A Polish contractor was killed on Oct. 16 at Mazeikiu Nafta, local authorities said. He was the second Polish worker to be killed at the refinery in a week. Police said the 45-year-old man, who was working as an assembler, was hit by a falling pipe. Emergency medical services were called, but failed to save his life. Mazeikiai Nafta is operated by Poland's PKN Orlen, which often brings in workers from Poland to work at the Lithuanian company.
A French citizen was rescued from a Vilnius apartment on Oct. 16 where he had been handcuffed to a radiator for several days after being robbed by a woman he met on the Internet. According to initial reports, the French national met the Lithuanian woman online and came to Vilnius for the weekend. The girl invited him into an apartment, where she and a friend deprived him of his cash and credit cards, and then handcuffed him to the apartment's radiator. On the morning of Oct. 16, the Frenchman tore the radiator off and started yelling for help from the window. When water started to pour from the broken pipe, neighbors thought the commotion was a fire and called the fire brigade, who rescued the captive. Police are investigating.
President Valdas Adamkus has said extending the life of the Ignalina nuclear power plant is possible until final agreements upon the new plant's structure are reached. The president made the statement in an interview with Ziniu Radijas on Oct. 16. The current power plant is scheduled to be closed in 2009, and plans are for a replacement to be ready by 2015. The European Commissioner for Energy, Andris Piebalgs, said recently that Lithuania should not even think postponing the closure of the current plant.
Over one-third, or 34 percent of Lithuania's population support the introduction of the euro, although two-thirds, or 66 percent do not favor early introduction of the single currency, an opinion poll commissioned by the European Commission Representation in Lithuania has shown. The poll also showed that as much as 44 percent of the population believes that Lithuania is capable of competing with other EU member states. Lithuania's residents appreciate the country's membership in the bloc with about a half of population certain that membership gives a boost to Lithuania's democracy.
World championship bronze medalist Gintaras Surkus and his navigator, Arunas Bartusevicius made a record-breaking balloon flight across Sweden and Lithuania on Oct. 15. The two balloonists improved Lithuania's distance and flight time records for their travel. The pilot of the balloon, Surkus, and his navigator Arunas Bartusevicius, lifted off 70 kilometers from the town of Kalamar, Sweden. The journey lasted 10 hours and covered 559 kilometers, improving Lithuanian records. In the past the balloonists have crossed the entire Baltic Sea and nearly the whole of Lithuania's territory.
