Africa’s King Mansa Musa Keita I is richer than he can describe, Time writes, and he probably has a right. This is the richest man in the world of all time. Unlike the papers of today’s millennials, Musa’s condition is unclear and he simply cannot be given an exact figure.
And yet, if we have to name it, experts estimate that in today’s world our situation would be around $ 400 billion. In comparison, as of March 2022, the fortune of the richest man in the world at the moment – Elon Musk – is estimated by Forbend at $ 219 billion.
Mansa Musa ruled the Malian Empire in the 14th century and its lands are full of natural resources, mostly gold. He was also the master of world salt production.
Musa Keita was the first to come to power in 1312. When he was crowned, he was given the name Mansa, which means king of kings. At that time, Europe was starving and in the midst of civil wars, but many African kingdoms were thriving.
During his travels, the African man spent a lot of gold with himself, saying that he gave him incredible amounts of ordinary things. In this way, it has caused huge inflation in Egypt.
During his reign, Mansa Musa expanded the borders of his empire immensely. His empire stretches over 3,000 kilometers. Authorities over the areas that today inhabit the countries of Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Chad, writes money.bg
NASA’s Galileo spacecraft image of Jupiter’s moon Io, the planet’s third-largest moon. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Rutgers study shows new way dunes can form on varied celestial surfaces.
Scientists have long pondered how Jupiter’s innermost moon, Io, has meandering ridges as magnificent as any that can be seen in movies like “Dune.” Now, a Rutgers research study has presented a fresh explanation for how dunes can form even on a surface as icy and roiling as Io’s.
The study, published in the journal Nature Communications on April 19, 2022, is based on a study of the physical processes controlling grain motion coupled with an analysis of images from the 14-year mission of NASA’s Galileo spacecraft, which allowed the creation of the first detailed maps of Jupiter’s moons. The new research is expected to expand our scientific understanding of the geological features on these planet-like worlds.
“Our studies point to the possibility of Io as a new ‘dune world,’” said first author George McDonald, a postdoctoral researcher in Rutgers’ Earth and Planetary Sciences Department. “We have proposed, and quantitatively tested, a mechanism by which sand grains can move, and in turn dunes could be forming there.”
Potential dunes on Jupiter’s moon Io. An analysis indicates that the dark material (lower left) is recently emplaced lava flows, while the repeated, line-like features dominating the image are potential dunes. The bright, white areas may be newly emplaced grains as the lava flows vaporize adjacent frost. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Rutgers
Current scientific understanding dictates that dunes, by their nature, are hills or ridges of sand piled up by the wind. And scientists in previous studies of Io, while describing its surface as containing some dune-like features, concluded the ridges could not be dunes since the forces from winds on Io are weak due to the moon’s low-density atmosphere.
“This work tells us that the environments in which dunes are found are considerably more varied than the classical, endless desert landscapes on parts of Earth or on the fictional planet Arrakis in ‘Dune,’” McDonald said.
The Galileo mission, which lasted from 1989 – 2003, logged so many scientific firsts that researchers to this day are still studying the data it collected. One of the major insights gleaned from the data was the high extent of volcanic activity on Io – so much so that its volcanoes repeatedly and rapidly resurface the little world.
Io’s surface is a mix of black solidified lava flows and sand, flowing “effusive” lava streams, and “snows” of sulfur dioxide. The scientists used mathematical equations to simulate the forces on a single grain of basalt or frost and calculate its path. When lava flows into sulfur dioxide beneath the moon’s surface, its venting is “dense and fast moving enough to move grains on Io and possibly enable the formation of large-scale features like dunes,” McDonald said.
Once the researchers devised a mechanism by which the dunes could form, they looked to photos of Io’s surface taken by the Galileo spacecraft for more proof. The spacing of the crests and the height-to-width ratios they observed were consistent with trends for dunes seen on Earth and other planets.
“Work like this really allows us to understand how the cosmos works,” said Lujendra Ojha, a co-author and an assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. “In the end, in planetary science, that is what we are trying to do.”
Reference: “Aeolian sediment transport on Io from lava–frost interactions” by George D. McDonald, Joshua Méndez Harper, Lujendra Ojha, Paul Corlies, Josef Dufek, Ryan C. Ewing and Laura Kerber, 19 April 2022, Nature Communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29682-x
The paper also included authors from the University of Oregon, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Texas A&M University and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology.
