BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Eastern Europeans charged in payment processor hack

A group of Eastern Europeans was charged with hacking into the network of payment processor RBS WorldPay and using counterfeit debit cards at ATMs around the world to steal more than $9 million, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.

Four of the defendants allegedly collaborated to break into the RBS WorldPay network on November 4, 2008, where they got access to the account numbers for prepaid payroll cards used by employees to withdraw salaries from ATMs, according to the indictment from a federal grand jury in Atlanta. The defendants allegedly reverse-engineered the PINs associated with the accounts from the encrypted data on the network.

The defendants then allegedly raised the account limits on the compromised accounts and provided a network of "cashers" with 44 fake debit cards, according to the Justice Department. The cards allegedly were used November 8, 2008, to withdraw money from more than 2,100 ATMs in at least 280 cities, including in North America, Russia, Ukraine, Estonia, Italy, Hong Kong and Japan, in less than 12 hours.

Obama and Estonia

U.S. warship pays visit to Estonia

TALLINN  - A U.S. missile destroyer, which was a target of a terrorist attack in 2000, has arrived on a friendly visit to the port of Tallinn, the U.S. Embassy in Estonia said.

USS Cole, an Arleigh Burke-class Aegis-equipped guided missile destroyer, will stay in the Estonian capital until today, Tuesday. The program of the visit is focused on a variety of cultural and sports events.

After the visit, the warship is scheduled to return to her homeport of Norfolk, Virginia.

The destroyer, which was named after Marine Sergeant Darrell S. Cole, a machine-gunner killed in action on Iwo Jima on 19 February 1945, entered service with the U.S. Navy on June 8, 1996.

On 12 October 2000, the Cole was attacked by Al-Qaeda suicide attackers in the Yemeni port of Aden. Seventeen sailors were killed and 39 were injured, and the ship was damaged.

In 2005 Cole participated in BALTOPS 2005 naval drills with the Baltic states.

Lativan experts say meteorite crater is a coax

RIGA - The excitement last night in Latvia was over a great big, smoking crater supposedly created by meteorite.

But after rushing to the scene this morning, experts are saying the hole is just too tidy to be real.

Fire and rescue officials in the area near Latvia's border with Estonia received a called about the alleged meteorite last night from a supposed witness. A military unit that was sent to the site found radiation levels to be normal.

Today, a geologist from the University of Latvia says "it's artificial, dug by a shovel." That's the consensus among the scientists investigating the 27-foot wide by nine foot deep crater.

One nature conservationist says it appears whoever was behind the hoax burned a pyrotechnic compound at the bottom of the crater to try to make it look real.

Experts say Earth is constantly bombarded with objects from outer space, bust most burn up in the atmosphere and a meteorite large enough to create a crater as big as the one in Latvia would be unusual.

It's not yet clear whether police will open an investigation into the hoax.

Hannah and Beckham !

A TINY detail like Estonia not qualifying for the World Cup has not stopped the country’s leading pop star from planning a tournament song.

Hannah, who sang both national anthems when England played Estonia at Wembley in October 2007, has set her sights on singing for England — and with David Beckham.

‘I’m a big fan of his new beard,’ she says. ‘Maybe I could even top the Three Lions song that you hear all the time.’ Perhaps not surprisingly, Hannah and Beckham are both represented by Simon Fuller’s 19 Management company.

Estonia on the way to limiting freedom of assembly ?

Estonian parliament has adopted changes to a controversial law which could restrict participation in mass protests.

The law deals with, among others issues, the procedure of amending the Criminal Code and the law on foreigners.

Earlier this year the lawmakers also proposed and voted for amendments introducing criminal responsibility for calls for mass protests and preparation for them, as well as for distributing false information about Estonia which put at risk public security. They also implied the possibility of stripping naturalized citizens of their status for getting involved in mass protests.

