Gazprom denies Lithuania 'political' price claims

Algirdas Brazauskas, the last communist-era boss of Lithuania who went from Soviet apparatchik to respected leader of the democratic Baltic state, died Saturday aged 77 after a long illness.Brazauskas, who had been undergoing treatment for prostate and lymphatic cancer, passed away at his home in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, deputy Social Democrat leader Juozas Olekas told AFP.In a statement, President Dalia Grybauskaite paid tribute to Brazauskas as a "sincere" man who saw Lithuania through tough times.

Police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters in Lithuania's capital Vilnius on Saturday, as homosexual rights campaigners held their first-ever rally in the Baltic state.Officers moved in to disperse around 2,000 counter demonstrators at the end of the Baltic Pride 2010 march, as they hurled stones, bottles and fire-crackers from behind security barriers and shouted "Down with Homonazis".Nineteen protesters were arrested, police said.

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) -- A Lithuanian oil company signed a 10-year, nearly $700 million agreement Friday to lease a liquid natural gas terminal from Norway's Hoegh LNG - an attempt by the Baltic state to reduce its reliance on Russian gas supplies....

The United States sent condolences to Lithuania Monday after the death of Algirdas Brazauskas, the Baltic state's last communist-era boss who transitioned to democracy.Brazauskas died on Saturday aged 77 after losing a long battle against prostate and lymphatic cancer."On behalf of the American people, President (Barack) Obama sends his condolences to the people of Lithuania on the death of former Lithuanian President Algirdas Brazauskas," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement.

Lithuania expects compensation from Russia for the bloody assault on a Vilnius television tower that Moscow launched in a bid to preserve the Soviet state, the foreign minister said Thursday.Fourteen civilians were killed and 700 injured in January 1991 when Soviet forces launched a nighttime attack on the television transmission tower in the tiny Baltic state's capital city.Thousands of civilians formed a human shield as it continued to broadcast in a sign of Moscow's inability to re-exert its influence over former Soviet lands.

Lithuanian negotiators sat down with envoys of Russian gas giant Gazprom Friday, Lithuania's energy ministry said, amid wrangling over an alleged breach of contract and market reforms.

Lithuania is pioneering a new type of national symbol to convey the character of the ex-Soviet Baltic state in a fragrant way with a bottle of perfume.Lithuania's foreign ministry has already sent bottles of the new fragrance to all ambassadors accredited to Vilnius.The project with olfactory appeal is "a good example of how to communicate Lithuania to the public in an innovative way," according to a foreign ministry statement.