28 July 2006
New satellite for Belarus may be made within 18 months

A second space satellite can be made for Belarus within 18 months, Irina Gomenyuk, spokeswoman for Russia's Korolyov Rocket and Space Corporation (RKK Energiya), told reporters in Moscow on July 27.

According to her, the Belarusian government has already confirmed that it would like to have a new satellite instead of the one that was lost during a failed launch at the Baikonur spaceport on Wednesday. "The potential of RKK Energiya allows us to fulfill this task so that a new sat will be launched in a year and a half," Ms. Gomenyuk said. //BelaPAN

28 July 2006
Crashed Russian rocket found in Kazakhstan

Searchers have found the wreckage of a Russian carrier rocket that crashed shortly after liftoff on Wednesday in Kazakhstan, the Federal Space Agency said on Friday.

The Dnepr rocket carrying a Russian satellite and 17 foreign satellites, including one from Belarus and others from Italy and the United States, crashed shortly after blasting off from the Baikonur cosmodrome late Wednesday.

The wreckage was found 150 km south of the launch pad, a piece of land on Kazakh steppes that Russia leases to launch its spacecraft, agency spokesman Igor Panarin said, quoted by the Interfax news agency. "The rocket caused no environmental or other damage at the crash site," he added.

Experts of a special commission that looks into the crash will examine the crash site on Friday, Panarin said.

The incident has dealt a fresh blow to Russia's space program, which has suffered a series of mishaps since last year. //Xinhua

27 July 2006
New Austrian Business Class takes off for the first time

The first milestone of enlargement and quality improvement of the Austrian Business Class on long-haul flights has been completed. Today the first redesigned Boeing 777, registration OE-LPB, took off with the new Austrian Business Class. At 10.55 hours (Vienna time) OS 001 started to Kuala Lumpur and Sydney.

The amount of space available to Business Class passengers on Austrian Airlines aircraft has been increased, for the first time a total of 49 lie-flat sleeper seats will be used on the Boeing 777 for a relaxing journey. The Austrian Airlines Group offers an in-flight experience consisting of comfort, ambience, culinary delights and charming, personal service and wants to position the business class on intercontinental flights among the best worldwide.

The new Business Class lie flat sleeper seat has been equipped with a wide range of practical functions and is also a design-piece. High-quality materials, like real leather for example, were used to manufacture the chair. A variety of sophisticated elements, from the tilting reading lamp through to the storage compartment, an extra-large screen and a massage function, define a new standard of comfort. A control panel adjusts the positions of the sleeper seat according to the wishes: Sit, Relax, Sleep and Massage options are available. Lowerable armrests make the bed wider still and even more comfortable and privacy screen can be simply pulled up from the armrest for an undisturbed private sphere. Soft pillows and blankets or a special new function gently massages the back as passengers relax. All of which ensures "recharging the batteries" and passengers reach their destination fresh and fully rested.

Top chefs from around the world grace the plate with their culinary creations. A ‘flying chef’ on board the aircraft personally ensures an exquisite finish, the on-board sommeliers recommends the perfect wine to complement the choice of meal. In new Austrian Business Class a genuine Viennese coffee house service with a wide selection of coffees and world-famous Austrian pastries will be also provided.

The in-flight entertainment programme is extensive: Up to 18 video channels and an extra large tilting screen for every sleeper seat recreate that real cinema feeling. The audio programme offers a choice of pop, jazz, hip-hop or classical music. Special headphones are designed to cancel out all background noise.

At the moment the in-flight internet service has not been activated. The Boeing Company conducts its review of options for the future Connexion by Boeing in-flight Internet business model. Therefore the Airlines Group has temporarily postponed the installation of Connexion equipment onboard its long-haul fleet. Austrian Airlines Group will await Boeing’s further information about the future Connexion by Boeing services and business.

A total of nine Boeing 777 and Boeing 767 long-haul jets will be redesigned step-by-step. At the Austrian Airlines website, passengers can take a virtual seat in the Austrian Business Class and try out all the functions of the new lie-flat sleeper seat anytime. By simply entering the date of the next flight, passengers can find out whether the aircraft will already be equipped with the new features.

As of now, passengers will experience the new comfort in Austrian Business Class, including the lie-flat sleeper seat, on routes to Kuala Lumpur and Sydney as well as to Singapore and Melbourne. In the future the redesigned aircraft also operate on routes to Delhi, New York, Washington, Toronto, Mumbai (Bombay), Mauritius, Phuket, Colombo, Malé and Caribbean holiday destinations.

The Austrian Airlines Group fhas been flying to Belarus on a regular basis since 1992. Austrian flies Vienna-Minsk-Vienna twice a day at the moment.

27 July 2006
Cabinet holds special conference on failed satellite launch

Belarus' Council of Ministers held a special conference on July 27 to discuss the failed launch of the country's first space satellite the previous day.

