UAE-based messaging platform Telegram has deleted several channels and groups, including ones containing child pornography, following requests from Latvian State Police, LETA reports. However, Telegram has failed to provide information about the creators of the channels. The State Police noted that criminals in Latvia often use Telegram for planning and to sell illegal substances and…
Schools in Latvia received bomb threats in Russian at the start of the new school year on 2 September 2024, LETA reports, citing TV3. Armands Ruks, chief of the State Police of Latvia, said that more than 200 emails with bomb threats were sent. He said that schools in all counties received such messages. While…
Altogether 224,322 pupils in Latvia, including 20,657 first-graders, started their new school year on 2 September 2024, LETA reported. Latvia has 481 municipal and 75 private schools, including 224 primary schools and 197 secondary schools. The number of school teachers totals 25,879.
Latvian MEP Roberts Zile has been reelected one of the 14 vice-presidents of the European Parliament, LSM reports. He is the only Baltic MEP elected to the post so far. Zile is a member of the opposition National Alliance, which is a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists group. He has served as MEP…
Latvia’s Constitutional Court has upheld the constitutionality of the transition to school education in Latvian only, LETA reports. The transition follows legislative amendments passed in October 2022. The court found that weekly tuition in minority languages and cultural history sufficiently supports the preservation of minority identities. Earlier, the European Court of Human Rights supported the…
The Baltic States, along with Nordic EU countries and Poland, will not send any ministers to Hungary during the country’s EU presidency, LETA reports. The move is in response to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s visit to Russia. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda will coordinate with other EU leaders on whether to attend a European Council…
Vehicles registered in Belarus are banned from entering Latvia as of 16 July 2024, the State Revenue Service (VID) announced, LSM reports. The ban applies to automotive vehicles as well as trailers and semi-trailers. Vehicles registered in Belarus that are already in Latvia will have to be reregistered. Non-compliant vehicles can be confiscated and transferred…
The Latvian government has confirmed Normunds Mezviets as director general of the State Security Service (VDD) for a third consecutive five-year term, the Ministry of Interior announced, LSM reports. Announcing the nomination, Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis said that living under conditions of hybrid warfare requires professional and patriotic leadership that takes care of national security,…
The shadow economy accounts for up to 90% of the car service sector in Latvia, which has completely distorted competition, Andris Kulbergs, board chairman of the Latvian Automotive Association (Auto Asociacija), told LETA. The total turnover of the shadow economy in the sector amounts to almost EUR 200mn per year, the association estimates. The state…