Latvia greeted the arrival of the first container train from China at the Central Terminal of Riga port by representatives of Latvijas Dzelzcels (Latvian Railway).The container train China-Europe carried goods from Urumchi (China) to the German port city of Hamburg via Alashkanov/Dostik - Petropavlovsk - Zilupe - Riga.The aim of the pilot project was to specify tariffs, time spent on the route, possible services and the efficiency of the train's schedule, as well as to assess the advantages of railway against sea traffic.Latvia is planning to develop container traffic, including transit through Latvian ports. In 2007, throughput of TEO containers in Latvian ports rose by 1.8 percent on year to 236,351 units. Most of them were reloaded at Riga port.
The Latvian Hockey team did not score a single goal in the championship games against the U.S. and Canada in Halifax, Nova Scotia over the weekend.The final score for the USA and Canada games were 4-0 and 7-0 respectively with Canada scoring three goals in the first six minutes. In the match against Canada, the Latvian players were wearing retro jerseys of the Latvian team in 1933-1939. Hundreds of fans were out in Riga to watch the 2am game against the U.S. only to wreck mild havoc on the streets early morning after the defeat. Canadian goalie Pascal Leclaire was named the most valuable player for the game and Latvian forward Mikelis Redlihs was named Latvian MVP.
FHM magazine named Anna Lieckalnina number one in a list of "100 Sexiest Women of Latvia" The TV anchorwoman is widely considered to be the country's sex symbol. Over 70,000 people participated in the voting. NovoNews reported that readers will have a chance to enjoy Anna Lieckalninja's looks in the special photo session in the May issue of FHM. Earlier she posed for Maxim and Klubs 's also magazines for men.
A total of 91,453 voters have backed pension law amendments, during the first three weeks of signature collecting campaign, Latvian Central Election Commission (CEC) said. The amendment outlines the plan for pensions not to be lower than subsistence minimum. Signatures were collected from April 16 till Tuesday noon.The next bulletin on the number of signatures collected in the campaign will be released by CEC on May 13.The signature collecting campaign will last until May 15. The number of the collected signatures is only half of the signatures necessary to submit the bill to the parliament. Signatures of one tenth of the eligible voters of the previous parliament elections (149,064) signatures are necessary to initiate the legislative procedure.
The Latvian Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB) suspects a Financial Police officer of demanding a 15,000 lats (EUR 21,300) bribe. There are five suspects in the criminal case 's a State Revenue Service (VID) Financial Police senior investigator for a large-scale bribery and four people for mediation and keeping bribes.The detained Financial Police officer is Ivo Grinspons.KNAB said that the 15,000 lats bribe was demanded from a businessman not to launch a probe on his company.
