TALLINN, RIGA CLASSIFIED AS HISTORIC AND CULTURAL TREASURES.

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee made public yesterday its latest additions, which include Tallinn and Riga, to the World Heritage List. The Committee termed the capitals of Estonia and Latvia "outstanding examples of mediaeval North European trading cities," with highly valuable nineteenth century additions. The two towns possess ample and complete architectural ensembles of the German Hanseatic period and, in the case of Riga, also Jugendstil treasures. Further in the Baltic region, the Committee selected the Teutonic Knights’ Marienburg castle — today Malbork in Poland — for inclusion in the World Heritage List. The three selections testify to the Baltic region’s affiliation with European civilization as a mainspring of its nations’ Western political orientation. (Basapress, December 8)

Landsbergis Facing Defeat in Lithuanian Presidential Election.