Society
Intense search for fishermen lost in fog in Curonian Lagoon
A number of fishermen got lost on the Curonian Lagoon ice on Monday evening due to heavy fog. […]
Month: January 2016
CORPORATE
Controversy grows over minister taking spouse on official trip to London
There is growing controversy over Education Minister Audronė Pitrėnienė taking her spouse Aurelijus Pitrėnas on an official trip to the World Education Forum in London last week. […]
CORPORATE
Foreign investors get frosty reception in Lithuania’s regions
Foreign investors get a frosty reception in the regional parts of Lithuania as local businessman fear competition and put pressure on councils to keep out foreign investment, according to Rūta Skyrienė, executive director of the Investors Forum, which brings together foreign investors in Lithuania. […]
CORPORATE
Will consumers feel lower gas prices?
Consumers will not see a big drop in the price of their gas following a new deal between Lithuanian gas trading company Litgas and Norway‘s Statoil which will cut the wholesale liquefied natural gas price by more than a third and reduce the maintenance costs of the LNG terminal by 23%. […]
Culture
Heritage commission to take up Green Bridge statues issue
The new chairwoman of the State Cultural Heritage Commission will look into the fate of the soviet Green Bridge sculptures that were removed from central Vilnius last summer. […]
Society
Over 100 flu patients hospitalized in Lithuania
Flu and upper respiratory infections are spreading fast in Lithuania, with over 100 people hospitalized with flu complications this week. […]
CORPORATE
Supporters and critics of Poland clash in European Parliament
Ping pong of historical references pepper European Parliament debate on Poland reforms and European Commission investigation […]
Politics
Economy
Lithuanian customs seized €30m worth of smuggled goods last year
Lithuanian customs officers seized smuggled items worth over €30 million last year, according to preliminary data. […]
Economy
Indexed pensions may not help Lithuanian pensioners, whose payouts are among Europe’s lowest
Even the €8 increase in the average pension will not help pensioners in Lithuania, who receive one of the most frugal pensions in Europe. President Dalia Grybauskaitė is encouraging lawmakers to index pensions, which would make them increase together with growing average wages in the nation, and the prime minister, Algirdas Butkevičius, believes that indexing pensions would make them grow by up to 6 or 7 percent. […]
Culture
Lithuania gets spot in 2nd Eurovision semi-final
Lithuania will perform in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 on May 12, according to the results of the allocation draw on Monday. […]
Society
Court upholds Soviet officer’s acquittal in war crime case
Lithuania’s Court of Appeals has rejected prosecutors’ appeal against the acquittal of a former Soviet militia officer in a war crime case. […]
Culture
War and Peace director Tom Harper: ‘I felt like an army general myself, but with less severe consequences’
Tom Harper, director of the BBC‘s latest adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s epic War & Peace, returns to Vilnius, the backdrop of many of the series’ scenes, for the first screening in Lithuania. David van Roon of the Lithuania Tribune speaks with Harper about Lithuania’s most beautiful film locations, local cuisine and how directing an army of actors in a battle scene is not all that different from commanding an actual army. […]
European Union
Brexit is bigger challenge for EU than refugees, Lithuanian MP says
Britain’s planned referendum on quitting the European Union is a bigger challenge to the EU than the migration crisis, says Gediminas Kirkilas, the chairman of the Lithuanian parliament’s European Affairs Committee, after meeting with his Baltic and Polish counterparts. […]
Culture
Historic and modern Vilnius in then-and-now photos celebrate city’s birthday
On this day in 1323, Grand Duke Gediminas, the ruler of Lithuania at the time, wrote a letter that has become the first known historical mention of the name of Vilnius. This January 25th is the Lithuanian capital’s 693rd birthday! […]
Economy
State Tax Inspectorate’s public procurement deal under scrutiny
The Lithuanian parliament’s Anti-corruption Commission has turned to the minister of finance, asking for clarification about public procurement contracts of the State Tax Inspectorate (VMI). […]
Economy
Court rejects €19m overcharge claim from Vilniaus Energija on gas
Vilniaus Energija, the Lithuanian energy company owned by France’s Veolia (formerly Dalkia), has failed to convince a court that it should be reimbursed €19 million it overpaid for Gazprom gas. […]
CORPORATE
New deal with Statoil to cut gas price by third
Lithuania’s gas company Litgas has concluded negotiations with Norway’s Statoil to review it’s five-year liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply contract, substantially cutting maintenance costs of Lithuania’s LNG terminal and the price for gas consumers, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius says. […]
CORPORATE
Controversy over Lithuanian children seized in Norway prompts hard look inwards
Protests have sprung up across a number of countries against the actions of Barnevernet, the Norwegian children’s welfare service that has removed numerous children from migrant families in Norway. Last Thursday, one such protest sprang up in front of the Norwegian embassy in Vilnius but Linas Linkevičius, the Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, said “only a legal path, not populist protests and rallies, can be used to negotiate with Norway for the children that were taken from those Lithuanians”. […]
CORPORATE