The leader of Lithuania`s Jewish community Wednesday received a top German award to honour his efforts to reconcile Germans and Lithuanian Jews, who were all but wiped out in the Holocaust.

Germany`s embassy in Vilnius said that Simonas Alperavicius, 80, had received the German Cross of Merit, First Class, which is the only decoration awarded by the German state.

The leader of Lithuania`s Jewish community Wednesday received a top German award to honour his efforts to reconcile Germans and Lithuanian Jews, who were all but wiped out in the Holocaust.

Germany`s embassy in Vilnius said that Simonas Alperavicius, 80, had received the German Cross of Merit, First Class, which is the only decoration awarded by the German state.

VILNIUS, Oct 22, 2007 (AFP) - A Lithuanian gay rights group has taken Vilnius city council to court for denying permission for a rally in the capital because the planned venue was being refurbished, a newspaper reported Monday.

The Lithuanian Gay League asked a court to force the authorities to allow the gathering, which it wants to hold Thursday on a square in front of the city hall in Vilnius' old town district, the daily Lietuvos Rytas said.

Vilnius is playing host later this week to a conference of European sections of the International Gay and Lesbian Association.

VILNIUS, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - A disgraced former Lithuanian minister, Viktor Uspaskich, failed in his comeback bid Sunday after losing a by-election only weeks after returning from hiding in Russia to face fraud investigators.

The populist Uspaskich, who fell from favour in 2005 only a year after bursting onto the Baltic state's political scene, was defeated in the run-off round of a parliamentary contest in southern Lithuania.

VILNIUS, Oct 21, 2007 (AFP) - A disgraced former leading Lithuanian minister, Viktor Uspaskich, was on the verge of a comeback Sunday in a by-election, only weeks after returning from hiding in Russia to face fraud investigators.

The populist Uspaskich, who fell from favour in 2005 only a year after bursting onto the Baltic state's political scene, stood for parliament in southern Lithuania.

Uspaskich, of the Labour Party, won a place in Sunday's run-off race after coming second to Conservative Party candidate Kestutis Cilinskas in the first round two weeks ago.

VILNIUS, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - Lithuania said Thursday that it was deploying a new unit in Iraq, two months after recalling its combat troops from the country.

'Forty troops from a mounted infantry brigade are to leave for a mission in Iraq on October 19,' the defence ministry said in a statement.

The soldiers are due to serve for six months in an area southeast of Baghdad, under the wing of the US military, the ministry said.

VILNIUS, Oct 11, 2007 (AFP) - Poland's demands for the lion's share of output from a planned nuclear power plant in Lithuania could be met, provided its capacity can be boosted, Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas said Thursday.

'If the results of the environmental study are favourable and if we can build a nuclear plant with a capacity of more than 3,000 megawatts, these requirements may be met,' Kirkilas told journalists on the sidelines of an international energy conference in Vilnius.

VILNIUS, Oct 11, 2007 (AFP) - The European Union needs a united external energy policy to protect the interests of all 27 of its members, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus said Thursday, amid concerns over Moscow's market muscle-flexing.

Adamkus said that EU members have for too long seen energy 'as a domestic rather than European issue'.

'The European Union must develop a common approach to the issue at hand and speak in one voice,' Adamkus told a conference in Vilnius.

VILNIUS, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) - The leaders of Poland and Lithuania Wednesday dismissed suggestions that a dispute over sharing output from a new nuclear power plant was hampering a related accord on linking their power grids.

Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, speaking after a meeting with his Polish counterpart Lech Kaczynski, said that they 'came to the commitment that the electric bridge has to be built, and will be built.'

The two countries had been expected to sign the grid deal on the sidelines of a wider energy conference in Lithuania this week.

VILNIUS, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) - Five former communist-bloc countries signed a deal Wednesday to extend an oil pipeline that bypasses Russia, in a move that could diversify supplies and cut Moscow's energy clout.

The presidents of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Poland, Ukraine and host nation Lithuania looked on as government ministers and state oil company bosses inked an accord creating the 'Sarmatia' consortium, which is to build the new network.

Most ex-communist countries -- and much of the rest of Europe -- rely heavily on energy imports from Russia.

VILNIUS, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) - Five former communist-bloc countries were Wednesday poised to sign a deal on extending an oil pipeline that bypasses Russia, in a move that could diversify supplies and cut Moscow's energy clout.

The presidents of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Poland, Ukraine and host nation Lithuania were due early Wednesday evening to ink a consortium agreement drawn up after talks in May, officials said.

The ultimate goal of the five governments is to create a pipeline running from the Caspian Sea to the Baltic, based on an existing route through Ukraine.

VILNIUS, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) - The Baltic states and Poland have postponed a deal on building a new nuclear power station to replace a Soviet-era plant, Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas told AFP on Wednesday.

'It is most likely that the agreement on the construction of the new nuclear power plant will be signed in November, after the elections in Poland,' Kirkilas said.

DUBLIN, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) - Lithuania is planning to set up job information centres in Ireland and other EU countries to encourage emigrants to return as it faces a labour shortage, Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas said on Tuesday.

