US business magazine Forbes on Thursday included Antti Herlin, the main owner of Finnish lift and escalator maker Kone, on its list of US dollar billionaires.

Mr Herlin is the first Finn to be featured on the Forbes list.

Forbes estimated Mr Herlin's net worth at about 1.3 billion US dollars, earning him 773rd place along with 54 other well-heeled people.

Carlos Slim Helu, a Mexican telecommunications tycoon, topped the Forbes list with a fortune of some 53.5 billion dollars.

STT

The Finnish Evangelical-Lutheran Church's Turku archdiocese said Friday that Kari Mäkinen, a bishop at the archdiocese, had won the church's archbishop election, beating Miikka Ruokanen, a professor of dogmatics at the University of Helsinki, by a handful of votes.

Dr Mäkinen is to replace Jukka Paarma, due to retire in June, as the head of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church.

In the runoff vote, Dr Mäkinen received 593 votes against Dr Ruokanen's 582.

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Suvi Lindén (cons), the Finnish transport minister, announced Thursday she would not carry forward the government's plan to replace the licence fee with a tax, citing a lack of backing in Parliament.

The minister said the matter would be postponed to the next legislative period, meaning after next year's general election.

The government had planned to fund the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) with a lump-sum tax it prefers to call the media fee.

The tax would have been levied from all households regardless of television or radio ownership.

Ms Lindén added the government had also shelved its plans to create an independent organ to oversee the public broadcaster.

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The Finnish government said in a statement Thursday it had decided to change the name of the education ministry to "the ministry of education and culture".

Pending Parliament's approval of the change, the new name will enter into force in May.

"Finnish ministries have been named in a way that best describes the key mandate of each ministry," the statement added.

"Cultural policy is a broad social policy area coordinated by the ministry of education. It covers areas such as cultural heritage, cultural exportation, multiculturalism and international cooperation."

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Finland's Civil Aviation Administration (Finavia) said in a statement Thursday it would introduce incentives to carriers to raise passenger numbers.

Finavia added it would reimburse carriers three euros for each extra passenger this year and two euros next year.

"We want to be involved in supporting the aviation business together with the airlines," said in the statement Kimmo Ruotsalainen, Finavia's marketing director.

"Finavia aims to provide a cost-efficient business environment. Even before the discount, we were one of Europe's cheapest airports." Finavia runs 25 airports.

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A Finnish justice ministry working group proposed Thursday that the parking fine ceiling should be raised to 80 euros from the current 50 in order to bring fines abreast with public transport penalty fares.

The working group also proposed that private companies should be allowed to impose penalties for unauthorised parking on private property.

The working group handed its report to Tuija Brax (green), the justice minister.

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Finnish national daily Helsingin Sanomat on Thursday quoted a Taylor Nelson Sofres poll as indicating that the National Coalition party remained the country's biggest party with a rating of 23.1 per cent, down by a tenth of a percentage point from a similar poll carried out in November last year.

The poll gave the opposition Social Democrats 21.3 per cent, up by eight-tenths of a point, with the Centre party in third place with 19.9 per cent, down by a tenth of a point.

All changes fit in the margin of error, stated as two percentage points either way.

Commissioned by the paper, TNS interviewed about 2,900 people in February and March.

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Passers-by have found sensitive evidence in a rubbish skip outside Helsinki's police headquarters in Pasila, freesheet Voima reported on Wednesday.

According to the paper the evidence unearthed from the skip and documented by a jogger includes autopsy photographs, a partly torn passport and a recording of the questioning of a woman convicted of three murders.

Jari Liukku, the deputy chief of police, said the material had ended up in the skip during a move, adding an administrative inquiry was underway.

STT

Finnish Christian newspaper Kotimaa on Thursday quoted its poll as indicating that a slim majority of the country's lawmakers opposed same-sex marriage.

Kotimaa said it had asked all 200 MPs whether the Marriage Act, which dates back to 1929, should be amended to be sex-neutral.

The paper added that 54 per cent of the 126 MPs who took part in the poll had said they were opposed to a sex-neutral Marriage Act.

THE NATIONAL Discrimination Tribunal of Finland has banned a practice whereby provision of rental accommodation to Roma tenants is decided together with a representative of the Roma community.

The Tribunal concluded that the practice is in breach of the constitution, which states that Finns enjoy the right to freely choose their place of residence. It also violates the Administrative Procedure Act, according to which the authorities must treat all of their clients equally.

The Tribunal formulated its decision with a view to the approach taken by the City of Järvenpää. The city stopped liaising with a Roma contact person at the beginning of February, but according to the Ombudsman for Minorities, contacts regarding similar practices came from other localities.