The joy of the mystifying song competition is that everyone's in on the joke, and nobody is on the outside sneering in Poll: Does the Eurovision song contest make you feel patriotic? There is a point in the lives of most European schoolchildren when they come to understand the continent's geo-political history in terms of the Eurovision Song Contest. What better way to comprehend the situation in...
Defence secretary says UK to 'play central role' in providing security support to Nato allies during Ukraine crisis Britain is deploying four Typhoon fighter-jets to the Baltics as part of a Nato show of support against the backdrop of the Ukraine crisis. Continue reading... ...
Cameron says British army will help beef up defences in Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia to deter possible Russian aggression Britain is to join forces with its Nato allies to help bolster defences of the Baltic states amid fears that Moscow may use the presence of substantial Russian minorities to destabilise Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. As Downing Street indicated that the leaders of the G7 countries...
Joe Biden says US exploring sending ground troops to Baltic region to try to prevent further territorial aggression by Russia Dan Roberts ...
Einars Cilinskis ignores PM's warnings and will take part in events honouring Latvian soldiers who fought with Waffen SS Latvia's environment minister will be fired after he insisted on participating in the annual commemorations of Latvian soldiers who fought in Nazi units during the second world war, according to a government spokesman. Einars Cilinskis, of the rightwing National Alliance, announced...
‘Everybody from the White House down has given their support to us – we haven’t heard from the prime minister,’ says reporter Paul Farrell ...
Ex-world champion says move would give him security to work 'where civil rights are denied and democratic norms trampled on' The former world chess champion turned Kremlin critic, Garry Kasparov, has asked Latvian politicians to grant him citizenship to help him pursue his political activities in Russia. In a letter seen by Reuters, Kasparov, 50, said Latvian citizenship would give him the security...
Emergency services and soldiers work through the night to retrieve many more people thought to be trapped in the rubble The collapse of a supermarket on Thursday evening in Riga, the Latvian capital, has killed at least 45 people, including three firefighters, with rescue workers continuing to search through the night for casualties. ...
Three rescue workers among at least 47 people killed, as search continues for any survivors trapped in rubble The death toll from the collapse of a supermarket in the Latvian capita, Riga, rose to at least 47 on Friday as rescue workers pulled more bodies from the ruins. Cranes lifted large slabs from the wreckage of the Maxima store to try to find those trapped after the roof collapsed late on Thursday...
Rescue workers stop searching rubble of collapsed store as prime minister announces three days of mourning for the victims The Latvian president has described the collapse of a supermarket which has claimed the lives of at least 54 people as "mass murder" of innocent civilians. The remark by Andris Berzins came as the third and final part of the roof of the building in the capital, Riga,...
PM Valdis Dombrovskis says formal application to become 18th eurozone country will be made early next month Latvia, the EU's third poorest country, is to apply to join the euro within weeks, triggering an east European dash for entry that could push the eurozone to 20 countries from 17 in a few years. The country's prime minister, Valdis Dombrovskis, said his government would formally apply to join...
s arrival gives eurocrats in Brussels an extra reason to toast in the new year. Eighteen months after the threat of Greece quitting the euro gripped financial markets, the eurozone is marking its 15th anniversary by expanding, not fracturing. With final preparations completed, outgoing prime minister Valdis Dombrovskis will ceremonially withdraw the first euro note from an ATM shortly after midnight....
CEO of Barclays takes control of Today programme, including Thought for the Day with the leading City critic the Archbiship of Canterbury Graeme Wearden Katie Allen ...
s prime minister has resigned after accepting political responsibility for the collapse of a supermarket roof in the capital that killed 54 people. Valdis Dombrovskis' decision means that his center-right government automatically falls. He was the longest serving prime minister in Latvia's history. "Considering the ... tragedy and all the related circumstances, the country needs a government that has...
Dozens of people were feared dead or trapped after the roof collapsed at a busy supermarket in Latvia's capital ...
Bodies pulled from rubble through the night at Maxima store in Riga after roof fell in during evening rush hour The collapse of a supermarket in Riga, the Latvian capital, has killed at least 18 people, with rescue workers continuing the search the rubble through the night for casualties. The search and rescue effort continued through Thursday night and into Friday morning at the Maxima store, which...
One of the worst storms to hit northern and western Europe in recent years claims the lives of at least 15 people The Europe storm death toll has risen to 15 after Danish police said a driver was killed when he crashed into a tree knocked down by violent gusts. Monday's storm was one of the worst in years in northern and western Europe. Authorities said on Tuesday that dozens of people had been injured...
Europe's last dictator' The EU is playing a key role in propping up the rule of Alexander Lukashenko, widely seen as "Europe's last dictator", according to one of the country's leading opposition figures who spent a year in jail after challenging the leader for the presidency. A policy paper has been delivered to all 28 EU foreign ministries this week, along with a letter calling on ministers to back...
s BBQ by telling his 125,000 Twitter followers that this "lovely guy" would have to go home unless he got one, he evidently didn...
t just for Silicon Valley and New York City. Here in the tough-luck Baltic nation of Latvia, young entrepreneurs, freed from the prospect of steady nine-to-five employment, are founding businesses that range from high-end bicycle manufacturing to aspirants to be the next Skype , which was started in neighbouring Estonia. With unemployment among young people in the European Union at 23% and topping...