The United States is preparing a new sanctions campaign against Iran as Tehran threatens to stop oil exports from the Gulf and retaliate against countries that support Washington. The measures come six months into the US-Israeli war against Iran, with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz restricted and diplomatic efforts under way. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is due to announce the measures on Monday.

Tax and social security changes introduced by Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government have left nearly 100,000 more people on low incomes than under Finland’s previous system, according to a study by the Labour Institute for Economic Research Labore. The study found that unemployed people, low-paid workers and employees working part-time have borne much of the impact.

Finland has summoned Russia’s ambassador and issued a diplomatic note after a Russian military reconnaissance aircraft allegedly entered Finnish airspace for about three minutes in the western Gulf of Finland. The Finnish Border Guard said the aircraft was a Russian Ilyushin IL-20 reconnaissance plane. The suspected violation took place south of Utö on Thursday afternoon.

Finland’s health authority has urged passengers who travelled on two ferry services between Åland and Sweden to check their measles protection after a person with the infection travelled on both routes. The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, THL, said the passenger travelled from Mariehamn to Stockholm aboard Viking Glory on 13 August. The vessel, operating on the Turku-Mariehamn-Stockholm route, departed Mariehamn at 14.25.

The number of job vacancies in Finland rose in annual terms for the first time since 2022 during the second quarter of this year, according to Statistics Finland. Employers reported 29,600 vacancies, up 2 per cent from 28,900 in the second quarter of 2025. The figures describe the situation on 1 June. The increase ended a run of annual declines in quarterly vacancy figures dating back to 2022.

Finnish airports handled about 1.9 million passengers in July, the highest monthly passenger total since 2019, according to figures published by Statistics Finland on Wednesday. Passenger numbers increased by 7 per cent from July 2025, with growth in both domestic and international air travel.

Uber Eats will introduce delivery robots in Helsinki next week, making Finland the first European Union country where the food delivery platform will use robots for customer orders. The company said in a release that the robots will start operating on Thursday in central Helsinki. The launch comes as Uber Eats expands its Finnish service to eight more cities, increasing its presence after entering the market earlier this year.

Russia has threatened Britain with consequences after reports confirmed that Ukraine used British-made drones to strike targets inside Russia. Moscow accused London of escalating the war, while the British government said it would continue supplying Kyiv with military equipment. Russia’s embassy in London said Britain had “deliberately” chosen escalation by providing equipment used against targets on Russian territory.

A Finnish study has found that protected earnings allowances in unemployment and housing benefits increased part-time work among unemployed people without weakening their chances of moving into full-time employment later. The research, conducted by Labore, Tampere University and the VATT Institute for Economic Research, examined reforms introduced in 2014 and 2015.

Finland’s Alisa Vainio won the women’s marathon at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham on Sunday, finishing almost five minutes ahead of her nearest rival and setting a championship record of 2:22:26. The 28-year-old led from the opening stages and completed most of the race alone. Vainio finished four minutes and 55 seconds ahead of Hungary’s Lili Anna Vindics-Tóth, who took silver in 2:27:21.

Israeli air strikes killed at least 11 people, including three children, in southern Lebanon on Saturday as Israel increased attacks across the region. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said another 19 people were wounded in strikes on Ansar and Deir al-Zahrani, marking one of the highest daily death tolls since agreements in June reduced fighting. Seven people died when an Israeli strike hit a house on the outskirts of Ansar in the Nabatieh district early on Saturday.

Helsinki’s population has crossed the 700,000 mark as migration drives the capital’s fastest period of population growth in years. The city expects another 100,000 residents by 2038 and forecasts that the population will exceed one million by 2070, according to figures released by the City of Helsinki on Friday. The milestone comes 14 years after Helsinki reached 600,000 residents in August 2012. The city had 694,392 inhabitants at the end of 2025, and calculations by Helsinki’s urban resea...

