly files a bill that would force employers to disclose amounts and beneficiaries of such policies. But the legislation hasn't been a front-burner issue as Congress has wrestled with health care reform, a turbulent economy and other priorities.

Dan Johnson was diagnosed with cancer in 1999 and had to learn to speak and walk again after operations to remove his tumor. By 2001, he was getting warnings that his once-stellar job performance was suffering and was demoted to a nonsupervisory position, according to the lawsuit.

A few months before he was fired in 2001, Johnson was told that he was eligible to receive extra life insurance, Myers said. If he died or was disabled while working at the bank, his wife would receive $150,000.

What wasn't said in the consent form, according to Myers, was that the bank would receive 67 times Johnson's annual salary. That was material information Amergy should have disclosed to its terminally ill employee, Myers argues.

Myers said he also believes the consent form wasn't valid because the bank bought the policies before obtaining permission from Johnson, and that when it did, he was not of sound mind.

Amegy said in its filing that it believes Dan Johnson understood the consequence of his actions. It also said that he agreed not to sue in the future in exchange for settling a disability complaint he filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after his termination.

Irma Johnson, a mother of two young boys, said she was perplexed when she opened the envelope with the big check inside just before Christmas 2008 and called the insurance company. She quickly learned the policy wasn't meant for her. Nor did she ever receive the $150,000 portion that she thought she had coming to her.

Her story was featured last year in Capitalism: A Love Story, filmmaker Michael Moore's critical examination of U.S. economic practices.

What's especially upsetting, Johnson said, is that her husband couldn't buy life insurance to protect his own family once he found out about his cancer. Yet his employer could, she said.

“To let him go,” she said, shaking her head, “and then to cash in on him like that.”

Aalto University Opening Ceremonies on Friday

Opening ceremonies for the new Aalto University are taking place today at Helsinki's Finlandia Hall. The Aalto University is a new institution, formed through a merger of the Helsinki School of Economics, the University of Art and Design and the Helsinki University of Technology.

The guests include foreign dignitaries, government ministers, Members of Parliament, professionals in various fields, in addition to students, professors, and staff of the university.
Prime Minister VAnhanen will hold a speech at the opening ceremony in the afternoon.
From Finlandia Hall, the 2,500 guests will walk in a procession to the nearby Museum of Contemporary Art.

Helsinki Residents Pay Least in Municipal Taxes

Residents in Kajaani, in east-central Finland, fork out the most money to the municipal tax office, according to a report by the Taxpayers' Association of Finland. Meanwhile, residents in Helsinki pay the lowest municipal taxes of any major city.

Over half of Finland’s municipalities have increased municipal taxes this year. The average municipal tax rate rose from 18.59 percent to 18.98 percent this year.
The report reviewed municipal, church and property taxes. It found that an average-income family in Kajaani will pay 1,865 more euros in taxes this year than a family in Helsinki.
Nineteen provincial centres were included in the study, which was carried out by Mikael Kirkko-Jaakkola, an economist at the Taxpayers’ Association.
He points out, however, that living expenses are higher in Helsinki.
“If taxes were to go up in Helsinki, it would be even more expensive to live in the capital city,” says Kirkko-Jaakkola.
Hefty Taxes in Kajaani
A family earning an average salary in Kajaani will pay 14,159 euros this year in municipal taxes. Rovaniemi, in Lapland, and Kokkola in western Finland, are the second and third most expensive towns in terms of municipal taxes in Finland. After Helsinki, Turku and Pori, in southwest Finland, levy the least municipal taxes.
When looking at municipal taxes alone, the study found an average-salary family in Kajaani will pay 2.5 percent more than a family earning the same amount in Helsinki. That adds up to 1,622 euros annually. Meanwhile, a middle-income family in Helsinki will pay the most for property tax, or 292 euros. A family earning the same wage will pay the least property tax in Kokkola, or 132 euros.
Property taxes rose from last year in all 19 municipalities reviewed in the study except in Kuopio and Kokkola.
Income tax is highest in Alavieska, in western Finland. There a mid-income family will pay 3,438 euros more in income tax than the same family in Kauniainen, a low-tax enclave located within Espoo's borders.

Temperature Plummets to Record Low -- Barely

The temperature in Finland reached a record low for this winter on Thursday. The Finnish Meteorological Institute says the temperature at the Kevo research station in Utsjoki, in northern Lapland, fell to -36.7 degrees Celsius on Thursday morning.

This winter’s previous record low was held by Kuusamo, in northern Finland, where the temperature dropped to -36.6 degrees Celsius last weekend.
On Wednesday night, several locations in Lapland said temperatures plummeted to -35 degrees.
In southern Finland, the town of Lappeenranta holds the record for the most bitterly cold day this year. Last Monday, the temperature there was a freezing -35.5 degrees.

Poseur Doctor Dupes Patients for Months

A young man is suspected of having posed as a doctor for almost a year in western Finland. The 23 year old man worked at the Karkkila Health Centre as a ward doctor.

