EstoNews returns in January 2021
after Christmas | New Years.
Häid jõule!
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Vaktsineerida soovib end liiga vähe inimesi
(Postimees)
“Eesti lubab Covid-19 vaktsiini järgmise aasta jooksul pakkuda kõigile elanikele tasuta. Vaktsineerimine on Eestis vabatahtlik. Eesti vaktsineerimisplaanist selgub, et novembri seisuga oleks kolm inimest viiest ehk 59 protsenti elanikkonnast valmis end vaktsineerima.”
https://leht.postimees.ee/7136204/vaktsineerida-soovib-end-liiga-vahe-inimesi
Latest COVID cases in Baltics:
- 654 in Estonia
- 892 in Latvia
- 3,181 in Lithuania
(BNN)
The EU is spending between €1.78 and $18 per coronavirus vaccine
(Politico-Europe)
“The Belgian secretary of state accidentally revealed EU vaccine prices on Twitter. … The European Commission has said it cannot disclose the prices paid for each coronavirus vaccine, citing commercial confidentiality agreements. … publication of the price breakdown was “a mistake on the part of the communications team.”
—
Oxford/AstraZeneca: €1.78
Johnson & Johnson, $8.50
Sanofi/GSK: €7.56
BioNTech/Pfizer: €12
CureVac: €10
Moderna: $18
https://www.politico.eu/article/belgian-secretary-of-state-accidentally-reveals-eu-vaccine-prices/
“Estonia COVID Info | Eesti Koroonakaart.”
“Koroonaviiruse andmestik.” - Eesti Terviseamet
“Health Board: 654 new coronavirus cases, four deaths.” - ERR
“Estonia to spend €187,740 on vaccine storage equipment.” - BNN
“ITK arst: meie haigla olukord sarnaneb juba sõjaseisukorrale.” - Postimees
“Narva haigla intensiivosakonna juhataja suri koroonaviiruse tõttu.” - ERR
“Number of elderly coronavirus patients in hospitals has risen.” - ERR
“Täna kogunes Tallinnas Vabaduse platsile paarsada inimest, et protesteerida maskikandmise vastu.” - Postimees Video
“Europeans urged to wear masks for family Christmas.” - BBC
“Finland will hit the peak of the pandemic at the beginning of March.” - Yle
“Do we need coronavirus 'vaccine passports' to get Europe moving again?” - Euronews
— Friday 18. December —
Doktoritöö: Eesti venekeelsed elanikud jagunevad lõimumises nelja rühma
(Novaator)
"Tartu Ülikoolis kaitstud doktoritöös eristas Marianne Leppik lõimumise ja hargmaisuse põhjal Eestis nelja tüüpi venekeelseid elanikke kosmopoliitidest nõrgalt lõimunuteni. “Eesti venekeelset elanikkonda ühendab ühine emakeel või kodune keel ehk siis vene keel, samuti see, et hoolimata sotsiaaldemograafilisest taustast jälgitakse Venemaa päritolu meediat. Siinkohal võiks aga sarnasused lõppeda."
Looduse kaduv ilu kannustab fotograafi paremini pildistama
(Postimees)
“Eks hunt on ikka selline loom, keda igaüks tahaks näha ja ka pildile saada. Minu jaoks on ta vaba looduse sümbol.”
Sweden Approves Underwater Examination of Estonia Wreck
(Reuters)
“Damberg said the government hoped to amend the law designating the site of the disaster as a maritime memorial in the first half of next year.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN28S20M
“Estonia hukku on vaja täiendavalt uurida.” - ERR
“Sweden looks to change law so 1994 ferry disaster can be re-examined.” - Guardian
Sweden announces toughest Covid measures yet
(Financial Times)
“… including its first recommendation to use face masks, as its death toll continued to increase. Prime minister Stefan Lofven announced on Friday evening a range of new restrictions from Christmas Eve, including a recommendation to wear face masks on public transport in rush hour. He also said that higher secondary schools and many municipal services would be closed for a month, while entrance to shops, shopping centres and gyms would be restricted.”
