Riga - The three Baltic stock exchanges registered small losses overall Thursday, despite a handful of companies seeing sharp falls in their share prices by the close of trading.

The NASDAQ OMX Tallinn exchange in Estonia was down 0.52 per cent, and the Vilnius exchange in Lithuania was down 0.63 per cent, while the Riga exchange in Latvia actually rose by 0.25 per cent.

Riga - The foreign and domestic policies of the Russian government continued to receive a mauling in the Latvian capital, Riga, Saturday with a trio of presidents joining other political figures in criticism of the Kremlin at a NATO-sponsored conference.

President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia claimed former Russian President Vladimir Putin had told him "he would make us Northern Cyprus" long before territorial disputes in South Ossetia turned into armed conflict in August.

Riga- The foreign and domestic policies of the Russian government continued to receive a mauling in the Latvian capital, Riga, Saturday with opposition political figures and international relations experts lining up to criticize the Kremlin at a NATO- sponsored conference.

Speaking Saturday afternoon, Boris Nemtsov, a one-time deputy prime minister of Russia under Vladimir Putin and now a leading opponent of his former boss, said: "Putinism means monopoly. Monopoly means corruption, no competition and no transparency."

Riga - The three Baltic stock exchanges stayed fairly flat
Thursday in a day of thin trading, but a pharmaceutical company
provided some cheer.

The NASDAQ OMX Tallinn exchange in Estonia was down 1.76 per cent,
the Vilnius exchange in Lithuania was down 1.13 per cent and the Riga
exchange in Latvia rose by a marginal 0.12 per cent.

The Baltic Benchmark Index (BBI), which includes data from all three exchanges, closed down 1.45 per cent at 273.9.

Most notable company news of the day came from Latvian

Riga- Young mothers staged a protest for increased child support Thursday outside the Latvian parliament building, while doctors went on strike and the government wrestled with next year's budget.

Several dozen young mothers with an assortment of prams, pushchairs and carry-cots gathered outside the Latvian parliament holding banners saying "What can you buy for eight lats a month?" and "While MPs are full of cash, children have nothing!"

Eight lats (14 dollars) is the current monthly allowance paid to mothers of children up to the age of three.

Riga - There was a sting in the tail of this week's trading on the small Baltic stock exchanges Friday when prices dropped sharply in response to big falls on the world's main exchanges.

All three Baltic stock exchanges were down significantly at the close of trading, crushing hopes that the worst of the financial downturn might be over in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.