* Lithuanian Criminal Police photo.

Vilnius, Jan 28 (ELTA) - On Thursday, Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius thanked Police Commissioner General Vizgirdas Telyčėnas and his team for the successful execution of an international operation, during which 500 kg of cocaine was seized in Klaipėda. This was the largest ever drug haul in Lithuania, and one of the biggest in the European Union.

“The success of such a complex operation shows that Lithuanian police and police officers are capable of performing the tasks on a global level. We have something to be proud of,” said Kubilius.

During the meeting, one of the priorities of the current Government was discussed - the reduction of corruption.

Commissioner General Vizgirdas Telyčėnas assured Prime Minister Kubilius that special attention would be paid to combating corruption and bribery in the police system.

As reported, the massive half tonne of cocaine was found in a container delivered in a ship from South America. The drug seizure operation in Klaipėda was carried out by the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau in conjunction with authorities from Latvia, America and Ecuador.

According to various calculations, the value of the almost 500 kilos of cocaine hidden inside frozen fish stands at around LTL50-100 million (€14-29).

Lithuania takes top position in the EU by the percentage of students in the country. Compared to the EU’s average of 15%, only 7% of 18-24 year-old people in Lithuania are not engaged in institutionsVilnius, Feb 3 (ELTA) - Former Deputy Minister of Health Artūras Skikas, accused of bribery, admitted his guilt in court, however, he said he asked for the money as support for his party.

When Judge Danutė Mickevičienė asked whether he admitted his guilt, Skikas said he did, however, during the pre-trial investigation, the former minister of health denied it. According to Skikas, he changed his opinion because when he was arrested he suffered an emotional trauma.

“Yes, I admit guilt. I admit that I asked Kalibatas to support the party’s division (Lithuanian Liberal and Center Party Šilutės Division - ELTA). I regret being stupid, because when I asked for support, I meant official support only. Maybe I was naive to having taken the money without arranging it officially. I did not do that, and I regret that,” he said in court.

It was found that from November last year, Skikas and Kalibatas met six times, and at the seventh meeting, the latter gave Skikas money. During the meetings Skikas asked Kalibatas to turn off his mobile phone.

“I admit everything. (...) I can only apologize once again for my indiscriminate behaviour and its consequences. I hope that the court will take the right decision,” said Skikas.

ELTA reminds, that Skikas is accused of requesting and provoking Vytenis Kalibatas, Head of Nacionalinis Kraujo Centras (the National Blood Centre), to give him a bribe of LTL20,000-30,000 (€5,787- €8,680).

The deputy health minister requested a bribe for not imposing a disciplinary penalty to the head of Nacionalinis Kraujo Centras as it was demanded by the National Audit Office. The bribe also was supposed to be a guarantee that the director would have protection against the leadership of the Ministry of Health, and that he could continue heading the public institution without any problems..

Over €130 million is being channelled into relief and rehabilitation efforts. More will follow.

An earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale struck Haiti on 12 January. Within hours of the disaster the EU provided €3 million for immediate relief activities. An additional €27 million has since been released, along with €100 million for early rehabilitation and reconstruction. Half of this is new money, and half will be redirected from funds already set aside for Haiti.

Some €200 million more will be available for longer term rehabilitation. All figures could rise if assessments show more money is needed. These contributions are in addition to the €92 million already provided by individual EU countries.

The figures were announced following an emergency meeting in Brussels, where the deployment of European soldiers to Haiti was also on the table. No decision has yet been taken. An international conference on support for Haiti is also likely in the coming weeks. It will assess how to convert the international desire to help into practical solutions, said the EU high representative for foreign affairs, Catherine Ashton.

The death toll is currently estimated at 200 000. Some 250 000 people are in urgent need of assistance and a staggering 3 million have been affected.

Dublin, Jan 19 (LETA-ELTA) - Four Irish companies have been ordered to pay a total of €24,500 to former staff who they discriminated against because they were not Irish nationals, the local newspaper Irish Times reports.

The Irish Equality Tribunal issued four separate rulings yesterday involving three Lithuanians and a Latvian, who were either unfairly dismissed or not paid the same redundancy payments as their Irish colleagues.

Two of the Lithuanians, Irmantas Stukonis and Vygandas Urbonavičius, worked with the ‘Coalport Building’ company.

Stukonis was dismissed by the company following a robbery at a building site where he worked as a security guard. He alleges that he told his Lithuanian colleague at the firm that he was assaulted by two men during the robbery and was allowed to go home. He did not speak English well and relied on his colleague to help him communicate at work.

At a subsequent meeting, the company’s officials demanded that he produce medical evidence to prove the assault and denied that it had allowed him to return home after the robbery took place. When he did not produce medical evidence he was dismissed.

The tribunal found the firm did not make any credible effort to ensure the complainant understood the gravity of the allegations made against him. It did not provide interpretation during the disciplinary meeting or have a disciplinary policy at the time. It also failed to investigate the circumstances of the robbery before dismissing Stukonis and three colleagues, who were all Lithuanian.

“I am satisfied on balance that this would not have happened to an Irish employee in similar circumstances as that worker would have understood the allegation against him/her, and would have been able to articulate a defence to the charges,” said the tribunal.

It awarded Stukonis €8,500 compensation for his distress.

In another case the tribunal ordered “Securazone Manhour” to pay Lithuanian Utaras Eimas €3,000 for discrimination and €10,000 for discrimination dismissal. It found the firm discriminated against foreign nationals by refusing to allow them to rotate the more dangerous night shifts – a perk enjoyed by Irish staff. It also dismissed all four foreign national staff when there was a downturn.

Vilnius, Feb 2 (ELTA) - Lithuania came out of the crisis and it is time to invest into long term state strategy, which is impossible without new technologies, said Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius at a meeting with heads of IT companies during his visit to the United States.

In California, during a meeting with international corporations Oracle, Cisco and HP, the further development of these companies in Lithuania and new investments, the application of IT innovations in private and public sectors was discussed. Kubilius presented the possibilities in Lithuania, as an IT skills and service centre in the regional market.

The prime minister noted that 40% of Lithuanians have a university degree, which is two times higher than the EU - 15 average, 92% use e-banking services and 88% declare their income to tax online, to illustrate the country’s openness to innovation.Oracle President Safra Catz agreed that crisis is the best time for new changes and essential reforms.

The heads of Oracle expressed their willingness to share their experience in developing e-governance projects and interest in investing into the areas of education and tax collection.Cisco heads suggested setting up joint working groups to examine opportunities related to the development of e-governance, implementation of modern management systems, opportunities to set up data centres in Lithuania and develop the next generation computer infrastructure.

The prime minister underlined the Government’s commitment to support the development of high technology, as well as ambitious Government’s plans to seek that IT, laser technologies, biotechnologies, nanotechnologies would reach 25% of GDP by 2015 and 80% of the country’s export.

Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius says that, with the aim of seeking more guidance and clearer results, the working style of the Government is going to change by clarifying year-to-year priorities and presenting major works to be done to the President and the public at the beginning of every year.

“We are planning our activities so that our people would know what the top priorities of the Government are and who is responsible for the work to be done. The Government intends to base its activities on strategic planning principles, priority setting and the tightening of responsibility of ministries for the implementation of those priorities”, Prime Minister Kubilius said.

Reducing unemployment was among the most pressing priorities. “Last year our main goal was to maintain financial stability. This year we will focus on the reduction in unemployment and job creation. Unemployment has a tendency to continue growing for some time even after the economy has recovered; therefore this issue calls for increased attention by the central and local authorities. This should also help address the alarming and growing problem of immigration,” the Head of the Cabinet said.

