Tartu University scientists Raul-Allan Kiivet, Helle Visk and Toomas Asser write in their study on the dynamics in the number of doctors and nurses working in Estonia in 2032, that only with a utopian scenario: if all the 120 graduates of doctor's studies started working in Estonia immediately, and no young doctors left abroad, the number of doctors would not fall drastically.

The reality is however that an average of 15% new doctors won't start working in Estonia. For example in 2011, out of the 107 doctors who graduated, just 66 started working in Estonia. 725 young doctors out if the 981 who had graduated from the department of medicine in 2002-2011, worked in Estonia in April 2012, meaning a loss of over 250 new doctors.

The truth is that not all young doctors would find work in Estonia, 4,500 doctors is sufficient for Estonia, being three doctors per 1,000 people, which is Europe's average. However there are fields were shortage of doctors is higher than in other places. For example a year ago, 54 family doctors had left for work in Finland and 141 had taken a certificate from the Health Board to work abroad, meaning that at least a part of them work part-time in Estonia and part-time in Finland.

The authors of the study say that the acceptance of medical students to university has to be increased by a fourth to preserve the number of doctors at the current level and the exodus of doctors from Estonia should be halved.

Real wages, which take into account the influence of the change in the consumer price index, increased 2.7% in the 1st quarter of 2013. Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, real wages increased for the seventh quarter in succession.

According to the Wages and Salaries Statistics Survey, the number of employees as at the end of March was practically the same as in the same period of 2012.

Compared to the 1st quarter of 2012, the average monthly gross wages increased the most in real estate activities (13.9%) and the hourly gross wages in agriculture, forestry and fishing activities (15.7%). Compared to the 1st quarter of 2012, the average monthly and hourly gross wages decreased only in arts, entertainment and recreation activities (2.0% and 1.0%, respectively).

The average gross wages were 876 euros in January, 882 euros in February and 940 euros in March.

In the 1st quarter of 2013, the employer’s average monthly labour costs per employee were 1,220 euros and the average hourly labour costs were 8.03 euros. Compared to the 1st quarter of 2012, the average monthly labour costs per employee increased by 6.3% and the average hourly labour costs by 8.7%.

Compared to the 1st quarter of 2012, the average monthly labour costs per employee increased the most in real estate activities (13.7%) and the average hourly labour costs in agriculture, forestry and fishing activities (15.7%). Compared to the 1st quarter of 2012, the average monthly labour costs per employee and the hourly labour costs decreased only in arts, entertainment and recreation activities (2.2% and 1.3%, respectively).

In the 1st quarter of 2013, the average monthly gross wages in public sector were 918 euros and in private sector 894 euros. Compared to the 1st quarter of 2012, the average monthly gross wages in public sector increased by 6.3% and in private sector by 6.4%. Public sector also includes companies owned by the state or local government.

Statistics Estonia conducts the Wages and Salaries Statistics Survey on the basis of international methodology since 1992. In 2013, the sample included 11,592 enterprises, institutions and organisations.

In 2012, migration shrank Estonia's population by 6,629, with 10,873 people emigrating and 4,244 immigrating, Statistics Estonia said in a statement today. Of last year's immigrants, a full 70 percent were returning citizens - those who had emigrated or their foreign-born children.

Finland, which has for many years been the largest destination country for Estonian emigration, saw 6,386 Estonians arrive last year, accounting for 59 percent of the total outflow. The number of people moving in the opposite direction numbered 1,503, which also puts Finland at the top of the list for countries of origin for immigration to Estonia.

The next largest destination country for Estonian emigrants was the UK, which took in 1,369 and gave back only 258. After Finland, the largest source of immigrants, accounting for 24 percent of the total, was Russia.

Certain readers may be concerned that net migration is also reducing the number of young females in Estonia. Women account for a majority of the emigrants but men make up the lion's share of immigrants to the country. The combination of these two factors put the female portion of the 2012 net migration loss at 60 percent. Most emigrants were in the 20 to 44 age group.

"The main reason why the matter hasn’t progressed is that the interior ministry and foreign minister have different opinions," said Paet. Foreign ministry is of the opinion that citizens by birth could be allowed double citizenship. An analysis compiled in the interior ministry has reached the contrary conclusion.

"This is the place for discussions whether it is possible to bring these positions closer and make these decisions," said Paet, adding that amendments to the citizenship law are in the interior ministry governance sphere and the foreign ministry can only submit proposals.

The problem that has been in works for over a year lies in the fact that the Estonian citizenship law doesn’t allow double citizenship, but the Constitution doesn’t allow taking away Estonian citizenship received by birth from anyone. Foreign minister first raised the issue last summer since it merged repeatedly in Estonian foreign representations.

The majority of parliament parties have in principle supported allowing double citizenship, which would concern offspring of people who have left Estonia either in 1940s or later.

The results posted are a record in both the amount of milk and quota fulfilment percentage. The milk quota year lasted from April 1 last year to March 31 this year, the Agricultural Registries and Information Board (PRIA) reported.

