BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Dollar drops against East European currencies

In early deals on Friday, the dollar edged lower against its East European counterparts. While the dollar declined to a 10-day low against the Polish Zloty, it touched 2-day lows against the currencies of Czech, Slovak, Estonia and Hungary. On the other hand, the dollar jumped to a 1-week high versus the Turkish lira during this time.

The US currency fell to a 2-day low of 16.2425 against the Czech Koruna in early deals on Friday at 2:05 am ET. The pair is now worth 16.2620, compared to Thursday´s closing value of 16.3340.

During early trading on Friday, the dollar trended lower versus the Slovak Koruna. At about 2:05 am ET, the pair touched a 2-day low of 20.6840. The pair that closed Thursday´s deals at 20.8050 is currently quoted at 20.7220.

Slovak industrial production grew 1.8% year-on-year in March, down from 12.5% growth in February, the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic revealed today. During the first quarter, industrial output climbed 7.4% as compared with the same period of 2007.

Against the Estonian Kroon, the dollar edged down during early deals on Friday. The pair hit a 2-day low of 10.0990 by about 5:05 am ET, compared to 10.1640 hit late New York Thursday. As of now, the pair is trading at 10.1168.

Eurasian Secret Services daily review

http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=1535

REVIEW TOPICS :
Accused German linked to spy flap, Russian agent’s whereabouts unclear
Belarus KGB transfers detained US lawyer to state psychiatric hospital
Students offered Belarusian KGB head to play toys, not human destinies
Latvian parliament re-appoints Janis Kazocins as Constitution Protection Bureau chief for next term
Russian Defence Ministry not yet received any request from Chechen parliament regarding dismissal of Vostok commander

Accused German linked to spy flap, Russian agent’s whereabouts unclear

A German citizen charged with selling sensitive technology information to Russia is a key figure in a mysterious spy case involving a former Federal Space Agency official that jarred Russian-Austrian relations last year, The Moscow Times reports.
AIA reported last week that German authorities had charged a 44-year-old native of Bavaria with passing sensitive documents to “a member of a Russian intelligence service.”

Moscow move on Georgia "provocative" : Estonia

By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON - Russia may have seen NATO's recent refusal to put Georgia on a fast track to membership as a green light for its "provocative" move to strengthen ties with separatists in Georgia, Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said on Friday.

Ilves, whose Baltic nation, like Georgia, was once part of the Soviet Union, praised Tbilisi for staying calm after a decree by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordering his government to set up legal links with neighboring Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

"The Russian decree we think is provocative, counterproductive and ultimately wrong," Ilves, currently on a visit to the United States, said in an interview with Reuters after meetings with Vice President Dick Cheney and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Andrei Sannikov: “Lukashenka is preparing Belarus’ surrender to Russia”

An interesting comments made by Andrei Sannikov,a member of the organising committee of the civil campaign “European Belarus”, appeared on the web (Charter97.org). And I think they are worth of your time as he goes over some important issues facing Belarus and its political direction.

“Alyaksandr Lukashenka is consciously set to break relations with the US, after which rupture of relations with Europe could follow, as he is preparing surrender of Belarus to Russia. And he needs scapegoats to blame for these things happening,” stated the international coordinator of the Charter’97, a member of the organising committee of the civil campaign “European Belarus” Andrei Sannikov, commenting on the intention of the Belarusian authorities to reduce staff of the Belarusian mission in Washington again.

The Second international Conference dedicated to the memory of the first Estonian president Lennart Meri took place in Tallinn under the auspices of Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves and was dedicated to problems of Europe. Prime-ministers of Estonia and Georgia, Foreign Ministers and Defence Ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Director-General for External and Politico-Military Affairs at the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union Robert Cooper, European Enlargement Commissar Olli Rehn, high-ranking diplomats from Europe and the US, members of the European Parliament and national parliaments of the EU countries, leading international analysts and journalists took part in the conference.

Russia acknowledges 26 December 2007 violation of Finnish airspace

Russia has acknowledged a violation of Finnish airspace by a military transport aircraft off Porvoo on Boxing Day last year, the Finnish defence ministry said Wednesday.

The Tupolev 154 aircraft flew in Finnish airspace for about three minutes. A Finnish fighter intercepted the Russian aeroplane. Russia denied the incident at the time.

"The acknowledgement of the airspace violation went according to the standard procedure," said Jyrki Iivonen, director of public policy at the Finnish defence ministry.

Mr Iivonen added he did not regard the Boxing Day incident as serious.

"The situation was probably caused by the fact that the international airspace corridor is so narrow at the point in question. Russia, Estonia and Finland have recently discussed how similar incidents could be averted."

Russian aircraft have violated Estonian and Finnish airspace on numerous occasions in the current decade.

Goodbye to vodka

In Estonia, doctors urge local politicians to deny themselves alcohol during public arrangements to struggle against drunkenness. In Russia, authorities are not ready to give up consuming heating drinks. The tradition to drink alcohol for any kind of success (from winning elections to passing bills) and to celebrate all the holidays of the calendar is too deep-rooted in Russia.

