BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Estonian border guard bans going in ice

The Estonian border guard banned going on the rather thin ice of East Estonian lakes; the ban will last till the ice is at least 14 cm thick, LETA/Postimees Online reports.

It is forbidden to go on ice of Lakes Peipsi, Pihkva and Lämmijärv and Narva water reservoir.

“I hope wholeheartedly that people really adhere to that order,” said South Estonian prefecture’s birder guard bureau head Tõnu Reinup, adding that with weather that cold, the ban should not lat very long since ice thickens every day.

Lake Peipsi has a thin ice layer from the shore to around 100 metres.

New snow record broken in Harju county

On the morning of November 30, meteorologists measured 46 centimeters of snow cover in Harju County, breaking the all-time record for the month of November.

The previous record was from November 2008, when there was 42 centimeters of snow.

Tallinn's meteorological station measured 22 centimeters on November 30, a decrease of eight centimeters from the day before. 

Ida-Viru and Lääne-Viru counties, as well as the islands of Hiiumaa and Saaremaa, all have more than 20 centimeters of snow. Snowfall in the central and southeastern regions of the country has been around 10 centimeters.

Sweden's growth is fuelling the Estonian economy

The fact that the Swedish economy expanded 6.9% year on year in the third quarter and 2.1% in quarter-to-quarter is not only good news to Estonian exporters, but for all Estonians who can now expect banks to loosen their purse strings. Many Estonian businessmen interviewed by Äripäev said that Sweden was their top export market.

Rolf Relander, the owner of Bellus Furniture, a furniture maker based in Haljala that exports about a third of its output to Sweden, said that the most important thing is not how much the Swedish economy expanded, but that there is good news. He said that consumers often act on emotions and buying behaviour is greatly influenced by whether the news is good or bad.

"A few year ago there were mainly negative news coming from Sweden, Swedish companies were reducing workforce and our orders from Sweden also fell. Now, when we are having these positive news, people dare to spend again," said Relander, but added that reaction to bad news is always faster than to good news.
Relander said that one key reason why the Swedish has been booming is that the krona has appreciated and this has made imports cheaper for Swedes.

Estonian Embassy to issue record number of visas to Ukrainians this year, according to embassy

Kyiv – The Estonian Embassy in Ukraine this year expects to issue a record 9,500 visas to Ukrainians to travel to Estonia, an Estonian diplomat has said.

"The year 2010 will be the biggest for the Estonian Embassy in terms of issued visas. We will break records this year," Director of the Consular Section at the Estonian Embassy in Ukraine Tanel Joks said at a press conference in Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Monday.

According to him, the level of visa denials for Ukrainians at the embassy is 6-7%.

Head of the Consular Service at the Latvian Embassy in Ukraine Dace Arakeljana said that the Latvian Embassy would issue the same number visas.

Finnish airline strike disrupts Tallinn-Helsinki flights

Cabin crews of the airline companies Finnair and Blue1 will go on strike starting from 13:00 on November 30, which has led to canceling of all flights between Helsinki and Tallinn.

The main unsolved issue between the management and the cabin crews concerns the right to take days off after returning from intercontinental flights.

Tallinn Airport has canceled the flights to and from Helsinki starting from 14:00. Finnair's information desk was unable to tell uudised.err.ee how the situation will proceed. Passengers are advised to check the airlines' websites for further information.

In October, 900 flight mechanics were on strike for two days in Finland.

Nordecon wins EUR 3.6 Million order from Tartu university

AS Nordecon International, the second-biggest listed Baltic builder, won an order from the University of Tartu in Estonia to renovate the premises of the faculty of social sciences.

The contract value is 3.6 million euros ($4.7 million) excluding value-added tax, Tallinn, Estonia-based Nordecon said in a stock exchange filing today. The works are scheduled to be completed in September 2011.

Baltic Event may be biggest yet

250 international guests expected at co-prod market

TALLINN - The Baltic region's biggest annual co-production market opens in Tallinn Wednesday.

The 9th edition of the Baltic Event -part of the Black Nights Film Festival, which runs Dec. 1-3 in the Estonian capital -is promising to be the biggest yet, coming on the eve of the European Film Awards here Saturday, for which many top European film professionals are flying in.

This year's market has 250 international guests, 16 co-production market projects, and a host of screenings and works-in-progress presentations.

Focused on film from the Baltics, Scandinavia and Russia, the Baltic Event kicks off Wednesday with a Russian Day, featuring presentations of projects from some of Russia's top producers.

Eda Koppel, Baltic Event organizer, said: "Experience from previous years of the co-production market proves its effectiveness."

