A new honorary consultate for Latvia has been established in the northern Norwegian city of Tromso, according to the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It’s the fifth honorary consulate in Norway, in addition to the Latvian Embassy and a consulate-general in Oslo.

The honorary consul in Tromso will be Kore Bjorns Kongsnes, the ministry said. Kongsnes, a businessman involved in information technology, also is described as a supporter of the arts. This summer he helped organize concerts by Latvian performers in northern Norway, as well as a visit in October by Latvian businesspeople.

Tromso, a city of 60,900 inhabitants, is a key fishing community in Norway. It is the country’s northernmost city.

Other Latvian honorary consultates in Norway are located in Bergen, Kristiansand, Sandnes and Trondheim. An honorary consul-general also is found in Oslo. The Latvian ambassador to Norway is Normunds Popens.

Dr. V. George Nagobads, who served as the team physician, is among those honored Oct. 18 when the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in Eveleth, Minn.

The “Miracle on Ice” team, which won the gold medal in a final game against the Soviet Union during Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y., is only the second team so honored, according to a press release from the Hall of Fame.

Born in 1921 in Rīga, Latvia, Nagobads has served as a team physician for a number of American teams, including the former Minnesota North Stars of the National Hockey League. He also served from 1958 to 1992 as the team physician for the University of Minnesota’s hockey team.

Last year he was honored with the Paul Loicq Award for lifetime service to hockey worldwide. The award was presented by the International Ice Hockey Federation.

Popular singer Marija Naumova, winner of the 2002 Eurovision Song Contest, will perform in Latvian communities and at the American Latvian Youth Association’s (ALYA) annual congress during a North American concert tour scheduled for late November and early December.

Naumova, an ethnic Russian who speaks five languages including Latvian, is expected to perform songs by well-known composer Raimonds Pauls as well as her own material. Naumova has credited Pauls for kick-starting her singing career.

The concert tour is organized by ALYA and the New York-based cultural organization Tilts, said Daina Švābe, public relations manager for Baltic Records Group, Naumova’s recording company.

Concerts are planned Nov. 23 in Chicago; Nov. 24 in Kalamazoo, Mich.; Nov. 25 in Grand Rapids, Mich.; Nov. 26 in Minneapolis, Minn.; Nov. 29 in Los Angeles; Dec. 4 in Cleveland, Ohio; Dec. 6 in Toronto; Dec. 10 in St. Petersburg, Fla.; Dec. 12 and 13 in New York, and Dec. 14 in the Latvian center Priedaine near Freehold, N.J.

Other concerts, such as at the Hard Rock Cafe in Chicago, also may be scheduled, Švābe suggested.

This would be Naumova’s second time in North America. She appeared last year in a Baltic Celebration concert in Washington, D.C.

Naumova so far has released seven recordings, two of them offering similar material but in Latvian and English versions. Her most recent recording, the three-track I Feel Good, was released earlier this year and included collaboration with Ojārs Kalniņš, the former Latvian ambassador to the United States and the current director of the Riga-based Latvian Institute. —Andris Straumanis