Timeline Finland
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The Kalevala, 12,078 verses, is the national
epic.
(SFC, 2/3/99, p.A9)
1475 The
Olavinlinna castle was founded by the governor of Viipuri on the border
between Sweden-Finland and Russia.
(SFEC, 4/11/99, p.T4)
1550 Helsinki was founded by the
Swedes.
(SFEM, 8/8/99, p.44)
1743 Aug 17, By the Treaty of Abo,
Sweden ceded southeast Finland to Russia, ending Sweden's failed war
with Russia.
(HN, 8/17/98)
c1890s In the late 1800s Rosvo-Ronkainen, a notorious
Finnish brigand, recruited only men who proved their worth by carrying
heavy weight on a challenging track. This practice later developed into
the sport of wife carrying.
(WSJ, 7/2/03, p.A1)
1806 May 12, J.V. Snellman,
Finnish journalist, statesman and nationalist, was born. The day is
remembered in Finland as Snellman day.
(SC, internet, 5/12/97)
1809 Finland broke free of Sweden
to become a Grand Duchy of Russia.
(SFEC, 4/11/99, p.T4)
1809-1917 Finland was an autonomous grand duchy under
the Czar of Russia.
(WSJ, 12/17/98, p.A1)
1812-1840 Carl Ludvig Engel, a Prussian architect,
redesigned and rebuilt Helsinki as the capital of the Grand Duchy of
Finland-Russia.
(SFEM, 8/8/99, p.44)
1854 May 5, English pirate
Plumridge robbed along pro-English Finnish coast.
(MC, 5/5/02)
1862 Jul 10, Helene Schjerfbeck
(d.1946), Finnish painter, was born.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helene_Schjerfbeck)
1865 Dec 8, Jean Sibelius
(d.1957), composer (Valse Triste, Finlandia), was born as Johan Julius
Christian in Tavastehus, Finland: “Pay no attention to what critics
say. There has never been set up a statue in honor of a critic.
(SFC,10/14/97,p.B3)(WUD,1994, p.1323)(SFEC,11/16/97,
Z1 p.5)(MC, 12/8/01)
1865 In Finland the Nokia Co.
began making wood and paper products. Later it diversified to cellular
phones.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)(Econ, 12/6/08, p.85)
1867 Jun 4, Carl Gustaf
Mannerheim, president of Finland, was born.
(HN, 6/4/98)
1893 Jean Sibelius composed
“Karelia.”
(SFC, 10/14/97, p.B3)
1898 Feb 3, Alvar Aalto (d.1979),
Finnish architect, was born.
(HN, 2/3/01)
1900 Urho Kekkonen, later
president, was born in a sauna.
(SFCM, 1/14/01, p.6)
1902 Mar 8, The 1st performance of
Jean Sibelius' 2nd Symphony.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1903 Jean Sibelius composed music
for a play called “Death.”
(SFC, 10/14/97, p.B3)
1906 Mar 7, Finland became the
first country to give women the right to vote, decreeing universal
suffrage for all citizens over 24, however, barring those persons who
were supported by the state. [see Mar 15, 1907]
(HN, 3/7/98)
1907 Mar 15, Finland became the
1st European country to give women the right to vote. [see Mar 7, 1906]
(MC, 3/15/02)
1908 At the Olympic games in
England, Russia objected to separate medal totals and flag-flying for
athletes from Finland, die to its control over Finland. The Finns
marched with no flag.
(WSJ, 4/12/08, p.R2)
1910 Aug 20, Eero Saarinen
(d.1961), Finnish-US architect (IBM Building, MIT Chapel), was born in
Rantasalmi, Finland.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1915 Dec 8, Jean Sibelius' 5th
Symphony in E, premiered.
(MC, 12/8/01)
1917 Dec 6, Finland declared
independence from Russia (National Day).
(SFEM, 8/8/99, p.44)(MC, 12/6/01)
1917 Dec 9, New Finnish Republic
demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops.
(HN, 12/9/98)
1917 Dec 18, The Soviet regiment
under Stalin and Lenin declared Finland Independent.
(MC, 12/18/01)
1918 Jan 6, Germany acknowledged
Finland’s independence.
(HN, 1/6/99)
1918 Jan 27, Communists attempted
to seize power in Finland.
(HN, 1/27/99)
1918 Feb 22, Germany claimed the
Baltic states, Finland and Ukraine from Russia.
(MC, 2/22/02)
1918 Mar 7, Finland signed an
alliance treaty with Germany.
(HN, 3/7/98)
1918 Jun 3, The Finnish Parliament
ratified its treaty with Germany.
