Riga - Latvian Finance Minister Einars Repse delivered a make-or-break 2010 budget to the national parliament, or Saeima, Monday, ahead of an expected vote on its acceptance on Thursday.

Failure to approve the budget would have serious consequences, including the likely freezing of future loan payments to Latvia. That in turn could lead to a default and possible currency devaluation, economists have argued.

Rejection of the budget by parliament could also signal the end of the already fragile five-party coalition government headed by Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis.

Riga - Officials confirmed Thursday that former Latvian president Vaira Vike-Freiberga would seek the position of European Union president when it is created after the Lisbon Treaty comes into force.

Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis gave tacit support to Vike-Freiberga on Wednesday but waited until Thursday to confirm that her name would be in the mix.

Dombrovskis' foreign policy adviser Solveiga Silkalna told the German Press Agency dpa that Vike-Freiberga's name was "being floated publicly" at the EU summit in Brussels but that no formal nomination process had begun.

Riga - One former and one current president from two Baltic states emerged Wednesday as potential candidates for the new position of European Union president.

Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis gave tacit support to the candidacy of former President Vaira Vike-Freiberga. Meanwhile, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, the 55-year-old incumbent president of Estonia, was also mentioned as a possible candidate Wednesday.

Riga - A remote field in northern Latvia briefly became the site of a media feeding frenzy Monday after local media reported a meteor strike on Sunday night.

But by Monday afternoon, more and more voices were suggesting a non-celestial source for the unusual find. The crater, they said, was the work of human hands.

Geologist Dainis Ozols told news website Delfi. lv he had visited the site and believed the crater was manmade. Local media speculated that the whole incident could be an elaborate hoax.

Riga - Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite called Saturday for NATO to develop a comprehensive defence plan for the Baltic states.

"We appeal for and demand security in the form of a NATO emergency plan for the Baltic region," Grybauskaite said after a summit meeting at Riga castle with her Latvian and Estonian counterparts, Valdis Zatlers and Toomas Hendrik Ilves.

Later in the day at a NATO conference being held in the Latvian capital, Grybauskaite expanded on her demand for better protection from the military alliance.

Riga - Latvia's central bank govenor said Thursday that devaluation of the Baltic state's national currency, the lat, would offer no solution to the country's economic troubles.

Speaking at the bank's annual conference, Ilmars Rimsevics blasted both the economic policies of previous governments and economists who have recommended devaluation as a viable option as Latvia struggles with one of the world's deepest recessions.

Advocates of devaluation were "quacks" offering "psuedo solutions" Rimsevics said, while government had failed to listen to the central bank's recommendations.

"Some say Latvia has an alternative - to devalue the lat. From devaluation of the lat there would not be more money ... things would actually get more expensive," he said.

Riga  - The prime minister of the cash-strapped Baltic state of Latvia said Wednesday assets in public ownership could be sold to raise funds as work continues on finding extra cash for the country's 2010 budget.

Speaking after a meeting with President Valdis Zatlers, Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis would only name nationalised bank Parex as a company that was definitely for sale but did not rule out the possibility that other assets could be privatised.

Riga - Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini continued a whistle-stop tour of the Baltic states Tuesday with an itinerary that saw him meeting two foreign ministers and two presidents within a few hours.

Frattini arrived in Latvia fresh from talks on Monday with Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, which touched on a long-running dispute over ownership of "Villa Lituania," the former building of the Lithuanian embassy in Rome during the period between the two world wars.

Riga  - Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis on Friday welcomed a decision by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to release 195 million euros (280 million dollars) to help the Baltic state's stricken economy.

Speaking on Latvian television, Dombrovskis said the payment "sends a positive message to the markets" and shows his government's hard-hitting economic reforms are working but that work on the 2010 budget needs to proceed if future IMF payments are to be made.

Riga  - Slovakia's Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak on Thursday called an attack on his country's embassy in Budapest a "criminal act" and criticised the Hungarian government's handling of a diplomatic spat that erupted after Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom was denied entry to Slovakia last Friday.