Police say the suspect had no medical training whatsoever, although he claimed to be in the final year of his medical studies. Police believe that the fraudster forged certificates in order to gain a foothold at the health centre.
The man was arrested early this week under suspicion of aggravated forgery, fraud and unauthorized practice as a health care professional. A decision on whether or not to detain the poseur is expected on Friday. A request for an inquiry into the man’s activities was made at the Vihti police station about one week ago.
Police have however said that the man posed no danger to the safety of his patients, as he worked under the supervision of a senior medical officer.
Medical Advisor Pirjo Pennanen of the health watchdog the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health Valvira said that health care recruiters don’t always verify information or documents provided in hiring cases.
In an interview on YLE Radio 1’s Ykkösaamu programme, Pennanen said it was remarkable that the ruse was not even exposed when the man prescribed medication. However, she pointed out that there is often a certain amount of camaraderie between medical students and pharmacists. She added that the practice of issuing medical students with their own unique identifiers filed in a central register was only introduced last year.
The case was first reported in the tabloid daily Iltalehti.

Obama: ‘We Are at War’

 President Obama on Thursday ordered a series of steps to improve the government’s ability to collect, share, analyze and act on intelligence of terrorist threats, saying the findings of a government review of the attempted airline bombing on Christmas Day revealed significant shortcomings in national security.

Stephen Crowley/The New York Times Mr. Obama spoke from the State Dining Room.

“We are at war,” Mr. Obama said in remarks from the White House State Dining Room. While he promised not to “succumb to a siege mentality that sacrifices” America’s civil liberties for security, he called for the immediate strengthening of the nation’s terrorism watch lists by expanding the criteria for adding people to those lists.
“In the never-ending race to protect our country, we have to stay one step ahead of a nimble adversary,” Mr. Obama said. “That’s what these steps are designed to do.”
The president said intelligence reports involving threats to the United States would be distributed more widely among agencies.
“We must follow the leads that we get and we must pursue them until plots are disrupted,” Mr. Obama said. “We can’t sit on information to protect the American people.”
The White House made public the declassified account of how a suspected terrorist managed to elude intelligence officials and board an airplane with an explosive mixture concealed in his underwear. The classified version of the report offered a far starker view, officials said, of how close the United States came to encountering tragedy.
The president said the missteps were not the fault of one individual or one agency. He took responsibility for the failures, saying: “The buck stops with me.”
Mr. Obama ordered the review of the incident in which a Nigerian man traveling to Detroit from Amsterdam tried to ignite an explosive that could have brought down a Northwest Airlines flight and its 278 passengers. The man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, is set to be arraigned Friday on charges of attempted murder on a plane, attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and other offenses.
The president’s statement marked the second time in as many days that he delivered public remarks on the case of the attempted airline bombing and the intelligence lapses that surrounded it. He said Tuesday that the government had enough information to uncover the plot, but intelligence officials “failed to connect those dots.”
Mr. Obama arrived at the lectern in the State Dining Room at the White House more than three hours after he was originally scheduled to speak. His remarks were postponed twice in the afternoon, officials said, because declassifying the security review took far longer than expected.
The White House released the report – detailing what the government knew about the terrorist incident and what should have been done to prevent it – as an attempt to illustrate that the administration is conducting its business with transparency and airing mistakes in an effort to show the American people that they will be corrected.
Top security officials spoke to reporters in a briefing following the president’s remarks.
John O. Brennan, the president’s chief counterrorism adviser, said the intelligence failures that took place before Christmas were not similar to the lapses that led to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. Back then, some agencies were denied access to critical information, he said, but those problems have been resolved with the changes in the structure of intelligence agencies.
“This was not a failure to share information,” Mr. Brennan said.
Mr. Brennan, who conducted the internal review, said the most significant finding of his report was the strength of the Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. He called it “one of the most lethal” cells of the terrorist organization. Before the Christmas Day terror attempt, he said, intelligence officials were not aware that the cell was organized enough to mount a plot on the United States.
“It demonstrated to us that we had a strategic sense of where they are going,” Mr. Brennan said.

