Latest news with #Estonia
GMA Network
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- GMA Network
Krishnah Gravidez enters Top 40 of Miss World 2025
For real-time updates, check out our Miss World 2025 coronation night live blog. Krishnah Gravidez is now one step closer to the Miss World 2025 crown! The Philippine bet was named among the Top 40 candidates still in the running for the title during the pageant's finale night on Saturday at the HITEX Exhibition Center in Hyderabad, India. Here is the complete list of Miss World 2025's Top 40: Americas & Caribbean Trinidad & Tobago Martinique Puerto Rico Dominican Republic Argentina Brazil Haiti Jamaica Panama United States Africa Zambia Namibia Uganda Cameroon Botswana Ethiopia Nigeria Somalia Tunisia Zimbabwe Europe Estonia Wales Ireland Montenegro Belgium Italy Northern Ireland Poland Serbia Ukraine Asia & Oceania Indonesia Turkiye India Thailand Australia Lebanon Malaysia New Zealand Philippines Vietnam Krishnah is vying for the country's second Miss World crown after Megan Young, who won the Philippines' first title in 2013. —Carby Rose Basina/CDC, GMA Integrated News
Reuters
a day ago
- Business
- Reuters
Damaged Baltic Sea power cable Estlink 2 seen back in operation late June
STOCKHOLM, May 30 (Reuters) - Finnish power grid operator Fingrid said on Friday it expects the Estlink 2 subsea power cable between Finland and Estonia, which was damaged in December, to return to commercial use on June 25, slightly earlier than seen before. Fingrid, which last month predicted the cable would be back in operation on July 15, said in a statement repair work was progressing faster than expected. Finnish authorities in December seized a ship carrying Russian oil in the Baltic Sea on suspicion it caused the outage by dragging its anchor across the power cable as well as four internet lines.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Moody's Affirms Bigbank's Ratings and Assessments
Moody's Ratings (Moody's) has affirmed all ratings and assessments of Bigbank AS, which were assigned last year. Moody's confirmed the following ratings for Bigbank: Long-term and short-term deposit ratings: Ba1/NP Baseline Credit Assessment (BCA) and Adjusted BCA: ba2 Long-term and short-term Counterparty Risk Ratings: Baa2/P-2 Long-term and short-term Counterparty Risk Assessments: Baa2(cr)/P-2(cr) The outlook on the bank's long-term deposit rating was revised from stable to negative. For more information, visit: Bigbank AS ( with over 30 years of operating history, is a commercial bank owned by Estonian capital. As of 30 April 2025, the bank's total assets amounted to 2.9 billion euros, with equity of 274 million euros. Operating in nine countries, the bank serves more than 170,000 active customers and employs over 550 people. The credit rating agency Moody's has assigned Bigbank a long-term bank deposit rating of Ba1, along with a baseline credit assessment (BCA) and an adjusted BCA of Ba2. Argo KiltsmannMember of the Management BoardTelephone: +372 5393 0833Email: in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Reuters
2 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Drones, doubts as US allies look to NATO summit
LONDON, May 30 (Reuters) - As Estonia's defence minister opened a tech conference this week focused heavily on cutting-edge military equipment, he said his nation's strategy in the face of mounting Russian pressure was to turn itself into a 'fly that can paralyse an elephant'. Estonia and its fellow nearby Baltic states of Latvia and Lithuania are among the first of America's allies to make good on U.S. President Donald Trump's demand that they devote at least 5% of their gross domestic product on defence. That means a combination of conscription, drones, long-range rockets and 'whole-of-society' efforts to prepare for war. It's an approach increasingly being advocated for what might be termed a whole new generation of 'frontline' governments and states from Finland and Romania to Taiwan and the Philippines. It's also being talked of in more established Western militaries such as those of the U.S. and Britain, with speculation that upcoming reforms will put much lower emphasis on heavy equipment such as tanks and more on unmanned systems, such as drones. But it's also an approach leaving some worried that excessive talk of technology is being used as an excuse to fail to provide the forces that may still be needed to win or deter a war. Earlier this month, the new U.S. ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, confirmed what had been rumoured for months - that the U.S. intends to cut back troops stationed on the continent, although he said discussions on this were unlikely to start until after the NATO summit in the Dutch capital, The Hague. "President Trump just is going to happen and it's going to happen now," Whitaker told a conference in Estonia earlier this month. "This is going to be orderly, but we are not to have any more patience for foot-dragging in this just need to work through the practical consequences." U.S. officials have made it clear they intend to use that meeting to push every NATO member to spend at least 5% of their GDP on defence, more than twice what many of them commit to at present. How that discussion goes may shape how many U.S. troops stay. In multiple European nations, then, there are growing worries about what that really means. Under former U.S. President Joe Biden's administration, the NATO alliance and U.S. European Command drew up plans to defend eastern, central and northern Europe from potential Russian incursion. But those plans relied heavily on large commitments of tanks and troops led by the United States. Now, despite increasing U.S. defence spending overall, there is mounting speculation that some of those U.S. heavy tank brigades that might fight in Europe may simply be abolished. At the end of April, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth directed the U.S. Army to become "leaner", with Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll telling reporters what the Pentagon called the "old way of doing war" was no longer sufficient. "These are hard decisions," said Driscoll, saying that "legacy systems that have been around a long time" were likely to be cut to make the force "the most lethal they can be." While neither mentioned any particular systems likely to be axed, they said the U.S. Army would be putting more effort into long-range strike missiles to hit both sea and shore targets particularly in the Pacific. They cited the example of recent fighting in Ukraine as showing how effective such weaponry could be. That offers little comfort to nervous European governments. This week, Hegseth met with Polish Deputy Prime Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz – who is also defence minister – at the Pentagon, calling Poland a 'model ally' for spending almost 5 percent of GDP on defence and building the largest army in Europe, a force that will include hundreds of U.S.- and South Korean-built tanks. According to the Pentagon, Poland currently hosts some 8,000-plus U.S. personnel, most of them rotating through from other bases in the U.S. or Europe. Some U.S. forces are also forward-located in the Baltic states including HIMARS batteries in Estonia and Apache attack helicopters in Latvia. Others including airborne forces and armour pass through during the exercise season or have been deployed fast during crises. Exactly how much of that is under question is hard to predict. Outside the high-profile U.S. embrace of Poland, some European officials complain that their U.S. counterparts – particularly in Washington – have shown less interest in discussing such specifics. Senior U.S. European Command personnel have continued to assert U.S. support, but are seen to be much less in the loop. Some current administration officials are rumoured to believe that such U.S. forces in the former Baltic states are antagonising Russia and making matters worse. But others, particularly in the U.S. military, view them as providing much-needed deterrence by making it clear any attack would drag in the United States. What is clear is that the focus of U.S. defence spending is shifting fast, including to homeland defence. The Trump administration's plans to do so include America's first trillion-dollar defence budget. But it is increasingly clear that significant amounts of that will be focused on the U.S. homeland, including $175 billion for a new 'Golden Dome' missile defence shield the administration says it wants ready and operational by 2029. This week, the Pentagon announced more than 1,000 further U.S. military personnel to help secure the U.S. southern border with Mexico, joining more than 8,000 already there. Beyond homeland defence, officials have made it clear the priority is confronting China – but that still leaves a huge amount unclear. At worst, some worry that lack of clarity means more allied effort is now going into posturing than sensible military planning. In the short term, that means working to ensure that next month's NATO summit avoids too much open disagreement. That is one reason why Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected to at least largely stay away, while other major decisions including getting alliance-wide agreement on the spending target might wait until later in the year Meanwhile, Western diplomats say discussions are underway among European governments – likely including at the NATO defence ministers meeting in Brussels this week – to find mathematical formulas to reclassify spending to reach the Trump administration's 5% target through reclassifying existing spending rather than finding all new money. Suggested examples include the spending definition to include infrastructure such as bridges that can transport heavy weapons or spending on civil preparedness and cyber resilience. Those discussions will also be watched in Asia, where the Trump administration is putting similar pressure on partners including Japan and Taiwan to hit the same 5% target. Some have suggested that Taiwan – widely believed to be under particular threat of Chinese invasion – should