The Prime Minister identified four key priorities:

• Job creation, reduction in unemployment and encouragement of economic growth;

• Structural reforms in social care, health care, education and energy;

• Combating corruption; modernisation of public administration systems and public service;

• Consolidation of society for the creation of a vision for the future of the country “Lithuania 2020”.

The Prime Minister also said that each minister would submit a list of specific priority actions of their respective ministries in 2010. Hence society will be able to see the results of Government activities and evaluate performance of separate ministries and the Government.

One of the most popular resorts in Lithuania - Palanga has been listed in the ‘Hot List” by the British Sunday Times. The list compiled by Sunday Times Travel reveals Europe’s 20 best beaches for sun and sea for the summer of 2010.

Palanga is portrayed as “a cracking little resort town with a white, sandy beach, pine forests, sand dunes and fizzing nightlife” – a perfect description of Lithuania’s most popular holiday destination.

The article by Sunday Times mentions the relative low prices in the country, which should be a major selling point for visitors in the current economic climate.

“A terrific amber museum” which houses one of the largest amber pieces in Europe, the “Sun Stone” and Botanical Gardens are highlighted as the most popular cultural activities in the resort. The Jewel in the crown – the Curonian Spit is listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, is just a short drive from Palanga.

Augusta Jaudegytė, UK Director of the Lithuanian National Tourism Office said: “Lithuanian seaside is a perfect choice for a beach holiday, which is sometimes overlooked by British tourists. The vibrant towns surrounded by shifting dunes and pine forests have lots to offer from beautiful beaches to vibrant towns and unique culture.”

Vilnius, Jan 19 (ELTA) - At the end of 2009, Lithuanian residents trusted the Fire and Rescue Service most and, almost traditionally, members of the Seimas least.

Over 85% of all participants of a public survey expressed trust in the fire-fighters.

A lot of trust was shown in the Church (71%), the Presidential Service (69%), national defence (59%), the Lithuanian media (53%), the State Border Guard Service (52%), the Constitutional Court (55%), the state social insurance fund SoDra (51%).

More than half of adult residents trusted each of these institutions.

According to the same survey conducted by the public research and marketing company Baltijos Tyrimai on December 1929, people distrust the Seimas and the Government most: 84% distrust the Seimas, 76% distrust the Government.

More than half of all residents also distrust courts (69%), the prosecutors’ office (61%), commercial banks (61%) and municipalities (57%).

Since November, the number of people satisfied with the Government, the police and State Border Guard Service increased slightly - by 3 percentage points.

Over a month, the number of people satisfied with the state social insurance fund SoDra slumped 8 percentage points.

Over November, the number of respondents satisfied with the State Security Department decreased by 4 percentage points, Special Investigation Service and trade unions - by 3 percentage points.

Story: Ray Vyšniauskas

The events of 13 January are well known to all Lithuanians; a night of callous attack and animal savagery that resulted in the deaths of 14 Lithuanian citizens. These events were in a large part the result of Lithuania’s declaration of independence on 11 March 1990, and eventually culminated in international condemnation, the recognition of Lithuania as an independent republic, and the fall of the Soviet Union.

On the 19th anniversary of Sausio 13, or 13 January, we thought we’d talk to Arūnas Ramanavičius (pictured), who was so very nearly the 15th victim of the Soviet attack on Vilnius Television Tower that night. Arūnas was the most heavily wounded person to survive, and he underwent 13 months of rehabilitation to repair the damage of taking two bullets to his right leg, between his knee and groin.

First I asked him what he remembered of that night: “I remember a lot of things. It was interesting weather, cold, but I could still get around on my bike. It all started on the night of the 12th.

“I was riding from place to place around Vilnius, going to various installations that the Soviets might want to overtake, joining in the human barricades with the other people of Vilnius and Lithuania. I’d been to a number of places during the day, and I just wanted to drop in at home and have some dinner before heading out again.

“It was on my way home when I saw the armada of tanks heading to the TV Tower, so instead of going home I decided to follow them. Once they arrived at the TV Tower I joined in the other people who had gathered there – it was quite a large crowd. That’s how I ended up there, and the rest is history.”

Arūnas nonchalantly glossed over the horror of the next couple of hours, so I pressed him for more detail.

“We were just gathered there, we didn’t really have any plans. We didn’t think they would attack, let alone shoot at us or intentionally kill anyone. I guess all we knew was that we were not going to move.

“I saw the aggression, the tanks were blocked by the crowd of unarmed people and the soldiers started shooting percussion cartridges that created terrible blasts. Twenty minutes later, the Russian soldiers come in armoured vehicles, they emerged without any warning and started the attack against unarmed people.

The attack could only be called animalistic. The soldiers were wild and they were hitting women and children indiscriminately, and then they started shooting. As I already mentioned there was no warning at all, they just started shooting at the people from just a few steps away into the crowd assembled in front of them. In the eyes of those soldiers you could clearly see that they were doped on some drugs.

“But anyway we tried to withstand this terrible aggression, then they ran by tanks directly into the people and tried to squash them.

“I saw them pointing guns at us but we were not going to move, they advanced, they threw percussion grenades, they had all sorts of weapons, and then they just attacked with everything they had. A few moments later I was shot twice in the leg. It was terrible with the pain shooting around my body accompanied by the blasts from all of the tanks.

“We still could not believable that peaceful people could have been attacked that way, it was so brutal.”

Arūnas was given help and taken to St Jacobs (Švento Jokubo) hospital where the full extent of his wounds became apparent. While two shots to the leg might not sound totally life threatening, it turned out that the Soviets were using dumb-dumb bullets, which were long banned by the Geneva Convention, and on hitting his leg the bullets exploded into many many smaller fragments causing all sorts of internal injuries, shattering bones and shredding muscle and sinew. They are intended to cause death from internal bleeding.

“I had at least five very long operations and lay in hospitals because of these wounds for 13 months. First in Lithuania, then in hospitals in Hungary and Germany who also offered support and operated further on me. The various doctors managed to get some the shrapnel out and put together what was left of my bones and flesh.”

And did these wounds cause a lot of problems?

“I was in the last year of high school and a good student, best in class in fact, and it was a hassle. My studies were heavily interrupted, but I managed to continue.”

I guess the one question I wanted to ask all along was - was it worth it? Arūnas is circumspect.

“We have a nation of our own. We may complain about it, but it’s not that different from the other countries in Europe. It is comfortable to live here and if you look past the current economic situation, it isn’t so bad here.

“I have been to a lot of countries in Europe and throughout the world, and have had many offers to live and work elsewhere, tempted by better wages and better facilities, but neither I nor my wife have any inclination to leave. We always come home.

“Maybe we have to work a bit harder here, but what can you do? This is our home.”

So how did Arūnas’ life continue after the shooting? He finished biochemistry at Vilnius University in 1991 and in 1998 became a doctor of physical science. In 2002 he became Doctor Habilitus of Physical Sciences and in the same year he has was awarded the title of full professor at Vilnius University. By the age of 36 he become youngest professor at Vilnius university.

In 2006 he established and is head of the Centre of Nanotechnology and Material Science – Nano Technas - at the Vilnius University Faculty of Chemistry, where they undertake academic, research and commercial work in nanobiotechnology and nano-medicine.

