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May 16, 2004

Sveiki, all!

Latvia rolls along in assimilating itself back into Europe. Participation as a full European Union member approaches, optimism is high that Latvia is on schedule to join the single European currency. Sad news of a Latvian ship sinking in the Baltic with the loss of its six-man crew. And some sports items as well, that is, other than hockey! Our link section returns this edition, along with a new picture from our albums.

In the news:

and in sports:

As always, AOL'ers, 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 in their AOL browser: Town Square - Latvian chat. And thanks to you participating on the Latvian message board as well: LATVIA (both on AOL only).

Ar visu labu,

SilvijaPeters

 

  Latvian Link

We ran across an interesting treatise on the perception of Latvian-ness at:

http://condor.depaul.edu/~rrotenbe/aeer/aeer14_1/herloff.html
 

  News


Polish Solidarity hero Walesa slams EU restrictions
AP WorldStream Monday, May 03, 2004 11:13:00 AM
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press

      BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — Former Polish president Lech Walesa, founder of Poland's Solidarity trade union, accused European Union countries of thinking like communists for imposing restrictions workers on workers from new EU countries like his own.
      Walesa, who was attending a celebration of the EU's expansion at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, said there was a need across Europe for trained professionals, many of whom want to migrate from new EU countries in eastern Europe to benefit from higher wages in the west.
      But most of the older EU countries have imposed restrictions blocking migrants from the eight former Soviet bloc countries that joined Saturday for up to seven years.
      "This is communism, ladies and gentlemen. How can you come up with such an idea," Walesa told reporters.
      "It's really strange that you don't want to take advantage of better skilled and cheaper workers," he added. "Who is losing here? Those who invented these regulations."
      Only Sweden has allowed unconditional access to its national labor market and welfare benefits to immigrants from the new member states.
      Britain and Ireland also agreed to keep open their labor markets to the new countries, although they have said they will impose restrictions on granting welfare benefits.
      EU governments are imposing up to seven year restrictions on the free movement of workers from the new members, fearing a flood of cheap labor in their home labor markets.
      Under EU rules, citizens from member countries have the right to travel, live and work freely in any of the member states. They also have a right to collect certain welfare benefits.
      However, so-called safeguard restrictions on migrant workers were added to the accession treaty all 10 new members -- Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta and the Czech Republic -- signed last year.
      That clause gave the old group of 15 EU nations the option to impose limited worker restrictions.
      The European Commission has said steps taken by EU governments to limit the influx of nationals from the new member were unnecessary. An EU study released in February predicted 200,000 people at most may come west in the next five years.
      At expansion ceremonies in Dublin, Ireland on Saturday current Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski said the old member states had nothing to worry about.
      "The free labor market is part of the European Union ... that is one of the fundamentals," he said. "I don't expect such a huge wave of Polish workers, the problem is very much exaggerated."

EU Parliament welcomes new members at start of last session
AP WorldStream Monday, May 03, 2004 12:16:00 PM
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press
By CONSTANT BRAND
Associated Press Writer

      BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — Giving the victory sign and a thumbs up, Polish Solidarity hero Lech Walesa led 162 lawmakers from the 10 new European Union nations Monday as they took up their seats in the EU's assembly for the first time.
      Walesa said the expansion of the EU on May 1 marked an historic moment for generations of eastern Europeans.
      "Today we can see all the wishes of the former generations fulfilled," Walesa told lawmakers, dignitaries and children outside the European Parliament building in Strasbourg, France, where the flags of the 10 new states were raised.
      "Something great and unique has happened ... I have been invited here as a sign of the great struggle for a united Europe. Today this is completed."
      Walesa led the ceremony as guest of honor. The former Polish president will not take a seat in the parliament.
      Parliament speakers from each of the 10 national legislatures handed European Parliament President Pat Cox their national flags which were hoisted by a ceremonial guard from the European army corps -- Eurocorps.
      "We all find this an emotional moment ... welcome home," Cox said.
      Walesa was at the ceremony representing the workers at his old workplace, the Gdansk shipyards, which made and donated flagpoles used to fly the banners of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Cyprus and Malta.
      Walesa, now 60, led a strike in the Baltic Sea port in 1980 that gave rise to Solidarity, eastern Europe's first free trade union. Its resistance to Soviet rule in the 1980s marked the beginning of the end of Europe's Iron Curtain.
      In December 1990, Walesa was elected Poland's first fully democratic president in more than 50 years.
      Legislators from the 15 established EU nations gave the newcomers a warm welcome during a day of ceremonies at the parliament, which was holding its last working session before dissolving for Europe-wide elections next month.
      The number of seats in the parliament jumped from 626 to 788 members, but will be scaled back, as only 732 members will be elected during the June 10-13 elections.
      Seats from the existing 15 member states will be cut back as part of an effort to cap the number of seats at the EU assembly.
      For example, Britain, which had 87 seats, will lose 9, and Luxembourg, which had the smallest number of seats with 9, will lose 3.
      Poland, which is the largest of the new acceding states to join, will have 54 seats in the legislature, while the smallest new member, Malta, will get 5.
      Polls have indicated the conservative European People's Party, which currently has the majority of seats in the chamber, is set to hold on to top spot in the elections, followed by socialists and liberal democrats.
      The five-year term of the current parliament has reflected the body's growing influence under recent EU treaty changes. A proposed EU constitution would see the parliament still more powers to block legislation in all policy areas except defense and foreign policy. (cb/pa)
      — — —
      On the Net:
      European Parliament elections: http://www.elections2004.eu.int

US company admits handling credit card payments for child pornography ring
AP WorldStream Monday, May 03, 2004 9:06:00 PM
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press
By JEFFREY GOLD
Associated Press Writer

      NEWARK, New Jersey (AP) — A company in the state of Florida has pleaded guilty to processing credit card payments for an international child pornography ring.
      Connections USA agreed Monday to forfeit $1.1 million and dissolve its business.
      The Fort Lauderdale-based company was indicted in January in a money-laundering scheme along with a Belarus company, Regpay Co. Ltd., which was charged with processing paid memberships to about 50 pornography Web sites.
      Connections USA, pleading guilty to conspiracy, admitted it received Regpay's membership fees and wired the money to Latvia as directed by the company. Sentencing was set for Aug. 16.
      "It's one of the first prosecutions of its type," Assistant U.S. Attorney Carlos F. Ortiz. "Our goal is to go after such companies and put them out of business."
      Connections USA, which did business as iServe.com, processed nearly $1 million in payments monthly until raided by federal agents last June, court papers said.
      It kept 11 percent as its commission, according to former CEO Eugene E. Valentine, who pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy to launder money for Regpay and its principals.
      Four of Regpay's leaders were indicted in January; three were arrested over the summer in France and Spain. One remains at large.
      As part of the case, dozens of U.S. citizens were charged with downloading child pornography.

Britain's asylum ruling faces legal test
Reuters World Report Tuesday, May 04, 2004 3:25:00 PM
Copyright 2004 Reuters Ltd.

      LONDON, May 4 (Reuters) — Former asylum seekers from new European Union member countries won the right on Tuesday for a legal challenge against Britain's decision to withdraw their benefits from May 1.
      Judge Mr Justice Collins granted permission for a test case at the High Court in London, saying the government policy was "arguably unfair."
      About 2,500 people in Britain had their asylum seeker status and benefits withdrawn on Saturday when the European Union welcomed 10 new members.
      As asylum seekers they were not allowed to look for work in Britain and their lawyers say the government failed to give them enough time to prepare for the transition from welfare to work.
      Lawyer Stephen Knafler, who represented one of the men at Tuesday's hearing, said there should have been a three month period from May 1 to allow new EU nationals to make alternative arrangements for work and housing.
      Granting permission for a judicial review, judge Collins said: "Someone seems to have overlooked until rather the last minute the status of these 2,500 or so, some of whom have remained here for over seven years."
      The test case will centre on two asylum seekers, one from Slovakia and the other from Latvia. The outcome is expected to have implications for many others already in Britain.
      The Refugee Council, an independent charity which helps asylum seekers and refugees, said many of those affected were Roma, who fled eastern Europe claiming persecution.
      Immigration will be a key issue at the next election in Britain, expected in the first half of 2005.
      Prime Minister Tony Blair has come under intense pressure to counter claims Britain is too liberal in its approach to asylum seekers and new immigrants.