In July, Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves dismissed the draft law, which sparked wide disputes in the country. The president said that Estonian laws should prevent crimes against the state and punish people for actions undermining Estonia’s independence, territorial integrity and constitutional order. At the same time, Hendrik believes that it is unacceptable to limit democratic freedoms, especially freedom of assembly and expression.

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Several politicians and public figures have criticized the proposed amendments, saying they would affect Estonia’s democratic development.

Man pleads guilty to manslaughter of Estonian

A 26-year-old north Dublin criminal has been jailed for 11 years for the manslaughter of an Estonian man attacked as he sat with his girlfriend watching planes take off from Dublin airport.

Ian Daly of Moatview Drive in Priorswood was on trial at the Central Criminal Court for the murder of Valeri Ranert (aged 28) of Westend Village, Blanchardstown on April 30, 2007 at Naul Road in Swords.

He had pleaded not guilty to murdering the divorced father-of-one and to hijacking the victim’s Volkswagen Golf on the same occasion.

However, Daly, also a father-of-one, changed his plea to not guilty to murder, but guilty to manslaughter on day four of his trial today. This was accepted by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the jury of nine men and three women was excused.

Detective Garda John Collins told Michael Durack SC, prosecuting, that Mr Ranert and his girlfriend, Jelena Sirokova, drove to the lay-by beside the runway at the back of the airport around midnight on Sunday April 29, 2007.

About an hour later a number of men arrived in a Ford Fiesta, he said. After initially asking for a light, two of the men surrounded the couple’s car and smashed in the side windows. One of them then kicked Mr Ranert in the head, rendering him unconscious.

They dragged the forklift driver from his car and kicked him to death in front of Ms Sirokova before stealing his car and fleeing.

Mr Ranert was lifeless as he lay on the roadside and pronounced dead an hour later in Beaumont Hospital. He died of blunt force trauma to the head and neck.

The detective said a mobile phone found beside the victim was registered to Ian Daly.

He was arrested the following September, and told gardaí that he had been out “on a bender” all weekend at the time of the killing.

When you marry an Estonian, you inherit the entire family

All sorts of stories about Eastern Europe circulated in the early 90s. One was that for a pair of Levi’s blue jeans you could buy a car. It was said that for a pack of Marlboros you could have anything smaller. The women were purportedly both gorgeous and dangerous, capable of weaving especially wicked webs.

A few years after arriving in 1992, I married an Estonian woman. None of the warnings that circulated in Canada turned out to apply to Liina. What they should have warned me about were the standard marital issues which apply in every culture.Like the fact that when you marry the wife, you inherit the family.

-from Inherit the Family: Marrying into Eastern Europe by Vello Vikerkaar

Vello Vikerkaar, the foreign Estonian columnist for Postimees and Eesti Ekspress, released his first book in Estonian, Pikk jutt, sitt jutt, kogutud lühijutud. But nobody but Estonians could read it.

In order to spread the Gospel of Estonia to the rest of the world, Vello proudly announces the release of his English-language book, Inherit the Family: Marrying into Eastern Europe.

Link: http://www.amazon.com/Inherit-...

Estonian start-up Propaganda launches social media "show-off" utility WhosRich.me

Estonia-based startup Propaganda LLC has recently released the web-based social media utility WhosRich, Tigerprises.com/LETA reports.

WhosRich.me makes it fun and easy for people to track their friends' shopping habits.

The utility gives eager shoppers a scene to exhibit publicly their purchases and receive the feedback from mates.

The site has been open to public for less than two weeks.

WhosRich aim is to cater equally for both user groups – those looking to publish their purchases and the ones desiring just to follow what people are buying, the founder of the site Kaarel Kala pointed out.

"The integrity of the users posting on the site is up to other users to decide and react upon. Users who begin to flood the system with posts of stuff they probably haven’t bought will be ignored and most likely not followed by other users," Kala noted.

