OFF THE WIRE

HOLOCAUST SUSPECT: The U.S. Justice Department said it has started proceedings to revoke the U.S. citizenship of Lithuanian-born Vladas Zajanckauskas, 87, for allegedly taking part in destroying the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw in 1943. The complaint, filed at a court in Worchester, Massachusetts, alleges that Zajanckauskas helped burn down the Warsaw ghetto and send some 7,000 Jews to their death in the Treblinka concentration camp. He immigrated to the United States in 1950, claiming he had been a farmer in Lithuania until 1944. (BNS)

HUNGER STRIKE: Several thousand prisoners in the Lithuanian towns of Marijampole and Alytus and at two penitentiaries in Pravieniskes began hunger strikes in protest at conditions, especially for those with HIV, on June 10. Of the 2,000 inmates at Alytus, 222 have been diagnosed with HIV over the past several weeks and are demanding better living conditions, including medicines and vitamins. Those who are not infected want to be housed separately from the infected. Despite an official capacity of 1,316 Marijampole prison now houses 1,952 inmates. (BNS)

ENLARGEMENT WOES: Disagreements about farming subsidies for new European Union members may disrupt the final stage of pre-accession talks, jeopardizing the whole process of EU enlargement, Britain's The Guardian daily warned June 6. The paper said concern is mounting in Brussels and other capitals about hostility to enlargement after electoral successes for anti-immigration and right-wing parties in several European countries. Britain, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands, which make the largest contributions to the EU budget, are refusing to include guarantees of direct payments for new members in the EU's proposal for farm negotiations. (BNS)

VIKE-FREIBERGA HITS ROAD: Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga traveled to Canada on June 11 for a week-long tour that will also take her to the United States to promote Latvia's bid to join NATO. "NATO is one of her priorities" during the visit which included a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien on June 12 in Ottawa, press spokesman Roberts Linis told AFP.

Vike-Freiberga heads for New York on June 15 and on June 17 to Chicago where she will meet municipal and business leaders as well as members of the city's Latvian community. (AFP)

LATVIA CLOSES TWO MORE: Latvia closed two financial negotiation chapters with the European Union on June 11, one on taxation policies and the other on regional policies and structural instruments. Latvia's Special Task Minister for International Financial Institutions Roberts Zile told reporters that Latvia has reserved the right to return to discussing financing regional policy negotiations are completed. Thus far agreement has only been reached on a percentage of funding from EU structural funds.

Zile said that calculations showed that EU funding for Latvia between 2004 and 2006 could total about 1.15 billion euros ($1.08 billion).

Zile emphasized that the government should seriously change budget priorities to set aside funds for cofunding EU-supported projects.

Zile said that about 100 million euros in cofunding per year would be necessary. (BNS)

WEATHER APOLOGY: Cursed by the public for the worst drought in several decades, Estonian weather forecasters have launched a fundraising campaign for the local zoo to make amends. "Precipitation this spring has been very sparing, and it is often the forecasters who get the blame," said Jaan Saar, director of the Estonian Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology.

The feeding grounds at the zoo, which lacks the money to pay to water them, have turned to brown because of the exceptionally dry weather, Saar said. "People will always find a way to alleviate a hard situation but not caged animals which are fully dependent on man's will and possibilities," Saar said. (AFP)

EARLY WARNING: Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas has expressed concern to Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov over the plans of Russian oil giant LUKoil to extract oil in the Baltic Sea close to Lithuania's Nida resort, the governmental press service reported.

Speaking in Moscow on June 11, Kasyanov said that LUKoil was still in the planning phase and that Russia would consult with Lithuania about the technological and ecological issues involved in the project.

LUKoil recently announced its plans to start extracting crude near the Lithuanian-Kaliningrad maritime border in 2003. (BNS)

EU referendum: Constitutional amendments related to Estonia's joining the European Union passed a first reading in Parliament on June 12. Under the legislation Estonia will hold a referendum in September 2003 on EU membership. The bill, introduced in mid-May, consists of three articles. The first states that Estonia may accede to the EU. The second says that the Estonian constitution will be applicable once the country is a member, and the third requires that the amendments themselves can only be changed in a referendum. (BNS)