BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Soviet ship sunk by submarine

The announcement of the sinking of a Soviet steamer, the Metallist 968 tons, by an unknown submarine in Narva Bay, off the Estonian coast, about 6 o’clock this evening, came as the climax to a day of intense diplomatic activity here.

Article first published in the Daily Telegraph, Sept 28, 1939.

Nineteen of the 24 members of the crew of the Metallist were picked up by Soviet patrol boats. The remaining five men are missing.

The news was announced on the Soviet wireless shortly after the arrival of M.Selter, the Estonian Foreign Minister, and other members of the delegation from Tallinn.

Foreign circles here think the reported sinking of the Soviet steamer will probably be followed by firm Soviet action towards Estonia.

Soviet demands

Only last night, it was officially announced that the Soviet Government considered unsatisfactory the Estonian explanation of the alleged activity of a Polish submarine in Estonian waters.

Estonian companies to buy expensive NordPool electricity from April

Juhan Tere

Hundreds of Estonian enterprises will start from next April 2010 buying electricity via the Nordic countries’ electricity exchange NordPool where the price of electricity has habitually been higher than the prices applied in Estonia, Äripäev/LETA writes.

The opening of the market will affect companies consuming more than 2 GWh per year and will involve 35% of the electricity market.

“No big company will start waiting to see how the exchange would operate to then conclude a contract. The electricity contracts will be concluded earlier and that means that it will be concluded with no one else but Eesti Energia. Thus there is a big danger to conclude an unfavourable contract,” said representative of large electricity consumers union, finance manager of Viru Keemiagrupp (VKG) Ahti Puur.

“The question emerges, where the consumers would be pushed from April 1? No one has understood who are those competitors who offer electricity at that market,” said Puur.

airBaltic will triple Tartu-Riga flights in October

Juhan Tere

Latvian carrier airBaltic will make two flights a day on the Tartu-Riga route starting the end of October 2009; both the Latvian carrier and Estonain Air confirm that it is worth while operating a Tartu route, Postimees/LETA writes.

airBaltic flies at present on the Tartu-Riga route four times a week. In the future it will make 13 flights: twice a day from Monday to Sunday and once on Saturdays.

In September airBaltic’s Riga-Tartu flights have had an average occupancy rate of 66 percent and the rate of Tartu–Riga flights has been 74%.

airBaltic’s deputy president on corporate relations Janis Vanags told Tartu Postimees that such a result gives the company reason to more than triple the number of flights.

Ilona Eskelinen, PR director of Estonian Air that launched Tartu–Stockholm flights at the end of August said that the company was also satisfied with the start: in the first 28 days of September, the average occupancy rate on Tartu-Stockholm flights was 58 percent and on Stockholm-Tartu flights 51% and the tendency is increasing.

Eskelinen said though that Estonian Air, which at present flies on the Tartu-Stockholm route four times a week, does not intend to add new flights.

Immigrants with the Estonian language knowledge are more successful on the labour market

According to Statistics Estonia, the Immigrant Population Survey reveals that in case of immigrant occupational career the skill of the Estonian language is more important than the immigrant background.

In spite of the rapid changes on the labour market recently, which have been mainly expressed through the growth of unemployment big differences of occupational division remained comparing immigrants with and without the Estonian language skill.

The comparison of native Estonians and Estonian-speaking immigrants indicates that there are some differences between the distribution of occupations in the groups, but they do not amount to a confirmation of occupational division. However, signs of division can be detected in the distribution of occupations among immigrants with the skill of the Estonian language and immigrants without the skill of the Estonian language. More than a half of immigrants without the skill of the Estonian language were employed as skilled workers or operators. The share of unskilled workers was also rather high in this group (13%). The share of persons employed as managers, specialists of different levels or officials was 21%.

“Sinking of Estonia will haunt people for a long time to come”

Fifteenth anniversary of sinking

Tuomo Karppinen of Finland’s Accident Investigation Board was in his bathroom shaving on the morning of September 28th, 1994 when he first heard about the sinking of the Estonian car and passenger ferry Estonia off the Finnish coast while en route from Tallinn to Stockholm.
  Karppinen’s daughter came to the door and said: “A ship has sunk in the Archipelago Sea, and 800 people have drowned”.
  “‘A ship can’t sink like that, certainly not in the Archipelago Sea’, I thought.”
  “I went to work and immediately began making calculations of whether or not the load carried on a ship like the Estonia can cause a ship to tip it over in such a way that it would sink like that.”
 