An Open Letter to President Obama from Michael Moore

Dear President Obama,
Do you really want to be the new "war president"? If you go to West Point tomorrow night (Tuesday, 8pm) and announce that you are increasing, rather than withdrawing, the troops in Afghanistan, you are the new war president. Pure and simple. And with that you will do the worst possible thing you could do -- destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics. You will teach them what they've always heard is true -- that all politicians are alike. I simply can't believe you're about to do what they say you are going to do. Please say it isn't so.
It is not your job to do what the generals tell you to do. We are a civilian-run government. WE tell the Joint Chiefs what to do, not the other way around. That's the way General Washington insisted it must be. That's what President Truman told General MacArthur when MacArthur wanted to invade China. "You're fired!," said Truman, and that was that. And you should have fired Gen. McChrystal when he went to the press to preempt you, telling the press what YOU had to do. Let me be blunt: We love our kids in the armed services, but we f*#&in' hate these generals, from Westmoreland in Vietnam to, yes, even Colin Powell for lying to the UN with his made-up drawings of WMD (he has since sought redemption).
So now you feel backed into a corner. 30 years ago this past Thursday (Thanksgiving) the Soviet generals had a cool idea -- "Let's invade Afghanistan!" Well, that turned out to be the final nail in the USSR coffin.
There's a reason they don't call Afghanistan the "Garden State" (though they probably should, seeing how the corrupt President Karzai, whom we back, has his brother in the heroin trade raising poppies). Afghanistan's nickname is the "Graveyard of Empires." If you don't believe it, give the British a call. I'd have you call Genghis Khan but I lost his number. I do have Gorbachev's number though. It's + 41 22 789 1662. I'm sure he could give you an earful about the historic blunder you're about to commit.
With our economic collapse still in full swing and our precious young men and women being sacrificed on the altar of arrogance and greed, the breakdown of this great civilization we call America will head, full throttle, into oblivion if you become the "war president." Empires never think the end is near, until the end is here. Empires think that more evil will force the heathens to toe the line -- and yet it never works. The heathens usually tear them to shreds.
Choose carefully, President Obama. You of all people know that it doesn't have to be this way. You still have a few hours to listen to your heart, and your own clear thinking. You know that nothing good can come from sending more troops halfway around the world to a place neither you nor they understand, to achieve an objective that neither you nor they understand, in a country that does not want us there. You can feel it in your bones.
I know you know that there are LESS than a hundred al-Qaeda left in Afghanistan! A hundred thousand troops trying to crush a hundred guys living in caves? Are you serious? Have you drunk Bush's Kool-Aid? I refuse to believe it.
Your potential decision to expand the war (while saying that you're doing it so you can "end the war") will do more to set your legacy in stone than any of the great things you've said and done in your first year. One more throwing a bone from you to the Republicans and the coalition of the hopeful and the hopeless may be gone -- and this nation will be back in the hands of the haters quicker than you can shout "tea bag!"
Choose carefully, Mr. President. Your corporate backers are going to abandon you as soon as it is clear you are a one-term president and that the nation will be safely back in the hands of the usual idiots who do their bidding. That could be Wednesday morning.
We the people still love you. We the people still have a sliver of hope. But we the people can't take it anymore. We can't take your caving in, over and over, when we elected you by a big, wide margin of millions to get in there and get the job done. What part of "landslide victory" don't you understand?
Don't be deceived into thinking that sending a few more troops into Afghanistan will make a difference, or earn you the respect of the haters. They will not stop until this country is torn asunder and every last dollar is extracted from the poor and soon-to-be poor. You could send a million troops over there and the crazy Right still wouldn't be happy. You would still be the victim of their incessant venom on hate radio and television because no matter what you do, you can't change the one thing about yourself that sends them over the edge.
The haters were not the ones who elected you, and they can't be won over by abandoning the rest of us.
President Obama, it's time to come home. Ask your neighbors in Chicago and the parents of the young men and women doing the fighting and dying if they want more billions and more troops sent to Afghanistan. Do you think they will say, "No, we don't need health care, we don't need jobs, we don't need homes. You go on ahead, Mr. President, and send our wealth and our sons and daughters overseas, 'cause we don't need them, either."
What would Martin Luther King, Jr. do? What would your grandmother do? Not send more poor people to kill other poor people who pose no threat to them, that's what they'd do. Not spend billions and trillions to wage war while American children are sleeping on the streets and standing in bread lines.
All of us that voted and prayed for you and cried the night of your victory have endured an Orwellian hell of eight years of crimes committed in our name: torture, rendition, suspension of the bill of rights, invading nations who had not attacked us, blowing up neighborhoods that Saddam "might" be in (but never was), slaughtering wedding parties in Afghanistan. We watched as hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were slaughtered and tens of thousands of our brave young men and women were killed, maimed, or endured mental anguish -- the full terror of which we scarcely know.
When we elected you we didn't expect miracles. We didn't even expect much change. But we expected some. We thought you would stop the madness. Stop the killing. Stop the insane idea that men with guns can reorganize a nation that doesn't even function as a nation and never, ever has.
Stop, stop, stop! For the sake of the lives of young Americans and Afghan civilians, stop. For the sake of your presidency, hope, and the future of our nation, stop. For God's sake, stop.
Tonight we still have hope.
Tomorrow, we shall see. The ball is in your court. You DON'T have to do this. You can be a profile in courage. You can be your mother's son.
We're counting on you.
Yours,
Michael Moore

Public Wants More Action On Employment

Finns now see the most important task for the government as being improvements in employment. A YLE-commissioned poll shows that the public considers bettering the employment situation as even more important than securing the future of public services. Nearly 60% say the government has done a poor job in dealing with weakened employment.

The survey, carried out by the pollster Taloustutkimus, found that 21% of the some 4000 people questioned consider that the government's most important task is to improve employment. Better healthcare services were in second place, seen as the number one priority by 16% of those surveyed.
The chief of research for Taloustutkimus, Juho Rahkonen, says that public social services have traditionally topped the list of concerns among the Finns, but now employment has moved up to the top of the list.
Even so, says Rahkonen, the importance of the traditional Nordic welfare state has not declined in the minds of the Finns.
"It is still there in the background. In fact, this concern over employment may be related to worries about the welfare state and the continuation of what is seen as a good Finnish way of life."
The government received its highest marks for its handling of foreign and security policy, as well as environmental affairs. Overall, backers of the Centre Party and of the conservative National Coalition Party were most satisfied with the work of the present government. Least satisfied were supporters of opposition leftist parties.
The YLE-commissioned survey was carried out during the autumn months.

Rail Problems All Day

Cancellations and delays in Helsinki-area train service are expected to continue all day Thursday because of Monday's train crash at the main Railway Station and difficult weather conditions.

