On Monday, June 4th, the Seabrook Educational and Cultural Center (SECC) welcomed Estonian independent video media to record the history of Seabrook Estonians: Producer, director Toomas Lepp, editor Mati Kirotar and cameraman Peeter Ülevain who captured the oral history. Film crew was especially interested in the arrival from D.P. camps to Seabrook and numerous other historical picture displays.  Great interest was shown in the diorama of Seabrook factory and surrounding community which was built to exact scale and donated by Bob Hasuike. Toomas Lepp’s interviews with John Fuyuume offered great insight into the mission of the museum. Local press also interviewed Toomas Lepp and Juhan Simonson.   Helgi Viire, Secretary Seabrook Estonian Society  

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Published: June 24 2012

 

The Estonian national women's basketball team has started competition in Group B in the 2012 European basketball championships. Two members of the team are recent graduates from American colleges and universities. Kati Rausberg earned a BA with a double major in International Business and Management at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida.  Viive-Kai Rebane earned a BA with a major in Psychology at Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York. The team's games are scheduled from June 13 to July 14, 2012. Fans may follow the team on the Internet at www.eurobasketwomen2013.com .   Lisa A. Mets, Kesk Florida Eesti Selts  

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Published: June 24 2012

 

On Saturday, September 29, 2012, the Estonian American National Council will celebrate its 60th anniversary with a special black-tie Gala. Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves will join over 200 dignitaries, EANC members, Estonian-Americans and other well-wishers for a memorable evening at the Willard InterContinental Hotel, steps from the White House in the heart of downtown Washington DC.  The commemoration will honor not only the work of EANC and recipients of EANC awards, but will also celebrate Estonia’s hard-won independence and tremendous economic success since 1991.  

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Published: June 17 2012

 

On Monday, 4 June, Foreign Ministry Secretary General Alar Streimann randomly selected the winners of the Foreign Ministry’s Estonia-themed web-based quiz. The grand prizes of the Foreign Ministry’s web-based quiz were trips to Estonia, which went to the Netherlands and Russia. The goal of the Foreign Ministry Estonia quiz is to introduce Estonia to citizens of other countries by offering participants new and interesting facts in the hopes of inspiring them to do further research into Estonia and visit the country.

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Published: June 11 2012

 

Tribute To Donald Rumsfeld And Gulag Exhibit Preview Washington, DC – Donald Rumsfeld, Former U.S. Secretary of Defense, and Annette Lantos, Chairman of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, will headline a list of speakers and guests from Capitol Hill and Washington’s diplomatic corps at a June 12, 2012 10:00 a.m. EDT wreath laying ceremony at the Victims of Communism Memorial (located on Capitol Hill, see victimsofcommunism.org for map and directions).

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Published: June 11 2012

 

ERR News - In a recently published survey by the Institute of Economic -Research, 75 percent of respondents said Estonians drink too much alcohol.  Eighty-one percent of res-pondents found it necessary to reduce alcohol consumption in the nation. But only 2 percent of those polled admitted to drinking too much themselves.  The poll also suggested that consumption habits have become more similar to other Nordic countries, as Estonians have started consuming beverages with lower alcohol content.  In total, 10.2 liters of pure alcohol was consumed per person last year. In Finland, the figure was 10.1 liters. Compared to 2010, alcohol consumption in Estonia rose by 5.7 percent. The Ministry of Social Affairs aims to reduce the annual consumption of alcohol to eight liters of pure alcohol per person. 

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Published: June 04 2012

 

Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, First of all, let me welcome you all to Estonia.  Not only do I have the honor to host for the first time the NATO Parliamentary Assembly here in my country, it is also the first time anarchists from over Europe have gathered in Estonia to protest the presence of democratically elected parliamentarians from the Alliance.  Eight years after joining the Alliance, this was the one aspect of NATO membership we had not yet experienced. More seriously, I want to thank you for coming because your presence here raises NATO’s visibility, makes NATO less an abstraction and reinforces the commitment we share in the Alliance.  NATO has an overwhelmingly positive image here, it is regarded highly and seen as one of the most relevant of international organizations. 

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Published: June 04 2012

 

ERR News - A riddle in the dark: what has eight legs, is bigger than a coin, and haunts one of Tallinn's most popular medieval attractions? Besides the presumable ghosts of the past, one of Tallinn's most popular medieval attractions turned out to be home to a colony of cave-dwelling spiders a few years ago, and they are still there, reported Eesti Päevaleht. The arachnids in the underground bastion passageways in the Old Town's ring of fortifications are not just any spiders – they are Estonia's biggest species, the European cave spider, widespread worldwide but discovered in Estonia for the first time only in the 1990s.

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Published: June 04 2012