According to old-timers of the State Duma, offices of many deputies turn into real banquet halls. One can buy alcohol to any taste at the shops of the Lower House of the Russian Parliament. In addition, deputies’ friends and supporters traditionally present them with bottles of alcohol on any occasion. On the eve of holidays long lines of people with big oblong boxes can be seen in the building of the State Duma.

Deputies themselves tried to solve the problem, but they failed. Andrei Vulf put forward a suggestion to stop drinking alcohol in the parliament. But his counterparts were not very enthusiastic about it. Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the leader of the Liberal and Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) supported the initiative of dry law in the parliament. But according to the Duma frequenters, it was the LDPR faction to organize clamorous tablefuls. Formerly, at Soviet party bequests they used to drink only vodka. Now it is different. According to analysts of the alcohol market, the consumption of strong alcohol decreased in Russia, whereas the consumption of soft drinks – beer and wine – increased. Moreover, because of higher incomes most Russians start drinking expensive alcohol, experts say.

Soldiers' remains spur debate

More than 300 Norwegian soldiers who fought for Hitler's army on the Eastern Front during World War II remain missing. The families of some of them want to find their remains and bring them back to Norway for burial. The government may help, but only to a point.

The missing soldiers are generally considered traitors, and those who survived their service with the German military at the time were tried and often jailed when they returned to Norway after the war.

Others never returned, and it's believed the remains of many of them are still lying on former battlefields in such places as the southern portion of the former Soviet Union and border areas of Estonia and Russia.

Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reported over the weekend that at least 308 Norwegians went missing in action during battles on the Eastern Front. NRK assembled documentation from German archives on missing soldiers, and televised lists showing the names of the Norwegians missing, their ages and hometowns.

Is binge drinking getting worse ?

Jon Henley

This is, frankly, a statistical minefield. It doesn't help that in the words of the British Medical Association there is "no consensus on the definition" of binge drinking : the term used to mean a two-or three-day bender, but now refers to "heavy drinking, often with the intention of getting drunk, over an evening or similar time span", or to "the consumption of more than half the recommended maximum weekly number of alcohol units" in a single night.

The World Health Organisation reckons the average Brit drinks 9.29 litres of pure alcohol per year, ranking us 16th in Europe - a long way behind Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Germany.

Despite the horror stories, there is also evidence (in the Office of National Statistics' 2006 General Household survey) that since 2000 the number of men drinking more than their recommended limit of 21 units a week has fallen by 6%, and the number of women consuming more than 14 units per week by 5%.

The survey also appears to indicate that binge drinking by 16- to 24-year-old men has declined over the past year, with levels among young women stabilising.

In terms of the visible consequences of binge drinking, viz drunkenness and violence, take your pick. Since licensing laws were relaxed in 2005, violent crime has supposedly risen by 56% in Manchester, 3% in Nottingham and 6% in Birmingham, but fallen by 11% in Blackpool, 12% in Guildford and 16% in Croydon.

Violent crime has dropped before midnight, but has risen between 3am and 6am. Drink-related hospital admissions are up in some places, down in others.

Some of us plainly remain to be persuaded of the virtues of continental drinking habits. But parliament first saw fit to legislate against "the Odious and Loathsome Sin of Drunkenness" in 1606. So are we getting worse ? No idea.

Nissan to set up Infinity in Estonia next January

Elena Koinova

Infinity, the high-end division of Japanese car maker Nissan, will set foothold in Bulgaria in October 2008, Dnevnik reported on February 28.

The second phase of Infinity's march onto European markets will start on January 2009 and will cover Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Romania, Israel and the Czech Republic. Three months later, in April 2009, Nissan's luxury division is expected to have representative offices in Germany, the UK, Ireland, Lithuania, Finland and Slovakia.

Infinity will offer four car models, all of which will be showcased at the car expo in Geneva in March. The second generation of the FX cross-over is expected to prove the biggest hit with experts and buyers.

Accession All Areas

IT started with buying a stranger a drink after Scotland's World Cup qualifying match in Tallinn in 1993. That led to Iain Lawson building a Baltic network of business contacts, buying Estonia's former national pest control service, and becoming that country's consul general in Scotland.

Lawson couldn't have known that the local who persuaded the barman to keep the beer flowing for the Tartan Army was economic adviser to the Estonian prime minister.

That simple border-busting gesture of thanks would open up a world of opportunities in one of the most dynamic pockets of the New Europe.

Now Lawson is aiming to encourage other Scots businesses to follow his lead when he takes a leading role part in the Conference on New Europe being organised by the Scottish Council Development and Industry (SCDI) and Scottish Enterprise in Edinburgh next month.

The largest gathering of Eastern European and Scottish diplomats and trade bodies ever held in Scotland, the New Europe event aims to wake Scots businesses up to the red-hot export and growth opportunities on our doorstep.

"There have been massive changes in Eastern Europe but there are still great opportunities," Lawson said.