Vilnius

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Flowers were laid on rusty railway tracks Monday as Lithuania marked the start of a mass deportation 80 years ago by the Soviet Union that was occupying the Baltic nation.

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Lithuania has detained nine Iraqi asylum-seekers who had entered the Baltic country from Belarus, officials said Monday, pointing a finger at Belarus for allegedly being involved in sending repeated groups of immigrants into Lithuania.

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Belarus's exiled opposition leader vowed Saturday to persist fighting the country's authoritarian regime despite intensifying repression that was thrown into high relief a week ago by the diversion of a commercial airliner and the arrest of a dissident journalist who was aboard.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Raman Pratasevich has been part of the Belarus political opposition for over a decade and has long feared the authorities would try to abduct him, even though he was living abroad.

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Viachka Krasulin said he was arrested and brutally beaten all over his body by police in Belarus for attending a rally in August 2020 that challenged the results of an election keeping authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko in power.

The diversion of a Ryanair flight to Lithuania by Belarus, leading to the arrest of an opposition journalist who was a passenger, has sparked international outrage and calls for tough sanctions against the former Soviet nation.

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — A prominent opponent of Belarus' authoritarian president was arrested Sunday after the airliner in which he was traveling was diverted to the country after a bomb threat, in what the opposition and Western officials denounced as a hijacking operation by the government.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Belarus' opposition will compile a register of law enforcement officers accused of abuses against peaceful demonstrators protesting the reelection of the country's authoritarian leader, an opposition leader said Tuesday...

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Saturday formally opened the country’s first nuclear power plant, a project sharply criticized by neighboring Lithuania.

Lukashenko said the launch of the Russian-built and -financed Astravyets plant “will serve as an impetus for attracting the most advanced technologies to the country, and innovative directions in science and education...

MOSCOW (AP) — Belarus' first nuclear power plant began operating Tuesday, a project that has spooked its neighbor Lithuania, which immediately cut off importing electricity from Belarus at the news...

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — A center-right coalition in Lithuania, led by the conservative Homeland Union, is headed back to power after eight years in the opposition after winning the most votes in a weekend parliamentary runoff...

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Lithuanians voted Sunday in a parliamentary runoff where the winner will have to tackle a growing health crisis and high unemployment due to the coronavirus pandemic...

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic is the main domestic issue as Lithuania holds a parliamentary runoff election Sunday, and the winner will have to tackle a rapidly deteriorating public health sector and high unemployment...

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Canada’s foreign minister pledged support for top Belarusian opposition figure Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who is in exile in Lithuania, during a meeting Friday.

Francois-Philippe Champagne told Tsikhanouskaya that Canada “will always be on your side.”

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — The top opposition challenger in the Belarusian presidential election threatened Tuesday to call a nationwide strike unless the country's authoritarian president announces his resignation, releases political prisoners and stops his government's violent crackdown on protesters...

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Lithuanians voted Sunday in the first round of the parliamentary election in which the electorate will choose 141 national lawmakers, and the ruling four-party coalition is facing a stiff challenge from the opposition...

PARIS (AP) — Dining at a table where each person is enclosed by a clear plastic shield might look and sound futuristic, but it could be one way for some restaurants to reopen...

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Poland and Lithuania are working together to defend themselves against a Russian historical offensive that seeks to minimize Soviet responsibility for the outbreak of World War II, their foreign ministers said Thursday...

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — If the pooch melts your heart, swipe right.

Animal lovers in Lithuania have created a mobile application inspired by the popular dating app Tinder to match up dogs in local shelters with new owners...

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Pope Francis warned against historic revisionism and any rebirth of anti-Semitism that fueled the Holocaust as he marked the annual remembrance Sunday for Lithuania's centuries-old Jewish community that was nearly wiped out during World War II...

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — The Latest on Pope Francis' visit to the Baltic countries (all times local):

6:35 p.m.

Pope Francis has acknowledged that his reputation pales a bit compared to St.

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Tens of thousands of Lithuanians lined the narrow streets of the Old Town of Vilnius and cheered Saturday as Pope Francis' popemobile passed by, an exuberant greeting that must have been welcome to a pope battered by new revelations in the Catholic Church's long-running sex abuse scandal...