The crew of the newly built Latvian tanker Ance, which is owned by the LASCO shipping company, saved two storm-stricken catamaran passengers off the coast of Canada, said company spokeswoman Marita Ozolina-Tumanovska. The two Canadian citizens were sailing by catamaran and were caught in a storm 740 kilometers off the Canadian coast. Ance was located 55 kilometers away from the location. After coordinating with the Canadian Search and Rescue Center, the ship headed toward the catamaran where they unsuccessfully tried to rescue the passengers. A U.S. Coast Guard airplane joined the operation, and the passengers were saved the next morning, shortly before the catamaran sank.
According to National Border Guard data, 850 trucks were waiting in line at the Terehova border crossing and 290 vehicles were waiting in Grebneva on Nov. 7. Since late August, between 500 and 1,000 trucks a day wait in line to cross the Latvian-Russian border. The back-up has jeopardized traffic safety and local residents must put up with constant noise from truck engines. In an effort to solve the problem, authorities have proposed reopening a border crossing point in Vientuli for trucks, expanding the Ludza-Zilupe motor road and introducing a transit fee.
The government has supported a draft proposal to allocate more than 31 million lats (44.1 million euros) to the Jewish community. The draft proposal aims to "compensate for the historically unfair consequences suffered by the Jewish community due to the Nazi Holocaust and Soviet occupation." Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis said that, "Latvia owns property that belonged to people who died in the Holocaust. The Jewish people should be compensated for these properties in one or another way. Money compensation is the only legal way of covering these losses." The government plans to distribute the money between 2007 and 2016. A final decision still needs to be made by Parliament.
Eight people froze to death in Riga during last week's frost. All of the victims were men, aged 40-65, who had been drinking alcohol. Most of the bodies were found on the street and in Riga parks. Riga Welfare Department specialist Velga Rudzite told the daily Neatkariga Rita Avize that not all of the victims were homeless. "The men who froze, in my opinion, are people not inclined to seek help in shelters. The police are not allowed to take homeless people to the shelters by force, If the person is seriously drunk, he can be taken to a 'drunk tank,'" Rudzite said. The police know of 46 places where homeless people tend to gather, and the department has made efforts to provide information on shelters to homeless people.
An international conference between prominent experts and leaders is scheduled to take place alongside the NATO summit in Riga this month. President Vaira Vike-Freiberga will deliver the opening remarks at the conference "NATO Transformation in the New Age of Globalization," and NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Schefer is also expected to address the meeting. Leaders of several other countries have also been invited to participate in the conference, which aims to promote a dialogue on NATO transformation and the alliance's changing role.
