BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Baltic countries' drug abuse on rise

* The Baltic countries of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are no longer importers, but exporters of amphetamines and drug abuse in the region is on the rise, the U.N.'s drugs and crime chief said Wednesday.

Antonio Maria Costa, the executive director of the U.N.'s Office on Drugs and Crime, said escalating drug abuse in the region is leading to a rise in organized crime, HIV/AIDS, human trafficking and corruption.

Costa, speaking at a Lithuanian government-sponsored forum on drug abuse and control in the Baltic region, praised the Baltic governments for their efforts to combat drug abuse but said more must be done.

"The Baltic region, the Nordic countries and Eastern Europe remain targets for heroin traffickers," Costa said.

Ferry problem led to free booze

The Estonian passenger ferry MS Regina Baltica managed to free itself after running aground off Stockholm on Tuesday evening, but witnesses were concerned about free-flowing alcohol during the incident.

Several Norwegians were among the 373 passengers on board the Regina Baltica when it ran aground in the Baltic Sea at 9:40 p.m. on Tuesday in a well-charted stretch of water. No one was injured in the collision.

"We noticed that the ship suddenly lurched astern. It went full speed backwards, then there was an intense bang and then the lights went out. We were first told that there were technical problems but after half an hour the loudspeakers announced that we had run aground," Terje Lund told Aftenposten.no.

The ferry managed to work itself loose on its own power at around 1 a.m. and an hour later the ship reached Kappelskär, outside of Stockholm, where passengers were given the option of continuing on to Tallinn in Estonia with another ferry or turning back to Stockholm.

Norwegian passenger Torje Sulland said that rescue ships followed the ferry throughout and the incident was "never dramatic".

Boom times for hi-tech fraudsters

In the real world it's a fair bet that burglars live in the same town or city where they commit their crimes.

Not so on the net where hi-tech criminals can be a continent away from their victims and often route control commands through a chain of computers to hide their tracks.

One area turning out to be a hotbed of hi-tech crime is Eastern Europe. Enormously successful tech savvy gangs have been traced to Russia, Romania, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Crime spree

Andrew Shearer, who studied computer crime in Eastern Europe for his MA in History at the University of Keele, believes part of the reason for this growth of cyber crime groups is cultural.

Russia's shadow economy has a very long history, said Mr Shearer.

"It's a way of life," he said, "a way of getting round official restrictions. Evading taxes is a national pastime."

"Many people did not want to get involved with the state and so worked in the shadow economy and derived their living from that," he said.

The legacy of this is that the network to commit crimes and deal with the proceeds is well established.

"It's a very loose and fluid way of organising crime," he said adding that it has a very different character to Mafia groups elsewhere that keep criminality within an extended family.

Add to this a history of the KGB actively recruiting hackers and lots of unemployed scientists and you have a great recipe for a skilled, criminally-minded digital underground.

"A lot of those in the scientific and technical community were well trained but had no jobs and it's understandable that they would work for criminal means," said Mr Shearer.

Mikko Hyppönen, chief research officer at Finnish computer security firm F-Secure, agrees that Eastern Europe has a ready pool of technically smart talent to call on.

"If there are a lot of people with a lot of computer skills but they do not have many chances to use those skills to make a living then they will start to find alternative uses for those skills," he told the BBC News website.

What these people have realised now is that hi-tech crime can be very lucrative.

"Hackers and virus writers used to do it just to show they could," said Mr Hypponen. "Sooner or later though they started to figure they could make real money out of it."

Many are making significant sums of money from their dark digital trade.

CeMines Estonia OÜ files CE Mark Registration seeking clearance to ..........

.. distribute Cell Correct LAb ..........

Test Kits for Clinical Use in Detection of Lung Cancer

CeMines is making significant progress in the European Union. We chose an exceptional business partner, Trial Form Support, AB, Helsingborg, Sweden, as our primary CRO for EU-based regulatory initiatives." Roger Attick, CEO, CeMines.

GOLDEN, Colo., -- CeMines, Inc. today announced that the Company's wholly owned subsidiary -- CeMines International Inc., CeMines Estonia OU -- has filed for CE Mark registration through Trial Form Support AB, its primary Contract Research Organization (CRO) partner for Europe-based regulatory initiatives.