(HN, 6/3/98)
1918 Gustaf Mannerheim led a
Finnish victory over much larger Bolshevik and Finnish Red Guard forces.
(DrEE, 10/26/96, p.4)
1918 Idel-Ural (Volga-Ural), a
1917 union of Finno-Ugric people in the middle of Russia, was crushed
by the Bolsheviks. Its foreign minister Sadri Maqsudi Arsal was
welcomed in Finland and then Estonia.
(Econ, 12/24/05, p.73)
1919 Jun 6, Finland declared war
on Bolsheviks.
(MC, 6/6/02)
1920 Oct 14, In the Dorpart Treaty
the Soviet Bolsheviks reaffirmed Finnish independence, gave Finland the
ice-free port of Pechenga towards the Arctic Ocean and put the Finnish
border 18 miles west of Leningrad. The treaty, signed by Stalin, was
precipitated by Gustaf Mannerheim’s victory over much larger Bolshevik
and Finnish Red Guard forces in 1918.
(DrEE, 10/26/96, p.4)
1921 The League of Nations granted
the Aland Island group to the new Finnish Republic. Aland was populated
by native Swedes. Under the accord Aland was given veto power in
international treaties signed by Finland.
(WSJ, 12/5/97, p.A1)
1923 Aug 22, Paavo Nurmi of
Finland ran a world record mile (4:10.4).
(MC, 8/22/02)
1924 The US dominated the summer
Olympics in Paris and Finland ranked a distant 2nd.
(Ind, 2/16/02, 6A)
1926 Apr 3, 1st performance of
Jean Sibelius' 7th Symphony in C.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1926 May 24, Paavo Nurmi ran world
record 3000 meters in 8:25.4.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1930-1955 Finland engaged in a forced sterilization
program that sterilized some 1,460 people over this period.
(SFC, 8/28/97, p.A12)
1935 Feb 4, Martti Talvela,
operatic basso, was born in Hiitola, Karelia, Finland.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1939 Aug 23, German Foreign
Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Soviet Commissar for Foreign
Affairs Vyacheslav M. Molotov signed a Treaty of Non-Aggression, the
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact freeing Hitler to invade Poland and Stalin to
invade Finland. Secret protocols, made public years later, were added
that assigned Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Bessarabia to be within the
Soviet sphere of influence. Poland was partitioned along the rivers
Narev, Vistula and San. Germany retained Lithuania enlarged by the
inclusion of Vilnius. Just days after the signing, Germany invaded
Poland, and by the end of September, both powers had claimed sections
of Poland.
(WP, 6/29/96, p.A16)(AP, 8/23/97) (HNPD,
8/22/98)(HN, 8/23/98)
1939 Oct 5, Soviet Foreign
Minister Molotov invited the Finnish Foreign Minister, Elias Erkko, to
come to Moscow for political discussions. The Finns delayed the meeting
until Oct 12. Field Marshall Gustaf Mannerheim prepared Finland for war.
(DrEE, 10/26/96, p.4)
1939 Oct 9, Full scale
mobilization for war was called.
(DrEE, 10/26/96, p.4)
1939 Oct 12-Nov 8, Finnish special
envoy, Juho Paasikivi, began negotiations in Moscow. The Finns refused
to allow the establishment of Soviet military bases.
(DrEE, 10/26/96, p.4)
1939 Nov 10-Mar 13,1940, Finland
began to wage a defensive war against the Soviet Union for 104 days.
(DrEE, 10/26/96, p.4)
1939 Nov 26, Soviets charged
Finland with an artillery attack on border leading to 105-day Winter
War.
(HN, 11/26/98)(AP, 11/26/02)
1939 Nov 28, USSR scraped its
non-aggression pact with Finland.
(HN, 11/28/98)
1939 Nov 29, Soviet planes bombed
an airfield at Helsinki, Finland.
(HN, 11/29/98)
1939 Nov 30, The Russo-Finnish war
began when Stalin attacked Finland with 4 armies, 540,000 men, 2485
tanks, and 2000 guns. Finnish troops were led by Field Marshall Gustaf
Mannerheim. Over the next two weeks, a greatly outnumbered Finnish army
resisted the invasion of nearly fifty Red Army divisions--over one
million men. The Finnish used forest combat to inflict heavy damage on
the Russian invaders. The British and French came to the Finnish
defense in mid-December but by March, the "Peace of Moscow" treaty was
signed, and Finland ceded 16,000-square miles of land to the Soviet
Union, including the city of Vyborg and the Karelian Isthmus.
(DrEE, 10/26/96, p.4)(AP, 11/30/99)(MC, 12/30/01)
1939 Dec 6, Britain agreed to send
arms to Finland.
(HN, 12/6/98)
1939 Dec 9, A Russian air raid was
made on Helsinki.