North East storm took water out of Pärnu river in Estonia

The strong North-Eastern winds that ravaged Estonia Wednesday evening lowered the water level in the South West Estonian Pärnu river by over 80 cm, National Broadcasting/LETA reports.

Due to the low water level, ships could not sail from Pärnu port, the floating restaurant in the centre of the city and yachts in the yachting marina were tilted. The Sauga River that flows into Pärnu river resembled a bigger creek rather than a river.

Pärnu port captain Riho Prints stressed that a flood is always much worse than fall of water level, since it tends to cause damages and bigger accidents can happen with ships at sea and in the port.

He said that the major fall in the river’s water level was caused by a stable and very strong North East wind that swept through all Baltic States. “A vacuum emerged that took water out of the small shallow Pärnu Bay.”

Prints said that the water level fell up to 85 cm during the night. By now it is back to normal, 53 cm below the zero level which is not problem for shipping traffic anymore.

The biggest fall of the Pärnu river water level took place in 1976 and was 1.25 metres.

Estonian authorities have conquered rabies

Estonian Veterinary and Food Board data indicate that rabies, that was mainly spread by fox and raccoon dogs, has been conquered in Estonia with vaccinations that have taken place over the past five years, Postimees Online/LETA reports.

Around two or three cases of rabies a year are still found at areas next to the Russian border.

Veterinary and Food Board project manager Enel Niin said that vaccinating fox and raccoon dogs against rabies doesn’t have exactly a bad effect on their numbers. Still, the number of rabies cases has plunged drastically. “Rabies is a dangerous and difficult disease that always end in death,” said Niin. People can contract the disease too.

All over Estonia, except the areas of cities, 860,000 doses of rabies vaccine are thrown down a plane every autumn and spring. The Estonian state decided to launch such vaccination in 2003 when 814 cases of rabies were registered, 51 in domestic animals. The first vaccination took place in 2005.

Woman breaks down in witness box of murder trial

A young Estonian woman broke down in tears at the Central Criminal Court today as she recalled seeing two strangers drag her boyfriend from his car and kick him to death.

Jelena Sirokova was giving evidence on day one of the trial of a 28-year-old Dublin man accused of murdering a man in his 20s, also from Estonia.

Ian Daly of Moatview Drive in Priorswood has pleaded not guilty to murdering Valeri Ranert on or about April 30, 2007 at Naul Road in Swords. He also denies hijacking the victim’s Volkswagen Golf on the same occasion.

Through an interpreter, Ms Sirokova told Michael Durack SC, prosecuting, that on Sunday night, April 29, 2007, she had gone with her boyfriend of two years to the viewing ground at Dublin Airport, and parked facing the runway.

They were there about an hour when a young man knocked on the window of the passenger seat where Mr Ranert was sitting. He rolled down the window and the stranger asked for a light, she said. Mr Ranert said he was sorry, that he didn’t smoke, and he closed the window.

Ms Sirokova said the young man knocked again and Mr Ranert rolled down the window and repeated that he didn’t smoke and didn’t have a light.

“The young man started screaming and asking Valeri to give him his phone.” she recalled, explaining that he also tried to kick her boyfriend through the open window.

She said she then jumped into the back seat and her boyfriend jumped into the driver seat. “Valeri wanted to give him his phone,” she added.

Innovation, in touch with citizens

The main objective of the project Innovative Circus is to examine and identify the key factors that lie behind innovation, involving every possible skateholder in innovation (which includes students from colleges to large research) and to achieve best practice and take measures positive to the regional and national policies.

The pioneering experience of the project was in Riga, the capital of Latvia, and over 10,000 people visited the tent that housed the Innovation Circus in September 2007. Researchers, companies, universities, schools, ordinary citizens ... could interact directly with the European innovation, and concluded that "innovation is a happy ending for science," said Janis Stabulnieks, of the Latvian Technological Center.

