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The military airlifted the suspected hijackers of the Arctic Sea and most of its Russian crew from Cape Verde to Moscow on Thursday, after the lumber freighter mysteriously vanished and reappeared in the Atlantic. Eleven of the 15 crew members arrived in Moscow, while the captain and three sailors remained on the ship, which was adrift about 200 nautical miles from the West African island nation of Cape Verde. Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said the freighter was sailing to the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk. The sailors and their suspected captors arrived in two separate Il-76 cargo jets at the...

Since Estonia regained independence, the birth rate of Estonians has been negative, but in 2008, nearly 600 Estonians more were born than died, writes EPL Online/LETA. The birth rate of the entire population of Estonia remained negative, however – in 2008, Estonia lost 647 residents. In the year 1992 – the first year after regaining of independence – Estonians' birth rate was minus 755, a year later the birth rate among Estonians had fallen to minus 2,731. The year 1994 was the worst one in terms of birth rate since regaining of independence – 4,323 persons more died than were...

CAMP TAJI, Iraq (Army News Service, Dec. 19, 2005) -- A newly inducted member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is playing a lead role alongside American troops in securing the future of Iraq. Although small in numbers, the infantry soldiers from Estonia’s “Stone” Platoon bring added force to the tank crews of the Fort Riley, Kan., based 2nd Battalion, 70th Armor Regiment. The 34-member platoon from Estonia is a highly trained volunteer force that performs an infantry mission with the skill and firepower comparable to U.S. Army Rangers, said Staff Sgt. Nicholas E. Wolf, one of two liaisons to...

Estonians Prove World Beaters at Wife-Carrying Mon Jul 8, 3:40 PM ET By Paul de Bendern SONKAJARVI, Finland (Reuters) - Estonians ran off with the world wife-carrying title for the fifth year in a row despite new rules on the weight of the spouse. Using the trademark "Estonia carry," in which the woman squeezes her thighs on the sides of the man's face while hanging upside down along his back, Meelis Tammre, 24, and Anna Zilberberg, 21, were fastest round the 278-yard course. Thirty-six couples from eight countries took part in the event, in which a man has to carry...

Eastern European wave filling Shore jobs Published in the Home News Tribune 7/07/02 By JOHN LOFTUS STAFF WRITER [Ocean City, N.J. --]  There are plenty of jobs in Bulgaria. But Ana Ivanova says the money isn't good. So for the second summer in a row, she has come to Ocean City, N.J., to work for the kind of pay college kids earn in an American resort town. That would be about four times, maybe more, she said, than she could get back in her hometown, Sofia, the Bulgarian capital. Trouble is, as of late June, she had not found a...