Palestinian families in the occupied West Bank village of Qusra remained confined to their homes on Thursday after illegal Israeli settlers blocked access to the properties and water and electricity supplies, according to residents and reports from the area. The confrontation began on Sunday in Qusra, south of Nablus. Palestinian residents said settlers established a presence outside their homes and prevented people and supplies from reaching them.

Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation has completed a preliminary investigation into four people suspected of raising money for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and has sent the case to prosecutors for consideration of charges. Police launched the investigation in winter 2025 over suspected financing of a terrorist group. Investigators suspect several people took part in regular fundraising in Finland under the PKK’s name to support its activities.

Schools across much of Finland began the 2026–27 academic year on Wednesday, with pupils returning under new rules covering physical activity, learning support and language teaching. Helsinki, Oulu, Jyväskylä, Joensuu, Lahti and Rovaniemi are among the cities starting classes on 12 August. Espoo and Vantaa start on Thursday, while pupils in Kokkola, Turku and Pori returned on Tuesday. Tampere started its term on 6 August, according to the Finnish National Agency for Education.

Finland’s main economic forecasting institutions have repeatedly missed actual GDP growth by wide margins, according to a new study by the Kalevi Sorsa Foundation, which argues that fiscal policy should rely less heavily on forecasts and more on confirmed economic data. The report examined forecasts from the Ministry of Finance, Bank of Finland, Etla, Pellervo Economic Research, Labore, Nordea and OP Pohjola. It found that their spring forecasts for the following year’s economic growth diff...

Summer heat is set to return to Finland next weekend after rain and cooler temperatures move across the country early this week, according to weather service Foreca. Monday will bring rain to several regions as a low-pressure system approaches Finland from the west. Temperatures will then fall, with much of the country staying below 20°C around the middle of the week.

Israel has rejected US President Donald Trump’s 15-point plan for Gaza, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying Israeli forces will remain occupying the territory until Hamas gives up its weapons. Netanyahu announced the decision during an Israeli cabinet meeting on Sunday, 9 August, placing Israel at odds with a roadmap promoted by the US-led Board of Peace.

An unidentified drone has exploded in Bulgaria near the Romanian border and a compressor station on the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline, prompting authorities to increase surveillance around strategic infrastructure. The drone entered Bulgarian airspace on Saturday morning and exploded in a sunflower field near Kardam, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said. No one was injured and authorities found no damage to buildings or infrastructure.

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed a joint defence agreement in Mecca on Friday that commits the three countries to regard an armed attack against one member as an attack against all three. The agreement comes as the war against Iran, Houthi attacks and disruption to shipping routes put pressure on security across the Middle East. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the agreement during talks...

Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen has backed a proposal to place the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service, Supo, under the Foreign Ministry, reopening a debate over which part of government should oversee the country’s civilian intelligence service. Outgoing Foreign Ministry State Secretary Jukka Salovaara proposed the change on Monday at Finland’s annual meeting of ambassadors in Helsinki.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb pledged continued support for Ukraine during a visit to Kyiv on Sunday, as Nordic and Baltic leaders gathered for talks on defence, security and further assistance to the country. Stubb attended Ukraine’s National Flag Day ceremony with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and leaders from Denmark, Norway, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Southern and eastern Finland face heavy rain and strong winds this weekend as a low-pressure system moves towards the country, according to forecasts from Foreca and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. Foreca said on Friday that its forecast for the system had strengthened. The weather service now expects widespread heavy rainfall, with 40–50 millimetres forecast across parts of southern and eastern Finland during the weekend.

Belarus will close its embassy in Helsinki at the end of August, Helsingin Sanomat reported, citing a decision by the Belarusian government and confirmation from Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The closure ends an embassy presence established in Finland in 2011 and comes as Minsk restructures its network of diplomatic missions abroad. Finland has no embassy in Belarus, though the Finnish foreign ministry maintains a liaison office in Minsk.

