Latvian Mailer & AOL Chat Reminder for Sunday, April 23rd Date:
4/22/00 File: D:\_WWWLA~1.COM\EXILE\DIEPHO~1.JPG (51582 bytes) DL Time
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We're in the middle of moving, so another short and sweet mailer! :-) A
Happy Easter—Priecigas Lieldienas—to you all. Our apologies for not
wishing everyone "Apals ka pupols" for Palm Sunday last week. (That's "Round
like a pussy willow"... since in Latvia, it's pussy willows, not palms—too
far north!).
This week's links are to Easter
traditions and Riga's 800th anniversary next year.
As our pictures haven't moved with us yet, this week's
picture continues on the Latvian exile theme... it's of
Diepholz, Germany, in 1948, a watercolor by Peters' father, Janis Vecrumba, who
graduated from the Latvian National Art Academy.
Remember, mailer or
not, Lat Chat spontaneously appears every Sunday on AOL starting around
9:00/9:30pm Eastern time, lasting until 11:00/11:30pm. AOL'ers can follow this
link: Town Square - Latvian chat.
Ar visu labu! Un atkal novelam Priecigas Lieldienas!
IN ACCORDANCE WITH AOL'S MAIL POLICY and good manners, please let
Silvija (Silvija) know if you wish to be deleted from our mailing
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always welcome.
Events for Riga 800
can be found at... http://www.riga800.lv/ ...sent to us
by ZVioleta on AOL
News
Latvian party nominates Riga's mayor for new
PM RIGA, April 16 (Reuters)
— One of Latvia's coalition partners, Latvia's Way, nominated Riga Mayor
Andris Berzins on Sunday as its choice for prime minister, clearing the way for
talks to form a new coalition government. "He
was chosen unanimously by the party board. He is very much a team person,"
Latvia's Way spokeswoman Dace Gulbe told Reuters.
Outgoing Prime Minister Andris Skele resigned
last week over a privatisation row within his three party centre-right
coalition government. With the conflict more
centred on personalities than on deep ideological differences — Skele has
been widely-criticised for his combativeness — the coalition agreed to try
and create a new government, and possibly widen it to include the centrist New
Party. Skele's Peoples' Party holds 24 seats
in the 100-seat parliament, but agreed to allow Latvia's Way, the second
largest party in with 21 seats, to nominate a candidate for the prime
minister's post. Nationalist Fatherland and
Freedom, a junior coalition partner, holds 16 seats, while the New Party has
eight. The 48-year-old Berzins, elected as
mayor of Riga in March 1997, consistently emerges from polls as one of the
country's most popular politicians. He has served in three previous
cabinets.
Latvia Soviet-era genocide suspect dies in custody RIGA, April 17 (Reuters) — An
85-year-old former Soviet security official, awaiting trial in Latvia on
genocide charges, has died of heart failure, prosecutors said on Monday.
Vasili Kirsanov was indicted last November for
Soviet era crimes, including deporting a Latvian family to Siberia and
persecuting members of organisations opposed to Soviet rule.
A spokeswoman at the prosecutor general's office
told Reuters that Kirsanov, who had also been charged with crimes against
humanity, died on Sunday in a psychiatric hospital.
An officer in the NKVD, precursor to the KGB
secret police, Kirsanov was one of a handful of ex-Soviet security officials to
be arrested since Latvia's independence from Moscow in 1991.
Latvia and its Baltic neighbours Lithuania and
Estonia are still dealing with the legacy of 50 years of Soviet occupation,
when tens of thousands were jailed, deported or killed.
Some historians estimate that more than 230,000
people were deported from Latvia by the Soviets in the 1940s and 1950s.
Russian Valdai-Riga Gas Pipeline
Blast Halts Supplies MOSCOW
(AP) — A natural gas explosion ripped through a pipeline in
northwestern Russia, forcing a cutoff of gas supplies to customers in Latvia
and nearby Russian regions, officials said Wednesday.
No casualties were reported. The Tuesday night
blast hit a section of the Valdai-Riga pipeline running through a marshy,
unpopulated area in the Novgorod region, just south of St. Petersburg on
Russia's western border, a spokeswoman for the Emergency Situations Ministry
said. The cause of the explosion was
unclear, though emergency officials said it was likely a technical problem.
Gas supplies to the Latvian capital Riga and
Russia's Valdai district were suspended. Repair crews were working to fix the
damage, and said supplies should resume within a week. Copyright 2000 Dow Jones & Co., Inc.
Latvia to try dead Soviet official for genocide RIGA, April 20 (Reuters) — Latvia
will proceed with the trial of a Soviet security official charged with
genocide, even though he died of heart failure last week, the local BNS news
agency reported on Thursday. Vasili Kirsanov
was indicted last November for his alleged role in Soviet-era repression during
the 1940s, including the deportation of a Latvian family to Siberia and the
persecution of opponents of Soviet rule. But
Kirsanov died in a psychiatric hospital on Sunday. He was 85.
BNS quoted Prosecutor Janis Osis as saying the
criminal case would still be sent to a Riga regional court since the pre-trial
investigation was nearly complete. The
Latvian criminal code allows for further proceedings after the death of an
accused person if the charge against them is of genocide, a crime against
humanity or a war crime. Kirsanov was one of
a handful of ex-Soviet security officials to be arrested since Latvia's
independence from Moscow in 1991. He had been an officer in the NKVD, precursor
to the KGB secret police. Latvia and its
Baltic neighbours Lithuania and Estonia are still dealing with the legacy of 50
years of Soviet occupation, when tens of thousands were jailed, deported or
killed. Some historians estimate that more
than 230,000 people were deported from Latvia by the Soviets in the 1940s and
1950s.
THE WHITE HOUSE: Office of
the First Lady - White House Egg Roll
[Excerpt] Displays created by embassies
from Japan to Hungary, Latvia to Luxembourg, Panama to Poland, and many
countries in between, will show children how springtime is celebrated across
the globe. Copyright 2000 M2 Communications
Lithuania to host NATO conference in May VILNIUS, April 19 (Reuters) —
Lithuania will host a conference on the future of NATO in Europe in May, with
foreign ministers and NATO Secretary General Lord George Robertson expected to
attend, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
The conference — "NATO's Role in the
Changing Security Environment in Europe " — is organised by NATO hopefuls
Lithuania and Slovenia and will take place in Vilnius from May 18-19.
The ministry said officials, experts and
academics from NATO countries and aspirants as well as partner countries Russia
and Ukraine would attend the event. Lithuania
has set NATO membership as a top foreign policy goal although it was turned
away in the first wave of expansion — which included Poland, Hungary and
the Czech Republic — announced in 1997. Copyright 2000
Reuters Ltd.
Picture Album
This week's picture is another view back into the
post-WWII Latvian exile experience. This is a painting from Diepholz, Germany,
where Peters' parents spent some of their time in the DP ("Displaced Persons")
camps after the war. Next week we'll have our negatives again... :-)
Gallery
