Briefs

ESTONIAN-RUSSIAN ACCORD 'MEANINGLESS'

An Estonian-Russian trade agreement that has been years in the making is becoming meaningless, according to an Estonian Foreign Ministry official. Any agreement could no longer be implemented once Estonia joined the EU, explained Tiina Maiberg, press secretary at the Foreign Ministry. At that point all trade and economic cooperation agreements would lose effect.

"Our relations with Russia will then be regulated by means of agreements between the EU and Russia in agreement with the EU's common trade policy," said the official. (Baltic News Service)

MISS PRISON

Eight inmates of Lithuania's Panevezys women's penitentiary are set to compete next month in a beauty contest to be crowned the Baltic country's first Miss Prison, the contest's organizer said last week.

"The eight finalists of the contest were selected from 39 candidates who expressed the wish to participate," said local producer Arturas Valinskas.

At the Nov. 14 final, which will be broadcast later on a private nationwide television channel, the contestants, who range from age 17 to 31, will demonstrate their talents and elegance and present themselves in swimming suits and wedding dresses, he added.

Miss Prison will win a 10,000 litas (2,900 euros) cash prize and silver crown, but will receive them only when released from jail. (Agence France-Presse)

FOREIGN MINISTER HOPEFUL

The four political parties who intend to form Latvia's next government unanimously endorsed the candidacy of Sandra Kalniete, Latvia's ambassador to France, for foreign minister.

Kalniete, nominated by election winner New Era, also won praise from outgoing Foreign Minister Indulis Berzins, who said she had worked hard to persuade France to support Latvian membership in NATO.

Kalniete was nominated after New Era's first choice for the post, former Jewish Community leader Grigorijs Krupnikovs, declined to stand after he was accused of financial improprieties and connections to the Soviet secret service. Krupnikovs denied all the charges.

New Era, Latvia's First Party, the Union of Greens and Farmers and For Fatherland and Freedom are currently in coalition-building negotiations. (BNS)

DUDAYEV DONE

Riga Mayor Gundars Bojars said he backs plans to rechristen a street named after former Chechen President Dzhokhar Dudayev but stressed his position had nothing to do with the recent hostage crisis in Moscow in which Chechen rebels held some 700 theater goers at gun point inside a Moscow theater.

Bojars said Dudayev, beloved by Chechens for leading the fight against Russian rule of the Caucasian republic but branded a terrorist by most Russians, has little connection with Riga and should therefore not have a street named for him in the Latvian capital.

Russian officials have urged Latvia to change the name of the street. (BNS)

SCARY SCRAPE

Shots were fired when a car in President Arnold Ruutel's security entourage collided with another vehicle Oct. 26 but nobody was hurt.

A security officer had to make a warning shot in the air when an Audi attempted to pass it on the right while driving on a highway some 55 kilometers west of Tallinn, police said.

The sides of the two vehicles touched, and when the cars stopped, three young men jumped out of the Audi and started to run away. After warning shots were fired in the air, the men stopped and security officers detained them. Nobody was injured and the car suffered only minor damage.

The driver of the car failed a breathalyzer test and did not have a valid driving license or insurance coverage. One of the passengers said they had attempted to pass the presidential motorcade "for fun," police said. (BNS)

LATVIA TO RUSSIA: UNTIE BOTTLENECKS

Latvia's Foreign Ministry last week sent a letter to the Russian Embassy appealing for the urgent need to solve the problem of long waits on the Russian-Latvian border crossing at Terehova-Burachki. The ministry said that despite repeated requests by Latvia to solve the problem, queues for those trying to cross into Russia from Latvia have been growing in recent days. On Friday morning some 452 trucks and 102 cars were waiting in line to cross into Russia.

The Latvian ministry said that day-long queues to enter Russia do not meet international practice and have a negative effect on trade and economic cooperation. (BNS)

MOST KIND LOCKSMITH

Fire and rescue workers in the southern Lithuanian city of Alytus were charged with perhaps the most delicate operation of their careers last week: They had to help free a 24-year-old man whose genitals had been locked inside a padlock as a practical joke.

The man, who was admitted to a nearby hospital in an inebriated state after rescue workers used hydraulic clippers to set him free, said a friend had attached the lock to his genitalia while he slept.

Doctors asked for the identity of his friend in order to find out the code of the padlock, but the man refused to reveal it. The man was not injured. (BNS)