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According to a new report from STATISTICS LITHUANIA there are now officially 3.24 million people resident in this country. That is about 100,000 fewer than a year ago.

If emigration continues at the same pace over the coming years, Lithuania will, in other words, be completely empty of people in 2043. And these are only the official statistics. Reality is probably even worse.

It is no longer a question of emigration but of evacuation...

This phrase was written next to one of the many openings penetrating the Berlin Wall in 1989, in the eve of East Germany’s collapse, and this is our today’s polite energy-saving call also to the last one who leaves Lithuania. Or maybe there is another, better choice?

What about:
“First in, turn the lights on!”

 
“I have been swamped with an avalanche of lies”, said the resigning minister, Dainius Kreivys, at a press conference today.
“I am not indifferent to what Lithuania will look like to our children and grandchildren after 20 or more years”, he concluded.

After a few months of investigation, Lithuania’s Chief Official Ethics Commission today stated that the Minister of Economy, Dainius Kreivys, confused public and private interests while making favorable decisions to support a company in which the co-owner is his own mother. During a press conference held at the Ministry of Economy, Kreivys read resignation statement and briefly commented that he was surprised and disagrees with the findings of the Ethics Commission. The minister affirmed that he intends to appeal the commission’s decision to court. “I have been swamped with an avalanche of lies”, said the Minister of Economy. “I am not indifferent to what Lithuania will look like to our children and grandchildren after 20 or more years”, said Kreivys.

During the latter months the controversial story of Minister of Economy of Lithuania Dainius Kreivys presented more and more questions to discuss. Why is Prime Minister Kubilius defending his minister? What was written in that mysterious note? Is Kreivys to disclose some large scale corruption case? Or, according to weekly newsmagazine Veidas, is he just a scapegoat?

The scandal began in January when media spread the message throughout the country claiming that possessions of the Minister of Economy Dainius Kreivys suddenly increased up to 170 million LTU. Yet, turns out it was just a media canard as no real evidence was found. Then a Chief Official Ethics Commission started the investigation on request of the opposition leader of Seimas Algirdas Butkevičius. In the report D. Kreivys was alleged of confusing public and private interests while participating in making decisions related to the companies whose main shareholder is minister’s mother. The Minister of Economy however refused all the accusations.

To read more, go to Section 9 – LITHUANIA TODAY

Yury Khardikov  a former Moscow city prefect wanted on suspicion of swindling the billionaire wife of the former Moscow mayor said he was granted political asylum in Lithuania. Yury Khardikov — accused of swindling Yelena Baturina of 1 billion rubles ($35 million) in a shady land deal — said prosecution against him in Russia prompted Lithuanian authorities to grant the asylum, Rosbalt news agency reported late Thursday. But Vilnius prosecutors continue a preliminary probe into Khardikov on suspicion of laundering $39 million that he allegedly transferred to Lithuania from Germany, Lithuanian web site Litovsky Kuryer said Friday, without elaborating on the origin of the money. Russian investigators say Khardikov, a former top manager at Unified Energy Systems who became a Moscow prefect in 2007, has led Baturina's company, Inteko, to purchase a land plot of unclear ownership in Sochi in 2005. But his problems only began in 2009, when then-Mayor Yury Luzhkov fired him from the job of the Northern Administrative District's prefect, citing his bad performance on repairing apartment blocks. Khardikov, who was vacationing abroad at the time, opted not to return to Russia, where a case was opened against him later the same year. Khardikov was placed on the international wanted list on large-scale fraud charges, punishable with up to 10 years behind bars, in late 2009. He has arrived in Lithuania in 2010 and spent a month under arrest there on suspicion of money laundering, but was later released from detention, Litovsky Kuryer reported. Khardikov said at a press conference late January that he expects the Russian case against him to be closed following Luzhkov's dismissal in September, Rosbalt said. But he also complained that Lithuanian authorities were "stifling" his business by freezing his bank accounts and confiscating his passport over the money laundering case. Luzhkov requested a residency permit in another Baltic state, Latvia, after his being fired, but authorities of the country he often lambasted on political grounds in the past refused his request in January.