(MC, 12/9/01)
1939 Dec 25, Finnish troops
entered Soviet territory.
(HN, 12/25/98)
1940 Jan 12, Soviet bombers raided
cities in Finland.
(HN, 1/12/99)
1940 Mar 2, Soviet armies
conquered Tuppura Island, Finland.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1940 Mar 12, Finland surrendered
to Russia. Finland and the Soviet Union concluded an armistice during
World War II. Fighting between the two countries flared again the
following year.
(HN, 3/12/98)(AP, 3/12/98)
1940 Mar 13, The war between
Russia and Finland ended with the signing of a treaty in Moscow.
Finland capitulated conditionally to Soviet terms, but maintains its
independence.
(HN, 3/13/98)(HN, 3/13/01)
1941 Jun 22, Finland invaded
Karelia. When Germany attacked the Soviet Union in summer 1941, Finland
joined in and began re-taking the lost territory.
(www.publiscan.fi/cu13e-9.htm)
1941 Jun 25, Finland declared war
on the Soviet Union.
(HN, 6/25/98)
1941 Jun 26, Finland entered WW II
against Russia.
(MC, 6/26/02)
1943 Feb 3, Finland began talks
with the Soviet Union.
(HN, 2/3/99)
1944 Mar 21, Finland rejected a
Soviet armistice.
(HN, 3/21/98)
1944 May 28, Katri Vala (42),
Finnish poet, died.
(MC, 5/28/02)
1944 Retreating German troops
burned Rovaniemi to cinders. The town was redesigned by Alvar Aalto,
Finland's patron saint of modern design.
(SFEC, 1/31/99, p.T8)
1945 Mar 3, Finland declared war
on the Axis.
(HN, 3/3/99)
1945 Jul 7, Matti Salminen,
operatic basso (King Philip-Don Carlos), was born in Turku, Finland.
(MC, 7/7/02)
c1945 Karelia was ceded to the
Soviet Union as part of the peace terms following the 2 Finnish-Soviet
wars from 1939-1944.
(SFC, 12/12/00, p.B4)
1946 Jan 28, Helene Schjerfbeck
(b.1862), Finnish painter, died. She did a 5 painting series of
self-portraits that represented herself at various ages.
(Econ, 11/24/07,
p.91)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helene_Schjerfbeck)
1949 Aug-Sep, In Finland a wave of
Communist strikes were defeated by firm government action and the
loyalty of non-Communist workers.
(EWH, 1968, p.1203)
1951 Armi Ratia, Finnish designer,
expanded her husband's printing business into a fashionable "total work
of art" business (Gesamtkunstwerk) that became "Marimekko."
(WSJ, 1/6/04, p.D10)
1952 Aug 3, The 15th Olympic Games
concluded in Helsinki. US competitors won 40 gold medals.
(SFC, 8/2/02, p.E4)(SC, 8/3/02)
1957 Sep 20, Jean Julius Christian
Sibelius (b.1865), Finnish composer (Finlandia), died.
(SFC, 10/14/97, p.B3)(WUD, 1994, p.1323)(AP, 9/20/07)
1958 Jun 30, Esa-Pekka Salonen,
conductor (Giro), was born in Helsinki, Finland.
(MC, 6/30/02)
1960 Aug 7, Vaino Hannikainen
(60), Finnish composer, died.
(MC, 8/7/02)
1957 Sep 20, Jean Julius Christian
Sibelius (b.1865), Finnish composer (Finlandia), died.
(SFC, 10/14/97, p.B3)(WUD, 1994, p.1323)(AP, 9/20/07)
1960 In Finland 3 teenage camping
companions were found stabbed to death inside a tent by Lake Bodom. A
4th survived with multiple stab wounds. In 2005 Nils Gustafsson (63),
the survivor, was charged with murdering his 3 companions.
(AP, 8/16/05)
1961 May 29, Uuno Kalervo Klami
(60), composer, died.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1961 Sep 1, Eero Saarinen (51),
Finnish-US architect (Dulles Airport), died.
(MC, 9/1/02)
1964-1966 Johannes Virolainen (d.2000 at 86) served
as prime minister.
(SFC, 12/12/00, p.B4)
1965 Martti Ahtisaari, a primary
school teacher, joined the Foreign Ministry.
(SFC, 6/4/99, p.A10)
1967 Emil Petaja (d.2000 at 85),
American science fiction writer, authored “Lord of the Green Planet.”
His 13 novels included a series based on the Kalevala, a Finnish epic
poem. These included “Saga of Lost Earth” and “Tramontane.”
(SFC, 8/19/00, p.A19)
1972 May 18, Eero Aukusti Sipila
(53), Finnish composer, died.
