Finland

HELSINKI, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Finnish President Sauli Niinisto accepted the resignation of the government led by centrist Prime Minister Juha Sipila, national broadcaster Yle said on Friday morning.

Officials said the resignation was mainly due to the virtual failure of the coalition government's plan to reform the public healthcare system, which has been crucial to the ruling coalition's plan to balance public finances.

HELSINKI, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Six European liberal democratic prime ministers declared in Helsinki on Tuesday that their parties are the "counter force to populism".

They also called for deepening of the EU single market and continued policies for competitiveness and sustainable growth.

The meeting convened by Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila brought together Helsinki Charles Michel of Belgium, Lars Lokke Rasmussen of Denmark, Juri Ratas of Estonia, Mark Rutte of the Netherlands and Marjan Sarec of Slovenia.

HELSINKI, August 30. /TASS/. European countries should build a new security architecture on the continent together with Russia, French President Emmanuel Macron told a joint news conference with his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto on Thursday.

"We discussed many issues, including trans-Atlantic ties and relations with Russia," Macron said. "We want Europe to have strategic and defense autonomy to rebuild European security architecture in a broad sense, like I said several months ago in St. Petersburg, and there is the need to reconsider our relations with Russia."

HELSINKI, August 22. /TASS/. In April 2017, Russia’s Supreme Court declared Jehovah’s Witnesses to be an extremist organization and outlawed its activity throughout Russia, thereby upholding the Justice Ministry’s requests

More than 200 members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization (outlawed in Russia) have asked for asylum in Finland, the Aamulehti daily reported on Wednesday.