Dalia Grybauskaitė
Politics

Lithuanian president delivers State of the Nation address: The world is not a peaceful place

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė made her annual State of the Nation address at the Lithuanian parliament, Seimas, on Thursday. In her speech, the president mostly focused on national defence, security challenges stemming from Russia‘s aggressive policies, as well as emigration of working-age population. Grybauskaitė also stressed the need to work more on addressing social issues, particularly in childcare institutions. […]

Juozas Bernatonis
Politics

Lithuanian justice minister: Same-sex couples are more propaganda than reality

Lithuania’s Ministry of Justice has drafted a bill that, if passed, would introduce the institution of partnership into the country’s Civil Code. However, the bill spells out that the possibility to form partnerships would only apply to opposite-sex couples. According to Justice Minister Juozas Bernatonis, there is no need to legalize same-sex partnership because there are hardly any same-sex couples in Lithuania. […]

Vytenis, 18, Rokas, 17, and Martynas, 22
Society

Photography project draws attention to gender stereotypes behind Lithuania’s conscription debate

The Lithuanian government has decided to reintroduce military conscription this year, after which the Ministry of National Defence compiled a list of almost 37,000 eligible young men who might be drafted for the military service this year. This has sparked much controversy and a heated debate in the Lithuanian public. […]

Global LT

Lithuanian Cultural Centre in Belgium celebrates its first season

On May 28, the Lithuanian Embassy to Belgium together with the Lithuanian community held a symbolic closing evening of the first season of Lithuania’s Cultural Centre in Belgium (LCCB). […]

No Picture
Economy

EUROC Lithuania – the largest Western Union site in the world

EUROC Lithuania celebrates the fifth birthday of the establishment. Within the past 4 years, EUROC expanded more than 5 times from the initial plan of 250 employees in 2010 to more than 1,300 employees today (2015 April). During this time, Western Union‘s (WU) centre in Lithuania has experienced the strongest growth in global WU scale. Now EUROC has become the largest WU site in the world, said Invest Lithuania, the government’s foreign investment promotion agency. […]

Unique Jewish heritage site opens in Šeduva. Photo by Arūnas Baltėnas
Society

Unique Jewish heritage site opens in Šeduva

More than two years of work on the restoration and preservation of Jewish heritage in Šeduva were marked in a private ceremony at the town’s recently restored Jewish cemetery (Žvejų gatvė). More than 400 tombstones have been identified and more than 1,300 have been either painstakingly restored or preserved in a tribute to the lives of the thousands of Jews that once comprised the majority of this Lithuanian shtetl. […]

Darius Maikštėnas
Economy

Lithuanian startup Widerfi enters world’s largest accelerator

Widerfi, a startup established in Lithuania and formerly known as Cheap Data Communications, has joined MassChallenge – the World’s largest accelerator, and will compete for 500 thousand pounds and 1 million dollar prizes at the end of the year. Widerfi offers a new mobile internet model for travellers and is the first Lithuanian startup to participate in the accelerator which will be held simultaneously in Boston and London. […]

Economy

Investors confident about Lithuanian economy, but low demand a concern

In the second quarter of 2015 Investors’ Confidence in Lithuania’s economic prospects grew significantly – CEOs of companies investing in Lithuania expect further positive changes in business environment. […]