The Latvian capital city has named a new square Iceland Square in commemoration of the fact that Iceland was the first country to recognise Latvian independence 20 years ago. Read the full story

A 29 year-old Icelandic man has died in an accident in Riga, the capital of Latvia. Initial reports are that he was electrocuted at an electricity substation. Read the full story

An opinion piece written by Ellen Hodgson Brown J.D., a California attorney and the author of eleven books, including “Web of Debt: The Shocking Truth About Our Money System and How We Can Break Free,” available in English, Swedish and German:

Total financial collapse, once a problem only for developing countries, has now come to Europe. Read the full story

Lithuanian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Vygaudas Usackas, has followed his Latvian counterpart’s lead. Both have now spoken out and defended Iceland on its decision to have a referendum in regards to the Icelandic bank “Icesave” bankruptcy and its debts to Great Britain and the Netherlands. Read the full story

Latvian Foreign Minister, Maris Riekstins, has spoken out in support of Iceland; telling Reuters that some nations’ response to the Icelandic president’s Icesave decision has been “exaggerated”. He explains that Iceland is simply following its own democratic rules. Read the full story

In a gesture of help to struggling Latvia, the central banks of Denmark and Sweden have offered the small Baltic nation a credit line worth EUR 500 million. The agreements in place will allow Latvia to borrow EUR 125 million from Denmark’s Nationalbank, and EUR 375 million from Sweden’s Riksbank. Both of the loans will be given against Latvia’s own currency, the lat. Read the full story

A bomb was found yesterday afternoon on the site of an Icelandic-owned factory in the town of Dobele in Latvia. The bomb was most likely from the Second World War, MBL.is reports. Read the full story

There is a debate underway in Latvia about whether Iceland should be spelled Islande or ?slande. The difference may look subtle to non-Latvians; but the dash over the ‘I’ elongates the sound and makes it more in line with the rules of modern Latvian.

The trouble is that Latvians have used the ‘incorrect’ spelling (Islande) for years and are unwilling to change just because the country’s language commission tells them to.

It does not help that ‘?ss’ means ‘short’ – making Latvian the only language to call Iceland Read the full story