A group of environmentalists from the south-eastern city of Daugavpils 's only 25 kilometers from the Lithuanian border 's staged a protest on Sept. 3 against the construction of a new Lithuanian nuclear power plant. They argue that the construction of the plant will be expensive and could cause serious harm to the environment, and that it would not be the right way to wean the Baltics from their dependence on Russian energy reserves. The group instead touted alternative sources of energy. The controversial power plant would be constructed near the Lithuanian town of Ignalina and would replace the deteriorating Soviet-era plant that is due to shut down in 2009.
The Latvian national basketball team won its first game in the European Basketball championships on Sept. 3. Latvia beat Croatia 85 - 77 in the first B group qualifying round. The two teams stayed dead even until half-time, with each team scoring 18 points in both the first and second quarters, but Latvia pulled away in the second half. The game is considered one of the biggest upsets of the tournament so far, as the Latvians were easily beaten the last time they met Croatia. In their second game the following day, Latvia predictably lost to world champions Spain by a score of 93-77. Armands Skele and Andris Biedrins were the top Latvian scorers in the two games. As The Baltic Times went to press, the team was preparing for their third and final game in Group B against Portugal.
Diena reported on Sept. 3 that a new poll conducted by Latvijas Fakti has found that Harmony Center was the most popular party in August, with 11.1 percent of respondents supporting the party. HC has lost half a percentage point since the last survey in July, when they were tied with the People's Party for first place at 11.6 percent, but HC took the lead due to the popularity of TP plummeting to 10.3 percent to end up in third place. The poll found that the majority of parties have significantly lost support, with many falling below the 5 percent mark.
Education Minister Baiba Rivza said in a Sept. 2 interview with Radio SWH that she supports the introduction of school uniforms. Rivza said that she was impressed by the school uniforms she saw on a recent trip to the UK, and explained that the school uniforms would help to make children appear more socially equal. She did note, however, that she greatly disliked it when 's in her youth 's she had to wear a school uniform herself.
The Latvian National Armed Forces announced on Sept. 3 that they will take over command of the Viesturs minesweeper ship from the Dutch navy. The NAF press center said that this is the second of five minesweepers 's each valued at eight million lats (11.4 million euros) 's that the Latvian navy will acquire. The transfer is part of a 2005 agreement for the purchase of the five Alkamaar class ships by Latvia.