be spending as much as twice that to deserve U.S. protection. That is probably politically untenable, particularly given the challenges the Taiwan government is finding in pushing existing spending through its parliament. Speaking to a U.S. House of Representatives committee earlier this month, retired U.S. Admiral Mark Montgomery said he believed 5% was the maximum peacetime democracies could manage. U.S. officials have repeatedly warned that they believe Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered his military to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. The United States has long maintained 'strategic ambiguity' over whether it would respond militarily should that happen. Montgomery grabbed headlines in Taiwan and beyond by telling the committee the U.S. already had some 500 military trainers on the island, several times the number previously acknowledged or reported – but he said it needed to be at least a thousand. "We absolutely have to grow the joint training team on Taiwan," he said. Montgomery did not describe the make-up of the U.S. training, though it likely comprises a mixture of regular force personnel, contractors and potentially reservists. Much of their focus is reportedly on ensuring Taiwan's military – including its historically ineffective conscript force – is much more prepared for high-intensity, high-tech warfare. At the same Committee hearing, retired U.S. Army Pacific commanding General Charles Flynn warned that the decision of a previous administration to sell 100 harpoon ship missile launchers to Taiwan was largely useless if the island did not have sufficient missile crews with the proper training. The example of Ukraine has shown that conscripted troops can fight hard for years even with only limited support but using cutting-edge technology, particularly drones. But many in both Taiwan and the Baltic states have long believed that U.S. support remains vital to sustaining a successful fight. In this month's 'Hedgehog' drills in Estonia – named for a creature that famously defeats many larger predators, Baltic troops including conscripts and NATO soldiers worked with new drones and dug trenches intended for the current exercise but deliberately positioned to be used if Russia attacks for real. The concept of 'peace through strength' remains as valid as ever, but the current version still needs work, and it remains unclear whether next month's NATO summit will help or hinder that.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Unaudited financial report for the first quarter of 2025
The main business activity of Trigon Property Development AS is real estate development. As at 31.03.2025, AS Trigon Property Development owned one development project with an area of 13.2 hectares in the City of Pärnu, Estonia. A commercial, industrial and logistics park is planned on this area. The Company's objective is to find companies willing to bring their business activities (industry, logistics) to the development project area of AS Trigon Property Development in Pärnu, which would add value to the land plots owned by the Company. As the main purpose of the company is to sell existing land plots, investment property was recognized as inventories. In the third quarter of 2024, a 0.09-hectare transportation purpose land was sold for 31,920 euros (excluding VAT). In the fourth quarter of 2024, a 0.70-hectare property was sold for 300,000 euros (excluding VAT). Condensed statement of financial position as of 31 March 2025 delivered by the present announcement completely reflects the assets, liabilities and equity capital of AS Trigon Property Development. According to the condensed statement of comprehensive income the net loss for first quarter of 2025 of AS Trigon Property Development is 21,409 euros and the earnings per share is 0.00476 EUR. As of 31 March 2025 the assets of AS Trigon Property Development were 1,875,897 euros. The equity of the company was 1,833,366 euros, corresponding to 95.178 % of the total balance sheet. Condensed statement of financial position EUR 31.03.2025 31.12.2024 Cash and cash equivalents 338,369 370,856 Trade and other receivables 61,218 31,586 Inventories 1,526,664 1,471,238 Total current assets 1,926,252 1,873,680 TOTAL ASSETS 1,926,252 1,873,680 Trade and other payables 92,886 18,906 Total current liabilities 92,886 18,906 Total liabilities 92,886 18,906 Share capital at book value 449,906 449,906 Share premium 226,056 226,056 Statutory reserve capital 287,542 287,542 Retained earnings 869,861 891,270 Total equity 1,833,366 1,854,774 TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY 1,926,252 1,873,680Condensed statement of comprehensive income EUR I Q 2025 I Q 2024 Administrative and general expenses -24,855 -9,303 Operating loss -24,855 -9,303 Financial income 3,446 1,484 NET LOSS FOR THE PERIOD -21,409 -7,820 TOTAL COMPREHENSIVE LOSS FOR THE PERIOD -21,409 -7,820 Rando Tomingas Member of the Management Board Telephone: +372 667 9200 E-mail: info@ Attachment 2025 I Q interim ENGError in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
