NATO Summit in Riga, Latvia

The world'll be looking at Latvia's capital Riga come November, when the next NATO Heads of Government summit takes place.

Keep an eye on the news on 28 and 29 November this year, when we should get some glimpses of Riga, Latvia. The Summit for the NATO Heads of State and Government will be held in Latvia for the first time since it joined the organisation in 2004.

You can already read about Riga in last week's Museum of Occupation article, and we'll feature it again around the time of the NATO Summit. But it's already making the news, with discussion of the locally-crafted gifts that delegates will receive!

A Latvian folklore symbol, the Latvian Thunder Cross, apparently looks too similar to a Nazi swastika and as such, the 300 Latvians who are currently knitting mittens to go in the guests' gift kit have been told to avoid using this symbol. In Latvia it's used as a charm against evil and is commonly found in many folkcrafts, but to be on the safe side, they're leaving it out for NATO.