Toronto Ziņas, a biweekly electronic publication in Canada that claims to be “the world’s only bilingual Latvian e-zine,” has launched a new Web site.

Started as an e-mail newsletter in 2000, the publication is edited by Māra Gulēna, a freelance writer and editor based in Toronto. Creation of the new Web site was coordinated by Gulēna between workers in Canada and a Web programmer in Latvia.

Launch of the new site, torontozinas.com, was timed to occur a month before Latvia joins the European Union, Gulēna said in a press release.

“The timing is perfect,” she said. “Latvian sites with any news component tend to be either only in Latvian, or only in English. Since Torontozinas.com is bilingual, it is accessible to Latvian speakers and non-speakers around the world.”
 
The publication is centered around an events calendar for the greater Toronto area. About 14,000 Canadians of Latvian descent live in Ontario province, about half of them in Toronto, according to the 2001 federal census.

The publication also carries news and commentary.
 
Gulēna also hosts the “Sveiks” Latvian program on Toronto’s OMNI Television and writes a column for the daily newspaper Diena in Rīga.

Torontozinas.com has received major financial support from the World Federation of Free Latvians (Pasaules brīvo latviešu apvienība), the Latvian National Association in Canada (Latviešu nacionālā apvienība Kanādā) and the Latvian Canadian Cultural Centre in Toronto.

Latvia’s national airline, airBaltic, will begin direct flights six days a week to London from Rīga on March 28, the airline has announced.

The Rīga-London route will not be flown on Saturdays.

The flight is one of three new flights announced by the airline. The first flight from Rīga to Dublin will take off April 3 and will go to twice weekly (Tuesdays and Saturdays) on May 1.

Direct flights between Rīga and Milan also commence May 1. The route will be flown Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, the airline said in a press release.

Air Baltic Corp. is a joint stock company in which the Latvian state owns 52.6 percent. Scandinavian Airlines System is the largest private sector shareholder, controlling 47.2 percent of the stock. Last year airBaltic carried 336,000 passengers.

New Latvian Prime Minister Indulis Emsis and Defense Minister Atis Slakteris will meet with Washington, D.C.-area Latvians on March 28 as part of an official visit to the United States.

Emsis and Slakteris will address local Latvians at noon after the religious service in the Washington Latvian Ev.-Lutheran Church, 400 Hurley Ave., Rockville, Md., according to an announcement from the church.

The two will be in the United States to deliver NATO defense treaty ratification documents. Representatives of all seven countries joining NATO will be in Washington.

For further information about the visit, telephone the church at +1 (301) 251-4151 or the Latvian embassy at +1 (202) 726-8213.