Week in pictures: June 15-21
A few key headlines from week 25 in Estonia, the last week of spring.
First in the media nad human rights sphere, the European Court of Human Rights Grand Chamber ruled that the Estonian court's decision to hold news portal Delfi liable for the hate-filled online comments posted by its readers was not in breach of Article 10, the freedom of expression. Many have declared the decision a blow to free expression online, but the court argued that the commercial news provider should have foreseen the consequences of facilitating hate speech.
The first cooperative bank in Estonia since the country regained its independence in 1991 was founded on the initiative of the City of Tallinn. Once functional, the new bank aims to make decisions with local development in mind, and help to diversify the situation in the Nordic-capital dominated Estonian loan market.
Latvia's AirBaltic wants to become a regional airline and extend its services from Tallinn. Estonian Air says it's bluffing, having pulled a similar stunt with Vilnius, which then fell apart.
Estonian-founded startups Transferwise and Pipedrive were successful at the Europas – the European Tech Startup Awards. Pipedrive, which creates software for salesmen, won the Best B2B Startup of the Year award and the founders of Transferwise, Taavet Hinrikus and Kristo Käärmann, were honoured as the best startup founders.
The British defense secretary Michael Fallon paid a brief visit to Ämari Air Base in Estonia on Wednesday to meet with his Estonian counterpart Sven Mikser and greet the UK pilots and ground crew currenty stationed at the base as part of Baltic Air Policing Mission.
Another ceremony was held at the Defense Forces General Staff headquarters to mark the inauguration of the NATO Force Integration Unit (NFIU) established in Estonia.
And finally, Tallinn was been awarded an honorable title of European City of the Trees 2015. It is also in the running to becoming the European Green Capital in 2018.
Editor: M. Oll