Arūnas is proud that his centre has become world regarded and attracts professors, students and researchers from all over the world. Arūnas has employed a number of young scientists from different scientific institutions around Lithuania and even from abroad. He personally and some members of this group have worked for governmental and non-governmental institutions in Belgium, Ireland and Austria and have co-operative agreements with other countries that they help out, often for love rather than money.

On the eve of the 13 January anniversary I ask him about his thoughts on the occasion, again I’m surprised.

“I no longer look back on those days, and now that my leg is no longer hurting I just look to the future. Life is busy and sometimes I have to work up to 20 hours a day. Maybe when I get older I’ll have time to look back and think about things.

“If you work hard you always find plenty of opportunity. In fact I read about unemployment and would love to be unemployed for a while, but I just don’t have the time – there’s too much to do.”

All of us in Lithuania can be thankful that there was not another fatality that night, and well may we remember the cost of lost potential in those who were not as lucky as Arūnas on that cold January night 19 years ago.

The events of January 13 actually took place between 11 and 13 January of 1991. It was in the aftermath of Lithuania’s declaration of independence on 11 March 1990, and the Soviet imposed blockade that caused hardship and discontent among minority sections of the Lithuanian public.

A conflict between Vytautas Landsbergis and Kazimira Prunskienė resulted in her resignation, and she sought assurances from Moscow that force would not be used, which was not given.

Extra Soviet forces were flown into Lithuania, including the counter-terrorist Alpha Group and the 76th Airborne Division, ostensibly to ensure constitutional order.

Gorbachev addressed the Supreme Council on 8 January and demanded the restoration of the constitution of the USSR in Lithuania, and threatened military intervention. Lithuania asked for guarantees of a peaceful solution, but Moscow did not reply.

From 11 January Soviet forces began seizing Lithuanian communication facilities including the National Defence Department building in Vilnius and the National Printing Works, where live rounds are used against civilians and the first casualties were registered. Later the Soviets seized a TV retranslation station in Nemenčinė.

On 12 January the Soviets further took over the offices of the OMON, tried to seize a Police Academy building and attacked a Lithuanian border post at Varėna. Columns of military personnel were seen heading towards the TV Tower and citizens gathered to help protect it from Soviet occupation.

At 1.25 on 13 January the Soviets arrived at the TV Tower and started to fire blanks and percussion rounds from their tanks. By 1.50 they had surrounded the TV Tower and started to fire live ammunition into the crowd and then drive their tanks into the assembled masses.

In total 14 people were killed in the attack, mostly from bullet wounds, but some were crushed by tanks. A Soviet soldier was also killed by so-called friendly fire. The last vision transmitted from the TV Tower that night was of a Soviet soldier running towards the camera and turning it off.

In Kaunas a regional TV station managed to get word out about the attacks and a Swedish station picked up the news and broadcast it around the world.

The next day up to 50,000 people gathered around the Seimas and began building tank barricades.

Although military occupation and raids continued over the ensuing period, strong condemnation from the West and even urges of constraint from within Moscow itself led to the signing of a treaty on 31 January.

On 4 February Iceland was the first country to recognise Lithuania as an independent Republic and diplomatic relations were established between the two countries.

The 14 people killed on 13 January were: Loreta Asanavičiūtė, Virginijus Druskis, Darius Gerbutavičius, Rolandas Jankauskas, Rimantas Juknevičius, Alvydas Kanapinskas, Algimantas Petras Kavoliukas, Vytautas Koncevičius, Vidas Maciulevičius, Titas Masiulis, Alvydas Matulka, Apolinaras Juozas Povilaitis, Ignas Šimulionis and Vytautas Vaitkus.

On 30 December the Ambassador of Greece, Konstantinos Katsabis, met with Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Vygaudas Ušackas and informed him about the Greek government’s decision to provide Afghanistan’s Ghor Province with €0.5 million allocated to health service development. Lithuania leads a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Ghor Province.

The Ambassador stressed that Greece is ready to become a reliable partner to Lithuania in implementing the reconstruction of the provincial central hospital.

The Minister expressed his gratitude to the Greek Government’s decision to provide support to the Afghan people.

“I hope that our new collaboration helping to reconstruct the Ghor Province will continue in the future and will take new forms,” Minister Ušackas said during the meeting.

Since 2005, Lithuania has led the Provincial Reconstruction Team in the Ghor Province. The team is comprised of military and civilian personnel not only from Lithuania, but also from Croatia, Denmark, Georgia, Japan, Romania, Ukraine, and the USA.

(alfa.lt) Although there are indications of an economic recovery looming on the horizon, ordinary Lithuanians still face a long wait before they begin seeing improvements in their living standards say analysts.

Experts interviewed by Alfa.lt agreed that unemployment will stay stubbornly high, wages will fall, and consumer prices won’t be coming down for most of 2010, although things may start to pick up in the second half of the year.

“I don’t see any prospective improvement in these three areas (this year),” said DnB Nord analyst Rimantas Rudzkis, although he added that he sees unemployment levelling off around the middle of the year. He also said Lithuania’s economy will fare better during the second half of 2010 than in the first half.

Rudzkis was seconded by Swedbank analyst Tomas Andrejauskas, who said unemployment rolls will continue to grow this year and cautioned that improvements in economic indicators don’t immediately translate into material gains for ordinary people.

“I think statistics will show that everything is improving, but I’m not in a rush to claim that things will suddenly start to get better for people,” Andrejauskas said. “Perhaps we’ll see that happening in the second half. (In the meantime) unemployment will rise even higher, and purchasing power will drop.”

Vilnius, Jan 4 (ELTA) - In 2009, the number of deaths on Lithuanian roads was down 26.3% compared to 2008 (there were 368 people killed in traffic accidents in 2009, and 499 persons killed in 2008).

Over the same period the number of people injured during traffic accidents dropped by 23%. In 2009, there were 4,484 people injured in traffic accidents compared to 5,818 people in 2008.

“Measures that we have taken to increase road safety, the active work of the police and educational campaigns through the media, give these results as there have been the fewest deaths on Lithuanian roads in 2009 since 1965, but now there are around 2 million vehicles on the roads compared with tens of thousands in 1965,”said Transport Minister Eligijus Masiulis.

According to the minister the good news is that the number of traffic accidents caused by intoxicated road users halved. In 2009 there were 288 such accidents compared to 508 accidents in 2008.

Last year, compared with 2008, the number of traffic accidents which affected people fell by 1,000 compared with (3,844 accidents in 2009 compared with 4,796 accidents in 2008). Compared with 2005, traffic accidents fell by almost 3,000.

“Each human life persevered is important for us, so we will continue the ongoing work in the area of traffic safety, we will seek new ways and means to raise people’s self-awareness and responsibility,” Minister Masiulis emphasized.

No deaths on Lithuanian roads over past week

Vilnius, Jan 8 (ELTA) - During the past seven days, on January 1 - January 7, no persons were killed in traffic accidents on Lithuanian roads.

According to preliminary data, a total of 36 traffic accidents took place and 48 people were injured.

According to the police, intoxicated drivers caused two traffic accidents and injured two people.

The EU does make a difference to people’s everyday lives in Europe, even though they’re not always aware of it. The goal is always to respond to the real concerns that people have, as citizens, consumers or workers.

This year, we’ve been dealing with the consequences of the financial crisis. The EU has worked hard to limit the damage with an economic recovery plan designed to protect people’s jobs and savings.

We’ve also been busy defending consumers’ interests. The price of making and receiving mobile calls and sending text messages to and from other EU countries has come down for instance.

