Lietuva in brief - 2011-03-10

The growing popularity of smart phones increases demand for Internet access in various public spaces, and public transport is not an exception, reports LETA. As a result of the mutual agreement of the Lithuania-based company Vilniaus Troleibusai and the Lithuanian Radio and Television Center, Vilnius citizens and city guests are now provided with free WiFi access, which allows free connection to the MEZON 4G Internet, WiMAX mobile technology in fifteen No. 19 trolley-buses in Vilnius. Passengers may connect to the Internet via their laptops and mobile phones which are equipped with a WiFi connection. This service is free until 2012 for all passengers as well as those who are not subscribed to MEZON. Mindaugas Kuprys, a WiMAX Project Manager of the Lithuanian Radio and Television Center points out that several passengers on a trolley-bus may connect to the MEZON 4G Mobile Internet simultaneously.

A former ally of disgraced Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov has been granted political asylum in neighboring Lithuania, because he would be in danger if he returned home, reports AFP. Lawyer Aivaras Raisutis said that his client, Yury Khardikov, who arrived in Lithuania last year, had on March 3 formally been granted permission to remain in the Baltic State. “The migration department identified a serious threat to him in Russia, so he was granted subsidiary protection for one year, which is a form of asylum,” Raisutis said. Khardikov formerly ran the northern district of the Russian capital, but fled in the wake of accusations by Luzhkov’s powerful wife, Yelena Baturina, that he had swindled a billion rubles (25 million euros). Under Lithuanian law, such protection is granted to individuals who can show a well-founded fear of risks including torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, or violation of their rights.