Latvian President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga will visit Israel from Feb. 19-22, with stops in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Nazareth, the president’s press office has announced.

She is expected to meet with Israeli President Moshe Katsav and other government officials in an effort to broaden Latvian-Israeli dialogue in politics, economics, science and culture.

The president also is to meet in the Embassy of Latvia in Tel Aviv with members of the Latvian expatriate community in Israel.

Latvia and Israel established diplomatic relations in 1992, according to the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The president will accompanied by Economics Minister Krišjānis Kariņš, Finance Minister Oskars Spurdziņš and Agriculture Minister Mārtiņš Roze, as well as by 58 represenatives from Latvian business and members of the Latvian Historians Commission.

Interviews of the president are planed with the Jerusalem Post and Ha’aretz newspapers and with the TV 1 channel of the state-run Israel Broadcast Authority.

Latvia and the United States battled to a 3-3 tie in their preliminary round Winter Olympics hockey game Feb. 15, a result that has sports commentators wondering about prospects for the American team.

Latvia had Artūrs Irbe in the goal and a number of other Olympic veterans helping to round out the squad. It faced a U.S. team that was unseasoned in Olympic competition, according to some media reports.

The first period in Palasport Olimpico in Torino, Italy, ended with the United States ahead 2-1, but Latvia added two goals in the second period to take the lead, 3-2. The Americans tied up the game two minutes into the third period, according to results posted on the official Web site of the Winter Olympics, www.torino2006.org.

The United States was the first to get a point on the scoreboard. Nine minutes and 44 seconds into the game, Brian Gionta scored on a power play, assisted by John-Michael Liles and Scott Gomez. Not even a minute later Craig Conroy added a second goal for the United States. Latvia’s Aleksandrs Ņiživijs, assisted by Sandis Ozoliņš, got his team’s first goal at 13:15 into the game.

Latvia kept the United States scoreless in the second period, but added two more goals and took the lead. Atvars Tribuncovs, assisted by Ozoliņš and Ņiživijs, scored 35:04 into the game. Forty seconds later, Herberts Vasiļjevs scored with help from Rodrigo Laviņš.

The U.S. team added the tying goal just two minutes into the final period. The point was credited to Jordon Leopold, with assistance from Bret Hedican and Craig Conroy.

The Americans outshot the Latvians, keeping Irbe busy as he stopped 39 of 42 scoring attempts. U.S. goaltender John Grahame stopped 22 of Latvia’s 25 shots on goal.

Latvia’s Anna Orlova, a veteran of the women’s luge event, has once again bettered her Olympic performance, this time finishing seventh overall.

Orlova’s total time after the fourth run on Feb. 14 was 3 minutes, 9.483 seconds. That was just over 1.5 seconds more than gold medal winner Sylke Otto, according to results posted on the official Web site of the Winter Olympics, www.torino2006.org.

Making her fifth Olympic appearance on Feb. 13, the 33-year-old Orlova finished in 11th place after the first run and moved to ninth after the second run. She nudged herself up to eighth place after the third run on Feb. 14.

Orlova’s Olympic debut was in 1992 at Albertville, where she finished 11th overall. Two years later, in Lillehammer, she finished ninth. During the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano she slipped to 13th place, but jumped back to ninth in the Salt Lake City games four years ago.

Two other Latvian women competed in the luge event at Cesana Pariol, Italy. Maija Tīruma finished 17th with a time of 3:13.044, while Aiva Aparjode was right behind her in 18th place with a combined time of 3:13.065.