BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Women in loving relationships love their bodies

The happier a woman is in her relationship the more she loves her body, a new study found.

Researcher Sabina Vatter, of Tallinn University in Estonia, surveyed 256 women between the ages of 20 and 45, who were either married or living with their boyfriends. The women were asked to answer questions about their level of self-esteem, body image and weight. They were also asked if they were emotionally and sexually satisfied in their relationships, the Daily Mail reported.

The results showed that, whether or not they were married, women in fulfilling relationships were happy with their bodies. The same women also had higher self-esteem even if their weight was not considered "ideal," the Daily Mail reported.

"These findings suggest that our satisfaction with body size, shape and weight has more to do with how happy we are in important areas of our lives, like our romantic relationships, than it does with what the bathroom scales say," said Vatter, the Daily Mail reported.

100 naked people create beautiful stop-motion video to make you proud of your body

If you're disgusted by the nude human body, this video's probably not for you. If you're disgusted by your own nude body, then this video most certainly is for you.

London agency Man+Hatchet spent five days holed up in Estonia with 100 nude people to create the compelling stop-motion clip below. The client is Withings, a creator of digital health products like blood pressure monitors and weight scales. 

It would be easy for a brand like that to guilt you into seeking bodily perfection, so it's nice to see a spot that instead tells you to first take pride in yourself, and self-improvement will follow.

Robotic sea turtle will dive to explore ship wrecks

A new tool in the quest to uncover the secrets contained in sunken shipwrecks takes its cues from an animal that inhabits that same territory. Researchers at the Tallinn University of Technology have developed a biomimetic underwater robot called U-CAT that copies the locomotion of a sea turtle.

The four independently driven flippers make for a super agile robot -- one that can swim forward, backwards, up and down and move in all directions. That maneuverability lets it explore the tight spaces of a shipwreck.

“U-CAT is specifically designed to meet the end-user requirements. Conventional underwater robots use propellers for locomotion. Fin propulsors of U-CAT can drive the robot in all directions without disturbing water and beating up silt from the bottom, which would decrease visibility inside the shipwreck”, says Taavi Salumäe, the designer of the U-CAT concept and researcher in Centre for Biorobotics, Tallinn University of Technology.

The U-CAT is part of an EU-funded initiative called Arrows that supports the development of technologies for underwater archaeology. U-CATs, along with other Arrows technologies, will be tested in the Mediterranean and Baltic Seas. Eventually they will work in cooperation with larger underwater robots and together with image recognition technologies for discovery, identification and reconstruction of underwater sites.

Megan Treacy

Tallinn quadrupling road maintenance budget

The city has earmarked 14.3 million euros for road maintenance next year, up from 4 million for the current year, with the state set to add 2.6 million, roughly the same figure as last year.

As the expensive Ülemiste intersection is now complete, the city has an extra 10 million euros for investments into larger road projects. That budget was only 6.8 million euros this year, not counting the Ülemiste project, but will rise to 16.2 million in 2014.

Tallinn's government came under criticism in the spring for failing to deal with the extent and speed at which roads were damaged by unfavorable weather conditions.

The city's street lighting budget will also receive more juice, with 7.8 million euros earmarked for 2014, 1.1 million more than for the current year.

Auction of Kopli properties in Tallinn attracts a bidder from UK

Tallinn City Government has received two bids for the purchase of the so-called Kopli Liinid area that includes 82 properties, writes Äripäev.

One of the bidders is from the UK and other is from Estonia. The city has been auctioning the 17-hectare area as a single item with a starting price of EUR 1.5m.

The city’s committee will decide by the end of this week whether the bids meet the terms of the auction.

Under an approved detailed plan, developers will be able to build up to 38 single-family homes and several 5-storey apartment buildings with up to 527 apartments.

City of Tallinn has been searching to auction Kopli Liinid since 2006.

Toomas Hõbemägi

Dali artwork stolen from Pärnu Museum

An original piece by the renowned artist Salvador Dali has been stolen from the Museum of New Art in Pärnu.

Entitled "Fuente de Vida," the piece is a gold plaque impression, reported Õhtuleht. It was part of a collection of Dali works in metal, ceramic and lithography.

Bearing the loss is the exhibit's French organizer, the art society Sarl Amiencom.

