Gold won on the beaches of Australia, driverless cars will travel around Riga, Belarusian balloons were found in Latvia... We present the traditional weekly roundup of news that did not go unnoticed.
Rinkēvičs Indicated Where the "Light of Our Freedom" Comes From
On the 107th anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic of Latvia, the head of state, Edgars Rinkēvičs, addressed the Latvian people at the Freedom Monument in Riga. The homeland and freedom must be defended, not played with, the president stated.
At the same time, he expressed an interesting thought: "If we do not listen to the opinion of our opponent, our opinion also loses meaning. If we are complacent, we will lose each other. But we need each other more than ever," Rinkēvičs said. He did not specify whose opinion we should listen to, but he clearly demonstrated his geographical knowledge.
"The light of our freedom comes from the west, not from the east. And the fight for a bright Latvia continues every day," the president announced.
Rinkēvičs urged everyone to share kindness with one another. "We are a strong nation. Strength lies in the ability to see further and in the ability to listen, strength is in the ability to find a common path to a great goal in seemingly dead ends," he said.
A Wake-Up Call
Hundreds of websites and services around the world ceased to function due to a massive outage at Cloudflare. Social networks, online courses, streaming services were down, and there were problems accessing ChatGPT and Claude, ixbt.com reports. In Latvia, the operation of websites such as bb.lv, inbox.lv, riga-airport.com, autoosta.lv, lsm.lv, and other internet resources was affected.
Cloudflare, which provides key elements of internet infrastructure—from protection against cyberattacks to maintaining website stability under high loads—confirmed the issue. In an official notification, the company stated:
"Cloudflare is aware of the issue and is investigating. We will provide additional information as it becomes available."
Sports: All Gold on the Beach
The Latvian duo Tina Graudiņa and Anastasija Samoilova won gold medals at the World Beach Volleyball Championship in Adelaide on Sunday.
The Latvian volleyball players, seeded fifth in the tournament, defeated Americans Terin Brasher and Kristen Nuss, seeded third, with a score of 2-1 (21:15, 15:21, 15:11).
The previous highest achievement for Latvian beach volleyball representatives at world championships was fourth place, achieved by Mārtiņš Pļaviņš and Jānis Šmēdiņš in 2011.
Party Life: Change of Affections
Fresh data from SKDS on the support for Latvian parties has been published, and the power dynamics in October-November turned out to be less predictable than expected. The leader of the rating was the opposition party "Latvia First," whose support grew from 8.9% in July to 9.5%. The biggest decline was recorded for the National Alliance: while 9.7% of residents were ready to support it in the summer, now only 6.4% would.
"New Unity" rose to second place, increasing its support from 7% to 9.3%.
The positions of the "Progressives" weakened: 6.8% compared to 8% in the summer. The "United List" maintained almost the same level - 6.5% (6.3% in July). The "Union of Greens and Farmers" has 5.8% compared to 6.6% in July.
"Sovereign Power" would receive 4.4% support (5.4% in July), "For Stability!" - 3.6%, while "Harmony" has only 2%. A fifth of respondents - 22.2% - could not name who they would vote for. Another 16.2% stated that they would not go to the polls at all.
Driverless Taxi in Riga? Call for One!
A Latvian car-sharing service has announced the start of a large project to implement driverless passenger transport. For this, the company is integrating camera technology with artificial intelligence from Imagry, allowing cars to move without a driver.
In the first phase, starting next year, driverless electric vehicles will operate between Riga Airport and the Freedom Monument.
Imagry allows the car to "see" its surroundings, analyze the traffic situation, plan its trajectory, and move completely independently in urban conditions. The solution can be quickly adapted to different routes - from the airport to the center or areas outside Riga.
Belarusian Balloons Have Also Landed in Latvia
On Sunday, several weather balloons with contraband cigarettes from Belarus were discovered in Latvia, reported Interior Minister Rihards Kozlovskis.
He explained that in the case of Latvia, unlike Lithuania, this does not currently pose a serious threat to critical infrastructure, as there is no airport near the border.
The Latvian side managed to intercept seven balloons carrying contraband. Each of them carries an average of 60,000 illegal cigarettes.
Auction: Expensive Baroness
At a Sotheby’s auction in New York, a record amount of $236.4 million was fetched for the portrait by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt, "Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer." This made it the most expensive contemporary artwork ever sold at Sotheby’s auctions.
The painting survived World War II and is in excellent condition. The canvas depicts the young daughter of one of Klimt's patrons - Elisabeth Lederer (Baroness Elisabeth Bachofen-Echt).
The most expensive painting ever sold at auction remains Leonardo da Vinci's "Salvator Mundi." The buyer, who wished to remain anonymous, paid $450.3 million for the painting at a Christie’s auction in 2017.