Workers at Posti’s main sorting centre in Helsinki have staged a walkout over planned workforce reductions, with delays expected for letters and small parcels across Finland. The protest began at the Pasila postal centre on Wednesday evening and continued into the night and Thursday morning shifts, according to Filip Djordjevic, chief shop steward for the Post and Logistics Union PAU at the facility.

Ukraine’s former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov has called for elections while the war with Russia continues, presenting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with a political challenge one month after his dismissal from government. Fedorov, 35, said in a video address posted on YouTube on Tuesday that Ukraine needed a legal and secure way to restore elections despite the continuing war.

There is a very Finnish sport that requires no skis, no sauna and no summer cottage: arguing about who deserves what from the state. Should the unemployed keep their earnings-related allowance? Should municipalities or the new wellbeing counties pay for grandma's home care? Should an employee stuck indoors during a drone alert get paid for doing precisely nothing? We debate these questions with the seriousness other nations reserve for constitutional crises. Meanwhile, the actual balance shee...

US President Donald Trump has rejected an extension of the US-Iran ceasefire framework, demanded Iran’s surrender and threatened to bomb Oman, even as his own statements about the war and negotiations have shifted between claims of imminent peace, rejection of talks and assertions that he is in no hurry to end the conflict. The latest statements came as the 60-day period linked to a June memorandum between Washington and Tehran expired without a final agreement.

Secondhand booksellers across Europe and beyond are reporting a surge in large, unexplained orders for old and obscure titles, raising suspicions that artificial intelligence companies are buying physical books for training data. The orders often contain books with no clear connection to one another, from foreign-language novels and academic works to magazines and specialist histories. Sellers say the scale and pattern differ from normal trade.

Moroccan police arrested at least 111 people attempting to reach the Spanish territory of Ceuta on Saturday after calls circulated on social media for another mass border crossing. Authorities in Morocco and Spain deployed security forces around the border following the arrival of tens of thousands of people in Ceuta two weeks earlier. A Moroccan Interior Ministry source told Reuters that 109 of those detained were migrants from sub-Saharan Africa and two were Moroccan citizens.

Ukraine struck targets deep inside Russia overnight into Saturday, with explosions reported near a military airbase in Nizhny Novgorod region and an industrial facility in Samara. The attacks followed a series of Ukrainian strikes on Russian military, port and energy infrastructure, including the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. Russian monitoring channels reported explosions and fires around Savasleyka military airbase in Nizhny Novgorod region on 15 August. The base hosts MiG-31 aircraft u...

Finland’s opposition Social Democratic Party has proposed linking immigrants’ social security to language studies and restricting free interpreting services after a set period in the country as part of a new package on integration and youth crime. The SDP presented the proposals at its summer meeting in Kouvola. The party said Finland should demand more from immigrants while working to prevent segregation and the formation of parallel communities.

Finnish government parties have called for action over a Facebook post by Finns Party MP Mauri Peltokangas, who asked followers whether they wanted an “Afghan Muslim” as Finland’s interior or foreign minister after the next parliamentary election. Peltokangas also wrote that the Social Democratic Party would arrange a “quota Muslim” as a minister if it won the election and asked whether a Muslim Social Democrat would represent the interests of “native Finns”.

People across Finland will have two astronomical events to watch from Wednesday evening into Thursday morning, with a partial solar eclipse followed by the annual peak of the Perseid meteor shower. The eclipse will begin shortly before 8pm and reach its deepest phase between 8.30pm and 9pm, depending on location. Between 83 and 85 per cent of the Sun will be covered across Finland, according to the Astronomical Association Ursa.

Finland’s embassy in New Delhi has warned Indian jobseekers about fraudulent employment offers linked to fake Finnish work permits after receiving a large number of inquiries about suspicious recruitment documents. The embassy said scammers have been posing as recruitment agents for Finnish companies and charging applicants for jobs, residence permits and related services. It urged jobseekers to check any offer carefully before sending money or personal information.

