Starting on 6 December, the airline company Air Lituanica operates flights to Berlin on its own. Passengers who had bought air tickets from Estonian Air but the flights to this destination were cancelled will be offered airfares not higher than those paid by them for the flight with Estonian Air.

The Permanent Representatives (COREPER II) on December 13 in Brussels has agreed to add 19 countries to the EU visa-free list. The EU Council will now enter into negotiations with the European Parliament, with a view to the final adoption of the decision early next year.

Improvements in public transport and education are turning the capital of Lithuania into an attractive 21st century city, says the Mayor of Vilnius.

Today, December 10th in Strasbourg, European Parliament has rejected a harmful, from the point of view of family and Christian ethics, report of Edite Estrela on the reproductive and sexual health and rights in this domain. The tension in the meeting hall was rising until the last moment before voting on an alternative project, that was reported by a coalition of two fractions – EPP and ECR , to which Valdemar Tomaševski belongs. The very important voting was won with the results 334 to 327. This is an important event and victory in European Parliament that protects European families and children from intrusive sexual propaganda.

The EU's Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has today updated its guidance on the use of portable electronic devices on board (PED), including smartphones, tablets and e-readers. It confirms that these devices may be kept switched on in "Flight Mode" (non-transmitting mode) throughout the journey (including taxiing, take-off and landing) without a risk to safety. EU Transport Commissioner, Vice President Siim Kallas has asked EASA to accelerate its safety review of the use of electronic devices on board in transmitting mode, with new guidance expected to be published early in 2014.

On Wednesday 4th December the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER I) endorsed the interim report from the Inter-institutional Task Force on Multiannual plans. The initiative, proposed under the Irish Presidency and undertaken by the Lithuanian Presidency, aimed to address the inter-institutional issues and agree a way forward to facilitate the development and introduction of multiannual plans under the terms of the Common Fisheries Policy.

The golden-voiced Liudas Mikalauskas, along with the unusual combination of the Bass Arco string quartet (three cellos and a double bass), invites listeners to a new musical experience – a pleasurable evening with the songs of Vytautas Kernagis on December 10, 2013.

The soloist has this to say about the programme: "We wanted to put something together that was different, something that would make us hear the music within and share it with others. The cello has been associated with the human voice for a very long time, and there are no other instruments that harmonize so well with vocals that are able to touch at the heart strings so delicately as ours".

Program includes songs of the repertoire of V. Kernagis, including his best and most beautiful songs – "Baltas pauketis", "Kalnai ant kalnu", "Iseinu", "Musu dienos kaip svente", and more.

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On Friday, Lithuania's Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius buried a capsule marking the beginning of construction of the new summer concert complex in resort town Palanga.

On December 6 Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES) will be presented at the Pabradės Training Area of the General Adolfas Ramanauskas Warfare Training Centre (Lithuanian Armed Forces). The system based on laser technologies and designed for simulation of armed engagements was procured for training needs of the Lithuanian Armed Forces from U.S. Foreign Military Financing (FMF) funds.

As from 14 February 2014, Air Lituanica will operate a new flight from Vilnius to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, in addition to its direct regular flights to Prague, Munich, Berlin and Brussels. The company estimates that over 25 thousand passengers will be carried to the French capital in the first year of operation. Flight booking opened from 29th November, with prices starting at 59 EUR.