Vilnius (dpa) - Lithuania's Finance Ministry confirmed Thursday that it is in talk with unnamed lenders to secure a loan to cover a budget shortfall in the Baltic country.

Outgoing Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas told the Lithuanian parliament about the move, which was confirmed by finance minister Rimantas Sadzius in an interview with the Baltic News Service.

"Mistrust is raging in financial markets, which forces us to be cautious. Therefore, there is no openness either from the state, or from banks, or from other players," the minister said.

Vilnius  - Lithuania's finance ministry confirmed Thursday that it is in talk with unnamed lenders to secure a loan to cover a budget shortfall in the Baltic country.

Outgoing Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas told the Lithuanian parliament about the move, which was confirmed by finance minister Rimantas Sadzius in an interview with the Baltic News Service.

"Mistrust is raging in financial markets, which forces us to be cautious. Therefore, there is no openness either from the state, or from banks, or from other players," the minister said.

Vilnius - Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus sent a letter to his Georgian counterpart, Mikheil Saakashvili, Friday congratulating him on five years in power and criticizing Russian "brutality".

"Five years ago, Georgia proclaimed to the world its resolve to embark on the path of freedom, democracy and reforms. You well knew that it would be a difficult road. But nobody expected that your decision would be challenged by brutal military force unleashed against the freedom of Georgia," Adamkus wrote.

Riga - Details emerged Friday of a remarkable rescue off the Latvian coast after three Lithuanian yachtsmen spent three days adrift on a breakwater.

All three were rescued Thursday night by the Latvian coastguard after enduring 72 hours of stormy seas and freezing temperatures without food and water trapped off the Latvian port of Liepaja.

According to local media reports, the three Lithuanians were a man, 46, his 22-year-old son and a 20-year-old friend.

After buying the yacht in Sweden, they sailed for the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda on the opposite side of the Baltic Sea, but were surprised by a storm off the Latvian coast and shipwrecked.

Vilnius - The first sitting of a new Lithuanian parliament took place Monday afternoon with the incoming centre-right coalition administration announcing its list of policy priorities and likening the situation it inherits to a "time bomb".

Vilnius - The Lithuanian foreign ministry said Thursday it backed a suggestion by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to abandon the Nord Stream gas pipeline project due to be built under the Baltic Sea.

On Wednesday Putin said Europe must decide whether it wants the 10-billion-dollar pipeline to link Russia and Germany or not.