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Today's Headlines for:
Wednesday, October 12, 2005






Looking Back in Time

From the Top

Mothers Having Many Children Honored by the Order of Mother

President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenka has conferred the Order of Mother on many child mothers of Minsk region.

Belarus appreciates mothers

27 women, each of whom gave birth and reared five or more children, have been awarded the Order of Mother. The awardees include: psalm-reader of the parish of the Temple of the Nativity of Christ at the village of Prusy, Staryye Dorogi district, Evgeniya Drazhina; postwoman of Syrmyezhsky post office, Myadel district, Galina Ignatovich; cook of Troyanovsky kindergarten-cum-school teaching and educational complex, Borisov district, Yekaterina Kosova; bookkeeper of the private unitary agricultural enterprise “Malinovy,” Pukhovichi district, Alla Solodukha; and some workers of education and culture, agriculture and industry, medical professionals, housewives.

Mohamed ElBaradei together with the International Atomic Energy Agency, which he heads, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last week for working to curb the spread of nuclear weapons.

The President of the Republic of Belarus also extended congratulations to Mohamed ElBaradei on being awarded, jointly to the International Atomic Energy Agency whose director general he is, the 2005 Nobel peace prize.The Head of State pointed out that the activities of the Agency in the development and safe use of peaceful nuclear technologies, including atomic energy production, are extremely important for the international community.

The winner was chosen from nearly 200 nominees, a record for the prize, first awarded in 1901. Front-runners are believed to have included people as diverse as Finnish peace mediator Martti Ahtissari, anti-nuclear activist and Nagasaki survivor Senji Yamaguchi and Irish rock singer Bono.

The prize is one of five Nobel Prizes endowed by the Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who said in his will that the prize should be awarded "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."

At the time that Mr. Nobel stipulated the terms of the prizes, Norway and Sweden were politically united. The other prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden.

Mr. ElBaradei said he was "pleased and humbled" to have recieved the award.

Armenia shows interest in military cooperation with Belarus

From the NLPRB

Armenia’s best and brightest

Armenia shows great interest in development of the military and military-technical cooperation with Belarus, first deputy defense minister – head of the main staff of the Armenian army Colonel-General Mikhail Arutiunian stated in Minsk October 10.

Analyzing the talks with head of the general staff of the Armed Forces of Belarus Lieutenant-General Sergei Gurulev, Mikhail Arutiunian noted that “the two sides discussed a wide range of issues, especially on the CSTO military constituent”. “We showed mutual understanding in many issues”, he underlined.

The Armenian party is interested in training of its military in Belarus, the record of military reforming, modernization of the military equipment, in particular, new automated control systems. “As yet the issue of Karabakh has been unsolved and we cannot curtail the army and should hone the military skills. As for the acquisition of the new equipment, it should satisfy us in price, technical characteristics and ability to operate in mountains”, Mikhail Arutiunian said.

The program of the visit of the Armenian delegation includes trip to the 120th mechanized brigade and the military academy of Belarus.

According to Mikhail Arutiunian the present day meeting is a preparation to the visit of the defense minister of Belarus Leonid Maltsev to Armenia, with is due in the end of 2005.
Note: The above photo came from the following site “http://www.cilicia.com/Ethniccleansing.htm” and is worth looking at as it contains a lot of horrific information about The ethnic conflict between the Azerbaijani Republic and the Armenian region of Nagorno Karabakh — formerly part of Soviet Azerbaijan.

Also from the NLPRB

CIS Economic Council to consider 20 issues in Moscow

About 20 issues will be considered at a meeting of the CIS Economic Council slated for October 12 in Moscow. The Belarusian delegation will be headed by vice-premier Andrei Kobiakov, a BelTA correspondent was told in the Belarusian embassy in Russia.

Two items have entered the meeting’s agenda on Belarus’ initiative. One of them is connected with the agreement on creating favorable legal, economic and organization conditions for the CIS leasing activity development. The Belarusian side offers to introduce amendments and addenda to the list of conditions, production and technological operations which consider goods to be made in a particular country.
Belarus shows interest in the other three points of the forthcoming meeting, the embassy noted. The matter concerns the concept on the agreed tariff policy for the railway transport, draft convention on the border cooperation and draft single budget of the CIS bodies.

The CIS Economic Council will also consider issues connected with the activity of the charter bodies of the Commonwealth and the interstate statistics committee, creation and development of the anti-aircraft defense system. Besides, the participants of the meeting will discuss the draft block of actions on advancing competitive products made by national manufacturers on the CIS internal market and the markets of “the third countries”, draft amendments and addenda to the agreement on cooperation in the sphere of labor migration and social security.