"CeMines is seeking EU clearance for clinical use of the Company's minimally invasive lung cancer-detection test, CellCorrect LAb. CE Mark registration is mandatory in order for CeMines to commercialize our current and future products in 25 European Union and three European Free Trade Association (EFTA) member states," said Roger Attick, President and CEO of CeMines, Inc.

CellCorrect LAb test kits are an accurate and inexpensive way to detect altered autoimmunity and associated patterns (i.e., 'Molecular FingerPrinting(TM)') of disease-related autoantibodies in the bloodstream. CeMines has conducted international clinical studies which demonstrated that unambiguous and consistent patterns of specific antibodies have regularly proven their utility as composite biomarkers to differentiate and characterize cancer -- and can therefore be used as diagnostic tests to support the diagnosis of cancer. The Company uses a proprietary bioinformatics-based statistical analysis and pattern recognition application. This bioinformatics application, known as CeMines Molecular FingerPrinting(TM), evaluates cancer- related antibody patterns and their relevant statistical profiles. These data are presented in an easy-to-read 'score format,' not requiring subjective interpretation by physicians.

"We are very optimistic that ongoing clinical results will show compelling data which uphold findings from previous studies, confirming that the CellCorrect LAb Kit is simple to use, cost effective, and a powerful tool for use in supporting diagnosis of lung cancer," said Roger Attick, Chief Executive Officer and President of CeMines, Inc. "Our integration of CellCorrect LAb and CeMines Molecular FingerPrinting technologies may soon establish CellCorrect as 'the most innovative,' minimally invasive in vitro diagnostic modality available.

Energies renouvelables : recherche et utilisation, Estonie

* Une conférence sur la recherche dans le domaine des énergies renouvelables et leur utilisation se déroulera à Tartu, Estonie, le 13 octobre.

Seront étudiés dans le cadre de cette conférence, organisée conjointement par l'association estonienne de biomasse, l'université estonienne de l'agriculture, le ministère estonien des affaires économiques et des communications, la fondation Archimède et le fonds estonien pour la nature, la recherche et le développement dans le domaine des énergies renouvelables en Estonie.

Pour tout renseignement complémentaire, s'adresser à :
Valdur Tiit
E-mail: [email protected]

Un ferry s'échoue en mer Baltique au large de la Suède

STOCKHOLM - Un ferry avec 542 passagers et membres d'équipage s'est échoué mardi en mer Baltique, au large de la Suède, alors qu'il se rendait de Stockholm à Tallinn. Aucun passager n'a été bessé, a indiqué un responsable de la compagnie Tallink.
Le Regina Baltica s'est échoué près du port de Kappelskar, à quelque 90 km au nord de Stockholm, après avoir perdu de la puissance, a dit un responsable des services de secours suédois.
Vaino Konga, responsable de Tallink Sweden, a déclaré que l'on ignorait la cause exacte de l'accident. «Nous attendons maintenant des informations pour déterminer ce qu'il faut faire. Aucun passager n'a été blessé», a-t-il dit à Reuters.
Selon le site internet de Tallink, le Regina Baltica a été construit en Finlande en 1980 et il peut accueillir 1500 passagers.

Le 28 septembre 1994, le naufrage du ferry Estonia, qui reliait l'Estonie à la Suède, avait fait 852 morts. C'est le bilan le plus lourd d'une catastrophe maritime en Europe depuis la Seconde Guerre mondiale.

Opening address by PM of Estonia at the 51st General Assembly of the ATA

Opening Ceremony of the 51st General Assembly of the Atlantic Treaty Association

28 September 2005
Tallinn

Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies,
Dear Guests,

It is a great honor to address the 51st General Assembly of the Atlantic Treaty Association. On behalf of the Estonian Government, I would like to extend to all of you a very warm welcome. We are extremely proud to host this event.

The central theme of this conference – ‘Democracy and human rights – a new mission for NATO’ – is, at once, relevant and intriguing. As part of a broader, ongoing discussion on NATO’s transformation and strategic purpose, this topic raises a number of key questions including what is NATO for and what should be its new missions.