Kirkilas told Ireland's National Forum On Europe that emigrant workers were now slowly starting to return, three years after the European Union's 2004 'big bang' expansion.

He said that as the Lithuanian economy picked up, the returnees brought with them managerial skills, learnt in countries such as Ireland, and money to invest.

VILNIUS, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - Consumer prices grew by 1.4 percent in Lithuania in September from August, taking 12-month inflation to 7.1 percent, the national department of statistics said on Monday.

In August, the 12-month inflation rate had been 5.5 percent.

September's rise in consumer prices was the highest this year.

Average annual inflation, which is one of the key indicators for countries wishing to join the eurozone, continued to grow, rising to 4.8 percent in September, compared to 4.5 percent in August.

VILNIUS, Oct 7, 2007 (AFP) - A former Lithuanian political star Viktor Uspaskich looked poised for a comeback Sunday thanks to a ballot box success, just days after returning from hiding in Russia to face fraud investigators.

The populist Uspaskich appeared to have garnered enough support in a parliamentary by-election to win a place in the second, run-off round, according to a partial count of votes.

VILNIUS, Oct 7, 2007 (AFP) - A Lithuanian former economy minister who resigned over corruption allegations was Sunday attempting a political comeback after returning home from hiding in Russia.

Viktor Uspaskich, 48, is standing in a parliamentary by-election in the southern constituency of Alytus, despite being under house arrest following his return on September 26 to face the criminal inquiry into the allegations against him.

If he wins, he will have parliamentary immunity from prosecution.

VILNIUS, Oct 5, 2007 (AFP) - Poland said Friday that it wants the lion's share of the output of a new nuclear power plant that it plans to build in a joint project with the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Polish Economy minister Piotr Wozniak, who was visiting Vilnius, hinted that Warsaw could go slow on other power projects if it did not get its way on the planned Lithuanian-based facility.

'All projects will end up behind schedule unless we get a capacity of 1,200 megawatts,' warned Wozniak.

VILNIUS, Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) - Lithuanian group Ukio Banko Investicine Grupe (UBIG) said Thursday it had sealed a deal with Belarus to build a 350-million-dollar (248 million-euro) sports, entertainment and business complex.

'UBIG and the Belarus government on October 3 signed an agreement, providing for the construction of a multifunction complex' in the capital Minsk, UBIG announced in a statement.

'The complex will include a 15,000-18,000 seat stadium, a sports and concert hall, and hotel and commercial facilities,' it added.

VILNIUS, Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) - The Scandinavian airline SAS has offered compensation to passengers whose plane crash-landed in Lithuania in September due to a landing gear fault, a report said here Thursday.

SAS has written to all 48 passengers, offering them 2,000 euros (2,800 dollars) and two free tickets, the daily Lietuvos Rytas said.

Remigijus Kirstukas, a Lithuanian mayor who was on the ill-fated aircraft, told the newspaper that SAS had also agreed to cover medical expenses related to the accident.

VILNIUS, Oct 2, 2007 (AFP) - The Baltic states and Poland are next week likely to ink a deal to build a new nuclear power plant to replace Lithuania's ageing Ignalina facility, Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas said Tuesday.

'There are no particular issues of dispute, and we could sign a declaration' on the sidelines of a summit in Vilnius next week, Kirkilas told reporters following a cabinet session.

He said he planned to discuss the plan during a meeting with his counterparts from Estonia and Latvia later Tuesday in the Latvian capital Riga.

VILNIUS, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - Lithuania's former economy minister Viktor Uspaskich, who has been living in Russia for more than a year after fleeing a tax fraud probe, came home Wednesday and was arrested, his party said.

'Uspaskich returned to Lithuania and was taken into custody,' Antanas Bosas, deputy chairman of the fugitive politician's Labour Party, told AFP.

Uspaskich, 48, was wanted in Lithuania on suspicion of mismanaging party funds and filing misleading documents with tax authorities.

VILNIUS, Sept 17, 2007 (AFP) - A Lithuanian man is to be tried for allegedly masterminding a botched plot to infect his ex-wife with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, in revenge for suspected adultery, prosecutors said Monday.

'This is an unprecedented case in this country,' Ruslanas Usinskas, the prosecutor who led the investigation, said in a statement.

Investigators in the coastal region of Klaipeda allege that the plot was hatched by a 36-year-old man who wanted to hit back at his former wife for purported infidelity in the past.

TALLINN, Sept 14, 2007 (AFP) - The defence ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, all members of NATO since 2004, decided on Friday to increase defence cooperation, the Estonian defence ministry said.

The ministers, who met on Thursday and Friday in Kuressaare, capital of the Estonian biggest island Saaremaa, discussed Baltic defence issues, joint procurements, operations and air surveillance, and signed three memorandums covering those areas.

VILNIUS, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - Forty Lithuanian members of parliament proposed Wednesday that a referendum should be held on amending the constitution to ease the rules on obtaining double citizenship.

'The initiative for the referendum was signed by the representatives from all parliamentary groups except for the Liberal Movement group,' said a statement from the Social Liberal party, which initiated the move.

