JERUSALEM, Oct 18, 2007 (AFP) - Israel summoned the Belarus ambassador on Thursday to condemn 'extreme anti-Semitic' remarks made by the country's head of state last week, the foreign ministry said.

'During a news conference broadcast live on national radio last Friday, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko made some extreme anti-Semitic comments against Jews and Israel,' the ministry said.

MINSK, Oct 14, 2007 (AFP) - Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Minsk amid a heavy police presence Sunday to call for greater political freedom and for Belarus to join the European Union.

The administration of President Alexander Lukashenko -- dubbed the 'last dictator in Europe' by Washington -- allowed the protest to go ahead although anti-riot police lined the route through the city centre.

However, opposition sources complained last week that activists had been detained ahead of the event and warned not to attend.

MINSK, Oct 13, 2007 (AFP) - Several Belarus opposition activists have been detained, imprisoned and harassed ahead of a demonstration on Sunday in favour of European Union membership, opposition sources said.

In Minsk, activists Pavel Yukhnevich and Nikita Sasim were sentenced to five and seven days in jail for 'rude talk in public places', court officials said.

According to Belarus People's Front leader Vintsuk Vyacherka, his party's office was blocked all day Friday by three unidentified officials who searched everyone leaving the building.

MINSK, Oct 13, 2007 (AFP) - Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko on Friday lashed out at neighbouring Russia, after a recent congress of a party backed by President Vladimir Putin, and accused gas giant Gazprom of trying to strip Belarus bare.

'I watched a few moments (of the United Russia party's congress) and it made me want to vomit,' Lukashenko told Russian reporters.

WASHINGTON, Oct 11, 2007 (AFP) - Washington Thursday welcomed a planned demonstration this weekend in Belarus for democratic reforms and European Union membership, and criticized the arrest in Minsk of opposition activists.

'We welcome the initiative taken by the citizens of Belarus to organize a march' on Saturday, State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said in a statement, adding that it was 'ecouraging' Minsk had allowed the march.

MINSK, Oct 11, 2007 (AFP) - Several Belarus opposition activists were held for questioning Thursday ahead of a demonstration on Saturday in favour of European Union membership, human rights and opposition sources said.

In the western city of Grodno, two regional activists of the United Civic Party (OGP) were ordered to be held in jail for up to seven days on public order charges, OGP head Anatoli Lebedko told AFP.

In Vitebsk, in the north, police took away an activist of the 'For Freedom' group, Charter 97, the human rights organisation said.

WARSAW, Oct 11, 2007 (AFP) - Poland's foreign ministry on Thursday officially protested the arrest of two members of a Polish group in Belarus who oppose the regime of hardline President Alexander Lukashenko.

The ministry 'expresses its concern and protests against the illegal detention' of association president Andzelika Borys and Viktor Bancer, editor-in-chief of the publication Magazyn Polski, it said in a statement.

PRAGUE, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) - Vaclav Havel, former Czech president and leader of the protests that toppled the Czechoslovak communist regime, Monday launched a petition for the release of Myanmar's opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

'I call for the government to free her,' Havel said at the opening of Forum 2000, a world forum to promote peace and democracy held in Prague.

He denounced the 'massive violence and cruelty' employed by Myanmar's military regime in suppressing recent protests led by Buddhist monks.

STRASBOURG, Oct 5, 2007 (AFP) - A Belarussian opposition member seeking asylum in France was saved from deportation at the last minute on Friday after a European court intervened, a rights group said.

'The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) grabbed Viktor Brel at Roissy (airport) and prevented his expulsion that was in process,' Education Network Without Borders (RESF), an aid group, said in a statement Friday.

'Viktol Brel is free, thanks to the European Court,' said the group.

VILNIUS, Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) - Lithuanian group Ukio Banko Investicine Grupe (UBIG) said Thursday it had sealed a deal with Belarus to build a 350-million-dollar (248 million-euro) sports, entertainment and business complex.

'UBIG and the Belarus government on October 3 signed an agreement, providing for the construction of a multifunction complex' in the capital Minsk, UBIG announced in a statement.

'The complex will include a 15,000-18,000 seat stadium, a sports and concert hall, and hotel and commercial facilities,' it added.

MINSK, Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) - Alexander Demyanovich sounds pretty understanding for a young man who's been ditched by his sweetheart. Then again, she left him for a billionaire prince from Dubai -- and you don't get that every day in drab Belarus.

'I don't regret that Natasha married a prince,' says Demyanovich, 21. 'She always wanted to do something great.'

VIENNA, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) - Telekom Austria said Wednesday it was moving into the Belarus mobile telecommunications market by buying the number two operator there, MDC.

Telekom Austria said in a statement it had agreed to buy a 70-percent stake in MDC's parent company, Cyprus-based SB Telecommunication, for around 730 million euros (one billion dollars).

In addition, the Austrian telecoms giant had an option to buy the remaining 30 percent by the end of 2010 for an additional 320 million euros, the statement said.

MINSK, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) - Belarus police detained leaders of the opposition People's Front and the Communist party on Tuesday in the capital Minsk, a People's Front activist told AFP.

