Finland doubles asylum seeker forecast to 30,000

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland's government on Friday doubled its estimate for the number of asylum seers in the country this year to up to 30,000, following an influx in the past few days. The government had two weeks ago lifted the estimate to 15,000. The figures compare with just 3,600 asylum seekers last year. The Interior Ministry said in a statement that during this week, many asylum seekers had come through Sweden, crossing a land border up north in Lapland. A country not used to mass immigration, Finland is struggling to handle the refugee situation amid deep spending cuts and rising unemployment in its recession-hit economy. (Reporting by Jussi Rosendahl; Editing by Alison Williams)