Helsinki is the capital and most populous city in Finland. It is located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and serves as the seat of the Uusimaa region in southern Finland. Approximately 0.67 million people live in the municipality,with 1.25 million in the capital region,and 1.58 million in the metropolitan area. As the most populous urban area in Finland,it is the country's most significant centre for politics,education,finance,culture,and research. Helsinki is situated 80 kilometres (50 mi) to the north of Tallinn,Estonia,360 kilometres (220 mi) to the north of Riga,Latvia,400 kilometres (250 mi) to the east of Stockholm,Sweden,and 300 kilometres (190 mi) to the west of Saint Petersburg,Russia. Helsinki has significant historical connections with these four cities.
The Green League,shortened to the Greens,is a green political party in Finland. Ideologically,the Green League is positioned on the centre-left of the political spectrum. It is a reformist party and it is supportive of feminism,animal rights and green liberal ideas.
Cai-Göran Alexander Stubb is a Finnish politician who has been the 13th president of Finland since 1 March 2024,having won the 2024 presidential election. He previously served as Prime Minister of Finland from 2014 to 2015.
Länsimetro is an extension to the Helsinki Metro system in Finland,which opened on 18 November 2017. Länsimetro extends the system's two lines,M1 and M2,from Central Helsinki to the neighbouring city of Espoo. The new stretch continues the lines from the existing Ruoholahti station via the island of Lauttasaari,the Aalto University Otaniemi campus and Tapiola,the terminus of line M2. Line M1 continues further west to Matinkylä. Unlike previous extensions to the Helsinki Metro system,Länsimetro runs entirely underground. The second phase opened on 3 December 2022 and continues the line further west to Kivenlahti,near the municipal border of Kirkkonummi.
Trams in Helsinki form part of the public transport system organised by Helsinki Regional Transport Authority and operated by Metropolitan Area Transport Ltd in Finland's capital city of Helsinki. The trams are the main means of transport in the city center,and 56.8 million trips were made on the system in 2019. In addition to the older tram network,there is a single light rail line that was opened in October 2023. Although technically compatible with the tram network,the light rail line is separate from the city center tram network.
Finland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 56 times since its debut in 1961. Finland won the contest for the first –and to date only –time in 2006 with Lordi and their song "Hard Rock Hallelujah". The country's best result before then was achieved by Marion Rung with the song "Tom Tom Tom" in 1973,which placed sixth.
Ismo Mikael Leikola,sometimes known professionally as ISMO,is a Finnish stand-up comedian,musician,author,screenwriter,and YouTuber. Leikola made his United States debut in 2014,when he won "The Funniest Person in the World" competition organized by the comedy club Laugh Factory. In 2015,he made comedy series ISMO for Finnish television and moved to the United States. He gained more recognition after his appearance on the Conan talk show in 2018 and has since toured internationally. He has a YouTube channel with over 360,000 subscribers.
Raw View was a magazine of documentary photography. It was established in 2007 as Photo Raw and obtained its current title in November 2014. The editor-in-chief was Hannamari Shakya who works as a producer at the publishing company Musta Taide of Aalto University producing photography books.
Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät was a Finnish punk rock band,formed in 2009 in a charity workshop for adults with developmental disabilities. They are the main focus of the 2012 Finnish documentary film The Punk Syndrome. In 2015,they qualified for the finals of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu,which they later won;they represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 but got knocked out in the semi-final. The group disbanded in December 2016 when guitarist Pertti Kurikka turned 60 years old and retired from playing punk rock.
Finland–North Korea relations are bilateral relations between Finland and North Korea.
Joel Allan Pekuri was a Finnish diplomat and ambassador.
Pertti Juhani Torstila has had a long career in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland made by an official and a diplomat. Prior to his retirement,he served as State Secretary for Foreign Affairs in 2006-2014.
Heikki Talvitie is a Finnish diplomat. He has served as Ambassador in Belgrade from 1984 to 1988,in Moscow from 1988 to 1992 and from Stockholm in 1996–2002. Talvitie has also been an EU Special Representative in the Caucasus and an OSCE Special Envoy in Georgia
Kauko Jämsén served as the Finnish ambassador to Bulgaria from 2005 to 2009. Prior to that he was Finland's General-Consul in St. Petersburg in 2001–2005. He is a Master of Political Science degree. At the Ministry for Foreign Affairs he started in 1975.
Helsinki light rail line 15 is a 25-kilometre (16 mi) light rail line connecting Keilaniemi in Espoo and Itäkeskus in Helsinki,Finland. Known during construction as Jokeri light rail,construction was started in June 2019 and the line began operating in October 2023,about 10 months ahead of the original schedule. The line replaced the trunk bus line 550,the busiest bus service on the Helsinki Regional Transport Authority public transport network,at the end of 2023.
Maria Karoliina Ohisalo is a Finnish politician and researcher who served as Minister of the Interior between 2019 and 2021. The former chairman of the Green League,she has been a Member of Parliament since 2019.
Liisa Maria Talonpoika is a Finnish diplomat,and the country's current Ambassador to Stockholm,Sweden,where she presented her credentials on 16 May 2018. She is the first female to hold this post.
Klaus Korhonen,is a Finnish diplomat who had been the Finnish Ambassador to NATO in 2023.
Sophie Mannerheim School is a primary and hospital school located in the Taka-Töölödistrict in Helsinki,Finland. The school has grades 1–9,and it has the special mission of hospital teaching to teach elementary school-aged children who are hospitalized at HYKS. The school is named after Sophie Mannerheim (1863–1928),a baroness nurse who founded the Children's Castle,among other things.
