Finland Fires at Suspected Foreign Submarine near Helsinki
A report by the AP said that the Finnish military says it has dropped depth charges onto a suspected submarine in the sea outside Helsinki after twice detecting the presence of a foreign object in the area. The navy's maritime operations chief, Olavi Jantunen, says they could not identify the "underwater object" but had begun an investigation, which could take weeks. “We strongly suspect that there has been underwater activity that does not belong there. Of course it is always serious if our territorial waters have been violated,” Defense minister Carl Haglund told Finnish news agency STT. A UPI reports quotes Navy chief of staff Admiral Juha Vauhkonen saying that it’s not yet possible to say whether or not the underwater object detected in waters near Helsinki was a submarine.
Strike Halts Steelmaking and Shipbuilding in Finland
Companies affected by the strike launched by about 3,000 members of the Finnish Union of Salaried Employees (TU) told the Finnish News Agency (STT) that the industrial action would have an impact within just days. Juha Heikinheimo, the head of the cruise and ferries division of Norwegian shipbuilder Aker Yards, said the company's Finnish yards, with a total workforce of about 4,000 people, would grind to a halt in a day or a couple of days. Outokumpu said its stainless steel production would halt very quickly while Rautaruukki, another Finnish steelmaker, assured that it could carry on with production but would have to shut down hot rolling and cutting lines. Boliden said production at its Finnish sites would continue thanks to extraordinary measures.
