Lietuva in brief - 2009-06-18

Jun 18, 2009

The World Forum for Direct Investment 2009, hosted by Red Hot Locations in association with LDA, took place on June 10-11 in Vilnius. During the forum, internationally expanding companies, investment promotion agencies and FDI consultants agreed that although times are tough, investment opportunities remain. "The outsourcing, IT and life sciences sectors are, despite the economic situation, offering investment opportunities" said Cathy Dawson, the managing Director of Red Hot Locations. Lithuania was the first to host this annual forum in the emerging new Europe.

Vilnius regional court awarded compensation to an adolescent whose mother died from failure to diagnose stomach cancer. Vilnius Karoniskes clinics and Mykolas Marcinkevicius hospital will have to pay 478,000 litas (138,438 euros) for not diagnosing the cancer in time, if the decision is not appealed. It was established that instead of an x-ray examination, the woman had been suggested a psychologist appointment. She had been losing weight, experiencing constant pain and the doctors were informed that the cancer runs in her family. The doctors said they never prescribed an x-ray examination because "it might have been uninformative."

A member of Lithuanian Parliament, conservative Arvydas Vidziunas, has evaded punishment for drunk driving. Vilnius 1st district court on June 16 decided that some violations have been made while establishing the intoxication level of Vidziunas. "It is still hard for me to acknowledge this fact as a human that a few glasses of wine for a person of my complexion can have such negative effect," said Vidziunas, when he was caught driving with 0.83 alcohol concentration in his blood. After the incident, Vidziunas resigned from the post at the election headquarters of the Lithuanian conservatives (Homeland Union). A fine of 1,000-1,500 litas (290-434 euros) and confiscation of his driving license from 12 to 18 months is applied for light intoxication while driving. However, as the court established that the intoxication test data could have been wrong, the fine is not applicable. The decision may be appealed in 10 days.

Eleven Roma have demanded Vilnius municipality pay them 5.5 million litas (1,592,910 euros) compensation for demolition of illegally built Roma homes in Kirtimai. "We demand [they] pay the money immediately. They have demolished our houses and now avoid responsibility, do not think that we have no place to live" said claimants at Vilnius regional administrative court on June 15. The court hearing had to be postponed because the lawyer of the claimants could not participate. This is the second time this court is analyzing the case 's it had previously awarded the Roma with 100,000 litas (28,962 euros) compensation, but the decision was appealed and subsequently, the case was remanded.

Aosta Valley court (Italy) ordered a recall of 10,000 tons of wood, allegedly brought from Lithuania, due to their radioactivity. The alarm in Italy was raised after a resident of Aosta Valley region, who had bought the pellets, sent them for analysis because they did not burn well. Analysis revealed the wood pellets contained cesium 137, a highly toxic radioactive substance, normally produced by a nuclear explosion or from the combustion of a nuclear reactor.

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