VILNIUS — Lithuania and Kosovo signed a military cooperation agreement Monday morning to increase the breakaway region’s integration into NATO and bolster its disputed independence.
Kosovo’s independence is a divisive issue in the Baltic region. The Baltic states, Poland, Germany, Sweden and Finland recognize Kosovo’s independence, but Russia and Belarus do not.
Kosovo’s security is currently guaranteed [...]

VILNIUS — Pan-Baltic investing will become more convenient next year.
Nasdaq OMX Baltic, part of the Nasdaq OMX Group will merge the stock markets of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia into a single Baltic stock market by the first half of 2010, the company announced last week.
The new market will retain all of the companies in the [...]

RIGA — The International Monetary Fund announced Friday that it supported Latvia’s new proposed budget for 2010 and would be ready to approve it.
The IMF’s thumbs-up hasn’t stopped domestic criticism. The has government met harsh criticism from all corners with every new revision of the budget, which features deep cuts to the public sector.
“We continue [...]

VILNIUS — The Baltic states lost their MTV in one fell swoop this month.
Despite the glitz and glamor the channel is known for and the exciting Baltics’ music scene emerging after decades of Soviet repression, all of the local MTV channels in the Baltics stopped broadcasting this month due to the plummeting advertising market. The [...]

TALLINN — Only one-third of Estonia’s second tier pension plan participants are continuing with the program after the government stopped its contributions and the bank-managed funds lost money.
The government suspended its 2 percent payments to the second pillar from June 1, 2009 until Dec. 21, 2010 due to the lack of funds, and Monday is [...]

TALLINN — People bustle around market stands, trying to find that one perfect gift for their grandmother or father, or little sister. Their eyes glow, and smiles crease their red cold-bitten faces. A small boy hugs his mother strongly, refusing to let go. There’s talking, laughing, joking and sighing — it all seems too unaffordable! [...]

MOSCOW — Dinamo Riga got its first overtime win of the season Saturday, upsetting Lokomotiv 3-2.
It is the first time this season that Dinamo Riga have recorded an over-time victory and it could not have been more timely as they desperately attempt to remain in the running for the playoffs. More importantly the victory came [...]

TRAVEMÜNDE, Germany — A Latvian trucker had his 40,000 kg rig confiscated by police last week for drink driving, and then lost it for good for repeatedly turning up to collect it too drunk to pass a breath test.
The pie-eyed Latvian driver — not named for legal reasons — has his keys taken by police [...]

JELGAVA, Latvia — The contenders separated themselves from the pretenders in the Baltic Basketball League this weekend.
The weekend was one of the busiest on the BBL calendar this season with a six games being played. Lithuanian heavyweights Lietuvos Rytas and Žalgiris retained their unbeaten records while this season’s hard luck story VEF Riga finally produced [...]

The following blog entry has been republished here courtesy of Failed State Latvia?.
I’m playing on the title of a 1970s disaster film, Gray Lady Down, about a nuclear submarine that collides with a freighter and sinks to beyond where it can be rescued. But what I really mean is that Latvia is more and more [...]