April 22-24 Alexander Lukashenko intends to pay an official visit to China, media were told by the head of the foreign relations department of the Administration Valery Voronetsky. The official underscored that the Beijing will host an official ceremony of welcoming Lukashenko, after which he`ll head for a talks with the Chinese leader Tsyan Tsemin, followed by the signing of bilateral treaties.

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Criminal proceedings under art.209/3 (fraud) were instigated with regard to the head of the economic department of the Brest affiliate of the Belvnesheconombank. According to the law-enforcement bodies, the lady, fooling the bank`s clients, got hold of huge amounts of money both in rubles and hard currency.

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Leading husbandry in the Vitebsk region - the Dokshitsky district - has already finished with the 10% of its land, while the rest of the farms remain well under 3% level. 1600 hectares, where they already planted seeds, saw the end of gasoline reserves, allotted by the Vitebsk regional council. The works are upheld by the Novopolotsk plant "Naftan", which supplied 270 tons of diesel fuel under direct agreement. This gas amount, however, is hardly enough for 2-3 days of sowing.

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Ahead of his departure to London, Russia`s president Vladimir Putin paid a visit to Belarus. He stayed on Belarusian soil not even a few hours, but still managed to meet with president Lukashenko. One of the subjects of their hot discussion behind closed doors was the formation of a military coalition between the two states. Russian General Staff official claims that the make-up of the contingent is fully defined.

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Chief of the Vitebsk city police major-general Valery Gorodenko, when asked by radio "Svaboda" reporter why neo-fascists are freely strolling in downtown in their uniforms, decorated with swastika, answered that the problem lies with the educational sphere, rather than the legal one. However, he said, ZUBRs graffiti is a different story. This felony must be punishable in accordance with the Criminal Code. No wonder, the inscriptions like "Where`s Zakharenko?" are thoroughly whitewashed, whereas fascist symbols are left unnoticed.

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Around 3000 Belarusian tractors are planned to be assembled in Iraq. The proposal was voiced by the private Iraqi company "Kapry Corporation" to the Minsk tractor plant administration. Earlier the firm assembled Czech tractors "Zetar", but the process was halted after they imposed embargo on the consignment of industrial production into the rogue Iraq. MTP estimates the Iraqi market`s demand for wheeled tractors at 45.000 vehicles.

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Brest officials lost any hope for integration cooperation perspectives with the Voronezh region of Russia. Russians refused to welcome the crews of Belarusian machine operators and abrogated the previously signed agreements, claiming them to be pre-election speculations of the region`s former governor.

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The Ministry of Culture drafted a project on the reorganization of the whole artistic tour activity: it will again fall under control of the state. The state-run institutions of culture are seeking extra ways to earn money. They were encouraged to do so by Lukashenko himself, who addressed this issue in his February report. Previously the tours of Belarusian pop singers - most lucrative of all - were always arranged by private firms, except may be the Mogilev region philharmonic society.

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The administration of the "Zenith" plant in Vileika, having augmented the workers` salaries, compensated this by deteriorating their labor conditions. The snag is, "Zenith" staffers got their wages re-calculated to fit the new minimum salary rates, but in the meantime there was issued an order, under which one shift`s duration grew to 16 hours per day. In the event the worker fails the daily production plan he may get fired right away.

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