General Information
Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and the Russian semi-exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast to the southwest, with a maritime border with Sweden to the west. Lithuania covers an area of 65,300 km2 (25,200 sq mi), and has a population of 2.9 million. Its capital and largest city is Vilnius; other major cities include Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai and Panevėžys. Lithuanians are the titular nation, belong to the ethnolinguistic group of Balts, and speak Lithuanian.
- Population: 2,800,000+
- Area: 65,300 km²
- Coordinates: Latitude: 54.683334350586, Longitude: 25.316667556763
- Timezone: Timezone info not available
- Current Local Time: ailab
Latest Lithuania News
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Ispanijos turizmo perlą Granadą sukrėtė žemės drebėjimas
Ispanijos pietuose esanti turistų pamėgta Granada šeštadienį patyrė šoką po to, kai retas 5 balų stiprumo žemės drebėjimas naktį pažadino žmones ir apgadino pastatų.
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Ukrainiečiai smogė Rusijos kosmoso programai svarbiai įmonei: kokios gali būti pasekmės?
Vietos gyventojų paskelbtuose vaizdo įrašuose matyti apgadinta gamykla. Tuo pat metu valdžia pranešė apie žalą neįvardytam pramoniniam objektui, rašo unian.net.
BBC News
France's top court blocks social media ban for under-15s
The Constitutional Council says it infringes upon freedom of expression - but President Macron vows to prepare a new draft.
BBC News
Putin can no longer claim victory in Ukraine, Nobel Peace Prize winner tells BBC
In an exclusive interview with the BBC’s Steve Rosenberg, Dmitry Muratov says the Kremlin leader can only "destroy Ukraine, not conquer it", with the war now in its fifth year.
BBC News
Electric vehicle sales targets could be cut after pressure from car makers
The government says it is considering cutting the new electric car sales target from 80% to 50% by 2030.
BBC News
Temporary ban on disposable BBQs as military deployed to help battle wildfires
Single-use grills pose a "significant risk to the public" in current drought and heatwave conditions, the government warns.
POLITICO
Trump-appointed regulator OKs banking license for Trump-linked crypto firm
The Trump administration has granted preliminary approval for a cryptocurrency venture backed by President Donald Trump’s family to operate a federally chartered trust bank, over the protests of Democrats who decried the decision as riddled with conflicts of interest. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the bank regulatory arm of the Treasury Department, said in a letter on Friday that it was conditionally approving World Liberty Trust Co.’s application for a trust bank charter. The company must still meet additional requirements before it receives final approval, the regulator said. The decision stands to give new powers and federal credibility to a venture in which Trump and his family retain a substantial financial interest. It’s also among the most direct official actions that the administration has taken involving the president’s private finances. World Liberty Trust Co. President and Chairman Zach Witkoff said the charter will allow the company to manage its USD1 stablecoin, a crypto token whose value is pegged to $1, under the OCC’s watch. “USD1 grew because institutions trust how it operates, and confidence at enterprise scale deserves the backing of federal supervision,” Witkoff, the son of Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said in a statement. “We welcome continuous scrutiny from Federal regulators for many years to come.” While Washington has been in knots over the steady drumbeat of news that Trump-linked businesses are expanding during his second term, the World Liberty application stood out to many. Some Democrats and ethics watchdogs argued that the bid was one of the clearest examples of the conflicts of interest that administration officials face as they weigh the wishes of Trump family-backed companies. And they were quick to bash the OCC’s approval. “This is the most brazen act of self-dealing our financial system has ever seen — and Congress cannot allow it to stand,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee. Warren and other Democrats unveiled legislation on Friday that would prohibit regulators from approving banks that are owned or controlled by the president or the president’s family, vice president, members of Congress or other top government officials. A Democratic Senate aide said the Banking Committee would likely probe the OCC’s approval of the World Liberty bank charter next year if Democrats regain control of Congress. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington CEO Donald Sherman called the OCC’s approval “the most egregious example to date of the President’s businesses profiting from his government job.” “The President continues to boost the crypto market at the expense of everyday Americans who are wondering what happened to the money in their own bank accounts,” he said. World Liberty, in advance of the approval, had rejected the conflict allegations — saying Trump is not involved in managing the company and that none of its leaders or employees work for the federal government. The White House has similarly said Trump has no involvement in business deals that would implicate his official responsibilities. Trump and his family nevertheless retain a substantial financial stake in World Liberty Financial. DT Marks DEFI LLC, an entity affiliated with Trump and members of his family, owns about 38 percent of the holding company that controls World Liberty Financial, according to the company’s website. The entity and Trump family members also hold 22.5 billion of World Liberty’s governance tokens. Trump disclosed nearly $600 million in income from World Liberty token and equity sales in 2025, a major piece of the $1.4 billion of crypto-related earnings he raked in. He has said he does not manage his financial interests, which are overseen by his children. The approval doesn’t allow World Liberty to open a traditional bank, but rather a national trust bank — a limited-purpose institution that would not make loans or accept federally insured deposits. It’s the latest in a string of such approvals for crypto firms under Trump’s OCC. Others who have received similar green lights include Circle, Ripple and Coinbase. The charter still provides significant legal and financial advantages. It’ll allow World Liberty to issue and redeem its USD1 stablecoin directly, manage the reserves backing it and offer digital asset custody services without relying on an intermediary. The company could also operate across state lines more easily without having to answer to individual state regulators. Federal supervision could also bolster World Liberty’s credibility with customers and investors and help expand the use of USD1. “This is not World Liberty trying to become Chase or Bank of America. This is World Liberty trying to become like Circle,” the crypto giant, said Austin Campbell, a crypto adviser and professor at New York University. The newly acquired charter, Campbell added, “is a regulatory wrapper to be able to hold these things in the way required under U.S. law to do business with both retail and the big boys.” The decision to approve World Liberty Trust Co. had put Comptroller Jonathan Gould, a Trump appointee, in the extraordinary position of deciding whether to grant federal banking privileges to a business tied to the president’s family. Gould had rejected calls to pause the review or recuse himself. And he declined a request by Democrats to share the full, unredacted application submitted by World Liberty. “We process applications in a fair and evenhanded manner,” he told lawmakers in February. Stephen Lybarger, the top OCC official overseeing bank chartering and a longtime career official of the agency, wrote in the approval letter on Friday that the agency followed “established policies and procedures” in evaluating World Liberty’s application. “The Comptroller and staff acted consistently with their statutory duties and ethical obligations with respect to the Application,” Lybarger wrote. “Career OCC staff reviewed the application for consistency with the statutory, regulatory, and policy requirements and factors for approval of a de novo application.” The OCC declined to comment further. The agency consulted with career government ethics officials as it evaluated the World Liberty application, according to a person familiar with the process.