Russian attacks killed at least nine people across Ukraine overnight into Tuesday as Kyiv continued its campaign of long-range drone strikes inside Russia, where another attack killed one person in the Voronezh region. Six people died and 19 were injured in Zaporizhzhia after Russian forces used missiles and guided bombs, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said. Three others died and five were injured in drone and artillery attacks in the Dnipropetrovsk region, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Western Europe recorded its highest average temperature for June and July in 2026, according to data from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, as repeated heatwaves and dry conditions affected France, Spain, Britain and other parts of the region. The average temperature across Western Europe during the two-month period reached 21.6°2C, 2.79°C above the long-term average. The figure surpassed the previous record set in 2022.

Finnish authorities have opened two separate criminal investigations after a police car and a moped rider collided during a pursuit in Tuusula on Saturday, leaving the rider with minor injuries. The National Prosecution Authority’s police crime unit has opened a preliminary investigation into the conduct of police officers during the attempt to stop the rider, Helsinki Police Department said on Sunday.

Greenland’s government has issued a “strong warning” to the holder of an oil exploration licence after equipment intended for a planned drilling project was moved without the required approval from the territory’s mineral resources authority. The dispute concerns Nunap Qeqqa, also known as Jameson Land, in eastern Greenland. The project has drawn attention because Texas-based Greenland Energy Company plans to finance exploration and take a majority interest in the venture.

Finland has ordered all wildlife gates in its eastern border fence to remain closed after the country recorded its first cases of African swine fever in wild boars. The Finnish Border Guard said the measure applies to every section of the barrier currently in use along the border with Russia and will remain in force until further notice. The decision extends restrictions already introduced in south-eastern Finland, where wildlife gates have remained closed since 1 August.

Finland and Ukraine have signed three defence industry cooperation documents covering drones, maritime unmanned systems and ground robots, as Finnish President Alexander Stubb said the countries were close to completing a wider agreement on drone cooperation. The agreements were signed during Stubb’s visit to Kyiv, where he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and attended events around Ukraine’s Independence Day.

Canada has suspended trade negotiations with the United States and promised matching retaliation after Washington imposed 50% tariffs on about $20bn of Canadian goods following the collapse of talks between the two countries. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the decision shortly before the US tariff deadline expired on Friday night.

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Finland should test shorter working hours across different sectors to assess their effects on employee wellbeing, ability to work and productivity, according to a report commissioned by the Finnish Confederation of Professionals STTK. The report, written by researcher Anna Kuokkanen, reviewed international research and interviewed representatives of Finnish workplaces that have introduced shorter working hours.

Russian missile and drone strikes on Kyiv killed at least 12 people and injured more than 30 overnight, Ukrainian authorities said on Thursday, as attacks damaged homes, warehouses, a school and a children’s hospital. The strikes began around midnight and continued into Thursday morning. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said seven people died in the city’s Solomianskyi district, where the upper floors of a nine-storey residential building were destroyed and a fire broke out.

Support for Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s National Coalition Party has fallen to 16.5 per cent, its lowest level of the current parliamentary term, according to a Helsingin Sanomat poll published on Wednesday. The party lost 0.2 percentage points from the previous HS poll in July. Its support has not fallen below the latest figure in the newspaper’s polling since 2021.

A new EU customs fee has led to a fall in low-value online purchases arriving in Finland from outside the bloc, with the number of imported item lines dropping 76.3 per cent in July compared with the same month last year. Finnish Customs data show the number also fell 66.5 per cent from June, marking a change after two years of growth in low-value ecommerce imports.

The University of Helsinki has dropped out of the world’s top 100 universities in the 2026 Shanghai Ranking, falling from 94th place last year to the 101–150 group. The Academic Ranking of World Universities, known as the Shanghai Ranking, gives individual positions only to the first 100 institutions. Universities below that level appear in ranking bands.