European Union to Continue Isolation of Lukashenka’s Regime

The EU won’t change its tough stance towards Belarus, until it wouldn’t proceed in the direction of democracy. It was stated by the member of Lithuanian delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Emanuelis Zingeris. “Neither in the Council of Europe, nor in the EU, there are signs that sanctions against Belarus are lifted,” Mr. Zangeris said at a press conference on Tuesday. At the PACE plenary session, in which the Lithuanian parliamentarian took part, a report on the EU neighbourhood policy has been passed. In this document it is proposed to surround the EU by a “circle of friendly states”. The report mentions Belarus as a state, which amity is questioned in the neighbourhood policy implementation.

Mr. Zingeris said that he vigorously opposes the statement that the EU should moderate the current policy of international isolation of Belarus, Rosbalt informs. “Do you see any signs of the Belarusian regime’s changing? There is no progress with human rights in Belarus. That is why there is no evidence of changing in the EU policy towards Belarus,” Zingers said.

Lebedko’s Trial lasts only one day: Dismissed on an Administrative Technicality

Lebedko: You just can’t keep a good man down

The Brest Regional court yesterday declared that the paperwork on Anatoly Lebedko’s charges of organizing an unofficial assembly yesterday be stopped due to inconclusive evidence.

The reason for the trial dated back to July 9th when Lebedko was detained in connection with an assembly promoting the Congress of democratic forces and other oppositionists. According to the UCPB, Police stopped the cars containing Lebedko as well as Stanislav Shushkevich and Alexander Buhvostova. At first, the motive behind the arrest could not be ascertained, but eventually reports concluded that should be accused of the organization of an unlawful assembly under articles 167 and 184 of the civil code.

The trial was discontinued when the courts case was seen to be without merit. According to Lebedko: “The witnesses were inconsistent, Policemen called to testify declared that they were not present at the time of the incident, and because the case was based upon the interrogations of these people, the whole of the accusation needed to be dismissed.

When asked if to him this meant a verdict of not guilty, Lebedko quipped:
“I have been involved with the Brest courts for so long; I have no idea whether the results are good or bad. In my experience I have already had claims refused only to have them reversed in the Supreme Court because of subordinate issues. So in the case, I would not be too fast to say that this will be the end of this.
Translation: BHTimes

Looking Back in Time

An interesting web site was found today, a remnants of an entity once known as the BARCNEWS. The site was found accidentally while searching the web for news from Belarus. What was interesting though was the timing of the page’ last issuance which coincided with the day of the 2001 Belarusian presidential elections. The following story was the final one posted and, all things considered, seemed to be worthy of being reprinted. Here is the final story

BARCNEWS DIRECTOR ALES KASAK DETAINED
2001-09-11 00:17:12

The executive director of Belarusian Association of Resource Centers Ales Kasak was detained at the military post of the home troops at 18.40 in Mensk. He went there to make a report as it had become known about the preparatory activities of the troops.
Ales Kasak was detained in spite of the fact that he had a journalist certificate. According to the information that he managed to send, there were about 20 cars with soldiers ready to go at any moment. Ales Kasak was taken to the Rayon militia department, where he was searched and the memory card of his camera was taken away.

Please click on the permanent link at right to check out the rest of the site including news about the last presidential election. There are a lot of links such as this one out there. Perhaps a list of them should be compiled.
In addition to this, I am also posting another old webpage from the same time, this one having been posted by one of The BEING HAD Times permanent links that is still in business, The Belarusian Rynok. The page is called the Wasted Time Chronicle and in the opinion of this writer, has a most Belarusianesque style of prose. I am reprinting Ten Years That Failed to Shake the World by Vyacheslav KHODOSOVSKY here, and you can check out the rest of the site by clicking the above link.