Speaking after talks with Latvian Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins in Riga, Lajcak said Slovakia and Hungary had "similar views on 95 per cent of issues" but different views on some aspects of history.

Riga - European Union Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, who is from Latvia, confirmed Wednesday that he would seek a second term in office in Brussels.

Speaking to the press after a meeting with Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, who is responsible for naming the Baltic state's candidate for the commission, Piebalgs described himself as a "compromise candidate" acceptable to all the parties in Latvia's fragile five-party ruling coalition.

Riga  - Two months before the Berlin Wall came down, an equally spectacular event took place farther to the east in the Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. But what happened on August 23 remains little known to many in the West.

At 7 pm that day, as many as 2 million people (no one knows the exact figure) joined hands across the Baltic states to form a human chain from Vilnius to Tallinn via Riga. They stood in silence for 15 minutes to demand their independence.

Riga - The presidents of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania urged their people Monday to remember the events of 20 years ago that helped lead to the collapse of Communism.

Toomas Hendrik Ilves of Estonia, Valdis Zatlers of Latvia and Dalia Grybauskaite of Lithuania released a joint statement calling on their citizens to take part in a Baltic unity run called "Heartbeats for the Baltics."

Riga  - The Amber Coast sanitorium, located in the Latvian seaside resort of Jurmala, features a dacha where Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev would greet his guests.

A clock with a hammer-and-sickle pendulum ticks in the corner, just as it did during the Breznhev era; a portrait of Lenin stares down from the wall.

Now, nearly 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, parties of a different kind make use of this residence in the former Soviet republic. The dacha attracts patrons interested in re-experiencing the atmosphere of the Soviet era, tapping into a burgeoning nostalgia for what some, in these hard economic times, regard as a more stable and secure bygone age.

Riga - The mayor of the Latvian capital, Riga, has launched an outspoken attack on drunken British tourists which he says are ruining his city's reputation.

Speaking to weekly publication Rigas Laiks, Mayor Nils Usakovs said he was tired of British stag groups "pissing around" in his city.

"It is not politically correct [to say so], but sadly, this is their specialization," Usakovs said.

Riga should try to attract more civilized visitors from other countries, he added.

Riga - Latvia's dire economic circumstances were further underscored Monday by official figures showing industrial production down by 18.5 per cent in June from the same month last year.

The most notable decrease was recorded in the transport sector with production of ships and rolling stock collapsing 77 per cent.

Riga  - A Russian pop singers' contest in the Latvian resort of Jurmala caused two international flights to be diverted to neighbouring countries, the Latvian daily Diena reported Thursday.

An aerobatic display performed to mark the beginning of the Jurmala New Wave song contest on Tuesday night caused two incoming flights operated by the airBaltic airline to be diverted.

A flight from Munich ended up in Tallinn, Estonia, while another from Kiev was sent to Vilnius in Lithuania.

Maris Gorodcovs, head of the national Civil Aviation Agency (CAA) was at a loss to explain the mix-up.

"I cannot say now why it happened. An investigative commission will be set up, and will compile a report," he said.

Riga  - Parex Banka, the Latvian bank that was forced into public ownership in late 2008, is to be the subject of an "in depth investigation into state support measures" the European Commission confirmed Wednesday.

"This is a first step towards finding a viable long-term solution for the bank," the Commission said in a statement.

Riga  - The financially-troubled Baltic state of Latvia has reached agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over revised conditions for payment of its share of a 7.5-billion-euro (10.6-billion-dollar) economic bailout package, with a Letter of Intent due to be signed Monday afternoon in Riga.

Riga  - A chemical spill in the Latvian capital, Riga, on Thursday morning saw several hundred people evacuated from areas near the city's port amid fears of a possible explosion, reported local television news channel LNT.

A passenger ferry arriving from Stockholm was also diverted to a berth away from its usual place near the city centre on the River Daugava. Travellers were bussed into Riga.

Riga mayor Nils Usakovs said the measures were precautionary and that there was "minimal risk" of an explosion.