Latest news with #Finnish
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
For a relaxing holiday, folks in Finland pay to herd sheep
Finnish holidaygoers are clamouring to shell out hundreds of euros to work as shepherds for a week as a vacation, seeking tranquillity in nature and a chance to disconnect from their busy lives. Petri Stenberg is enjoying a 'shepherd week' together with his wife Oona and their two children Fia, age two, and Hugo, four, on an old farm on an island in the Isojarvi national park in central Finland. The popular holiday scheme, organised by the Metsahallitus company that manages and protects state-owned land and water areas, allows the family to combine recreation and nature conservation. 'We are living very close to nature here. We feed the sheep a couple of times a day, we have been to the sauna, swam and gone fishing,' said Oona, who works as a physiotherapist. 'Not once have I seen any news here. There's no TV here, we haven't browsed our phones. So in a way, my mind has somehow calmed down and I'm just concentrating on being here,' she added. Oona holding Fia, with her husband Petri and their son Hugo posing outside their rented cottage. Accessible only by row boat or on foot through the forest and across a bridge, the old farm is one of around a dozen remote sites across Finland to which Finns can apply for a week-long holiday taking care of sheep. Historically, grazing sheep and other animals have played a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity and habitats for flora and fauna at the various locations. But changed forestry and agricultural practices, including a 'dramatic' decline in the number of small farms in Finland, have seen these traditional biotopes of so-called semi-natural grasslands and wooded pastures become an endangered part of Finland's nature, explained Metsahallitus expert Leena Hiltunen. 'The main purpose of the shepherd weeks is to increase people's knowledge about these traditional biotopes,' Hiltunen said. The vegetation on the Isojarvi island was traditionally kept light and lush as grazing sheep prevented overgrowth, providing the necessary ecosystem for now-endangered plant and insect species. Compared to the 1950s, less than 1% of Finland's traditional biotopes and landscapes remain, according to Metsahallitus, with most of them now located in protected areas. 'Appreciation and protection of nature is so important ... So it is really important for all of us to learn about it and for children to learn to appreciate it,' said Oona. Popular holiday Metsahallitus received 12,764 applications from 2,236 – many applying for more than one site – for this year's summer season. A total of 158 shepherd weeks are selected through a lottery. 'There has been a great deal of interest,' Hiltunen said. The Stenberg family, who lives in Vantaa, just north of Helsinki, applied a few times until they finally got lucky this year. A week typically costs between €400 and €670 (RM1,979 and RM3,216) at most locations. The housing is spartan and simple, in huts or cottages often lacking running water and sometimes even electricity. 'Some people have asked us why we wanted to pay to herd sheep and do some yard work,' laughed Oona. 'But it is really an experience for us, and the kids are loving it,' she added, sipping from her coffee cup outside the family's yellow cottage, surrounded by old wooden outhouses and a sauna overlooking the lake. In Finland, many people spend their summers in rustic countryside cottages. Hiltunen said only Finns could apply for the shepherd weeks because it was crucial to know 'how to manage the modest lifestyle' in nature on one's own. 'We don't have enough resources to advertise it internationally, or have someone there nearby advising how things work,' she said. On the lakeland island, a sense of complete serenity hung in the air, the grey sky suggesting rain was on its way. The family had been instructed to count the dozen sheep every day '... and make sure their overall health is good, that they are eating enough and checking that the fencing is intact,' said Stenberg, who drives excavators for a living. The small farm was a working farm until 1989 and was bought by Metsahallitus in the 1990s. Flipping through the pages of a notebook inside the house, Stenberg showed writings and a few sketches of sheep from previous visitors who documented their daily life and observations. 'This is a real break from everyday life,' he said. – AFP
