Several Latvian history buffs joined with Russian and French enthusiasts on Nov. 25 to reenact the pivotal battle between Napoleonic and Russian troops near the Berezina River in Belarus. The reenactment was inspired by the discovery of a number of soldiers' remains and munitions from the famous battle. Information gleaned from the artifacts has shed considerable light on how the battle unfolded. The history enthusiasts paid homage to the troops before dressing in period uniforms and attacking each other with mock cannons. Napoleon's loss at the battle eventually led to his final defeat, but there was no clear winner of the re-enactment.
Latvia has begun issuing electronic passports stamped with the holder's digital picture and facial recognition data, bringing the passports in line with EU and International Civil Aviation Organization standards. In mid-2008, two fingerprints will also be added to the biometric data contained on the passport's chip. The Munich based security Services Company Giesecke & Devrient won the contract, which calls for 1.1 million copies of the passports by 2011. Latvian citizens began receiving their new biometric passports on November 20, 2007.
The Foreign Ministry issued a scathing press release on Nov. 26 accusing the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe of misrepresenting the integration situation in Latvia. The press release said that the Council of Europe was way off target with its conclusion that Latvia has "the worst integration policy among the member states of the union," and that the country actually boasts one of the most successful integration programs in the EU. The press release also pointed out that the information cited by the Council is actually drawn from a report by independent experts, rather than an EU institution. The press release said that the country looks forward to an upcoming visit by representatives of the congress so that it will have the chance to see "the reality in present-day Latvia."
The signature gathering campaign calling for amendments to the constitution which allow the people to dissolve Parliament by popular vote has now collected nearly 9,000 signatures 's only about 1,000 short of the amount needed to take the issue to referendum. Representatives of the Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia, which initiated the campaign, said that they hoped to finish collecting the signatures by the end of November in order to submit the results to the government at the beginning of next year.
A Ventspils regional court decided on Nov. 23 to keep embattled city mayor Aivars Lembergs under house arrest rather than send him back to jail, but to impose additional restrictions. The ruling came after Prosecutor General Janis Maizitis appealed a court ruling for house arrest on the grounds that the so-called "oligarch" could hamper the investigation if allowed too much freedom. Under the new restrictions, Lembergs will still be allowed to see his wife, but their conversations will be monitored by police.