Often, women with disabilities are invisible and marginalised in society, including among those promoting the rights of persons with disabilities, and those promoting gender equality and the advancement of women, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Ms Dunja Mijatović, noted in an address of Thursday.
The exclusion of women with disabilities from decision-making spaces has for a long time impoverished our societies, Ms Dunja Mijatović, added. It masks the root causes of the discrimination they face, allows the perpetuation of harmful stereotypes, both concerning gender and disability, and leads to innumerable human rights violations.
Violence against women and girls with disabilities
Increased risk of sexual violence and abuse is only one aspect among many that prevent women and girls with disabilities from enjoying a wide range of human rights on an equal basis with others. For a long time, women with disabilities, who make up an estimated one fifth of the world’s women, remained invisible, both because of their gender and their disabilities.
This invisibility explains the statistical evidence that they are in a disadvantaged position compared to both women without disabilities and men with disabilities. Regrettably, the protection of their human rights is not given the necessary attention from all policymakers and institutions, Ms Dunja Mijatović noted. Considerations about women’s rights are often excluded from disability-related laws, while gender equality legislation frequently fails to incorporate a disability dimension.
This situation is acknowledged in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), ratified by all Council of Europe member states but one (Liechtenstein). This Convention specifically dedicates an article to women with disabilities (Article 6), setting out the obligation of states to recognise that women and girls with disabilities are subject to multiple discrimination and to take measures to offset this discrimination, as well as to ensure the full development, advancement, and empowerment of women.
In its general comment on Article 6, the treaty body of the CRPD sets out the many ways in which women with disabilities are specifically hindered from enjoying their human rights protected under different articles of the UN Convention. Many of these considerations also apply to the rights enshrined under the European Convention on Human Rights.
In addition to types of gender-based violence that affect all women and girls, disability-specific forms of violence perpetrated against women and girls with disabilities include, among others: the withdrawal of necessary supports to live independently, to communicate or to move around, for example by removing or controlling access to vital communication aids (such as hearing aids) or refusal to assist with communication; removal of accessibility devices and features, such as wheelchairs or ramps; as well as the refusal by caregivers to assist with daily activities, such as bathing, dressing, eating and menstrual management. Other disability-specific forms of violence can include the harming of assistance animals and bullying, verbal abuse, and ridicule on the grounds of disability.
Women with disabilities are also too often subjected to sexual violence, including very often in institutions. Ms Dunja Mijatović stated: “As I highlighted on many occasions, institutional settings are breeding grounds for violence and abuse, including sexual violence, due to various factors such as geographic isolation, power asymmetries and the impossibility for victims to seek and obtain outside help, which all contribute to impunity for perpetrators.”
She added “This involves both interpersonal violence, but also often structural and institutional forms of violence. Personal stories of women, for example with intellectual disabilities, who live or survived living in institutions expose the many ways in which violence and abuse against them can be normalised and become structural.”
Sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls with disabilities
A particular form of violence specifically targeting women and girls with disabilities concerns involuntary sterilisation, contraception and abortion, as well as other medical procedures performed without the free and informed consent of the women concerned, despite the fact that such acts are specifically prohibited under the Council of Europe Convention on violence against women and domestic violence (the Istanbul Convention) and the CRPD.
This issue is intimately linked to the question of legal capacity (download), a right enshrined in Article 12 of the CRPD and more often denied to women with disabilities than men with disabilities, Ms Dunja Mijatović stated. She added that frequently, the right to physical integrity of women with disabilities, in particular with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, is violated as a result of substituted decision-making, where an appointed guardian or a judge is empowered to take life altering decisions, supposedly in the “best interests” of the woman and against her will and preferences.
Such practices are commonplace around Europe as can be seen in numerous concluding observations of the CRPD Committee and reports of the monitoring body of the Istanbul Convention (GREVIO), for example concerning Belgium, France, Serbia and Spain.
It is shocking that legislation in many European countries allows for forced sterilisation, contraception and abortion, considering that these practices are clearly based on eugenicist assumptions about the value of the lives of persons with disabilities or stereotypes concerning the capacity of persons with disabilities to be mothers, Ms Dunja Mijatović stated.
It is regrettable that states are still introducing such legislation, as for example in the Netherlands where a law introduced in 2020 allows for forced contraception, which perpetuates this discrimination and such stereotypes.