Valentina Svyatskaya said the deputy chairman of the People's Front, Viktor Ivashkevich, and the Communists' deputy chairman, Valery Ukhnalev, were detained as they left a cafe where they celebrated Ivashkevich's birthday.

MINSK, Sept 14, 2007 (AFP) - The supreme court in Belarus sentenced four army officers to prison terms of between seven and ten years Friday after finding them guilty of spying and treason.

Viktor Bogdan, Sergey Korniliyuk, Pavel Petkevitch and Vladimir Russkin, who had been accused of spying for neighbouring Poland, were stripped of their ranks and ordered to serve their sentences in a maximum security prison.

Petkevitch, a captain, and Korniliyuk, a major, were sentenced to seven years each, while Bogdan, also a major, was handed nine years.

MINSK, Sept 10, 2007 (AFP) - An opposition youth group leader and about 20 activists were arrested in Belarus Monday on charges of staging an unsanctioned rally, a spokesman for the group said.

Malady Front founder Pavel Severinets was sentenced to 17 days behind bars and a 300-dollar fine, Boris Garetsky told AFP.

The activists rallied in front of a local court in the Belarussian town of Baranovichi to protest the trial of Malady Front member Yaroslav Grishchenyu, which began Monday.

TEHRAN, Sept 5, 2007 (AFP) - Iran and Belarus Wednesday signed a deal worth an initial 250 million dollars to develop an oil field in southwest Iran, the latest sign of the expanding relationship between the two US foes.

The deal to develop the Jofeir oil field was signed in Tehran by Iranian officials and the president of the Belarusneft oil company, Alexander Lyakov.

MOSCOW, Aug 22, 2007 (AFP) - Moody's ratings service on Wednesday followed rival Standard and Poor's in issuing its first sovereign credit rating to Belarus, in a move that could help the country raise money for Russian gas.

Moody's gave the former Soviet republic a B1 rating for its foreign and local currency debt and Ba2 for its foreign currency ceiling, in a statement that voiced reservations about its economic prospects.

MOSCOW, Aug 22, 2007 (AFP) - Ratings service Standard and Poor's issued its first long-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating to Belarus, which could help the ex-Soviet state raise money to pay for Russian gas.

Standard and Poor's gave a B+ rating for Belarus on foreign currency and BB on local currency, saying that the outlook for the former Soviet republic was 'stable,' the ratings service said in a statement on Tuesday.

MINSK, Aug 15, 2007 (AFP) - An attempt by Polish officials to enter Belarus to attend a party in honor of the Polish army was a deliberate provocation, Belarus's foreign ministry said Wednesday.

'The Belarussian side has warned Poland in advance that some of its officials planning to visit Grodno would be refused entry. So it is completely incomprehensible why these people came to the Belarussian-Polish border,' the ministry's spokeswoman Maria Vanshina said.

WARSAW, Aug 15, 2007 (AFP) - Belarus barred Wednesday a number of Polish officials from entering the country to attend a party in honour of the Polish army and did so for political reasons, Poland's foreign ministry said.

Polish opposition leader Donald Tusk and the vice-president of the senate, Kryzsztof Putra, were among those denied entry by Belarussian border guards.

The party they hoped to attend was organised by the Polish Association of Belarus (ZPB), which is not recognised by the hardline regime of President Alexander Lukashenko.

MINSK, Aug 8, 2007 (AFP) - Belarus promised an 'adequate response' on Wednesday after Washington expanded a list of Belarussian officials banned from entering the United States.

'Given the United States' unilateral, groundless actions, Belarus will naturally be forced to take adequate measures in response,' the foreign ministry said in a statement, without being more specific.

MOSCOW, Aug 8, 2007 (AFP) - A row in which Russia's Gazprom threatened to cut gas supplies to Belarus was defused on Wednesday when Minsk completed payment of its 456-million-dollar (331-million-euro) debt to the company.

A Gazprom spokeswoman told AFP that the company 'received on Wednesday the last transfer of payment owed by Beltransgaz,' the Belarussian gas pipeline operator, for the first half of this year.

MINSK, Aug 8, 2007 (AFP) - The United States has expanded the list of politicians and government officials serving under hardline Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko that are banned from visiting America.

The initial list, adopted by Washington in May 2006, comprised nearly 40 names including Lukashenko and others suspected of repressing human rights and committing fraud during presidential elections in the former Soviet republic.

WASHINGTON, Aug 7, 2007 (AFP) - The United States expanded the list of politicians and government officials serving under hardline Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko that are banned from visiting America.

The initial list, adopted by Washington in May 2006, comprised nearly 40 names including Lukashenko and others suspected of repressing human rights and committing fraud during presidential elections in the former Soviet republic.

MINSK, Aug 7, 2007 (AFP) - Belarus said on Tuesday it was paying off its debts to Russia's Gazprom and that all debts would be settled by the end of the week, averting a threatened cut-off.

'Last Friday, as promised, the Russian side received 190 million dollars and on Saturday about 60 million dollars more. The Belarussian side will settle its debt by August 10 and I think before,' said the government press office, quoting First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko.

