THE centre-left Social Democratic Party is facing the tough task of trying to form a government coalition in Finland after becoming the country’s largest party by a narrow margin.
With all votes counted after the parliamentary election, the party led by Antti Rinne took 17.7% of votes and 40 seats in the Eduskunta legislature, far from the 101 seats needed for a majority.
Right behind came the populist Finns Party with 17.5%, while the conservative National Coalition party took the third spot with 17% of votes. Outgoing Prime Minister Juha Sipila’s Centre Party was fourth with 13.8%.
Tackling climate change and reforming Finland’s social and health care system were key topics in the vote.
ELSEWHERE, Six people have appeared in a New Zealand court on charges they illegally redistributed the video a gunman livestreamed as he shot worshippers at two mosques last month.
Christchurch District Court Judge Stephen O’Driscoll denied bail to businessman Philip Arps and an 18-year-old suspect who both were taken into custody in March. The four others are not in custody.
The charge of supplying or distributing objectionable material carries a penalty of up to 14 years imprisonment.
New Zealand’s chief censor has banned both the livestreamed footage of the attack and the manifesto written and released by Brenton Harrison Tarrant, who faces 50 murder charges and 39 attempted murder charges in the March 15 attacks.
MEANWHILE, Pete Buttigieg, an Indiana mayor who has risen to prominence in the early stages of the 2020 Democratic US presidential race, has made his official campaign entrance.
“I recognise the audacity of doing this as a Midwestern millennial mayor,” he said to cheers of “Pete, Pete, Pete” from an audience assembled in a former car plant.
In the hours after his announcement, more than one million dollars (£763,000) in donations poured in.
The 37-year-old South Bend mayor is a Rhodes scholar and Afghanistan War veteran, and would be the first openly gay nominee of a major presidential party.
FINALLY, the operator of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant has begun removing fuel from a cooling pool at one of three reactors that melted down in the 2011 tsunami disaster.
Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) said workers started removing the first of 566 used and unused fuel units stored in the pool at Unit 3.
Removing the units to safer ground is crucial to avoid disaster in case of another major quake.
Tepco says the removal would take two years, followed by the two other reactors. It comes ahead of the real challenge of removing melted fuel from inside the reactors.
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