The European Commission quota for Estonia was 686,000 tonnes for this period. Out of this, 672,000 tonnes had been distributed to quota holders based on their applications.

Although the number of quota holders fell in a year by 60, the amount of milk they produced was by around 22,000 tonnes bigger than in the preceding quota year.

In the new quota year that started on April 1 this year, the European Commission set Estonia's milk quota at 692,926,049 kg. At the start of the 2013/2014 quota year, there were 856 milk quota holders.

In spite of its efforts to remain neutral, Estonia was to be the first country to come under Communist rule according to the secret protocols of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Then, following further military action, it fell into the hands of the National-Socialists and then, once again, was occupied by the “Reds” until 1991. It was only on the 20th of August of that year that Estonia regained its independence. The losses suffered by the country at the hands of the two invaders were so great that the number of Estonians at the present time has yet to equal that of the pre-war period.

During the Second World War, Estonians not only fought in the Red Army but also in the Wehrmacht and in the Estonian Waffen-SS. Estonia, which neither began, nor even wanted the war, became, like Latvia and Lithuania, a pawn in the game of chess between the two great powers.

Tragic was the fate of the Estonian soldiers forcibly mobilised into the Red Army. Following the Stalinist deportations of 1941, the survivors of forced labour camps were used to form the 8th Estonian Rifle Corps which suffered irreplaceable losses in the Luki Offensive at the end of the same year.

Following this were those, who, with the best of intentions and a belief in the restoration of the independent state of Estonia, were conscripted and mobilised into the Wehrmacht, forming the “Narva” battalion which distinguished itself in the 1943 battles for Ukraine. In the same year, Estonians were used to form the 3rd Brigade of the Waffen-SS, which took part in Battle for Nevel.
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Emor's most recent monthly public opinion poll, released last week, finds that the Center Party, while an opposition party in Parliament, continues to hold the biggest municipal-level backing, notably in Tallinn, ahead of next October's local government elections.

With the elections drawing closer, the Center Party is on a strong footing in much of Estonia, holding an accumulative 40 percent of votes from the country's biggest towns. The Social Dems, and the nationally ruling parties, the Reform Party and IRL, are far behind, with 13 percent, 9 percent and 8 percent, respectively.

Center also looks set to continue its long reign in Tallinn, where support amounts to 47 percent - just four percentage points shy of an absolute majority. Experts calculate that 18 percent of the votes will be lost to independent candidates, election coalitions and small parties that can't pass the threshold, translating into an even higher, 53-54 percent for the Center Party.

"One thing is almost certain: in Tallinn, the Center Party will win," said the pollster's leading expert, Aivar Voog. Astoundingly, the Center Party has dramatically increased its support among ethnic Russians by 20 percent in just a single month.

A political scientist at the University of Tartu, Rein Toomla, said one reason for the Center Party's popularity in Tallinn could be its superior incumbent, Mayor Edgar Savisaar. "They don't measure up to Savisaar in terms of recognition, charisma and perhaps political prowess," Toomla said.

A yet-to-be identified, intact, male skeleton has been excavated from a brick tomb at the Tartu Cathedral, despite archaeologists' initial worry that the tomb would be empty.

The tomb, dating back at least to the mid-16th century, was found in March during renovation work. Digging further to a depth of 1.8 meters, archaeologists found a skeleton buried in a decomposed wooden box, a statement from the University of Tartu said.

“We found no personal belongings with the deceased, but [we found] plenty of coffin nails and some rotten wood. We're hoping that further analysis will show us the type of wood the coffin was made of, and with that, the period of the interment,” said the university's archaeologist Martin Malve.

“We can currently say that the skeleton originates from the 13-15th century, when tombs were actively used for burials. The skeleton belonged to a man aged 40-50. Initial examination shows that the teeth were relatively unworn; there were a few teeth missing from when he was alive, as well as plaque and dental cavities. The right elbow [...] had a healed bone fracture that could have resulted from trying to stop a fall,” Malve said.

The skeleton is undergoing further analysis at the University of Tartu's human bones repository. The university's history museum, which is located at the site of the ruins of the Tartu Cathedral, hopes to put the find up on display by the end of summer.

The university's experts have previously said that the find is one of the rarest in Estonia.

ANTIBES - Model Karmen Pedaru attends the 'De Grisogono' Party during The 66th Annual Cannes Film Festival at Hotel Du Cap Eden Roc on May 21, 2013 in Antibes, France.

(Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images for de Grisogono)

The estimated number of unemployed persons was 71,000, which was by 7,000 persons more compared to the previous quarter. The unemployment increased among men as well as among women.

The unemployment rate of persons aged 25–49 was 9.9%. The unemployment of persons aged 15–24 exceeded More than half of the 7,000 unemployed persons who were added compared to the previous quarter were under 25 years of age.

The number of the unemployed grew primarily due to the growth of short-term unemployment. The number of long-term unemployed (i.e. people who had been looking for a job for one year or more) remained unchanged (33,000). The long-term unemployment rate was 4.7% in the 1st quarter.