And the EU has carried out a major online shopping survey, looking at websites selling airline tickets, and ensuring that they respect consumer rights’ legislation. When you book a flight online, the site must tell you about any additional costs - such as a charge for paying by credit card - right at the start of the booking process. They can’t just add it on to the price of the ticket at the end.

The EU has been active on green issues too, with new rules on emissions of harmful fumes at petrol stations and pesticide use.

And it has been taking the lead in the fight against climate change. There have been a range of measures to cut down on the amount of energy consumed by everyday appliances, including basic items like light bulbs - the old incandescent ones are gradually being phased out in favour of low-energy bulbs. These measures should help deliver a 12% reduction in electricity consumption in the EU by 2020.

Finally, the EU has come to the aid of people in need. For example, it granted €500m to help Italy deal with the aftermath of the earthquake in Abruzzo in April 2009. And the EU is still the biggest donor of development aid, and takes an active role in fighting poverty and hunger in the world.

On 1 January 2008, 30.8 million foreign citizens lived in the EU27 Member States, of which 11.3 million were citizens of another EU27 Member state.

The remaining 19.5 million were citizens of countries outside the EU27, of which 6.0 million were citizens of other European countries, 4.7 million of Africa, 3.7 million of Asia and 3.2 million from the American continent. Foreign citizens accounted for 6.2% of the total EU27 population.

In 2008, the largest numbers of foreign citizens were recorded in Germany (7.3 million persons), Spain (5.3 million), the United Kingdom (4.0 million), France (3.7 million) and Italy (3.4 million). More than 75% of the foreign citizens in the EU27 lived in these Member States.

Among the EU27 Member States, the highest percentage of foreign citizens in the population was found in Luxembourg (43% of the total population), followed by Latvia (18%), Estonia (17%), Cyprus (16%), Ireland (13%), Spain (12%) and Austria (10%). The percentage of foreign citizens was less than 1% in Romania, Poland, Bulgaria and Slovakia.

In 2008, 37% of the foreign citizens living in the EU27 were citizens of another EU27 Member state. The largest groups were from Romania (1.7 million or 15% of the total number of foreign citizens from another EU Member State), Italy (1.3 million or 11%) and Poland (1.2 million or 11%). Among the citizens of countries outside the EU27, the largest groups were from Turkey (2.4 million or 12% of the total number of foreign citizens from countries outside the EU27), Morocco (1.7 million or 9%) and Albania (1.0 million or 5%).

Lithuania takes top position in the EU by the percentage of students in the country. Compared to the EU’s average of 15%, only 7% of 18-24 year-old people in Lithuania are not engaged in studies, the least in the EU, announced the European Commission.

The European Commission’s latest report on education in the EU shows that Lithuania is also leading the EU by the number of 20-29 year-olds in higher education.

Moreover, Lithuania has made significant progress (3rd place in the EU) increasing the number of young people in the secondary education. 89% of 20-24 year-old Lithuanians are engaged in secondary education, while the average of the EU is 78.5%.

There are 76.6% of pre-school age children in Lithuania attending primary education institutions.

Vilnius, Dec 30 (ELTA) - On Wednesday - a day before the shutdown of the Ignalina nuclear power plant (IAE) - two units of Lietuvos Elektrinė in Elektrėnai with the capacity of 300 megawatts were switched on, said Energy Minister Arvydas Sekmokas.

According to the minister the units have not been operating to maximum efficiency. “On December 31 we will start talks on additional supply of electricity to be purchased. Power purchase agreements have been planned. An agreement has been signed with Estonia, there is a general agreement with Belarus and we will work further on an agreement with Ukraine,” Sekmokas said.

According to the energy minister, talks with Ukraine may be prolonged and still continue even in February. “The process is ongoing, Ukrainians work on the issue of the transit via Belarus, and these are their mutual decisions. We have signed a general contract with Ukraine and it will come into force after the agreement on the amount and prices is reached,” Sekmokas said.

According to Maxima funded research conducted by RAIT in all three Baltic states, this year Lithuanians are more likely to greet Christmas at home, with family, and more modestly than in the recent past.

The research conducted in November showed that people will be buying cheaper presents, will mostly be setting the Christmas table with more traditional and simpler meals, and most of it will be prepared at home, rather than bought prepared from the store.

“The crisis has taught people to save and to better plan their spending, to buy less expensive products, and to cut down on spontaneous purchases. People appreciate the current economic climate, their own financial standing and are not sure when the downturn will ease, and for that reason they are largely deciding not to waste money on food or presents,” Saulius Jonaitis, Maxima LT Marketing and Sales Department Director.

This year 76% of respondents indicated that the economic situation will have a negative impact on Christmas celebrations. Last year the figure was 71%. At the same time 38% said that their family is planning to spend less money this year than last, and more than half (58%) said they would be spending the same amount as last year.

Cheaper presents are planned by 44%, and 37% will buy less presents, while 33% will spend time looking for discounts and Christmas sales.

Almost two thirds (64%) will cook at home, and 52% will spend between LTL51 and LTL200 on the Christmas meal. Last year most people said they would be spending between LTL101 – LTL300.

Christmas Spending

An EU initiated customer information campaign known as Know Your Rights and Win ordered their own Christmas research which showed that 40% of Lithuanians plan to spend up to LTL50 on their presents this year, 23% said they would be putting aside up to LTL100 for their presents, 15.9% up to LTL200, 4% up to LTL400, and 1.9% would spend over LTL701.

Respondents were also asked if they had ever received unwanted or inappropriate presents and 30% said that had happened to them, while 63% said that had never happened to them. But surprisingly 63% also indicated that they would prefer if receipts were included with presents so they could exchange them for other items if they wanted.

THE EU27 MEMBER STATES granted protection to 76,300 asylum seekers in 2008.
The largest groups of beneficiaries of protection status in the EU27 were citizens of Iraq (16,600 persons or 22% of the total number of persons granted protection status), Somalia (9500 or 12%), Russia (7400 or 10%), Afghanistan (5000 or 7%) and Eritrea (4600 or 6%).
Two thirds of all grants of protection status in the EU27 were registered in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and Sweden

In 2008, the highest number of persons granted protection status were registered in France (11,500), followed by Germany (10,700), the United Kingdom (10,200), Italy (9700), Sweden (8700), the Netherlands (6100) and Austria (5700).

Iraqis were the single largest group of persons granted protection status in ten EU27 Member States. Of the 16,600 Iraqis granted protection status in the EU27, 6400 were registered in Germany, 4000 in Sweden and 2300 in the Netherlands. Of the 9500 Somalis granted protection, 3500 were recorded in Italy and 1500 each in Sweden and the Netherlands, and of the 7400 Russians, 2700 were in Poland, 2000 in Austria and 1200 in France.

Lithuania granted asylum to 65 refugees, the largest portion were Russian citizens (50), the second largest groups were equal with five each from, surprisingly, Ethopia and Cuba.

Extra London Flights

Star1 increases flights from London. In the new year Star1 will add an extra Vilnius – London flight to their schedule, making five flights per week. Now you can get a direct flight to London every day of the week except for Thurdsay and Saturday.

The latest leg has been added to Star1’s existing destinations of Dublin and Milan.

Star1 is now also accepting credit cards from the UK, Ireland, Canada and the USA.

Ryanair adds Brussels

Ryanair announced a new destination, flying Kaunas – Charleroi from 1 April 2010. There will be three weekly flights, which will be especially welcomed by the bureaucracy.

