Latvia in brief - 2004-02-05

Alina Lebedeva, the notorious 18-year-old who hit Prince Charles in the face with a carnation in 2001, was detained by authorities on suspicion that she set fire to the door of the Education and Science Ministry on Jan. 9. She has been released while an investigation continues.

Latvia's Supreme Court reduced Thomas Pendleton's sentence in jail from five to three-and-a-half years. The U.S. national was sentenced for sexual acts involving minors in the Baltic country.

The left-wing alliance For Human Rights in a United Latvia will call for the removal of Education and Science Minister Karlis Sardurskis due to his support for the amendment to the education reform law.

The NGO headquarters for the Protection of Russian Schools (Shtab) announced the group would protest outside Parliament and the Riga Castle on Feb. 5 while the education reform undergoes its final reading.

Foreign Minister Sandra Kalniete said a mission of the New Era party in the Europarliament would be the condemnation of communism. Kalniete hoped to put communism on par with Nazism.

The Duma, Russia's lower house of Parliament, announced that it would appeal directly to Latvia's Parliament in regards to the amendments to the education reform law. The amendment, according to the Duma's international affairs committee, endangers Russian language education.

Latvian born violinist Gidon Kremer left his violin, valued at $3 million, on a train after traveling to Baltimore from New York for a concert. The violin was recovered by train officials in Washington, D.C., and returned.