The Latvian government will propose amendments that would allow soldiers and internal affairs officers to continue in service while receiving retirement pension, BNS reports. Also, the government will propose amendments allowing people aged over 40 years to join professional service in the military or internal affairs. At present, only citizens aged 18-40 years are eligible…
Estonia’s Foreign Ministry denied any change in the country’s Middle East policy after Estonia voted for a UN General Assembly resolution condemning Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, ERR reported. Earlier, several former foreign ministers and MPs suggested that Estonia’s recent UN votes on Palestine implied a shift in Estonia’s foreign policy. The Foreign Ministry’s secretary…
Estonia’s central bank, the Bank of Estonia, will stop ordering one and two-cent coins as of 2025, ERR reports. Under new rounding rules, cash transactions will be rounded to the nearest five cents. Rait Roosve, head of the Bank of Estonia’s cash and payment systems department, noted that the smallest coins were seldom used for…
Estonia’s Tallinn Administrative Court has overturned the government’s decision to extradite Estonian citizen Andrei Sevljakov to the US, ERR reports. The court pointed to concerns that detention conditions in US prisons may not meet humane standards. The court instructed the government to obtain assurances from the US that Sevljakov’s prison conditions will not be inhumane….
US engineering company KBR has signed a cooperation agreement with Latvia’s GI Terminal on a project to build a renewable aviation fuel plant at Latvia’s Port of Liepaja, LSM reports. Under the memorandum of understanding, KBR will provide engineering solutions and equipment for GI Terminal’s planned sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plant and CO2 liquefaction terminal…
The Lithuanian fish processing company, Port Lite, has invested EUR 80mn in a new salmon processing plant in the Latvian port city of Liepaja, Baltic News Network reports. Sigitas Ambrazevicius, founder and owner of Port Lite, said that the 15,000 m2 plant would process around 25,000 tonnes of salmon per year. The company will sell…
Lithuania is interested in the possible use of next-generation small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear technology, Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys announced, BNS reports. He suggested that such reactors could use spent and recycled fuel from Lithuania’s decommissioned Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (IAE). The minister was speaking after a meeting with the Italian nuclear technology company, newcleo….
Lithuanian Finance Minister Gintare Skaiste welcomed the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) decision to postpone its planned mission to Russia indefinitely, BNS reports. Earlier, the Nordic and Baltic countries as well as Poland urged the IMF to reconsider its decision to resume consultations with Russia. Speaking in an interview with Ziniu Radijas, Skaiste noted that it…
The Russian and Chinese social media networks, Telegram and TikTok, are being used widely to spread content that poses risks to Latvia’s national security, according to the State Security Service (VDD), BNS reports. Unwanted content on the platforms includes disinformation, propaganda, and recruitment to criminal activity. Moreover, the platforms fail to monitor or delete such…