The statement said that the proposed text for the referendum was: 'I agree that a Lithuanian citizen may also be a citizen of another country.'

VILNIUS, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - A Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) Dash 8-400 plane crash-landed in Lithuania on Wednesday after its landing gear failed in the second incident in four days, forcing Canadian maker Bombardier to advise airlines to temporarily ground some 60 such aircraft.

SAS immediately ordered all of its 27 Dash 8-400 turboprops grounded. The planes represent 15 to 20 percent of the airline's fleet, and are used for short-haul flights in Scandinavia and northern and central Europe.

STOCKHOLM, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - The Canadian planemaker Bombardier has advised all companies operating Dash 8-400 planes to ground them after a series of accidents and incidents involving the turboprops, the Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) said Wednesday.

SAS grounded all 33 of its fleet of Dash 8-400 early Wednesday after one of them crash-landed in Lithuania when its landing gear failed, the second such incident involving a landing gear malfunction in four days.

COPENHAGEN, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - A Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) Dash 8-400 turboprop crashed upon landing in Lithuania Wednesday, with all 48 passengers and four crew safely evacuating from the plane, the company said.

The accident -- the second upon landing of an SAS Dash 8-400 in four days -- prompted the company to immediately ground all 33 of the aircraft it owns.

VILNIUS, Sept 11, 2007 (AFP) - Lithuania wants to grill a leading Israeli Holocaust historian, Yitzhak Arad, over his alleged role in crimes against both civilians and prisoners during World War II, the prosecutor said Tuesday.

'We have despatched a request to Israeli prosecutors for legal help,' Rimvydas Valentukevicius, a Lithuanian prosecutor told AFP.

VILNIUS, Sept 11, 2007 (AFP) - Lithuania wants to grill leading Israeli Holocaust historian Yitzhak Arad over his alleged role in war crimes against civilians and prisoners during World War II, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

'We have despatched a request to Israeli prosecutors for legal help,' prosecutor Rimvydas Valentukevicius told AFP.

'We want to send Mr Arad a notice on our suspicions and to interrogate him in the framework of a preliminary probe on his possible participation in crimes against humanity in Lithuania during the Second World War,' he said.

VILNIUS, Sept 11, 2007 (AFP) - The Lithuanian finance ministry on Tuesday said that gross domestic product is to surge by 8.6 percent tbis year.

'The strong exports, which grew by 29 percent in the first half of 2007 as well as continuing growth of credit will result in faster GDP growth', the ministry said in statement.

The forecast for GDP growth in March was 7.2 percent, it was changed to 'over 8 percent' in June this year.

Lithuania's GDP shot up by 8.1 percent in January-June this year compared to the same period a year ago.

MOSCOW, Sept 7, 2007 (AFP) - Russia's state-owned pipeline monopoly Transneft is not planning to finance repairs on a key oil pipeline to Lithuania, a report said Friday.

'Transneft is not planning to finance the programme.... The company has other priorities,' Sergei Grigoryev, deputy director of Transneft, was quoted as saying by the RBK Daily newspaper.

Grigoryev said a pipeline system using the Russian port of Primorsk had successfully increased capacity to make up for shortfalls since the pipeline through Lithuania was shut down for repairs last year.

VILNIUS, Sept 6, 2007 (AFP) - Lithuania's unemployment rate was unchanged in August from July at 2.8 percent of the working population, the national labour bureau said on Thursday.

A total of 60,244 people were registered unemployed on September 1 in the Baltic state, which joined the European Union on May 1, 2004.

The unemployement rate in August was 0.5 percentage points lower than the equivalent figure last year.

VILNIUS, Sept 6, 2007 (AFP) - French companies want to take part in the construction of a new nuclear power plant in Lithuania, France's European affairs minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet said Thursday in Vilnius.

'We have huge experience in this area and are ready to cooperate with Lithuanian institutions in this area,' Jouyet said at a briefing after a two-day visit to the Lithuanian capital.

'Our companies will work with an aim to join the project', he added.

Lithuania plans to build new nuclear power plant, which would replace ageing Ignalina nuclelar facility.

VILNIUS, Sept 4, 2007 (AFP) - Lithuania's former economy minister, wanted on charges of fraud and believed to be hiding in Russia, was registered to run in a parliamentary by-election on Tuesday, the election commission said.

'Lithuanian laws oblige citizens to declare their place of residence and (Viktor) Uspaskich declared Kedainiai as his residence,' election commission member Jonas Udrys said. Kedainiai is located in central Lithuania.

'He may be fined for false declaration, but this does not prevent him from running in the elections,' he added.

VILNIUS, Sept 3, 2007 (AFP) - A Lithuanian research establishment launched Monday a website that aims to reveal the role of the former Russian security service KGB during the Soviet occupation of the three Baltic states.

'Our aim is to make KGB documents available to the public in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia,' Ricardas Cekutis, a spokesman for the Genocide and Resistance Research Center, told AFP.

The site www.kdbdocuments.eu is to include documents from different KGB departments in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, including reports by informers.