Spectator
7 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Spectator
A rebellious childhood: Lowest Common Denominator, by Pirkko Saisio, reviewed
How do you dispose of 48 uniform volumes of the collected works of Lenin and Stalin? Pirkko Saisio and her mother hatch a plan. The books are 'dumped into the trash bin' by their apartment block, then coated with 'a week's worth of eggshells and fish guts and newspapers'. No one will find them, Mother insists. If anybody did, 'there's no way they'll know they're ours'. So Pirkko no longer has to hide the embarrassing tomes when friends drop round. Executed during true-believing Father's absence, Lenin and Stalin's stinky downfall is one of many bittersweet episodes that make Lowest Common Denominator such a piquant account of a childhood and a time. A beloved Finnish novelist, playwright and screenwriter born in 1946, Saisio published this first slice of her three-volume autobiographical novel in 1998. Backlight and The Red Book of Farewells followed. It flashes back and forth between working-class Helsinki in the 1950s and the narrator's present as overloaded writer, mother and daughter to now ailing Father. From an early age, Pirkko 'would like to be a boy'. She falls in love with female cousins and teachers, and comes to embrace her destiny as 'an outsider'. Penguin's edition highlights Saisio's position in Finland as a queer icon, and her exploration of a genderfluid childhood. Yet alongside this sexual nonconformity – embryonic in the opening volume – Saisio sketches a poignant, funny-sad picture of a communist family in Cold War Finland. Leningrad lies right on the doorstep, but Washington oceans away. Father projects propaganda films for the Finnish-Soviet Friendship Society. Above all, Lowest Common Denominator registers the birth pangs of an author. When Pirkko understands that imagined stories can be written down, 'tearful joy rises from the deepest wellspring of her being'. Call it a portrait of the artist as a wannabe young man. The trilogy as a whole belongs on the same fertile patch of serial Nordic auto-fiction that hosts Tove Ditlevsen (in Denmark) and Karl-Ove Knausgaard (in Norway). Compared to the latter's ballooning confessionals, however, Saisio is terse, droll and sardonic. She shows rather than tells in dialogue-driven scenes that whip along. Their tone spans affectionate comedy (as when Aunt Ulla decides she's related to her lookalike Queen Elizabeth II, 'chips off the same block'), tender snapshots of the tiny rebel's dawning self-awareness, and the present-day regrets of Father's final days in hospital. When, as a voracious young reader, Pirkko discovers Chekhov, she can't share his 'idle villa life'. Yet somehow 'the sorrow – the sorrow is the same'. The narrator changes; so does her nation. Father, that stalwart Party comrade, studies for a salesman's diploma and wields 'the only briefcase' seen on their street. Mother runs a grocery stall. While this 'fever to move up in the world' takes hold, elders pass on tales of Finland as a ground-down Russian colony of fragile peasant lives. Aged seven, Pirkko's grandfather was sold as a farmhand. In contrast to the docile blondes of her clan, Pirkko feels like the 'inherently bad' brunette of a fairy tale – she who 'laughs in the beginning but dies in the end'. Worse, she yearns to be the boy 'who spits and goes wherever he wants and doesn't care about anybody or anything'. But she does care – not just for unreachable angels, such as dark-haired Miss Lunova the circus announcer, but for the acrobatic magic of words. She senses that 'everything that exists in the world is waiting for me to capture it in books'. Mia Spangenberg's translation deftly catches this nimble, glinting prose of memory. In both substance and style, comparisons with Ali Smith may come to mind. My only regret is that the dialogue sounds Urban American. For postwar proletarian Helsinki, readers here might imagine a touch of Glasgow – even Dublin – instead.
