Tallinn  - An effort by Estonian parliamentarians to lead by example and freeze their own salaries as part of a national austerity plan was wrecked Monday when President Toomas Hendrik Ilves refused to sign the relevant bill into law.

The proposals would have prevented MPs in Estonia receiving a pay rise from the start of 2009 until February 2010, and were passed almost unanimously last Wednesday by the Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu.

However, according to Ilves, the move was unconstitutional and therefore would not receive his backing, which is necessary for any bill to pass into law.

Tartu, Estonia  - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on Friday discussed media topics including the establishment of a possible pan- Baltic television channel and defence of their airspace at a meeting of prime ministers of the three Baltic states held in the Estonian city of Tartu.

Estonia's Andrus Ansip, Latvia's Ivars Godmanis and Lithuania's acting prime minister Gediminas Kirkilas agreed to consider the idea of a common TV channel for the Baltic countries.

The idea was proposed by Kirkilas who is due to step down soon to make way for incoming prime minister Andrius Kubilius.

Tallinn  - Estonia's president, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, on Friday called on his countrymen to set aside ethnic differences in a speech in the capital, Tallinn.

"An ethnic Russian who is a resident of Estonia is not a priori the supporter of Russia's national policies, just as every Estonian is not automatically a supporter of the [Andrus] Ansip government. Citizens of democratic countries do not connect their love of country with the person of the prime minister or president who happens to be in power at the time," Ilves said.

Andrus Ansip is the current prime minister of Estonia.

Tallinn - NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer restated the military alliance's desire to see Ukraine join its ranks at a high-level conference being held in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, on Thursday.

In his opening speech, de Hoop Scheffer said the talks were taking place at a special moment in NATO-Ukraine relations.

Tallinn - There was mixed news on the Estonian economy Friday with official statistics showing that inflation is falling, while a ratings agency downgraded the Baltic nation's outlook.

According to data released by Statistics Estonia, the percentage change of the consumer price index (CPI) in October 2008 was 9.8 per cent year-on-year, down from 10.5 per cent in September.

Tallinn - Estonian residents are obtaining Russian citizenship at nearly twice the rate they are claiming Estonian citizenship, according to figures released Friday.

Newspaper Eesti Paevaleht reported that the Russian embassy in Tallinn had granted Russian citizenship to 3,700 people during the last twelve months, while Estonian government figures showed that 1,600 people had acquired Estonian citizenship since January this year.

The newspaper quoted Russian embassy spokesman Maxim Kozlov who said "Estonia is one of the leading places in the world in terms of adoption of Russian citizenship."