Third IT minister's the charm

For those who believe that information technology plays a central role in life in Estonia, and that it is important to market Estonia's success story abroad, including in English, perhaps the third time's the charm with Kaimar Karu appointed the next minister of foreign trade and IT, daily Postimees writes (link in Estonian) in its Monday editorial.

As he now represents the coalition Conservative People's Party of Estonia (EKRE), a party that has clearly defined itself with its distrust of online voting and digital solutions, Karu's first challenge as the party's only technocratic minister may well be the interpretation and implementation of the party's mandate.

Estonia's digital success has been coasting off of decade-old achievements for some time now, and the e-state needs new investments, but Estonia and its solutions also need to be promoted successfully in foreign delegations, making the other "half" of the minister's title just as important.

"If we'd ask 'why' more often, perhaps we'd do fewer bad things and some more good things," Karu told the paper last week, describing his new role as somewhere between the humanities and technology.

"Kaimar Karu joining the government is a positive thing that should be clearly recognized," the editorial concluded, wishing him luck in his new position.

Kelly Sildaru to focus more on school

17-year-old world champion skier and 11th grader Kelly Sildaru has decided to focus more on school this year, and while she is aware that this may mean even falling behind her competition, she doesn't mind, as this shift in focus has led to significantly less stress in her life, daily Postimees writes (link in Estonian).

While she still intends to participate in the next Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne and X Games 2020 in Aspen in January as well as the next junior world championships, she isn't planning ahead too much this season, and isn't thinking as far ahead as the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing either.

"I want to graduate high school on time, and that'll be very difficult for me to do if I'm constantly competing," Sildaru said.

"Winning is such a small part of this sport," she added. "I ski because I like skiing."

Opposing opinions weigh in on 'gay propaganda'

In a brief piece published by daily Eesti Päevaleht (link in Estonian), two people with opposing views weighed in on whether Estonia should be afraid of what is referred to by many conservatives as "gay propaganda."

"Homosexuals live well in our country — nobody is gunning them down in prison, and nobody is discriminating [against them]," said media expert Maksim Rogalski, adding that nobody cares about what other adults do in the privacy of their own bedrooms. But he found that if someone is living an amoral life, is proud of doing so and promotes it, that already constitutes an attack on the country's morals.

LGBT+ activist Artjom Trohhatšev, however, said that the LGBT+ community is not promoting propaganda, but rather seeking and providing support, especially as members of the LGBT+ minority are subject to unwanted attention and even attacks, leading to statistics such as LGBT+ children being 14 times more at risk of suicide than their peers. "If I could have been born differently, I would have been," he said, adding that it is necessary for society to understand what LGBT+ even is.

Over 300 children submit drawings to newspaper drawing contest

Nearly 350 drawings were submitted to regional paper Virumaa Teataja's drawing contest "Mina märkan!" which was aimed at young children, the paper wrote (link and gallery in Estonian).

A selection of the drawings received to be chosen by the paper's editors and partners will appear in next year's wall calendar to be distributed to all subscribers.

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