To mark the Millennium celebrations of Lithuania, the Lithuanian postal service, Lietuvos Pastas, has issued a 2.15 litas "Vilnius 's European Capital of Culture" stamp with a planned print run of 300,000 stamps. The stamp features the statue of Gediminas and his horse in front of his castle on the hill and the Lithuanian flag. Artist Henrikas Ratkevicius designed the new postage stamp. The stamps are being printed in Austria. A first day souvenir sheet and first day cover will be issued.
Authorities in the United Kingdom are demanding better security knowledge on convicted people coming to the country after a series of brutal murders. Lithuanian Vitas Plytnykas, who killed a woman before chopping off her head and hands and dumping them in the sea, was singled out as a prime example. He had a previous conviction for manslaughter in Germany. The authorities are concerned about "loopholes" in immigration policies that allow criminals from European countries into Britain. "Two young women have tragically lost their lives, killed in Scotland by men who had convictions for violence before they arrived on these shores," an official said. "It is clear that the U.K. needs a joined up strategy to deal with what is often a hidden problem, emerging after something terrible has happened. Currently there are people entering Scotland every day for whom we have no idea of their background."
President Valdas Adamkus has joined corporate leaders of major companies in a business breakfast in the Czech Republic to invite them to look into Lithuania for business opportunities. "I hope that Lithuania's convenient geographic position, valuable human resources of young and experienced people, and good business development options will attract investors from the Czech Republic who continue projecting their businesses in the region despite the global crisis," Adamkus said, emphasizing that regardless of the economic slowdown, business communities had retained their dynamism and vitality. The Czech Republic has attracted global investors such as Hyundai, Mitsubishi and Skoda Auto to the country. Adamkus and Czech counterpart Miloslav Vlcek have agreed that the development of bilateral relations between the countries was greatly important in the current period of economic difficulties, pointing out that cooperation at parliamentary level would definitely help deal with the crisis.
Some 87 percent of Lithunians say the economic situation in the country has deteriorated over the past several months, a poll has shown. Only 1 percent of respondents claimed that the economic situation in Lithuania had improved. Nine percent of all respondents did not notice any changes in the economy over the past two months. According to the data revealed by the survey, which was conducted by the market and public opinion company Baltijos Tyrimai on March 19-27, the evaluation of the economic situation in the country remained unchanged over the month since the survey conducted in February. In March 2008, 26 percent of people thought the economic situation in the country was stable. Some 10 percent of all respondents claimed that the situation was improving at the time.