Ten Years That Failed to Shake the World

The bygone times can not be reversed, although from a lifetime’s distance one can clearly see the mistakes of the past, and the way things should have been done, so that everything were just OK. Yet, this is a feeble excuse for pessimism. The people are better off living for the future. For us, Belarussians, this is particularly true. We wallow in a chronic incurable phase of expectations. Ask anyone about what is happening in the country - the answer will follow: we’re waiting. Waiting for the “bright past”, a wise ruler, the consensus, some nice weather, neighbor’s troubles, fair election….
Ten years ago, most of us never doubted, that the breakdown of “developed socialism” would bring a different way of living. A better one, of course. Some of us started working for it. A contemptuous word “cooperator” grew into a proud “ entrepreneur”. Belarussians were all at once getting convinced, that money is a commodity that can be produced even from the air. An epidemic of political infatuation swept over every member of the “aware” intelligentsia, who rushed to replace decorated proletarians and ineradicable party nomenclature from TV screens.
Naturally, journalists could not stay away from all these strange novelties and jumped headfirst into the whirl. On the spot, the press declared itself independent and learned to live without “guiding and organizing” role of the communist party, as well as without censorship and money.
“Belarussky Rynok” (The Belarussian Market) became the first independent newspaper to start systematic coverage and analysis of events in one of the most complex and challenging information sectors - the country’s economy. The newspaper was registered in 1990, then the first pilot issue was launched, and in June 1991 “Belarussky Rynok” became a weekly.
Ten years back, our newspaper was a phenomenon per se: we covered topics, that were entirely new to the country and little known to its people: civilized business, complicated world of finance, the elements of commodity markets, commercial law, as well as the right of people to truly own businesses, land and the Homeland in a broader sense of the word. Yet, the democratic principles, an open and liberal economy and civil society were deliberate choice of the editing team. We also believed, that this choice was shared by the country, the deliberate choice of its policy aimed into the future.
Regrettably, ten years after, we have to admit, that, perhaps, it was a bit too early to relax in satisfaction. The choice of the early nineties was neither ultimate, nor properly realized for Belarus.
The “bright past” backlashed in nearly every walk of social life. And there is no clear answer as to why it happened - it just happened.
However, one thing can not be argued: all those years the analytical weekly “Belarussky Rynok” impartially kept track of and categorized events in political and business life of the country. In the long run, the newspaper’s pages contain unique documentary chronicles of the bygone years. This year, marking newspaper’s 10th anniversary, we, the editing team, decided to compile these chronicles and publish a collection of our journalistic findings. We hope that ideas and facts contained in the book will prove useful in making a new choice - the choice the country will have to face in the new century.
The book, titled "The Chronicles of the Never Time”, will soon be published. Starting from the current issue, we offer our readers some chapters from the future book.
Vyacheslav KHODOSOVSKY,
the “Belorusski Rynok” Editor-in-Chief


Sports

Mirnyi, Kiefer, Andreev win Moscow first-rounders

From The Sports Network

Mirnyi: The best of the best from BY

Moscow, Russia (Sports Network) - Seeded players Max Mirnyi of Belarus, Nicolas Kiefer of Germany and Igor Andreev of Russia were among Monday's opening-round winners at the $1 million Kremlin Cup.

The fourth-seeded Mirnyi mauled Russian wild card Evgeniy Kirillov 6-1, 6-3 at Olympic Stadium.

The sixth-seeded Kiefer, who reached the final here in 2001, cut down fellow German Alexander Popp 6-4, 6-1, while the seventh-seeded Andreev erased German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-2. Up next for Andreev will be diminutive Frenchman Arnaud Clement.

In other first-round action, Czech Jan Hernych handled Frenchman Florent Serra 6-4, 6-3, Clement topped Czech Robin Vik 7-5, 6-2 and Florian Mayer pasted fellow German Lars Burgsmuller 6-3, 6-2. Mayer will face his countryman Kiefer in the second round.

This week's top seed is defending champion Nikolay Davydenko of the host nation. The Russian star beat Britain's Greg Rusedski in last year's indoor finale here.
The 2005 Moscow titlist will earn $142,000.

News from the International Chess championships in Argentina

Topalov Pretty Much Wraps Things Up.

In what would appear to be a predetermined agreement, Russian Grandmaster Peter Svidler agreed to a draw with Bulgarian Veselin Topalov in only 21 moves yesterday, a decision that all but guarantees Veselin the 2005 world Championships. Svidler would have needed to beat the number one tournament player in order to have any real chance at the title. However, in offering the draw, Svidler seems to have acknowledged Vaselin as the rightful title holder.
Here is the move list from yesterday’s game:

(1) Topalov,V (2788) - Svidler,P (2738) [C88]
WCh-FIDE San Luis ARG (12), 11.10.2005
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.h3 Bb7 9.d3 d6 10.a3 Qd7 11.Nc3 Nd8 12.d4 exd4 13.Nxd4 Re8 14.Nf5 Ne6 15.Nxe7+ Rxe7 16.f3 Rd8 17.Bxe6 fxe6 18.e5 dxe5 19.Qxd7 Rdxd7 20.Rxe5 Rd6 21.Bf4 1/2-1/2

The results after 12 rounds:
Veselin Topalov 9.0
Peter Svidler 7.5
Vishy Anand 7.5
A. Morozevich 6.0
Kasimdzhanov 5.0
Peter Leko 5.0
Michael Adams 4.5
Judit Polgar 3.5