Eesti in brief - 2011-07-28

Estonian hunters are allowed to kill up to 65 bears during the bear hunting season that starts on Aug. 1, since the population of bears in Estonia has surged in recent years, reports Postimees Online. The number of bears has increased year after year and, according to surveillance data, there are around 700 now in Estonia. In 2010, damage caused by bears, mainly to beehives, amounted to 12,846 euros, versus nearly 10,161 euros in 2009. The bear hunting season lasts from Aug. 1 to Oct. 31.

While otherwise the health indicators of Estonians are improving, the number of overweight people is increasing, Social Minister Hanno Pevkur said, reports Aripaev Online. Pevkur delivered a report on the people’s health development plan 2010 to the government on July 21. “Generally all indicators of the development plan improved, except one, overweight. In 2010 this achieved a share of 31.7 percent,” said Pevkur. Alcohol consumption fell strongly last year, to less than 10 liters of absolute alcohol per capita from a peak of 12.6 liters per capita in 2008. Life expectancy also increased: according to 2009 data, the life expectancy for men is 69.8 and for women 80.0 years.

Estonia’s Interior Ministry wants to make it easier for investigative authorities to find out IP addresses of computers, which should make it easier to stop criminals who act alone and often give hints about their intentions on the Internet, reports National Broadcasting. Security experts say that stopping such terrorists who act alone is more difficult than discovering extremist organizations.  “Ascertaining the IP address of a computer without procedural acts would considerably save time when a crime is committed and make it easier to prevent one,” said Interior Ministry Internal Security Deputy Chancellor Erkki Koort.