Dear readers, Baltic Reports will be not be publishing new articles for the time being. Baltic Reports has been a very DIY project thus far, the work of a handful of determined journalists with no start-up capital operating for little to no pay. While we’ve garnered an audience over the past year, we must now [...]

VILNIUS — The Dutch-Lithuanian Middle Europe Investments Baltija real estate development company has filed for bankruptcy. Exactly what the privately-held company’s financial difficulties are remains unclear. The bankruptcy leaves a large-scale Vilnius residential development project called Evita incomplete, although the company’s general director Mindaugas Plisas assured the business newspaper Verslo Žinios that Evita’s funding would [...]

VILNIUS — Despite its recovering economy, it appears Lithuania’s age of austerity that has defined government policies since the economic crisis hit in late 2008 is not leaving anytime soon. In a meeting on Tuesday morning Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė and Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius agreed that tackling SoDra’s imbalances and the mismanagement of state [...]

RIGA — Jānis Urbanovičs, Harmony Center’s prime minister candidate, downplayed suggestions that his party is planning on forming a government with the pro-business tandem For a Good Latvia (Par labu Latviju). In an interview with the Latvijas Avīze newspaper Urbanovičs said that he did not see the possibility for a forming a government with Par [...]

VILNIUS — Belarus released a Lithuanian policeman last week, held for suspected drug trafficking, with no charges. Laimonas Bankauskas, head of the Vilnius Police Department’s equestrian police division, was arrested on Aug. 16 in in the Belarusian border town of Ashmyany with 45.5 grams of methamphetamine in his possession. Bankauskas said that the meth had [...]

NORWICH, England — A 26-year-old Lithuanian man was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison by a U.K. court last week for taking part in over 90 burglaries in eastern England. On Thursday the Norwich court found Edmundas Tamošauskas guilty of conspiracy to burgle and conspiracy to disguise criminal property. Police say Tamošauskas [...]

VILNIUS — Miss Universe is taking on Mrs. Universe, not for who’s more beautiful but over a trademark issue. Miss Universe, which is owned by American real estate mogul Donald Trump and NBC Universal, contend that Lithuania’s Mrs. Universe is infringing on their copyright and is seeking an undisclosed amount in damages. “We have filed [...]

TRAKAI, Lithuania — If you want to understand what makes the people of the Baltic state tick, delve into their rich folk music. Here’s a clip from last weekend’s Mėnuo Juodaragis, which if you were lucky enough to get a ticket gave an excellent primer into the local music scene.

KAUNAS, Lithuania — Delays in the construction of a new basketball arena in Kaunas has FIBA threatening to strike Lithuania’s second-largest city from the list of 2011 Eurobasket tournament host venues. The new Žalgiris Arena, being built by the Vėtrūna construction company was supposed to be completed by October, but now the building has been [...]

It’s another inconspicuous August weekend in the Baltic states — the last one of summer, in fact. But while September looks action-packed, August is going out with more of a whimper than a bang. The biggest names on are the loop-happy Australian street performer Dub FX, Brit folkie Sol Invictus and indie rock sensation Alina [...]