In the 1st quarter, the employment rate of the population aged 15–74 was 60.8%. The estimated number of employed persons was 623,000 and it remained on the same level compared to the previous quarter.

Statistics Estonia has been conducting the Labour Force Survey since 1995 and every quarter 5,000 persons participate in the survey. The Labour Force Survey is carried out by statistical organisations in all the European Union Member States on the basis of a harmonised methodology.

10,800 tonnes of tomatoes, that have the biggest share in the import of vegetables (35.6%) was imported to Estonia in 2012, most of it from Holland (51.6%), Latvia (20.2%) and Spain (9.1%).

4,400 tonnes of cucumbers was imported, by 22% more than in 2011. Most of the cucumbers came from Latvia (25.0%), Germany (18.8%) and Poland (16.8%).

Over a third of imported vegetables is formed by salad, of which 1,200 tonnes was imported, by 155 tonnes more than in 2011. Most of the salad came from Holland (36.6%), Finland (24.5%) and Latvia (14.5%).

Onions were imported mostly from Holland (31.2%), Poland (24.3%) and Latvia (23%).

4,700 tonnes of cabbage was imported, by nearly a fifth less than last year. Cabbage formed 15.6% of imported vegetables. Most of the cabbage came from Latvia (54.8%), Poland (12.9%) and Holland (12.2%).

2,400 tonnes of root crops were imported in 2012, most of it from Latvia (31.5%), Holland (18.4%) and Poland (16.8%). 1,800 tonnes of potatoes was imported, most of it from Latvia (27.6%), Finland (27.8%) and Holland (17.3%).

The eight Estonian players each received a one-year ban from all football-related activities while the Lebanese player was banned from all football-related activities for life.

The chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee extended the sanctions to have worldwide effect on 6 May 2013, in accordance with article 78 paragraph 1(c) and article 136ff of the FIFA Disciplinary Code.

The Estonian FA has been cooperating with national judicial authorities after the State Prosecutor Office opened fraud investigations in 2011 against the eight players for allegedly receiving money from a bookmaker in connection with a number of matches of the Estonian top league, the Meistriliiga, and the Estonian Cup.

Following the criminal investigation of the State Prosecutor Office, the Estonian FA disciplinary board opened its own proceedings and decided on 1 March 2013 to impose on each player a one-year ban from all football-related activities in Estonia. The Estonian FA has specified that the bans are temporary at this stage, as more evidence and information is currently being gathered.

The lifetime ban imposed on the Lebanese player follows investigations by the Lebanese FA-appointed investigation committee beginning in January that related to actions of betting and corruption committed by some Lebanese officials and players during certain official matches of the Lebanese national team and other matches of the AFC Cup.

Last month, FIFA confirmed the extension of sanctions imposed on the other 23 players and one official involved in the same investigation, with bans ranging in length from one football season to a lifetime. In this most recent case, further information was required from the Lebanese FA before a decision could be made by the chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee.

FIFA continues to work closely with member associations and INTERPOL to combat the issue of match manipulation. Initiatives include the signing of an integrity declaration by officials, the monitoring of the betting market via its subsidiary Early Warning System (EWS) and the setting up of an e-learning ethics tool, integrity hotline and e-mail address and a confidential reporting system.

Fresh statistics of the Tax Board indicated that while there were 72,000 persons liable to VAT in Estonia last year, 5,690 companies paid altogether 2.08 billion euros of VAT that formed 90% of the collected VAT, Äripäev wrote on Monday.

Helm said in national radio that the whole so-called tax gap forms 450 million euros a year in Estonia and a half of it is unpaid VAT which is the second-biggest tax that after social tax that the state budget collects.

Helm said that the problems are not new. He explained that the VAT system is complicated as companies are entitled to reclaim it from the state too but in simplified terms, there were around 70,000 companies liable to VAT, two thirds paid more VAT to the state budget than they reclaimed and one third reclaimed more than they paid.

Helm said that possible incentives could be created for the 6,000 companies on whom VAT collection depends, for example faster VAT returns.

Postimees Online wrote that Estonian Chamber of Commerce Industry director general Mait Palts said that the Tax Board's statement surprise shim. "The majority of active companies are micro-companies and a large part of them are family companies with a few employees who have a small turnover and there isn’t much to pay on that," said Palts. "Yes, there are spheres where companies complain about the problem of hiding VAT but it cannot be said that this is a problem of all spheres of activities."

A half of the ordered buses are 12-meters long, and another half – joined buses consisting of two parts with a total length of 18.75 meters. They are expected to arrive to Tallinn by the end of the year.

Four applicants took part in a tender. The agreement was concluded with an applicant offering best conditions as acknowledged by the commission. Tallinn bought 35 buses during previous two years, all of them were produced at MAN factory. The first 12-meters buses came to Estonia in May 2012, these vehicles proved to be good on Tallinn's roads. Drivers are also satisfied with their quality; therefore, more MAN buses were ordered recently.