The Latvian parliament, the Saeima, has passed a law on the establishment of a new national concert hall, the Riga Philharmonic, LETA reports. The law designates the concert hall with the status of an object of national interest. The plan is to build the concert hall by reconstructing and expanding the Riga Congress Centre. The…
Drivers of motor vehicles in Latvia paid altogether EUR 8.5mn in traffic fines in 2025, according to the country’s Road Traffic Safety Directorate (CSDD), LSM reports. The most violations were registered on the A8 and A1 highways and on Juglas Street in Riga. CSDD’s 100 stationary speed cameras record an average of 200,000 speeding violations…
Lithuania’s three international airports will offer flights to 100 destinations in 54 countries in summer 2026, state-owned airport operator Lietuvos Oro Uostai (LTOU) announced, The Baltic Times reports. LTOU’s airports will have more flights to Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Helsinki, and Warsaw. Vilnius International Airport will offer new direct routes to Gdansk in Poland and Podgorica in…
Latvia has recorded the country’s first outbreak of measles since 2018, according to the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (SPKC), LETA reports. SPKC has so far registered 36 cases, most of them children, and the number of cases continues to rise, LETA reports. Many of the infected children are students at Riga Waldorf School,…
State-owned and municipal companies in Latvia involved in building or maintaining critical infrastructure have begun dismissing Russian and Belarusian citizens, LETA reports. Under amendments to the law on national security, Russian and Belarusian citizens may not be employed in jobs with access to critical infrastructure. Latvian capital Riga’s municipal water utility, Rigas Udens, has terminated…
Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, arrived on a two-day working visit to Latvia on 2 February 2026, LSM reported. Ablakwa said that the immediate reason for his visit was to discuss the circumstances surrounding the death of an 18-year-old Ghanaian student in Riga in June 2025, GhanaWeb reported. Also, Ablakwa informed his Latvian counterpart,…
The new US ambassador to Latvia, Melissa Argyros, is expected to assume her diplomatic post in Riga in February 2026, Baltic News Network reports. She will replace the current US ambassador, Christopher Robinson. Argyros is a California-based real estate investor, holding several senior positions in the family’s real estate company, Arnel & Affiliates, the Argyros…
A member of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) died while on duty near the Latvian capital, Riga, on 29 January 2026, LSM reported. Gunner Sebastian Halmagean was deployed in Latvia as part of a Canadian-led NATO brigade. He had served in the CAF for almost three years, and this was his first overseas deployment.
The prime ministers of the Baltic States assured that the Rail Baltica railway from Tallinn to the Polish border would be completed on schedule, BNS reported. Speaking after a joint meeting in Riga, the three prime ministers pledged to secure maximum EU funding for the project. Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal stressed that the railway…