By approving amendments to Riga City Council laws that restrict erotic advertisements, Riga Mayor Aivars Aksenoks hopes to reduce the number of sex ads in the capital. "A man is unable to walk through the Old Town without being handed a handful of leaflets with erotic ads and seeing neon lights offering erotic services," the mayor said, adding that the latest amendments would provide municipal police with the right to punish leaflet distributors. The amendments will also ban the use of special lighting effects for erotic advertising. Erotic clubs will only be allowed to post signboards with their name and registered trademark.
Former soccer defender Mihaels Zemlinskis will run in the parliamentarian elections this fall on the left-wing Harmony Center list. Zemlinskis compared Latvia's population with soccer, saying that although fans supported their favorite team, the game brought different nationalities together. The former soccer star implied that he was running to improve Latvia's sports situation, which he thought suffered a lack of state support. Harmony Center Chairman Nils Usakovs said he was pleased with Zemlinskis' decision. "It is good that he has decided to join politics together with our bloc," Usakovs said. Zemlinskis played 103 matches for the national team and scored 12 goals.
The Foreign Ministry hopes to increase funding for Latvian language classes abroad in order to improve foreign Latvians' language skills. The effort is part of the government-approved "Latvian Diaspora Support Program 2004-09." Currently Latvian language classes are only held in the Russian Federation and financed by reserves. Latvian language courses in other countries are supported by ethnic Latvian organizations, such as the World Federation of Free Latvians.
A businessman sustained injuries in an explosion in Plavnieki, a Riga district, on July 3. State Police spokeswoman Ieva Reksna said the explosion occurred in a yard on Lubanas Street at around 10 a.m., injuring a 51-year-old man. The explosive had been placed next to a fence. Police have two theories about the incident: that it was connected with the victim's business activities or personal motives. A criminal proceeding has been opened.
A group of German tourists were hospitalized with burns after handling pieces of "false amber" 'shighly flammable chemical phosphorus that is known to spontaneously combust. The tourists found the phosphorus washed up on a beach near Liepaja. Thinking the substance was amber, they picked it up, and the rock burst into flames. A Liepaja central hospital spokeswoman said one man suffered burns to his fingers, while a woman was burnt on her thigh. Medics provided necessary assistance, and the tourists were soon released from the hospital.