On the one hand, the answer is simple - NATO is and will remain, above all, a defensive organization. NATO’s cornerstone is collective security and so it should and will remain. On the other hand, NATO is facing a series of new threats - most of which come from beyond Europe’s borders. Terrorism, instability, failed states – all of these pose a threat to Alliance security. All of these require new responses.

NATO has proven that it has the capacity to regulate military conflicts. Now we need to determine what NATO could do to prevent such conflicts from erupting in the first place. We also need to define how NATO could do more to contribute in post-conflict situations. Experience has shown that while de-construction of a society is relatively simple, its reconstruction is more difficult. Restoring security and stability in post-conflict situations is a complex challenge.

NATO has already taken some substantial steps in this direction. In Afghanistan, NATO is helping to stabilize the country’s security environment – a vital prerequisite to building a stable, democratic country. This mission is a high priority for NATO. It is also a priority for Estonia. As a member of the Alliance, we feel that it is our duty to contribute to the NATO-led ISAF mission.

Shooting is in progress in Estonia of the new feature Jade Warrior, a co-production between four countries

* Jade Warrior (Armuvalus sõdalane in Estonian, Jatesoturi in Finnish), a new epic feature film being shot as a Finnish-Chinese-Estonian-Dutch co-production and the most expensive co-production film in the history of film production in Estonia, began.

This film, directed by A.J. Annila based on the story from the Finnish screenwriter Iiro Kütner, is founded on Chinese kung-fu film traditions, but the action takes place in the present.  “This is a truly original approach to the Finnish national epic Kalevala.  It is a thrilling and melodramatic story of unrequited love that has lasted for a thousand years already,” said Margus Õunapuu, the Estonian producer of the film and head of the Film Tower production company.  This is the first kung-fu film to be produced in Estonia or Finland. Noted Finnish actors Tommi Eronen (Children and Adults, dir. Aleksi Salmenperä) and Markku Peltola (The Man Without a Past, dir. Aki Kaurismäki) play the ........

Fraud letters targeted at Estonia

* Allika Holiday Village in Hiiumaa received a seemingly favourable offer from England in August to have a conference. After some time the offer appeared to be a fraud. Mare Piksarv, manager of Allika Holiday Village responded to this letter, after which the company Frederic Consults declared that they could only pay by credit card. Piksarv made a phone call to the company and someone answered her in a Pakistani-English accent. This seemed strange and Piksarv broke off all relations with Frederic Consults. Several other Estonian accommodation companies have also received suspicious offers from abroad.

Estonia Business : Week 38, 2005

Monday, 19th of September, 2005

Over 300 new hotel places to Kuressaare
Due to prolongation of tourism season, most hotels and spas in Kuressaare plan extensions that would create over 300 new hotel places to Kuressaare. Spa Meri is planning the biggest extensions and is planning to build 110 new hotel places. Cost of the project is EEK 20-25 million. Hotel Daisy will build 80-100 new hotel places.
Äripäev

Tuesday, 20th of September, 2005

Airport is planning to invest EEK 800 million
AS Tallinn Airport is planning to invest more than EEK 800 million during the following years. Airport wants to increase the capacity and safety of flights. Sales of Tallinn Airport grew from EEK 208 million in 2003 to EEK 251 million in 2004. Net profit of the respective period grew from EEK 46 million to EEK 64 million.
Postimees

Wednesday, 21st of September, 2005

Regio and Hansapank are best enterprises in Estonia
Yesterday, the winners of this year’s entrepreneurship awards were declared. The award for entrepreneurship by the Enterprise Estonia went to Regio. Hansapank was announced as the most competitive company in Estonia. Regio was also the best in the Innovator category. Best exporter of 2005 was AS Polimoon. Estravel was declared as the best tourism developer and Elcoteq Tallinn received the award for the best foreign investor.
Postimees

Software company Playtech might be listed on London stock exchange
Playtech Group, the parent company of Tartu’s software producer Playtech Eesti is planning to list shares on London stock exchange. Analysts predict the amount of the emission to be EEK 4.5 billion of which one Estonian might receive his share. Other owners have Israeli background. The Estonian owner suspected to be Lauri Kikerpill although he himself claims to be merely a wageworker. Playtech Eesti started in 2000 and is now hiring about 180 people. Board members are Lauri Kikerpill and Rain Kivisik.
Äripäev

