The US and NATO have drawn up plans to defend NATO’s Baltic members against Russia, latest US diplomatic cables disclosed by Wikileaks show, BBC reports.
The cables, published in the Guardian, reveal plans to expand an existing strategy to defend Poland to include Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Posts Tagged ‘Latvia’
U.S.-NATO plan to defend Baltics from Russia
December 7th, 2010 |
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Latvian leader visits Serbia
July 13th, 2010 |
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President of Latvia Valdis Zatlers is on an official visit to Serbia this Tuesday, and has met with Serbian President Boris Tadić The two stated in Belgrade today that the two countries can considerably improve their bilateral relations, mainly in the area of economy, and share the EU experience particularly regarding the obstacles they encounter on the EU path.
Serbian delegation at NATO session
May 28th, 2010 |
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The permanent delegation of the Serbian parliament will take part in the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Spring Session, it has been announced. The meeting starts in Riga, Latvia, on Saturday, a statement from parliament said today in Belgrade.
Slowing the losses
April 7th, 2010 |
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Some good news from the second differential
FOR the first time since the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) started making decade-by-decade surveys of the world’s forests, it says it has evidence that efforts to slow the world’s rate of deforestation are working. The total area of forest on the planet is about 4 billion hectares (10 billion acres). In the “key findings” of its Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010 (the full report is not out for a few months) the FAO estimates that, during each of the past ten years, an average of roughly 13m hectares of forest (an area twice the size of Latvia) were either converted to other uses or lost through natural causes such as drought and fire. In the 1990s the figure was 16m hectares.
Reduced rates of deforestation in Brazil and Indonesia form a large part of the story, but the reduction was more broadly based. It was seen on all continents apart from Oceania and forest-free Antarctica—and the increased loss of forest in Oceania was caused largely by drought and fire, rather than by extra logging. …
Harmony in Riga
March 11th, 2010 |
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For once, the anniversary of a wartime battle in Latvia should pass off peacefully
THAT March follows February is not a state secret, but it sometimes seems to come as a surprise to Latvian officials. Sometime in February, they notice that March 16th is approaching and start worrying, belatedly, about what outsiders will think.
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Border controls
January 14th, 2010 |
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Thanks to Poland, the alliance will defend the Baltics
IN A crunch, would NATO stand by its weakest members—the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania? After five years of dithering , the answer now seems to be yes, with a decision in principle by the alliance to develop formal contingency plans to defend them.
The shift comes after hard-fought negotiations, in which, at American insistence, Germany and other countries dropped their opposition. …
Match-fixing in football: Own goals
December 3rd, 2009 |
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Gamblers like honest football. But the rewards of rigging matches are huge
WHEN dishonesty brings high rewards and low penalties, crime is likely. Add complacency and it becomes a near-certainty. Football administrators have long denied and downplayed the idea that corruption is a serious problem. But the world’s most popular game is now facing one of the biggest scandals in its history.
In September UEFA, the sport’s governing body in Europe, launched a probe, initially of 40 games played in the early rounds of international championships in the summer. This later shrank to seven matches, involving five clubs from Albania, Latvia, Slovenia and Hungary. …
Slovenian bites security worker, policeman
November 4th, 2009 |
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A Slovenian man, disappointed with the performance of his dog in a show in Riga, Latvia, has bitten two people, reports said. The 27-year-old first attacked one of the judges. When security intervened, he bit one of the workers, 24ur.com website is reporting.
Latvia to stage “retaliatory” military exercises
November 2nd, 2009 |
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Latvia is to hold large-scale military exercises next summer, in response to the Russian-Belarusian strategic exercises, held in September, a TV channel said. The Latvian TV3 channel quoted Latvian Defense Minister Imants Liegis as saying the decision to hold the drill was already taken, although it had not been yet set what military units would be involved.
Ailing fast
October 7th, 2009 |
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Bad news from Latvia raises fears of contagion across eastern Europe
THE patient emerges from intensive care, hurls the medicine at the doctors and bites his blood donor. That may be an unfair characterisation of the recent news from crisis-stricken Latvia, but it is pretty much how outsiders see it. The prime minister, Valdis Dombrovskis, is refusing to make the spending cuts mandated by international lenders and has floated a new law that would partially expropriate foreign banks’ loan books.
It would be worrying enough if the European Union’s weakest economy defaults, devalues or implodes. But what scares outsiders more is the effect of Latvia’s latest wobble on other ex-communist economies, which until this week seemed to be surviving the financial crisis with less trouble than some had feared. …
House proud?
October 3rd, 2009 |
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Property prices are still crumbling in most countries, but there are some reasons for cheer
THE global economic crisis was accompanied by a collapse in house prices in most rich (and some not-so-rich) countries around the world. The IMF has compared house prices in the first quarter of this year with their level a year ago in 52 rich and emerging housing markets. It found a median house-price decline of 7%. The figures drive home just how savage the falls in house prices have been in many countries.
