MOSCOW, June 29, 2008 (AFP) - Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves on Sunday walked out of a congress in Russia after a senior lawmaker criticised Estonia for its treatment of ethnic-Russians, RIA-Novosti news agency reported.

TALLINN, June 9, 2008 (AFP) - Estonia's economic growth all but ground to a halt in the first quarter of 2008, with output increasing by just 0.1 percent compared with the equivalent figure last year, official data showed on Monday.

TALLINN, June 8, 2008 (AFP) - Estonian armed forces on Sunday accused the Russian military of sending a transport plane over Estonia's airspace, while Russia's defence ministry denied the allegation.

In a statement, the Estonian armed forces said that the AN-72 transport plane entered Estonia's sky at 9:03 pm (1803 GMT) on Saturday, before leaving a minute later.

TALLINN, June 8, 2008 (AFP) - A Russian military transport plane has violated Estonia's airspace on its way to the Russian Baltic Sea enclave of Kaliningrad, the Estonian military said Sunday.

In a statement, the Estonian armed forces said that the AN-72 transport plane entered Estonia's sky at 9:03 pm (1803 GMT) on Saturday, before leaving a minute later.

TALLINN, June 6, 2008 (AFP) - Estonian annual inflation fell slightly in May to 11.3 percent, after having hit a 10-year high of 11.4 percent in April, the national statistics office said on Friday.

Compared with April, prices in the Baltic state increased 0.6 percent, it said.

TALLINN, June 4, 2008 (AFP) - A US military probe has failed to find the wreckage of a passenger plane thought to have been shot down by the Soviet Union during WWII, claiming the life of an American diplomat, a official said Wednesday.

France's Prime Minister Francois Fillon on Friday urged EU partners to debate a French proposal to cap value added tax (VAT) on oil to help ease soaring fuel prices.

Two Estonian Internet entrepreneurs who used cutting-edge software and legions of volunteers to literally clean up their country want to offer the same service to the rest of the world.

TALLINN, May 26, 2008 (AFP) - Estonian ice cream maker Premia Tallinna Kulmhoone said Monday it has bought Russia's oldest ice cream maker Hladokombinat No. 1 based in St. Petersburg for an undisclosed sum.

'The negotiations with the Russians lasted around year and half ... at the moment we will not announce the price of the deal,' Kuldar Leis, Premia chairman told AFP.

TALLINN, May 24, 2008 (AFP) - An Estonian soldier in Afghanistan has died after being accidentally crushed under the wheels of a heavy vehicle, the defence ministry in the Baltic state said Saturday.

Sergeant Ivar Brok, 30, serving with a logistics unit, was seriously injured in the accident at his base in the south of the country late Friday.