https://www.ft.com/content/71d67d6d-32eb-47f4-b71a-d4986583e04c
“Sweden's health officials 'misjudged' COVID-19 resurgence.” - Euronews
“Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf: Our COVID Strategy Was Deadly.” - AP
“Sweden introduces tough new measures to tackle second wave.” - Guardian
— Thursday 17. December —
Lõuna-Eestis ilmutas end haruldane jääketas
Ülle Harju, Postimees
“… millist viimati nähti Eestis ligi kaks aastat tagasi.”
https://leht.postimees.ee/7132700/louna-eestis-ilmutas-end-haruldane-jaaketas
Managing Adversity: Russia and the Baltics
(Carnegie Moscow)
“The Baltic countries and Russia need to talk to each other. A lack of communication could cause incidents to escalate and lead to a military confrontation. For this reason, dialogue on military risk reduction with Russia and Belarus is crucial. … today’s security equation in the Baltic Sea region should primarily be considered in the context of Russia’s internal and external developments. Russia’s hybrid warfare, the illegal annexation of Crimea, and the war in Eastern Ukraine remain primary preoccupations for the Baltic states. ”
https://carnegie.ru/commentary/83478
Putin's Press Conference
(RFERL)
“At his year-end press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin repeated long-standing complaints about the West and avoided direct answers to several questions, steering clear of even uttering the name of poisoned Kremlin foe Aleksei Navalny.”
https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-s-press-conference-what-he-said-and-didn-t-quite-say/31006354.html
“Putin: Venemaa oleks Navalnõi mürgitamise lõpuni viinud.” - ERR
“Putin Faces the Press at the End of a Mixed Year.” - Foreign Policy
“Putin takes questions for hours from hundreds of journalists.” - ABCNews
“Putin blames Washington for starting new arms race.” - Reuters
“Putin dismisses Navalny poisoning attack allegations.” - Meduza
“Putin's aggressive policies show sign of a worried regime.” - The Guardian
FSB Team of Chemical Weapon Experts Implicated in Alexey Navalny Poisoning
(Bellingcat)
“A joint investigation between Bellingcat and The Insider, in cooperation with Der Spiegel and CNN, has discovered voluminous telecom and travel data that implicates Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) in the poisoning of the prominent Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny. Moreover, the August 2020 poisoning in the Siberian city of Tomsk appears to have happened after years of surveillance, which began in 2017 shortly after Navalny first announced his intention to run for president of Russia. Throughout 2017, and again in 2019 and 2020, FSB operatives from a clandestine unit specialized in working with poisonous substances shadowed Navalny during his trips across Russia, traveling alongside him on more than 30 overlapping flights to the same destinations.”
—
“Our investigation identified three FSB operatives from this clandestine unit who traveled alongside Navalny to Novosibirsk and then followed him to the city of Tomsk where he was ultimately poisoned. These operatives, two of whom traveled under cover identities, are Alexey Alexandrov (39), Ivan Osipov (44) – both medical doctors – and Vladimir Panyaev (40). … supervised by at least five more FSB operatives.”
“Navalny Interrogated in Germany Despite ‘Nonexistent’ Russian Criminal Probe.” - Moscow Times
“Alexey Navalny: 'I Know Who Wanted To Kill Me’.” - RFERL
“How Bellingcat Identified Navalny's FSB Stalkers.” - Bellingcat
“Outing of FSB hit squad highlights Russia's data security problem.” - The Guardian
“Bellingcat Can Say What U.S. Intelligence Can’t.” - Foreign Policy
“Many Russians dismissive of Navalny poisoning case.” - CBC
“The Kremlin needs to prove us wrong.” - Deutsche Welle
— Wednesday 16. December —
Eestis alustas tööd Baltikumi esimene kaitsevaldkonna päikesejaam
(ERR)
“Muhu radarijaama päikesejaam läks maksma ligi 70,000 eurot.”
https://www.err.ee/1209850/eestis-alustas-tood-baltikumi-esimene-kaitsevaldkonna-paikesejaam
Bank of Estonia forecasts 2.5 % economic downturn in 2020
(ERR)
“… the Estonian economy will begin to recover in the second quarter of 2021.”