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has become the deadliest recorded in the country, with 2,325 people killed since authorities declared the epidemic in May. Government figures released on Sunday put the number of confirmed infections at 4,945. Health authorities recorded 101 new cases during the previous 24 hours.

About 400 moped and motorcycle riders took part in a demonstration through Helsinki on Saturday, calling for legal moped gatherings and closer cooperation between riders and police. The event followed a police pursuit in Tuusula on 8 August in which a 15-year-old rider was forced off the road and injured. The demonstration began in Tattarisuo in eastern Helsinki, where participants gathered before riding in a police-escorted convoy towards Kansalaistori in the city centre.

At least 20 people have died after a magnitude-7.7 earthquake struck off Indonesia’s Flores Island on Saturday, damaging homes and public buildings and forcing thousands of residents to evacuate. Rescue teams faced blocked roads and communication outages as they tried to reach communities near the epicentre. Rescuers around Maumere, the main town in Sikka Regency, had recovered 20 bodies, while six people were injured and two remained trapped under rubble, Fathur Rahman, head of the city’s ...

The Eurovision Song Contest has introduced a rule that will prevent a winning broadcaster from hosting the following year’s competition when an armed conflict or other security crisis affects its country or surrounding region. The European Broadcasting Union has included the measure in its rules for the 2027 contest, according to a public summary published by the organisation.

Finland’s Silja Kosonen won the women’s hammer throw at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham on Wednesday, taking her first senior championship medal with a throw of 76.28 metres. The 23-year-old produced the winning mark in the third round. The result also opened Finland’s medal account at the championships after Kosonen entered the final as one of the contenders for a podium place.

A passenger gave birth to a baby aboard a VR train travelling from Helsinki to Vaasa on Tuesday evening, in a case the Finnish railway operator says has no known equivalent in recent years. The birth took place aboard Intercity 49 during its journey north from Helsinki, VR communications manager Tiina Nummenmaa confirmed to Finnish media on Wednesday.

Helsinki Regional Transport Authority HSL wants to increase the penalty fare for travelling without a valid ticket from €100 to €130, arguing that the current charge has failed to produce a lasting reduction in fare evasion. The proposal appears in HSL’s preliminary operating and financial plan for 2027–2029. Helsingin Sanomat first reported the plan on Tuesday.

At least 111 people have died and 87 have been injured after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, bringing down buildings across several cities and leaving people trapped beneath rubble. The earthquake struck at 07:34 local time, with its epicentre near San José del Palmar in the Chocó region, according to the US Geological Survey.

Finland and Sweden restored cross-border passenger rail services on Monday, 10 August, when the first scheduled VR train from Oulu crossed the border to Haparanda, ending a 38-year break in passenger services on the route. The first train left Oulu shortly after 5am and travelled through Kemi and Tornio before crossing the Tornio River into Sweden.

Helsinki Region Transport (HSL) will introduce its winter timetable from 10 August, bringing more frequent public transport services across the capital region as commuters return after the summer break. The timetable change will increase the number of bus, tram and train services, while several routes suspended for the summer will return to operation.

A partial solar eclipse will be visible across Finland on Wednesday 12 August, with more than 80 per cent of the Sun’s diameter covered at the deepest stage. The Astronomical Association Ursa said the eclipse will reach about 85 per cent in Kilpisjärvi and 83 per cent in Helsinki. The event will begin shortly before 8pm, depending on location, and will reach its maximum before 9pm across the country.

A 14-year-old student killed his grandparents at their home before shooting five teachers dead at his school outside Bangkok on Friday, Thai authorities said. The boy later shot himself and died as emergency workers tried to save him. Dozens of people suffered injuries during the attack at Debsirin Nonthaburi School. The shooting began shortly after 10am at the secondary school in Bang Kruai district, Nonthaburi province, on the northwestern edge of the Thai capital.