The influential French political, business and financial daily La Tribune has listed President Dalia Grybauskaitė among top ten EU leaders.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė went up from twenty seventh to sixth place in the classification, leaving the French leader Nocolas Sarkozy (9), British Prime Minister Gordon Brown (21), Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi (27) as well as Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and many other European leaders behind.

The prime ministers of Estonia and Latvia rank sixteenth and twentieth. La Tribune evaluated the most active leaders in EU politics. Only two heads of state – the Lithuanian and French presidents - were ranked; others on the list are heads of government. The EU-presiding Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt took the top position. He is followed by the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and the Danish and Finnish prime ministers.

A jury of political correspondents in Brussels, coming from all over Europe, evaluated EU heads of state and government on the basis of seven criteria: leadership, team spirit, engagement in countering climate change, management of national finances, respect for EU internal market rules, understanding of Lisbon Treaty attitudes, and general pro-European outlook.

Vilnius has been judged as having the best quality air in Europe, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit and Siemens, from a list of 30 cities throughout Europe.

Vilnius is home to 16% of Lithuania’s population with 554,000 citizens, and is one of the smaller cities in the index. From an economic perspective, however, Vilnius contributed just under two-fifths of the country’s GDP in 2007 and accounts for around 19% of total employment in Lithuania.

While Vilnius provides just 16% of the national industrial output, it has attracted more than two-thirds of total foreign direct investment in Lithuania. As well as increasing the number of tourists, Vilnius has attracted many migrants from other parts of Lithuania because of the employment opportunities that it offers. In regards to water quality,

Vilnius takes 13th position, but scores considerably lower in energy consumption largely because of its heavy reliance on a centralised and inefficient central heating system, and the uncertainty of future power production with the closing of Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant.

Vilnius ranks 13th in the overall index, with a score of 62.77 out of 100, making it the best-perform-ing city in Eastern Europe as well as among the low-income cities in the index. Vilnius ranks around the middle of most categories in the index, but performs exceptionally well on air quality.

Vilnius, Dec 15 (ELTA) - Lithuania has declined to participate in the next year’s Eurovision Song Con-test, however, should it succeed in raising the necessary funds, the decision would be changed.

According to the Head of the Lithuanian National Radio and Television Rimvydas Paleckis, the decision was a “formal action” that was needed before December 14; otherwise Lithuania would have been fined.

“If we had not refused by the set date, we would have had to pay fines. In order to avoid that and knowing that it will be possible to change the decision later, we declined to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest,” said Paleckis.

Paleckis said that the preparation , participation and the broadcasting of the contest to take place in Norway would cost Lithuania around LTL300,000 (86,890 euro).Paleckis said it is not known yet, how the country’s representative would be chosen, however, should Lithuania succeed in raising the funds and took part in Eurovision, the viewers would be able to express their opinion.

Eurovision is held by the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) together with all participating member countries. The only Lithuanian member of the EBU is Lithuanian Radio and Television.

A report on the origin of prisoners in the UK showed that 7,500 immigrants from 160 differ-ent nations who arrive in the UK go on to commit various crimes, according to The Sun. The figures released by the Ministry of Justice show that foreigners make up almost one in ten of all prisoners held in the jails of England and Wales.

The foreign prisoners have been jailed for almost 900 sex offences, more than 2,000 drugs crimes, 1,500 violent attacks including murders, and over 900 cases of fraud or forgery. Jamaicans have the worst records for drug crimes, violence and sex attacks, while Poles have the worst record for theft and handling, Lithuanians top the list for driving offences, Nigerians have the most convicted fraudsters and the Irish have the worst record for burglary and robbery.

Overall the ten nations with the most citizens in UK prisons are: 1.Jamaica (791), 2.Nigeria (553), 3.Ireland (524), 4.Pakistan (300), 5.Poland (298), 6.Somali (288), 7.Vietnam (280), 8.China (229), 9.India (221), 10.Lithuania (192) .

Appeal to trace suspects for crimes abroad

The Metropolitan Police Service in the UK is launching an appeal to trace 10 dangerous men who are alleged to have offended abroad but are believed to be living in the UK.Operation Sunfire is a man-hunt by the MPS Extradition Unit to trace and arrest murderers, rapists and robbers, amongst other criminals, and put them through the extradition process to face justice abroad.Extensive police investigation has not been able to identify where they are hiding but all are believed to have links to the London area. The list in-cludes two Lithuanians: Giedrius Rimidis, age 24. For: Rape of a woman on 18/07/08 at a dormi-tory in Klaipeda, Lithuania. Victim was an adult. Previously linked to Leyton and East London area.Gintautas Rupšlaukis, age 36. Of-fences of kidnap, robbery and extor-tion in April 2003 near Kaunas City, Lithuania. He and others ambushed a taxi and kidnapped two men before assaulting them and holding them against their will for three days, tor-turing them and forcing them to sign debt receipts. Previously linked to the Manchester area.

Vilnius, Dec 11 (ELTA) - One more person died of the so-called swine flu in Vilnius. It is already the tenth officially confirmed death from the H1N1 virus.

According to the Lithuanian Ministry of Health press release, a 39 year old man felt ill on November 20, he was taken to hospital three days later, where the H1N1 diagnosis was confirmed. The man died of the complications caused by swine flu.

President Grybauskaitė in attending the European Council meeting in Brussels pointed out that the EU Member States would not ignore the principle of fairness in their fight against the consequences of climate change.

The President of Lithuania welcomed the fact that the European Council has taken into consideration Lithuania’s request to stipulate that in the framework of the EU’s commitment to contribute financially to compensation to third world countries for the reduction of pollution, the EU Member States will pay according to their individual financial capacities.

“The fact that Lithuania’s share in the total of nearly €2.5 billion to be contributed by the European Union is only one million euros is a fair agreement, especially bearing in mind that the EU’s assistance to Lithuania totals up to five billion litas annually,” Grybauskaitė said.

The EU leaders also discussed the European Union’s economic development plan for the period until 2020 which will be given special attention in the coming European Council meeting in March 2010.

“I have underlined that at that time Lithuania will demand that electricity connection projects so important for us as they guarantee energy security be continued and supported by the EU. I have already been assured by leaders of many other states that Lithuania’s interests will be taken into account,” the President said.

• Photo Gediminas Savickis (ELTA)

A flu epidemic was proclaimed in Lithuania on 24 November, and as of 1 December that proclamation still stood.

A government emergency commission has been dealing with the crisis and they notified the public that the rate of infection in Vilnius and Šiauliai is decreasing, but for the moment the numbers are still growing in Klaipėda (where the virus hit last).

The next meeting of the commission is scheduled for 15 December unless things worsens. According to the commission the situation is now stable and hopefully the worst is behind us.
On Wednesday 2 December the Health Ministry and the Ministry of Social Security and Labour made a joint announcement that people contracting the flu can call their doctor in order to get a doctor’s certificate so as to avoid long lines at clinics and help avoid infecting others. The patients must then, within three days, make a personal visit to the doctor to complete the consultation.

The flu epidemic has also taken a heavy toll on the economy. Nerija Kuprevičienė, Head of the Infectious Diseases Department at the State Public Health Service (VVSPT) first hoped that the economic effects of the virus would be minimal. It was estimated that in the case of heavy pandemic, GDP would decrease by 4%, while in the case of mild pandemic - by 1%.
Six confirmed deaths from H1N1

Artras Skikas, Deputy Health Minister, said on Tuesday 1 December, that six people in Lithuania had died of complications from the virus to date, adding that there have been 860 such cases in Europe. While others are sick or have died, these were still suspected cases at the time of going to press, and are as yet unconfirmed.

