Two churches have announced that their representatives are not to attend the ordination of Irja Askola, Finland's first female bishop, as the bishop of Helsinki, Finnish Christian newspaper Kotimaa reported on Friday.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia have decided not to attend the ceremony.

The Latvian church has stopped ordaining new female priests, while women do not work as priest within the Church of Ingria.

Guntars Dimants, the bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia, denies that the church is boycotting the ordination due to the gender of the bishop in question. According to Dimants, the church's representatives simply do not have time to attend the event.

The Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia did not want to comment on the matter.

STT

Finnish police announced on Friday, that they suspect Ilkka Kanerva (cons), MP and former foreign minister, of accepting bribes.

According to the police, Kanerva is suspected of accepting bribes in connection with the funding of his 60th birthday party. The now solvent developer Nova Kiinetistökehitys, a subsidiary of the also now solvent Nova Group, provided funds of 17,000 euros for the event.

The police did not comment on who or how many people are suspected of offering bribes to the former foreign minister.

During the preliminary stages of the investigation, Kanerva has denied the charges. Police questioned the MP twice. Kanerva previously announced that he was not aware of the identity of the donor or the sum involved.

Jorma Kalse, Finland's deputy prosecutor-general, is to begin the consideration of charges for the case.

STT

The Finnish Market Court made a statement on Friday clearing the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) of accusation in the pneumococcus vaccine case.

According to the court, the THL did not act incorrectly when choosing to purchase the vaccines from GlaxoSmithKline.

Pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer suspects THL of favouring its competitor and has demanded a new call for tenders.

Finnish Trade Union for Education (OAJ) told on Thursday that, a decreasing number of local councils attempt to save by laying off teachers. This year the layoffs will affect about 3000 teachers, which is 50 per cent fewer than last year.

OAJ suspects that the decreasing enthusiasm to lay off teachers indicates that the advantages gained through layoffs have often remained poor compared to the disadvantages.

STT

According to Minister of Migration and European Affairs, Astrid Thors, Finland has toughened its family reunification regulations. The changes came into force in the beginning of August. "Foster children are to have been in an actual relationship of dependency to the family reunifier before his or her coming to Finland. This is to ensure that these foster children are in fact in the position of a family member," the minister says.

The conditions for granting a residence permit to an underage person on the basis of a family relationship were also changed in the same legal reform. Now the granting is normally only possible when the child is underage at the time when the decision on the permit application is reached.

A series of high-profile cases of wrongdoing have not dented the reputation of the police.

SUSPECTED cases of malfeasance in recent years do not appear to have undermined Finns' faith in the police.

According to the latest "police barometer", Finns faith in the police force has strengthened slightly over the last three years. Ninety-six per cent of respondents felt that the Finnish police are either very trustworthy, or fairly trustworthy.

Police officers have recently been found in the dock as a result of operations by the Helsinki drug crime squad, undercover purchases by the National Bureau of Investigation...

As the number of suspected cases of narcolepsy nears 20, health officials fear a breakdown in the reporting procedures on suspected side effects.

THE MINISTRY of Social Affairs and Health does not believe that a possible link between the swine flu vaccine Pandemrix and narcolepsy has been subject to a widespread cover-up. According to now-public information, researchers were already aware of a possible link months ago, but withheld their suspicions while finalising a report on the matter.

Commenting on 26 August, Aino-Inkeri Hansson, Director-General of the Ministry's Department for Promotion of Welfare and Health, said: