Over the past week, 7,600 new unemployed people were registered with the Lithuanian Labor Exchange, while 1,423 vacancies were recorded. During this period, the Labor Exchange helped employ over 3,000 people, making this the highest weekly result of the year. According to the data from the Lithuanian Labor Exchange, the major part of unemployed (1,400 people) were given jobs in the public sector and employed by subsidies. As of April 24 this year, there were 184,900 unemployed in Lithuania, making up 8.6 percent of the total working age population.
The Irish Independent announced that a Lithuanian man, 31-year-old Aleksejus Belousovas, was jailed for 15 years for a "vicious" knife attack on a French student in her Dublin apartment. He has lost his legal bid to have that jail term reduced. Belousovas killed Barbara Riouall in 2005. The Lithuanian admitted before the Central Criminal Court that he cut Riouall's throat twice before stabbing her in the neck where the blade hit a vertebra and broke.
The Commission of the Seimas and the Lithuanian World Community has proposed keeping the possibility for individuals who emigrated from Lithuania after 1990 to regain Lithuanian citizenship. The proposal was introduced by MP Paulius Saudargas, the chairman of the Commission of the Seimas and the Lithuanian World Community. "By our resolution we propose to foresee a case that allows a Lithuanian citizen to be a citizen of another country at the same time, if this person has left Lithuania since 1990. We do not expect this to be another constitutional deadlock, as the Law on Citizenship could include a separate case. If we can have a separate case for the Lithuanians who departed from Lithuania in 1940-1990, why can we not include a separate case for the people who emigrated after 1990 as well?" Saudargas said.
Nearly three quarters 's a total of about 74 percent 's of the population in Lithuania's five major cities and towns believe that EU membership has been good for their country, according to an opinion poll published by Veidas magazine. About 47 percent of the poll participants believe that Lithuania has benefited greatly from joining the EU and 27 percent think that it has only somewhat benefited. Approximately 18 percent of respondents believe that EU membership has given almost no benefit to the country or has even been detrimental to it. Some aspects of EU membership have upset a large portion of Lithuanians, however. For example, 29 percent of respondents feel that the old EU member states treat Lithuania as a second-rate member, and 24 percent of respondents are disappointed by sharp increases in prices for food and industrial products.
Statistics Lithuania has released statistics indicating that gross domestic product in the first quarter of 2009 dropped by 12.6 percent year-on-year. In the first quarter, the gross value added decreased in production and service enterprises. The decrease in the value added generated by the whole economy was close to the change in the value added generated in industry. In the first quarter the smallest decrease in the value added was observed in agriculture and non-production services.