Police say they believe the artwork was stolen at around 17:15 on the evening of October 3. Witness statements have yielded a suspect described as "a younger man of average height."

A prosecutor's spokeswoman told uudised.err.ee that the piece is valued at 2,100 euros. The museum's exhibition "Materialization of the surreal" was open from September 5 to October 7.

Photo : SALVADOR DALI (1904-1989) Spanish school. "Fuente de Vida." A limited edition 22kt gold plaque with decoration of figural and symbolic subjects. 11 1/2" x 8 3/4". Signed and dated 1977. Marked Gold 22kt.

With certificate of authenticity #A0554 by the artist attached on reverse. In metallic frame. 1200-1500

Discussion continues over nightlife in Tallinn's old town

The ongoing battle between Tallinn Old Town's party scene and annoyed local residents was the subject of an ETV program last night.

Architect Ülar Mark said the answer to balancing Old Town as a center of cultural heritage, nightlife and residential space lies in zoning.

"It's a matter of balance and in the broad scheme of things these decisions have been neglected in my opinion. When people look at Old Town they see old buildings and think there isn't anything else to plan there, but actually Old Town and the surrounding greenery lacks planning completely, and surely half of the greenery is currently unused," Mark said.

"It is essential that there is a long-term decision because people who come to live there can't but an apartment if the following year a major partying establishment opens directly below them. It's a matter of zoning, so that those who buy a place above an entertainment establishment are doing it knowingly," Mark said.

Historian and active Old Town resident Jüri Kuuskemaa also appeared on the ETV show. He has been outspoken on community issues, calling pubs and clubs to task for public nuisances.

"They should be fined and brought to order. The city center government should have more leverage. For example, if one 'nameless' bar is discredited and residents have made dozens of police calls, their license should be revoked or initially hours of operation could be reduced," Kuuskemaa said.

Statistics Estonia’s new building opened in Tallinn

On 1 November, 2013, Statistics Estonia officially opened its new office building at Tatari 51 in Tallinn. The office building has 4,874 square metres of premises. The annual costs of the premises (rent and utilities (heating, electricity, water, maintenance)) are 0.9 million euros. The building accommodates 342 employees.

There are 14.3 square metres of rental area and 8.5 square metres of work area per employee. The information centre and research rooms are on the first floor.

“People’s work performance depends on knowledge, motivation and working conditions. We have significantly improved the working environment of our staff.  Our new building utilises sustainable technical solutions, such as energy-saving windows and walls, heat recovery ventilation and intelligent lighting control,” said Director General of Statistics Estonia Mr Andres Oopkaup at the official opening.

For the past 11 years, Statistics Estonia has rented its office premises. In 2011, Riigi Kinnisvara AS (the state real estate management company) invited tenders for new rental premises for Statistics Estonia. A consortium of three companies (Kaamos Kinnisvara OÜ, Vindor Holding OÜ and Kaamos Ehitus OÜ) submitted the winning tender. Based on various criteria, Vindor Holding OÜ offered the best solution for Statistics Estonia’s new offices – a new building. As a bonus, the contractor agreed to build the office building according to Statistics Estonia’s specifications. The premises at Tatari 51 have been rented to Statistics Estonia for ten years.

The building was designed by Nord Projekt AS and built by Kaamos Ehitus OÜ.

New trains to tackle isolation of Estonia's northeast

Along with other major changes to the nation's passenger train service at the beginning of next year - which include the introduction of brand new trains and more frequent departures - the state company Elron is also planning to improve the the connection between Tallinn and Narva.

Ida-Viru County is the second most populated county in Estonia, but the train connection with the capital is nearly non-existent: currently, there is just one train a day connecting Tallinn with Narva, reported ERR radio.

Elron's sales and marketing director, Norbert Kaareste, said three additional trains will be added to the line next year and the trip will become faster as well. The hope is that the slightly better connection will give people commuting to work another option.

Kaareste said if passenger numbers are sufficient, there could be hope for a high-speed train in the future. "But that depends on the number of passengers," said Kaareste.

The company estimates that the new trains will boost passenger numbers on the line by a third.

