Curd snack advertisement deemed political

The Baltic Times, TALLINN
By Kairi Kurm
Nov 30, 2005
More than a month after municipal elections, the National Electoral Committee has adopted a resolution that the green curd snack advertisement that had been plastered across the country did resemble the logo of the ruling Center Party and should therefore be regarded as an outdoor political advertisement.
However, the [...]

Farmers take jam to Brussels to protest sugar fine

The Baltic Times, TALLINN
By Kairi Kurm
Nov 30, 2005
Disgusted with EU sugar policy, the Union of Tartumaa Farmers has announced it would send 5,000 jars of homemade jam to Brussels to prove that it’s not only companies who bought sugar prior to EU accession.
“We claim that 42,000 out of 91,000 tons is due to private consumption, [...]

Fuel traders win major battle

The Baltic Times, TALLINN
By Kairi Kurm
Nov 23, 2005
Foreign fuel retailers were beside themselves after the Ministry of Environment decided to postpone a regulation that would ban the sale of sulfur-gasoline and allow domestic competitors to continue importing lower quality Russian and Belarusian fuel.
The government, alarmed at the rapid rise in inflation, fears that the exodus [...]

Nostalgia brings Russians to Tallinn for New Year’s Eve

The Baltic Times, TALLINN
By Kairi Kurm
Nov 23, 2005
The city of Tallinn and Enterprise Estonia’s advertisement campaigns, plastered across metro stations and kiosks in St. Petersburg and Moscow, could bring up to 25,000 Russian tourists to Estonia for New Year’s celebrations – 25 percent more than last year.
“Russian tourists like to spend their New Year’s Eve [...]

‘EU leaders need to wake up to 21st century’

The Baltic Times, TALLINN
Interview by Kairi Kurm
Nov 16, 2005
She certainly stood out among the diplomatic crowd. For international reporters covering soporific EU meetings, and even more for a tiny country trying to create an international image, this was a major plus. And although Kristiina Ojuland is no longer Estonia’s foreign minister, she is actively involved [...]

Estonia halts expansion of ‘expensive’ windmills

The Baltic Times, TALLINN
By Kairi Kurm
Nov 16, 2005
Wind power has fallen out of Estonia’s favor in recent months, with the Economy Ministry deciding to limit support to wind-power producers and Parliament adopting amendments to the energy law that will give preference to other forms of renewable energy.
Einari Kisel, head of the Ministry of Economy and [...]

LHV traders struggle through SEC trial

The Baltic Times, TALLINN
By Kairi Kurm
Nov 09, 2005
Attorneys for Lohmus, Haavel & Viisemann, the investment firm whose employees have been accused by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of using insider information to profit on stock trades, appeared in a U.S. district court on Nov. 8 as the first step in a rogue trading case [...]

U.S. court opens rogue trading case against Estonian firm, two brokers

The Baltic Times, TALLINN
By Kairi Kurm
Nov 09, 2005
Attorneys for Lohmus, Haavel & Viisemann, the investment firm whose employees have been accused by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of using insider information to profit on stock trades, appeared in a U.S. district court on Nov. 8 as the first step in a rogue trading case [...]

Skype shakes up the way

The Baltic Times, TALLINN
By Kairi Kurm
Nov 09, 2005
Every 100th person in the world uses Skype to make free calls over the Internet, but few people know that several young Estonian men are behind the innovative technology that has radically shaken up the communications world.
Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu, Jaan Tallinn and Toivo Annus, who developed the [...]

Police arrest Pae Street bombing suspect

The Baltic Times, TALLINN
By Kairi Kurm
Nov 09, 2005
Estonian national security police have arrested a man suspected of carrying out an explosion earlier this month on Tallinn’s notorious Pae Street.
The suspect is a 67-year-old ethnic Estonian man who has a higher technical education, according to police. He is registered in several residences in Tallinn and its [...]