Latvia set to start bilateral talks on ERM-2 entry
Reuters World Report Tuesday, May 11, 2004 11:33:00 AM
Copyright 2004 Reuters Ltd.
By Swaha Pattanaik

      BRUSSELS, May 11 (Reuters) — Latvia said on Tuesday it is about to embark on a series of bilateral meetings to discuss its ambitions to join the European exchange rate mechanism (ERM-2).
      Finance Minister Oskars Spurdzins also told Reuters his party, one of four that forms the country's coalition government, was in favour of holding a referendum on a planned European Union constitution.
      Latvia, one of the 10 countries that joined the EU on May 1, plans to join the euro and is eyeing the entry criteria it must satisfy before it will be allowed into a club that currently has a dozen members.
      One such criterion is to keep the national currency — in this case, the lat -- in tight bands against the euro for at least two years as a member of the ERM-2, the waiting room before adopting the euro.
      Latvia hopes to enter the ERM-2 at the beginning of 2005 and plans bilateral meetings with other euro members about its intentions.
      "The first such meeting is in Berlin" on May 17, Spurdzins said in an interview conducted on the sidelines of the first EU finance ministers' meeting to be held since the bloc expanded.
      Meetings in Ireland, the Netherlands, and France were scheduled later. Spurdzins also said the People's Party, a conservative pro-business party, could initiate a debate on the possibility of holding a referendum on the planned EU constitution with other coalition members.
      While the members of the coalition had not yet taken a common position, a decision might be possible after EU leaders met in June.
      "There is no unanimity in the coalition government but my party is for a referendum. Maybe the final decision about a referendum will be made after the European Council in June," he told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of an EU finance ministers' meeting.
      It was the first such meeting to be held since 10 countries, mostly from central and eastern Europe, joined the EU on May 1.
      BUDGETS IN FOCUS
      One of the first decisions taken at the 25-member EU finance ministers' meeting was to delay until July a decision on whether to issue Italy with a warning over a budget deficit that risks surpassing EU limits in 2004 without a change in policy.
      Spurdzins declined to comment on the position that Latvia would take on the issue in July but spoke in more general terms.
      "There is always a wish to be objective vis-a-vis our colleagues in other countries, taking into account all objective difficulties," he said.
      "On the other hand there are the rules of the game that have to be observed by all countries and we have to stick to these rules."
      He was more forthright on the EU budget and the need for the bloc's new member states to receive enough money to allow them to catch up with richer countries in the bloc.
      In particular, he faulted a rule that caps the amount of such funds that an EU member state can receive at four percent of its gross domestic product.
      "An issue that worries us is the idea of capping structural and cohesion funds. This restriction is not very advantageous and not what we wish at all because we are a country with living standards under the EU average," Spurdzins said.
      "As the EU is speaking about cohesion, the amount of money that is available to us is very important. We cannot speak about cohesion if we do not get the necessary funds."

Swedish coast guard says at least three of six-man crew are dead
AP WorldStream Wednesday, May 12, 2004 11:28:00 AM
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press
By TOMMY GRANDELL
Associated Press Writer

      STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) — At least three members of a six-man Latvian crew missing after their fishing trawler sank were found dead inside the ship Wednesday, a Swedish maritime official said.
      The other members remain unaccounted for and hopes are slim of finding them alive, Swedish sea rescue spokesman Anders Larsson said.
      The 25-meter-long (82-feet-long) Astrida was last heard from on Sunday in international waters south of the Swedish island Oeland in the Baltic Sea. The trawler left the Latvian port of Liepaja on May 2 and was due back Tuesday.
      The Swedish coast guard identified the ship Wednesday with the help of an underwater robot, but didn't know what happened to the crew. Officials said it was unlikely that they could survive long in the 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit) water.
      Divers found a large hole in the hull and the bodies of at least three fishermen inside the ship, which was resting on the seabed 27 meters (88.5 feet) below the water, Larsson said.
      "We don't dare to speculate, but something happened. Whether it's a collision or an explosion, that's for the investigation to find out," Larsson said.
      Swedish maritime officials were investigating how the trawler sank. The weather had been clear in the area for several days.
      Late Tuesday, rescuers found fishing containers and nets believed to have come from the missing ship, some 65 kilometers (40 miles) southeast of Oeland. They also found an oil patch, indicating the trawler had sunk in the area.
      Swedish coast guard ships specializing in mopping up oil spills were launched on Wednesday morning.
      — — —
      Associated Press reporter Timothy Jacobs in Riga, Latvia, contributed to this report.

