MicroLink was a Baltic IT company, founded by Rainer Nõlvak and Hanno Haamer in August 1991 in Tallinn, Estonia. Launched as a PC maker, it diversified into IT distribution, systems integration and providing of internet services and electronics manufacturing. The company established itself as the largest Baltic PC maker by the mid-1990s.
Riga Castle is a castle on the banks of River Daugava in Riga, the capital of Latvia. The castle was founded in 1330. Its structure was thoroughly rebuilt between 1497 and 1515. Upon the castle's seizure by the Swedes, they constructed spacious annexes in 1641. The fortress was continually augmented and reconstructed between the 17th and 19th centuries. Sometime in the 1930s, some renovation work was done by architect Eižens Laube. The Latvian government declared the castle its residence in 1938. Today it is the official residence of the President of Latvia as well as home to several museums.
Kurier Wileński is the main Polish-language newspaper in Lithuania. Printed in Vilnius, it is the only Polish-language daily newspaper published east of Poland. A direct descendant of both the 19th-century newspaper of the same name and the Czerwony Sztandar newspaper, created by the Soviet authorities in 1953 as a means of Sovietization of the Polish diaspora left in the Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union. The newspaper is a member of the European Association of Daily Newspapers in Minority and Regional Languages (MIDAS). According to TNS Gallup media research, Kurier Wileński 36,800 people or 1.4% of Lithuania's population read at least one issue out of the last six in summer 2008, but that measure dropped to 0.3% in spring 2010.
The Lithuania men's national basketball team represents Lithuania in international basketball competitions. They are controlled by the Lithuanian Basketball Federation, the governing body for basketball in Lithuania. Despite Lithuania's small size, with a population of less than 3 million, the country's devotion to basketball has made them a traditional force of the sport in Europe.
Viktor Uspaskich is a Russian-born Lithuanian entrepreneur and politician.
Delfi is a news website in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania providing daily news, ranging from gardening to politics. It ranks as one of the most popular websites among Baltic users.
Žirmūnai is the most populous administrative division (elderate) in Vilnius. It is also a neighbourhood in the Lithuanian capital city Vilnius, encompassing the city district of the same name, built in the 1960s.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Lithuania face legal and social challenges not experienced by non-LGBT citizens. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is legal in Lithuania, but neither civil same-sex partnership nor same-sex marriage is available, meaning that there is no legal recognition of same sex couples. Consequently, LGBT people do not enjoy all of the rights that non-LGBT people have, and same sex couples in the country do not enjoy the same legal recognition that is given to opposite sex couples. Although homosexuality was decriminalised in 1993, the historic legacy of criminalisation has resulted in limited rights for LGBT people. Protection against discrimination was legislated for as part of the criteria for European Union accession, and in 2010 the first gay pride parade took place in Vilnius.
LitPol Link is an electricity link between Poland and Lithuania which connects the Baltic transmission system to the synchronous grid of Continental Europe. It has a capacity of 500 MW and since 2021 it can operate in a synchronous regime.
Fermentas was a biotechnology company specializing in the discovery and production of molecular biology products for life science research and diagnostics. Since 2010, Fermentas has been part of Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Maxima Grupė UAB is a Lithuanian group of retail chain companies operating in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Bulgaria. It is the largest Lithuanian capital company and the largest employer in the Baltic states. As of 2020, Maxima has more than 1300 stores in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Bulgaria. Each store offers between 3,000 and 65,000 brands, depending on the size of the store. The group employs more than 40,000 people. Its main headquarters are in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Since 1991 Estonia has changed from being a former Soviet republic to a member of the European Union and the European Monetary Union, making a rapid transformation in several fields, including the mass media, which is a vibrant and competitive sector. For many years Estonia has been among the top ten in Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) Press Freedom Index. In 2017 it was ranked 12th out of 180 countries by RSF while Freedom House assigned Estonia’s press freedom a score of 16/100. A cross-media landscape that embraces traditional media as well as the Internet and digital media characterises the contemporary media system in Estonia.
Verslo žinios is a leading Lithuanian business newspaper published in Vilnius since 1995 and online since 2001. Swedish Bonnier Business Press group holds a 73% stake in Verslo žinios. The remaining owners are newspaper's founder Rolandas Barysas and investment company "Cicera".
Rūta Meilutytė is a Lithuanian swimmer. An Olympic gold medalist, she is a world record holder in the short course 50 metre breaststroke, 100 metre breaststroke and long course 50 metre breaststroke. She is a former world record holder in the long course 100 metre breaststroke.
Presidential elections were held in Lithuania on 11 May 2014, with a second round held on 25 May between the top two candidates from the first round. In the second round, incumbent President Dalia Grybauskaitė was re-elected with 58% of the vote. Second round took place alongside the 2014 European elections.
The Lithuanian People's Party is a left-wing political party in Lithuania. The party has had seven representatives at the municipal level but no seats in either the Seimas or EP. The founder of the party, Kazimira Prunskienė, was the first prime minister of independent Lithuania.
Lithuania competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia from 7 to 23 February 2014. The team consists of nine athletes competing in five different sports. The nine athletes mark the most athletes the country has ever qualified for a Winter Olympics.
Ieva Januškevičiūtė is a Lithuanian alpine skier and two-time Winter Olympian. She is the first Lithuanian woman to compete in the Winter Olympics in alpine skiing. She is currently the head coach of the "Snow Bees" ski club and a personal trainer based in Vilnius.
Aušra Seibutytė-Maldeikienė is a Lithuanian political economist, politician, lecturer, teacher, publicist and book author.
Gitanas Nausėda is a Lithuanian politician, economist and banker who is serving as the ninth and current president of Lithuania since 2019. He was previously director of monetary policy at the Bank of Lithuania from 1996 to 2000 and chief economist to the chairman of SEB bankas from 2008 to 2018.
