Latvia’s parliament, the Saeima, has overwhelmingly ratified the European Union’s Constitution Treaty, giving EU officials some hope after the treaty’s recent defeat at the hands of voters in France and the Netherlands.

Latvia’s decision on June 2 brings to 10 the number of EU member states that have ratified the 25-nation treaty. The vote in the Saeima was 71 in favor, five opposed and six abstaining.

Foreign Minister Artis Pabriks welcomed the ratification.

“The members of parliament decided to align themselves with a dynamic, vital, competitive and egalitarian Europe,” he said in a press release.

The constitution’s defeat in France and the Netherlands is being viewed by many observers as a referendum on those countries’ governments, not necessarily on the European Union. In France, the defeat also led to the resignation of the government of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin.

Latvia, which became a member of the EU last year along with nine other eastern and central European nations, is the second Baltic state to ratify the constitution. Lithuania’s parliament ratified the treaty in November. Estonia’s parliament has yet to vote.

The EU constitution is actually a treaty. Its main purpose is to clarify and simplify some of the structures of the EU. It does not replace the national constitutions of the EU’s member states, but it can in some cases trump a nation’s laws.

Each of the 25 member states has to approve the constitutional treaty according to its own methods, which may be by a vote in its parliament, by a referendum, or a combination of the two.

The second retrospective album of popular music composed by Imants Kalniņš, featuring material from the 1960s and 1970s, is set for release June 6 by Rīga-based Upe Recording Co.

The album, titled Otrās dziesmas, is a followup to last autumn’s release, Pirmās dziesmas.

The 12-track compact disc includes popular songs such as “Viņi dejoja vienu vasaru” from 1967 and “Pilsētā, kurā piedzimst vējš” from 1973. Other songs on the album are “Par to gadījumu ar Džordāno Bruno” (1969), “Liedagā” (1968), “Es esmu bagāts” (1967), “Zelta haizivs” (1968), “Astoņkājis” (1968). “Bāka” (1978), “Balāde par viņu un viņu” (1970), “Dziesma, ar ko tu sāksies?” (1974), “Kad vēji kalnos rāpjas (1974)” and “Parīziešu dzīru dziesma” (1970).

Lyrics are based on the poetry of Viks (the nom de plume of the composer’s brother, Viktors Kalniņš), Māris Čaklais, Jēkabs Rūsiņš and Knuts Skujenieks. Performing on the album are Ance Krauze, Ainars Mielavs, Zigfrīds Muktupāvels and Jānis Strazdiņš.

Upe Recording, run by Mielavs, has released a number of albums over the past several years featuring music by Kalniņš, one of Latvia’s most popular composers.

Swarms of killer flies are being blamed for more than 400 livestock deaths in Latvia’s Latgale and Vidzeme provinces in recent days, according to media reports and the Ministry of Agriculture.

The midges have attacked cattle, sheep and other livestock. The toxic bites from the swarms have led to inflammation, fever and other effects that killed the livestock. One entomologist told the daily newspaper Diena that the situation could continue for two weeks.

“Already for a couple of days I sensed that there were insects in the pasture, but I had never seen such quantities, like bees when they swarm,” one farmer, who lost nine milk cows—almost half his herd—told the daily newspaper Neatkarīga Rīta Avīze. Other reports tell of cattle covered with the flies, particularly on sensitive and unprotected areas such as nostrils and udders.

The swarms of midges apparently are the result of recent flooding and hot weather in eastern Latvia, ideal conditions for the insects, agriculture officials said. Those same conditions already had led to problems for farmers.

Agriculture Minister Mārtiņš Roze said the ministry will provide financial assistance for farmers who lost livestock.

(UPDATED 30 MAY 2005)