Tallink grew number of passengers
Tallink serviced almost 3.3 million passengers during its 2004/2005 economic year. This is 15.8% more than the year earlier.
Eesti Paevaleht, Arileht

Hotel owners earned record amount of money in summer
Earnings of Estonian accommodation companies grew to EEK 0.5 billion during the three summer months this year. Estonia is continually building new hotels and that increases the number of tourists, because the occupancy of Estonian accommodation places has stayed high during past years. Average occupancy in Reval Hotel Central and Expresshotel reached 90% this summer. Estonian entrepreneurs will build near 3000 new hotel places during the next two years.
Eesti Paevaleht, Arileht

Restaurant business prospering in Tallinn city centre
Sales and profits of catering companies in Tallinn city centre are growing; at the same time, ruthless competition is forcing companies to make more investments. The Old Town restaurant Olde Hansa had the best results: its sales grew 23% in one year, to EEK 66.7 million. Auri Martti Hakomaa, the owner of the restaurant says that restaurant was successful due to its international reputation – 39% of the tourists who visited Olde Hansa had heard of this place before.
Aripaev

More than half of Estonians use internet
55% of Estonians in ages 15-74 use internet. When compared to last summer, there are 79,000 more internet users in Estonia. One fourth of 575,000 internet users do it every day.
Äripäev, ITe

Thursday, 22nd of September, 2005

The Bank of Estonia to predict 8 percent of economic growth
This year’s economic growth in Estonia has been better than expected and is surpassing the potential of average and longer perspective, announced the central bank. For this year, the Bank of Estonia is predicting an economic growth of 8 percent. Economic growth of 2006 stays on the level of 6.5 percent.
ÄripäevFriday,

23rd of September, 2005

Estonians purchased Finnish competitor
This week’s most interesting business transaction was the purchase of Finnish ship construction company Lekopa by Estonian company Hekotek. Hekotek, Baltics biggest manufacturer of saw industry equipment wishes to conquer Russian market of woodwork machinery with the help of Finnish company. From Hekotek’s EEK 176 million annual turnover 70 percent forms export to Russia. “Since Lekopa is also operating on the Russian market, this was a logical step for us,” Heiki Enpaul, head of Hekotek admits.
Postimees

Estonian defence minister resigns over anti-communist T-shirt

TALLINN - Estonian Defence Minister Jaak Joeruut tendered his resignation Monday after the director of a museum linked to his ministry wore a virulently anti-communist T-shirt to a football match.

A group of anti-communists contesting the October 16 local elections in Estonia distributed red T-shirts at a weekend football match, emblazoned with the slogan “Commies to the oven” and listing the names of 35 Estonian politicians who have been members of the Communist Party.

“The shirt had a list of people against whom it was directed, and it began with the names of the president and prime minister of Estonia,” Joeruut said in a statement to explain why he had handed his resignation to Prime Minister Andrus Ansip.

“When the director of a war museum belonging to the defence ministry of NATO and EU member country like Estonia goes along with a campaign to burn people in ovens, including the leaders of our own state, I’m totally lost,” Joeruut, who was a poet before he ...........

Thank you to a wonderful little Lady

С теплыйой встречей к моему маленькому ангелу и к ее родителям,  от России.

пропускающ вас и любить вас все

надеяться к видеть вас снова один день.

Дядюшка Жоел

Men At Arms plait au public local

Men At Arms est un des quelques films estoniens qui sortent chaque année, et l'un des deux films produits en 2005 par la société de production et distribution Exitfilm. La comédie historique de Kaaren Kaer est actuellement troisième au box office national après dix jours sur les écrans. Exitfilm a tiré quatre copies dont deux pour les villes les plus importantes de Tallin et Tartu et deux pour la province. Jusqu'à présent 6.000 spectateurs se sont déplacés, ce qui représente "un très bon résultat dans un pays de 1,4 million d'habitants où les films hollywoodiens atteignent 70.000 entrées et les films estoniens entre 12 et 30.000," selon la productrice Anneli Ahven. A titre de comparaison, le plus grand succès de l'an passé, Revolution of Pigs de Jaak Kilmi et Rene Reinumagi, a vendu 24.791 tickets.