Two projects developed at the market -- Arto Halonen's "Princess" from Finland and Veiko Ounpuu's "The Temptation of St. Tony" from Estonia are screening in competition at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.

Contact the variety newsroom at [email protected]

Estonian kroons can be exchanged into euros at official exchange rate from December

From Wednesday, December 1, bank offices providing cash services in Estonia will allow exchanging kroons into euros without charging service fees and at the official exchange rate of 15.6466, writes LETA/National Broadcasting.

Individuals paying for goods and services in euros abroad, however, will have to pay the commercial exchange rate until the beginning of next year.

The Banking Association issued a statement, noting that as kroons can be exchanged into euros during a rather long time and there will be no deadline for such transactions in the Bank of Estonia, people should not rush such transactions.

Exchanging kroons into euros without service fees and at the official exchange rate will be available to individuals in each bank office providing cash services from December 1, 2010 until June 30, 2011.

Juhan Tere

Hamiltoni Eesti Seltsi Segakoor

Hamiltoni Eesti Seltsi Segakoor kutsub tähistama jõule Seedriorus. Ainulaadne üritus pakub lahedate jõuluaja dzässmuusikat Jack McFadden Trio esituses ja jõululaule, mida laulab HES'i Segakoor. Ette loetakse koori liikmete ja nende sugulaste mälestusi jõulude tähistamisest esmiese Eesti Vabariigi ajal, Nõukogude ajal, tänapäeva Eestis ja Kanadas.
Perede jõulumälestuste kohta tuleb ka audiovisuaalne esitlus. Pärast muusikalist osa toimub einelaud ja vaikne oksjon, mille tulud lähevad Seedrioru Lastesuvelaagrile.
 
The Hamilton Estonian Society Mixed Choir will present its Christmas Celebration at Seedrioru. This will be a unique event, mixing smooth Christmas jazz with the Jack McFadden Trio and carols sung by the HES choir. There will also be readings about Christmas' past, present and future written by present members of the HES choir and relatives who have experienced what Christmas was like during "Esimene Vabariigi Eesti", Soviet Times, and nowadays in both Canada and Estonia. There will also be an audio-visual presentation of family Christmas celebration memories.
A reception after the musical portion of the afternoon will accompany a silent auction, with proceeds going to the Children's Camp. 
 
Sissepääs/Admission: Vabatahtlik annetus/ Donation
Please bring along a toy as a donation to underprivileged children in Estonia.
Information:    Linda Montgomery, [email protected], Norman Reintamm, [email protected]
Facebook Event: Click Here

Tiiu Kuik

What better place to cut your modeling teeththan on the Gucci runway circa-Tom Ford? That’s exactly where Estonia-born model Tiiu Kuik got her start in 2002, walking in Gucci’s Spring show. And no sooner than she could change out of her kimono, (you may recall Ford’s sultry-bedhead-kimono phase?), Kuik was being shot by the likes of Patrick Demarchelier and Steven Meisel for Vogue, and became the face of CoverGirl in 2005.

We caught up with Kuik on the set of her Bal Harbour Holiday 2010 shoot to discuss shopping for skincare in Whole Foods, staying fit and what’s on her Fall fashion wish list.—Tali Jaffe

BHS Magazine: Tell us a little about your photo shoot.

Tiiu Kuik: I really liked referencing [Mexican actress] Maria Felix. It was fun getting to portray somebody else, and apparently she liked the same kind of fun jewelry that I do—and lots of it!!!! I am still drooling over that panther ring from Cartier.

You must travel a lot for work. Does one location standout as your favorite?

There have been many great locations, but I really enjoyed South Africa, because we were able to go on safaris each day the whole week we were shooting there.

Is there a photographer you especially enjoy working with? Is there one you'd love to get in front of?

I've been so lucky to work with the best photographers in the world! I don't want to name any names, but the best photographers are simply the ones that trust their team and their models and don't over-direct. It’s never nice to feel like a plastic mannequin.

In 2005 you were named the face of CoverGirl. What was that experience like for you? Who was the first person you told?

It was an incredible experience. I learned so much from them, and the CoverGirl jobs will always remain as some of my favorite days of work ever. There's nothing better than to have a job where they tell you to be yourself and have fun. The first person I told was my friend Michelle because I knew that as an American, she would really understand the hugeness of getting CoverGirl and how happy I was.

Estonian pension reform will not be revised : Jürgen Ligi

While the Hungarian government is threatening to nationalise assets of pension funds, Estonian finance minister Jürgen Ligi says that Estonia will not revise its pension reform and the state’s payments to the 2nd pillar will continue as planned in 2011, Äripäev.ee/LETA reports.

