Tag Archives: Finland

Live Video: Trump Holds Presser With Finnish President

NPR reports: Finnish President Sauli Niinistö again meets his US counterpart Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday. Ahead of the meeting and joint press conference, press attention focused more on Ukraine than Finland. Before meeting Niinistö, Trump had not taken part in a press conference for more than a week, during which time Democrats in the House of …

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Finland Ranked World’s Happiest Country (US #19)

Finland’s YLE reports: Finland has once again been ranked as the happiest country in the world. The Nordic nation received the accolade for the second year in succession in the annual survey of global happiness from the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Finland beat out 155 other countries for the title in the 2019 report, released Wednesday. The report …

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Finland’s President: We Didn’t Talk About Raking

ITV News reports: People in Finland have been left bemused after Donald Trump said the country’s use of “raking” techniques helped prevent forest fires. In an interview following Mr Trump’s comments, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said he did not recall mentioning raking to the US leader. The comments prompted many Fins to post on social media mocking the idea that …

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FINLAND: Hundreds Of Nazis March In Turku [VIDEO]

Finland’s national broadcaster YLE reports: The neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement PVL gathered hundreds of supporters for a procession through the streets of Turku on Saturday. Marchers joined a chant calling for freedom of speech and named individuals whom they said were traitors to the people, including President Sauli Niinistö, Foreign Minister Timo Soini and Foreign Trade and Development Minister Kai …

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HELSINKI: Human Rights Campaign Calls On Trump And Putin To End Chechnya’s Crimes Against LGBTs

From the Human Rights Campaign: Today, just ahead of tomorrow’s Trump-Putin summit in Helsinki, HRC projected an enormous message onto the Presidential Palace in Helsinki demanding that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin immediately end the ongoing anti-LGBTQ crimes against humanity occurring in the Russian republic of Chechnya. For more than 15 months, Donald Trump and his administration have refused to …

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Trump-Putin Summit Set For Helsinki On July 16th

CBS News reports: President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladmir Putin are set to meet on July 16 in Helsinki where the leaders are expected to discuss national security issues as well as the issue of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Moscow and Washington confirmed the location and date of the summit in a joint statement released Thursday morning. …

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Finnish President: Trump Lied About Selling Us Jets

Newsweek reports: President Donald Trump loves to talk about trade deals. It was with fervor that he announced a new deal to supply Finland’s air force with “a large number” of F18 fighter jets from Boeing. The news was a surprise to many, most of all Finland and its President Sauli Niinistö, who was sharing a podium with Trump as …

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FINLAND: Parliament Rejects Last Ditch Attempt To Stop Same-Sex Marriage, Weddings Start March 1st

Finland’s national broadcaster reports: Finnish MPs defeated a bill to strike down same-sex marriage on February 17. Opposition to the proposal was strong, as 120 parliamentarians voted against it, with 48 in support. Two members of parliament voted absent and 29 MPs did not cast a vote. A Finnish movement called Aito avioliitto (True Marriage) that seeks to uphold marriage …

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FINLAND: Parliament Debates Initiative To Repeal Same-Sex Marriage Law Before It Goes Into Effect

Early this year Finland’s parliament finalized the details of the marriage equality law which goes into effect in March 2017. Enter the group attempting to repeal the law before then. Via the Helsinki Times: A citizens’ initiative to repeal the upcoming legislative amendment granting marriage rights to same-sex couples was discussed at the Finnish Parliament on Thursday. Hanna Sarkkinen (Left …

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Tom Of Finland: The Coffee

From Finland’s national broadcaster: Preparing a cup of morning joe won’t be the same when the Robert Paulig Roastery launches its line of coffee products enclosed in packaging featuring the risqué figures created by Tom of Finland. The company released a press release in which it described Touko Laaksonen, also known as Tom of Finland, as one of the country’s …

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Five More Eurovision Song Contest Entries Selected: Finland, Norway, Moldova, Slovenia, Hungary [VIDEOS]

Last night was what some Eurovision fans call “Super Saturday” in which five more nations chose their entry for this year’s contest in Stockholm. Below are the winning performances from Finland, Norway, Moldova, Slovenia, and Hungary. I quite like Finland and Slovenia this year. The final video below is a ranking from one of Eurovision’s many rabid fanboys. As you …

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FINLAND: Marriage Equality Law Finalized

Finland’s parliament today finalized the details of the marriage equality law which goes into effect in March 2017: Parliament has approved legal changes that will allow same-sex couples in registered partnerships to convert their legal status to ‘married’ by notifying the authorities. MPs voted in favour of the legislation by 106 votes to 42. The move also eliminates registered partnerships …

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FINLAND: Petition Forces Parliament To Reconsider Same-Sex Marriage Vote

Finland’s same-sex marriage law, which began as an online petition, is due to come into effect in 2017. But a new petition may undo everything. A petition in Finland has gathered enough signatures to force parliament to debate reversing the gender-neutral marriage law it passed in November last year. The petition, started by the Association for Real Marriage, reached the …

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FINLAND: What Happens When An HIV+ Man Asks Strangers To Touch Him

Buzzfeed reports: An HIV-positive man named Janne recently stood on the street next to a sign that read, “I’m HIV-positive, touch me,” to see if the negative stigma attached with HIV/AIDS still exists. The video isn’t in English, but actions speak louder than words. Finnish Broadcasting Company, Yle Kioski, and Janne collaborated to make a video that truly reflected HIV …

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Eurovision 2015: Finland’s Entry

Via BBC News: A punk band made up of men with learning disabilities is to represent Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest. The quartet, named PKN, was chosen by Finnish viewers on Saturday and has now been ranked by bookmakers as among the favourites for the contest. The group, whose members have Down’s syndrome and autism, will perform their 85-second …

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FINLAND: President Signs Marriage Bill

Finnish President Sauli Niinistö this morning signed his nation’s marriage equality bill into law, but marriages will not commence until March 2017. The signing was an historic occasion also in respect to the fact that this will be the first piece of legislation brought to Parliament as a citizens’ initiative and approved as the law of the land. Now that …

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FINLAND: Marriage Passage Finalized

Finland today finalized its approval of same-sex marriage. On the 28th of November, Parliament decided to move ahead with same-sex marriage legislation voting down a decision by the Legal Affairs Committee calling for the rejection of a citizens’ initiative bill on gender-neutral marriage. In effect, that vote approved same-sex marriage by 105-92 and referred the bill to committee as the …

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Headline Of The Day

Via the Independent: Thousands of people have resigned from the Lutheran church in Finland after its Archbishop said he rejoiced “with my whole heart” following the government vote to legalise same-sex marriage. According to Finland’s YLE, between the time that the vote went through on Friday and midnight on Saturday almost 7,800 people had resigned from the church using an …

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Finland Legalizes Gay Marriage

Finland today became the 12th European nation to legalize same-sex marriage. The vote was close. Via the Guardian: Gay couples in Finland have been able to enter into registered partnerships since 2002, but until now the country was the only in the Nordic region not to allow same-sex marriage. Finland is now the 12th European state to do so. In …

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RUSSIA: Anti-Gay Lawmaker Tells Postal Service To Reject Tom Of Finland Stamps

Notorious anti-gay lawmaker Vitaly Milonov has demanded that Russia’s postal service refuse to deliver letters that bear the Tom Of Finland stamps recently issued by Finland’s government. Speaking to the TASS news agency, he said: “They are basically elements of homosexual propaganda, which is banned in our country.” “I ask the leadership of Russian Post to pay close attention to …

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