MOSCOW, Aug 3, 2007 (AFP) - Russia and Belarus narrowly averted another energy crisis on Friday, reaching a last-minute agreement to cancel threatened cuts in Russian gas shipments that had rattled European nerves.

Russian gas giant Gazprom backed down from a threat to slash gas supplies by almost half to Belarus, a key energy transit state to western Europe, after Belarus began repayment of nearly half a billion dollars in overdue debt for past supplies.

MOSCOW, Aug 3, 2007 (AFP) - Russia will cut gas deliveries to Belarus by 30 percent if it does not receive additional payment of overdue bills by next week, the state-controlled energy giant Gazprom said Friday.

'If additional payments are not made within a week, we will decide to reduce deliveries in accordance with the payment we have received, which is to say by 30 percent,' spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov told Echo of Moscow radio.

BRUSSELS, Aug 3, 2007 (AFP) - The European Commission on Friday welcomed a last-minute deal between Russia and Belarus which averted the threat of a gas supply cut.

The EU's executive arm said it was scrapping plans to convene the EU's gas coordination group after Russia withdrew its threat to slash supplies to Belarus, a key transit country for Europe, in a row over money.

'We welcome the development over the past hours,' said Commission spokesman Martin Selmayr. 'There is no longer the need to call an urgent meeting of the gas coordination group'.

MANILA, Aug 3, 2007 (AFP) - Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov assured Asia on Friday that Russia would not use energy exports as blackmail despite a recent threat to cut off gas supplies to neighbour Belarus.

'Don't trust those who say Russia is using hydrocarbon exports to blackmail other countries,' he told a business forum in the Philippines after a regional summit here.

'That is simply not true.'

He made no mention of the dispute that almost resulted in cuts of Russian gas shipments to Belarus, a key transit state for energy to western Europe.

MOSCOW, Aug 3, 2007 (AFP) - Russian gas giant Gazprom cancelled a threatened cut-off of gas supplies to Belarus on Friday after receiving the first payment to clear nearly half a billion dollars in debt, Gazprom said in a statement.

'Today Beltransgaz has made the first payment for a significant part of the debt it owes Gazpromm... The decision has been made to put off a reduction in gas supplies to Belarussian consumers,' the company said.

MINSK, Aug 2, 2007 (AFP) - The top court in Belarus suspended Thursday the activity of the country's Communist Party for a period of six months for registration violations deemed illegal by the judge.

The Communists had contravened a recently adopted law by registering certain local cells and generally had poorly organised the registration of members, ruled Judge Anna Sokolovskaya.

In its report, the Supreme Court forbade the Communist Party from carrying out any activity except for trying to correct its registration faults.

MINSK, Aug 2, 2007 (AFP) - Belarus promised on Thursday to pay nearly half a billion dollars to Russia's Gazprom to avoid a gas cut-off, while Gazprom expressed confidence a deal could be reached before the Friday deadline.

Belarus, a key transit state for Russian gas imports to western Europe, had fallen behind by 460 million dollars (337 million euros) in payments for Russian gas, prompting a warning from Gazprom it would slash deliveries by half from Friday.

MOSCOW, Aug 2, 2007 (AFP) - Russian gas giant Gazprom said Thursday it was 'reassured' after Belarus said it would pay outstanding bills for gas imports ahead of a Friday deadline for a cut-off in supplies.

'We are of course reassured by the announcement from the Belarussian side today that they are ready to pay their gas debts,' Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said on NTV television.

BRUSSELS, Aug 2, 2007 (AFP) - The European Commission, concerned by a gas dispute between Russia and major transit country Belarus, on Thursday called for a meeting next week of the EU's gas coordination group.

'The Commission believes that a safe and undisturbed supply of energy is of key importance for Europe's economy,' the EU's executive arm said in a statement.

'Energy supply disputes in the EU's direct neighbourhood are therefore of serious concern to the European Commission.'

MOSCOW, Aug 2, 2007 (AFP) - Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday that Minsk would pay 460 million dollars to Russia's Gazprom to avoid a cut in gas deliveries, news agency Interfax reported.

'I have ordered the government to dip into our reserves and pay the 460 million dollars for Russian gas,' Lukashenko said, referring to an oustanding bill that Gazprom earlier said would force a gas cut-off from Friday.

MOSCOW, Aug 1, 2007 (AFP) - Russia threatened on Wednesday to cut gas supplies to Belarus from Friday unless it pays nearly 500 million dollars in debt, prompting urging from the European Union for a swift resolution.

Pricing disputes between Moscow and Minsk have previously hit energy supplies to western Europe, which receives about 20 percent of its Russian gas via Belarus.

OTTAWA, Aug 1, 2007 (AFP) - Canada on Wednesday increased duties on imports from Belarus, stepping up pressure on the former Soviet republic to 'respect human rights and democratic principles' Ottawa said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said in a statement that Belarus, would be withdrawn from Canada's General Preferential Tariff entitlement, a move which follows restrictions imposed in December 2006 on Canadian exports to Belarus.