(http://meteli.net/eerosipila)
1972 Finland introduced
comprehensive schools, a merger of specialist academic and vocational
institutions, in the north and into the rest of the country over the
next 4 years. In 2006 Finland ranked at the top in OECD Program for
International Student Assessment (PISA) tests.
(Econ, 6/28/08, p.66)
1973 Oct 2, Paavo "Flying Finn"
Nurmi (b.1897), Finnish runner, died. He won a total of 9 Olympic gold
medals and 3 silver medals between 1920 and 1928.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paavo_Nurmi)
1975 Jul 30, Representatives of 35
countries convened in Finland for a conference on security and human
rights that resulted in the Helsinki accords.
(AP, 7/30/00)
1975 Aug 1, A 35-nation summit in
Helsinki, Finland, concluded with the signing the Helsinki Accords,
dealing with European security, human rights and East-West
contacts. The Helsinki Final Act, signed by 35 states, was an
attempt to improve the relations between the Communist bloc and the
West.
(AP, 8/1/00)(www.hri.org/docs/Helsinki75.html)
1975 Joonas Kokkonen (1921-1996),
Finnish composer, had his opera "The Last Temptations" first performed
by the Finnish National Opera. He also composed 4 symphonies and
numerous chamber and choral pieces.
(http://virtual.finland.fi/netcomm/news/showarticle.asp?intNWSAID=26983)(SFC,
10/3/96, p.C6)
1976 May 11, Alvar Aalto (b.1898),
Finnish architect, died. A show in 1998 featured his work and an
accompanying book was published that covered his Nordic classicism of
the 1920s to the completion of his Finlandia Hall in Helsinki in 1971.
(WSJ, 7/28/00,
p.W11C)(www.imdb.com/name/nm2043227/bio)
1989 Oct 25, Soviet leader Mikhail
S. Gorbachev began a three-day visit to Finland.
(AP, 10/25/99)
1989 Nov 1, A Scandinavian
Airlines System (SAS) and Finnair ban on smoking took effect for all
Nordic flights.
(http://tc.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/13/suppl_1/i20)
1991 In Finland government action
to rescue banks began with assistance to Skopbank.
(http://tinyurl.com/26dosm)(Econ, 3/22/08, p.88)
1992 Mar 5, In Copenhagen the
Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany,
Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden, in the presence
of the representative from the European Commission, opened a 2-day
meeting and decided to establish a Council of the Baltic Sea States to
serve as a forum for guidance and overall coordination among the
participating states. Iceland joined the CBSS in 1995
(Econ, 6/7/08,
p.63)(www.bmwi.de/English/Navigation/European-policy/baltic-market.html)
1992 Mar 18, Finland formally
applies to join the European Communities.
(http://europa.eu.int/abc/history/1992/index_en.htm)
1992 Mar, In Finland the US signed
the Open Skies Treaty with 26 other nations to promote openness by
allowing countries to gather information about each other through
unarmed observation flights.
(SFC, 8/5/97, p.A2)
1992 Apr, A state guarantee fund
was set up in Finland. When this was restructured in February 1993,
parliament resolved that the government would guarantee payments by
Finnish banks. At its peak, Finland’s financial assistance to its banks
was equivalent to 10% of GDP, offset by collection of receivables and
proceeds from the sale of assets. The banks continued to produce
operating losses until 1996.
(http://tinyurl.com/26dosm)
1992 The Wife Carrying contest was
initiated to revive a 200 year old tradition from when Ronkainen the
Robber tested aspiring members of his gang by making them carry huge
sacks on their backs through an obstacle course. Cash prizes and the
wife’s weight in beer was awarded to the winners.
(SFEC, 7/5/98, p.A2)
1994 Mar 1, Martti Ahtisaari was
inaugurated as President of Finland.
(SFC, 6/4/99, p.A10)(SC, 3/1/02)
1995 Jan 1, Austria, Finland and
Sweden joined the European Union. Sweden held their elections to the
parliament later that year on 17 September. Austria held its elections
on 13 October, 1996 and Finland on 20 October, 1996.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_European_Union)(Econ,
5/1/04, p.26)
1995 Mar 19, Finnish voters throw
out the center-right coalition government and give the opposition
Social Democratic Party its biggest election victory since World War II.
(AP, 3/19/02)
1996 Mar, Motorcycle gang Bandido
leader Jarkko Kokko was shot dead on a central Helsinki street.
(SFEC, 8/11/96, p.A13)
1996 May, The Finnish food company
Raisio Group has invented a new product that blocks the body’s
absorption of cholesterol. The new “pharmafood” is called benecol and
based on a plant extract known as beta sitostanol, a plant sterol
extracted from Nordic pine trees.