Avies JS31 at Kardla on Oct 28th 2013, rejected takeoff after runway excursion

An Avies British Aerospace Jetstream 31, registration SE-FVP performing flight U3-2082 from Kardla to Tallinn (Estonia) with 17 passengers and 2 crew, was in the initial acceleration for takeoff from Kardla's runway 14 at about 08:30L (06:30Z) when the left hand engine accelerated to takeoff power while the right engine remained in beta (reverse).

The aircraft violently veered to the right and exited the runway about 20 meters down prompting the crew to reject takeoff at low speed. The aircraft came to a stop with all gear on soft ground (grass), the crew subsequently applied power to steer the aircraft onto the paved surface of the nearby taxiway and returned the aircraft to the apron. No injuries occurred, the aircraft did not sustain damage.

The airline confirmed the aircraft veered off the runway due to strong gusting winds and a pilot error which resulted in the engines accelerating asymmetrically. A replacement Jetstream 31 registration ES-PJD reached Tallinn with a delay of 5 hours.

According to the flight crew operations manuals it is necessary to move the throttle levers back slightly past ground idle (beta) to unlock the propeller blade latches to permit control over the propeller blade pitch angle and permit useful work of the engines. In addition, application of beta range during taxi to slow the aircraft is permitted however discouraged for noise abatement.

Simon Hradecky

Amphibious car leaves Estonia on land and water trip around the globe

Tallinn - An Estonian on Saturday began a trip around the world in a Toyota Land Cruiser that he turned into an amphibious vehicle that will cross land, oceans and rivers on a 60,000 kilometre journey.

Mait Nilson, 44, a mechanical engineer who worked on the project for the past seven years, waved goodbye to friends and fans as he set off from Taillin on a journey he estimates will take nine months.

"This has been my dream since I was a 10-year-old boy and spent summers at our cottage near lake Peipsi in East Estonia," Nilson told AFP before his departure in the vehicle dubbed Amphibear. Photos on his website www.amphibear.com depict a vehicle that looks much like a typical 4x4, aside from large attachments surrounding it which allow it to metamorphose into a 10 metre boat.

It sports an anchor, hydraulic pump and portable toilet. A stove is built into the back door.
"The first sea crossing will be the Strait of Gibraltar, the first river crossing is in Senegal, and the first ocean crossing is the Atlantic," Nilson told AFP.
He will be joined by several co-pilots on different legs of the journey.

"Amphibear can cover 120 nautical miles in a day in ideal conditions. Most legs last less than 5 days and can be covered when the weather forecast is good. On land the car-boat can drive at speeds of up to 110 km/h," Nilson said.

The vehicle will cover 60,000 kilometres (37,000 miles) through Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Italy, France, Spain, Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal, Cape Verde, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, USA, Canada and Russia.

"So far I have spent around 200 hours at sea with my amphibious car," Nilson added. "As an amphibious vehicle, Amphibear has some disadvantages when compared to a catamaran or a boat. It has a higher centre of gravity, less room for crew and equipment. "Its big advantage is low wind drag, meaning less risk to capsize due to wind than sailing catamarans," Nilson said.

Baltic Anarchist winter meeting 5th of January 2014 in Helsinki

The first Baltic Anarchist Meeting was held in Tallinn, Estonia in May 2012. The meeting was attended by many anarchists from many countries and the atmosphere was good and exciting. Second gathering will be arranged 5.1.2014 in Helsinki, a day after Father frost against Putin-festival (https://avtonom.org/fi/node/22485).

The purpose of this gathering is to exchange experiences and improve the co-operation between anarchists around the Baltic Sea. Participants from all around the world are very welcome but we hope to see especially people from countries around Baltic sea, from individual activists to people active in different groups. The program and participating groups will be updated later. There will be at least lectures, discussions and distributing of publications and other materials.

Just as in the first Baltic Anarchist Meeting, we will discuss spreading anarchism for a broader public and updates from different groups, but we are also in search for other topics. Please let us know, if you or your group want(s) to take part in organizing and preparing the meeting and the program. Send email to [email protected].

Almost 12% of Estonian homes still lack flush toilets

And nearly 13 percent have neither a bath nor a shower, according to the 2011 Population and Housing Census.

Both figures, however, mark a significant improvement in living conditions - and fragrances - compared with the findings of the previous census taken in 2000. At that time, only 74.9 percent of homes had a flush toilet and 70.9 percent boasted bathing facilities.