A blizzard is bringing the Finnish capital 5-10 centimetres of new snow and strong winds are causing drifts. Meanwhile the bitterly cold weather continues and the state railways VR says it is unable to warm railyard switches properly because of the snow build-up.
Fewer Commuter Rail Departures
All I trains between Helsinki and Tikkurila in Vantaa have been cancelled for the day. K trains between Kerava and the capital are operating as N trains, halting at all stops. N trains are running six times an hour in both directions.
M and A trains are running three times an hour, and E trains between Helsinki and Kauklahti in Espoo are cancelled. G trains between Helsinki and Saunakallio have also been cancelled. U and S trains between Helsinki and Kirkkonummi are operating on their normal schedules.
Long-Haul Delays Possible
An effort is being made to keep to long-haul train timetables, severe cold in the north may affect schedules. During the morning hours, long-haul train were on schedule.
Although the wreckage of Monday's accident has been cleared away and one damaged track will reopen by Thursday, two will remain out of use indefinitely.

European Snow Delays Flights

Snowstorms in parts of Europe have caused some delays at Helsinki-Vantaa airport. Finnair reports that European flights have been operating 30 minutes to several hours behind schedule.

Delays have also caused baggage handling problems for Finnair and other airlines. Thursday morning, Helsinki-Vantaa had a backlog of several hundred pieces of luggage awaiting loading onto connecting flights.
Finnair says that domestic flights have been operating on time.
The company's Wednesday flight from Osaka, Japan to Helsinki departed today, a full day late because of technical problems and is expected to arrive at Helsinki-Vantaa at 3:30 PM.
The delay in the Osaka flight is not expected to affect other services.

Military Blocking Construction of Wind Power

Finnish Energy Industries (ET) says that the military is blocking plans to develop wind power. The Defence Forces say that studies need to be done on windmills' effects on radar, but so far has not agreed to help fund research.

ET, the Defence Forces and the government have been arguing over the issue most of the autumn. Research done in western Europe and the United States points to windmills interfering with the reliability of radar, a view echoed by the Technical Research Centre of Finland.
In recent years windmills have grown taller and the size of wind power parks has increased.
"We want reliable and sensible research done across Finland on the effects of radar and wind power parks for training and schooling purposes," says Lieutenant-Colonel Arto Ikonen from the General Staff of the Defence Forces.
"By no means are we opposed to wind power, but the effects have to be studied quickly."
Government won't pay for study
Finland's Energy Industries ET and power companies have agreed to pay for half of the hundreds of thousands of euros needed for the study, but says neither the military nor the government is willing to co-operate.
"We've asked the Defence Forces, and they won't help pay for it," says ET's Director of Power Generation, Jukka Leskelä. "Neither will the Defence Ministry, nor the Ministry of Employment and the Economy."
ET feels that the Defence Forces' views have essentially stagnated windmill construction in Finland. In Kotka, for example, local power company Kotkan Voima has suspended plans to build a wind power park because of military objections.
"On the one hand, the government supports building wind power, but then a government agency, the Defence Forces, blocks their construction, and the government has no money to study the issue," fumes Leskelä.

Officials: Deportation of All Foreign Criminals Unrealistic

Ibrahim Shkupolli, who killed five people and himself in Espoo on December 31, could not have been deported without significant changes to Finnish immigration practices, say top law enforcement and immigration officials.

In recent days, Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen and Interior Minister Anne Holmlund have publicly questioned why Shkupolli, a Kosovo Albanian, was allowed to remain in Finland despite several criminal convictions and a rejected citizenship application.
If politicians intend to lower the threshold for deportation to a level that might have prevented the Sello shopping mall shootings, major changes would have to be made to current legislation.
“Our judicial and administrative court procedures would have to be changed significantly,” National Police Commissioner Mikko Paatero told YLE. “Hundreds of people who would have to be deported.”
Deportations Bog Down in Red Tape
Heikki Taskinen, Director of the Immigration unit at the Finnish Immigration Service, agrees.
“We would be talking about hundreds or even thousands of cases annually,” he estimates.
At present, less than 100 deportation rulings are made each year, most of them involving individuals guilty of serious crimes, he says. Most of these cases become bogged down in the administrative court appeal process, which can drag on for years.
Police seek deportation orders based on comprehensive evaluations of each case. The individual’s ties to Finland play a major role in this decision. As Shkupolli had lived in the country for 18 years, legislative changes that would have allowed him to be deported would be so broad that virtually any foreigner convicted of any crime would have to be deported.
In 2008, about 2,500 foreign citizens resident in Finland were convicted of crimes at the district court level -- proportionally about the same as Finnish citizens.
Taskinen points out that since the deportation process is so arduous, carrying out thousands of cases a year would represent an immense amount of work for officials.
“Deportation is a very heavy-handed procedure. It does not simply mean that the person has to leave Finland; it also means they are barred from entering the entire Schengen area,” which includes 25 European countries. This has a drastic impact on the individual and his or her potential family members, he notes.

Mangled Train Car Removed, Rail Traffic Normalises

Local train traffic in and out of Helsinki has returned to normal, although some routes may experience delays when businesses reopen on Thursday. The wreckage of Monday's runaway train crash has been cleared up.