During the last week there were 192 cases of flu registered for every 10,000 people, and an epidemic is declared when the number reaches 100, Raimundas Palaitis, Lithuanian Minister of the Interior, and head of the government emergency commission was quoted as saying.
The first death was of a 14 year old boy in Kaunas, and the latest a 40 year old man also from Kaunas.

• Dr Irena Pivoriūnienė

With all the worry of H1N1, or swine flu, on top of the almost annual flu epidemic we thought we’d talk to Dr Irena Pivoriūnienė, otherwise known as the TV Doctor. While it is very important that you go to your doctor if you are suffering from severe flu or fever symptoms, we asked Irena for her advise on a more holistic approach to coping with the virus around us.
Our first question was about the latest international developments in dealing with the flu.
It is much the same here as in the rest of the world, there are still more questions than answers.

The main danger as always is for people who are suffering from other complicating diseases. These people always have a reduced immune system and are much more vulnerable. A person with a healthy immune system pretty much won’t contact the flu. But what is a good immune system? First of all you have to take into account stress, on the first day of winter we have to remember to wear the right clothes. Your head and feet have to be warm, especially the feet. If your feet get cold it affects the circulation to your nose, which when working properly can protect the body from not only contracting flu but any of the other 200 cold affected viruses that can grip us.

And keep your head warm. They say that 33% of your body heat is lost through the head and in cold weather this can hurt you. Below –5C you definitely need a hat.
Next there is smoking. As I mentioned our nose has many small hairs which work to stop many germs and viruses from entering the body. If you smoke one cigarette you paralyse the work of these hairs for six hours and they don’t work. Smokers suffer flu much more often.
These are the easiest ways to avoid getting sick.

In America every shop has bacterial hand-wash cream and serviettes. They find a lot of germs on the handles of things like supermarket trolleys and in other public places. The H1N1 virus can remain alive outside of the body for six hours so it is important to wash your hands to avoid contracting it through touch.

One of the problems with flu is that you won’t know you have it for the first two days, so it is important to cough into your arm above the elbow so as not to spread the virus through the air, and secondly so that the germs don’t get onto your arms and hands so when you shake hands with people or touch things that other people will also handle, then the virus won’t be passed on.

Try to get into the habit of washing your hands as often as possible after being out in public or before leaving the home, and if you meet people in the street wave to them rather than shake hands.

Masks are good, but they are probably more psychological, and not everyone can wear them.
Beyond these easy measures, if you want to add further protection then consider half a glass of cooled boiled water with a teaspoon of salt added to flush your nasal passages. There was an experiment in the American Army and when half flushed they were 10 times less likely to get a virus. This is a cheap method that has shown to be effective I know many of the pharmacists I work with flush quite often.

These methods help keep it out of our body.

If you have caught the flu you need to strengthen your body defences. Very appropriately for Lithuania, pickled cabbage is a very effective in keeping the colon clean and healthy, and two thirds of the whole immune system is in the colon.

A glass of kefyras, yoghurt, or sour milk and pickled cabbages will do a lot to keep you healthy and ready to fight the flu.

In the kitchen keep ginger handy, and honey is a natural antibiotic, along with lemon and drink them mixed in hot, though not boiling water.

Boil the water, add the ginger after a minute or so when the water is still steaming, then later add the lemon and honey, but never into boiling water. You should make a large beaker of it in the morning and have it to drink throughout the day.

If you can, buy your honey from a farm or market, as processed honey can be a bit less effective. And even a bit of butter to your diet, with its vitamin A can be very helpful. We are scared of cholesterol these days, but a little can really help.

They even say that dressing nicely can help. You get compliments, you feel good, you make others feel good and it gets rid of the negative energy that can make you weak.
But if you do catch the flu, the symptoms are the same as any other flu and if you have the symptoms of fever and headache, bones, feeling generally bad you need to go straight to bed for three days. Don’t try to be brave and go to work or be a hero, you will just infect the rest of your workers.

Keep drinking plenty of liquids because keeping liquid in the body is very important. If you drink only when thirsty, then that is too late because your body is already warning you, so keep drinking regularly.

And Lithuanian water is quite good, so just fill a bottle with tap water and carry it with you. Of keep some near your computer or chair and you can do it without any problem.
Vaccines are still a mystery. Not everyone believes them to be effective. But most people die of complications from flu and not the flu itself, and I can recommend that if you are in a danger group that you take a vaccine against pneumonia. It lasts for five years and has been around for a long time so is well sorted. I vaccinate the whole family. It costs about 80 litas, but over five years it is a good investment.

Medicines you need to talk to your doctor. You need to find out what sort of flu you have, so don’t try to self medicate, and if the symptoms are bad, make sure you seek medical help.
Alcohol doesn’t help at all. All the remedies of vodka and brandy are not worth even trying, they dehydrate the body and make you not feel the cold.

And finally breakfast. Make sure you eat breakfast and eat it every day, because there is no better way of running your body down than starting the day without any fuel. It runs your immune system down, makes you eat more at night, which in turn makes your sleep worse, which all adds up to running yourself down.

Make sure you eat breakfast, and you can eat like a king, lunch with a friend, and give your dinner to your enemy.

• Photo J. Kalinskas

More than 100 animal rights activists, citizens and celebrities gathered in front of Seimas on Thursday to protest against animal abuse and express support for an amendment of the penal code which will enforce a maximum of four years jail and a fine of LTL26,000 for harsh treatment of animals.

Lithuania made world headlines recently when Svajunas Beniūkas was shown throwing a dog named Pipiras (Pepper) from a bridge. The video was posted on YouTube and had thousands of hits throughout the world, and raised the ire of international and local animal activists. Pipiras died in a Kaunas animal hospital a week later.

Beniūkas was sentenced to eight months and 10 days jail on 23 November.

The amendment of the penal code was registered through the efforts of the news portal 15min.lt which was first to inform the public about the cruel case of Pipiras.

One topic of discussion regarding the current economic crisis is - who is worst affected?

Some argue that pensioners brought up in the tough Soviet climate are better able to adapt to the present hardships, others that the 40 - 60 year olds who can’t adapt as quickly to the new way of doing things have been the greatest casualties, not just now but over the last 20 years as well.

Deimant suggests it is the unprepared 25 – 40 generation that is suffering most in this economy. Tell us what you think.

Deimantė Dokšaitė

Some say that pensioners, teachers, social workers, librarians or other civil servants suffer from this economical downturn most. But I think that it is my generation – people who are 25 – 40 years old who suffer from it more than others.

A couple of years ago they were living very successful lives. They took loans from the banks and bought cars and flats, and couldn’t imagine a day when their salaries being reduced would ever occur, the prognosis was all just up, up up. They couldn’t imagine that they could lose their jobs, they thought just about the next promotion.

Just imagine a young Lithuanian family, parents in their early 30s, they have two children. They took a loan to buy a flat which cost let say half a million litas several years ago, now worth maybe LTL200,000 (and even worse - nobody wants to buy it anyway). Both parents have cars; they took loans to buy them. They used to go on vocation twice a year – in summer to Turkey and during winter perhaps skiing in Italy or Austria.

And now one of them has lost their job, and for the other a salary reduction of about 20%. It doesn’t sound cool, does it? But this is exactly what is happening in Lithuania nowadays.
Of course people try to find ways out of such difficult situations, some move back to their parents where all four share one room at their parents house, some move to a some smaller flat and rent their apartment to somebody else.