Part of the flush toilet equation may be explained by the prevalence of so-called dry toilets in rural areas, while public saunas have traditionally filled the gap in personal hygiene requirements.

In a release of household-related census findings last week, Statistics Estonia said that the availability of basic amenities and comforts of the average home had improved during the 11 years between the two censuses, with 70 percent boasting “all the basic amenities” as of the end of 2011 compared with 65 percent in 2000.

In 2011, 94.6 percent of households had a piped water supply compared with 85.6 percent in 2000, while the percentage of households with central or electrical heating rose from 67.9 percent to 71.5 percent over the 11 years.

Eurostat figures for 2011, which are based on overall population rather than numbers of households, show the EU average for lacking an indoor flushing toilet at 3.1 percent and for lacking a bath or shower at 2.8 percent. For Estonia they came out at 9.6 and 10.5 percent.

Stag party prank turns "International Hostage Crisis"

Investigative reporters at ETV have revealed how a British stag party turned into an international hostage crisis when pranksters unknowingly mobilized hundreds of police officers in Estonia and the United Kingdom.

The incident occurred over a 30-hour period last March in Tallinn, a popular destination for bachelor parties.

In one such party, on March 8, festivities started as in any other, with a group of a dozen friends from Manchester and London, aged 25 to 38, exploring Tallinn's Old Town bar scene, as well as one strip club. At 23:00, one of the men was so intoxicated that his friends sent him back to the hotel in a taxi.

However, the group did not find him when they returned to the hotel at 03:00 in the morning. They had a hard time getting in touch with him and began panicking the next afternoon when various text messages made different claims: that their friend had been killed, that he had been arrested, and finally that he was being held hostage for a 5,000-euro ransom.

Dual citizen of US and Iran charged in NYC with trying to acquire surface-to-air missiles

NEW YORK — A dual citizen of Iran and the United States is being held for trial in Manhattan on charges that he conspired to acquire Russian-built long-range surface-to-air missiles for the Iranian government, authorities announced Friday.

Reza Olangian of Los Gatos, California, was arrested in Tallinn, Estonia, in October 2012 and extradited to the U.S. in March, prosecutors said as they released a criminal complaint and an indictment charging him with multiple crimes including conspiracy to attempt to acquire and transfer surface-to-air missiles as well as violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

In a release, Derek Maltz, special agent-in-charge of the DEA Special Operations Division, said: "Mr. Olangian's conspiracy could have put American lives at risk, as well as those of our friends across the globe."

According to court papers, Olangian first tried unsuccessfully to obtain about 100 missiles for the Iranian government in 2007. The documents alleged that he began negotiating a new deal for missiles in early 2012, unaware that he was dealing with a confidential source for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, who posed as a weapons and aircraft broker from Russia.

India holds 14 Estonian antipiracy guards

Indian authorities have detained all 25 crewmembers of a private American-owned antipiracy guard ship after it entered Indian waters off Tuticorin in southeastern India.

The detained people include 14 nationals of Estonia. The Indians say the crew had no Indian permission to carry firearms. There is no word of why the vessel turned up near the Indian coast.

According to the Estonian Foreign Ministry, the Estonian Embassy in New Delhi is closely tracking the situation, but has not received requests for help from the detained Estonians.

In the period between 2010 and last May, five Estonian teams, each numbering 10, regularly joined German and French naval crews on the European Union’s Atalanta operation to escort international cargo vessels through pirate-infested waters off Somalia.

At present, dozens of Estonians are employed by private companies as antipiracy security guards in the same area.

Organised crime car theft network dismantled in Baltic states

An organised crime network originating in and operating from Lithuania and specialised in the theft of luxury cars from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania has been dismantled, European police agency Europol said.

In total, 99 thefts were committed. In Estonia, 25 people were convicted in relation to 56 thefts, while in Latvia, 43 thefts were committed. The amount awarded in victim compensation is almost 550 000 euro.

A joint investigation team (JIT) composed of Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian authorities, with judicial co-ordination support and funding for the JIT under the JIT Funding Project provided by Eurojust and analysis supplied by Europol, also disrupted the operations of four related mobile organised crime groups of Lithuanian thieves operating in Estonia and Latvia.

This case involved one of the largest and longest-running joint investigations in the Baltic region, from April 2009 to April 2012.

