Chair of the Minsk city council Mikhail Pavlov was quoted as saying that the council`s paramount goal is to "ensure that every house, every apartment building and every flat are under control". To paraphrase what he said, the government is seeking how it may misappropriate people`s living quarters. Though the empty lodgings belong to someone, the authorities pledge to "find ways to make sure the apartments are occupied". Judging by some rulings, released by the city council both before and after Pavlov`s appointment, legislation is no obstacle to these guys. So the accommodation problem may soon be resolved in the most blatant manner the country has ever seen.

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Medical personnel of the Slonim district hospital passed their "no-confidence vote" against local administration, reason being a disastrous situation around healthcare in the region. Due to the absence of such basic items as syringes and bandages are, the surgeons had numerously suspended urgent surgical operations. Moreover, medics face continuous delays in salary payment. In their address to the Slonim town administration the hospital workers called on the officials to improve the grave situation in healthcare and pay money to the local statesmen in the last, rather than first turn.

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A Borisov resident was sentenced to 2 years of jail for stealing 2 dozens eggs, whereas another one, charged with murder, got same two years but… of hard labor.

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The tasks that the government laid down before the Brest region farms are estimated as extremely complicated by the specialists of the agricultural ministry. Experts complain that one cannot fulfill the plan, given the state preserves its present attitude to agriculture and the current level of prices on combustible lubricants for machinery.

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They registered the first case of the cattle being infected with rabies in Belarus this year. The cow went mad after it got bitten by some wild beast. This is the usual type of "mad cow", not the one terrorizing the continent right now.

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Executive director of the authoritative international human rights NGO "International League for Human Rights" Catherine Fitzpatrick forwarded her address to president Lukashenko, deeply alarmed by the recent 3-months prison term, that deputy Valery Schukin will face on charges of "hooliganism". Following read the full text of the letter.

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Yesterday ZUBR activist Antono Telezhnikov was released from the special detention center in Okrestina str., approximately 1,5 hours before due time. Police tried hard to spoil the day of the guy`s release.

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Chiefs of the Russian Interior Ministry fear any public statements on the course of the investigating proceedings, instigated on the ORT cameraman`s disappearance. March 21 first deputy Interior Minister of Russia Vladimir Kozlov turned down the interview proposal from the ORT correspondent in Minsk Dmitry Novozhilov. In a private conversation he blurted that the Interior Minister Rushailo himself tabooed any public declarations on the matter.

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Chief of Lukashenko`s Administration Mikhail Myasnikovich approved the new concept of work of the press-services of state institutions. From now on they are supposed to coordinate all their plans directly with the National press-center, which, in its turn, will report to Alexander Lukashenko`s press-center. The one in charge of watching over the fulfillment of the order is Vladimir Zametalin. The mechanism has already been launched in operation.

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Belarusian TV will shortly come up with a new (or rather an old one) information department - ideological. The body will be chaired by the KGB and presidential Administration people, Charter`97 learnt from the reliable sources.

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Popular Russian NTV channel will file a lawsuit in the arbitration court of Moscow against the Belarusian TV. The TV company intends to protect their copyright for the broadcast of their commercial blocks on the territory of Belarus. All the appropriate documentation have been gathered by now, said NTV deputy director general on regional broadcasting Alexander Gerasimov.

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Minsk Plant of Wheeled Tractors sends its workers for a forced vacation, BelaPAN was told by the specialists of the plant`s Agency of the business relations. In fact, the company has been malfunctioning from the financial plight. The snag is, the Turkish dealers haven`t yet paid the plant for the export cargo of their production. So the plant`s workers are now sent for a one week holiday.

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As reported by the Ministry of statistics and analysis, in February 2001 the average calculated salary of workers and state servants increased by 2,7% and now amounts to 91.559 rubles. Moreover, the salary growth fell far short of the inflation speed in February (3,9%). Therefore, over the first two months of 2001 the real wage fell by 8,4% (in January - by 7,4% and in February - by 1%).

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