The train cars that crashed into a building at the Helsinki Railway Station have been extracted from the building they ploughed into. The most severely damaged car was towed to the depot at night, once rail traffic had died down.
Three tracks at the railway station are still out of commission, while engineers inspect the track and contact wires for damage. They might have to be replaced before trains can begin using those tracks again.
Officials had feared structural damage to the building, but it survived the crash and the extrication better than expected. Although the building is not in danger of collapsing, plenty of repairs are necessary before the space can be used again.
Train Derailed, Crashed into Hotel
On Monday, four runaway double-decker Intercity train carriages separated from a train before crashing into platform 13 in Helsinki. The 70-tonne vehicle travelled a further 10 metres before crashing into the wall of the Holiday Inn at the end of the platform.
A train conductor who had been in the carriage sustained light injuries to his arm. No-one else was injured.

Weather Favours Kemi Snow Castle Project

The Snow Castle, an annual winter attraction in the northern city of Kemi, is being built on schedule this year, thanks to favourable weather conditions. In some years, mild temperatures have been a challenge to the project.

Very cold weather is also challenging, as temperatures below -20 degrees Celsius can be problematic for the equipment used in the construction of the structure, which is built mainly of snow and ice. However, Jouni Heikkilä, CEO of IP-Heikkilä, which is responsible for the construction, says that cold temperatures are nevertheless always better than rain.
“The snow cladding is neat and better looking. Dampness causes discolouration, among other problems,” Heikkilä says.
IP-Heikkilä, which has been involved in the project seven times, expects the construction to be completed in about half of the normal time. In addition to the good conditions this winter, the company can benefit from experiences of previous years.
The Snow Castle is scheduled to open at the end of January. It is the 15th time that the project has taken place.

Runaway Train Carriages at Helsinki Railway Station

Four runaway two-level Intercity train carriages that separated from a train crashed into platform 13 of the Helsinki Railway station early Monday. A train conductor who had been in the carriage at the time of the incident sustained light injuries to his arm.

The accident was apparently caused by faulty brakes on the vehicle. Train workers were aware of the malfunction and warned persons standing on platform 13 to be on the alert for a possible collision before directing the rail cars to platform 13.

Platform 13 was selected for the emergency stop as it was felt that a concrete barrier would slow down the careening carriage. However the 70-ton vehicle travelled a further 10 metres through the buffer before crashing into the wall of the Holiday Inn Hotel at the end of the platform. No bystanders were injured in the incident.

The impact into the hotel wall damaged the sprinkler system and put the office wing of out of commission. Emergency officials are currently investigating the damage caused to the building.

Pentti Grönroos of Helsinki Emergency Services explained that upon impact the cabs of the double-decker train climbed up the hotel wall to the base of the third floor.

Crash Disrupts Traffic

The accident disrupted rail traffic at the Helsinki Railway terminal between 8.30 and 9.30 Monday morning. Officials were however able to restore rail service and power to the terminal, except for tracks 11 and 13. Officials estimate that repairs to tracks 11 and 13 will be completed by Monday evening.

Several trains were cancelled during the day and there have been delays of 15 minutes to an hour in departures. The number of scheduled local commuter trains has also been reduced.

Both long-distance and commuter rail traffic may continue to experience disruptions through Tuesday morning.

The train conductor and a few other workers were in the train at the time of the accident. The Kuopio-bound train was reversing in the Helsinki station, when four cars became detached and crashed into the hotel wall.