She therefore called on all member states to follow the example of Spain, which following the recommendations by GREVIO and the CRPD Committee, and after extensive consultations, abolished forced sterilisation, even with the prior approval of a judge, in 2020.
Women with disabilities in emergencies and conflict situations
Another area of concern which has unfortunately become even more pressing in Europe is the inclusion of women with disabilities in responses to emergencies and conflict situations.
As the war in Ukraine is raging and Europe is witnessing the unfolding of a humanitarian catastrophe, member states must do their utmost to ensure that humanitarian support also reaches women and girls with disabilities, who face additional barriers, including those affecting communication and mobility, in a situation where their support networks are disrupted and the accessibility infrastructure they rely on is being destroyed, Ms Dunja Mijatović stated.
She called on member states who are hosting those women and girls with disabilities who escaped Ukraine to be particularly attentive to their needs and avoid secondary victimisation, owing for example to inaccessible reception facilities which may further increase the risk of violence and abuse.
Participation and inclusion of women and girls with disabilities
Discrimination against women with disabilities is a pervasive problem, which is not limited to the issues mentioned above.
The Commissioner on Human Rights pointed out, that as in all areas concerning disability, the way forward must involve the full participation and involvement of women and girls with disabilities in policy and decision-making mechanisms and legislation affecting women and persons with disabilities, in accordance with the principle of “Nothing about us without us”. Member states need to make a lot of progress in this regard and go beyond tokenistic gestures which are not accompanied by long-term budgeting and planning.
She also sees de-institutionalisation and legal capacity reforms to eliminate all forms of substituted decision-making as crucial to improving the situation of women with disabilities and all the more reason to treat these issues as an absolute priority.
She concluded that it is high time to put an end to this state of affairs and take a firm commitment to reverse the exclusion of women and girls with disabilities. The first step in this direction must be the acknowledgment of the untapped strength and resilience of women and girls with disabilities, so that they themselves can lead the way forward.
The UN chief announced on Friday that he will be traveling to Russia to meet with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and will also be received by President Vladimir Putin.
From today’s briefing: Secretary-General @antonioguterres will visit Moscow, where, on Tuesday, 26 April, he will have a working meeting and lunch with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and will be received by President Vladimir Putin.https://t.co/Sdkj8ljAht
“He hopes to talk about what can be done to bring peace to Ukraine urgently,” said UN Associate Spokesperson Eri Kaneko.
In efforts to end the war in Ukraine, the UN chief wrote separate letters to the leaders of Russia and Ukraine, requesting to meet with each of them in their respective capitals, UN News reported last Wednesday.
He is currently working with the Government of Ukraine on scheduling a meeting in Kyiv with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The announcement comes before the UN’s next appeal for Ukraine, which is being scheduled for next week.
EU negotiators agree on landmark rules to effectively tackle the spread of illegal content online and protect people’s fundamental rights in the digital sphere.
On Friday, Parliament and Council reached a provisional political agreement on the Digital Services Act (DSA). Together with the Digital Markets Act, the DSA will set the standards for a safer and more open digital space for users and a level playing field for companies for years to come.
More responsible online platforms
Under the new rules, intermediary services, namely online platforms – such as social media and marketplaces – will have to take measures to protect their users from illegal content, goods and services.
Algorithmic accountability: the European Commission as well as the member states will have access to the algorithms of very large online platforms;
Swift removal of illegal content online, including products, services: a clearer “notice and action” procedure where users will be empowered to report illegal content online and online platforms will have to act quickly;
Fundamental rights to be protected also online: stronger safeguards to ensure notices are processed in a non-arbitrary and non-discriminatory manner and with respect for fundamental rights, including the freedom of expression and data protection;
More responsible online marketplaces: they have to ensure that consumers can purchase safe products or services online, by strengthening checks to prove that the information provided by traders is reliable (“Know Your Business Customer” principle) and make efforts to prevent illegal content appearing on their platforms, including through random checks;
Victims of cyber violence will be better protected especially against non-consensual sharing (revenge porn) with immediate takedowns;
Penalties: online platforms and search engines can be fined up to 6% of their worldwide turnover. In the case of very large online platforms (with more that 45 million users), the EU Commission will have exclusive power to demand compliance;
Fewer burdens and more time to adapt for SMEs: longer period to apply the new rules will support innovation in the digital economy. The Commission will follow closely the potential economic effects of the new obligations on small businesses.
