October 17 there finished a two-day long open session of the UN Security Council on the situation around Iraq. The event was organized in connection with the letter, sent on October 10 this year by the Permanent representative of South Africa on behalf of the Non-Alignment movement to the UN Security Council’s chairman.

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The forum of right-wing and centrist parties, members of the European democratic alliance and the European people’s party, is taking place in Lisbon on October 17-18. Among the forum’s participants there are French Premier Jean-Pierre Rafarin, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berluskoni, Slovak Premier Mikulas Dzurinda, Austrian chancellor Wolfgang Shussel, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Baroso, Spanish Prime Minister Hose Maria Aznar and other distinguished European politicians. Belarus is represented in Lisbon by the deputy chair of the United Civil Party Alexander Dobrovolsky.

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Defense Ministers of Russia and Belarus see no point in creating in the soon future of a single military headquarters, which would be put in command of the military forces of the two neighboring states. The officials said that at the Friday press-conference in the aftermath of the session of the joint committee of the Defense Ministries of Russia and Belarus. As noted by the Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, “the military-political situation doesn’t require it at the moment”. In his opinion, formation of such an office is still in future and the military headquarters of the two states are elaborating this at the moment. “At the moment there’s no necessity in this body,” – underscored he.

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Judge of the Supreme Economic court of Belarus Grigory Markovsky refused to satisfy the appeal, filed by the three founders of the non-state newspaper “Svobodnye Novosti” against the Ministry of information.

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The Lebanese honorary consul for Belarus, Elie Sarkis, and his wife Caroline held a cocktail reception last Thursday at the Kasser Assoufra restaurant in Dbayeh to mark the opening of the new Belarus Consulate in Lebanon.

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Belarus has no grounds to demand financial compensation for the mass emigration of Belarusian scholars, said member of the National Academy of sciences of Belarus professor Yuri Khodyko, commenting to BelaPAN on the statement, voiced by the Academy’s president Mikhail Myasnikovich during the October 16 press-conference in Minsk.

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The first case against a group of skinheads will be investigated in the Vitebsk region. The young men are indicted over the incitement of racial, national and religious hatred and intolerance. Radio “Unistar” reports that four “Skinheads” will stand justice – residents of Vitebsk and Orsha district.

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Outcomes of the examination into Ukraine’s alleged sales of “Kolchuga” artillery units to outcast Iraq, conducted by experts from the US-British group, will be publicized in London in 7-10 days, said the US ambassador in Ukraine Karlos Paskual. On Thursday in Kiev the ambassador told the journalists that at present the commission is still at work.

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October 17-18 there takes place in Minsk a session of the permanent seminar of local and national state bodies, where Alexander Lukashenko also takes part. The theme of the current round of seminars is “Main aspects of social sphere in the Republic of Belarus: condition and poignant development problems”. Having touched upon the Belarusian-Russian relations, Lukashenko declared that: “We don’t owe anything to anyone”. “Belarus is solvent enough to clear of her bills for consuming Russian energy. And so there will be no energy crisis in the country, as hoped for by evil-wishers,” – said Lukashenko.

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Judge of the Sovietsky district of Minsk Fedorova refused to satisfy the lawsuit, filed by ZUBR activist Aleksei Shydlovsky against the newspaper “Sovietskaya Belorussiya” and its editor-in-chief Pavel Yakubovich.

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The EU is alarmed by the deterioration of the situation regarding freedom of media and freedom of expression in Belarus. The censorship and harassment of independent media by the Belarus state are cause for great concern. The EU deeply regrets the repression of journalists, trade unions and others critical of President Lukashenko. The EU fully supports the statement of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of Media prompted by the recent sentencing of editor in chief Mr. Ivashkevich for defamation of President Lukashenko, and refers to the EU statement in the OSCE Permanent Council. The trials of Mr. Ivashkevich, Mr. Markevich and Mr. Mozheiko, as well as the proceedings taken against Mrs. Khalip, are worrying examples of the intimidation of media representatives by the Belarus authorities. The EU urges the Belarus authorities to revoke these sentences.

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The government of Belarus deems necessary to restrict the supplies of energy resources to the companies, which accumulated too great reserves of the ready goods in their warehouses, said the first Vice-Premier Sergei Sidorsky speaking at the October 17 seminar of the leading workers of the national and local state bodies. He noted that this demand was made known to the knowledge of all concerns and ministries. Fuel and energy resources must not be wasted on the manufacture of goods, which remain at the storehouses and enjoy low demand, said Sergei Sidorsky.

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Young people join the huge army of Minsk homeless people. Every year the local police registers around fifty people, aged 18-30, who fall in the category “a person without a permanent place of living”, said in a conversation with the BELTA correspondent director of the doss-house Nikolai Verkeev.

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