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Ice brings more accidents than usual to northern Estonia

After yesterday's icy roads in south Estonia, ice struck north Estonia on Wednesday morning. More than 40 car accidents happened before noon on the roads.

Postimees went to the East Tallinn Central Hospital and spoke with communications manager Marko Mägi who said there had been significantly more injuries today than usual. He said by 1pm there had been 65 referrals and 35 injuries, most of these were to the head or arms.

Spokesperson of the emergency call center Sigrid Karu told Postimees most of the injuries today had been reported in northern Estonia. By 1pm there had been 48 limb traumas, and 35 of those had been in the north of the country. 28 head traumas were also reported, with 19 of those in north Estonia.

Õhtuleht also went to the emergency room, but also asked older people if they were scared to go out when the streets were so slippery. Most people were only going out if they had too.

Temporary workers

Maaleht spoke with Martin Mägi, chief executive of Finesta, about temporary workers in Estonia.

Mägi believes that low skilled labor can no longer be found in Estonia, so companies should be allowed to bring in temporary workers but reassures people that this will not lead to mass migration coming to the country if done correctly.

He says the situation today is that simply placing an advert is no longer working, not only for senior executives and professionals, but also for welders, carpenters and builders, and that it is a myth that workers from Ukraine, Moldova, Bulgaria or another country come to Estonia as cheap labor. 

He also does not believe the labor shortage will be solved by Estonians returning from Finland, "Although we can talk about it and hope for it, an Estonian who went to Finland about ten years ago will not come back from that country under any circumstances. If it goes very well, maybe 20% of the goers will eventually come back," he told the newspaper.

Estonia 200 launch political anti-bullying fund

Delfi reports that political party Estonia 200 and Emeraldlegal Law Firm decided to set up an anti-bullying fund to provide legal advice and support to people who have been unfairly or harassed at a national or local level.

One of the initiators, Lauri Hussar, said: "Both the dismissal of secretary general Lemetti and the unsuccessful dismissal of the headmaster in Viimsi are both cases of political bullying based on political self-interest and arbitrariness."

Robert Sarv, an attorney at law at the Emeraldlegal Law Firm, is convinced that political bullying is more widespread than we can know. "We do not want to live in an indifferent society, we want to live in a society where justice and good will pay," says Sarv.

 In the near future, the party will publish more detailed information, recommendations and guidance on the initiative.

Speaking Estonian in Narva

Delfi interviewed head of the Integration Foundation Irene Käosaar about the Estonian Language House in Narva and her experiences of speaking Estonian in the predominantly Russian-speaking city.

Käosaar said she speaks Estonian with everyone she can to give them the opportunity to practice and is pleased that more and more people in Narva are speaking the national language.

She said Estonians should be supportive in creating an integrated society. If you speak with someone with poor Estonian with an accent don't switch to Russian or English, support the person, she said. There is a general need for openness, positivity, respect for multiculturalism and multilingualism.

Estonian mulling ban on Russian TV channels

Last week Latvia decided to remove nine Russian TV channels owned by Yuri Kovalchuk from televisions, Delfi reports, but it is not yet known if Estonia will apply the same ruling. The Russian is currently subject to EU sanctions for undermining Ukraine's territorial integrity.

Six of the nine channels that Latvia stopped showing can still be watched on Estonian territory. These channels are Dom Kino, Dom Kino Premium, Muzõka Pervogo, Pojehali, O !, Bobjor and Telekafe. 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it will consult with Latvian colleagues and the European Commission on the exact grounds and grounds for the sanction and will analyze the decision. 

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