How to Argue with a Creationist

Debating with a creationist is actually really easy, because they only have a few standard arguments, and haven't come up with any new cogent ones for some time. These standard arguments have been published time and time again, and a practiced creationist can handily draw them like a six-gun at the drop of a hat. All of their arguments are silly in their wrongness and easily debunked, and if you're prepared in advance, it's easy to beat down any creationist with a quick verbal body slam. You're not going to change their mind, since creationists do not base their opinions upon rational study of the evidence; but you might help clear things up for an innocent bystander who overhears.
So here are the standard arguments for creationism, and the standard rebuttals from the scientific consensus, starting with my favorite:
Evolution is just a theory, not a fact. This is an easily digestible sound bite intended to show that evolution is just an unproven hypothesis, like any other, and thus should not be taught in schools as if it were fact. Actually, evolution is both a theory and a fact. A fact is something we observe in the world, and a theory is our best explanation for it. Stephen Jay Gould famously addressed this argument by pointing out that the fact of gravity is that things fall, and our theory of gravity began with Isaac Newton and was later replaced by Einstein's improved theory. The current state of our theory to explain gravity does not affect the fact that things fall. Similarly, Darwin's original theory of evolution was highly incomplete and had plenty of errors. Today's theory is still incomplete but it's a thousand times better than it was in Darwin's day. But the state of our explanation does not affect the observed fact that species evolve over time.
The next argument you're likely to encounter states that Evolution is controversial; scientists disagree on its validity. Creationists have latched onto the fact that evolutionary biologists still have competing theories to explain numerous minor aspects of evolution. Throwing out evolution for this reason would be like dismissing the use of tires on cars because there are competing tread designs. Despite the claim of widespread controversy, no significant number of scientists doubt either the fact of evolution or the validity of the theory as a whole. Creationists often publish lists of scientists whom they say reject evolution. These lists are probably true. In the United States, the majority of the general public are creationists of one flavor or another. But the scientific community has a very different opinion: Most surveys of scientists find that 95 to 98 percent accept evolution just as they do other aspects of the natural world.
Creationists also argue that Evolution is not falsifiable, therefore it's not science. One of the fundamentals of any science is that it's falsifiable. If a test can be derived that, if it were to fail, falsified a proposition, then that proposition meets a basic test of being a science. Something that cannot be tested and falsified, like the existence of gods, is therefore not a science. Creationists accept this to the point that they use it as an argument against evolution's status as a science.
In fact, evolution could be very easily falsified. Evolutionary biologist JBS Haldane famously said that a fossilized rabbit from the Precambrian era would do it. Another way to falsify evolution would be to test any of the innumerable predictions it makes, and see if the observation doesn't match what was predicted. Creationists are invited to go through all the predictions made in the evolutionary literature, and if they can genuinely find that not a single one is testable, then they're right.
The next argument to be prepared for is that Evolution is itself a religion. This argument has become increasingly popular in recent years as creationists have tried to bolster their own position by decorating it with scientific-sounding words like intelligent design. And as they try to convince us that their own position is science based, they correspondingly mock evolution by calling it a religion of those who worship Darwin as a prophet and accept its tenets on faith since there is no evidence supporting evolution. Clearly this is an argument that could only be persuasive to people who know little or nothing about the concept of evolution or Darwin's role in its development. This argument is easily dismissed. A religion is the worship of a supernatural divine superbeing, and there is nothing anywhere in the theory of evolution that makes reference to such a being, and not a single living human considers himself a member of any "evolution church."
Creationists also like to argue that Evolution cannot be observed. Part of what you need to do to validate a theory is to test it and observe the results. Although there are evolutionary phenomena that can be directly observed like dog breeding and lab experiments with fruit flies, most of what evolution explains has happened over millions of years and so, quite obviously, nobody was around to observe most of it. This is true, but it misstates what observation consists of. There's a lot of observation in science where we have to use evidence of an event: certain chemical reactions, subatomic particle physics, theoretical physics; all of these disciplines involve experimentation and observation where the actual events can't be witnessed. The theory of evolution was originally developed to explain the evidence that was observed from the fossil record. So in this respect, every significant aspect of evolution has been exhaustively observed and documented, many times over.
One of the most tiresome creationist arguments against evolution tries to claim that There is an absence of transitional fossils. If the ancestor of the modern horse Miohippus evolved from its predecessor Mesohippus, then surely there must be examples of transitional fossils that would show characteristics of both, or perhaps an intermediate stage. I use the horse example because the fossil record of horses is exceptionally well represented with many finds. If evolution is true, shouldn't there be examples of transitional stages between Miohippus and Mesohippus? The creationists say that there are not. Well, there are, and in abundance. You can tell people that there aren't, but you're either intentionally lying or intentionally refusing to inform yourself on a subject you're claiming to be authoritative on. Kathleen Hunt of the University of Washington writes:

A typical Miohippus was distinctly larger than a typical Mesohippus, with a slightly longer skull. The facial fossa was deeper and more expanded. In addition, the ankle joint had changed subtly. Miohippus also began to show a variable extra crest on its upper cheek teeth. In later horse species, this crest became a characteristic feature of the teeth. This is an excellent example of how new traits originate as variations in the ancestral population.

