PRESIDENT RE-ELECTED: The full assembly of the Estonian Olympic Committee reelected its president Nov. 24. Tiit Nuudi, the former president and the only candidate running for the post, was re-elected in a vote by secret ballot, with 38 members of the 48-member full assembly voting in favor of his re-election and two against. Eight members of the EOC refrained from voting.
IGNALINA RESTARTED AFTER SHUTDOWN: The first power unit of Lithuania's nuclear power station Ignalina was put back in operation on Nov. 24 after a shutdown Nov. 22, according to the plant's information center. The Soviet-built power station was shut down as a result of a faulty alarm sent by the technological safety systems on the first power block. The reasons behind the shutdown are still under investigation. While the plant was down, Lithuania imported electricity from neighboring countries.
NO MORE MR. NICE GUYS: Prisoners in Estonia's Murru prison are threatening to go on a hunger strike Dec. 1 if a new detention law goes into effect. In many prisoners' opinion the new law considerably restricts their rights. Jaanus, 29, who has served 11 years of his 13-year term in the Murru prison, said the new law is totally unacceptable because it considerably restricts prisoners' rights.
A SPY IN LITHUANIA: A Russian diplomat employed at the Russian Embassy in Vilnius was expelled from Norway a decade ago on charges of spying for the Soviets, Lithuanian tabloid Lietuvos Zinios said an article based on Russian media reports. Lietuvos Zinios said that adviser Boris Kirilov at the Russian Embassy in Vilnius is the same person deported from Norway for activities incompatible with his diplomatic status.
LOW ON AIDS: Compared with other European countries, Lithuania has the lowest number of people infected with the HIV virus leading to AIDS, the director of the Lithuanian AIDS center, Saulius Caplinskas said. He told journalists Nov. 21 that Lithuania has 6.5 HIV cases per 100,000 people, whereas this figure in Latvia is 33.8, and 26.1 in Estonia.
CHALLENGES LUKASHENKO: The head of the dissolved Parliament of Belarus who now lives in Lithuania, Semion Sharetski, says he's ready to form a national unity government. Commenting on reports of changes afoot within the Belarusian government, Sharetski said the ever more powerful pro-Russian forces might even push out Aleksandr Lukashenko, the de facto current head of state.
BOLSHEVIKS' CASE SENT TO PROSECUTOR: Latvian security police on Nov. 27 sent the prosecutor general's Office the criminal case opened over actions by three Russian National Bolshevik Party members who recently seized an empty church in Riga in an attempt to release their detained party members. Sergey Solovey, Maxim Zhurkin and Dmitry Gafarov will all be charged with terrorism. Under Latvian criminal law a person convicted on terrorism charges may be sentenced to prison for a period of 8 years to life.
LONG-LOST DOCUMENTS ARRIVE: The prosecutor general's office has received from Liechtenstein materials in the criminal case over 3 million lats ($4.77 million), lost by the Latvian electricity utility company Latvenergo, spokeswoman Dzintra Subrovska said. The materials were requested from Liechtenstein several years ago. For the time being no more information about the content of the materials will be provided because part of the criminal case is still under investigation.
RAN OUT OF GAS: Latvian Interior Minister Mareks Seglins will be the only ministry official who will keep using his service car for now. Other Interior Ministry officials will have to go to work by public transport for more than a month. Because of increased security arrangements ahead of Latvia's Independence Day, Nov. 18, they used up all fuel reserves.
LOST AND FOUND? A 23-year-old woman and resident of Riga found herself in an absurd situation on Nov. 23, when a child whom she allegedly gave birth to last spring and abandoned in the hospital had been registred to her . To prove the child is not hers Yelena has to turn to the courts but experts have said the legal proceeding will be long, expensive and complicated, the daily Diena reported.
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