Latvia

There are 1.562 safe bomb shelters in the country according to latest survey of the State Fire and Rescue Service; Riga accounts for about 400 and they could accommodate about 200.000 people, or one third of the city's population

The supervision committee of the Bank of Latvia issued an electronic money institution operating license to company Paytegra, granting the operator the right to issue electronic money and offer payment instruments

AirBaltic is forced to cancel 19 routes and reduce operations on other 21, for a total of 4.670 flights cancelled from all its bases for summer 2025, losing over 67.000 passengers, due to shortage of engines and maintenance service of its A220-300 planes

The 77th long-awaited annual publication 'Latvian Statistical Yearbook, 2024' is now available free of charge in digital format in Latvian and English, published by the Central Statistical Office

The winner of Latvia's 'Car of the Year 2025' competition is the new Škoda Kodiaq, chosen by a jury among seven finalists; a total of 32 car models participated in this year's competition

Banks and their branches in Latvia will have to pay a solidarity contribution - 60% of excess profits - over the next three years after a new law on bank super-profits will be introduced next year

The Latvian Ministry of Defence published what it called a 'White Paper' of its spending plans for 2025, calling next year's defence budget 'the largest in Latvia's history', reaching 3,45% of gross domestic product

All passengers will be able to travel free of charge on public buses, trolley buses and trams in Riga today 18 November, Latvia's Independence Day

The annual Riga Book Festival, a gathering of readers, publishers, authors and artists, will be held at the National Library of Latvia on 8 and 9 November hosted by the LNB and the Latvian Publishers' Association with 34 publishers

In 2022, more companies were born in Latvia than those that disappeared, better than the EU average for the birth rate of companies, which was 14,3% against 10,5% of the EU, about the double of the company death rate of 7,85%, against 8,7% of the EU

The Riga International Film Festival, to be held from 17-27 October, has announced the KIDS' REEL programme, suitable for 2-14 year olds

The Rīga Stradiņš University opened its first branch outside Latvia at the Elbe Kliniken in the German city of Stade: this is the first international branch of a Baltic national university in the field of medical studies