In our busy daily lives, we often forget to notice the small joys around us. Our routines can feel boring, making us wish for excitement.

Berlin - Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis is to visit Berlin next week for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel, German government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said Friday.

They are to discuss the world economic crisis.

Latvia has been resisting tough terms set out by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a 7.5-billion-euro (9.7-billion-dollar) bail-out package. The government has foreshadowed huge spending cuts as the embattled Baltic state struggles to meet IMF economic criteria.

Riga - Students in the Baltic state of Latvia joined a long list of unhappy groups in the troubled EU member Thursday when they staged a series of protests against big cuts in funding for education.

Following earlier demonstrations by farmers, teachers, nurses and police in recent weeks, a few dozen students gathered outside the entrances to university campuses across the Latvian capital, Riga, to set up imaginative pickets.

Riga - Swedbank, the Swedish bank which is the largest financial institution operating in the Baltic states, announced losses of 106 million euros (138 million dollars) across the recession-hit region Thursday for the first quarter of 2009. Swedbank's losses amounted to 52 million euros in Latvia, 47 million euros in Lithuania and 7 million euros in Estonia, according to figures released by the bank.

Erkki Raasuke, Swedbank's chief financial officer in Latvia said the losses would not make the bank pack its bags and leave the region.

Riga - Belarus' foreign minister denied on Wednesday that his country held any political prisoners, as the country prepared to attend next month's European Union "Eastern Partnership" summit.

Belarus was described by the previous US administration of George W Bush as the "last dictatorship in Europe", and has faced diplomatic isolation, but is scheduled to attend the May 7 summit in Prague.

Riga  - Latvia's Finance Minister Einars Repse was en route to Washington Wednesday as part of an effort to win revised terms for a 7.5-billion-euro (9.7-billion-dollar) bailout package brokered by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Repse was due to visit the IMF and World Bank as part of an annual Spring meeting between the institutions taking place in the US capital on April 25-26.