But the thing is that a couple years ago everything was about this generation. They were the main consumers, they were also the ones not afraid to take loans, who weren’t scared to spend and didn’t care much about savings.

They frequented bars and restaurants, spending their money in all the popular wineries, they were the ones attending the theatre, cinema, concerts, sports events, taking dancing and photography classes, taking trips and trying unusual foods, buying clothes, shoes (more than one pair per season like our parents used to do), the latest computers, dishwashers, cosmetics. And yes, they were the ones who helped to create the real estate bubble.
They were sure that things would keep getting better, never worse. Because people of this generation started their working lives in good times, their careers continually improving.

They didn’t live through the tough periods, they were children or teenagers when Lithuania was going through especially difficult times like the Russian blockade, Russian crisis etc. So it wasn’t them who learnt to cope with hardship, it was their parents. They weren’t prepared for this economic crisis, and they never imagined it could be like this.

Hopefully this one lesson will be enough to teach them to understand more about responsibility and how to appreciate values other than just money and work. Maybe the Lithuanian proverb saying ‘don’t be happy when you find something, don’t cry then you lose something’ suits this situation perfectly.

So perhaps that’s why pensioners and the elder generations can cope better, because they are the ones who expect something like this economical downturn to happen. And generation 25-40 were taken suddenly and without any preparation.

Riga Nov 24 (LETA-ELTA) - A vodka museum has opened in Riga at 136f Krisjana Barona Street, the newspaper “Vesti Segodna” reports today.

The museum was opened by two friends Leonards Jankelovics and Igors Ristolainens.
According to the newspaper, the museum has on display a large collection of vodkas, gathered by the museum’s owners; initially their friends and family helped them expand their collection, but now increasingly more often tourists, who plan on visiting the museum, bring their contribution in form of bottles of vodka from various parts of the world.

The museum is divided in “thematic corners”, for example, one section is dedicated to “Smirnoff” vodka, another to Putin, yet another to the theme of war.

The museum displays bottles and posters with vodka ads, excerpts from newspapers describing the alcoholic drink and vodka labels. The museum includes several hundred displays altogether.

The seventh annual International Christmas Charity Bazaar was held in the Rotušė on Sunday 29 November.

There were 30 different countries represented at the fair which gave the 2500 guests who attended a good opportunity to buy the Christmas presents and other items they might not be able to get elsewhere.

This year they raised LTL150,000 from sales and the lottery, and another LTL50,000 was provided from the main sponsors.

Alma Adamkien remains the patron, and was at the opening with her husband Valdas. They bought goods from many of the stalls including origami from the Japanese, a gingerbread house from the Finns and baklava from the Greeks.

The lottery was as popular as ever, as was the singing of Christmas carols, and it always proves a great occasion to catch up with friends before the real rush of the festive season gets into full swing.

The International Christmas Charity Bazaar is organised by the Vilnius International Women’s Association.

€110,000 Calendar Proceeds Go To “Kids” Charity

Ryanair, launched its 2010 Ryanair Cabin Crew Charity Calendar which the airline hopes will raise €110,000 for the UK charity “KIDS” which provides support to disabled children all over the UK.

Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary has already bought the first 100 copies of the 2010 calendar and sent one to ‘anti-fun’ Labour MEP Mary Honeyball who last year wrongly accused Ryanair of “forcing” cabin crew to take part in the calendar. Ryanair’s cabin crew volunteer to take part and this year over 800 of the airline’s 4,000 cabin crew applied for this charity event.

This year a Lithuanian stewardess also made the final cut, and Karolina struts her stuff above on the left.

Ray Vyšniauskas and Deimantė Dokšaitė

They say a week is a long time in politics, so a year must be an eternity.

Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius must be feeling an eon has passed since he formed a ruling coalition one year ago on 17 November 2008, and took the reins of the Lithuanian Seimas, a coalition he prophetically named The Coalition of Change.

The victory celebrations after last year’s general elections will have to go down as the most short-lived in Lithuanian history, as within two months of its first sitting the members of Seimas were looking out of their windows at a mass protest that eventuated in the deployment of riot police and the use of tear gas and rubber bullets.

To be fair there were a lot of circumstances way beyond the control of the Seimas and the government, number one of which was an economy sucked spiralling downward by the worst world economic recession since the Great Depression.

Being at the helm of a small nation allows little control on the waves of economic gloom that toss any country around, especially one that did not put any reserves aside in the good years.

Then there was the added intrigue of the newly formed National Resurrection Party, the party of celebrities headed by Arūnas Valinskas, which in their first election won 16 seats and an instant invitation to join the ruling coalition.

Looking back on the achievements of the current coalition government, you would have to say there is more bad than good news, but let’s go through their litany of change.

• They got straight down to business when Valinskas is finally elected Speaker of the Seimas, but only after a controversial second vote on 18 November.

• Kubilius is confirmed as Prime Minister on 27 November.

• At the end of December the Seimas worked until midnight in putting the finishing touches on tax reforms with little or no public consultation.

• December 22 the budget is passed by the Seimas.

• January 16 there is a meeting of trades union which end in riots in front of the Seimas; breaking windows, calling out the riot police and extensive use of tear gas and rubber bullets.

• May 19 the opposition launches an unsuccessful vote of no-confidence in Finance Minister Algirdas Šemeta, but later he was sent to Brussels to fill the position vacated by President Grybauskaitė. The post of Finance Minister was filled by Ingrida Šimonytė.

• In June Valentinas Mazuronis, of the Order and Justice Party, becomes the Opposition Leader.

• July 22 the Minister of Social Security and Labour, Rimantas Jonas Dagys, is replaced by Donatas Junkauskas, because he was not validated by President Grybauskaitė.

• Mid July the National Resurrection Party is split into two fractions, and on October 15 Arūnas Valinskas is deposed as Speaker of the Seimas.

• October 17 Irena Degutienė is elected Speaker of the Seimas.

• September 16 preparation for the next budget commences.

• September 20 the opposition launches an unsuccessful no-confidence motion against Education and Science Minister Gintaras Steponavičius.

IN BETWEEN THESE specific events the government controversially considered adding the Labour Party to the ruling coalition, there was much criticism of energy wasted on unimportant issues, especially under Valinskas’ tenure, the policy on car hire by members of Seimas, and the ill-advised ‘Protection of Minors against the Detrimental Effects of Public Information’ legislation that brought strong international criticism and EU condemnation.

While it is usual for politics to be a rough and tumble business, it is speculated by many that this is the least liked government ever. In the 11 years since Vilmorus has been taking polls, their data shows this government the least liked, with the government (trust 11.5%, distrust 59.9%), parliament (trust 4.8%, distrust 76.3%) and political parties (trust 4.1%, distrust 76.7%) taking the bottom three places in a poll of general trust in public institutions.

In research conducted by Eurobarometer the popularity of the Lithuanian Seimas is held in equal 25th position with Bulgaria among the EU 27 countries, trailing only behind Latvia.

To the credit of the ruling coalition, they learnt a lesson from the unfortunate riots in front of the parliament, which did prompt them to seek greater public input into policy, and without accepting all external advice, they seemed to start working in a more transparent manner.

One of the main concerns of the government was the dreaded ‘D’ word – devaluation. While a floating currency along with a much larger population base helped Poland ride out the worst of the economic storm, Lithuania’s problems were compounded by the fact that most bank loans were issued in euros, and a devaluation of 20% – 40% would have meant a double hit on loan repayments, especially considering the already heavy falls in real estate prices.

