Opposition activist Anton Kishkurno, severely beaten up by the law-enforcers, was now fined $70. The case consideration of the son of the head of the Minsk BPF Party Council Vladimir Kishkurno ended on May 13 in the Sovietsky district court of Minsk. The defendant says he will insist on the criminal prosecution of deputy head of the district police, colonel Evgeny Gurenkov, whom he charges with seriously injuring him, reports BelaPAN.

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A fortnight ago the Belarusian service of “Radio Svaboda” published a fax message to the Iraqi officer from the Borisov military repair plant of Belarus, in which Hussein’s regime was proposed assistance in repairing and sophisticating his armed machinery. “BG” correspondent interviewed the journalist, who made the sensational discovery – Ron Synovits.

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The parliament passed in the first reading the Law “On mail services”. The Minister of communication Vladimir Goncharenko, presenting the draft law in the Oval Hall, said that the postmen with their bags daily walk for 140,000 kilometers in total, while the total weight of the parcels delivered constitutes 2500 tons a day and the salary of the village mailman amounts to… $40.

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The Minsk city court confirmed the verdict of the Central district court of Minsk against female Minsker Oksana Novikova, found guilty of libeling Alexander Lukashenko, reports PRIMA agency. Novikova was sentenced to 2 years of imprisonment with a two-year respite: Oksana has a small child. The lady intends to appeal against the verdict in higher judicial instances.

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Angola is interested in purchasing Belarusian production and in creating an assembly line of tractors for the further sale of machinery not only in this country but also other countries in the south of Africa. This fact was made mention of at the meeting of the Belarusian plenipotentiary ambassador in South Africa and Angola Anatoly Ahramchuk with the Angolan Minister of agriculture Jibertu Buta Lukuta, held in Luanda.

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On Wednesday, May 14, there will be held a one-day working trip to Minsk of the members of the Moscow government with mayor Yuri Luzhkov at the head. The guests will engage in the session of the Belarusian Cabinet’s Presidium, RIA “Novosti” was told by the official representative of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry Sergei Skvortsov. According to him, the main theme of negotiations will be the discussion of the major issues of cooperation between Belarus and Moscow for the period till 2006.

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Due to the atypical pneumonia epidemic in the world, the Belarusian authorities grew especially suspicious about traders and students from the unfavorable regions, said deputy Minister for healthcare, country’s chief medic Valery Kluchenovich. So far, no cases of disease have been recorded in Belarus.

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In course of the Polish-Belarusian round of consultations, which ended on Tuesday in Warsaw, they coordinated most of the issues, relating to the introduction of the visa regime among the two countries. RIA “Novosti” was told in the Polish Foreign Ministry that the experts of the countries’ Foreign Ministries preliminarily determined that a one-time visa for Poles and Belarusians would cost 10 euros, while the multiple visa – 50 euros.

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