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(AP)  VILNIUS, Lithuania — John Malkovich says his latest acting role, an aging Siberian mobster trying to raise his grandson to be an honorable crook, proved to be a "delightful" experience.

The movie, "Siberian Education," is set in Trans-Dniester, now a separatist republic between Moldova and Ukraine, though filming of the U.S.-Italian production took place in Lithuania and wrapped up this week.

Malkovich plays Kuzja, an old recividist exiled to Trans-Dniester along with numerous other ex-convicts by Soviet authorities in the waning years of the Soviet Union. Kuzja tries to teach his grandson Kolyma — the film's main protagonist, played by Lithuanian actor Arnas Fedaravicius — the arcane rules of "criminal morals."

"It is an interesting story about the way of life that most of audience would not know about," Malkovich said Friday before leaving Lithuania. "Things are so much global and Americanized. It's interesting to think of that kind of (criminal) culture that the film addresses is kind of becoming extinct."

"I found this experience delightful," he added.

Read more at:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/24/ap/entertainment/main20111117.shtml

Lithuania ranks fourth among the world’s nations in terms of the Internet speed trailing only to South Korea, Romania and Bulgaria, Pando Networks, a US-based communication technology firm, said.

South Korea leads the list with the average download speed of 2,202 kilobytes per second, followed by Romania (1,909 Kbps) and Bulgaria (1,611 Kbps). Lithuania stood fourth with a 1,462 Kbps average download speed, the study by Pando Networks revealed.

The analysis was based on 27 million downloads by 20 million computers in 224 countries from January through June 2011.

The top ten also include Latvia (1,377 Kbps), Japan (1,364 Kbps), Sweden (1,234 Kbps), Ukraine (1,190 Kbps), Denmark (1,020 Kbps) and Hong Kong (922 Kbps). The world Internet speed average stood at 580 Kbps during the study.

Joakim Noah:
Basketball might be bigger in Lithuania than even back in America.
Passion for the sport seen in every sector of society

By Christopher Johnson - Special to The Washington Times

KAUNAS, Lithuania — While American basketball addicts are growing anxious over the NBA lockout, fans in that other hotbed of basketball —Lithuania — are in hoop heaven as they host some of the best players and action in the world at Eurobasket 2011.

Joakim Noah, the French center who led the Chicago Bulls deep into the playoffs last season, calls EuroBasket “an NBA playoff environment. It’s very similar in terms of energy.”

That’s not only because of NBA Finals MVPs Dirk Nowitzki and Tony Parker playing for Germany and France. 

Noah, a dual citizen of France and the U.S. who was born in New York City, said that basketball might be bigger in Lithuania than even back in America.

“Lithuania’s population is probably smaller than the state of Indiana, but you see the love and passion they have for the game here,” he said after France beat Greece on Thursday to advance to the semifinals. “Even the girl on the cover of the Lithuanian Playboy magazine has a basketball in her hand.”

Many American fans have never heard of EuroBasket. But an increasing number of U.S.-based players and basketball officials, who are watching the games on ESPN3.com, are realizing that some of the most dramatic and hard-fought action is happening across the Atlantic.

Read ‘The Washington Post’ article at
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/sep/18/hoops-hysteria-grips-lithuania/

 
President of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaitė, with Jørgen Molde, Ambassador of Denmark.

In the capital of Denmark, the city of Copenhagen, a new committee has been established to push forward economic partnership between Lithuania and Denmark.

The Danish Ambassador in Lithuania, The Lithuanian Ambassador in Denmark, Confederation of Danish Industries, Invest Lithuania and a number of Danish Chamber of Commerce members participated in establishing the Committee, which will focus on stimulating bilateral investment flows, exchange of ideas and views on further developments of the markets, as well as improvement of business operation environments in Lithuania and Denmark.

Amongst the Nordic countries, Denmark for many years has been one of the leading foreign investors in Lithuania. Danish FDI was constantly growing from year to year and it especially increased in the past decade, before the recent financial crisis hit the economies of the world. According to the Lithuanian Department of Statistics, there were 260 Danish investors in Lithuania in 2010, and Danish FDI constituted more than EUR 1 billion.

September 15, 2011, Invest Lithuania

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite (R)shakes hands with He Guoqiang, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and secretary of the CPC's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, in Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, June 15, 2010.
(Xinhua/Liu Jiansheng)

BEIJING, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao and his Lithuanian counterpart Dalia Grybauskaite on Wednesday pledged to deepen bilateral relations between the two countries.

