The Finnish police said Monday that a man had set himself alight at a filling station in central Rovaniemi late on Sunday.

The police added the man, aged 24, had purchased petrol before dousing himself with some and setting the fuel on fire.

An ambulance that happened to be at the scene rushed the man to hospital. The man sustained serious injuries.

The police said the man's motive was not known.

STT

Finnish national daily Helsingin Sanomat on Monday quoted a poll as indicating that some 59 per cent of the public opposed an increase in immigration, up from 44 per cent returned by a similar poll carried out a year ago and from 36 per cent three years ago.

The paper quoted Heikki Ervasti, a professor of social policy at the University of Turku, as saying that the survey marked a reversal of a trend of rising tolerance that had begun in the 1980s.

Said Aden, chair of the Finnish Somali League, said the outcome of the survey was hardly surprising during a recession.

Commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat, market research company Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) interviewed 1,000 people.

STT

David Beckham, a British AC Milan footballer, is to fly to Finland to undergo Achilles tendon surgery, a number of agencies quoted the Italian football club's doctor as saying on Monday.

Beckham injured his left Achilles tendon during a match on Sunday.

Jean-Pierre Meersseman, the club physician, told Sky TV Italy that Sakari Orava, a Finnish orthopaedic surgeon, was to treat Beckham.

Dr Orava told the Finnish News Agency (STT) that the former England captain would probably not make a full recovery before the world cup in June and July.

He added that the plan was to carry out the procedure in Turku on Monday.

STT

The police in the eastern Finnish town of Varkaus said Friday that a local girl aged 12 had confessed to kidnapping a baby and burying the three-month infant in a snowdrift earlier this week.

The police had said earlier on Friday that the main suspect was a 15-year-old.

The police quoted the 12-year-old as saying during questioning that she had snatched the baby on a whim.

The baby survived three hours buried in the snow.

STT

The police in the eastern Finnish city of Varkaus announced Friday that they suspected a local girl, 15, of kidnapping a baby from a pram and burying the three-month infant in a snowdrift.

The police added that child protection officers had taken the suspect into custody.

The suspected kidnapping took place on Monday, with the baby surviving hours buried in the snow.

Earlier this week, the police upgraded the investigation into an attempted murder inquiry.

STT

Finnish regional daily Aamulehti on Friday quoted a Taloustutkimus poll as indicating that about 47 per cent of the public felt that Parliament should reject the permit applications of all three utilities planning building nuclear power stations in Finland, with some 38 per cent of the respondents backing extra nuclear generating capacity.

Aamulehti said 22 per cent of the respondents would like to see a single permit, 11 per cent two and six per cent three permits.

Commissioned by the paper, market research company Taloustutkimus interviewed 1,000 people in early March. The margin of error was stated as three percentage points either way.

STT

Finland's Supreme Administrative Court on Friday began proceedings over what is commonly known as the Tiitinen list, which allegedly contains the names of Finnish informants used by the Stasi, East Germany's state security ministry.

The court is to rule whether the Finnish Security Police (Supo) is to hand a copy of the list to a reporter who requested one.

In 2008, the Helsinki administrative court ordered Supo to disclose the list, with Supo appealing the ruling.

Supo has warned that making the list public would undermine national security, hurt relations with foreign intelligence organs and violate privacy.

Swedish-language daily Hufvudstadsbladet reported in its Friday issue that one of the names on the list was Riitta Juntunen, a spokeswoman at the Central Organisation of Trade Unions.

The Supreme Administrative Court ruled in 2003 that Supo did not have to disclose the list.

STT

Finnish daily Hufvudstadsbladet reported Friday that Riitta Juntunen, a spokeswoman at the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), had handed 940 pages of reports to the Stasi, East Germany's notorious state security ministry, between 1979 and 1985.

The paper added that Ms Juntunen, known by the codename Kati in the Stasi's files, had been paid 70,000 West German marks for her services.

November last year, Hufvudstadsbladet quoted Petra Sauerzapf-Poser, Ms Juntunen's colleague at the German Democratic Republic's interpretation and translation bureau in Berlin, as saying that Ms Juntunen had denounced her to the Stasi.

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.

STT

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.

STT