Latvian shot putter Edgars Bergs has won a silver medal in the Paralympic Games underway in Athens, Greece. Bergs’ first effort of 13.55 meters also is his personal best in the event.

The gold medal in the finals of the Sept. 20 men’s shot put went to Wei Guo of China. The bronze went to Thierry Cibone of France.

Bergs, a Saldus native who recently marked his 20th birthday, is one of seven athletes representing Latvia in the games. The others are Aigars Apinis, Maija Emulova, Sanita Lietniece, Andis Ozolnieks, Ingrīda Priede and Ivita Strode. All are competing in athletics events.

The Paralympic Games, for athletes with disabilities, opened Sept. 17 and run through Sept. 28.

In the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, Australia, the Latvian team won three bronze medals.

The Latvian-British rock group Arvīds un Mūrsitēji will play three concerts in Rīga clubs during the first week of October, the band has announced.

The band is scheduled Oct. 4 to play in Austrumu Robeža, Vāgnera iela 8, Rīga. The concert is to be taped by Latvian State Television for its “Siena šķūnis” program.

On Oct. 7, Arvīds un Mūrsitēji will join the band Inokentijs Marpls in concert in the Depo club, Vaļņu ielā 32, Rīga. And on Oct. 8, the band will play the club Casablanca, Smilšu iela 1/3, Rīga.

The band also is scheduled to make an Oct. 3 appearance on the college-oriented FM radio station, Radio Naba. The broadcast can be heard live over the Internet at www.radionaba.lv.

Arvīds un Mūrsitēji includes Raimonds Dāle on guitar, Dāvis Pētersons on drums, Pēteris Pētersons on bass guitar, Aivars Sinka on vocals and Līnīte Zobens-East on guitar, trombone and vocals.

The band is one of the oldest Latvian rock bands outside of Latvia, dating from 1979. The group disbanded in the early 1980s, but reformed in 1989, according to the band’s Web site. The death of 28-year-old guitarist Juris Jostiņš cut short the band’s revival. But in 2002, the band reformed again. Since then, it has played several concerts in the United Kingdom.

For more information about Arvīds un Mūrsitēji, visit the band’s Web site.

The government of Prime Minister Indulis Emsis has survived a vote of no confidence. Members of the Saeima, Latvia’s parliament, defeated a no-confidence resolution offered by the leftist Tautas saskaņas partija (National Harmony Party) in a 45-32 vote.

Emsis, whose minority coalition government took power in March, has seen his administration targeted by critics from both the left and the right. Especially vocal has been the conservative Jaunais laiks (New Era) party, led by the previous prime minister, Einars Repše.

Members of the National Harmony Party and of New Era supported the resolution, but members of parties that have a presence in the government voted against the resolution, according to Latvian media reports.

No one abstained in the Sept. 16 vote, although members of the conservative Tēvzemei un Brīvībai/LNNK (For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK) and the leftist Par cilvēka tiesībām vienotā Latvijā  (For Human Rights in United Latvia) did not cast ballots.