Tomorrow, on November 21, we launch a new column Persona grata (Latin- a desirable person). In the diplomatic practice persona grata is a diplomatic representative who has been granted an official approval for the assignment and coming to the country. We will present ambassadors of the foreign states who work in this country. The first interview will be with the Ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Mr. Brian Bennett.

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The Ministry of Justice refused the association of the public associations “The Assembly” in registration. The chairman of the working group Ales Byalyatsky called the refusal “a political decision”.

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On November 10 the Young Front, a non-registered organization, got a verbal refusal from Minsk Executive Committee for their request to allow a meeting and an action on November 24 on Yakub Kolas Square.

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The International Labor Organization, ILO appointed a committee on the investigation of the violation of the workers’ rights in Belarus. ILO undertook this decision after the recent arrests of the trade unions’ leaders. Considering the economic situation in Belarus and the poverty of the population, “it comes as no surprise that the regime is trying to suppress trade unions.” At the beginning of November Lukashenka’s administration discontinued all the ILO projects in Belarus.

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“The American people, the US government, and the Congress are especially interested in the integration of Belarus into the transatlantic community. I mean in the political and economic sphere. It does not deprive Belarus of an opportunity to have relations with the EU members, especially with neighbors. All these processes of integration are going on in Europe. We believe that integration into the transatlantic community is a very important guarantee for future stability in Europe and the whole world,” said the US ambassador in Belarus George Krol.

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The crowd in a spacious square in Minsk on a crisp autumn day recently was subdued but hardly fearful. There were rousing speeches, but they didn`t amount to a call to arms or an appeal for the overthrow of the government. The mood was more one of frustration as small-business owners vented their despair, a result of increasing taxes and the imposition of regulations they say are designed to drive them out of business.

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There have been several attempts to form economic "unions" between former Soviet states since the collapse of communism and the breakup of the Soviet Union but all have failed often to catcalls and mockery from U.S. and European officials. In September, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan, who all are under pressure to boost their struggling economies, launched yet another effort to start the process of creating what they call a "common economic space" that would stretch from Europe to Central Asia.

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[Presenter] A new rector, Vasil Strazhaw, has been introduced to the academic council of the Belarusian State University [BSU]. He officially took over the post today. The new rector admitted that the new appointment came as a surprise to him. Vasil Strazhaw was presented by presidential administration head Ural Latypaw.

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Deputy Security of State Richard Armitage told a Belarusian human rights activist Wednesday the United States would support democratic reforms in the Eastern European nation. Irina Krasovskaya, a Belarusian woman whose husband disappeared in 1999, met with Armitage to campaign for the Belarus Democracy Act. The measure, currently working its way through Congress, would encourage Belarus to hold open elections and cultivate an independent media. It would place sanctions on the country if reforms are not implemented.

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