A public prosecutor has proposed to fine ex-President Rolandas Paksas' associate Valentinas Mazuronis 10,000 litas (3,000 euros) for slandering Parliamentary Speaker Arturas Paulauskas. Mazuronis accused Paulauskas last December of sending the former leader of the anti-democratic movement Yedinstvo, Valery Ivanov, to a rally of Paksas' supporters in Vilnius.
The Farmers and New Democracy Union has said it would seek a post in the new government and did not rule out a coalition with the populist Labor Party. "We keep this issue open," MP Kazimira Prunskiene, the union's leader and former presidential candidate, said. She predicted that right and left parties would also cooperate with the populist Labor Party after the elections in spite of pledges otherwise.
The oppositional Liberal and Center Union have listed former EU negotiator Petras Austrevicius to head the list of the party's candidates for Parliament, rather than their leader, Vilnius Mayor Arturas Zuokas. "Austrevicius will be listed as the number-one candidate on our list," the party's vice chairman, Kestutis Glaveckas, said. He added it was unclear whether Zuokas would be listed at all. A final decision is expected at the party's council on Sept. 4.
A Kaunas court has awarded
compensation of 1 million litas (290,000 euros) to a family of twins who suffered severe bodily burns in the first days of their lives through the fault of doctors. The hospital of Marijampole will have to pay 400,000 litas to each of the twins and another 100,000 litas to each parent of the two boys - the largest amount awarded in Lithuania for compensation of non-material damages. Hospital officials vowed to appeal against the court ruling.
Gdansk residents will feel the spirit of one of the most cheerful festivities of Vilnius - the Kaziukas Fair - this weekend, as Lithuania exports the festival to its neighbor. When Gdansk authorities visited the fair last spring, they were fascinated by the event and suggested holding it in their city in September.