A shipbuilding engineer by profession, Karppinen happened to work at the ship laboratory of the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) at the time.
  “One of the first guesses at the time was that of a sinking caused by a shift of the load. I thought on my own, that the load cannot shift so much that it would cause a ship to sink”, Karppinen recalls.
  “I noted that listing caused by a shifting load would be no more than ten degrees, and that it could not be as much as 30 degrees. A ten-degree list would not sink a ship. Something else must have happened.”
  Karppinen concluded that the only possibility was that the ship must have taken on water.

Estonian-Russian transport committee convenes after 3 years

Juhan Tere

On Monday, a joint transport committee consisting of Estonian and Russian experts started working in the economy ministry to discuss ways to improve flight connections and the renovations of the Narva bridge, Eesti Päevaleht/LETA reports.

Transport committee, which consists of Estonian and Russian experts, started working today after a three years long break.

Juhan Parts, the Minister of Economics of Estonia, said that he expects the commission to improve air link between the countries and long-term logistics and transportation cooperation between the two countries.

Economy and communications minister said that he expects the work of the committee to result in better flight connections with Russia and in relaunch of the long-term practical cooperation of the logistics and transport sector of the two countries.

The committee discusses on Monday and Tuesday possibilities of launching all-year-round regular flights between Tallinn and St Petersburg, repairs of the Narva and Ivangorod border checkpoint bridge, issues concerning international highway cargo transport and sea and railway transport.

Every eighth pension saver in Estonia continues payments

Juhan Tere

Every eighth person who has joined the second pension pillar in Estonia has decided to continue payments during the period when the state does not contribute to the pillar, National Broadcasting/LETA reports.

589,000 people have joined the second pension pillar and nearly 76,000 of them have decided to continue payments. 57% of the latter are women.

The applications to continue second pillar payments can be submitted till November 30. Bigger banks have expressed hope that about a third of people would continue payments.

The second pension pillar is a pension fund where both the state and the pension collector contribute. Due to the economic recession, the state decided to suspend its payments to the pillar from July 1 till the end of next year. People can continue their share of payments but have to submit an application for it.

Environmentally friendly specials on offer in this year’s autumn campaign aimed at domestic tourists

Last week, Enterprise Estonia launched an autumn campaign designed to remind people who live in Estonia how nice a "stay-at-home" vacation can be. As a new feature in the promotion, which is being held for the sixth time, Estonian hotels with Green Key certification are holding a joint promotional campaign offering educational and diverse package tours in Estonia's great outdoors.

"As in years past, this campaign is being held in early spring and autumn to help overcome a primary problem faced by Estonian travel agents - the seasonal business cycle," said Tarmo Mutso, director of Enterprise Estonia's tourism development centre. "Spotlighting good opportunities to go on holiday within Estonia is all the more important considering that the number of domestic tourists who spent the night at Estonian accommodations providers dropped 20% in the first seven months of 2009."

The main output of this instalment of the campaign, which is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund, is the www.puhkaeestis.ee website and a consumer game on the interface that is promoted on outdoor advertising media and in a TV clip, Internet and radio commercials. The website features over 100 distinctive package tours. "You don't necessarily need to travel to a distant land to enjoy a good holiday," said Mutso. "It's sufficient to take a closer look around Estonia and find what is special - the things that can't be experienced in such a genuine form anywhere else in the world."

Enterprise Estonia has launched new official tourist website

Enterprise Estonia has launched a new tourist website that will serve as the country's official tourism gateway on the Internet. A key channel for marketing Estonia as a travel destination internationally, visitestonia.com was developed on the basis of a thorough analysis of other tourism sites, interviews with representatives from the tourism sector and a broad-based online survey.

The site offers relevant content in six languages (English, German, Finnish, Swedish, Russian and Estonian). All of the text was produced exclusively for the website and is structured for maximum search engine optimization.

The database is built around approximately 3800 tourist sites and offers on various topics and destinations entered by the county tourism information centres. All of the content is organized to appeal to various target audiences and different interests. A map interface supports the web content, allowing itineraries to be planned online. The site also offers a thorough overview of events taking place on the national, regional and local level.

In the near future, companies and service providers will be able to edit and enter data about their own services right on the visitestonia.com page. It will also be possible for other databases to query data on visitestonia.com and publish these on their websites (counties, cities and local governments).

Municipal elections - 18-10-2009 : the count down

03.10.2009 - from the 15th day before elections
  A voter who 15 days before the election has not received a polling card, or whose polling data has errors, may fill an application with the municipality or city.
 
no later than 07.10. 2009 - no later than the 11th day before elections
  The rural municipality or city electoral committee may withdraw the registrations of candidates, or register others.
 
no later than 07.10. 2009 - no later than 11 days before elections
  The Ministry of Interior is helding an electronic transfer to the National Electoral lists of voters.
 
