During an event in Vilnius Municipality on July 18, 10 architects presented their plans for 10 new parks and infrastructure upgrades, which are scheduled to be built in the city’s 10 most populated districts.

On 18 July, newly appointed Minister of State for Immigration of the United Kingdom (UK) Robert Goodwill visited the Lithuanian Embassy in London. He came there on his first day in office. At the representation, the Minister met Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Mantvydas Bekešius, who expressed concerns over the attacks and abuse against Lithuanian citizens potentially related to the hatred for foreigners that have exacerbated after the referendum.

Terrorism continues to pose a threat to Europe and people expect the EU to act: 82% of Europeans want it to do more, while 69% consider its current measures to be insufficient, according to a Eurobarometer poll commissioned by Parliament. The survey also showed that the majority of people think the fight against terrorism should be the EU's main priority for more action.

The political decision about the synchronization of the Baltic electricity networks with Western Europe, which has been listed as one of the most important energy projects of the decade, should be made in December, representatives of the European Commission (EC), the Joint Research Center and countries of the Baltic Energy Market Interconnection Plan (BEMIP) agreed during a meeting in Vilnius on Thursday.

In order to encourage relocation of asylum seekers in the European Union, the European Commission has proposed to allocate EUR 10,000 per every relocated asylum seeker.

The United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union (EU) will have the biggest negative effect upon Lithuania among all countries of Eastern Europe, Standard & Poor's said in a statement.

EU countries will have to introduce stronger controls on “blank-firing” guns, to prevent them being converted to fire live ammunition, under Internal Market Committee amendments, voted on Wednesday, to a draft update of the EU firearms directive. The changes approved by MEPs ensure that any firearm which has been converted to firing blanks continues to be covered by EU gun control rules. This closes a legal loophole which became evident in the aftermath of last year’s terrorist attacks in Paris.

There has been no change to the rights and status of EU nationals in the UK, and UK nationals in the EU, as a result of the referendum.

Thirty million passengers have already travelled through Vilnius Airport, Lithuania's main air gateway, during the twenty-five years of its existence. All seventy passengers arriving from Amsterdam with airBaltic became anniversary passengers.

Human trafficking is a highly profitable international crime in which people are traded for use in prostitution, forced labour or other forms of exploitation. In a resolution adopted in plenary last week, MEPs condemned it as a modern kind of slavery and one of the worst forms of human rights violations. Resolution author Barbara Lochbihler, a German member of the Greens/EFA group, told us victims needed more protection and that more needed to be done on forced labour and money laundering.