Foul Mouthed Riga Mayor

The Riga City Council's opposition parties said in a joint statement on Monday that they would demand resignation of Riga Mayor Nils Usakovs on December 23. The opposition made the decision after Usakovs used profanities during the December 17 emergency city council meeting. City Council member Viktors Molotovs, in a press briefing said “The Riga City Council demands respect. There is no room in the hallowed halls of Riga’s City Council for the kind of profane language Mayor Usakovs has used.” When asked what words mayor had said that had offended them, Molotovs responded “ ‘transparency,’ ‘ethics,’ ‘responsibility.’ He wouldn’t stop I tell you. I even heard him say ‘pay cut,’ ‘civic pride,’ and ‘prosecution,’ if you’ll excuse my language. Does he kiss his mother with that mouth?”

Whose Tree Is It?

Tallinn's Christmas Market was featured among Europe's top 20 in The TimesOnline overview of European Christmas markets. While the newspaper provided no rankings, some Tallinners were quick to claim the paper rated them first, since their listing appeared first in the article. "What else could they mean?" asked Taavi Tikkud, spokesman for the Tallinn Hotel Association. "We were first in the article, and first is first. Isn't it?"
The article also noted Tallinn claimed to be the site of the world’s first Christmas tree, dating from 1441, but failed to mention Riga also claims that honor. "This is just another example of how the world discriminates against Latvia," said city councilman Edgars Lazo. "The crafty Estonians take credit for everything." Lazo named another age-old, unresolved dispute: whether Walter Zapf--Minox spy camera inventor--was Estonian or Latvian.