Swedish divers recover two more bodies from sunken ship
AP WorldStream Friday, May 14, 2004 8:04:00 AM
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press
By TIMOTHY JACOBS
Associated Press Writer

      RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Swedish coast guard divers retrieved two more bodies from a sunken Latvian fishing trawler on Friday, but had to call of their search for two more because the sunken ship was unstable.
      The bodies of the two Latvian fishermen were taken to the Swedish port of Karlskrona where they will be sent back to Latvia with the bodies of two crew that were recovered Thursday.
      Latvian Navy Capt. Hermanis Cernovs said the last two men of the six-person crew are still missing, but presumed dead.
      "We really want to retrieve the bodies of the missing sailors but the safety of the divers comes first," Cernovs said Friday. "They are either deep inside the boat or else somewhere out at sea."
      Investigators believe the 25-meter-long (82-feet-long) Astrida was at anchor and waiting to pull up its nets in the early hours of May 10 when it was struck by a much larger ship and sank.
      They are searching ships docked in ports around the Baltic Sea, including Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Russia for signs of a collision.
      The Astrida left Liepaja on May 2 and was due back in port on Tuesday. Swedish and Latvian search parties were sent out on Tuesday when they failed to contact the Astrida. The Swedish coast guard found the sunken ship resting on the seabed 27 meters (88.5 feet) below the water on Wednesday with the help of an underwater robot.

Latvia says confident of joining ERM-2 by 2005
Reuters World Report Friday, May 14, 2004 10:15:00 AM
Copyright 2004 Reuters Ltd.
By Douwe Miedema

      SCHIERENSEE, Germany, May 14 (Reuters) — Latvian policy makers said on Friday there was no reason to doubt that the Baltic state will join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM-2), a precursor to euro entry, by the start of next year.
      In a move that may well upset Latvia's neighbours that want to adopt the euro as soon as possible, the country's finance minister and central bank head also suggested the three Baltic states could adopt the euro at the same stage.
      Latvian Finance Minister Oskars Spurdzins said no more obstacles stood in the way of entering the euro's waiting room by January 1, 2005.
      "We are almost certain, based on the country's budget policy this year so far, though we still have to see how this year will pan out," Spurdzins told journalists, speaking through an interpreter, on the sidelines of a conference.
      In a separate interview, the country's central bank head, Ilmars Rimsevics, told journalists, "At the moment there is no reason for us not to believe that, so we have all ammunition in line and we are very much working towards that (date)."
      The Latvian policy makers were speaking at a conference on the economy of the Baltic region in Germany, held in this German village.
      Latvia, one of the 10 countries that joined the European Union this month, has said it will start bilateral talks to enter ERM-2 this month. It is targeting to adopt the single currency at the start of 2008.
      JOINT BALTIC ADOPTION? Rimsevics said that while Latvia and the nation's two Baltic neighbours, Lithuania and Estonia, did not have to join ERM-2 at the same time, they could still adopt Europe's common currency at the same stage.
      "It might be the situation that countries join ERM-2 at a different time but introduce the euro at same time," he said.
      His colleagues in neighbouring Estonia and Lithuania want to enter ERM-2 as soon as possible and aim to adopt the single currency around the start of 2007.
      But Rimsevics said fighting to enter the currency first made no sense.
      "There is no reason to be competitive, like in a race. It is a much more serious decision, associated with a long-term strategy," Rimsevics said.
      Spurdzins said talks about a common Baltic strategy to adopt the single currency were proceeding, but he could not say what the outcome would be.
      "These talks are still proceeding and it is not an easy process. Each country has different interests," Spurdzins said.
      Asked whether it was fair that EU rules limiting budget deficits to three percent of gross domestic product were suspended for some countries, Rimsevics said:
      "It is not fair. I think for the longer term perspective it is not fair, because it is creating double standards."
      "This is not creating the atmosphere that this is a common task that we have to sustain the stability of the euro," he added.

