Vidmantas Urbonas, the
Lithuanian triathlete who had
been attempting to make a
record-breaking, 209 kilometer
swim across the Baltic
Sea, finally finished his journey
on Aug. 21. The 49-year-old originally
set out from Kalmar on the
coast of Sweden July 22 heading
for the island of Gotland, from
where he was to continue on to
the Latvian resort town of
Pavilosta. On July 27, however,
he had to halt the effort due to
storms. Urbonas undertook the
challenge to highlight environmental
problems affecting the
Baltic Sea.
Jonas Paulikas, a member of
the elite VIP Protection Service,
was dismissed on Aug. 21 for an
incident in which he drew his
gun and shot at the chef in a
Vilnius restaurant. On Aug. 15,
Paulikas pulled out his Sig
Sauer gun and fired up to seven
rounds at the chef of
Amatininku Uzeiga, who was
reported to be running around
the kitchen trying to dodge the
bullets. No one was injured. The
chef had apparently refused to
cook for him. The officer was
arrested and discovered to be
severely intoxicated.
Lithuania has the fastest
growing cinema attendance in
the EU, the European
Audiovisual Observatory has
announced. Last year, the country
logged 2.41 million cinema
visits, which is 98.3 percent
more that in 2005. The overall
increase across the EU during
the same period was 3.6 percent.
Attendance is also increasing in
other countries such as Slovakia
(54.3 percent), Estonia (40.2 percent)
and Poland (35.8 percent).
The number of cinema-goers
decreased in Great Britain,
Spain and Hungary.
The Bank of Lithuania has
proposed taking 1 and 2 cent
coins out of circulation, BNS
reports. Kestutis Vanagas, a
spokesman for the bank, told
The Baltic Times that the idea
has public support. He's
received phone calls from people
in the countryside where some
shopkeepers refuse to accept
small denomination coins
because it takes too long to
count them all. The minting of
small denomination coins costs
the state 5 cents on average.
Vangas said that no concrete
decision has been made and that
the matter is still under discussion.
Coins of 1, 2 and 5 cent
denomination account for twothirds
(about 65 percent) of all
coins in circulation in the country.
Prime Minister Gediminas
Kirkilas has formed a special
work group to investigate the
death of Vytautas Pociunas,
the State Security Department
officer who died under suspicious
circumstances in Belarus
last year. Pociunas, 48, who
worked at Lithuania's consulate
in Grodno, died mysteriously on
Aug. 23, 2006. The diplomat's
body was discovered outside his
hotel in Brest, where he was
staying on business. It is
believed that Pociunas fell from
his ninth story window,
although many believe he was
murdered. A previous investigation
on part of the Prosecutor
General's office determined that
Pociunas' death was an accident
and further pre-trial investigation
was closed.