With no reserves the government chose to placate the concerns of the IMF and EU economic gurus, and this meant harsher fiscal measures, most notably through raised taxes and lowered wages, which in turn does little to raise popularity.

THE ONLY CONSOLATION Lithuanian’s could draw was that things were still not as bad as in Latvia, with the added expectation that if devaluation was deemed necessary, it would hit our northern neighbours first.

While there is still talk of more cuts and hardship to come, some are predicting that as other larger economies seem to be moving out of recession, then Lithuania too may be either at the bottom of the cycle or close to it. The threat of devaluation, though still present, is much subsided since summer and government heads throughout the Baltic are more confidently declaring it no longer an issue.

So on the occasion of the Seimas’ first birthday, perhaps they might finally be able to move forward, rather than just paddle frantically in an effort to stay still.

This Seimas really has brought to light the full fury of the curse: May you live in interesting times.

Vilnius International Airport (VIA) set new prices to promote new flights from Vilnius. This year VIA has already reduced passenger fees paid by airlines, which stood at LTL40.

“As compared to the neighbouring airports, that was a high price to pay. Therefore, now, when airlines count each litas, this price was a serious barrier for new flights”, said Tomas Vaišvila, Director General of VIA.

After introduction of the new VIA pricing policy, the passenger fee for the new regular flights will be LTL4 (compared to LTL10.35 in Riga, LTL31.74 in Tallinn and LTL55.2 in Warsaw).

“That’s a serious reason for airlines to revise their plans in Lithuania”, says Vaišvila.
VIA has also cut charges for airlines and passengers travelling from current
destinations.

The VIA cost cutting programme was launched this year to cut costs up to LTL85 mil, and next year costs are planned to decrease a further LTL60 mil.

After considerable savings of funds, the Ministry of Transport and Communications
obliged VIA in principle to revise its price formation for services
to make Vilnius Airport the most competitive, attractive and accessible in Europe.

airBaltic announced that it is opening five new direct flights from Vilnius Airport. The new flights were made possible through an initiative of the Lithuanian government of lowering
tariffs at Vilnius International Airport as of 1 December 2009. airBaltic is signing a new agreement with the airport.

The new destinations are Paris, from 18 December; Munich from 19 December; Berlin from 21 December; Amsterdam, from January 4: and to Rome from 11 January.

airBaltic president and CEO Bertolt Flick: “The Vilnius airport has begun very targeted policies with the lowering of its tariffs. This will allow airBaltic to launch new non-stop flights, and other airlines will also be attracted to the Lithuanian capital city. We are convinced that next year Vilnius airport will have every chance to become the most rapidly growing airport in Europe.”

Earlier this year airBaltic also started flying into Kaunas.

Vilnius, Nov 17 (ELTA) - This week Star1 Airlines launches regular flights from Vilnius to Milan, the restoration of a direct link between Lithuania and Italy.

According to Martynas Laivys, head of Star1 Airlines, this route was planned a long while back because there used to be a large number of passengers flying from Lithuania to Italy until the direct flights were stopped.

The airline will start operating flights to Milan from 21 November. Star1 Airlines will fly to Milan’s Malpensa Airport from Vilnius Airport twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays. They intend to increase the number of flights in the summer season.

The Government of Turkey lifted the visa requirement for Lithuanian citizens travelling to Turkey as tourists. The new Ambassador of Turkey to Lithuania, Omer Altug, presented the note confirming the Turkish Government’s decision during a meeting with Vygaudas Ušackas, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs on 12 November in Vilnius.

“Turkey is among the most popular destinations for Lithuanian tourists. Therefore, lifting the visa requirement is very important for Lithuania,” Minister Ušackas said during the meeting.

Lithuania’s Foreign Minister raised the issue regarding a visa-free regime for Lithuanian tourists and regarding the facilitation of visa issuance procedures for individual categories of Turkish citizens during a visit of the then Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Ali Babacan, to Vilnius on 20 February this year.

From now on, Lithuanian citizens can travel to Turkey without visas and stay there as tourists for up to 90 days over a period of 180 days. Visa requirement remain for persons travelling to Turkey on other purposes. The visa-free regime for Lithuanian tourists is already in force.
In 2008, about 90,000 Lithuanian citizens visited Turkey and spent a total of about LTL4.7 million for Turkish visas.

Vilnius, Aug 4 (ELTA) - On Tuesday early morning, a ship was attacked near Nigerian coast and five members of its crew were taken as hostages. Their location is not yet known.

According to the data available to the Foreign Ministry, the ship Saturnas belonging to Limarko Laivininkystes Kompanija, sailing under a Lithuanian flag, was captured. Five Lithuanian nationals captured by armed attackers were taken as hostages and taken away by a motor boat.

Vytautas Lygnugaris, CEO of Limarko Laivininkystes Kompanija, told ELTA that the ship carrying frozen fish was attacked early Tuesday morning.

“The ship was berthed and waiting for discharge in the morning. People armed with automatic arms approached the ship by boat. They did not try to get anything from the ship; captured five people who were guarding the ship at that moment and left,” said Lydnugaris.

According to the data available to the company head, nobody in the crew was injured during the attack and the rest of the crew is fine. He also claimed that he had no information about the number of attackers.

According to Lygnugaris, the crew can defend themselves from the attackers only by releasing a strong water stream in order to wash them away from the board of the ship or by trying to push them away their ladders. “However, when there are more attackers, these measures do not really work,” Lygnugaris explained.

Limarko Laivininkystes Kompanija CEO claimed that this is the first time there is an accident with pirates in his experience. “In half an hour Foreign Minister Usackas will be in my office and we will be coordinating our actions further on,” he told ELTA on Tuesday afternoon.

According to Rolandas Kacinskas, head of the information and public relations department of the Foreign Ministry, having learned about the accident, the foreign minister suspended his holidays and is currently going to a meeting with the head of Limarko Laivininkystes Kompanija. This is the first case when Lithuania has to independently rescue its nationals from the grips of pirates, however, these captured seamen are not the first Lithuanians being captured by pirates.

Pavelas Galijevskis from Klaipeda was captured by Somali pirates this year. He was sailing by Bow Asir tanker belonging to the Norwegian company Salhus Shippuing AS. “This story ended successfully. This man has been rescued,” Kacinskas said.

Mayor Vilius Navickas, who brought the idea of Disneyland theme park to Vilnius from his official visit to Chicago in the U.S.A. has received negative responses from both Disneyland company and Legoland. Walt Disney Parks and Lego Group investors were proposed to consider the possibility to erect high-class entertainment park in Vilnius with their own finances.

It became clear from the responses that the companies are not currently planning to make investments into the Baltic region.

“By sending letters to these companies we just checked whether such a possibility existed. We expected such a variant too, however, our provision that a theme park that would be attractive to both Lithuanians and guests from abroad should be erected does not change,” mayor’s advisor Darius Indriunas told the daily Vilniaus Diena.

Vilnius, Jan 14 (ELTA) - Filipinos think that world-famous character Borat is Lithuanian. This conclusion is suggested in an article published in the local daily The Manila Times and US presidential candidate Barack Hussein Obama.

“Nobody knew him then. His names were equated to Lithuanian comedian Borat, Iraqi tyrant Hussein, and al-Qaeda terrorist Osama bin Laden,” this is the way the author of the article published on Monday describes the Democratic candidate striving for the post of the US president Obama.