Hansabank Seeks More Business in Russia
AP Online Friday, May 14, 2004 11:31:00 AM
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press
By JARI TANNER
Associated Press Writer

      TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Hansabank Group, the Baltic's biggest financial services company, said on Friday it hopes to expand its presence in neighboring Russia by setting up a new bank or acquiring an existing one and increasing its leasing operations there.
      "Our primary target is not to win a very dramatic market share but to help our clients expand in Russia," Druvis Murmanis, the newly appointed head of Hansabank's Russian operations, told The Associated Press.
      Taking advantage of the Baltic countries' recent EU membership, their strategic geographical location and Russia's booming economy, the Tallinn-based bank is mulling whether to start its own bank or acquire one there by 2005.
      Murmanis did not specify which Russian banks Hansabank might be targeting, but he said the new outlet would help it serve its Baltic and Scandinavian clients and a limited number of Russian customers.
      "(Hansabank's) focus will be in corporate banking, at least in the beginning," Murmanis said. "The Russian banking market is still in a developing stage, but the situation is changing very quickly and banks are getting bigger."
      Analysts applauded the announcement, saying Hansabank is on the right track.
      "Hansabank waited a long time to make this decision but finally it's done," said analyst Priin Palge at Suprema Securities in Tallinn. "It"s a good strategy to get a foothold in the Russian market right now as the market is huge and business perspectives look good."
      Despite its tiny home market — Estonia has a population of just 1.4 million people and the Baltics a total of about 7 million -- size is unlikely to pose a problem in the Baltic bank's Russian ambitions, said Murmanis. Hansabank, he said, ranks number three of all banks in the former-Soviet states when measured by both assets and equity.
      At the Hansabank annual meeting in April, CEO Indrek Neivelt told shareholders that the pan-Baltic bank, which has over four million customers in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, will double its share of Russian assets to 10 percent of the group's total assets.
      The majority owner of Hansabank is the Swedish banking group ForeningsSparbanken, which has operated in Russia through its Hansa Leasing Russia subsidiary since 2002.
 

  Sports


European Judo Championships Results
AP WorldStream Saturday, May 15, 2004 11:30:00 AM
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press

      BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Results Saturday from the European Judo Championships:
      Men
      73 kilograms
      Gold medal
      Kioshi Uematsue, Spain, def. Yoel Razvozov, Israel
      Bronze medals
      David Kevkhishvili, Georgia, and Vsevolods Zelonijs, Latvia
      81 kilograms
      Gold medal
      Ilias Nikolaos Iliadis, Greece, def. Ole Bischof, Germany
      Bronze medals
      Ricardo Echarte, Spain, and Dimitri Nossov, Russia
      — — —
      Women
      63 kilograms
      Gold medal
      Sara Alvarez, Spain, def. Aneta Szczepanska, Poland
      Bronze medals
      Yulia Kuzina, Russia, and Sarah Clark, Britain
      70 kilograms
      Gold medal
      Edith Bosch, Netherlands, def. Cecilia Blanco, Spain
      Bronze medals
      Rasa Sraka, Slovenia, and Andrea Pazoutova, Czech Republic

IAAF Super Grand Prix Results
AP Sports Friday, May 14, 2004 4:01:00 PM
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press
By The Associated Press