Source:
http://www.themoscowtimes.com

Jeremiah Cullinane

Lithuanian book smugglers are in focus in Chicago this week, when Jeremiah Cullinane's Irish-Lithuanian documentary BOOK SMUGGLERS revisits the 19th-century rebels who conspired to preserve their literary tradition amid the enforced Russification of Lithuania

EUROPE’S strongest man Žydrūnas Savickas is Lithuanian. But EU’s strongest economy is clearly German. The two have more in common than you think. Both are breaking records and are familiar with lugging around dead weight.
Read more at
http://www.cityam.com/markets-and-investments/pulling-dead-weight-through

 
According to a report by the British Council and the Migration Policy Group, Lithuania has USA/Europe’s worst policies in dealing with the challenges of integrating immigrants

The study, published by the British Council and the Migration Policy Group, ranked 31 countries in Europe and North America on their policies towards integrating immigrants.
Using a variety of different critiera, including employment opportunities, access to education and anti-discrimination legislation, experts from all around the world scored countries on how well their policies fitted with international standards upheld by the EU.
According to the report, Sweden is on top. The other four highest-ranking countries were Portugal, Canada, Finland and the Netherlands, while the bottom five were Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia, Cyprus and Latvia. The UK was ranked in 12th position, equal with Germany, while the US was ranked in 9th place. Overall, within Europe and North America there was significant disparity, with Sweden being given a score of 83 points out of 100 for its policies, and Lithuania only 31 points.
Thomas Huddleston, an analyst at the Migration Policy Group, said that although many countries still needed to work on their immigration policies, the report showed a “slow but steady” improvement since the last time the report was published in 2007. On average, countries had moved up by one point, with some countries, such as Greece, improving by as much as 10 points. Some countries, however, were scored lower than in the 2007 report: including Italy, which dropped one point, and the UK, which dropped 10 points, the biggest decrease of any country.

- It was something of a recovery period for the Baltic tourism industry in 2010, following a challenging 2009. In all three Baltic countries tourist arrival numbers fell in 2009. Latvia welcomed the most tourists (4.72mn), with Lithuania and Estonia both attracting just over 4mn. Latvia's position as the cheapest tourist destination of the three Baltic countries helped it maintain tourist numbers slightly better than its neighbours during the period of global economic uncertainty in 2009. The decision by the Latvian parliament in May 2010 to reduce the VAT rate on hotel accommodation from 21% to 10% further underlines the country's attractiveness compared to its Baltic peers.

Looking at trends in 2010, all three countries reported higher hotel occupancy rates over the summer months, which bodes well for full-year tourist arrivals figures. We estimate growth in tourist arrivals of 3% for Estonia, 5% for Latvia and 2.5% for Lithuania in 2010. Looking ahead, we are positive about the outlook for all three countries, with a slight preference for Latvia's potential growth in the next five years. Estonia remains the largest tourism market in terms of tourist revenues, generating US$1.42bn in 2009. Lithuania was second with US$870mn, with Latvia in third on US$674mn.

Read more at Section 23 – TRAVEL LITHUANIA!

After only two weeks online, VilNews has had close to ONE MILLION ARTCLE HITS!!

This is unique and remarkable, even in our today’s international internet world.

The success of VilNews, even on a world scale, is remarkable!
In the world of internet, hits and visitors are most important, and we have already, by far, exceeded all expectations with hundreds of percentages, getting close to one million  article hits after only two weeks online!!!

USA and Lithuania were over these two weeks competing every day about being the leading nation among our VilNews readers. Today USA is clearly ahead!

These two countries are, by the way, in a league of their own, representing almost 70% of our total readership. Today, for the first time, France is among our top 10!!

