President Valdas Adamkus has been chosen as man of the year and EU accession as event of the year, according to a survey conducted by the joint Lithuanian-British market and public opinion research company Baltic Surveys on Dec. 8-13. The poll showed that 23.3 percent of respondents consider Adamkus to be man of the year, while Labor Party leader and Economy Minister Viktor Uspaskich ranked second (9.5 percent), followed by ex-President Rolandas Paksas (7.6 percent).
Fifteen troops in the Marijampole-based Grand Duke Vytenis General Logistics Battalion started their mission in the NATO Response Force. Defense Ministry Undersecretary Renatas Norkus said that the water purification equipment would be the country's first contribution to the NFR's fourth six-month cycle and that support specialists who were starting their service on Jan. 14 would be ready for redeployment to any location within 5 - 30 days. NRF will be activated by a decision from the North Atlantic Council and dispatched to eliminate a crisis that would jeopardize international stability and the North Atlantic Alliance.
A Stockholm court has handed down a verdict in the case of two Lithuanians charged with murdering a Swedish psychologist. Vidmantas Varkalis, a Kaunas resident, was sentenced to life imprisonment and Gintare Baksaityte, a student of the Academy of Physical Education from Jonava, was sentenced to four years in prison. The two citizens had been tried for murdering Helena Bering, a 56-year-old prison psychologist. Bering was reported missing in Stockholm in August this year. Law enforcement officials established that the woman had been assaulted and kidnapped outside a Stockholm store. Her body was found in a forest 11 days later after being robbed of her mobile phone and about 1,500 Swedish kronor (166 euros).
Concentrations of lead and PCBs in Baltic Sea fish have significantly declined during the last 20-25 years, according to a study by the Helsinki Commission. The decrease is a result of measures taken by HELCOM countries to reduce discharges of lead and PCBs in the environment. According to the study, lead in the liver tissues of various fish commonly consumed by humans (such as herring, cod and perch) show coherent trends of similar magnitudes in various regions of the Baltic Sea. Since 1981 the concentrations of lead in herring and cod liver have been decreasing at an average rate of 4 percent - 7 percent per year and more recently in perch liver up to a rate of 13 percent. PCB concentrations in herring muscle have varied between 4 percent and 10 percent per year, implying a total decrease of 60-80 percent since the '70s. Despite obvious progress, lead and PCB concentration is still several times higher in the Baltic Sea compared with the north Atlantic.
