Riga - Diplomats from NATO nations will visit Georgia next week despite Russian objections at the show of support for the country's pro-Western government, the alliance's top civilian said Friday.

The North Atlantic Council, which groups ambassadors from all 26 NATO members, plans a two-day trip starting Monday that includes a stop in Gori, a strategic town shelled by Russian forces during last month's fighting between the two countries.

Riga  - Latvia's central bank sought Thursday to pump liquidity into the nation's banking system and urged the government to balance its budget in 2009.

The announcement by the bank's governor, Ilmars Rimsevics, came as the once-booming Baltic economies slump and credit remains tight worldwide in the fallout from the mortgage crisis in the United States.

The central bank left key interest rates unchanged, but cut the mandatory reserve requirement to 5 per cent of liabilities for maturities of over two years, which is expected to add 190 million lats (376 million dollars) to Latvia's banking system.

Slowing growth pushed the government's budget for 2008 to a deficit of 2 per cent of the gross domestic product.

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  - Three Baltic foreign ministers discussed Georgia during informal talk Tuesday in the seaside resort of Jurmala in Latvia.

Latvia's Maris Riekstins met with Estonia's Urmas Paet and Lithuania's Petras Vaitiekunas to discuss how Monday's European Union decisions could be implemented through a free trade agreement with Georgia, and easing visa restrictions for its nationals.

On Monday, the EU postponed talks with Russia until Moscow fulfills all points of the peace plan brokered by the EU's French presidency.

Riga  - More Latvians see Russia as a threat to their Baltic nation's independence compared to a year ago, a national survey released on Monday found.

Thirty-five per cent of Latvians see Russia as a threat to Latvia's independence, up from 25 per cent a year ago, the research by the Marketing and Public Opinion Research Centre found.

Some 52 per cent do not see Russia as a threat.

Mos