Eesti in brief - 2013-06-27

  • 2013-06-26

The government approved with its decree of June 20 the new composition and quality requirements for juice products which ban adding sugar to juices, reports Public Broadcasting. The decree brings requirements in Estonia in line with a European Union directive, the Agriculture Ministry announced. The decree bans adding sugars to juice, juice concentrate, juice produced from concentrate, and juice powder starting Oct. 28. As an exception, sugar can only be added to sea buckthorn juice. Agriculture Minister Helir-Valdor Seeder said that this helps make people’s eating habits healthier. He added that although generally no sugars are added to juices produced in Estonia, adding sugars to juice is quite common still in many other states’ food production.

The Riigikogu approved of an amendment to the Code of Misdemeanor Procedures, which enables law enforcement officers to start using video recordings as official evidence in traffic law enforcement in the courts, reports Public Broadcasting. This means that the time for a misdemeanor proceeding falls from the current 30-40 minutes to 20 minutes when video evidence is used, enabling the saving of an estimated 70,000 work hours a year. “One picture tells more than a thousand words, as we know. In addition to reducing the time needed, using video evidence rules out possible human error and raises the quality of misdemeanor proceedings considerably,” said Interior Minister Ken-Marti Vaher. The law still has to be promulgated by the president; the traffic police start using video evidence from August.

Europeish travel blog, which publishes information about Europe’s most attractive travel destinations and cultural sights, has compiled a list of Europe’s 79 most beautiful churches, and in which Tallinn-based Alexander Nevsky Cathedral has been placed as 17th, reports LETA. In first place is St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow, followed by Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, and in third is Hagia Sophia, in Istanbul. Nevsky Cathedral ranked right above Notre-Dame of Amiens, in France. The Europeish travel blog compiled a list of cathedrals from all over Europe. The author analyzed and presented the top 79 churches in Europe, including the impressive, unusually located (Santuario di San Besso, Meteora), or uniquely designed (Hallgrimur, Chiesa di Dio Padre Misericordioso). Riga Cathedral and Aglona Basilica were also on the list, placing 52nd and 58th, respectively. Europeish presents its readership stories about European culture, amazing photos, travel inspiration and the best real local tips every week.

The Estonian Technical Supervision Board decided that Elektriraudtee’s new Stadler FLIRT type electric trains meet requirements and will start servicing routes from July 1, reports Pubic Broadcasting. The first new trains will start servicing the Aegviidu, Paldiski and Keila lines in the vicinity of Tallinn. Tests on new diesel trains from the same producer are under way and the decision on their suitability for Estonian railways will be made in August.