Dalia Grybauskaite falls short of first round re-election despite popular stance against Russian expansion Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaite faces a second round run-off after Sunday's presidential elections in the Baltic state after she fell short of the 50% of votes needed for re-election in the first round. With 97% of votes counted, Grybauskaite, popular for her abrasive style and strong...
Youth unemployment and the need for more democracy are among the hot topics at three-day European Youth Event It is not everyone's idea of a weekend Euro-break: a conference in the sprawling maze of parliamentary buildings in Strasbourg to debate the virtues of European democracy. Yet they came in their thousands more than 8,000 young people from 28 member states to celebrate the European Union and...
Centre-right leader Dalia Grybauskaite, a firm supporter of the Nato alliance, strongly favoured to win second term Lithuanians began voting on Sunday to elect their president, with the incumbent "Iron Lady" Dalia Grybauskaite an apparent shoo-in as fears in the EU Baltic state soar over a resurgent Russia. Grybauskaite, renowned for her Thatcheresque resolve, is poised to win a second term...
On International Workers' Day we should reflect on abuses such as forced labour, discrimination and privacy rights abuses People around the world will mark workers' struggles for improved working conditions today on International Workers' Day. Many of those living and working in Europe enjoy the achievements of this movement. Yet, others in the region continue to face exploitation, discrimination,...
Defence secretary says UK to 'play central role' in providing security support to Nato allies during Ukraine crisis Britain is deploying four Typhoon fighter-jets to the Baltics as part of a Nato show of support against the backdrop of the Ukraine crisis. Continue reading... ...
600 troops to be deployed to Poland and Baltic states Lithuania president: 'We see who our real friends are' The United States deployed 150 paratroopers to Lithuania on Saturday, part of efforts by Washington to reassure its eastern European allies, worried by events in Ukraine, that Nato would offer protection if they face Russian aggression. A total of 600 US troops are to be deployed to Poland...
Putin's seizure of Crimea prompts alliance to reinforce Poland and Baltic states, and suspend co-operation with Kremlin Two decades on from the end of the cold war, Nato governments returned last night to their core mission of protecting Europe from Russia. As a result of the Kremlin's seizure of Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, Nato foreign ministers discussed plans to bolster defences in...
Cameron says British army will help beef up defences in Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia to deter possible Russian aggression Britain is to join forces with its Nato allies to help bolster defences of the Baltic states amid fears that Moscow may use the presence of substantial Russian minorities to destabilise Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. As Downing Street indicated that the leaders of the G7 countries...
Joe Biden says US exploring sending ground troops to Baltic region to try to prevent further territorial aggression by Russia Dan Roberts ...
s takeover of the Crimean peninsula Russia's takeover of the Crimean peninsula has drawn condemnation from the west, but reaction has been more varied in the 14 former Soviet republics in Russia's "near abroad". Many have played a balancing act between Russia and the west, and almost all have significant Russian-speaking populations – like the one that served as a justification for Moscow's intervention...
Country that has adhered to fiscal discipline might change course, according to Viktor Uspaskich, leader of Labour The leader of the party set to win Lithuania's parliamentary election said on Sunday there could be a case for letting the Baltic state's budget deficit rise above the ceiling set out under European Union rules. Lithuania has been held up as a model of fiscal discipline inside the EU after...
Left-wing parties opposed to austerity on the road to a parliamentary majority after second round vote Lithuanians angry at spending cuts put leftwing opposition parties on the path to power in an election on Sunday that likely spelled the end for a conservative government praised abroad as a model of austerity. The Social Democratic Party and the Labour Party, which have promised to raise the minimum...
Petras Lescinskas, who was arrested during the Lithuania-Nigeria match, pleads guilty to racially aggravated offence A Lithuanian man who gave a Nazi salute during an Olympic basketball match has become the first person to be convicted of a racially aggravated offence at the Games and fined £2,500. He was told that his behaviour and that of other Lithuanian fans was "despicable". Petras...
I was at the Olympic basketball game where Lithuanian fans racially abused Nigerian players. This must not be tolerated Great Britain is now basking in the glory of our Olympic Games and also showing its multicultural face. The eight team GB gold medallists last weekend all came from very different walks of life; different races and religions, from north and south of the border, the privileged and...
we expected more' after he refuses to sign pact at summit in Lithuania A six-year campaign to lure Ukraine into integration with the EU and out of the Kremlin's orbit failed on Friday when President Viktor Yanukovych refused to sign a pact at a summit in Lithuania. Ten days of high-stakes brinkmanship that brought a clash between Russian and other European countries ended with the Kremlin on top, for...
s future. The volte face was a result of Russian blackmail, the Lithuanian president's office said as senior officials in Brussels said Yanukovych was sacrificing the hopes and wishes of most of his countrymen on the altar of Russian money and contracts. Yulia Tymoshenko, the imprisoned former prime minister and arch-rival of Yanukovych, whose release and transfer to Germany has been the central condition...
Photographer Tadao Cern spent a weekend photographing people as they slept on a public beach in Lithuania. The art project, entitled Comfort Zone, aims to explore how different surroundings can affect people's behaviour and inhibitions ...
s failure to legislate for release of Yulia Tymoshenko, a key condition of Brussels deal, enhances Moscow's hold Europe's hopes of besting Vladimir Putin and luring Ukraine out of Moscow's orbit through free trade and the prospect of EU membership suffered a setback on Wednesday when the parliament in Kiev balked at a key decision intended to push the country westwards. The parliament shelved legislation...
s family eked out a living on their smallholding in the forest, each night putting food outside on the porch for the desperate and sometimes dangerous people hiding amongst the trees. On 16 February – Lithuanian Independence day – in 1944, Albinas stood with other students on his college balcony to hear General Povilas Plechavičius's radio appeal for volunteers to join an independent Lithuanian unit....
s newfound confidence is both confusing and concerning Europe. Should the EU be worried? We ask foreign policy experts A resurgent Kremlin is setting the agenda on major world issues and has once again started to boss its back yard. Buoyed by his Syria diplomatic triumph, Vladimir Putin has regained some of the swagger that temporarily deserted him during protests against his re-election last year....