08.10. - 14.10.2009 - 10 to 4 day before elections
  Electronic voting begins on October 8th at 9.00 am and lasts around the clock until the end of the 14th of October at 20.00
 
no later than 11.10.2009 - no later than 7 days before elections
  Ministry of Internal Affairs division committees organize electoral lists for service.
 
no later than 05.10. - 11.10. 2009 - the latest polls before the start of the week before the elections
  The county electoral committee shall publish details of the polling stations in the county.
 
11.10 2009 at the latest - at the latest 1 week before the start of the voting
  The rural municipality and city governments will give polling data of the parish/city.

12:10 .- 14.10. 2009 - 6. to 4 days before the elections
  Advance voting will take place in all polling stations, 12.00 - 20.00. There will also be voting outside the polling place of residence, including the location of the voter, and in prison.
 
no later than 16.10. 2009 - no later than 2 days before elections
  Electoral ballot envelopes forwarded to the counties.
 
17.10. 2009 - no later than the day before elections
  Ballot envelopes forwarded to division committees.
 
18.10. 2009 - elections day
  Voting will take place at 9.00 - 20.00. Voting will take place at home for those who are not able to get to polling stations.

Turkey is part of an EU which espouses values, not geography, Estonian diplomat says

The top Estonian diplomat in Ankara has said his country fully supports Turkey's bid to join the European Union and emphasized the bloc is not a geographical entity but rather a union of shared values of which Turkey is very much a part.

In an exclusive interview with Today's Zaman, Aivo Orav, the ambassador of Estonia to Turkey, said, “We feel obligated to endorse Turkish candidacy to join the EU because Turkey supported our bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in the past.” Describing the bilateral relations of Turkey with Estonia as “excellent,” Orav said the mutual understanding between the two countries has been enhanced by what he called a geo-strategic similarity, which led to the adoption of similar views and positions on most international issues.

He recalled that the bid to join both NATO and the EU was like a “big dream” for Estonia. “We were not that hopeful to become a member so soon. Thanks to our homework and with the support of our friends we were able to join,” he explained, hinting that Turkey should be patient on the road to membership and not to be distracted by the rhetoric of those who oppose it. “We experienced the same emotional feelings while we were trying to become a member,” he added.

The Estonian ambassador noted that relations with Ankara have always been excellent and there are no outstanding issues hampering the ties between the two countries. As part of NATO operations, Turkey sent two military aircraft to patrol Estonian air space. “We do not have military aircraft because we are small country,” he said, adding that Estonia was very much appreciative of Turkey's help in that regard.

Turkey, which never recognized the Soviet occupation of Estonia, restored diplomatic relations in 1991 and accredited its first ambassador to the country in 1992. Estonia appointed its first ambassador to Turkey in 1996, residing in Estonian capital, Tallinn. It was not, however, until 2001 that the Estonian Embassy was opened in Ankara, then represented at the chargé d'affaires level. The first Estonian ambassador to reside in Ankara, Märt Volmer, arrived in 2004 and served until 2008 when he was replaced by Orav, who presented his credentials to Turkish President Abdullah Gül in September of last year.

Death ferry sailed into Baltic storm with faulty door seals

Originally published on 29 September 1994

Greg McIvor, James Meek and Julian Borger

An international commission of inquiry was launched last night into Europe's worst ferry disaster after it emerged that Swedish inspectors allowed the car ferry Estonia to set sail in storm-force winds in the Baltic with defective door seals.

The disaster, which claimed the lives of 823 people early yesterday, plunged Sweden and Estonia into national mourning. Rescue efforts continued all day, but were suspended last night with 141 people found, 42 bodies recovered, and the remainder of the 964 aboard missing presumed dead.

As with the 1987 ferry tragedy off Zeebrugge, which claimed 193 lives, the issue that mattered last night for hundreds of grieving relatives was why the disaster had occurred.

The investigation by Finland, Sweden and Estonia, was expected to focus on the Swedish safety inspectors' discovery, only hours before the ferry sailed from Tallinn en route to Stockholm, of defective seals on a door to the vessel's car deck.

But the Swedish inspectors, who spent five hours on board the doomed ferry, said last night that they had found only minor faults, none big enough to have caused the disaster.

The ferry capsized and sank in high seas several minutes after developing a 30-degree list 23 nautical miles off the Finnish island of Uto.

