The highest temperature of the heatwave, 31.7C, was measured at two locations, Ylitornio and Sodankylä, earlier this week.

Father Joseph Marquis, a priest for 20 years and Santa Claus portrayer for 53, is retiring from his priesthood at Sacred Heart Byzantine Catholic Church in Livonia.

The ‘Search for Santa’ day trip flights see families jet off from Glasgow Airport, land in Lapland, meet the real Santa Claus, and fly back home — all in a single day.

But it took some time for Santa to make his entrance. In 1984, just after Christmas, a Soviet missile, launched from bordering Russia, misfired. It speared into a frozen Finnish lake a few hours ...