The police in Brest have reported arresting an admissions official of an unnamed local higher educational institution on suspicion of accepting a $350 bribe from an applicant's mother.
On the whole, no serious violations have been detected at the city's two universities - Brest State University (BSU) and Brest State Technical University (BSTU) - since the entrance examinations began, said the local branch of Belarus' State Control Committee.
For the first time ever, BSU and BSTU select examiners by toss immediately before the examination. Following reports of information leaks to applicants, some examination materials have been replaced with papers borrowed from two universities in southeastern Belarus.
On July 26, Belarusian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko started on a tour of the country's regions to see how crops are being harvested, as well as to look into local socioeconomic problems, according to his press office. Mr. Lukashenko's first destination is the southwestern
region of Brest. He is reported to have already visited the districts of Baranovichi, Beryoza, Ivatsevichi, Kobrin, Lyakhovichi, Pruzhany and Zhabinka. The harvest can hardly be completed throughout the Brest
region by August 1, the deadline set by Mr. Lukashenko, BelaPAN was told by officials of the region's Committee on Agriculture and Foodstuffs. According to them, the crops are being harvested at a pace of 7.4 percent a day.
Vladimir Mirochnik resigned on July 26 as chairman of the Regional Trade Union Association in Brest in southwestern Belarus following a July 11 vote of no confidence against him.
At its July 26 plenary conference, the Association voted 181 to two to accept his resignation. Three delegates abstained. Nikolai Basalai, who until last month was the chief executive official of one of Brest's districts, was then elected to lead the Association. He was the only
candidate.
The Association also adopted a resolution urging its parent organization, the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus, to send its Presidium into resignation and petition the Belarusian government to lift its ban on checkoffs of union dues.
"Today's decision was a decision of the majority," said Ivan Semenyuk, leader of the Brest branch of the Belarusian public servants' union. "We need consolidation, unity and constructive work. Conflicts and disagreements must stop. Though late, Mirochnik did what a man had to do." Zinaida Mikhnyuk, of the Union of Electronic Workers, told
BelaPAN she was "ashamed of what happened in this room." "I am not against trade union reform, but I deplore these methods. I am not ashamed of our regional leader," she said.
A delegation of the Chinese State Control and Audit Department met with regional government officials in Brest on July 25.
Leonid Lemeshevsky, chairman of the Brest Regional Executive Committee, told the Chinese officials that the Brest region's good relations with Chinese provinces helped establish trade close partnership. He said that the Brest region had not sold or bought goods in China before 1995, whereas in 2001 annual trade reached $6 million. The region sells electronic goods to China and imports chemical fibers
and threads and medical equipment.
Mr. Lemeshevsky said that the Brest region could help China promote its products to Western countries. Officials at the meeting discussed possible exchange of experience between the Chinese State Control and Audit Department and the Belarusian State Control Committee.
In Brest, the Chinese delegation will visit the World War II memorial "Brest Hero Fortress" and several museums.
A German citizen was arrested on July 17 at the Brest Fortress, a Belarusian World War II memorial in the city of Brest on the Polish border. A police dog located him as he was trying to cross the river separating the Fortress from Poland.
The man, named Vladimir Shmaiderman, confessed he had a bet with a friend that he would make it from Germany to former Soviet republics, crossing every border on his way illegally, and had already passed through Poland and the Baltic States undetected.
The officers who apprehended the border violator, Sergeant Sergei Kuzuba and dog trainer Nikolai Samosyuk, have been decorated with an honorary badge by the Border Troops command.
The Brest region's customs have seized nine heavy trucks carrying raw nickel to Western Europe from Russia.
An inspection found the cargo to be raw material, as opposed to nickel products stated in the waybill. The cargo owners apparently hoped to save up to $270,000 by paying a lower customs duty. The fate of the cargo is now to be decided in court proceedings.
The huge forest fire raging within the Polessky military ground in the Stolin district, Brest region, has spread for a total of 300 hectares.
Konstantin Shershunovich, head of the regional department on emergency situations, surveyed the area on July 15. The fire is reported to have covered 226 hectares in the Bukchanskoye military forestry, 67 hectares in the Stvigskoye forestry, and 7 hectares in the Khrapunskoye
forestry. The foresters and military troops have localized the fire with no assistance from the emergencies ministry's units.
The marshy forest terrain, impenetrable to heavy vehicles, makes firefighting extremely difficult. The Ministry of Emergency Situations reports no danger to populated areas, as the nearest village is 25 kilometers away.
Although the Stolin district is known as the most radioactively contaminated area in the Brest region, experts insist that there is no radioactive danger either.
Vladimir Mirochnik, chairman of the Brest regional trade union association, has rejected its presidium's demand that he step down as recommended at the association's plenary session held on July 11.
The presidium aimed to oust Mr. Mirochnik and Deputy Chairman Aleksandr Kavitsky, accusing them of failure to fulfill its directives and establish normal relations with regional governor Vasily Dolgolyov. Being treated in the hospital for a heart disease, Mr. Mirochnik was not able to
attend the meeting.
A final decision on Mr. Mirochnik now rests with a conference scheduled for July 26. Speaking to BelaPAN on Tuesday, he declined to comment on the presidium's decision, stressing, however, that he would
not resign of his own free will.
Fire fighters have not so far managed to extinguish a large forest fire raging within the Polessky military area in the Stolin district, Brest region. The blaze that has spread across 20 hectares of marsh
forest was localized last Sunday, but it is currently impossible to put out completely, as the area is impenetrable to heavy vehicles.
Konstantin Shershunovich, head of the regional emergency relief department, has taken a helicopter to the site to personally assess the situation and help the army deal with the disaster.
This last weekend, emergency relief teams, troops and foresters were working to extinguish around 800 hectares of peat marshes, dried grass and undergrown forest in the Bukchantskoye forestry, Lelchitsy district, Gomel region. Over the last two days, Belarusian fire fighters have put
out 59 fires on peat marshes totaling 47 hectares and 19 forest fires covering 61 hectares.
An asphalt factory in Zhabinka, a district capital in southwestern Belarus, was paralyzed for six hours on July 15 after its employees quit work, demanding milk coupons and proper workwear, as well as an end to chronic wage delays.
About 50 workers gathered outside the management office, refusing to work until their demands were met. The leader of the factory's trade union committee, Anatol Matskevich, tried to calm them down, but in vain. It was not until a regional-level construction official, Fyodar Zakharchuk, arrived from Brest and promised to sort the problems out that the factory's employees resumed their work at about 2 p.m. Zhabinka's asphalt factory is now working at 70 tons per hour instead of 140 tons, and is still having trouble finding buyers for its products.
29 July 2002