Hanno Matto: Reinsalu's fight against drunk drivers hypocritical

Drunk driving is a manifestation of addiction as an illness, and instead of harsher punishments as suggested by former justice minister Urmas Reinsalu (Isamaa), people with an illness should receive treatment, Social Democrat Hanno Matto said in an opinion piece published by daily Eesti Päevaleht (EPL, link in Estonian).

It is unfortunate, however, that Reinsalu remains silent on the government's own hypocritical alcohol policy, he continued, citing that both Isamaa and the Center Party voted in favor of the Conservative People's Party of Estonia's (EKRE) proposal to reduce the alcohol excise duty in the Riigikogu last year.

"The consequences of alcoholism can be attested to and must be dealt with by police officers and rescuers, doctors, teachers and the social system," Matto said, adding that society is the one to collectively pay this price.

"I recommend conservative Reinsalu to support in the government a conservative alcohol policy and the efforts of his colleague, Minister of Social Affairs Tanel Kiik (Center) to arrange for the treatment and rehabilitation of alcoholics," he concluded.

Four Estonian movies among top ten 2019 box office hits

Between the premiere of the record-breaking Estonian movie "Truth and Justice" and the filming of Christopher Nolan's action thriller "Tenet" in several locations in Tallinn, 2019 was a big year for film in Estonia, but "Truth and Justice" was just one of several Estonian movies to make the box office top ten last year, online portal geenius.ee writes (link in Estonia).

The top ten movies in Estonia's theaters last year included "Truth and Justice" (267,588 viewers), "The Lion King" (112,606), "The Secret Life of Pets 2" (109,361), "Joker" (100,378), "Frozen 2" (96,390), "Ott Tänak: The Movie" (96,232), "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World" (89,768), "Avengers: Endgame" (88,958), and "Old Man Cartoon Movie" (86,586).

The portal highlighted that "Avengers: Endgame," now crowned the highest grossing film of all time, didn't top the charts in Estonia, falling behind several Estonian and animated films.

Time will tell whether next year's sequel to "Avatar," whose nearly ten-year Estonian box office record was beaten by "Truth and Justice," can manage to take back the crown.

Omniva warning against latest scam

Mail and logistics company Omniva is warning against the latest scam making the rounds promising prizes allegedly offered by Omniva or Eesti Post, daily Postimees writes (link in Estonian).

Scammers are sending both text messages and online messages, but Omniva has confirmed that they have no such prize drawings or similar campaigns going on right now.

People are advised to pay close attention to details such as suspicious email addresses or URLs.

Omniva is reminding everyone that the correct URL for their website is omniva.ee and that package notices are only sent from the email address [email protected]. Omniva will never ask their clients for their debit or credit card information via text or email.

Explosives uncovered in Otepää cleanup

A bomb squad was summoned to Valga County on Monday, where they disposed of a mortar shell and other explosives uncovered in the course of a cleanup on Otepää's Pärna Street, regional Lõuna-Eesti Postimees writes (link in Estonian).

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