These are the figures of the day:

On the places after France follow:
Spain, Japan, Ireland, France, Sweden, Denmark, Hong Kong, Russia, Portugal, Latvia, Finland, Kenya, Spain, South Africa and the Czech Republic.

We have also readers in countries like:
Qatar, Oman, Benin, Oman, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Colombia, Malaysia, Chile, Artgentina, Trinidad and Tobago.

Lithuania-lovers in absolutely every corner of the world, in other words...

No doubt. Arturas Zuokas, who was Mayor of Vilnius twice, is eager and ready to occupy the chair for a third time. He didn’t make a secret out of it at a press conference on Monday, saying that he was ready to take the responsibility once again. His ‘Vilnius Coalition’ got 12 out of 51 mandates in the Vilnius election, just surpassing ‘The Polish Party’ that got 11 mandates.

An impressive comeback for a man who had already been written off by many.

In 100 polling districts (out of totally 151), Arturas Zuokas and his Vilnius Coalition received support from 17.45% of the voters; the Polish and Russian coalition was supported by 15.77% of the voters. The Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats came third with 13.49% of the vote.

Zuokas predicts that the ruling coalition in Vilnius City Municipal Council will be formed from at least three parties which are expected to be named as soon as Monday.

Also the Polish minority party increased its number of seats in the Vilnius city Council, when the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania managed to win 15.24 percent of the ballot in coalition with the Union of Russians, gaining 11 out of the 51 seats available in the capital’s council.

Waldemar Tomaszewski, head of the party and an MEP from the European Conservatives and Reformists grouping, tol din a press releasethat „the elections are a success.”

The Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania also won in regional elections, gaining 64.72 percent of the ballot in the Vilnius region, gaining 19 out of 27 seats in the local government.

44.04% of Lithuania’s voters went to the polls this Sunday to express their political will. Voter turnout data was collected from 2,016 polling stations in 60 municipalities. Turnout reached 1.152,765 people voted, 4.51% of ballot papers found invalid. Preliminary data shows that Alytus, Birstonas, Lazdijai, Silale, Svencionys, Salcininkai, Raseiniai, Pagegiai, Ignalina,Vilnius, Zarasai districts and Neringa city saw the highest local governments election turnout with over 50% of the local electorate going to the polls. The percentage of voters in the major cities was lower. According to preliminary counts, voter turnout was at 36.62% in Panevezys, 40.1% in Kaunas, 33.55% in Klaipeda, 41.49% in Alytus, 39.43 in Siauliai and 43.93% in Vilnius. Polling stations closed at 8 p.m.

A total of 16,404 candidates stood for election to municipal councils. Seats at municipal councils were sought by 23 party lists of candidates and 505 independent candidates.

Voters in 60 municipalities elected 1,526 municipal council members.

Sources: BNS, lrytas.lt, veidas.lt, delfi.lt

The President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite votes at the municipal elections in Sauletekis electoral district in Vilnius.
Photo from the Presidential Press Office

More than 16 thousand candidates took part in the municipal elections which were held on February 27th, 2011. Only about 1.5 thousand of them will be assigned with responsibilities in all 60 municipalities of Lithuania. 2 million 634 thousand 582 Lithuanian citizens had a right to vote in this municipal election, but not all of them performed their civil duties.

State politicians also participated in elections as voters. The president of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaite, encouraged Lithuanian people to give their votes in municipal elections. She made her choice at the Sauletekis electoral district on Sunday morning and noticed that it was easy to decide for whom to vote, while former president of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus said that it was a difficult task to choose a candidate or a list of candidates whom he frankly supports. Adamkus also claimed that civil society in Lithuania is still immature but expressed hope that “perhaps we move out from this serious domestic political crisis in which we are now”.

Some election violation cases were registered during the voting day. In Varena district the election observer publicly humiliated a voter in a wheelchair claiming that he should have took a ballot home, while according to the law, disabled people may vote at home if they wish as well as at the ward. Due to this case the local electoral commission drew up a report on administrative offence and withdrew the observer’s certificate. Also there had been some small voter bribery cases registered during the Election Day.

