After being a Lutheran nation for centuries, Finland seems to be taking strides towards secularism. According to recently-introduced early education guidelines, Christian prayers have been effectively banned from Finnish kindergartens. Instead, children will be taught about a variety of religions, as well as atheism and agnosticism. Until now, many Finnish daycare centers and kindergartens have instructed... 

Of late, far-fetched allegations, unfounded fears and downright ludicrous accusations against Russia have pretty much dominated the national security debate in Sweden. According to Finland’s new ambassador to Sweden, who previously served in Russia, Swedes need to learn be realistic when it comes to their eastern neighbor. According to Matti Anttonen, Finland’s new ambassador with experience... 

Up to seven people were injured when a car plowed into a crowd in the eastern part Helsinki, Finland’s capital. Police say that nothing indicates the incident was intentional. However other news sources are already speculating that the attacker could be a Muslim. There is however no definitive proof of this claim YET. No one was killed in the collision, but at least three people were taken to hospitals... 

Shareholders in Finnish telecom group Nokia approved the company’s acquisition of French-American rival Alcatel-Lucent. Shareholders in Finnish telecom group Nokia approved the company’s acquisition of French-American rival Alcatel-Lucent on Wednesday, paving the way for the creation of a mobile phone networks giant, AFP reported. They approved the transaction at an extraordinary general... 

Finland have become the third amid EU countries most popular with asylum seekers, media reported Monday, citing the country’s Immigration Service. Some 3,000 migrants applied for asylum in Finland over the past week, Head of the country’s Immigration Service Yana Vuorio said, as cited by the Yle broadcaster. Germany and Sweden take the first and the second place by the number of asylum... 

Even though Nokia can’t do any manufacturing until 2016 as per the contract with Microsoft, the company is still prepping the Nokia C1 phablet for a launch this year. As usual, Foxconn will be making the handset for the Finnish company and from a series of leaked renders of the phone, we are looking at a pretty attractive device. I might be biased here, since I’m a huge Nokia fan and love flat,... 

According to the general elections that took place in Finland on Sunday, the incumbent PM Alexander Stubb lost with only 18.2 % of the vote. The National Coalition Party, which he runs, came in third. Both NATO and the European Union are left without strong support now. Anti-NATO Centre Party, which won the elections, gained 21.1 % and 49 parliamentary seats correspondingly. Party leader Juha Sipila... 

Playing music enhances gene activity related to memory, learning, motor behavior and dopaminergic neurotransmission, a new study says. A Finnish research group carried out the study on musicians from a professional orchestra and music university, the ScienceDaily website reported on Friday. “The findings provide a valuable background for molecular studies of music perception and evolution, and... 

Finnish authorities took an eleven-month-old baby from Russian woman Irina Kulikova. A court of Finland ruled that there was a danger for the little girl to be “kidnapped” to Russia, Finnish human rights activist Johan Beckman said. Eleven months ago, Irina Kulikova, a Russian citizen, gave birth to a daughter in Finland. After childbirth, the woman had to remain at hospital for a while.... 

Microsoft is buying Nokia’s smartphone business and a portfolio of patents and services in an attempt to improve its position in the mobile market and compete with Apple and Google at a time when more people pursue their lives on mobile devices. The $7.2 billion deal announced late on Monday marks a major step in Microsoft’s push to transform itself from a software maker focused on operating... 

Nokia is desperately trying to reestablish itself as a major contender in the mobile phone space, but it’s no easy task going up against the likes of Apple and Samsung. There’s also a lot riding for company CEO Stephen Elop, who could find himself looking for a new job if the Lumia 920 fails to excite customers the way he envisioned. Elop has bet the farm and possibly his job on Microsoft’s... 

Saying that Finland will surrender its right to act independently in the event it joins the western military alliance, Putin added that Moscow will respond to deployment of any NATO attack missiles based in the Nordic country. “The involvement of any country in a military bloc deprives it of a certain degree of sovereignty, and some decisions are made at a different level,” the Russian... 

Samsung Galaxy Note: The poll showed analysts on average expect Samsung to have sold 88 million cellphones in January through March, surpassing the 83 million which Nokia sold in the quarter Samsung ended Finnish phone maker Nokia’s 14-year leadership of the global mobile phone market in the first quarter of the year, outselling the struggling handset maker for the first time ever. It’s... 

Today, Nokia announced that it’s going to cut 4,000 more jobs at its factories in Hungary, Mexico and Finland in an effort to improve the production efficiency of said plants. The company plans on moving a larger part of the production of its smartphones to Asia, which it says will help reduce the time it takes for its products to reach the market. As Nokia continues to suffer the effect of... 

There’s a state of unease within Nokia at the moment and unsurprisingly so. With the first Nokia-Microsoft lovechild now out in the market (the Lumia 800, you might have heard of it) and an aggressive marketing strategy in place to drum up interest in Windows Phone-laden Nokia’s coming fresh out of the factory, the Finnish company have been waiting with bated breath to see how consumers...