In a coordination meeting on October 11 at Eurojust, the performance of the JIT was evaluated by Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian authorities and Europol. They also exchanged views on the results achieved and experience gained, Europol said.

After the meeting, Estonian JIT leader and Chief State Prosecutor Heili Sepp said that Estonia has been involved in 25 JITs since 2007.

“This so-called “JIT Balcar” has been the largest in terms of time and resources. This JIT provided valuable experience and solutions in terms of international co-operation.

“Overcoming the gaps between national legal systems required a great deal of creativity. Fortunately, we had the advantage of working with people with a very high level of experience. Also worth mentioning is the final outcome – 11 decisions and 25 convictions,” Sepp said.

Legendary public sauna to reopen

Raua Saun, a public bathhouse on the Kadriorg edge of the Tallinn city center that had long seemed to be stuck in time somewhere in the 1980s, has undergone a renovation and will reopen this weekend as one of the city's few public saunas.  

Besides the use of ordinary communal men's and women's saunas and private saunas at an hourly rate, the bathhouse offers an "hourly shower" service, which city district official Jüri Lump explained in Pealinn is geared to "for example, mothers with small children living in a wood-heated house with no hot water," who do not need to use the saunas.    

Although Tallinn has many spas and aquatic centers that also have saunas, Raua is one of only two or three bathhouses that are exclusively that. The city also offers subsidized admission to pensioners and others, with prices far under the 10-euro average for an often strictly timed two-hour visit to a spa pool. In 2011, Raua sauna drew 20,000 visits from Thursdays to Sundays and the city contributed about 17,000 euros toward admission.

Deputy Mayor Eha Võrk said in a press release: "There should be more such economical city saunas. The admission price for retirees is especially important and that is shown by the visitor numbers."

EU court holds Estonian website responsible for offensive user comments

User comments on European websites may face tougher scrutiny after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that an Estonian news portal was responsible for offensive anonymous posts. On Thursday, the Strasbourg-based court rejected a plea from Delfi, one of Estonia’s leading news sites, against a fine it received after readers posted angry replies to one of its articles.  

Delfi appealed to the European court in 2010 after Estonia’s Supreme Court ruled that the website was responsible for the comments, not the people who made them. The judges in Strasbourg have backed that stance, ruling that the Estonia court had not violated Article 10 on freedom of expression of the European Convention on Human Rights.

In January 2006, Delfi published an article about a decision by ferry company Leedo to change its routes, which led to a delay in the opening of cheaper routes to some Estonian islands. The move outraged many of the website’s readers, who posted anonymous comments containing threats and insults aimed at the ferry operator and its owner.

Leedo sued Delfi over the comments and won symbolic compensation of 320 euros from a lower court in April 2006. The website has argued that it was “impossible” to manage the users’ comments and that the fine violated EU freedom-of-expression laws.

However, Estonian judges ruled that Article 10 allowed freedom of expression to be overruled by national courts to protect an individual’s or company’s reputation – if the interference is proportionate to the circumstances.

Khodorkovsky' son holds photo exhibit in support of father

The son of the imprisoned Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky was in Tallinn yesterday to open a photo exhibition depicting the injustices many in the international community say have been done to his father.

Entitled "Prison and Freedom," and featuring photos by Misha Friedman and others from the private collection of Khodorkovsky, the exhibit can be visited at the Tallinn Portrait Gallery on Suurkarja 2. The exhibit was produced by the New York-based Institute of Modern Russia, which is headed by the oligarch's son, Pavel Khodorkovsky.

In an interview with ETV, the younger Khodorkovsky lauded the EU and Estonia for drawing attention to human rights violations in Russia. He said Western countries, and especially heads of state, need to continue exposing violations in order to bring change to Russia.

"Of course my father's case is a special case because he was a prominent businessman and as such has enjoyed media attention that sometimes would be inaccessible to people like for example Nadya Tolokonnikova or her other bandmates that have gone through a similar ordeal," Khodorkovsky said.

"Or another example would be the people that have been arrested after the Bolotnaya Square protests in Moscow. Those people don't get the same media attention so what the Western countries can do and what their leaders can do is is bring attention, bring exposure, talk about their cases," he said.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky has been in prison for a decade, in a sentence that human rights advocates have called excessive and extreme. He is set to be freed in August 2014.