Ligi said that while the Estonian government suspended payments to the 2nd pillar pension funds temporarily but kept the long-term system running, Hungary is stopping payments and ending the whole system.

“I confirm that we will not revise the pension reform and temporary inevitability will not be extended,” said Ligi.

Juhan Tere

US court sentences Estonian businessman into prison for skimming

US court has found Marko Rudi, former senior consultant of Ernst Young Baltic, guilty of misappropriating US financial aid to Iraq in 2003-2005 and sentenced him to prison for two years and nine months, writes aripaev.ee.

34-year-old Rudi was arrested by the Estonian criminal police in the autumn 2008 after he had completed his presentation at an Äripäev seminar on mergers and acquisitions. He was arrested on a US request for legal assistance and extradited to US. Before he was extradited to US, Rudi spent a year in custody in Estonia.

US federal prosecutors suspected Rudi of having masterminded a scheme that skimmed more than one million US dollars from a US government contract aimed at boosting democracy in Iraq.

Rudi's lawyer has said that Rudi agreed to be tried in the US because he could not prove that he had informed his employer of having personal relations with one of the employer's subcontractors. Moreover, several key witnesses had died and others were living in Middle East countries that had no mutual legal assistance treaties with the US and therefore could not have been expeced to testify, accoding to the lawyer.

Rudi was extradicted by Estonia in autumn 2009 to US authorities with the clause that he would only be tried on two charges, online scam and large-scale fraud against the US.

Rudi who is held in custody in North Caroline has denied the charges.

Toomas Hõbemägi

Average Estonian can survive without grocery shopping for at least a week

The Estonian state wanted to know what the people’s fridges and pantries contain and it emerged that there should plenty of food for an average Estonian inhabitant to survive without grocery shopping for a week, LETA/Eesti Päevaleht writes.

Almost every home has a loaf of bread, a bit of sugar, flour, butter or cooking oil, and some groats. There is an average of 37 kg of potatoes as well as tens of kg of other food products per person, the fresh study commissioned by the Agriculture Ministry indicates.

The ministry said that the study was necessary to find out what the fridges, pantries and cellars of people contain – this way the state will know how long the population can survive on the food supplies they have during a crisis or emergency situation.

The poll was carried out in September and 1,534 families or households in Estonia were polled.

The study indicated that the pantries contain 99,000 tonnes of food products, an average of 74 kg per person. Plus 12 million litres of liquids (mainly jams, canned fruits, juices) i.e. an average of some 9 litres per person.

Just a fifth of the consumed food products have been grown by people or picked from woods. While 9 out of 10 people in Central, Southern and Western Estonia can survive some days without shopping for food, only 7-8 people out of 10 in Tallinn, Northern and North Eastern Estonia can do that.

Parents fight to keep Russian-language high school

Student parents in the southern border town of Valga, protested the local government's proposal to get rid of their Russian-language secondary school and put Estonian and Russian-speaking students together in a new school.

"It has a long tradition – my parents, [grandparents], uncles and aunts all attended this school,“ said 11th grader Armand Teever.

Outside of Tartu, the town of Valga, with a sizable Russian-speaking population, has the only remaining Russian-curriculum high school in southern Estonia. 

Valga town council chairwoman Külliki Siilak said the local government will give up its plan to bring Estonian and Russian-speaking students under one roof if protests continue.

A legacy of Soviet times, Estonia has traditionally had separate high school curricula catering to Estonian and Russian-speaking cultures. Next year, Russian-curriculum secondary schools are required to teach 60 percent of their material in Estonian, a reform that has met with mixed reaction. 

Parents of students in the Russian-language school in Valga are against the mandate. Estonia has 52 Russian-language high schools.

Wage pressure on employers increases

Economic recovery means that some sector such as agriculture have started to raise wages. According to recent statistics, wages in the agriculture sector increased 9% year on year. Wages increased 9% also in the mining industry and 4% in the manufacturing industry, writes Äripäev.

Raul Eamets, professor of economics of Tartu University, says that the first to increase prices are export industries and sectors which underwent severe cuts in labour costs. "I believe that agriculture and construction industry have cut wages most so these two are also most likely to see rapid growth in wages."

Eamets added that wages could only grow when the economy recovers. "Employees can expect to see a pay rise only if companies are being more succesful and performing better".

His views are upheld by Toivo Kens, CEO of Viraito that specialises in dairy farming and crop harvesting. According to Kens, the company has been increasing wages between 7 and 8%. "Wages have gone up also because the price of raw milk is different."