Safer online space for users
Newtransparencyobligations for platforms will allow users to be better informed about how content is recommended to them (recommender systems) and to choose at least one option not based on profiling;
Online advertising: users will have better control over how their personal data are used. Targeted advertising is banned when it comes to sensitive data (e.g. based on sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity);
Protection of minors: platforms accessible to minors will have to take specific measures to protect them, including by fully banning targeted advertising;
Manipulating users’ choices through ‘dark patterns’ will be prohibited: online platforms and marketplaces should not nudge people into using their services, for example by giving more prominence to a particular choice or urging the recipient to change their choice via interfering pop-ups. Moreover, cancelling a subscription for a service should become as easy as subscribing to it;
Compensation: recipients of digital services will have a right to seek redress for any damages or loss suffered due to infringements by platforms.
Harmful content and disinformation
Very large online platforms will have to comply with stricter obligations under the DSA, proportionate to the significant societal risks they pose when disseminating illegal and harmful content, including disinformation.
Very large online platforms will have to assess and mitigate systemic risks and be subject to independent audits each year. In addition, those large platforms that use so-called “recommender systems” (algorithms that determine what users see) must provide at least one option that is not based on profiling;
Special measures in times of crisis: when a crisis occurs, such as a public security or health threat, the Commission may require very large platforms to limit any urgent threats on its platforms. These specific actions are limited to three months.
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“The Digital Services Act will set new global standards. Citizens will have better control over how their data are used by online platforms and big tech-companies. We have finally made sure that what is illegal offline is also illegal online. For the European Parliament, additional obligations on algorithmic transparency and disinformation are important achievements,” said rapporteur Christel Schaldemose (DK, S&D). “These new rules also guarantee more choice for users and new obligations for platforms on targeted ads, including bans to target minors and restricting data harvesting for profiling.”
Next steps
The text will need to be finalised at technical level and verified by lawyer-linguists, before both Parliament and Council give their formal approval. Once this process is completed, it will come into force 20 days after its publication in the EU Official Journal and the rules will start to apply 15 months later.
From 23 to 27 May, a delegation from the EP’s Internal Market Committee will visit several company headquarters (Meta, Google, Apple and others) in Silicon Valley to discuss in person the Digital Services Act package, and other digital legislation in the pipeline, and hear the position of American companies, start-ups, academia and government officials.
Sri Lankan Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith alleges that the government has been covering up the investigations into the Easter bombings of 3 years ago in order to protect the brains behind the attacks. Since the recommendations of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks were not being implemented to protect the real culprits, he said he was taking the case to the international community.
Nearly 270 people were killed, including at least 45 foreign nationals and some 500 were injured, as 3 churches and 3 luxury hotels were hit in a series of coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide bomb attacks on April 21, 2019.
Most of the casualties took place in St. Sebastian’s Catholic Church in the suburb of Negombo, belonging to Cardinal Ranjit’s Archdiocese of Colombo, where 113 died. The other churches hit were St. Anthony’s Shrine in Kochchikade, also of Colombo Archdiocese, and the Evangelical Zion Church of Batticaloa on the eastern coast.
At a ceremony on Thursday at St. Sebastian’s Church to mark the 3rd anniversary of the bombings, Cardinal Ranjith delivered a hard-hitting speech, blaming President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his government for failing to keep his pledge to grant justice to the victims and cleansing the country of “all elements of terror”.
“The incumbent president who campaigned on a promise to investigate the attack have forgotten all those promises, brushed commission findings under the rug, attempted to hide facts,” Cardinal Ranjith said. Condemning the coverup, he warned that “everyone responsible for this will suffer the consequences of their actions soon”.
Coverup
“The people of the country have doubts as to whether the current government is protecting the former president out of fear that their involvement in the Easter attack may be revealed,” the cardinal said. He said that the former president, intelligence units and the police concealed details of the impending attacks despite having prior knowledge and thereby failed to ensure public safety.
He further alleged that the attack was used by a presidential election candidate to garner support on the issue of national security.
“We are suspicious that the present regime continues to delay the implementation of the recommendations made by the Presidential Commission which probed the Easter Sunday attack including taking action against former President Maithripala Sirisena is delayed because such action may result in more disclosures.”