Estonian Air carried 387 117 passengers in the first eight months

In the first eight months Estonian Air carried altogether 387 117 passengers, 354 571 of these on regular flights. The total number of passengers decreased 25.4% y-o-y, on regular flights 25%.

In August Estonian Air carried 53 727 passengers, 49 482 of these on regular flights. The total number of passengers decreased 26.7%, on regular flights 26.2%.

In the first eight months the market share of Estonian Air in the regular flights segment at Tallinn Airport was 46.7% which is 1.2 percentage points higher y-o-y. The total market share (regular and charter flights) was 42.2%, which is 0.7 percentage points higher y-o-y.

In August the market share of Estonian Air in the regular flights segment at Tallinn Airport was 47.3%, which is 1.6 percentage points higher y-o-y. The total market share (regular and charter flights) was 41.1%, which is 0.5 percentage points lower y-o-y.

“Estonian Air is the biggest carrier on the Estonian market. This year the market share of Estonian Air in the regular flights segment at Tallinn airport has reached the highest level of recent years.

Andres Lipstok : fiscal surpluses are the key to Estonia's success

Governor of Eesti Pank ANDRES LIPSTOK gave on Thursday a presentation at the conference "Äriplaan 2010" (Business Plan 2010), where he emphasised that Estonia's earlier fiscal policy has been the key to the country's success throughout the economic crisis and this key must not be abandoned.

The central bank governor provided in his speech an overview of Estonia's current economic situation, stressing signs of stabilisation appearing in the economy. "Estonian undertakings have proved their ability to cope with times of economic turbulence. The competitiveness of our companies is affirmed by the volume of both exports and industrial production, which has remained at the level recorded in early spring," said Lipstok.

He added that at the same time domestic demand is still vulnerable due to rising unemployment. "Although the number of the unemployed increases with every week, it is important to emphasise that unemployment growth has eased and people's fear of losing their jobs has lessened," said Lipstok.

"The strong monetary system and the peg of the kroon to the euro make up the cornerstone of Estonia's stable economy. The current monetary system is definitely the factor that has been supporting growth-directed actions and that helps us stay focused on the changeover to the euro," commented Lipstok adding that strong Scandinavian banking groups have been a great advantage for us. 

Carmen Kass´s hairy legs

Supermodel carmen kass was spotted on yesterday's Emilio Pucci show, in a bit of a hairy moment. I kid you not, those weren't photoshopped pics. according to the grapevine, carmen has a strong opinion when it comes to shaving, much like Julia Roberts and Bjork.

A reader commented that "it makes her more human". I have no problems with her as a person sticking to her beliefs. But Pucci employed her as a model to make the products look good, so i am struggling to come to terms with pucci's decision, not Carmen. Gosh this is a hairy topic, much like the discussion of having colored or plus sized models on the runway.
 

click here to see the complete Emilio Pucci spring 2010 collection, and here and here for the pics in question from style.com.
00o00.blogspot @ googlemail.com

The floor actually looks different ... and since many models can be wearing the same shoes .... !

The Land Board sells immovables belonging to the state at public written auctions

The Land Board sells immovables belonging to the state at public written auctions, in which all persons, taking account of the restrictions prescribed in legislation, may take part. State land may be purchased both by Estonian as well as foreign citizens and companies.

With regard to each immovable or a set of immovables the starting price has been determined and no offers lower than that are accepted at the public auction. To take part in a written auction, guarantee cover must be paid not later than by the term of submission of the application. The amount and method of payment of the guarantee cover are specified in the notice of auction. In case of the winner of the auction the guarantee cover shall be included in the purchase amount while in case of other participants the guarantee cover is returned to them. If the contract of sale is not entered into due to reasons arising from the winner, the guarantee cover shall not be returned.

A written offer must include an application (the recommended form of the application is available on the website of the Land Board), a copy of a payment order certifying the payment of the guarantee cover and, in case of the representation of a natural person, a document certifying the representative’s authorities. All offers must be submitted to the Land Board in writing in a closed envelope by hand delivery against signature or sent by express delivery by the time and to the address specified in the notice of auction.

Educational opportunities for children of international teaching staff secure the future of the Baltic Defence College

Starting with this school year, most subjects at Miina Härma Gymnasium may be studied in English, from primary school through the end of upper secondary school, which significantly improves the conditions of service for international instructors serving at the Baltic Defence College in Tartu.

Sven Sakkov, Deputy Undersecretary for Defence Policy at the Ministry of Defence, said that Estonia, as the host nation of the Baltic Defence College, has been aware of the issue of education for the children of the international staff as an important problem for quite some time, and the need for resolving the issue was also emphasised by the international review that was prepared on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the College.

