‘I try not to watch paintings, as when I see good ones I become depressed that I will not be able to create something that beautiful,’ says half-joking Viktor Šocik. He is a graduate of the Vilnius Academy of Arts, member of the Lithuanian Artists’ Association. He also belongs to the group of valued professional artists of Lithuania.

This year, on 22 December, permanent transportation of passengers from Belarus to the airports in Vilnius and Kaunas will begin. These regular daily trips will be carried out by “Ecolines”, the largest international carrier in the Baltic region. According to Lithuanian Airports, although many passengers from the neighbouring country use the services of Lithuanian airports today, regular trips to our country will help to attract even more Belarusians.

Writer Valdas Papievis, actor Vytautas Anyzis and film director Gytis Luksas are among the winners of this year's Lithuanian National Prize for Culture and Arts.

A ban on fishing below a depth of 800 meters in the North-East Atlantic was backed by Parliament on Tuesday. This ban will apply to bottom trawling, which often wrecks sea bed habitats, and also restrict deep-sea fishing to the area where it took place between 2009 and 2011. Tougher checks at sea and transparent data collection rules will also apply.

Continuing in the tradition of making a selection of calls aimed at provoking conversation on what might surprise or shock the investment returns in the year ahead this year’s predictions cover a range of scenarios, including a Chinese growth rebound, an Italian bank rally, Brexit giving way to Bremain and the EU’s willingness to change in the face of populist backlash, among others. The Outrageous Predictions should not be considered Saxo’s official market outlook, it is instead the events and market moves deemed outliers with huge potentials for upsetting consensus views.

Iraqi Yazidi Islamic State survivors and activists Nadia Murad and Lamiya Aji Bashar receive Parliament’s 2016 Sakharov Prize during a ceremony in Strasbourg on Tuesday 13 December. After escaping sexual enslavement by Islamic State they both became spokespeople for women affected by the terrorist group's campaign of sexual violence and for the persecuted Yazidi minority. Find out more about their fight by watching our video and follow the ceremony live online.

Units of the Lithuanian Land Force will receive upgraded and well-equipped M577 armoured personnel carriers Lithuania is buying from the German Armed Forces. Representatives of the Lithuanian Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defence of Germany signed a contract on acquiring 168 M577s on November 30 in Vilnius. Total value of the procurement is roughly EUR 1.6 m.

Almost one-tenth of the Lithuanian population say they would like to leave the country for good and nearly one-third want to emigrate temporarily.

The average share of smokers of cigarettes in Lithuania is higher than that in the rest of the European Union, Eurostat said on Wednesday.