(WSJ, 5/31/96, p.B3C)
1996 Jun 9, The latest
unemployment rate was 16.7%.
(SFC, 6/9/96, Parade, p.9)
1997 Mar 20, Bill Clinton and
Boris Yeltsin met in Helsinki for talks on arms control and NATO
expansion. They agreed to negotiate a new arms accord to reduce
strategic warheads, and to give Russia a more formal role in the Group
of Seven leading industrialized nations.
(WSJ, 3/21/97, p.A1)(SFC, 3/22/97, p.A1)(AP, 3/20/98)
1997 Mar 21, President Clinton and
Russian President Boris Yeltsin wrapped up their summit in Helsinki,
Finland, still deadlocked over NATO expansion, but able to agree on
slashing nuclear weapons arsenals.
(AP, 3/21/02)
1998 May, The Kiasma Museum of
Contemporary Art, designed by Steven Holl, opened in Helsinki. The name
was taken after the Greek word for intersection, the x shape of the
letter chi, and meant it to stand for a synthesis of building and
landscape.
(WSJ, 5/14/98, p.A20)
1998 Jul 4, In the annual Wife
Carrying World Championships, 2 Estonian couples won top honors in the
278 yard course in Sonkajarvi.
(SFEC, 7/5/98, p.A2)
1998 Jun, The Tampere Convention
was negotiated in Finland to end excessive import duties and minimize
barriers across national borders for telecommunications under emergency
situations.
(SFC, 11/18/98, p.C5)
1998 Dec, Martii Ahtisaari served
as president.
(WSJ, 12/17/98, p.A10)
1999 Jan 1, Finland along with 10
other European Union nations made the transition to the new Euro
monetary system.
(SFC, 1/1/99, p.A8)
1999 Feb 12, In Finland the
parliament voted 171 to 4 to reduce the president's influence on
foreign affairs and government formation.
(SFC, 2/13/99, p.A5)
1999 Mar 21, In Finland the ruling
social Democrats under Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen lost 12 seats but
kept 51 in the 200-member Eduskunta. The Center Party gained 4 seats
with voter frustration over unemployment.
(SFC, 3/22/99, p.A10)(WSJ, 3/22/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 27, Maria Butyrskaya of
Russia won the World Figure Skating Championships in Helsinki, Finland;
defending champion Michelle Kwan of the United States finished second.
(AP, 3/27/00)
1999 May 17, Pres. Martti
Ahtisaari, appointed as the new Balkans mediator, consulted with German
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
(SFC, 5/18/99, p.A8)
1999 Aug 7, In Finland the village
of Kutemajarvi planned a sex fair for people over age 45 to commemorate
the UN designation of 1999 as the Int'l. Year of Older Persons.
(SFC, 1/16/99, p.A12)
1999 Dec 9, European leaders
gathered in Helsinki for an EU summit. On the agenda was the creation
of a defense force, expansion to 28 members and clearing the path for
Turkey to join.
(SFC, 12/10/99, p.D4)
1999 The Finnish film "Juha" by
Aki Kaurismaki was a silent black and white work based on a classic
1911 novel. It starred Sakari Kuosmanen and Kati Outinen.
(SFC, 4/22/99, p.E4)
1999 The government updated some
laws on fines for traffic violations and based fines on net income
rather than gross income.
(WSJ, 1/02/00, p.A1)
2000 Feb 6, In Finland Tarja
Halonen was elected as the 1st woman Prime Minister over Esko Aho
51.5-48.4%.
(SFC, 2/7/00, p.A14)
2000 Mar, Annikki Luukela, a light
artist, designed and installed 45 moving lamps in the Washington DC
Metro station under a commission by Helsinki Mayor Eva-Riita Siitonen.
(SFEC, 4/2/00, p.T3)
2001 Jun 27, Tove Jansson, writer
and creator of the Moomin family of trolls, died at age 86. She began
her 1st Moomin book in 1939.
(SFC, 7/17/01, p.A15)
2001 Aug 26, The 6th Annual Air
Guitar World Championship was held in Oulu.
(WSJ, 8/29/01, p.A1)
2002 Oct 11, In Vantaa, Finland, a
blast in the Myyrmanni shopping mall of suburban Helsinki killed 7
people, including chemistry student Petri Gerdt (19), the suspected
bomber. 80 others were injured.
(AP, 10/12/02)(SSFC, 10/12/02, p.A20)(SFC, 10/16/02,
p.A14)
2003 Apr 14, In Finland 3
political parties agreed to form a center-left government led by Anneli
Jaatteenmaki.
