Newspapers on Tuesday were overflowing with stories about the asylum seeker situation. Finns Party leader and Foreign Minister Timo Soini was featured in a special interview in Iltalehti. He told the evening tabloid that asylum must be granted to people, regardless of their religion.
His position differs from earlier comments he made on the issue. Last week Soini was quoted by news service STT saying he wasn’t ruling out the idea of European states prioritising Christian asylum seekers for entry into their countries.
In Tuesday’s IL, Soini also said that his party does not accept an increased number of refugee quotas by the EU which appear to be looming.
EU countries can pay to avoid quotas
On its front page, Swedish-language daily Hufvudstadsbladet wrote that the EU Commission is considering the idea that EU member states could pay their way out of obligation to take in EU-mandated asylum seeker quotas.
According to the paper an EU country could avoid the obligation of refugee quotas by paying a sum that equals 0.002 percent of its GNP. In the case of Finland, the paper writes, the sum would be about 4.1 million euros.
Most asylum seekers from Iraq, Somalia
This morning’s Helsingin Sanomat (and other papers) published Immigration Service statistics on asylum seekers for the first seven months of this year.
Overwhelmingly, it is Iraqi asylum seekers arriving to Finland. Some 1,337 Iraqi nationals applied for asylum from January 1 to July 31.
Some 945 Somalis, 422 Albanians, 207 Afghanis and 124 Russians applied for asylum during that period, the paper wrote.
At the bottom of the list is the United States; two US citizens applied for asylum in Finland during that time.
Bank loophole nets man fines, jail
At least for a while, a man successfully transferred funds amounting to more than 700,000 euros through a security loophole in OP-Pohjola bank’s system, according to Ilta-Sanomat.
However, the man was caught and a court sentenced him to a year in jail and ordered him to repay the bank more than 920,000 euros and the bank’s legal costs. The man, the paper wrote, is currently serving a four-year prison term for a similar crime.
Unaccepted baby names
If you’re considering naming your next child Pansarkitty, don’t waste your time.
Iltalehti featured a short piece about new names that Finnish officials will not approve. Among the names that were submitted – and rejected by the Minsitry of Justice’s department in charge of legal names – include: Pinkbutterfly, Sweethoneybeebanmbi, Chofi and Mañana, the paper wrote.
However, the spelling of Manana, without a tilde over the 'n,' was accepted by the agency.
Boy names that were rejected included: Lucifero and Fosforos, the paper wrote.