Saturday, 25 December 1999
Christmas, December 25, 1999 |
Latvian Link | |
News | |
Picture Album |
News, Pictures and AOL Lat Chat Reminder for Sunday, Dec. 26
Date: 12/25/99
File: D:\+www.latvians.com\Mailer\rukitis.jpg (35351
bytes)
DL Time (32000 bps): < 1 minute
First and foremost, our best wishes to you all for a Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year (and New Century and New Millennium)! Silvija had a
White Christmas visiting her parents and sister in Virginia, but, alas, no snow
here in New York. For those of you who are wondering, the next snow is forecast
for Riga for Monday. :-)
We have our usual link from Gunars (just in
time to dress up for the holiday season--it's a link about Latvian folk
costumes), news stories, as well as a little Christmas card in place of the
usual photo. For those of you on AOL, please join in Lat Chat Sunday night,
starting at 9:00 to 9:30pm Eastern time, or thereabouts... click on the
following link: Town Square - Latvian
chat
Priecigu un lamigu jauno gadu!
Ar visu labu,
Latvian Link |
LATVIAN FOLK COSTUMES —Two dozen drawings of Latvian folk costumes, and a bit of history/background as well! Some information on the general history of folk costumes in Latvia as well. —Gunars
Link: | Folk costumes of Latvia |
URL: | http://lcjdap.soroscj.ro/projects/iearn/fcatg/Latvia/index.html |
News |
- Russian ex-pats vote in the Baltics and elsewhere
- Vaira Vike-Freigerga's comments on the Russian election
- Lithuanians still trying to get back their embassy building in Paris
- The only beer called "Bud" you will be seeing in Latvia and Lithuania is Czechoslovakia's Budvar, not American Budweiser (whew!)
- Y2K air travel concerns in Russian and adjoining airspaces
MOSCOW,
December 19 (Itar-Tass) — Russia has opened polling
stations in the CIS and Baltic states so that its citizens residing there would
be able to vote in the parliamentary elections on Sunday, a spokesman for the
Foreign Ministry Election Commission told Itar-Tass.
Eleven CIS states are
included into three election constituencies of the Moscow region, he said.
Ukraine is, however, included into Moscow's Leningrad district. As to the
Baltic states, residents of Lithuania will vote for candidates running in the
Moscow region, while Russians residing in Estonia and Latvia for those running
in the Leningrad region.
In Byelorussia, polling stations are established
in all regional centres. About 6,500 Russians, permanently or temporarily
residing in the country, are expected to come to the polls. In a TV interview,
Russian consul-general in the city of Brest Boris Rodimov has thanked
Byelorussian authorities for assistance in preparation for the elections.
In Georgia, 12 polling stations are established, Valery Shardakov, head of the
consul department of the Russian embassy in Tbilisi, told Itar-Tass. Eight
stations are open in Russian military units stationed in Georgia and another
three in units of the CIS peacekeeping forces.
In Estonia, about 100,000
Russians are expected to come to nine polling stations. Four function in the
Russian embassy in Tallinn, another four in the consulate-general in the city
of Narva, and one more in the Russian consulate in Tartu. An embassy spokesman
said the vote would be in progress on both Saturday and Sunday.
pat/ezh
Copyright 1999
Copyright 1999 Reuters Ltd.
RIGA, Dec 20 (Reuters) — Latvian
President Vaira Vike-Freiberga said on Monday the strong centrist showing in
Russia's parliamentary election allowed for cautious optimism that reforms and
democratic processes would continue.
The main opposition Communists looked
set to remain the biggest party in Russia's State Duma (lower house) after
Sunday's poll, but two new reformist pro-Kremlin blocs did surprisingly well
and are seen altering the balance of power in parliament.
"It is a positive
sign that (Russian) communists have not advanced at a more rapid pace than was
feared, taking into account the difficult economic situation in Russia,"
Vike-Freiberga told Latvian state radio.
"The victory of Russian communists
is to a certain extent nominal...The fact there are so many...candidates
representing centrist forces allows us to look forward with cautious optimism
that reforms will continue, as will democratic processes," she added.
Latvia, which regained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, has a large
Russian-speaking minority. Some 650,000 Russian speakers live in the country,
accounting for about a quarter of its population.
The Russian embassy in
Riga estimated some 10,000 out of 55,000 eligible Russian voters turned out to
vote at local polling stations.
Moscow has frequently criticised Latvia's
treatment of Russian speakers, especially over a recently-approved language law
it sees as an attempt to marginalise the influence of Russians in the Baltic
state.
Copyright 1999 The
Associated Press
By Clar Ni Chonghaile, Associated Press Writer
PARIS (AP) — When the Lithuanian
embassy in Paris sent out its Christmas cards this year, they were designed to
convey a blunt message: Give us back our building.
The cards
featured an etching of a 19th century mansion in Paris' elegant 17th district.
The Lithuanians say the Soviet Union stole the building from them during World
War II and never gave it back.
The delegation now has offices at the same
address as the Hard Rock cafe on one of Paris' more down-market streets, and it
is still waiting for the keys to its former embassy, the Hotel Fournier.
Gediminas Varvuolis, the first secretary of the embassy, describes the current
location as temporary, even though it has been the address for nearly 10 years
— ever since Lithuania regained its independence after the collapse of the
former Soviet Union.
"The area is nice, but it's not a diplomatic quarter.
I would not say we are in a hurry to move, but it's true that as a diplomatic
representation we would like to have premises which suit us better," Varvuolis
said.
