Eesti in brief

Finnish police investigators announced at a press conference on Aug. 15 the completion of an investigation against three women from Estonia for pimping Estonian prostitutes to Finland, reports Eesti Paevaleht. According to the indictment, the women, born in 1984, 1974 and 1963, got involved in the prostitution business in spring of 2011, and over two years they developed a huge customer base in the whole of south and central Finland. Around fifty prostitutes from the ages of 28-50 worked for them in over 30 houses; all of them came from Estonia. Tampere Central Criminal Police lead investigator Paavo Tuominen said that the initiators of the ring focused on smaller towns, believing that would be less control over prostitution there. Besides the Estonians, two Finnish men are accused, who rented the necessary rooms for the Estonian madams.

The Estonian State Forest Management Center opened a new 627 km long hiking trail across Estonia, from Aegviidu in north Estonia to Ahijarve in Vorumaa, southeast Estonia, reports Public Broadcasting. “The new branch of the hiking trail is interesting to everyone, both Estonian residents and our guests, because it displays a very different Estonia, very different Estonian landscapes,” said SFMC’s nature protection department head Marge Rammo. “In some sense, that trail can be called the trail of Estonia’s highest, deepest, smallest and biggest places.” The Aegviidu-Ahijarve trail goes by Estonia’s highest mountain Suur Munamagi, Estonia’s deepest lake, Lake Rouge, Estonia’s southernmost spot, Naha village, several nature reserves, swamps and moors.

Scientists at the Estonian University of Life Sciences Veterinary Medicine and Animal Breeding Institute say they have managed to clone a transgenic calf, reports Public Broadcasting. The calf, which carries a human growth hormone gene, is expected to grow into a cow that will give milk from which growth hormone can be extracted. This is expected to have uses in the pharmaceuticals industry. The cloned calf will be presented to the public next week.