Santa publishing house will publish Playboy magazine in Latvia and Lithuania. The company's board chairman Ivars Zarins, said that the first issue of Playboy will be published in Latvia next year, while the first issue in Lithuania will be available this fall. Zarins did not reveal the sum invested in obtaining the license for publishing of the magazine. He did say that Playboy Latvian and Lithuanian issues will be operated according to a franchise agreement and added that they will be adapted to the local readers. The issues will include interviews with local people and there will be an emphasis on local topics. The editors of the Latvian and Lithuanian Playboy magazines are not known yet. Zarins said that the publishing house plans to publish another magazine in Latvia this year, but no other details were revealed. Asked about the company's plans to publish a magazine in Estonia, Zarins said that the company has no such plans.
The British tourist that ran naked around Liv Square in the Old Town of Riga on Saturday was slapped with 4,000 lats (5, 6911.26 euros) bail, Edgars Dudko, the representative of Latvian National Police Riga Region department said. The bail for the British national was set on Monday afternoon, but the tourist was not arrested, which means that he can return to the U.K. and avoid litigation. The police on May 24 detained the 32-year old British tourist in the Old Town of Riga who was heavily drunk, while running around the Liv Square naked. He was unable to explain his behavior. A criminal procedure has been launched regarding hooliganism 's disturbing public peace by exposing disrespect to the society or impudence, ignoring norms of behavior.
A criminal gang was held in the eastern-Latvian city of Ludza last week and large amounts of weapons, explosives and smuggled cigarettes was confiscated. A border guard is among those detained. The members of the criminal gang were smuggling cigarettes from Russia bypassing the customs control, Kristine Petersone, the representative of Latvian National Border Guard, said. Two hunting rifles, 23 cartridges for these rifles, 2,467 cartridges of different firearms, two detonators, two and a half liters of gunpowder and one hunting rifle muzzle with a breech block were held. Besides that 12 mortar shells, 60 explosives, eight hand grenades, two liters of TNT, eight busters, 24 tracers, one revolver, one pistol, three rifles with bayonets, and a machine gun were found, and much more. During the pre-trial investigation one official of Ludza National Border Guard was held on suspicion of participation in the gang. The explosive ordnance was taken over by National Armed Forces unexploded ordnance neutralizing company and destroyed. The pre-trial investigation continues and the criminal procedures on illegal storage of weapons and ordnance were initiated. The investigation materials were passed to the Ludza National Police Bureau.