Cardinal Ranjith said the release of former inspector general of police (IGP) Pujith Jayasundara and former defence secretary Hemasiri Fernando, who publicly acknowledged that they knew about the attack, was an insult to those killed and injured in the attack.
“The current IGP, who promoted certain police officers despite the recommendations of the Presidential Commission to conduct disciplinary inquiries, is also responsible for the bloodshed of innocent people who died in the Easter attack,” Cardinal Ranjith said.
A trial of 25 men accused of plotting the bombings began in November last year but was adjourned in January to allow time for the indictments to be translated into the Tamil language, which the majority of the suspects speak.
Protests
Meanwhile, in Negombo, thousands including priests and nuns dressed in black marched on the streets holding posters and chanting slogans to mark the anniversary of the bombings that have been blamed on local armed groups allegedly affiliated with the Islamic State (IS), as family members of the victims joined the clergy in demanding for justice
This is in addition to endless nationwide protests demanding the resignation of President Rajapaksa and his government over Sri Lanka’s worsening economic crisis, which has left people and their families struggling desperately for basic necessities such as fuel, food and medicines, amid skyrocketing inflation.
Cardinal’s challenge
During a recent visit to Europe, Cardinal Ranjith met Pope Francis on 28 February in the Vatican and updated him on the situation in Sri Lanka.
He told reporters he explained to the Pope that he will not rest in his pursuit of justice and truth. “The Pope has been a great source of inspiration and hope for us. He has always told me to move ahead and struggle with the people to get justice for them. That is the challenge I have,” the cardinal said.
Later, he briefed Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland, on the developments in his country. He also addressed the Human Rights Council where he raised the issue of the flawed investigation into the bombings.
Simulating Supernova Remnants and Star Formation With a High-Power Laser in Earthbound Lab
High-power laser and foam ball show how blast waves from supernova remnant might trigger star formation in a molecular cloud.
Molecular clouds are collections of gas and dust in space. When left alone, the clouds remain in their state of peaceful equilibrium.
But when triggered by some external agent, like supernova remnants, shockwaves can propagate through the gas and dust to create pockets of dense material. At a certain limit, that dense gas and dust collapses and begins to form new stars.
Astronomical observations lack the spatial resolution required to observe these processes, and numerical simulations are incapable of handling the complexities of the interaction between clouds and supernova remnants. As a result, the triggering and formation of new stars in this manner remains mostly shrouded in mystery.
In the journal Matter and Radiation at Extremes, by AIP Publishing in partnership with China Academy of Engineering Physics, researchers from the Polytechnic Institute of Paris, the Free University of Berlin, the Joint Institute for High Temperatures of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, the
Illustration of the evolution of a massive cloud which indicates the importance of SNR propagation in forming new stars. Credit: Albertazzi et al.
“We are really looking at the beginning of the interaction,” said author Bruno Albertazzi. “In this way, you can see if the average density of the foam increases and if you will begin to form stars more easily.”
The mechanisms for triggering star formation are interesting on a number of scales. They can impact the star formation rate and evolution of a galaxy, help explain the formation of the most massive stars, and have consequences in our own solar system.
“Our primitive molecular cloud, where the sun was formed, was probably triggered by supernova remnants,” said author Albertazzi. “This experiment opens a new and promising path for laboratory astrophysics to understand all these major points.”
While some of the foam compressed, some of it also stretched out. This changed the average density of the material, so in the future, the authors will need to account for the stretched mass to truly measure the compressed material and the shockwave’s impact on star formation. They plan to explore the influence of radiation, magnetic field, and turbulence.
“This first paper was really to demonstrate the possibilities of this new platform opening a new topic that could be investigated using high-power lasers,” said Albertazzi.
Reference: “Triggering star formation: Experimental compression of a foam ball induced by Taylor–Sedov blast waves” by B. Albertazzi, P. Mabey, Th. Michel, G. Rigon, J. R. Marquès, S. Pikuz, S. Ryazantsev, E. Falize, L. Van Box Som, J. Meinecke, N. Ozaki, G. Gregori and M. Koenig, 12 April 2022, Matter and Radiation at Extremes. DOI: 10.1063/5.0068689
During the month and a half of the war, many Ukrainians lost their homes. It has been destroyed by bombing and rocket attacks. Moreover, many of the destroyed apartments were purchased on credit, and the owners have not even paid the mortgage for them yet. Now the owners of the destroyed houses are worried that they will have to return the money to the bank for housing that is no longer there. And this is actually true: a mortgage loan is repayable, like all other loans. Moreover, it will have to be returned in any case, explains Lyubov Marchenko for Today.ua.