Men At Arms, produit avec seulement 100.000 euros, est une .........

VIDEO : L'informatique suisse à Tallinn

Video click

L'informaticien de Tallinn ne rêve plus de la Suisse

techno - 24 sept 2005

• Reportage: Laurent Burkhalter
• Montage: Sandro Milone

Bienvenue à Tallinn, la Silicon Valley de l'Est. En quelques années, la capitale estonienne est passée de l'ère soviétique à l'ère informatique. Les start-up et les multinationales comme Skype s'y bousculent. Reportage chez un Suisse qui ne rêve pas vraiment de rentrer au pays.

Nous sommes à Vanalinn, la vielle ville de Tallinn. Oliver Wihler sort de son 4x4 et s'apprête à payer son parking. Il plonge sa main dans sa poche, pas pour chercher de la monnaie, mais pour saisir son téléphone portable. Ici, en Estonie, les mobiles ont remplacé les parcomètres. Le coût d'un sms surtaxé s'additionne simplement à sa facture téléphonique à la fin du mois. Ce n'est pas la seule possibilité de micro-paiement par mobile. Les Estoniens peuvent également acheter leur billet dans les transports publics et régler leur factures dans certains bars par sms.

Tallinn, la capitale de l'Estonie, est une véritable Silicon Valley de l'Est.96 % des Estoniens ont un téléphone portable, c'est plus qu'en Suisse, où la proportion n'atteint que 87 %, selon l'Union internationale des télécom. Le Wifi est omniprésent : une carte officielle répertorie plus de 600 bornes publiques à travers le pays. Enfin, 52 % des habitants utilisent Internet régulièrement, plus qu'en France. Pas étonnant que les start-up comme les plus grandes entreprises informatiques s'y bousculent.

Estonian Bed and Breakfast

Peeter Bush

I just got back from a two week trip to Estonia. Although the main reason for going was to attend a family reunion on the island called Saaremaa, on this, my fourth trip, I also wanted to explore Estonia on my own - at my own pace, with no set itinerary. The best way to do this to my mind was to rent a car.

I also needed accommodation since I would not by staying with relatives this trip. Hotels in Estonia have become somewhat pricy so I went on the internet to see what was available in the bed and breakfast category. It turned out that there were lots of these. I booked two places in Tallinn and one in Tartu. Tartu was to be my home base for 5 nights while I explored southern and central Estonia. I had never visited that part of the fatherland and was quite looking forward to it.

Both places I booked in Tallinn were in a nice quiet residential suburb of individual houses with large leafy back yards. One was Allee Guesthouse on Tedre Street and the other was Tihase, located on the street with the same name. To my mind they were excellent value and both were spotlessly clean. I was easily able to walk to the old city area in about 20 minutes. Both of these B&Bs have their own website and both operate in English.

English seems to be the universal language at almost all tourist facilities except those that cater to older bus tour groups from the former Soviet Union. In that case Russian is the language but you still get by nicely with English as my son found out. Most signs now are bilingual but quite often the English version made me smile and on a couple of occasions I had to read the Estonian version to understand what they were trying to say.

Remembering Aleksander Rjabov

* The following is intended as tribute to a grand old man of Estonian jazz and "pops" music, - clarinetist, composer, arranger and conductor Aleksander Rjabov, who passed away on August 27th, a day before what would have been his 77th birthday. My thanks to Eevi Ross, Rjabov's partner in both life and music, for sending me this disc in 2003, which has been a frequent late evening listening selection since - a companion, if you will. The companionship that music can generate is difficult to express in mere words, going beyond taste. Suffice it to say that Aleksander Rjabov's joie de vivre remains alive after his passing, thanks to recording technology.

To these ears, this gem of a CD captures a legacy - of living life through music to the fullest, playing jazz with glee and evident enthusiasm. The title chosen here says it all - Rjabov was grateful for all that music and performing had granted him during a long and stellar career. Highlights of those years were joining the Estonian Radio Symphony in 1956 after graduating from the Tallinn Conservatory, then founding the Estonian Radio Pops Orchestra the next year. His abilities as conductor and arranger saw him guest-conduct in Riga and Leningrad, as well as lead big bands during the Soviet era. And it was not only in the world of jazz where Rjabov's footprints are to be found - his classical music work, most notably in chamber music, cannot be overlooked. (To select just one example: to my mind, his interpretative recording of Ester Mägi's "Dialoogid" [Dialogues] stands out. It seems in retrospect, that for Aleksander Rjabov deep musings with Brahms, for example, came as naturally as exuberant swinging with Benny Goodman.)