The two leaders made the pledge as the two leaders exchanged congratulatory messages celebrating the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two nations.

In his congratulatory message, Hu noted that China-Lithuania relations have developed healthily and smoothly over the past 20 years. Frequent contacts between the two countries' leaders have deepened mutual understanding and trust.

Hu said Lithuania has been China's largest trade partner in the Baltic region for years with increasingly expanded cooperation in economics and trade.

Both countries have witnessed fruitful cooperation in the fields of culture, education and sports. They also maintain good communications and coordination within the United Nations and other international organizations, Hu said.

China will work with Lithuania to continuously advance and deepen their bilateral friendly and cooperative relations based on mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, he said.

Grybauskaite said in her message that the Lithuania-China relationship has yielded significant results, particularly in their cooperation in economics and trade, culture, and sports.

She said Lithuania will deepen its mutual beneficial cooperation with China in order to benefit the two countries.

Read more at:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-09/14/c_131138611.htm

Germany lost to Lithuania today, 84-75, ending the EuroBasket 2011 sojourn for Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Kaman. The Germans dropped to fifth place in their group, with only the top four advancing to the quarterfinals. The loss also ended the Germans' dreams of playing in the 2012 Olympics in London, and may have ended the international career of Nowitzki in the process.

The biggest blow to the German's hopes occurred an hour before tip off, when Ersan Ilyasova's last second jump shot hit the back of the rim and bounced away. Had that shot fallen, Turkey would have beaten Serbia, and Germany would have needed just a simple victory to advance to the quarterfinals. Instead, Serbia's win meant that Germany had to win by at least 11 points to move forward. Playing before a manic sell out crowd in Vilnius, against a Lithuania team that itself had to win to advance, the Germans were facing long odds.

Read the article at:
http://www.clipsnation.com/2011/9/11/2419744/eurobasket-germany-loses-fails-to-advance

 
Jekaterina Rojaka
Chief economist, DnB NORD bank

Lithuania’s consumer price inflation plummeted from 4.6% y/y in July to 4.4% y/y in August. Monthly change stood at -0.4% and was well below the consensus and DnB NORD estimate (-0.2%).

The main reason for drop in inflation was seasonal decline in food prices, as well as prolonged sale of clothing and footwear. Downward slide in producer prices (-1.1% m/m in August) relieves some cost pressures.

Assessment: We expect consumer prices to stay on the downward trend if the oil price holds at circa its current level. In this case inflation is set to slow down to 4% by the end of 2011.

The Moscow coup in 1991:
Landsbergis soon took a call from the Soviet army’s Baltic district. “We are the power now,” said the voice

The author of this article is Mr. Neil Buckley, Financial Times' Eastern Europe Editor.

Shortly after 6am on August 19 1991, Vytautas Landsbergis, Lithuania’s pro-independence leader, received a phone call. A colleague gave him news from Moscow. There had been a coup; Mikhail Gorbachev was under arrest.

Mr Landsbergis had feared something like this since Lithuania became the first Soviet state to declare independence, unrecognised by Moscow, a year earlier. He soon took a call from the Soviet army’s Baltic district. “We are the power now,” said the voice.

Yet little over 48 hours later, the coup collapsed; within months, so did the Soviet Union. Mr Landsbergis set Lithuania on the path to Nato and European Union membership. At 78, he now sits in the European parliament. His view of Lithuania’s transformation is hard-headed, however. “It could have happened even sooner,” says Mr Landsbergis, “if only Russia had succeeded in building a European democracy.”

These are the opening phrases from an article written by Neil Buckley in the Financial Times. The article is recommended by VilNews. To read the full text, go to:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/005007d6-c9b2-11e0-b88b-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1X9SJXb7z

1991-2011
A Baltic triumph
IQ THE ECONOMIST VILNIUS

Vilnius, September 1991: two young people remove Communist symbols from a building.
Photo: AFP/Virgis Usinavicius

In August 1991, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia declared their independence from a collapsing USSR. Despite a few hiccups along the way, twenty years on they have definitively turned the page on Communism and come back to their roots in Europe.

Over the past two decades, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have turned out the big winners in a success story. Despite the realities that followed the crisis -- structural challenges such as corruption, pressures from interest groups and a lack of competitiveness at all levels -- the Baltic states have managed to catapult themselves out of the Soviet space. They are no longer the ‘post-Communist states’, but underdeveloped Western states sharing values, stereotypes, issues, standards and even eating habits that are becoming more and more like those of Westerners. 