      Friday (Doha, Qatar)
      (Distances in meters; leading results)
      Men
      100 — 1, Shawn Crawford, United States, 9.86 seconds. 2, Justin Gatlin, United States, 9.95. 3, Marcus Branson, United States, 9.96.
      400 — 1, Brandon Simpson, Jamaica, 45.50. 2, Alleyne Francique, Grenada, 45.56. 3, Young Talkmore Nyongani, Zimbabwe, 45.85.
      800 — 1, Justus Koech, Kenya, 1 minute, 45.37 seconds. 2, Wilfred Bungei, Kenya, 1:45:47. 3, Joseph Mwengi Mutua, Kenya, 1:46:31.
      1,500 — 1, Isaac Songok, Kenya, 3:35.80. 2, Alex Kipchirchir, Kenya, 3:35:84. 3, Paul Korir, Kenya, 3:37:57.
      3,000 — 1, Eliud Kipchoge, Kenya, 7:33.37. 2, Saif Said Shaheen, Qatar, 7:34:67. 3, John Kibowen, Kenya, 7:37:23.
      110 Hurdles — 1, Dominique Arnold, United States, 13.31. 2, Todd Mathews Joudda, Sudan, 13.64. 3, Robert Newton, Britain, 13.76.
      400 Hurdles — 1, Periklis Iakovakis, Greece, 49.33. 2, Naman Keita, France, 49.65. 3, Stepan Tesarik, Czech Republic, 50.07.
      400 Relay — 1, Saudi Arabia, 3:05.04. 2, Nigeria, 3:06.10. 3, Qatar, 3:12,29.
      Triple Jump — 1, Charles Friedek, Germany, 56 feet, 1 3/4 inches. 2, Marian Oprea, Romania, 55-11 1/4. 3, Mohammed Ibrahim, Qatar, 55-7.
      Shot Put — 1, Ville Tiisanjoa, Finland, 66-10. 2, Khalid Habbash Al Suwaidi, Qatar, 65-4 3/4. 3, Marco Verni, China, 65-3 1/2.
      Javelin — 1, Boris Henry, Germany, 269-3. 2, Stefan Wenk, Germany, 259-7. 3, Breaux Greer, United States, 259-3.
      — — —
      Women
      100 — 1, Delloreen Ennis-London, Jamaica, 12.51. 2, Danielle Carruthers, United States, 12.88. 3, Angela Atede, Nigeria, 12.96.
      200 — 1, LaTasha Colander-Richardson, United States, 22.50. 2, Chryste Gaines, United States, 23.28. 3, Ionela Tirlea. Romania, 23.32.
      800 — 1, Jolanda Ceplak, Slovakia, 2:01.27. 2, Setlana Ait Hammou, Morocco, 2:02.96. 3, Judit Varga, Hungary, 2:03.87.
      3,000 — 1, Elvan Abeylegesse, Turkey, 8:35.83. 2, Leah Malot, Kenya, 8:51.65. 3, Fernanda Ribeiro, Portugal, 8:51.92.
      3,000 Steeplechase — 1, Cristina Casandra, Romania, 9:45.67. 2, Sigrid Vanden Bempt, Belgium, 9:52.37. 3, Bouchra Chaabi, Morocco, 9:52.99.
      High Jump — 1, Monica Iagar, Romania, 16-3 1/2. 2, Ruth Beitia, Spain, 6-3 1/2. 3, Melanie Skotnik, Germany, 6-1 1/4.
      Long Jump — 1, Anju Bobby George, India, 22-4 1/2. 2, Valentina Gotovska, Latvia, 21-11 3/4. 3, Malgorzata Trybanska, Poland, 21-6 3/4.
      Pole Vault — 1, Thorey Edda Elisdottir, Iceland, 14-1 1/4. 2, Floe Kuhnert, Germany, 13-1 1/2. 2, Krisztina Molnar, Hungary, 13-1 1/2. 3, Sabine Schulte, Germany, 12-5 1/2.
      Discus — 1, Natalia Sadova, Russia, 217-10. 2, Aretha Hill, United States, 208-4. 3, Franka Dietzsch, Germany, 203-5.
 

  Picture Album

As it happens, in sifting through our pictures, we located the perfect Christmas card, alas, only five months late! Still feeling yesterday's mini-heat wave in New York as we did some planting in our front garden, this cooling picture reminds us that hot or cold is as much a state of mind as the reading on the thermometer. A view of the presidential palace from December, 2002.
Riga Presidential Palace
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