This was told to Ukrainians by lawyers specializing in legal relations in the field of real estate.
During the war, Ukrainian banks provided their clients with credit holidays. In fact, customers will not be liable for late payments, and no penalties can be applied to them. However, credit holidays mean only the possibility of deferring credit payments. Borrowers will still have to return debts to banks, including mortgages.
Even if the apartment is destroyed, the payment of the loan for it continues
To stop paying the debt, you need to register the destroyed housing in a special state register. Then the owner of the destroyed apartment will have the right to pay insurance for it. And, having received money from the insurance company, he will be able to pay off the bank.
As lawyer Tatyana Kozachenko notes, as a rule, insurance companies work with banks. Therefore, they often return money for destroyed housing not to the client, but immediately directly to the bank.
“The obligation of a person to return a loan to a bank does not disappear anywhere. If an insurance company must compensate money directly to the bank for the destruction of property, then it’s understandable. Then in this part the money will be returned directly to the bank,” says Kozachenko.
After the war everything will be different
However, these mechanisms for compensating money for lost housing were created and adapted to peacetime, when insured events were isolated. Now, in connection with the war, there are a lot of such cases in the country. And, obviously, here the payment mechanism will be different. A new mechanism for the return of mortgage loans for destroyed houses will have to be developed and adopted at the level of law.
The National Bank promises to solve this problem after the war. The head of the NBU, Kirill Shevchenko, believes that borrowers who have lost their homes should not be forced to pay off loans according to the generally accepted scheme. And you can not leave them alone with their problems.
The Association of Estonian Travel Companies has named the Soomaa nature tourism entrepreneur Aivar Ruukel as Tourism Person of the Year, on whose initiative the Soomaa single-log punt Haabjas was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The title of Tourist Site of the Year was given to Fat Margaret – Estonian Maritime Museum.
According to Merike Hallik, Secretary General of the Association of Estonian Travel Companies, Ruukel was awarded the title of tourism figure of the year due to his many years of outstanding work, which resulted in the inclusion of the unique Soomaa single-log haabjas punt in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
“Soomaa Park is famous as a nature tourism area not only in Estonia, but also worldwide. Aivar Ruukel has been organizing haabyas boat making workshops, workshops and camps for decades, and including such a historically important activity for the community on the cultural heritage list will add to its popularity among younger generations, too,” Hallik said.
The title of the tourist site of the year was awarded to Fat Margaret, the Estonian Maritime Museum, whose updated expositions can serve as an example for many museums in both Estonia and Europe. According to Hallick, the exhibition on offer at Fat Margarita is truly impressive, engaging, interactive and suitable for a wide range of age groups.
“Last year, the new exhibition at the Maritime Museum, thanks to the quality of the exhibition and interesting stories, was among the top three contenders for the Luigi Micheletti Prize of the European Academy of Museums. This is a very important recognition of its importance, as the nominees for the award included dozens of museums from all over Europe,” said Hallick. “In addition, the Maritime Museum has become a real hit among museum visitors in general.”
In addition to the traditional awards for tourism figure of the year and tourist site of the year, the Estonian Tourism Association presented for the first time the Lifetime Achievement Award to Daisy Järva, who is one of the brightest figures who has been supporting the development of entrepreneurs and companies in the field of tourism for many years. .
Daisy can be considered the founder of the modern tourism sector in Estonia, as well as the godmother of the oldest tourism fair in the Baltic States, Tourest. Daisy is a board member of the umbrella organization of the European Association of Travel Agencies and Tour Operators (ECTAA) and she has participated in a huge number of internationally held meetings and events in the tourism industry, and has always spoken with purpose on the most important topics for Estonian tourism, among other things, she has written dozens of articles and opinion articles.
“Daisy is affectionately referred to in tourism circles as the first lady of Estonian tourism, and thanks to her inexhaustible energy and deep respect for Estonian culture, she has been able to attract generations to tourism,” said Hallik. “In addition to presenting the Old Town of Tallinn and other Estonian tourism heritage, Daisy actively promoted the collection of art and design objects by holding annual exhibitions of her collections or works.”