These are the opening phrases from an article written by Mindaugas Jurkynas for IQ THE ECONOMIST. The article is recommended by VilNews. To read the full text, go to:
http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/article/872211-baltic-triumph

31 AUGUST – 18 SEPTEMBER
You find all the latest updates at:
http://www.eurobasket.com/

For 2011, LITHUANIA has been chosen as the host country for one of the most prestigious Sport’s Tournaments in Europe and the World. This is the second time in the Tournament’s rich history that Lithuania has been chosen to host the Basketball Championship of Europe. First time was in 1939, when Lithuania also won the gold medal.

EuroBasket 2011 will crown the Basketball Champion of Europe. While this is an important event for all European countries, it is especially important for a country like LITHUANIA that proclaims Basketball as its “Second Religion”.

The EuroBasket Championship saw its first tournament held in Geneva, Switzerland in 1935. Since then, every two years the greatest teams and talent have met for the “bragging rights” of Europe.
Throughout the history of the tournament our Lithuanian Team has done very well.

2 September:
Lithuania beats Turkey
75-68 at Europeans

Captain Hidayet Türkoğlu and his team lost, rather unexepectedly. Lithuania and Spain are now the only undefeated teams in Group A.

Lithuania handed Turkey its first defeat at the European Championship on Friday, beating its Group A rival 75-68.

The victory for the host leaves Lithuania and Spain as the only undefeated teams in Group A, by far the toughest in the tournament. Turkey is now 2-1.

Darius Songalia led Lithuania with 12 points, while Simas Jasaitis and Rimantas Kaukenas each had 11.

1 September:
Poland chanceless against Lithuania

Lithuania's Tomas Delininkaitis (R) blocks Poland's Piotr Pamula during the EuroBasket 2011 first-round group A qualification match.

TORONTO - Lithuania had an easier time on the second day of the FIBA EuroBasket competition and as a result, Jonas Valanciunas saw more action.

The hosts rallied from an early three-point deficit to hammer Poland 97-77.
Poland was overmatched, conceding 69% shooting to Lithuania, while being outrebounded 41-19.

A day after getting just four third-quarter minutes of action, going scoreless with a pair of rebounds in a closer than expected victory over Great Britain, Valanciunas, got three minutes in the first half and 15 in the final two quarters when the outcome was no longer in doubt.

The Raptors draft pick didn't look entirely comfortable, a couple of balls slipped through his hands, but he still managed seven points, a couple of rebounds and a block. On the negative side, he fouled out and had five turnovers. The ultra-competitive Valanciunas disagreed with some of the calls and glared at the referee for a long moment after fouling out.
Mantas Kalnietis led Lithuania with 19 points, six rebounds and six assists.
The team will get a huge test on Friday when it takes on Turkey, which is also 2-0 and has been getting excellent play out of Hedo Turkoglu and centres Enes Kanter and Omer Asik.
In the game of the day, Germany beat Italy 76-62 with a great fourth quarter. Chris Kaman went off for 17 points and 17 rebounds, Dirk Nowitzki added 21 points and 12 rebounds, while Andrea Bargnani led Italy with five rebounds, but shot just 2-for-9 for eight points; In other significant games, tournament favourite Spain beat Portugal 87-73 behind 20 points from Pau Gasol;  Tony Parker led France over Israel 85-68 with 21 points and eight assists: Turkey beat Great Britain 90-61 despite 10 points from Toronto's Kyle Johnson, Greece dropped Finland by 20, Russia defeated Georgia 65-58 and Macedonia upset Croatia 78-76.
Turkey-Lithuania and France-Germany will be Friday's heavyweight clashes.

Read the Toronto Sun article at: http://www.torontosun.com/2011/09/01/lithuania-big-v-blow-out-poland

 
The US Ambassador to Lithuania,
Anne E. Derse

US embassy officials in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania issued a statement commemorating the 20th anniversary of President George H. W. Bush's announcement that the United States had formally reestablished diplomatic relations with the governments of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
It was on September 2, 1991, several days after the coup that brought about the collapse of the Soviet Union, that US President Bush announced the formal recognition of Baltic independence.

Read more at:
http://news.err.ee/politics/2700d0d7-119a-46ed-9249-2b2f60f8e303

31 August:
Battling Great Britain sunk by Euro hosts Lithuania

Great Britain began their Eurobasket campaign with an 80-69 defeat to hosts Lithuania in Panevezys. 