15 hours ago
- Politics
Pope marks 50th anniversary of Cold War-era deal on security and human rights
ROME -- ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday called for a renewed commitment to diplomacy to resolve conflicts as he marked the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Accords, the landmark Cold War-era agreement that ushered in a new era of security and human rights. At the end of his general audience, history's first American pope said that Aug. 1 marks the anniversary of the conclusion of the 35-nation summit in Finland that resulted in the Helsinki Final Act, which years later helped give birth to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Renewing his appeal for peace in the world, Leo said: 'Today, more than ever, it is imperative to cherish the spirit of Helsinki, persevere in dialogue, strengthen cooperation and make diplomacy the preferred way to prevent and resolve conflicts.' At the height of the Cold War detente in the 1970s, Finnish President Urho Kekkonen hosted a U.S.-Soviet summit where U.S. President Gerald Ford, Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and others signed a watershed commitment to peace, East-West contacts, European security and human rights. Leo said the agreement had 'inaugurated a new geopolitical season, favoring a rapprochement between East and West. It marked a renewed interest in human rights with particular attention to religious freedom, considered one of the fundamentals of the nascent architecture of cooperation from Vancouver to Vladivostok.' With Russia's war raging in Ukraine, Leo recalled that the Holy See had sent a delegation to the Finnish summit headed by future secretary of state Archbishop Agostino Casaroli, best known for promoting and pursuing a policy of Ostpolitik, or openness and dialogue with Eastern Europe. In other comments Wednesday, Leo also expressed horror at the 'brutal' attack on a Catholic Church in eastern Congo by rebels backed by the Islamic State. At least 38 people, including 15 women and nine children, were killed in the church as they worshipped during a prayer vigil last weekend. 'While I entrust the victims to God's loving mercy, I pray for the wounded and for Christians who around the world continue to suffer violence and persecution, exhorting all those with responsibility at the local and international level to collaborate to prevent similar tragedies,' he said. Wednesday's general audience marked the resumption of Leo's weekly encounter with the faithful following a weeks-long summer break. St. Peter's Square was particularly full, given the arrival of tens of thousands of pilgrims in town for a weeklong Holy Year celebration for young Catholics.
CNBC
16 hours ago
- Business
- CNBC
Novo Nordisk's stock plunge isn't surprising. Why companies clear the deck for new CEOs
Novo Nordisk shares nosedived on the day its new chief executive, Maziar Mike Doustdar, was appointed. But that shouldn't have come as a surprise to investors. Minutes before the news of Doustdar's appointment on Tuesday, the Danish pharmaceutical giant reported a profit warning, slashing its operating profit growth by around a third to the new normal of 10% to 16%. It also forecast slower-than-expected top-line growth. The company appears to have attempted to clear the deck for its new CEO, but far from being a unique strategy to reset expectations with investors, it has now become a "pretty common practice," according to Michael Field, Europe market strategist at Morningstar. Field said that companies do this to "give the new CEO a chance to succeed and hit the ground running, without having to deal with quarterly profit warnings for a year or more after they join." "If they can 'kitchen sink' earnings around the CEO appointment, then the new CEO should be quickly able to show improvement in the business, which is good for everyone involved, and of course, the share price," he added. Other Stoxx Europe 600 index companies have exhibited similar strategies. A tried-and-tested technique For instance, on June 9, Swedish medical device maker Elekta announced the appointment of its new CEO, Jakob Just-Bomholt. The following day, the company released the results of a "proactive" review to "improve the quality" of its orderbook, which showed that it was about 4.9 billion Swedish krona ($503.7 million) short of its previous estimate. The stock fell 4.7% — the biggest drop since April's U.S. tariff-related volatility. "A new CEO was announced yesterday, but the investor update on Tuesday brought some further surprises that one might normally have expected to be announced at a later date," said JPMorgan analyst David Adlington on June 10. "We note that one option for the new CEO to generate renewed investor interest could be to rebase the guidance." IT software and service company Tietoevry did the same on July 21. Endre Rangnes, who had been interim CEO since May, was officially confirmed as chief executive and President. The following day, the Finnish technology company reported its interim half-year report, which said organic growth would go into reverse by 4%. "While we can recognize our strengths and achievements, we have not succeeded in delivering adequate financial performance and have suffered from lack of growth over an extended period