The midsummer's eve celebrations were relatively calm this year, although there were more intoxicated underage individuals and more drunken drivers, the police reported.
The feature Estonian film "Revolution of Pigs" won the Special Award of the 26th Moscow Film Festival last week. The silver statue of the St.Yuri, the second most important award of the Moscow Film Festival, became the highest achievement of an Estonian feature film since 1991. The Moscow Film Festival is considered a "Class A" festival along with Cannes, Berlin and other festivals and is rapidly gaining prestige in the industry. "Revolution of Pigs" (original title "Sigade Revolutsioon"), directed by Jaak Kilmi and Rene Reinumagi, is a bittersweet comedy about a youth camp in Estonia in 1986.
The Tax Board charged Italian banker and real estate developer Ernesto Preatoni (photo) with tax fraud to the tune of 3.2 million euros on June 29. Apart from millionaire Preatoni, Tallinn-based lawyer Aivar Pihlak and Angelika Annus, an employee of Preatoni's Pro Kapital Group, also face charges. As a result of commercial activity of Baltic Investments Ltd., which was registered in Hong Kong at Preatoni's request by Pihlak and managed by Annus, income tax returns for the years 1997 to 2000 amounting to 1.5 million euros were never filed. Preatoni was also charged with personal income tax evasion as he reportedly did not declare 6.5 million euros received from sales of securities.
Former Justice Minister and Reform Party member Mart Rask (photo) became the new head of the Supreme Court. Rask's candidature, suggested by President Arnold Ruutel, was approved by Parliament on June 28. Rask will abandon his current political affiliations. A well-known lawyer with some 20 years of experience, Rask has promised to eliminate the current shortage of personnel in the court system and quicken court procedures.
The Bank of Estonia emitted a 100 kroon coin to commemorate Olympic game's medallists from Estonia and elsewhere. The 7.7-gram coin, made of 999/1000 gold, features the names of Estonian Olympic game's medallists. The coin will be available from July 5 at the Bank of Estonia museum in Tallinn at the price of 127 euros.
About 52 percent of residents, or 621,000 people, aged six to 74 use the Internet, the TNS Emor pollster announced last week. The annual growth of the Internet user community amounted to 4 percent. The most active age group are people from 12 to 24.