“It is very important that the problem is being solved, to a significant extent, with the assistance of a recognised school in Tartu, as a result of which the attractiveness of Tartu as a study and service location for international officers is going to increase,” Sakkov said.

Colonel Almantas Leika, the senior national representative of the Lithuanian contingent serving at the Baltic Defence College and Course Director of the Higher Command Studies Course at the College, said he was very pleased with the educational options introduced in the school-year just begun, even though not all of the subjects can be studied in English quite yet. “I am confident that in terms of our children’s education there is a lot of potential to develop in the most positive direction,” Colonel Leika said.

Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov invites his counterparts from Serbia, Poland and Estonia to visit Ashgabat

As part of his working visit to New York to participate in the 64th session of UN General Assembly, the President of Turkmenistan had bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Serbia, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Georgia. The sides discussed opportunities to increase cooperation both bilaterally and within the interaction between Turkmenistan and the European Union, the Turkmenistan.ru correspondent said quoting the press service of the Turkmen leader.

Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov invited President of Serbia Boris Tadic, President of Poland Lech Kaczynski and Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves to pay official visits to Turkmenistan at any convenient time. The invitations were accepted with gratitude. It was decided to send high-profile delegations to Ashgabat for preliminary discussion and specification of various areas of bilateral partnership.

Presidents Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and Valdis Zatlers discussed issues related to strengthening a political dialogue between Turkmenistan and the Republic of Latvia, as well as intergovernmental and inter-parliamentary cooperation.

During the meeting in the UN building in New York, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili expressed interest in developing cooperation in trade, energy, transport and communications and humanitarian spheres.

Estonia film fest adds industry market

Tallinn Black Nights to feature 48 regional films up for sale ..

By NICK HOLDSWORTH

Estonia’s Tallinn Black Nights, one of Eastern Europe’s leading winter film festivals, is adding an industry event to this year’s line-up.

Dubbed the Black Market in a tongue-in-cheek reference to the reputation that parts of the old Warsaw Bloc have for movie piracy, the regional cinema and audiovisual market screenings will be a strictly legitimate opportunity for buyers and sellers to make deals at a midway point between larger international events, L.A.’s AFM in early November and Berlin in February.

Devised by festival director Tina Lokk, this year’s Black Market -- which runs Nov. 30-Dec. 3, partially coinciding with established co-production event the Baltic Event -- is being treated as a pilot.

Lokk said the market will feature up to 48 industry screenings mainly focusing on new films from neighboring regions and smaller film industry countries: Central and Eastern Europe, Nordic region, Russia as well as Georgia, Ukraine, Romania, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. The traditional Baltic Event, now organized in cooperation with Black Market Industry Screenings, will show the newest features from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Entrepreneurship Week 2009 to put the main focus on innovation

The main topic of Entrepreneurship Week to be held from 5-9 October in four of Estonia's largest cities - Tallinn, Tartu, Pärnu and Narva - will be innovation. Special attention will be paid to raising public awareness of the value of entrepreneurs.

Enterprise Estonia's entrepreneurship awareness coordinator Mehis Pärn says the current economic situation is practically crying out for innovative thinking - the old way just isn't good enough anymore. "To be competitive," says Pärn, "we have to bring innovation into our activities, products, strategies - and above all, into the way we think".

Besides promoting local entrepreneurs and ventures and talking about opportunities for getting started as an entrepreneur, special attention will be paid to raising the public awareness and perceptions of entrepreneurs. 5 October has been declared Entrepreneurs' Day at the initiative of Äripäev daily. Äripäev's website already includes a link for the public to nominate entrepreneurs who are deserving of mention.

Co-financed by the European Social Fund, Entrepreneurship Week will feature more than 160 seminars, training sessions, forums, quizzes, trips to companies and other events in Tallinn, Tartu, Pärnu and Narva. In Tartu, Pärnu and Narva, the events will last from Monday to Friday, while in Tallinn, the activity will be concentrated on Wednesday and Thursday.

In Pärnu, Entrepreneurship Week will feature a number of conferences, seminars and open house events along with tours of companies, conversation circles and one-day entrepreneurship fairs. Entrepreneurship Week's main event will be the international conference taking place in University of Tartu's Pärnu College on 8 October, entitled Communicating Entrepreneurship in the Baltic Sea Region. The second half of the day will be devoted to an award ceremony honouring the best entrepreneurs of the year in Pärnu County and the city of Pärnu.