of time," Rangnes said in his second communique to investors as chief executive. The stock dropped 13% on the day. The automaker Renault also pulled off the tried-and-tested technique on July 15. Instead of making a dedicated alarmist filing, the company lowered its profit forecast for the year during its scheduled half-year results. It did, however, announce Duncan Minto as interim chief executive officer five minutes before its earnings. In Renault's case, the automaker had announced its new strategy only a month earlier under its former chief executive Luca de Meo, who abruptly exited the company to lead ailing luxury goods maker Kering . Renault's stock, which had already been bruised by the shock exit of its former CEO a month earlier, fell another 18.5%. The stock market is littered with many such examples of chief executive appointments that are immediately surrounded by profit warnings. "The CEO themselves may advocate for this as a condition of them joining," Morningstar's Field said. "Instead of uncovering mess after mess, the new CEO may simply ask the board to fully evaluate the business ailments beforehand and allow them a fresh start." 'Every situation is different' Yet, investors have been unable to model the behavior and look past efforts by companies to reset. Why? "Mainly because every business situation is different," Field said. "There are no hard and fast rules, which makes it tough for investors to know how much bad news has already come out, or when there is more to come." The case for "buying the dip" in the stock price on such supposedly predictive behavior from companies has also been challenging. "If a CEO is really clearing the deck, then there is likely a lot of bad news already priced in to the shares as a result," Field said. "That said, every situation is different, and investors really need to assess if a change of leadership can actually fix the business or if there are structural issues that will continue to lead to worsening results." Woes with Novo Nordisk's share price are well understood among investors. The stock had declined by more than 60% since its all-time high in June 2024 on disappointing topline growth of its blockbuster weight loss drugs. Perhaps the reset in guidance from Novo was warranted, since investors punished its U.S. competitor Eli Lilly too, sending its shares lower by 5.6%.
Hindustan Times
16 hours ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Pope Leo XIV calls for renewed diplomacy on 50th anniversary of Helsinki Accords
Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday called for a renewed commitment to diplomacy to resolve conflicts as he marked the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Accords, the landmark Cold War-era agreement that ushered in a new era of security and human rights. "While I entrust the victims to God's loving mercy, I pray for the wounded and for Christians who around the world continue to suffer violence and persecution," the Pope said.(AP File) At the end of his general audience, history's first American pope said that Aug. 1 marks the anniversary of the conclusion of the 35-nation summit in Finland that resulted in the Helsinki Final Act, which years later helped give birth to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Renewing his appeal for peace in the world, Leo said: 'Today, more than ever, it is imperative to cherish the spirit of Helsinki, persevere in dialogue, strengthen cooperation and make diplomacy the preferred way to prevent and resolve conflicts.' At the height of the Cold War detente in the 1970s, Finnish President Urho Kekkonen hosted a U.S.-Soviet summit where U.S. President Gerald Ford, Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and others signed a watershed commitment to peace, East-West contacts, European security and human rights. Leo said the agreement had 'inaugurated a new geopolitical season, favoring a rapprochement between East and West. It marked a renewed interest in human rights with particular attention to religious freedom, considered one of the fundamentals of the nascent architecture of cooperation from Vancouver to Vladivostok.' With Russia's war raging in Ukraine, Leo recalled that the Holy See had sent a delegation to the Finnish summit headed by future secretary of state Archbishop Agostino Casaroli, best known for promoting and pursuing a policy of Ostpolitik, or openness and dialogue with Eastern Europe. In other comments Wednesday, Leo also expressed horror at the 'brutal' attack on a Catholic Church in eastern Congo by rebels backed by the Islamic State. At least 38 people, including 15 women and nine children, were killed in the church as they worshipped during a prayer vigil last weekend. 'While I entrust the victims to God's loving mercy, I pray for the wounded and for Christians who around the world continue to suffer violence and persecution, exhorting all those with responsibility at the local and international level to collaborate to prevent similar tragedies,' he said. Wednesday's general audience marked the resumption of Leo's weekly encounter with the faithful following a weeks-long summer break. St. Peter's Square was particularly full, given the arrival of tens of thousands of pilgrims in town for a weeklong Holy Year celebration for young Catholics.
