Estonia has won its third gold medal in Winter Olympics cross country skiing, this time in the men’s 15-kilometer classical competition in Turin, Italy.

In what were reported to be blizzard conditions at the Pragelato Plan venue, Andrus Veerpalu of Estonia on Feb. 17 finished the distance in 38 minutes, 1.3 seconds, leaving 97 other competitors—including three Latvians—in his wake. Veerpalu also took the gold medal in the 2002 games in Salt Lake City.

Latvia’s Valts Eiduks finished 69th in a time of 44:12.0, Intars Spalviņš was 76th with a time of 45:13.4, and Oļejs Andrejevs was 78th with a time of 45:44.2, according to the official Web site of the Winter Olympics, www.torino2006.org.

The silver medal went to Lukas Bauer of the Czech Republic and the bronze to Tobias Angerer of Germany.

Estonia’s other two gold medals belong to Kristina Smigun, who on Feb. 12 won the ladies’ 15-kilometer pursuit and on Feb. 16 won the ladies’ 10-kilometer classical event. Latvia did not compete in either of those events.

Irish police are investigating the Feb. 15 murder of a 25-year-old man from Latvia who was attacked in his home in Dublin, reports Radio Telefís Éireann.

The man, whose name was not released pending notification of next of kin, was from Rīga and had been living in Ireland since July. He was attacked about 8:30 a.m. in his rented home in the Artane district of north Dublin, media reports said.

The home was shared by several Eastern Europeans. A woman asleep in a room in the home heard the attack, locked herself in the room and called a friend, who reported the attack to police, media reports said.

The man was thought to have been working as a security guard, the Irish Independent reported.

Police reportedly are concentrating their investigation on two men who were seen outside the man’s home shortly before the attack. The Latvian was stabbed several times, apparently with a large kitchen knife found at the scene. He was pronounced dead at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin.

The police, known as the gardaí, have issued appeals to employers and to the Latvian community in Ireland for assistance in gathering information about the crime.

An estimated 23,000 Latvians, mostly recent migrants who came in search of work, live in Ireland.

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.