Estonian Society Folk Dancers Perform Live at London's Trafalgar Sqaure

Why can’t the Estonian president buy a song off iTunes for his Latvian wife?

Here's a good interview with President Ilves that took place during his recent visit to the United States. Ars talks e-residency and data sharing with Estonia's President

Trio for Rio set to make history: Estonian triplets head to Olympics

Leila, Liina and Lily Luik from Estonia will make Olympics history when they cross the start line for the women's marathon in Rio.

Twins competing in the same event is not uncommon at the Olympic level. But the Luiks are believed to be the first identical triplets to compete against each other.

The blond, blued-eyed sisters from the southern Estonian university town of Tartu, now 30 years old, only took up serious distance running when they were 24.

To read the full Reuters article, please click here: Trio for Rio

First packaging-free store in Estonia opens in Pärnu I ERR NEWS

Two young Pärnu residents recently opened Estonia’s first packaging-free store, where customers buying groceries and cosmetics must bring along their own appropriate bottles, jars, baggies or containers from home. If anyone forgets, however, they can purchase a container from the store if needed.

To read the full ERR News article, please click here: Paljas Pala

Estonia's New National Branding is 'Just Estonishing'

Some time ago, Estonia went in search of a new national brand and Dutch marketing expert Peter Kentie came up with the new innovative 'Just Estonishing' concept focusing on the word 'est'. The use of the English superlative 'est' highlights all the best things Estonia has to offer. Kentie spent much time researching Estonia and its people to capture the essence of the nation.

To read more about Peter Kentie and his great job in rebranding Estonia, please click here

Ott Lepland's new single "Sinine safiir" (Blue Sapphire)

I've liked Ott Lepland's work for a while now. I was so glad to finally see him perform live in Ostrova last year. He put on a great show. Here is his latest single Sinine safiir. Check it out!

Austria has a new President and he's Estonian!

Austrians saw a major shake-up in their recent presidential election. Neither of the two main parties secured enough votes to field candidates and the two main contenders came from relative political obscurity. The winner won by an extraordinarily narrow margin of 0.6%.  Independent candidate Alexander Van der Bellen was declared the winner today and will become the new President of Austria. There hasn't been an Independent leader in Austria since the Second World War. 

People abroad may be unaware of Van der Bellen's Estonian background. His mother was Estonian and his father's family of Dutch origin had lived in Russia until the Russian revolution in 1917, after which they fled to newly independent Estonia. His father Alexander became an Estonian citizen in 1934 and his family would probably have remained living there had it not been for the invasion and annexation of Estonia by the Soviet Union in 1941. Like many Estonian families who fled their country due the Soviet occupation, Van der Bellen's family spent several years living in a displaced persons camp (DP camp) before making a new life elsewhere. 

Alexander Van der Bellen is a retired economics professor from the University of Vienna who then went on to pursue a career in politics. He was a member of the Green Party before becoming an Independent.

Alexander's mother lived in Graniidi Street.

To learn more click here