Current affairs

An unusually snowy winter in Helsinki sets the stage for a favourite winter pastime: sledding. Here’s how to get the most out of your journey down the urban slopes.

The Baltic Sea Action Summit to be held on 10 February 2010 at Finlandia Hall will bring high-level representatives of ten Baltic Sea states to Helsinki. Seven heads of state or government have confirmed their participation in the Summit which will also gather representatives of NGOs and the business sector.

Photo reportage: A fleet of nine icebreakers keeps Finnish ports and shipping lanes open all winter.

Who will succeed Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen now that he is relinquishing his grip? It's still anybody's guess, writes Kyösti Karvonen, managing editor of the newspaper Kaleva.

Finnish pianist Paavali Jumppanen gives two recitals in Bucharest. He will be playing as a soloist with the George Enescu Philharmonic - Symphony Orchestra at the Athenaeum hall. The programme will include the piano concerto no 3 in d-minor by Sergei Rachmaninov.

The Finnish Immigration Service’s residence permit application and citizenship application forms have been revised. The new forms will be taken into use on Monday, 11 January 2010. The old forms are no longer available, but a residence permit application, a citizenship application or a citizenship declaration made on old forms will still be accepted at police stations in Finland and at Finnish diplomatic missions abroad until 28 February 2010.

Short days and darkness force photographers to see things in a new light. See what we mean in this slideshow.

Helsinki will be the World Design Capital of the year 2012. The designation was announced by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid) at the Icsid World Design Congress 2009 in Singapore on 25 November. The title of Helsinki’s bid for the designation was Open Helsinki – Embedding Design in Life. The concept expressed by the title will form the basis of Helsinki’s programme for the design year 2012.

The Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA is looking for young and talented students, researchers and young professionals to participate in the EVA Junior Fellows Network. The deadline for this year's applications is 15 February 2010.

In To, the joint Kela and Finnish Tax Administration service point, will continue operations at least until the end of 2010. Established one year ago in November 2008, the service point offers initial assistance and advice to foreign workers coming to work in Finland.