Finland has notified the United Nations it is leaving the Ottawa Convention that bans the use of anti-personnel landmines, its foreign ministry said late on Thursday.

Finland faces severe thunderstorms and localised flooding risk this weekend, with hot and humid weather across the country. Thunderstorms are expected to hit southern regions by midday Saturday, with temperatures climbing to 30°C in central areas.

Decision to withdraw from Convention is based on Finland's defence needs in the deteriorated security environment,' says Foreign Ministry

Lithuania and Finland look set to start domestic production of anti-personnel landmines next year to supply themselves and Ukraine because of what they see as the military threat from Russia, officials from the two NATO member states told Reuters.

Some parts of central Finland will see temperatures above the 25-degree Celsius mark, Finland's threshold for 'hot' weather.

Finland's President Alexander Stubb is the head of state for one of NATO's newest members, and he sat down with CBC News to talk Trump, the war in Ukraine and what it's like sharing a 1,300-kilometre border with Russia.

July 7 (UPI) -- The AI company Groq announced Monday it is set to establish its first-ever European data center. It already has a presence in the United States, Canada and Saudi Arabia, but its global network will soon stretch to Helsinki, Finland.

A former mercenary of the Russian private military company Wagner, who had applied for asylum, was detained in Finland. Source: European Pravda; Yle, a Finnish public service media company Details: The Finnish Border Guard Service has previously reported a man who crossed the border near the town of Kitee in North Karelia on 17 June.