https://news.err.ee/1209451/bank-of-estonia-forecasts-2-5-percent-economic-downturn-in-2020
“Eesti Pank prognoosib järgmiseks aastaks kümneprotsendilist tööpuudust.” - Postimees
— Tuesday 15. December —
The New Silicon Valley: Tallinn, Estonia
(Techround)
“While most people think of Silicon Valley as the leading tech hub in the world, Estonia is quickly becoming a top player on the world stage for entrepreneurship and technology. Famed for its innovation, Estonia boasts a vast community of over 1,000 startups – famously dubbed the #EstonianMafia on Twitter – including a varied mix of established names such as Skype, to newer innovators such as unicorns including Pipedrive, Transferwise, and Bolt. With its disruptive startup ecosystem, progressive government policies, and digital nomad education initiatives, it is fast becoming a more attractive alternative to Silicon Valley’s crowded ecosystem.”
https://techround.co.uk/interviews/the-new-silicon-valley-tallinn-estonia/
Climate crisis sends temperatures soaring in Lapland
(The Guardian)
“In July 2018, Rovaniemi, the capital of Finnish Lapland – the self-styled “official hometown of Santa Claus” – recorded an unprecedented high of 32C (90F).”
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/dec/15/climate-crisis-sends-temperatures-soaring-in-lapland
Cracks Appear Among Lukashenko’s Security Forces
(Foreign Policy)
“Signs that the Belarusian dictator’s days in power might be numbered have emerged in his security apparatus.”
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/12/14/lukashenko-belarus-by-pol-security-forces-protests/
Interview: Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya
By Masha Gessen, The New Yorker
“Every country has its own path to democracy,” Tsikhanouskaya, who calls herself the leader of democratic Belarus, says. “And this is ours.”
“Tsikhanouskaya Accepts Sakharov Prize.” - RFERL
“Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: EU sanctions against Belarus not enough.” - Euronews
Putin Finally Accepted Biden’s Victory
(Daily Beast)
“In a statement, the Kremlin said: “Putin wished the president-elect every success and expressed confidence that Russia and the United States... could, despite their differences, really help to solve the many problems and challenges facing the world.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/putin-finally-accepts-bidens-victory-leaving-trump-standing-alone
“Biden to Face a Confrontational Russia.” - New York Times
“President-elect Joe Biden Harshly Rebuked Trump Over Election.” - NPR
— Monday 14. December —
More people requiring aid than Estonian foodbank can provide
(ERR)
“Last year, 7,200 people a week on average received help from the Foodbank but now around 10,000 people per week are asking for donations.”
https://news.err.ee/1205824/more-people-requiring-aid-than-estonian-foodbank-can-provide
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania take major step towards full energy independence
(Emerging Europe)
“The European Union has agreed to provide Poland and the Baltic states with a grant worth 719.7 million euros to carry out phase two of a project to link the electricity networks of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania with the Continental European Network. The project aims to better integrate the electricity grids of the three Baltic states with those of the rest of Europe and ensure their energy independence from third countries.”
Big Tech Turns Its Lobbyists Loose on Europe, Alarming Regulators
(New York Times)
“A leaked document jolted the European Union capital of Brussels in October, laying out in painstaking detail plans by Google to undermine new legislation that could severely damage its digital advertising business. “Academic allies” would raise questions about the new rules. Google would attempt to erode support within the European Commission to complicate the policymaking process. And the company would try to seed a trans-Atlantic trade dispute by enlisting U.S. officials against the European policy, according to a copy reviewed by The New York Times and confirmed by Google.”
—
“For many officials in Brussels, the document confirmed what they had long suspected: Google and other American tech giants are engaged in a broad lobbying campaign to stop stronger regulation against them.”
One Russian in Three Now Living on Less than Nine US Dollars a Day
(Window on Eurasia)
“The Russian state statistical agency says that 34.5 percent of Russians now earn less than 19,000 rubles a month, which works out to fewer than nine US dollars a day, a figure that perhaps better than any other highlights what Vladimir Putin’s militarism abroad and optimization at home has led to. It is buried in a 415-page Rosstat report.”
http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2020/12/one-russian-in-three-now-living-on-less.html
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