The government gave the go-ahead to Saaremaa Opera Days, amid falling coronavirus rates.

Saaremaa Opera Days are scheduled forJuly 20-24 in Kuressaare Castle, the island's capital, and are to be an open-air opera house will be set up for the event.

Saaremaa Opera Days provided €2.06 million in the (non-coronavirus) year of 2018, which led to €310,000 being paid into state coffers and €1.75 million in revenue being raised, in addition to further showcasing Saaremaa as a tourist destination, organizers say. A projected number of attendees has not been reported.

The Saaremaa festival is supported by state agency Enterprise Estonia and organized by state concert body Eesti Kontsert.

Current restrictions are in the process of being eased in steps through May, and by June will entail outdoor events to go ahead with up to 250 attendees, and must end at 10 p.m.

Health Board chief Üllar Lanno recently said that in the light of falling coronavirus rates and rising numbers of vaccinations, summer events can go ahead.

Source: ERR

Basing their decision on some of the many measurements and calculations about where the geographical midpoint of Europe stands, the people of Mõnnuste Village in Saare County would like to put down a small monument as a tourism magnet.

"People end up in Mõnnuste Village in the summer, who come and ask for directions to the midpoint of Europe. But unfortunately, there are not road signs or markings today and it is then very complicated to direct people to the European midpoint in Mõnnuste Village," said village elder Tiina Saare.

Some 10 of the region's villages have now taken it upon themselves to celebrate the locations. They went to the Saaremaa local municipality government to receive resources from the participatory budget to put down a symbol of the Saaremaa identity - a giant letter Ö.

A representative of the Kärla community told ERR: "Just putting down a post would have certainly been the most simple solution. But I think it should still show this island's identity, emphasizing Europe's midpoint in Saaremaa."

Mõnnuste Village resident Tomas Saukstelis said: This Ö letter is actually a good-good idea, it is like our national heritage. I have actually gotten here as a Lithuanian but have lived here for 17 years. My wife and kids are from Saaremaa and this ö-letter is very important in our family."

According to "Aktuaalne kaamera", the idea has been approved by the Saaremaa municipality government, but has received criticism from municipality architects, who have put the brakes on the community initiative.

"These letters say nothing in Europe's context. We are of the position that this European midpoint must be celebrated in a way that if a tourist comes, they can immediately tell that it is the European midpoint. We must involve a larger community, brainstorm and involve specialists," said Saare municipality construction and planning department head Rein Kallas.

Tourism developers of Saaremaa have already promoted the island as Europe's geographical midpoint on the internet or even by wearing clothes marking the coordinates. They think this is a location where tourists want to go when they visit the island.

"We have put it on sweatshirts, we have marked the coordinates. And we have also used it in tourism marketing. When everything was closed and you could not travel to Europe, we promoted Saaremaa as a destination in the middle of Europe," said Saare municipality tourism specialist Kristina Mägi.

Source: ERR

The first red kangaroo pups were born in Muhu Ostrich Farm this spring after several years of trying.

Kangaroo babies don't have a name yet, but both fathers are named Jack. The mother's mother's name is already Jessy, and the kangaroo June's bag is a hidden son who hasn't jumped out yet.

Helena Erik, the hostess of the Muhu Ostrich Farm, told ERR that [[0]] sons have been born on red kangaroos in Estonia before.

"We still tried to get this offspring for years, but we didn't succeed. We don't even know exactly what the reason is. But logically, neither in this Nordic country is it logical that these red kangaroos should reproduce well," he said.

In addition, it turned out that if all went well, Jessy could bring another kangaroo baby here in nine months.

"In fact, a kangaroo can have up to three babies at a time. One is out drinking from the upper breast, one is a curl developing on the lower tit. explained the hostess of the farm.

One of the reasons why the offspring had to wait so long could be that Jack had so-called horns without running down and since no other female kangaroos could be found in Muhu, the plans were made with Jessy and June.

"This male red kangaroo ran us last year when it snowed on May 13 and it was an accident. But thank God he came home himself," Erik said.

In addition to the first kangaroo pups, Estonia's first zebra stalk was born on the same farm four years ago. A total of four zebra foals have already been born on the farm.

Source: ERR

The two United States Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles which arrived in Estonia on a one-day visit Wednesday took to the skies above Ämari air base, and also the islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa, accompanied by Estonian Air Force (Õhuvägi) jets.

The U.S. planes were in Estonia as part of Exercise Agile Liberty, headquartered in Poland, and had flown over from their unit's permanent home at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, England.

The main aims of the exercise were short-range air support maneuvers, in conjunction with controllers, and the tactical management of air-to-air targeting, in cooperation with ground personnel at Ämari, ERR reports.

Such exercises are reported as useful for the U.S. military in determining readiness and capabilities, honing skills and gaining experience, while NATO allies in turn get experience in crisis response.

The Õhuvägi is operationally a part of the Estonian Defense Forces (EDF) and makes use of Aero L-39 Albatros trainer jets, among other equipment.

Other iconic U.S. planes to have been spotted in Estonian airspace in recent months include B-52 Stratofortresses, Rockwell B-1B Lancers and Bell Boeing V-22 Ospreys.

Source: ERR