According to the recent data more than 43% of all voters participated in municipal elections, Central Electoral Commission of Lithuania announced. However, this is not a final result. The chairperson of VRK Zenonas Vaigauskas predicts that more than 45% of voters took part in the election on Sunday. This is the highest result of voters’ activeness in recent years.

Sources: BNS, lrytas.lt, veidas.lt, delfi.lt

Steinar Westby (35) had to learn it the hard way. He is now free again after almost 8 years in jail.

Norwegian Steinar Westby (35) is back in Lithuania after nearly eight years in prison in Norway. It was here in Vilnius that he was arrested in 2003 for large-scale smuggling of the drug Rophynol from Russia through Lithuania to Scandinavia, and for the scrapping of stolen cars, preparing them for 'export' from Norway to Lithuania.

"No matter how much money you earn on criminal activity, it is not worth it!" Steinar has had enough of the madness and is now just happy that he got through his criminal career with his life and health intact, as he directs a clear warning to other young people who may think this kind of easy money may provide a basis for a good life.

"Rohypnol is no longer in production," he says over a beer in a Vilnius pub this Saturday afternoon. "Now it’s mostly amphetamines, alcohol and cigarettes that is smuggled through Lithuania to Western Europe. Smuggling of these items, however, takes place on a very large scale, and Lithuania has in recent years become a leading gateway for smuggling to the EU. It is still quite possible to bribe customs officials and border guards here, and the border control is also far too random and not very extensive," he tells me."Another typical activity for criminals in today's Lithuania," he says, "is to steal cars in Germany and bring them here for resale to the countries further east. That there no longer are border controls within the EU, has made this type of activity far simpler."

Steinar insists that he, for his own part, is finished for good with criminal activity. "Now I'll try to rebuild my life and do my best to warn other young people about falling into the crime trap," he says.

To read the complete article, go to our
Section 9 – LITHUANIA TODAY

Lithuania held its national final Thursday night with 13 acts competing for a ticket to the Eurovision Song Contest in May. After a combination of jury and viewer voting, Evelina Sasenko and the song "C'est Ma Vie" will represent the country in Dusseldorf, Germany.

The final featured nine songs that advanced from semi-final competition and four wildcard selections. Styles included jazz, power pop, dance, and funk. 

After jury votes were tabulated, Evelina Sasenko's "C'est Ma Vie", Linas Adomaitis's "Floating to You" and Liepa's "Laukiu" (the only song not in English) were the frontrunners. The home audience favored Sasenko, Monika's "Days Go By", and Adomaitis. Sasenko, Adomaitis, and Ruta Sciogolevaite, whose "Break Free" scored well with both groups, advanced to the Superfinal.

After the three superfinalists performed their songs again, the jury selected the winner. Evelina Sasenko will compete in the second half of the first Semi-Final in Dusseldorf on May 10.

http://www.tvlatest.com

Listen to Evelina at YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT5wZw7vP3Q

Finance Minister Ingrida Šimonytė.

February 22, 2011 (BNS)

Lithuania is getting ready to sell a new USD denominated bond issue on international markets. Meetings with potential investors, some of which might be attended by Finance Minister Ingrida Simonyte, were scheduled for this and next week, the minister's aide, Giedre Balcytyte, confirmed. She also confirmed that the road show to promote the issue would be held in London, New York and Boston on February 25 - March 1. The Finance Ministry plans to borrow some LTL 6.1 bn in 2011 to finance the budget deficit and repay maturing debts. About LTL 4 bn will be borrowed on international markets and some additional LTL 2 bn on the domestic market.
Lithuania sold ten-year bonds for USD 2 bn under the annual interest of 7.625% in February 2010 and seven-year bonds for USD 750 mn under the interest of 5.125% early in September.