Riga  - The murder of a young girl has sparked a debate over the re-introduction of the death penalty in Latvia.

Eleven-year old Daina was found with her throat cut in bed in the town of Bauska.

Her father, Ivars Grantins, confessed to the killing after emerging from hiding three days after the August 27 attack.

"I think people like that have no place in society," Justice Minister Gaidis Berzins told Latvian national radio this week.

"This view might be unpopular, but situations like this require renewed debate on the suitability of not having capital punishment," he said.

Riga  - Latvia's former president Vaira Vike-Freiberga on Monday
expressed frustration over the perceived delay in the European Union's
response to the conflict between Russia and Georgia.

"I'm
surprised and frustrated that the European Union will gather on
Wednesday for an extraordinary summit of foreign ministers, and that
the European Union was unable to come up with a united, coordinated,
and condemning reaction as we have heard from the presidents of the
three Baltic States and Poland," Vike-Freiberga told diena. lv news
portal.

Riga - It was through songs that Latvia won its

Riga - Latvia's ex-president Vaira Vike-Freiberga, nicknamed the "Baltic Iron Lady" during her eight-year term, has released a music album, local media reported on Wednesday.

Vike-Freiberga, the country's first woman president, served from 1999 to 2007.

The CD entitled Vaira's Songs features songs by folk duo Ruta and Valdis Muktupavelis, Vike-Freiberga's husband, Imants, and son, Karlis, as well as her former presidential press secretary Aiva Rozenberga.

Riga - Authorities in a Latvian town are encouraging residents to strip naked and run across a downtown bridge as the Baltic nation prepares to celebrate summer solstice.

The western town of Kuldiga - population 13,500 - will host the eighth annual naked run across the 18th-century, 150-metre bridge at 3 am (0000 GMT) on June 24, marking Latvia's most popular holiday, Jani.

In another part of the country of 2.3 million people, at the Pedvale Open Air Museum near the town of Sabile, a group of men plans to gather at 4 am for a traditional naked run.

Riga - Latvian Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis sustained