The success of the experience made this "Innovation Circus" travel to Milan months later: shows, tours, forums, and even lotteries completed what had been done in Latvia, and year after year, it has continued being hold. In fact, the conference coincided with the inauguration of the Innovation Circus Milan 2009. There were around 10,000 visitors in 2007, more than 30,000 in 2008, and this year it is expected to exceed that figure.

Innovation Circus has served as a model for putting innovation and citizens closer. In future editions, the Innovation Circus will arrive in Barcelona, Kortrijk (Belgium), Lisbon, Milan, Vilnius and Tallinn among late 2009 and late 2011. The Lisbon and Tallinn events will include the award of the European Design Management Award, and the target audience will be citizens and youth, governments of all kinds, from local to national financial institutions, businesses and media.

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BBN : The past 5 days news

The number of smokers is decreasing slowly

According to a research conducted this spring by TNS Emor it turned out that compared to the year before the number of smokers only decreased by 2pct, e24.ee writes.

Citycon Oy: Estonian awaits orders from the boss

Estonian employers wait for the boss to tell them what to do, said Rocca al Mare Shopping Centre's owner Harri Holmström in Kauppalehti, aripaev.ee writes.

Bonnier acquires business newsletters on emerging markets

Bonnier Group has acquired the news2biz newsletters published by Copenhagen-based Northgroup Newsletters. The news2biz newsletters consist of five titles on the business and economies of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and China. (2)

Lithuania, Estonia stocks plunge as Baltics lead global decline

Lithuanian and Estonian stocks tumbled, leading declines worldwide, on concern the Baltic region’s world-beating rally has outpaced the prospect for profits to recover, Bloomberg reports.

Kaljurand: we have to get our foot in the door with China

“We need to look a head far into the future – a port with piers is built for at least 50 years,” said Ain Kaljurand, the chairman of the board of Port of Tallinn, logistikauudised.ee writes.

Ministry took over Telekom's shares from Estonian Development Fund

The Ministry of Finance has taken over the 3 pct of Eesti Telekom's shares that belonged to the Estonian Development Fund, as has come clear from the company's share register, aripaev.ee writes. (1)

Kopernik to send packages to Eastern Europe

The Kopernik Society is collecting packages for delivery to friends and relatives in Poland, Byelorussia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moscow, Slovakia, St. Petersburg and Ukraine.

Packages will be accepted from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Oct. 27 at the Polish Community Center, 347 Prospect St., Binghamton. The minimum weight to all countries is 20 pounds and the maximum weight is 50 pounds. Loose clothing won’t be accepted.

For more information, call (607) 723-8042

New general manager at Swissôtel Tallinn

After two and a half years as General Manager at the Swissôtel Amsterdam, Bart Westerhout is now moving within Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts to Tallinn, Estonia. Born in the Netherlands, he began his professional career in the marketing department of the Hilton Hotel Amsterdam, after graduating from the Hotel Management School in The Hague in 1984. The 49-year-old has since worked mainly in key positions in sales and marketing, and has worked as a General Manager within the four and five star hotel industry. He also worked for six years as the Director of Facilities Management in the Dutch parliament at The Hague (Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal, The Hague).

The 238-room Swissôtel Tallinn opened in December 2007 and is one of the highest buildings in the Estonian capital, with a spectacular view over the historic Old Town and the Baltic. This elegant 30-storey hotel is located in Tallinn’s financial district, the so-called “Wall Street of Tallinn”. The Old Town is a 10-minute walk away and the hotel is just 15 minutes from the station and the airport, making it ideally situated for both business and pleasure.

Criminal gangs recruit boys in Estonia for burglaries in Finland

Increase in crime feared as unemployed start losing benefits ..

There are fears of a surge in crime by Estonians this autumn and winter when the unemployment compensation for those who lost their jobs in the early part of this year starts running out.
  The number of robberies in Estonia had risen by 11 per cent by the end of the summer compared with last year’s figures.
  The number of crimes committed in Finland by Estonian citizens has also grown.
 