(AP, 4/14/03)
2003 Apr 15, Finnish lawmakers
appointed Anneli Jaatteenmaki the country's first female prime
minister, making Finland the only state in Europe with women as
president and premier.
(AP, 4/15/03)
2003 Jun 18, In Finland PM Anneli
Jaatteenki resigned amid accusations that she lied about sensitive
political information during her election campaign.
(SFC, 6/19/03, p.A14)
2003 Jun 24, Finland's parliament
elected Matti Vanhanen as PM.
(SFC, 6/25/03, p.A3)
2003 Jul 6, The annual Wife
Carrying World Championship took place in Sonkajarvi, Finland.
(WSJ, 7/2/03, p.A1)
2003 Finland commissioned a new
nuclear reactor. It was the 1st order in Western Europe in 13 years.
(WSJ, 9/22/05, p.B6)
2004 Jan 16, Kalevi Sorsa (73),
Finland's longest serving prime minister, died. Sorsa headed four
coalition governments from 1972 to 1987 and led the Social Democrats,
Finland's largest party, for 12 years.
(AP, 1/17/04)
2004 Feb 17, Finnish technology
group Setec said it won the first order for passports with new
biometric technology required by international aviation authorities and
the U.S. government.
(AP, 2/17/04)
2004 Feb 28, In Finland hundreds
of trucks prepared to roll onto frozen roads at midnight, stocked with
beer and hard cider for a population that eagerly awaits a historic
government measure that will cut alcohol prices by nearly 40 percent.
(AP, 2/28/04)
2004 Mar 19, In southern Finland a
bus crashed into a truck in icy conditions, killing 24 people and
injuring 15.
(AP, 3/19/04)
2004 Mar 22, The Finnish Foreign
Ministry said two Finnish businessmen were shot and killed in Baghdad.
(AP, 3/22/04)
2004 Apr 15, Tim Berners-Lee,
inventor of the world wide web, became the 1st recipient of Finland’s
$1.2 million Millennium Technology Prize.
(Econ, 5/14/05,
p.84)(www.infoworld.com/article/04/04/16/HNbernerslee_1.html)
2004 Nov 2, More than 3,000
workers walked out of 22 UPM-Kymmene forest industry plants throughout
Finland, in a 24-hour strike to protest the timber and paper products
company's planned layoffs and closures.
(AP, 11/2/04)
2005 Jan 1, Finland was forecast
for 3% annual GDP growth with a population at 5.3 million and GDP per
head at $37,740.
(Econ, 1/8/05, p.88)
2005 Apr 16, A Finnish mediator
said Aceh rebels and Indonesian government delegates have made a
"breakthrough" at peace talks on the tsunami-ravaged province, and will
continue negotiations in Finland May 26-31.
(AP, 4/16/05)
2005 May 20, The Finnish paper
industry, which accounts for 15% of world production, remained at a
standstill after labor talks between unions and employers ended without
resolution.
(AP, 5/20/05)
2005 Jul 16, In Finland
Indonesia's government and Aceh rebels reached a tentative peace deal
to end a 29-year insurgency in the tsunami-devastated province. They
agreed to sign a peace accord on Aug 15 in exchange for more autonomy.
(AP, 7/17/05)(WSJ, 7/18/05, p.A1)
2005 Aug 6-2005 Aug 14, Helsinki,
Finland, hosted the 10th IAAF World Championships. The International
Amateur Athletic Federation was founded in 1912 by 17 national athletic
federations who saw the need for a governing authority, for an athletic
program, for standardized technical equipment and world records.
(www.helsinki2005.fi/index.php?&Lang=eng)
2005 Nov 16, Nokia Corp. said it
is paying $430 million to acquire Intellisync Corp., a provider of
wireless e-mail service for cellular carriers, adding to the mobile
phone maker's growing arsenal of products to compete with BlackBerry.
(AP, 11/16/05)
2005 Dec 2, A Finnish man was
jailed for 11 years for sexually abusing dozens of boys during trips to
Thailand in what the court called the biggest pedophile case in
Finland's history. Jouko Jaatinen (43) was detained in April on
suspicion of molesting at least 445 Thai boys aged 13 or younger over
the last 15 years and creating massive amounts of pornography.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2005 In Olkiluoto, Finland,
construction began on a 1,630-megawatt reactor, the first generation 3
European Pressurized Water Reactor, a joint venture between France's
nuclear plant builder Areva SA and Germany's Siemens AG. Completion was
expected in 2009.
(www.hightechfinland.com/2006/energy/energy/en_GB/tvo/)
2006 Jan 15, Finnish President
Tarja Halonen won the first round of the country's presidential
election, but failed to obtain an absolute majority and will be forced
into a runoff.
