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Prime minister Petteri Orpo says eastern Finland ‘suffering because of Russian behaviour’Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine’s president, visited the Donetsk region today.Two people have been detained in Poland on suspicion of attacking Leonid Volkov, an aide to the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda told reporters today, Reuters reported. Continue reading...

A 12-year-old boy is alleged to have killed a fellow pupil and seriously injured two others at Viertola school in VantaaA 12-year-old boy suspected of shooting and killing a classmate and wounding two girls of the same age at a school in Finland said he had been motivated by bullying, police have said, as flags flew at half-mast across the country.Finland was in mourning...

Meanwhile, South Sudan has ordered schools to shut amid extreme heatwaveA cyclone warning has been issued in northern Australia for coastal communities from the island of Groote Eylandt to the Northern Territory/Queensland border. Tropical Cyclone Megan, which developed in the Gulf of Carpentaria on Saturday, has been declared a category 3 cyclone by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. Megan is forecast to make landfall...

For Swedes it means a dramatic change of national identity, while the alliance gets greater control of the Baltic SeaJust a few short months ago, Sweden’s Nato membership seemed a very long way from being a done deal. Having submitted its application to join in May 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it seemed at times as though Stockholm might be left hanging interminably....

Centre-right Alexander Stubb declares victory and is congratulated by Pekka HaavistoFinland’s centre-right former prime minister Alexander Stubb will become the next president after winning an election runoff with rival Pekka Haavisto in the country’s most high-stakes presidential election in a generation.Stubb, of the National Coalition party, declared victory on Sunday night and Haavisto, a former foreign minister and a member of the Green party...

Pekka Haavisto says discussion about his being gay has increased since he made it through to the final round of votingThe Finnish presidential candidate Pekka Haavisto has questioned why his sexuality has come under such strong focus in the final days of campaigning before Sunday’s election as polls narrow with his rival, Alexander Stubb.The 65-year-old former foreign minister, who if he wins would become...

Liberal Green party is a close second and goes through to second round, while far-right Finns have been knocked outFinland’s former prime minister Alexander Stubb and the country’s former foreign minister Pekka Haavisto have progressed through to the second round of the presidential elections, knocking out a rightwing populist candidate.With all votes counted, Stubb, of the centre-right National Coalition party, had won 27.2% of...

All presidential candidates champion independence and country’s new role in Nato as relations with Moscow deteriorateRussia-Ukraine war – latest news updatesFinns headed to the polls on Sunday to elect a new president, an office whose importance has grown as tensions increase tensions with neighbouring Russia since the invasion of Ukraine.While the president’s powers are limited, the head of state – who also acts as...

Pekka Haavisto, who is second in the opinion polls, is bolstering his campaign with club nights and music from the 60s and 70sAt a packed, dimly lit music venue in Helsinki, an attentive crowd dressed up for a night out sings sweetly along to musicians on stage in front of a kitsch image of a smiling 65-year-old man.While the atmosphere would suggest fun club...

Exclusive: Pekka Haavisto says being ‘united against all external threats’ is key to security amid tension with RussiaFinland must crack down on hate speech against minorities if it is to appear “united against all external threats”, including from Russia, a leading candidate in the country’s presidential election has said.The Nordic country, which is governed by a coalition including the far-right Finns party, needs to...