In the small community of Kohila, 30 kilometres south of Tallinn, shady offers of work in Finland are one way that those in need try to make money.
  Young men might be offered gigs of a couple of days at a “construction site”, but in practice the work might prove to be carrying stolen property, or driving a car on a burglary gig.
 Schoolchildren have even been offered a riideturnee, or “clothing tour”, which means going to department stores in the south of Finland, where name-brand clothing is stolen for a fee.
  “News about construction gigs comes over the Internet through acquaintances. They look for people who do not have a criminal background”, says kick-boxing coach Raido Murusalu, who is waiting at the Kohila station for a train to Tallinn.

PokerStars marketing code for October 2009

This month PokerStars is offering a three-deposit bonus on your first three deposits! Use PokerStars Marketing Code PSP11903 and you’ll get the 100% up to $600 bonus spread out across your first, second, and third deposits. Just make sure you use the same code with each deposit to ensure you get the full bonus. The second and third deposits must be made within 90 days of the first, but you’ll have six months to clear all three bonuses.

To clear all three of these deposit bonuses at PokerStars.com, earn VIP Player Points by playing real money poker. Once you’ve earned 17 X your bonus, you will have met all the requirements; however, you don’t have to wait that long because your poker bonus will be released to you in $10 increments. Visit the “Check My Bonus Status” page at the Cashier to monitor your bonus progress.

Throughout the month of October 2009 (until October 20th), PokerStars is hosting nightly freeroll satellites beginning at 19:00 CET and 21:30 CET. These tourneys feed into a live €1,100 tournament in Tallinn, Estonia. These Baltic Festival Freerolls could earn you the buy-in plus $500 spending money, plus five nights stay at Swissôtel Tallinn. This is one of those opportunities that only a select few online poker players get to participate in, but it is the chance of a lifetime, nonetheless.

Heavy rain drench Finland

The weekend autumn storm lashed Finland with heavy rains on Sunday. Large puddles and sleet have disrupted road traffic, with southern Finland seeing some 50 mm of rain on Sunday, according to the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

Both Fortum and Vattenfall say they have managed to restore power to their customers around the country who lost power due to the storm earlier on Sunday.

Rescue workers in the capital city region have meanwhile been busy clearing trees felled by powerful winds that ripped through the country on Saturday night and Sunday.

Ferry operator Linda Line has cancelled all ferry traffic between Helsinki and Tallinn on Sunday and Monday because of the stormy conditions.

The Finnish Meteorological Institute says winds are dangerously strong on Sunday on land as well as at sea. A storm warning is in force in most sea areas.

Road conditions are poor in much of central and northern Finland due to snow and sleet.

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WW1 Russian submarine found

The submarine wreck was discovered by a research ship of the Swedish Maritime Administration the 10 September. A closer study with a radio-controlled underwater vessel indicate that the submarine may be ‘Gepard’, one of twelve submarines of the Bars (snow leopard) class who operated in the Baltic Sea during WW1.

“We have a strong suspicion that it’s ‘Gepard’, says Hans Oiås, responsible for the Swedish database of shipwrecks, to news agency TT.

The submarine with 40 people in the crew was, according to Oiås, on a mission together with other submarines to guard a line of mines west of the Estonian island Saaremaa. It was reported lost in October 1917, but has now most likely been found after 92 years on international waters, 30 admiralty miles northeast of the Swedish island Gotska Sandön.

The submarine likely collided with a mine and sank to the bottom with the crew onboard. The submarine is split, but besides damages from the blasting the wreck is surprisingly intact. The Russian Embassy has been informed about the finding.

”It’s not everyday you find a submarine. Its’ a little bit exciting and it’s also a piece in the military history and the history of the countries surrounding the Baltic Sea”, Hans Öiås says.

The submarine has eight torpedoes mounted on the deck still in place.