Taking a fast loan is becoming ever more costly for people, the online financial newspaper Taloussanomat reports.

“A FAST LOAN may become ever more expensive for the person taking it due to the tightening of loan conditions prompting fast loan firms to raise prices. The genuine annual interest rates of the most expensive loans are over 2,000 per cent.

According to a study conducted by Suomen Rahatieto about a third of fast loan firms have raised prices since last autumn, according to a report made by Suomen Rahatieto for Taloussanomat.

Such is the amount of floating voters in the next general election, the tabloid Iltalehti reports.

“THE TERM ‘floating voters’ means those people who are going to vote for a different party in the next election compared to the last one. This batch of floating voters, comprising over half a million Finns, is exactly the group that political parties will fight over the most in next spring’s general election.

The Facebook death threat has now become a police matter, the tabloid Iltasanomat reports.

“MINISTER of Migration and European Affairs Astrid Thors (Swedish People’s Party) is reporting to the police about a group in Facebook that is threatening to kill her.

A group was set up on Facebook called ’Olen valmis istumaan muutaman vuoden Astrid Thorssin taposta!!’ (I’m ready to spend a few years in jail for killing Astrid Thors!!).

Heated debate continues as to how violent Finland really is compared to other European countries, reports the Helsingin Sanomat.

“FINLAND is not a violent country by European standards, according to social scientist, Professor Pertti Töttö of the University of Eastern Finland. Finns commit quite many violent crimes compared to countries in Western Europe, but far less than any country in Eastern Europe.

On the other hand, according to Professor Emeritus of Criminal Law Eero Backman Finnish culture is a traditionally violent one where more homicides are committed than in Western Europe and even some Eastern European countries.

The data from as many as 100,000 credit cards were endangered by a security breach, the financial paper Kauppalehti reports.

“The Finnish police is investigating the data theft of at least 40,000 credit cards from a computer in a store in Helsinki, reports the Bloomberg news agency.

The store’s computer system was breached from abroad. Card copies of the stolen data have already been used in different parts of the world.

An animal welfare expert claims abuse of fur animals and other livestock is fairly typical, the national daily Helsingin Sanomat reports.

“Threr are no good fur farms, says spokesperson Janna Rancken from the animal rights organisation Oikeutta eläimille ("Justice for Animals"). ‘Animals are kept in cramped conditions on every farm,’ she explains.

On Wednesday evening YLE’s A-studio broadcasted the material that the animal rights organisation had received from Finnish fur farms. Previously the organisation had shocked people at the beginning of December with footage shot at pig farms.

Bona fide TV licence inspectors carry identification cards the size of a bank card, the Tampere-based daily Aamulehti reports.

“A Reader told us that their home in Ylöjärvi was visited by a TV licence inspector in February at 7:10 on a weekday. The family had a TV licence, so the inspector may be a fraud.

Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority (FICORA) Director Anssi Laakso, how early can TV licence inspectors come?

Due to the focus on preventing repeat offences, open prisons have filled up while the total number of inmates has gone down, the Oulu-based daily Kaleva reports.

“THERE are now more inmates than ever before in Finland’s open prisons, despite the fact that the total number of inmates has decreased by over 200 compared to last year, says Esa Vesterbacka, the Director General of the Prison Service in the Criminal Sanctions Agency.

All 900 open prison places are beginning to be full. On the other hand, the number of inmates in regular prisons has gone down.

There was no shortage of roses on Valentine’s Day, the financial paper Kauppalehti reports.

“Sunday was Valentine’s Day. That is when you remember your friends and loved ones with small presents and flowers in particular. Ten MD-11 cargo planes were used to fly roses to Europe for Valentine’s Day from Africa and South America. Lufthansa Cargo, the world’s largest air freight company, has received 650 tonnes or about 23 million roses for delivery, which are brought to Europe from Kenya, Ecuador, Colombia and Ethiopia. The roses come via the Munich and Hamburg airports and are then distributed throughout Europe.

The authorities seek to create a new internet register in order to crack down on the grey economy, the Tampere-based daily Aamulehti reports.

“The authorities wish to clamp down on the construction industry’s grey economy with the help of a new electronic register.

The change would apply to the customer responsibility law, according to which for example the main contractor of a construction yard has to investigate the subcontractor’s background.