Riga was yesterday (15 September) selected as Lativa’s nomination for European Capital of Culture in 2014. The Baltic city of just over 710,000 will share the 2014 title with Swedish city Umeå, which was nominated last week. Latvia’s capital has long been a key centre for trade, finance and culture thanks to its location on [...]
Hope for G20 The heads of state and government of the 20 leading industrial and emerging countries come together in Pittsburgh to sketch out a new global financial order. Central to their task are the regulations to be set for banks and financial markets, in a bid to prevent even more desastrous crises in the [...]
Today, Europe’s ministers for EU affairs meet in Stockholm to discuss the EU’s Baltic Sea Strategy. Erik Kiesow of the Swedish Government Offices is coordinating the meeting. He shows great enthusiasm over the strategy and hopes that the discussions at the meeting will inspire more macro-regional cooperation among EU Member States in the future. [...]
Kęstutis Girniu looks in the news portal Delfi into the question of how to name the era of Soviet rule in Lithuania from 1944 to 1990: “The choice of words is anything but a bagatelle. Moscow’s explanation, whereby Lithuania joined the ‘Council Union’ in 1940 is rejected for good reason. The controversy centres on the [...]
The United States announced late Sept. 17 that it would abandon a plan for placing ballistic missile defense (BMD) installations in Poland and the Czech Republic. Instead of the planned system, which was intended to defend primarily against a potential crude intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) threat from Iran against the United States, the administration chose [...]
Recently, there has been a surge in interest in Sanskrit tattoo designs and symbols among Hollywood and other celebrities. Famed British footballer Theo Walcott is the newest one to join “Sanskrit Tattoo Club”. On the inside of his right arm, a Sanskrit tattoo reportedly meaning “Beautiful, Blessed, Strong, Intelligent” is engraved. “Beautiful” is dedicated for [...]
Hindus urge authentic Hinduism depiction as Julia Roberts begins India shooting Oscar winner Julia Roberts (Pretty Woman) reportedly begins shooting for “Eat, Pray, Love” on Sunday in Pataudi, about 60 kilometers from India’s capital Delhi, and Hindus are concerned about the authenticity of the depiction of Hinduism objects-rituals-beliefs-concepts-traditions-philosophy. Acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a [...]
Very few countries in Europe are feeling the recession as acutely as Latvia. The public purse is running so low that many hospitals and schools are being shut down because the government simply can’t afford to keep them open. Jonah Hull reports from Riga.
Irena Degutiene became the first woman to be installed as speaker of the Lithuanian parliament Vilnius (17/09/2009) — Lithuanian parliament elected MP Irena Degutiene as the new chair of the house. The vote recorded 87 MPs voting for Degutiene, and 48 against. Following announcement of the results, 60-year-old Degutiene thanked MPs for their trust and [...]
Vilnius – President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė met with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and the accompanying delegation visiting Lithuania. In the meeting, the two Presidents discussed opportunities for economic and cultural cooperation, human rights situation and democratic developments in Belarus, and exchanged views concerning closer cooperation between law enforcement institutions of the [...]