Lithuania gained its independence in 1918 and started to open
embassies abroad. Petras Klimas, the ambassador to France, bought the Hotel
Fournier in 1925. The embassy still has the original certificate of
purchase.
Today's quarrel dates from August 1940, when German forces
occupied Paris, seized the Lithuanian embassy and handed it over to the
Soviets.
Petras Klimas, the ambassador's son, was 10 years old at the
time.
"They stole all our personal affairs — all our documents, all my
toys. I have a list of the things that were stolen," he said in Paris, where he
still lives.
After Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, it
reclaimed the Hotel Fournier. But when Germany was defeated, the French gave
the keys of the building back to the Soviet Union, which had annexed the Baltic
states — Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia — in 1940.
When Lithuania
regained its independence in 1991, the country's Paris representatives hoped to
regain Hotel Fournier.
But Russia, which claimed most Soviet property
abroad after the Communist empire fell apart, kept the building, and the
Lithuanians have been in temporary accommodations provided by the French
Foreign Ministry since then.
The Soviets may originally have viewed the
elegant building as a war trophy but it soon became more burden than booty.
They couldn't sell it or rent it because they didn't have any proof of
ownership. They even tried to give it to the French as a present, but the host
country said no.
But now, realpolitik has given the building a new lease on
life.
In bilateral talks between Russia and Lithuania, the problem has been
being linked to Russia's request to expand the grounds of its embassy in the
Lithuanian capital, Vilnius.
The Russian embassy in Paris would only say
that the issue would be decided in an amicable way through negotiations.
Friendly maybe, but for the Lithuanians, this is a serious topic. "For us, it's
a very important question of principle," Varvuolis said.
Whenever
Lithuanian officials come to Paris, they make a point of going to the Hotel
Fournier and sometimes even walking to the door in protest. They never go
in.
"It's not a row. We have a right. My father bought this building in the
name of the Lithuanian government, and in fact, nobody contests that," Klimas
said.
Lithuania's story is not unique. Estonia and Latvia also lost Paris
property to the Soviets during the war. Estonia's building in Paris' chic 16th
district was demolished by the Soviets in 1978 to build apartments for embassy
staff.
Both the Latvian and Estonian delegations have moved out of their
temporary accommodation and into permanent buildings, but they are still
discussing restitution with the Russians.
Copyright 1999 Reuters Ltd.
PRAGUE, Dec 21
(Reuters) — Czech beer maker Budejovicky Budvar n.p. said
on Tuesday that courts in Latvia and Lithuania had thrown out cases brought by
U.S.-based Anheuser-Busch attempting to stop Budvar's use of the "Budweiser"
trademark in the two countries.
The rulings will allow the Czech
government-owned beer maker to continue to sell its beer in Latvia and
Lithuania under the trademark, the company said in a release.
The two
breweries have fought a decades-old trademark battle over rights to use the
term "Budweis," which is the German name for the south Bohemian town of Ceske
Budejovice, where Budejovicky Budvar is based.
"The subject of the debate
— the use of our trademark... was decided in our favor. Anheuser Busch may
still use its legal right of appeal in the highest courts, but only with
objections against the way the ruling was formed, and not against the subject
of the debate," said Budvar General Manager Jiri Bocek.
Anheuser-Busch is
the world's largest brewer, producing about 100 times as much beer as
Budvar.
It has had mixed success in defending its trademark claim in courts
around the world. A recent decision in Britain allows both companies to use the
name, while the Swiss have banned Anheuser-Busch from selling beer under the
"Bud" name.
[It was our understanding that Annheuser-Busch originally
licensed the Budweiser name for use in the U.S.--a while back, Annheuser-Busch
tried to negotiate the right to use their Budweiser name in Czechoslovakia, to
which Budvar said "no way," and made some disparaging remarks regarding the,
let's just say, lack of robust flavor, in the Americans' brew. -PJV]
Copyright 1999 Reuters Ltd.
MOSCOW,
Dec 22 (Reuters) — Russia has agreed with the 30 countries
that have airline routes crossing its territory to coordinate air traffic
control around the start of the New Year, a Russian official said on
Wednesday.
Viktor Samokhin, head of the Federal Air Transport Service's
technical department, said cooperation would reduce the risk of Y2K computer
bug problems.
"We have signed agreements with air traffic centres in
Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, Japan, China and Mongolia — to name just a few
— to join efforts in order to avoid emergency situations," he said.
The Y2K computer bug affects older computers that allot only two digits for the
year in dates, meaning they may read 2000 as 1900 and cause system failures.
The United States has said Russia could be particularly susceptible to the
problem.
Samokhin said Russian air traffic control would maintain constant
contact with foreign control centres and procedures had been set up to overcome
any computer malfunctions.
He said Russia had made a major effort to
ensure air transport would remain safe from the Y2K bug, including $12 million
spent by national carrier Aeroflot on upgrading computer systems.
Also on
Wednesday, the ex-Soviet Central Asian country of Uzbekistan ordered its
airports closed and domestic aircraft grounded shortly before the New Year
because of Y2K concerns.
Foreign aircraft flying over Uzbekistan will not
be affected by the order, though no scheduled landings will be permitted.
Last week another former Soviet republic, Ukraine, said it would ask
foreign aircraft not to use routes over its territory for about two hours round
midnight on December 31. It said it was also considering suspending train
services for that period.
Picture Album |
This week's picture is of our Latvian "rukitis" (elf) saying "Hi" from the front of his little cottage and wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and New Millennium. (Our little friend was a gift from Peters' cousin Gaida on his first trip to Latvia.)