America’s housing bust may be close to the global average but the declines in some countries are mind-boggling. Latvia, with a wrecked economy propped up by emergency IMF funding, saw an annual decline in house prices of nearly 60% to the end of the first quarter. During that period Estonia and the United Arab Emirates also saw collapses of nearly 40%. In Britain they fell around 20%. …
Battle of Britain commences early
August 15th, 2009 |
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Imagine Bulgarian champions Levski Sofia versus Hungarian heavyweights Debrecen; Denmark’s FC Copenhagen versus Apoel of Cyprus; Latvia’s Ventspils versus FC Zurich… The qualifying rounds of the Champions League are notoriously dour, one-sided affairs that take place in Eastern Europe and
Europe’s net refuseniks revealed
August 4th, 2009 |
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One third of Europeans have never used the net, according to an EU report.
The study, which examined the region’s digital landscape over the last five years, also revealed that more than one in four Europeans had never used a PC.
More than one in three of the digital refuseniks said they did not see the need for a connection while nearly one quarter said they could not afford it.
People above the age of 65 and the unemployed were the least active online, it said.
However, the study also revealed that in 2008 56% of Europeans had become regular internet users, up one third since 2004.
More than 80% of those now have a high-speed internet connection, compared to one third in 2004. Most of these had download speeds greater than 2 megabits per second (Mbps) it showed.
Countries such as Latvia and Estonia lead the web 2.0 charge with higher proportions of their populations uploading home made digital content to web sites than in any of the other 25 states in the survey.
Young people across the European Union have led the charge on to the net, it revealed.
Nearly 70% of people under the age of 24 use the internet every day, compared to the EU average of 43%.
But this same group is reluctant to pay to download or use online content, such as music or video, with 33% saying that they would not pay anything at all.
"These young people are intensive internet users and are also highly demanding consumers," said Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media.
"To release the economic potential of these ‘digital natives’, we must make access to digital content an easy and fair game."
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
New Zealand votes on smacking ban
July 31st, 2009 |
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New Zealanders are voting on whether parental smacking of children should remain a criminal offence.
The so-called anti-smacking law introduced in 2007 has divided the country, prompting the country’s first citizen-initiated postal referendum.
The referendum asks: "Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand"
Supporters say the law gives children the same rights as adults, while opponents say it criminalises parents.
The postal vote is open until 21 August.
Parental discipline
However, the result will not be binding on the government.
WHERE SMACKING IS BANNED- Austria, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Latvia, Moldova, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, Uruguay
Source: Endcorporalpunishment.org
The aim of New Zealand’s 2007 law change was to stop people using "parental discipline" as a defence against assault changes.
The move was viewed by many as an important step in combating New Zealand’s high rates of child abuse and murder.
The Vote No campaign said the current law had led to "good families [becoming] victims of unwarranted investigations and even prosecutions by police and… Child Youth and Family [government department]".
It said resources were being wasted on investigations into cases that "simply aren’t abuse".
Supporters of the new law said babies and children have the same legal protection against assault as adults.
The Vote Yes campaigners said that "positive, non-violent, parenting is more effective than corporal punishment, as well as supporting better long-term outcomes for children and for society".
Confusing question
However, critics say the referendum itself is confusing and Prime Minister John Key said the wording was "ambiguous".
COUNTRY BY COUNTRYWhere countries stand on Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children [342 KB]
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But the government believes the current law is working well with police prosecuting only serious cases.
The New Zealand Police reviewed cases of smacking since the 2007 law change.
It said it investigated 13 cases between March 2007 and April 2009 – with one prosecution.
The Vote Yes campaign said such figures showed the law had not led to "mass criminalisation of good parents".
Electoral Enrolment Centre manager Murray Wicks said enrolments were up by 11,600 from November’s general election, just topping the three million mark for the first time, the New Zealand Herald reported.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
EU examines Latvia bank bail-out
July 29th, 2009 |
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European Union regulators have begun an investigation into the rescue of Latvia’s second biggest bank – JSC Parex Banka.
The investigation will consider whether the bail-out and restructuring plan would help it recover without giving it an edge over rivals.
The Latvian government injected 200m lats (£245m; $401m) and gave loan guarantees to save it from collapse.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development also made a loan.
EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said the investigation would determine whether the aid package for Parex Bank would address its problems.
"The Commission now will examine whether the restructuring plan will enable Parex to return to long-term viability while avoiding undue distortions of competition," the EU executive said.
Until recently, the tiny Baltic state was a star performer in Eastern Europe, with a high growth rate.
But the country has been hit hard by the economic crisis.
The government sought a bail-out from both the EU and the International Monetary Fund. Its economy is forecast to shrink 18% this year. </p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Ginepri tops Querrey at Indy, wins 3rd ATP title
July 27th, 2009 |
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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Robby Ginepri didn’t exceed his expectations by winning the Indianapolis Tennis Championships simply because he didn’t have any.
The unseeded Ginepri, ranked No. 95 in the ATP rankings, won his third career singles title on Sunday by upsetting No. 3 seed and fellow American Sam Querrey, 6-2, 6-4, in the final of the [...]
US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,329
July 27th, 2009 |
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As of Sunday, July 26, 2009, at least 4,329 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
The figure includes nine military civilians killed in action. At least 3,464 military personnel died as a result of hostile action, according to the [...]