OFF THE WIRE

  • 2002-08-01
Pro-Nazi protest?

A Lithuanian politician burned an Israeli flag while playing Nazi marching songs to protest a $10,000 reward offered by Nazi hunters for information on war criminals, a newspaper reported July 29.

Saulius Ozelis, a member of the municipal council in the western city of Taurage, drove around town for half an hour on July 28 playing Nazi marching songs loudly on his car stereo before setting the flag on fire, according to the daily Lietuvos Rytas.

Several dozen members of Ozelis' far-right Lithuanian Freedom Union attended the action.

Ozelis told the newspaper he was protesting against an offer made earlier this month by the Simon Wiesenthal Center to pay a reward of $10,000 for information about Nazi criminals. (Agence France Presse)

Russian request rejected

The European Court for Human Rights rejected Russia's request for an independent expert analysis of documents submitted by Latvia in the case of Tatjana Slivenko, who is suing the Latvian state for forcing her and her daughter to leave Latvia as relatives of an ex-Soviet military officer.

Russia, which is participating as an interested party since Slivenko holds Russian citizenship, had claimed that Latvia presented falsified documents to back up its case and called for authenticity checks.

The court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to suspect falsification.

Slivenko sued Latvia after she and her daughter were forced to leave as part of a 1994 agreement between Latvia and Russia that required all ex-Soviet military officers and their families to leave Latvian territory.

Slivenko, now living in Kursk, Russia, said she was being prohibited from taking care of her elderly parents in Riga. (Baltic News Service)

Spoiled sperm

Authorities ordered the destruction of some 3,000 samples of human sperm stored illegally at a bank for animal sperm near Rudamina, in Vilnius region.

The Respublica daily said the state-run bank was only permitted to store sperm from bulls and boars. Company directors denied accusations that the human sperm was being kept for artificial fertilization, which is illegal in Lithuania.

The newspaper reported that the company lost 50,000 litas (14,500 euros) collecting, examining and storing the sperm. (BNS)

Latvia enters ranks of developed countries

By Jorgen Johansson, RIGA

This year's human development report by the United Nations Development Program for the first time ranks Latvia among the world's developed countries, alongside Estonia and Lithuania, which made the grade earlier.

Estonia was ranked 42nd while Lithuania took 49th place and Latvia scraped into the developed league in 53rd place, up three places from last year.

Latvia's high rate of literacy and relatively high educational level is seen by the UNDP as a considerable asset, while for Lithuania a significant factor has been its growth in gross domestic product per capita, said the report.

"In certain aspects the Baltic states are not as developed as other countries, but looking at the level of literacy, we find some of the highest levels in the world here," said Jan Sand Sorensen, the UNDP's representative in Latvia.

Sorenson recently suggested Latvia look beyond its own economic aspirations and increase the amount of aid it donates to the world's poor countries, in particular Afghanistan.

Dace Slakoda, of the Latvian Central Bank's macroeconomics department, attributed Latvia's improved ranking to economic improvements, for which she said Latvians largely had the bank to thank.

"We ensure price stability, which means low inflation, and this promotes macroeconomical stability. This is the key to securing GDP growth," said Slakoda.

Latvia's growth rate last year was 7.6 percent, one of the highest in Eastern and Central Europe, while inflation was just 2.5 percent.

The annually updated human development index this year ranks 173 countries by a composite measure of life expectancy, education and income per person.

Norway remains at the top of the list with Sweden, Canada and Belgium close behind, Russia in 60th place, Turkey in 85th and Sierra Leone on the bottom in 173rd place.

While many of the world's countries have made significant progress recently, the report calls attention to exceptions in sub-Saharan Africa, where many countries actually have a lower human development index then they did at the start of the 1990s.

Since 1980, 81 countries have taken significant steps toward democracy, with 33 military regimes replaced by civilian governments, according to the report.But of the 81 new democracies, only 47 can be classed as fully democratic.

A small number of countries are not on the list due to lack of data.