(AP, 1/15/06)
2006 Jan 29, Finland's first
female president said she was confident of re-election in a runoff
vote. Polls suggested a close race after a steady surge in support for
her conservative challenger. Pres. Tarja Halonen clinched a narrow
re-election victory over a rival with a pro-alliance agenda. She won a
new six-year term with 51.8 percent of the vote.
(AP, 1/29/06)(AFP, 1/30/06)
2006 Feb 14, Sanyo and Nokia
announced they will set up a joint venture to make advanced cell
phones, underlining the ambitions of the Japanese and Finnish
manufacturers to grow globally in the competitive mobile market.
(AP, 2/14/06)
2006 Mar 25, It was reported that
Finnish 15-year-olds have the highest level of mathematical skills,
scientific knowledge and reading literacy of any rich industrialized
country.
(Econ, 3/25/06, p.58)
2006 May 20, Lordi, a Finnish
metal band with monster masks and apocalyptic lyrics, won the
Eurovision contest in Greece.
(AP, 5/21/06)
2006 Jun 1, Jorma Ollila stepped
down as chief of Finland’s Nokia Corp. He was succeeded by Olli-Pekka
Kallasvuo. The new Nokia Nseries included the N73 camera-phone; the N91
phone, which doubled as an iPod-style music player; the N92, a mobile
TV; and the N93, a mobile video camera.
(Econ, 5/27/06, p.64)
2006 Jul 1, Finland began its
6-month rotating presidency of the EU.
(www.government.fi/eu/suomi-ja-eu/2006/en.jsp)
2006 Sep 9, In Finland leaders and
top officials from 38 Asian and European nations gathered in Helsinki
for the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM). The agenda included security
issues, trade and global warming.
(AFP, 9/10/06)
2006 Sep 11, In Helsinki, Finland,
European and Asian leaders representing nearly half the world's
population promised to work to reduce global warming, to get world
trade talks back on track and to keep up the battle against terrorism.
They pledged to set new carbon dioxide emissions targets that go beyond
those now set for 2012 under the UN's Kyoto Protocol.
(AP, 9/11/06)
2006 Oct 20, In Lahti, Finland, 25
EU leaders held a one-day summit on energy. Russian President Vladimir
Putin defended his government's tough stance on Georgia and dodged EU
leaders' demands that he commit to a legally binding energy charter
that would guarantee better access to Russia's oil and gas fields.
(AP, 10/20/06)
2006 Oct 25, In Finland the US and
the EU ended a 2-day meeting on cleaner energy. They agreed on tighter
cooperation on renewable energy and other environmental policies
despite splits over the UN’s Kyoto Protocol on global warming.
(WSJ, 10/26/06, p.A6)
2006 Nov 6, Transparency
International, a watchdog group, reported that nearly three-quarters of
163 countries ranked in a new survey suffer from a perception of
serious corruption, while in nearly half it is seen as rampant.
Finland, Iceland and New Zealand ranked as the least corrupt, while
Haiti, Guinea and Myanmar ranked as most corrupt.
(AP, 11/6/06)(Econ, 11/11/06, p.69)
2006 Dec 4, The Estlink cable
connected power grids of the Baltic States with Finland. The cost of
Estlink, which measures 100 kilometers (60 miles), was around 110
million euros (132 million dollars). It was built by Swiss-Swedish
group ABB.
(AP, 12/4/06)
2006 Dec 8, In Finland officials
said alcohol is now the leading killer of Finnish adults, with
consumption reaching an all-time high last year.
(AP, 12/9/06)
2007 Jan 8, In Finland 2 newspaper
editors were fined for publishing a letter that said violence against
Jews was justified and that the Holocaust was acceptable.
(AP, 1/9/07)
2007 Feb 15, Nokia, the world's
leading maker of mobile phones, said it would shed some 700 jobs, with
Finland taking the brunt of the cuts.
(AFP, 2/15/07)
2007 Feb, In Finland "The Prime
Minister's Bride," a book by Susan Kuronen (36), a twice-divorced
mother of three and the former girlfriend of PM Matti Vanhanen, was
released as parliamentary campaigning began. It immediately hit the
country's nonfiction best seller list.
(AP, 3/15/07)
2007 Mar 18, Finns voted in a
parliamentary election in a tight race between PM Matti Vanhanen's
Center Party, its left-leaning coalition partner and the Conservative
opposition. The ruling centrist party of PM Matti Vanhanen retained
power. The Center Party won 23.1% of the vote while the Conservatives
had 22.3% and the Social Democrats 21.4%, according to provisional
results.
