The foreign ministers of the three Baltic States have sent a letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), expressing concern about recommendations to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris under a neutral flag, BNS reports. In their joint letter to IOC president Thomas Bach, the ministers…
A group of MPs from Latvia’s ruling New Unity party has proposed amendments that would introduce harsher penalties for exceeding speed limits in road traffic, Baltic News Network reports. Under the proposal, the fine for driving 60 km/h or more above the speed limit would rise from the current EUR 240-460 to EUR 720-960 and…
The municipal water utility of the Latvian port city of Liepaja, Liepajas Udens, has managed to stop the leakage of raw sewage from its wastewater plant into the Baltic Sea, LSM reports. The company has resumed the operation of the wastewater treatment plant on a temporary basis. Earlier, part of a wall of a sewage…
Authorities in Lithuania’s port city of Klaipeda have recommended people not to swim in the Baltic Sea, following a leak of sewage from a water treatment plant in Latvia’s Liepaja, LRT reports. Authorities are now analysing samples to determine the quality of the water. Latvia’s State Environmental Service (VVD) assured that the sewage leak posed…
Latvia’s Health Ministry has proposed amendments to further restrict the availability of alcohol, LSM reports. The amendments would reduce the sales hours of alcoholic beverages, ban sales of alcohol at petrol stations, and raise the legal drinking age to 20 years. The ministry hopes that the amendments will reduce alcohol consumption, illness, injuries, and mortality….
An overwhelming majority of Estonians oppose the introduction of a proposed car tax, according to a Norstat poll conducted in July 2023 for the Institute of Societal Studies (YI), ERR reports. The survey showed that 72% opposed and 21% supported the car tax. The remainder had no opinion. Altogether 80% of households polled had a…
Latvia’s Health Inspectorate has banned swimming on beaches in the port city of Liepaja, following a sewage leak from the city’s water treatment plant into the Baltic Sea, LSM reports. Also, the State Environmental Service (VVD) has recommended residents not to swim in coastal areas from Liepaja north to Saka parish. At the same time,…
Lithuania’s State Commission of the Lithuanian Language (VLKK) recently ordered the authorities in Vilnius district municipality to remove bilingual Lithuanian-Polish signs in the villages of Azulauke and Bieliskes, LRT reports. The municipality refused to comply and took the issue to the Administrative Disputes Commission, which found that VLKK’s order was unlawful and unfounded. Audrius Valotka,…
Several hundred people gathered in Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, on 19 July 2023 to protest against plans by local property developer Dobilo Daigas to cut down nine trees in a small green space in the city centre, LRT reports. Dobilo Daigas plans to expand a café on the small square, which is part of the historic…