POLITICO
BBC seeks to subpoena Trump family members in defamation suit
The BBC is seeking to subpoena President Donald Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr., his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner in connection with a $10 billion defamation lawsuit the president is pressing against the U.K. broadcaster. Lawyers for the BBC say the Trump family members “without question have personal knowledge” about President Trump’s intentions in delivering the speech at the heart of the case: his Jan. 6, 2021, address to supporters at the Ellipse as the Capitol attack was getting underway. The president’s lawsuit alleges that a BBC documentary aired in the U.K. in 2024 defamed him by splicing together distant parts of the speech to make it sound like he was endorsing violence. The BBC has apologized for the editing but denies that it is valid grounds for a suit. Drawing largely on testimony gathered by the House Jan. 6 Committee, the BBC’s attorneys say Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump were present as the president revised his speech and were on hand at the Ellipse as he spoke. The network’s lawyers also say Kushner drafted a proposed statement for the president condemning the violence. The subpoenas seek both deposition testimony and relevant documents from the Trump family members. Court filings indicate that the BBC tried to serve the subpoenas to Kushner and Ivanka Trump’s home in Miami in May, but police blocked the attempt. A lawyer for the Secret Service, Troy Epstein, informed the BBC’s lawyers by email that the agency could not accept the subpoenas. “The United States Secret Service, as an agency of the United States Government, is not authorized to accept service of these subpoenas for these individuals, nor can we opine on how you all may best facilitate or effectuate service of these subpoenas,” Epstein wrote. A similar attempt to serve Donald Trump Jr. at the Trump Organization’s Trump Tower offices in New York was also unsuccessful. In a motion filed Friday in federal court in Miami, the BBC’s attorneys said the president’s lawyers also refused to accept the subpoenas. The network is asking the court to authorize service by mail or to order that service through President Trump’s attorneys is adequate. Spokespeople for the Trump family members and for President Trump’s legal team did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Al Jazeera – Breaking News, World News and Video from Al Jazeera
Bangladesh rock Australia as historic Test win in sight
Australia close Day Three of the first Test against Bangladesh on 161-4, trailing the record-chasing tourists by 67.
Al Jazeera – Breaking News, World News and Video from Al Jazeera
FIFA World Cup and Olympics cited as Coe warns of politicians near sport
World Athletics' president says political influence in sport must be kept in check with LA Olympics on horizon.
Europe
Geneva super-rich rocked by luxury home burglary spree
Swiss officials say gangs from France are responsible for a recent rise in ‘homejackings’, sometimes at gunpoint
Europe
Pandemic lockdowns never ended for some people
For too many young people, disrupted social ties have never fully recovered
France 24 - International breaking news, top stories and headlines
'We're seeing an important escalation in southern Lebanon despite the so-called truce'
Overnight Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed at least seven people in one village, in the deadliest escalation since the lull in fighting began two months ago. FRANCE 24 correspondent Renée Davis, reporting from Beirut, says the strikes mark a significant escalation despite the so-called truce, and also gives us an update on ongoing negotiations with Israel.
France 24 - International breaking news, top stories and headlines
US : Luigi Mangione pleads guilty to killing UnitedHealthcare CEO
Luigi Mangione has pleaded guilty to federal stalking charges and admitted killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York in December 2024. His lawyers are seeking to have the state charges dropped under New York’s double jeopardy protections, while prosecutors plan to seek a life sentence at his December sentencing.
Africanews RSS
UN says $50 million ransom fueled Al-Qaeda offensive in Mali
According to a new UN report, most of the money was redistributed to fighters in the Sahel, while some was passed on to Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in the Arabian Peninsula and to the group’s central command.
Africanews RSS
Morocco and Spain boost security in Ceuta as another call for border rush seen online
Moroccan authorities on Wednesday announced measures to counter a new influx of migrants to the Spanish territory of Ceuta, after monitoring a new wave of online disinformation.