Four spectators were injured when Ari Laivola from the Mitsubishi team drove off the track during the second stage of the World Rally Championship in Jyvaskyla, central Finland. Two of the injured were Estonians. The stage was canceled after the accident and the contest proceeded with the next stage. In 1996 one person was killed and 32 injured in a similar accident at a rally contest held in Jyvaskyla.
Estonian representative offices abroad, including embassies, lack tourism-related materials, according to a survey carried out by the Foreign Affairs Ministry in June. The most wanted materials are those containing general data about Estonia, tourism, culture and economic information. Brochures about the resort town of Parnu and the Estonian islands are the hottest items among people looking for tourism information.
The Estonian Scouts Battalion II team won the Erna Raid 2004 military exercise held in Estonia Aug. 3 - 7. Denmark I became the best foreign team by taking seventh place. The Erna Raid, held every year since 1993, is considered to be one of the longest and toughest military exercises. The mission resembles the reconnaissance raid of the group called Erna on the Estonian territory once taken by the Red Army.
Most of Tallinn's beaches are now flying the red flag due to a higher than usual concentration of dangerous species of a staphylococcus-type bacteria. However, many local residents cannot resist swimming in the warm water at the Pirita, Harku and Stroomi beaches marked as prohibited by red flags. The Kakumae beach is the only one marked by a green flag in Tallinn.
Legal Chancellor Allar Joks announced he would take the Narva municipality to the Supreme Court in order to cancel regulations for crossing the Estonian-Russian border in Narva. Joks claims the municipality-enforced obligation for all drivers to pass a special terminal in Narva and pay a fee of about 1 euro contradicts federal legislation.
The water level of Lake Ulemiste has normalized thanks to hot weather and has been falling by one centimeter a day. After the two-day heavy rain at the end of July, the water level reached an all-time record and potentially threatened to flood a district near Tallinn Airport.
