Māras banka, a family-owned Latvian bank founded by a repatriated exile from Venezuela, has been acquired by Finland’s Sampo Bank. The acquisition is pending approval by Latvian authorities.

Started in 1997 by Vilis Vītols and his family, the bank has focused on providing small mortgage loans. At the close of October, Māras banka had assets of EUR 41.2 million and controlled about 3.5 percent of the private housing loan market in Latvia, according to a press release from Sampo.

Māras banka has been owned by Vilis Vītols and his wife, Marta, as well as their daughter, Laura Bulmane, and son-in-law, Nikolajs Sigurds Bulmanis. The Vītolses repatriated to Latvia in 1999. In 2002, they also founded the Vītols Fund, an organization that supports education in Latvia through scholarships and other projects.

Details of the acquisition were not released.

Catherine Todd Bailey, a top fundraiser in the campaign to re-elect President George W. Bush, has been confirmed as the new U.S. ambassador to Latvia. Bailey’s was one of about 100 presidential nominations approved Nov. 20 by the U.S. Senate.

Bailey will replace Brian E. Carlson, who became ambassador in 2001.

Bailey, of Louisville, Ky., is the founder of Operation Open Arms, a charity that aids children whose mothers are in prison.

A top Kentucky Republican, Bailey is credited for raising more than USD 300,000 to help Bush, making her a “Ranger” in the campaign.

Bailey, who has not worked in the foreign service, was nominated by Bush on Sept. 8.

In what police are describing as an apparently racist attack, three young men from Latvia were hurt Nov. 9 as they were walking through a park in Lurgan, a town southwest of Belfast, Northern Ireland.

At least one of the three sustained stab wounds, the BBC, the Irish broadcaster RTE and Latvian media report. All three were hospitalized.

The three men, all in their 20s, were walking through the park at about 9 p.m. when they were attacked, according to the Police Service of Northern Ireland. They were hit and kicked, according to media reports.

While police say they do not know how many attackers were involved, information received so far suggests the Latvian citizens were attacked because they are foreigners.