Estonia may have highest HIV rate outside Africa : officials

TALLINN  - Around one in 100 Estonians is believed to be infected with HIV, giving the small Baltic state the highest incidence of the virus which causes AIDS outside of Africa, officials said.

According to World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates, one in every 100 people in the 15 to 49 age group may be infected with HIV, Maarike Harro, director of the National Institute for Health Development, told a news conference.

"The infection of people with HIV is out of control in Estonia," Harro warned.

A total of 4,910 people in Estonia were registered with the authorities as being infected by HIV, and 468 new cases were added in 2005.

The population of Estonia, which joined the European Union last year, is 1.4 million.

"In cases per million people, Estonia is in the worst position in the world, outside Africa," Harro said.

"There are many unregistered cases in Estonia, so the figure of the HIV-positive people may be one- or even two-thirds higher than the official figure," Social Affairs Minister Jaak Aab told journalists.

Harro said that although the number of cases had fallen since last year, "We have to take urgent measures to combat AIDS and HIV."

All Estonia behind Kaia

CALCUTTA - Top-seeded Anastasia Myskina and second-seeded Elena Likhovtseva advanced to the semifinals of the Sunfeast Open on Friday.

Myskina defeated India's Shikha Uberoi 6-4, 6-2, while Likhovtseva beat Sweden's Sofia Arvidsson 6-1, 7-5.

Myskina will face unseeded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia in Saturday's semifinal. Kanepi, ranked 172nd in the world, ousted Sybille Bammer of Austria 7-5, 6-3 to reach her first WTA Tour semifinals.

Likhovtseva will take on Croatia's Karolina Sprem, who posted a 6-3, 6-1 victory against Hungary's Melinda Czink.

Myskina looks to boost her ranking with a good performance this weekend.

"I wasn't doing well in the beginning of this season, winning here will definitely help my ranking," she said.

Kanepi is happy to have made the semifinals.

"I'm delighted after managing to reach the semifinal of a WTA tournament for the first time," Kanepi said. "It did not bother me before the match that I was playing a player ranked higher than me."

US fighter planes to patrol airspace of three Baltic nations

Fighter planes of the United States air force will take over the duties from the German air force to patrol the airspace of three Baltic nations starting from the end of this month, the US embassy in Lithuania said Wednesday.

A hand-over ceremony between the US and German air forces will be held at an air base in Siauliai, northern Lithuania, on Sept. 30, a spokesman for the embassy said.

F-16 fighting falcon planes from the 52nd fighting wing of the US air force based in Germany will be responsible for policing the airspace of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the US spokesman said.

The airspace of the three Baltic states has been patrolled by NATO countries on a rotating basis after these countries joined NATO in March 2004.

Festival – Estonie : Le Baltic Festival à Berlin

* Une des rétrospectives les plus exhaustives jamais organisées de films estoniens aura lieu dans le cadre du Baltic Film Festival du 23 au 28 septembre au cinéma d'art-et-essai berlinois l'Arsenal, à l'initiative de la journaliste allemande organisatrice du festival Gudrun Holz et en coopération avec la Fondation du cinéma estonien, l'Institut estonien de Tallinn, l'Ambassade estonienne en Allemagne et d'autres sponsors.

Bien que quelques films lettons et lituaniens seront également projetés, le cinéma estonien sera cette année à l'honneur avec quelques 63 films au programme: courts et longs métrages, documentaires mais surtout films d'animation des années 70 – 80. Priit Pärn, peut-être l'un des réalisateurs les plus connus du genre, à l'origine notamment d'une école d'animation avec son style très personnel plein de métaphores visuelles, sera l'un des invités d'honneur du festival. Trois autres spécialistes reconnus de l'animation Elbert Tuganov, Priit Tender et Mait Lass, feront aussi le ........