(AP, 3/18/07)
2007 May 12, In Finland
Bosnia-Herzegovina opened this year's Eurovision Song Contest. Marija
Serifovic from Serbia won the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest at the
Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, early Sunday May 13, 2007 with a song
entitled 'Prayer.'
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 23, A bomb in northern
Afghanistan killed a Finnish soldier and an Afghan civilian, while a
suicide attacker in Kabul killed two people, including a policeman. Two
operations in southern Afghanistan killed 18 suspected militants,
including seven "foreigners," while six people died when a stash of
ammunition exploded in the east.
(AP, 5/23/07)(AP, 5/24/07)
2007 Jun 2, Iran detained 3 Finns
for allegedly straying into its territorial waters during a fishing
trip in the Persian Gulf. In June 6 Iran agreed to release them.
(AP, 6/6/07)
2007 Aug 31, In Finland
representatives of feuding Sunni and Shiite groups in Iraq began a
2-day meeting at a seminar behind closed doors to discuss ways of
ending the bloodshed.
(AP, 8/31/07)
2007 Sep 26, Transparency
International's 2007 index ranked Myanmar and Somalia as the most
corrupt nations. Both received the lowest score of 1.4 out of 10.
Denmark, Finland and New Zealand were ranked the least corrupt, each
scoring 9.4.
(AP, 9/26/07)
2007 Oct 1, Nokia Corp. said it is
buying US navigation-software maker Navteq Corp. for around $8.1
billion as the world's largest mobile phone maker continues to expand
services and content.
(AP, 10/1/07)
2007 Oct 5, Finland’s justice
ministry said PM Matti Vanhanen is suing his ex-girlfriend for
revealing details of their relationship in a tell-all book published
earlier this year.
(AP, 10/5/07)
2007 Nov 7, In southern Finland 8
people were killed and 11 wounded after Pekka-Eric Auvinen (18) opened
fire at Jokela High School in Tuusula. He then shot himself in the head
and died hours later in a hospital.
(AP, 11/7/07)(AP, 11/8/07)
2007 Nov 8, Nordic countries again
dominated the World Economic Forum's ranking of gender-equal countries.
New Zealand squeezed into the top five and the US fell to 31st place.
Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland retained the top four spots in the
2007 Gender Gap Index released by the Swiss-based think tank.
(Reuters, 11/8/07)
2007 Nov 9, Finland said it will
raise the minimum age for buying guns from 15 to 18 in the wake of the
Nov 7 rampage by a teenage student.
(SFC, 11/10/07, p.A3)
2008 Jan 15, Finland's Nokia, the
top global mobile phone manufacturer, said that it planned to close a
factory in Germany by mid-year which employs 2,300 workers.
(AFP, 1/15/08)
2008 Feb 1, Scientists in Finland
said they had replaced a 65-year-old patient's upper jaw with a bone
transplant cultivated from stem cells isolated from his own fatty
tissue and grown inside his abdomen.
(Reuters, 2/1/08)
2008 Apr 8, Chilean police said
Marko Kulju (26), a Finnish tourist who chipped an earlobe off an
ancient Moai on Easter Island, is being allowed to go home after paying
a US$17,000 (euro10,830) fine and agreeing not to return for three
years.
(AP, 4/9/08)
2008 Apr 19, In southern Spain a
crash of a bus filled with Finnish tourists left nine people dead near
the resort town of Benalmadena. Police arrested the driver of the other
vehicle, who was not seriously injured, after he failed a blood alcohol
test.
(AP, 4/20/08)
2008 Jun 15, In northern Finland
an 88-year-old man killed his two disabled adult daughters and shot his
bedridden wife before turning the gun on himself.
(AP, 6/16/08)
2008 Sep 23, In western Finland
Matti Juhani Saari (22), whose violent YouTube postings made police
bring him in for questioning, opened fire at his trade school, killing
8 women and 2 men before shooting himself.
(AP, 9/23/08)(AP, 9/24/08)
2008 Oct 10, Finland's
ex-president Martti Ahtisaari won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts
to build a lasting peace from Africa and Asia to Europe and the Middle
East. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it honored Ahtisaari for
important efforts over more than three decades to resolve international
conflicts.
(AP, 10/10/08)
2008 Oct 21, Top US and Russian
military officers held an unannounced meeting in Helsinki in an effort
to maintain dialogue after Moscow's crushing defeat of American ally
Georgia.
(Reuters, 10/21/08)
2008 Nov 20, Finland's Finance
Ministry said four Nordic countries will lend Iceland $2.5 billion
(euro1.98 billion) to help the country recover from its economic
meltdown.
(AP, 11/20/08)
2009 Mar 4, The Finnish Parliament
approved controversial legislation that allows employers to track
workers' e-mails.
(AP, 3/4/09)
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Subject = Finland
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