Daizi Järva started working as a guide in 1967, she worked in the system of the Estonian Republican Council for Tourism and Excursions as a tourism instructor, guide and head of the service department in 1969-1984, and in 1984 she joined the director of the cultural trip organization Tallintuur , one of the owners and executive director of which she is today.
When the Union of Estonian Travel Companies (ETFE) was established in 1990, Daisy immediately became its leading spokesperson. She has served as president, vice president, board member, and commissioner over the years of the union, and Daisy is still active in the union today. From November 1 to November 3, 1991, the first international tourism fair Tourest ’91 was held in Tallinn on the initiative of STFE and together with the Department of Tourism. On November 1, 1991, at the initiative of the STFE, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania signed an agreement on cooperation between travel associations, under which the three countries continue to cooperate today.
Daisy Järv’s great hobby is researching and collecting the heritage of the Burman dynasty. Her collection includes drawings, sketches, catalogues, invitations to exhibitions, postcards.
There is not a single Burman house in Estonia that Daisy has not photographed or whose history she does not know. All this knowledge and history is constantly passed on to the numerous groups of tourists visiting Tallinn, who are attracted to Estonia by architecture and art.
During the years of activity, which resulted in many works and events, Daisy has been a member of the Cultural Commission and the Legal Commission of the Tallinn City Council, a member of the Advisory Council advising the Minister of Foreign Affairs on accession to the European Union, and a board member of the Estonian Chamber of Culture.
Daisy Järva is a founding member of the Tallinn club of the international charity organization Zonta, and she has served as president of the Tallinn club and head of the organization’s regional office in Estonia.
In 1993, Daisy Järva became the first woman of the year awarded by the Entrepreneurial Women’s Association of Estonia.
Buonce analyzed 50 European cities and ranked the best weekend travel destinations. The Estonian capital also made it to the top ten.
During the study, experts assessed factors such as entertainment opportunities, the availability of parks and recreation areas, the number of restaurants, bars and clubs, the average annual temperature and the likelihood of rainfall.
All three top places were taken by Spanish cities: Palma de Mallorca, Seville and Valencia. As Buonce service specialists found out, there is the most entertainment here, excellent restaurants, incendiary clubs and, of course, gorgeous weather.
Tallinn took 10th place in the ranking, surpassing even Rome (13th place) and Vienna (15th place). Riga – 25th place, Stockholm – 37th, Helsinki – 43rd. Vilnius is not included in the ranking at all.
A new hotel is about to open in Tallinn: chic rooms, Japanese-Peruvian cuisine and a cozy spa center await visitors
On May 1, the Estonian company HMP Hotels OÜ will open the first Radisson Collection hotel in the Baltic States in Tallinn. A distinctive feature of the hotel will be rooms designed by the best Estonian designers, a spa complex, a 1000 square meter conference center and two new top restaurants – MEKK and ISSEI.
Located on Rävala boulevard and formerly known as the Radisson Blu Sky, the hotel has undergone a thorough renovation over the past year, earning it a 5-star rating.
According to the chairman of the board of Radisson Collection Tallinn, Ain Käpa, the opening of the hotel on Rävala boulevard is a big compliment to Estonia and Tallinn. “The fact that one of the world’s largest hotel chains has given permission to open its best brand in Estonia after a pandemic that has affected the entire tourism world is a great recognition,” said Koepp.
“One of the principles of the Radisson hotel chain is to remain true to the place where the hotel is located as much as possible. That is, when opening a new hotel, we introduce the local culture and design language. The entire hotel is designed in a typical Estonian style,” Koepp explained.
The hotel features 287 rooms, including 19 suites, including the Presidential Suite, Premium Suite and 3 unique suites with fitness equipment. All rooms offer a beautiful view of Tallinn. On the fourth floor of the hotel there is a spacious gym and SPA center with 3 saunas (Finnish sauna, steam bath and sanarium), Japanese bath and swimming pool.
On the 24th floor is the restaurant and bar ISSEI with a panoramic view. The restaurant serves Japanese-Peruvian cuisine. You can get acquainted with the local food culture in the famous Estonian restaurant MEKK on the first floor of the hotel, where chef Rene Uusmees will offer guests the best of modern Estonian cuisine.
The Radisson Collection brand includes 28 hotels located around the world. Now one of them will be waiting for guests in Tallinn.