The layperson need look no deeper than Wikipedia to find a long list of transitional fossils. But be aware that many species known only from the fossil record may be known by only one skeleton, often incomplete. The older fossil records are simply too sparse to expect any form of completeness, especially if you're looking for complete transitions. It's not going to happen. However, the theory of punctuated equilibrium predicts that in many cases there will be no transitional fossils, so in a lot of these cases, creationists are pointing to the absence of fossils that evolutionary theory predicts probably never existed.
Here's another creationist argument, and when I first heard it I said "What the heck are they talking about??" It's that Evolution violates the second law of thermodynamics. The second law of thermodynamics states that there is no reverse entropy in any isolated system. The available energy in a closed system will stay the same or decrease over time, and the overall entropy of such a system can only increase or stay the same. This is an immutable physical law, and it's true. Creationists argue that this means a complex system, like a living organism, cannot form on its own, as that would be a decrease of entropy. Order from disorder, they argue, is physically impossible without divine intervention. This argument is easy to make if you oversimplify the law to the point of ignoring its principal qualification: that it only applies to a closed, isolated system. If you attempt to apply it to any system, such as a plant, animal, or deck of cards, you've just proven that photosynthesis, growth, and unshuffling are impossible too. Organisms are open systems (as was the proverbial primordial goo), since they exchange material and energy with their surroundings, and so the second law of thermodynamics is not relevant to them. Innumerable natural and artificial processes produce order from disorder in open systems using external energy and material.
In a related vein, creationists also argue that Evolution cannot create complex structures with irreducible complexity. This argument was made famous by Michael Behe, an evangelical biochemist, who coined the term irreducible complexity. Take a complex structure like an eyeball, and remove any part of it to simulate evolution in reverse, and it will no longer function. Thus, an eyeball cannot have evolved through natural selection, as a non-functioning structure would not be a genetic advantage. It seems like it makes sense at face value, but it's based on a tremendously faulty concept. Evolution in reverse is not accurately simulated by taking a cleaver and hacking an eyeball in half. The animal kingdom is full of examples of simpler eye structures, all of which are functional, all of which are irreducibly complex, and all of which are susceptible to further refinement through evolution. For a dramatic visual example of how irreducible complexity can and does evolve through gradual refinement, and yet remain irreducibly complex, take a look at Lee Graham's applet the Irreducible Complexity Evolver at http://www.stellaralchemy.com/ice/.
Another effort to fight science using logic states that It's too improbable for complex life forms to develop by chance. This is the old "747 in a junkyard" argument. How likely is it that a tornado would go through a junkyard, and by chance, happen to assemble a perfect 747? The same argument was made centuries ago by William Paley, except he referred to the exquisite design of a pocketwatch, and pointed out that such a thing is so complex and delicate that it had to have been designed from the top down by a creator. This argument is simply reflective of ignorance of the extraordinary power of evolution's bottom-up design mechanism. Once you have an understanding of multigenerational mutation and natural selection, and also understand how structures with irreducible complexity evolve, there's nothing unlikely or implausible about evolution at all. In fact, genetic algorithms (the computer software version of evolution), are starting to take over the world of invention with innovative new engineering advances that top-down designers like human beings might have never come up with. Bottom-up design is not only probable, it's inevitable and nearly always produces better designs than any intelligent creator could have.
You should also be prepared to hear that Evolution cannot create new information. Based on a misinterpretation of information theory, this argument states that the new information required to create a new species cannot suddenly spawn into existence spontaneously; new information can only come from an outside source, namely, an intelligent creator. This particular argument doesn't go very far, since any genetic mutation or duplication can only be described as new information. Not all of that information is good. Most of it's useless, but once in a blue moon you get a piece that's beneficial to the organism. New genetic information is observed in evolutionary processes every day.
For a final blow from the logic department, be ready for the argument that Evolution does not explain some aspects of life or culture. This is an argument which is really just a logical fallacy: that since evolution does not explain everything, it is therefore entirely false. Evolutionary biologists are the first ones to stand up and say that there are still plenty of aspects of life we're still learning about. That doesn't make the things we've already learned wrong. It's also increasingly common for creationists to point to things that have nothing to do with the origin of life and speciation, like the Big Bang and the age of the earth, and argue that since the theory of evolution does not explain those things as well, it is therefore false. This is an even greater logical fallacy. Theories explain only those observed phenomena they are designed to explain. They are not intended to have anything to do with stuff they have nothing to do with.
Those are the standard arguments. One thing I can't easily prepare you for are the non-standard arguments you might get from a creationist who doesn't know his business very well. For example, when evangelical actor Kirk Cameron and Christian author Ray Comfort were given a platform by ABC television in April 2007 to express their beliefs to the creators of the Blasphemy Challenge, they didn't even know the standard arguments and just started throwing random stuff out left and right in a way that's much harder to debate intelligently. Phil Plait of Bad Astronomy had a similar experience when debating moon hoax believer Joe Rogan, and he summed it up quite aptly by pointing out that it's easy to know the science better than a believer does, but a believer can easily know the pseudoscience way better than you. Stick with what you know, and don't allow an unpracticed creationist who's all over the place to steer you off the track.

Multiple Murder Motive Still Uncertain

Police have completed forensic investigations at the scenes of five murders and a suicide in Espoo on Thursday. However, interviews with eyewitnesses and Prisma store employees continue.

Police have confirmed that the gunman, Ibrahim Skhupolli, had repeatedly threatened his ex-girlfriend before stabbing her to death and shooting four others on Thursday.
No new information about the motives of the killer has come to light. Police have, though, further confirmation that Shkupolli had stalked and threatened his ex-girlfriend for some time before the killings.
"The suspect was placed under a restraining order last April, so it's been a matter of months," points out Chief Inspector Tero Haapala of the National Bureau of Investigation. "However, there is evidence of stalking and harassment well before April. This was a long-term problem, one going back years."
Haapala confirmed to YLE that the ex-girlfriend that Shkupolli stabbed to death on Thuesday was seen in his company only a few days before the killing. Police have heard from several witnesses that two were seen together shopping.
Finnish investigators have been in communication with officials in the former Yugoslav republics about Ibrahim Shkupolli, who was an Albanian Kosovar. No new relevant information has come to light, nor have rumours been confirmed that Shkupolli had a military background.
Police are still seeking contact with people who knew Shkupolli, and have requested calls to the NBI at 071 878 6891 between 9 AM and 9 PM daily or by email to tiedotus.krp@poliisi.fi.
The S-Group, which owns and operates the Prisma store where four employees were killed has scheduled two minutes of silence at all its shops and stores for noon on Monday. Customers are also being asked to participate.

Police: Espoo Mall Shooting Probably Premeditated

Investigations continue into the fatal shooting of five people in Espoo on New Year’s Eve. Police now believe the victims had been selected in advance by the suspect, Ibrahim Shkupolli.

