Taha fled Iraq for love. Unfortunately that’s not a reason good enough to stay in his adopted home in Finland. He went underground and now lives in Kirkkonummi with a Finnish family who wanted to help. Taha is one of thousands of undocumented immigrants in Finland.

THE 31^st HELSINKI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, also referred to as Rakkautta & Anarkiaa (Love & Anarchy), came to a close on Sunday, having drawn in record breaking numbers. This year’s film festival attracted more than 60,000 visitors and featured almost 500 screenings.

It has now been three years since the biggest migration wave flowed into Europe in 2015, when hundreds of thousands of people headed towards the European continent. Although news coming from the Middle East showed a dramatic escalation in migration after the extensive uprisings and revolutions, none of the governments or politicians in the European Union were expecting what is known today as the European migrant crisis.

Helsinki fashion week is the first fashion event focusing on 100% sustainable production and brands. This year the event was held in an exciting old oil tank, transformed into exhibition centre, located in Laajasalo, Helsinki. While the shows were held inside the oil tank, and an eco village was set up outside.

The Baltic Sea is one of the key things that makes Helsinki the city it is. In addition to beauty and diverse possibilities for relaxing it provides us with a gateway to the world and its oceans.

Unfortunately, the Baltic is not doing great. Eutrophication remains a big problem that hampers achieving a good status of the sea.

The frequent occurrence of extreme climate conditions is threatening the life of urban dwellers. Currently, more than 50 percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas. By 2050 this will increase to 70 percent. With rapid growth of urbanization comes rapid changes in the landscape that affect the climate and air quality in urban areas, leading to higher temperatures – or “heat islands” – higher emissions, and more ambient pollutions. During the summer, the higher urban temperatures may lead to more frequent health problems, and actually increase the mortality rate among the most vulnerable urban dwellers including elders and less economically fortunate, for example.

It has been suggested that author J.R.R Tolkien was greatly affected by Finnish mythologies. It was claimed that the “Kalevala”, a 19th-century work of epic poetry, which is regarded as one of the most significant works of Finnish literature, heavily influenced Tolkien. And so he wrote:

“All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost…”

The author of this piece was born and raised in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The city, both ethereal and nonchalant, is fairly seldom ventured into.