Weekly review
Poll
Concern about gaps in the skills and knowledge of our pupils is voiced quite widely from time to time. Unfortunately, only when someone from outside Latvia has concluded as much. Why is that?
There is a political tendency to be busy, to invest, to make promises, but not to think about the results
If you have little knowledge yourself, you do not even know how or what you do not know...
A smart society is not always desirable or welcome
Many interests swirl around education. A "good result" is rarely mentioned among them
10-16 December
They are writing about us in Ukraine
Our partners. Stable and constant. Without them, there would be no success
First and foremost, these are our colleagues from Latvia, with whose help a large volume of humanitarian aid supplies has been delivered to hotspots in Ukraine.
On politics
Two and a half months after the parliamentary elections, the 14th Saeima has expressed its confidence in the new government formed by three political forces – New Unity (JV), United List (AS), and National Alliance (NA) – which will be led by Krišjānis Kariņš (New Unity). In the debates before the vote, coalition representatives emphasised the challenges in many areas simultaneously, while opposition representatives criticised a lack of concreteness in the government's plans for the coming years.
Friction between the Latvijas attīstībai faction and its once-close allies from the Par!/Progresīvie faction has been going on for several months. It intensified again a week ago when the coalition majority removed Latvijas attīstībai representative Iveta Ratinīka from the position of Chair of the Education Committee. Soon after, Latvijas attīstībai announced that it no longer supports the City Council Chairman Mārtiņš Staķis and was disappointed in the “change coalition” he leads.
diena.lv · valdibas deklaracija tautsaimnieciba klimatam vai klimats ta…
Many climate targets in EU directives have already been adopted. For now, global trends leave no room for doubt – the increased commitments will also be accepted. We will impatiently wait to see whether the new government can impose our “national interests” on European Union institutions and other member states, and whether, under the term “national interests”, they will be able to collect enough signatures of consent from the business sectors that these interests will affect.
On the economy and...
More than half of the procurements in which cartel members were involved were created with EU co-financing. If it turns out that the client was also involved in the cartel, we can say goodbye to the allocated EU funding, possibly in its entirety. The EU position is that a cartel of this scale could not have existed without the involvement of the client. If the court decides that the Competition Council's decision is correct, Latvia will have to repay approximately 600 million euros to the EC, and the penalty could also include a reduction of up to 60% of funding in the next budget period, lawyers believe.
Latvijas Banka has reduced its GDP growth forecast for Latvia for this year from 3% to 2.1%, and has also raised its average annual inflation forecast from 16.9% to 17.3%, Latvijas Banka informed.
Energy wood prices are seeing a decline in November; however, as the colder winter months in Latvia approach, demand may temporarily strengthen due to average air temperatures.
Coniferous and birch pulpwood, similar to energy wood, is tumbling and decreasing before prices stabilise, or reach a “new normal”. In November, coniferous sawlog prices also decreased, which are directly dependent on demand, according to information compiled by E-silva, the largest forest auction system in Latvia E-silva.
The reform of the management of Latvian ports has been delayed and will not be completed by the scheduled deadline, which is the end of this year, said Minister of Transport Jānis Vitenbergs on Friday in an interview for the Latvian Television (LTV) programme Rīta Panorāma.
LVM reminds: forest roads are narrow, often with ditches on the sides, so drivers must be especially vigilant and careful. When reaching your destination, please think about where the car is being parked.
db.lv · bauskas apvedcels ir prioritari realizejams projekts 510063
The Bauska bypass is a priority project, but the Iecava bypass and the reconstruction of the entire Riga-Lithuanian border route into a four-lane high-speed road are also planned afterwards.
The Bauska bypass is a priority project, but the Iecava bypass and the reconstruction of the entire Riga-Lithuanian border route into a four-lane high-speed road are also planned afterwards.
On interesting things in nature
The 2022 discovery is the Alsatian broomrape* (Orobanche alsatica) – a species that, until now, had only been found once in the territory of Latvia in 1875 near Salaspils. In 2022, I was lucky enough to come across this plant and see it with my own eyes in Cēre Parish, Tukums Municipality.
The revision and improvement of the “Individual Protection and Usage Regulations for Rāzna National Park” (Cabinet of Ministers Regulation No. 447 of 26 June 2007) are underway. Taking into account modern trends, the Nature Conservation Agency (the Agency) proposes to significantly expand economic activity opportunities in Rāzna National Park, for example, by creating active recreation areas where, in accordance with regulatory enactments, the use of various water transport vehicles would be possible, including those with internal combustion engines, as well as developing underwater tourism, promoting the use of lead-free ammunition in hunting, and other proposals.
For example, in Latvia, after the flooding of the Daugava, many fern species as well as the European flying squirrel have disappeared, explained Andrejs Svilāns, Director General of the Nature Conservation Agency, on the Latvian Television programme Vides fakti.
The way owl counts are carried out is usually by playing an owl's call in the forest, and usually, owls respond to this call. But for eagle owls, on the other hand, it is completely dependent on their mood or weather conditions and so on – they may respond, they may not. More often than not, they might not respond. So it is difficult to say exactly how many of these birds are left...
On the strange (with a caveat)
It seems there are a number of employees in public media who are purposefully looking for a farmer who... and a forester who..., but... the most visible problem in the article is something else – namely – Latvia's public media, which often teaches people media literacy, financial literacy, etc., has in all seriousness prepared a story about a person who feels as though they have been cheated, but even after reaching out to press representatives, has still not read the contract they signed themselves...
Dzintars was encouraged to draw up a power of attorney so that company representatives could handle absolutely all matters related to forest documentation. Moreover, they agreed verbally on how much forest the company is allowed to harvest for a fee of 9455 euros.
“We talked honestly that I would have firewood, I would have everything, three hectares. The other three remain for me, I need them myself after all”, recalled Dzintars.
On December...
Note: this is not a freely accessible article. It would be important to at least read the caption under the cover image...
Encrypted telegram No. 49990 with the message that “large Latvian spy-saboteur and nationalist counter-revolutionary organisations, which have been created by the Latvian intelligence service and are connected with the intelligence services of other countries, have been uncovered in Moscow and a number of regions”, launched a repressive operation that affected Latvians.
A series of topical caricatures