Wednesday's papers: Land ownership, drug consequences, and football delays

Finland is in the midst of a data centre boom, but that could have consequences for energy infrastructure.

Aerial picture of a field.
This site in Koria is slated for a data centre run by Hypercon on behalf of TikTok. Image: Pyry Sarkiola / Yle

Ilta-Sanomat reports on the ownership of land in Finland in the wake of several large purchases by foreign firms looking to build data centres.

They find that the National Land Survey of Finland (Maanmittauslaitos in Finnish) does not have statistics on the nationality of property owners. They do have records of sales to foreign owners since 1990, but that gives an incomplete picture of who owns what nationwide.

The issue has come to the fore recently as multinational firms look to capitalise on Finland's low electricity prices to build data centres.

Finland's district heating systems are another attraction, as they can use the heat produced by the facilities and thereby reduce the costs.

Municipalities are keen to sell off the land, as data centre firms will pay good prices. Demand has exploded to such an extent that there are in practice no more industrial sites left in the capital city region that are suitable for data centres.

However the scale of construction could be problematic on a national level, as the electricity demands could be huge. IS reports that Finland's power grid operator Fingrid says possible data centre building could demand as much as 24,000 megawatts of electricity.

That is five times more than all the nuclear power capacity in Finland, indicating the pressures the country could be facing in the future if all the mooted data centres end up being built.

Drug stigma

Helsingin Sanomat looks at the plight of recreational drug users in Finland, who often fear admitting their usage to medical professionals for fear of stigma and social or professional consequences.

The paper interviews one ketamine user who ended up at the emergency department after taking the drug and had to be careful what she told the doctors. She explained that she used the drug to control her pain from a chronic condition.

That meant she was not offered any help to deal with her usage, which she felt might have been useful.

But on the other hand, she did not request such help because she feared what might happen if employers, police or social services heard about her habit.

HS speaks to experts who explain that Finland's drug policy is founded on punishment for those using substances, as a measure to discourage others.

The stereotype of drug users as people with multiple social problems does not match with current trends, as more middle class, professional people experiment with drugs. Some of them might need help, but HS said seeking that help carries risks.

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Finland's football win

All the papers carry news of Finland's 2-1 win over Poland, which sent them to the top of the World Cup Qualifying Group G.

The buildup to the game in Helsinki had been dominated by turmoil in the Poland camp, as legendary striker Robert Lewandowski was first stripped of the captaincy and then declared he would not play for his country as long as coach Michal Probierz remained in charge.

Hopes were high for Finland, then, and goals from Joel Pohjanpalo and Benjamin Källman sent them to a 2-1 victory.

The story in many of the papers, however, was dominated by a 40 minute delay caused by a medical emergency in the crowd, as a spectator received CPR and was then taken to hospital.

After the game Finland coach Jacob Friis said the atmosphere among the players was somewhat subdued, and said the spectator was in a critical situation in hospital.

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