Defeated Lithuanian candidate challenges presidency vote

The defeated candidate in Sunday's Presidential election in the Baltic state of Lithuania, Arturas Paulauskas, has called for a recount of votes, complaining of counting irregularities in some areas.

But the Central Electoral Commission dismissed his allegations as unreasonable and confirmed that the Lithuanian-American, Valdas Adamkus, was elected president by a margin of just eleven-thousand votes.

Earlier, Mr Adamkus said his main foreign policy goal would be Lithuanian membership of the European Union and NATO, while another priority would be improved relations with Moscow.

Mr Adamkus -- who's seventy one and returned to the former Soviet republic last year from the United States after fleeing from Lithuania's communist regime in 1949 -- said he would give up his US citizenship.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service