The National Bureau of Investigation(NBI) has clarified the movements of the suspect inside the mall but officers want further details on the movements of a red Volkswagen Golf car seen in the area on Thursday
Ibrahim Shkupolli, a Kosovo Albanian, shot and killed four people at the Sello shopping mall on Thursday. He also shot his ex-girlfriend at her home in Espoo. At the end of his shooting spree, he then turned the gun on himself.
Police say Shkupolli first shot two male employees on the first floor of the mall before killing two sales persons, a man and a woman, on the second floor. Prior to an autopsy on Saturday, investigators remain uncertain as to whether the fifth killing took place before or after his shooting rampage inside the mall.
The names of the victims in the store have not been released at the request of family members. Flags flew at half mast at the mall on New Year's Day and at other shops belonging to the HOK-Elanto retail chain. A moment of silence will be held at stores at noon on Saturday.
Shkupolli had earlier been served with a restraining order extending to the Prisma supermarket. He had earlier threatened staff at the store. Although supermarket guards were aware of the restraining order, those employed by the shopping mall itself remained in the dark as to the danger posed by the suspect.
Motive Remains Unclear
Exact details of Shkupolli’s motive remain unclear. However, leads point to difficulties in the relationship between the suspect and his ex-girlfriend.
The NBI says the method of the attack indicates the victims were probably selected beforehand. NBI Chief Inspector Tero Haapala could not say whether the victims had been threatened with attack in advance.
Haapala confirmed the suspect had applied for Finnish citizenship once but this had been refused. He said the NBI were unaware of any criminal past during his time in Kosovo.
The police say a red Volkswagen Golf had been found in the yard of his home belonging to the suspect’s ex-girlfriend. They called on the public to help them determine whether Shkupolli had used the vehicle on Thursday morning. The car(registration number LGJ-765) was manufactured in 1994.
Anyone with information relating to Shkupolli’s movements on Thursday should contact the NBI on 071 878 6891

NBI: Suspect Had Made Threats

Ibrahim Shkupolli, who is believed to have shot and killed five people in Espoo Thursday before taking his own life, made numerous threats of violence in the past. Chief Inspector Tero Haapala of Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation told YLE that police were aware of his repeated threats against his ex-girlfriend.

Haapala said that investigators are looking into the various threats Shkupolli made in the past. Police are not sure if he visited the Sello shopping centre on Wednesday to make more threats, or not. Chief Inspector Haapala added that now in hindsight it can be said that in addition to a restraining order against him initiated by his ex-girlfriend, other measures should perhaps have been considered.
In addition to convictions in 2003 and 2007 on weapons violations, Shkupolli also had a record for theft, drug charges and making threats of violence against others.
His ex-girlfriend, who was one of his victims on Thursday, was employed at the Sello shopping centre. As of Thursday evening, it was still unclear if Shkupolli shot and killed her before or after he went to the mall where he shot four others.
The restraining order issued by an Espoo court noted that Shkupolli had threatened the life and safety of his ex-girlfriend and her family. It was the view of the court that he was capable of carrying out his threats.
It also noted that Shkupolli had, in the past, gone to the Sello shopping centre to threaten his former partner.

Six Dead Following Shooting Rampage

A total of six people died in connection with a shooting rampage at the Sello shopping mall in Espoo on Thursday. Four people were killed in the Prisma department store. Police later found the body of the suspected gunman's former girlfriend in her flat. A sixth body - that of the suspected shooter, Kosovo-born Ibrahim Shkupolli, was found in another flat.

The discovery of Shkupolli's body was preceded by a manhunt ini the area. Police noted that he had run-ins with the police in the past.
The Helsinki District Court sentenced Shkupolli to a fine in 2007 for firearm violation for illegal possession of a 9 mm handgun and ammunition. The Espoo District Court had also fined Shkupolli for illegal possession of a 7.65 calibre handgun and ammunition in 2003. His ex-girlfriend had sought and received a restraining order against him.
The shooting was reported to police at 10.08 am. Espoo Police say three men and one woman, all employed at the Prisma grocery store at the shopping centre, were shot dead at the mall. The ex-girlfriend was also employed at Prisma. The mall was closed following the incident.
A number of police vehicles and ambulances rushed to the scene, just west of Helsinki. Crowds were standing outside the modern mall in bright, bitterly cold weather.
The mall evacuated immediately after the shootings, and was re-opened late in the afternoon although shops and most other facilities remained closed for the holiday.
"Chaotic Situation"
An eyewitness, Kari Harjula, who was in a check-out queue at Citymarket, told YLE:
"I started to hear a lot of shouting from the outer doors of Citymarket and Sello, telling everybody to get out. The customers and employees were wondering what was going on. Soon some police ran in with riot shields and serious expressions on their faces. They yelled at everybody to get out; that the shopping centre was being evacuated. The situation was chaotic; there were a lot of police inside and outside. From a layman's point of view, it looked like a massive operation."
VR State Railways confirmed that police ordered trains not to stop at the adjacent Leppävaara station. A YLE reporter said police officers had been checking passengers on local trains, including at the Ilmala and Pasila stations in Helsinki. Train and bus traffic in the area returned to normal just after 4 PM.
Finland known for shootings
Finland has been the target of two school shootings in recent years. In November 2007, eight people were killed in a school shooting in Jokela, in southern Finland. In September 2008, ten people were shot dead in another school shooting in Kauhajoki, in western Finland.
In 2002, a young man detonated a bomb killing seven people including himself at the Myyrmanni shopping mall in Vantaa, in southern Finland.
All three perpetrators were killed during the attacks.
The gunman in Thursday's shootings, Ibrahim Shkupolli, was an Albanian Kosovar who was a long-time resident of Finland. Serbian officials told AFP that he was born in Mitrovica, and had no criminal record in Serbia. The shooter used a police-style handgun, most likely a 9 mm weapon. Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen told the press that the gun was unlicensed. As of Thursday evening, police had not confirmed the statement.
The motive for Thursday's rampage has not been fully established, but police believe that it was related to the strained relations between the gunman and his ex-girlfriend.