Vilnius- Official data released by Statistics Lithuania Tuesday showed that inflation fell in October to 10.5 per cent year- on-year from 11.0 per cent in September, despite a 1.0 per cent rise in prices for consumer goods and services from September to October.

Violeta Klyviene, senior Baltic analyst with Danske Bank, said a slightly larger fall had been expected in Lithuania, the largest of the three Baltic states.

Brussels - Lithuania and Poland should bow to the majority of European Union member states and approve the immediate relaunch of talks on a strategic deal with Russia, despite their own security concerns, top EU officials warned Friday.

The decision to restart talks "may not be 100 per cent what your feelings are, but it's better for you to be together with all the other (EU) states in expressing a view rather than having some countries making agreements with Russia and others not," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said.

Vilnius - Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus described Russia's plans to deploy missiles in its Kaliningrad enclave as "beyond comprehension" Wednesday.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said earlier in the day that Russia would deploy short-range Iskander missiles in its Baltic Sea enclave, which borders Lithuania, in answer to US plans to site a missile defence system in Eastern Europe.

Vilnius - The four parties that will form the next Lithuanian coalition government launched talks in the capital, Vilnius, Tuesday aimed at drawing up a program for their four-year term.

Nine days after their first informal get-together on election night, the four leaders are believed to be formalising their alliance by means of two documents: one detailing the most urgent measures facing the new administration and another outlining an intended legislative program over a full parliamentary term.

Vilnius- Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus played host to US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff Thursday in Vilnius, and was told Lithuanians will be able to travel to the US from November 17 without a visa.

Chertoff has spent the last few days touring the region delivering similar official confirmation to other states including Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

Vilnius - Leaders of Lithuania's parties include a stunt pilot who was the first European president to be impeached, a fugitive gherkin magnate and a game show host who was once arrested in connection with a bomb scare. In such a bizarre political landscape, Andrius Kubilius seems unusual for being a professional politician.

Kubilius is seen as the country's likely next prime minister after a round of coalition-building wraps up in the wake of recently finished elections.