Kens said that one problem for the company is that although it pays good salaries to milking operators, it is hard work and people simply don't want to do it. "We offer them a good pay package with benefits, but they are simply not interested," he said.

Fearing arrest, Voina ‘Guru’ flees to Estonia

Alexei Plutser-Sarno, the spiritual guru behind the controversial art group Voina, or War, has fled to Estonia for fear of arrest, he wrote Saturday on his blog.

Plutser-Sarno, who is also known for writing a dictionary of Russian obscenities, said he crossed the border illegally with help from high-level Estonian friends following a tip that he could be arrested. He said he did not plan to return to Russia.

“I got absolutely credible information from my lawyer that I have become a suspect in the Voina case as the organizer and leader of the criminal group Voina,” Plutser-Sarno said on Russkaya Sluzhba Novostei radio Friday from Tallinn.

Earlier this month, a St. Petersburg court sanctioned the arrest of two Voina members for a September "performance." The Palace Revolution, as they called the event, involved activists flipping over several police cars, some with officers inside, at night in downtown St. Petersburg to protest police corruption.

Plutser-Sarno did not participate in the event, but he wrote about it on his blog.

The artists face up to five years in prison for hooliganism. Investigators have not publicly described Voina as a "criminal group," which could imply more serious criminal charges.

Investigators could not be reached for comment about Plutser-Sarno's allegations over the weekend. Soon after the September stunt, Plutser-Sarno said in an interview with The Moscow Times that Voina was not afraid of prosecution.

Voina has a long record of borderline-legal performances, including staging an orgy at the Biological Museum in Moscow in 2008 and painting a 65-meter penis on a St. Petersburg drawbridge facing the local FSB headquarters on the eve of an international economic forum in June.

 

Australia increases Estonian timber imports

New official timber trade statistics in Australia show the country is increasing its import of sawn wood from Estonia.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) showed that the total value of sawn wood imports increased by six per cent to $430 million (£267 million). Volumes increased by 19 per cent to equal 748,000.

While New Zealand remains the largest exporter to Australia, there were large increases in supplies obtained from Estonia, Lithuania and Sweden.

Allan Hansard, chief executive of National Association of Forest Industries, speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, explained the increase in imported wood was largely due to the sharp rise in the Australian house building sector.

He added the slowdown in the Europe and US housing market has also meant that timber had been reallocated to Australia.

Recent data from Estonia Statistics showed that the country enjoyed its highest exports in almost two years during the month of September.

Incomer Estonia unfazed by eurozone turmoil

TALLINN — Eurozone turmoil over Greece and now Ireland, plus jitters about Portugal and Spain, have failed to faze Estonia as the Baltic state braces to become the currency bloc's 17th member.

Estonia swaps its kroons for euros on January 1, with its centre-right government confident the move will boost the nation of 1.3 million as it emerges from a deep slump.

Estonia, a former Soviet-ruled republic which joined the European Union in 2004, will be the third ex-communist state to adopt the euro after Slovenia in 2007 and Slovakia last year.

"No country is fully protected from crises, but the crises that have hit Greece and Ireland do not threaten Estonia provided we stick to our policy of a balanced budget and low debt," Economy Minister Juhan Parts told AFP.

Estonia won a "tiger" label for its breakneck growth after embracing the free market with gusto following independence from Moscow in 1991.

It had a conservative fiscal policy even before its recent sharp recession which sparked a biting austerity drive. The belt-tightening was also meant to protect its euro drive.

The 1992 Maastricht Treaty on European economic and monetary union sets hurdles to adopting the currency. Estonia got a green light to join in July.

Would-be eurozone members must keep their public deficits -- the shortfall between revenues and state spending -- under 3.0 percent of gross domestic product.

Estonia had posted surpluses from 2002 to 2007.

Carmen Kass : bag (Gucci) + Boots (YSL)

County blocks Tallinn's bid to acquire land

Harju County governor Ülle Rajasalu has blocked the city of Tallinn's bid to acquire land it was seeking for the stated purpose of a children's playground - when in fact one of the plots was used for a marketplace.

"This precedent […] must not be allowed to be repeated," said Rajasalu, referring to the wrong pretext.

The Tallinn city government recently announced it will not close down the marketplace in the Kristiine district and is expected to open it on November 26. 

The city filed for transferring the underlying state-owned land to municipal ownership as public land for a playground, but a review found that the city had leased the plot to a marketplace operator allowing it to establish the market infrastructure.  

 

The Tallinn city government did not rezone the land, nor did it make changes to the detailed plan as required by law in such a case.