In front of a crowd of 7,000, GB gained the respect of their hosts with a resilient performance that threatened an upset in the third quarter. 

Luol Deng scored 25 points for GB and Dan Clark added 15 in his best performance of the summer. 

After slipping behind, Lithuania proved too strong and experienced for GB, closing out the game with a 20-6 run.
Coach Chris Finch's team started the game with confident threes from Deng and Reinking and held a 16-10 lead before a Ksistof Lavrinovic three-pointer at the end of the first quarter gave the hosts the lead.
Lavrinovic hit two more in the second quarter as Lithuania began to hit their stride, opening a 10-point lead. GB's frustration in the second quarter boiled over into a technical foul for Finch, but the players showed little sign of losing their cool. 

But the third quarter was all GB - they held Lithuania scoreless for almost six minutes after Songaila opened the scoring and Deng, Freeland and Clark combined for a 10-0 run. The lead came on the last minute of the third quarter as the hard-working Freeland swooped to the basket. 

Down 57-54 at the end of the third quarter, Lithuania took back the lead immediately at the start of the fourth and when Simas Jasaitis hit a three with 6:27 left to play, Lithuania took a lead that they never lost. 

Read more at BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/basketball/14740720.stm

 
French Mirage fighter and
Lithuanian jet L-39 (inset)
Image Credit: nato.int

By LIUDAS DAPKUS, Associated Press VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Two military jets collided above Lithuania during a NATO exercise Tuesday, but one managed to land and the other crashed in an unpopulated area after its two pilots ejected. No serious injuries were reported.
The collision of the Lithuanian and French aircraft occurred near the Zokniai air base in northern Lithuania, home to NATO jets patrolling the skies over the Baltic countries.
The French Mirage fighter was only "lightly damaged" and landed safely at the air base, NATO said.
The Lithuanian pilots successfully ejected from their L-39 Albatros jet after the collision at 10:30 a.m. local time (0730 GMT), according to NATO.
"The two Lithuanian pilots walked away from the crash without serious injury and are currently under medical supervision," the military alliance said in a statement.
The pilots catapulted themselves out of the L-39 combat training aircraft after aiming it toward an unpopulated area to avoid causalities on the ground, Lithuanian defense chief Arvydas Pocius told reporters in the capital, Vilnius. They returned to service after medical checks, he said.
The plane crashed in a forested swampland near Rekyva lake, which is about 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the air base, Defense Minister Rasa Jukneviciene told the Baltic News Service. There were no reports of injuries on the ground.

Read the Associated Press article at:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jSsa_iYOxJUl01TKrPIoqaxGUPAg?docId=eabc614521684f2b8c3ddc8eb8eee608

 
Gazprom workers welding the final joint of the Minsk – Vilnius – Kaunas –Kaliningrad gas pipeline in 2009.

Gazprom has filed a request to the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce to consider the conflict with Lithuania’s Energy Ministry. The Russian company wants to receive a compensation of damage from the ministry following an earlier court proceedings Vilnius initiated against Gazprom. 

In March, official Vilnius went to court with the request to investigate the activities of Lietuvos Dujos company, in which Gazprom holds one of the main stakes, and to oblige Gazprom to reduce price for gas it supplies to Lithuania. 

The Lithuanian government complained that Russia had set higher gas tarriffs than the tariffs agreed upon during the privatization of Lietuvos Dujos. 

Now Gazprom has filed a counter claim seeking compensation for damage it suffered due to Vilnius’ claims. According to general director of the Russian Fund of national energy security Konstantin Simonov, Gazprom has good chances of having his counter claim satisfied.
"It is a common practice to go to arbitration when the parties fail to agree. Such an option is always set in contracts. In this situation, Gazprom is acting in a European way and it will definitely be able to stand up for its rights. Judging from the content of the contracts I think that Gazprom has good chances to win."

It is difficult to say exactly what Gazprom means by damage. But it has been calculated that in the first quarter of 2011 Lietuvos dujos gas sales dropped by more than 1/3. All the experts interviewed by “Voice of Russia” said that the higher gas price for Lithuania is quite grounded. According to Bloomberg news agency, earlier this year Gazprom said that Lithuania, unlike neighboring Latvia and Estonia, won’t receive gas-price cuts because the country plans to begin unbundling ownership of its gas industry

Read the ‘Voice of Russia’ article at:
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/08/31/55465155.html