"There was nothing wrong with the satellite itself. It was OK," Mikhail Myasnikovich, chairman of the Belarusian National Academy of Sciences (BNAS), told reporters in Minsk after the conference.

According to official information sources, the BNAS head expressed his regret that the satellite had not been placed into orbit. He also said that in August, a special commission would investigate the reasons for the Dnepr carrier rocket's failure to deliver the satellite to orbit.

"Specific proposals regarding the development of the Belarusian space program were worked out at the just completed Council of Ministers conference by Aleksandr Lukashenko's order," Mr. Myasnikovich said. //BelaPAN

27 July 2006
Lukashenko said to have taken news of satellite's failed launch calmly

A representative of Russia's Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) said that Aleksandr Lukashenko had taken the news of the Belarusian first-ever satellite's failed launch "with fortitude."

The Belarusian leader traveled to Kazakhstan to observe Wednesday's launch of Russia's RS-20 Dnepr rocket carrying BelKA (Belarusian Spacecraft) and 16 other satellites from the Baikonur spaceport. The Dnepr, a converted intercontinental missile, crashed back to Earth after 86 seconds of flight. The crash was blamed on failure of the first-stage engine.

"After realizing that the rocket expected to carry Belarus' first satellite BelKA into orbit had been lost, Aleksandr Lukashenko showed no signs of anxiety, vexation or agitation," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Roskosmos spokesman Igor Panarin as saying.

Mikhail Myasnikovich, head of the Belarusian National Academy of Sciences (BNAS) who accompanied the Belarusian leader on the trip to Kazakhstan, said that the $9-million satellite was insured, according to official information sources.

Built by Russia's spacecraft company Energiya in cooperation with Belarusian experts, the satellite was to provide mapping data for agencies working on the ground. Special stations were established in Belarus to receive and process data from the satellite.

The project was to pay off within a year and BelKA was expected to stay in orbit for five years.

The launch of BelKA was initially scheduled for June 28. It was delayed until July 26 over faulty equipment aboard a Dnepr rocket. The rocket was replaced with another Dnepr that successfully passed all testing. //BelaPAN

25 July 2006
Some 170 more Belarusians apply for evacuation from Lebanon

Around 170 more Belarusian nationals have applied for evacuation from Lebanon this week as casualties mount and supplies dwindle in the Middle East country after two weeks of Israeli airstrikes.

Increasingly more Belarusians seeking assistance in fleeing the war-torn country have contacted the Belarusian embassy in neighboring Syria, according to the Belarusian foreign ministry.

Many of the Belarusians were expected to be bussed across the Syrian border early on Tuesday and take a Belavia flight to Minsk on the night between July 25 and 26.

Over 300 Belarusian citizens had evacuated from Lebanon by Sunday noon. The Belarusian embassy in Syria and the foreign ministry's Consular Department continue examining the lists of evacuees to establish the exact number of compatriots still staying in the country. //BelaPAN

25 July 2006
Austrian: Qualitative growth and high service quality key factors in successful improvement of result

Financial result of the Austrian Airlines Group (January to June 2006)

Commenting on the Austrian Airlines Group’s results for the first half-year of 2006, Alfred Otsch, Chief Executive Officer of the Board of Management of the Austrian Airlines Group, made the following statement: ‘The continued expansion of our market leadership in Eastern Europe in the first half-year has enabled us to achieve respectable, usually double-digit, levels of traffic growth, build market share gains and generate over 70% of the passenger growth at Vienna Airport. We have improved our adjusted EBIT by EUR 16.3m to EUR –47.8m compared to last year, despite having had to overcome an increase in kerosene expenditure of EUR 72 million. Had kerosene prices remained at last year’s level, we would actually have seen a substantial improvement in our result. As the second half of 2006 is likely to be dominated by factors including continued high kerosene prices that exceed our budgetary assumptions (already set high as a precautionary measure) and because of the negative consequences of the capacity bottlenecks that have emerged at Austrian air traffic control since spring, it has become necessary to correct our forecast result for the year as a whole. It will probably not be possible to achieve a balanced adjusted EBIT. Depending on the political and economic framework conditions, the annual result will prospectively be better than the previous year.’

Half-Yearly Result — Summary

25 July 2006
Chavez heads for Moscow after Belarus visit

A plane with Hugo Chavez on board took off from Minsk's international airport and headed for Moscow on Tuesday, ending the Venezuelan leader's three-day visit to the Belarusian capital. Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky saw Mr. Chavez off at the airport.

The visit yielded a number of bilateral agreements. In particular, Aleksandr Lukashenko and Mr. Chavez inked a joint declaration of the Republic of Belarus and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela which outlines long-term strategic partnership priorities. Apart from this, interstate agreements on cooperation in the spheres of science, technologies, energy and petrochemistry, as well as memoranda of understanding in the spheres of political consultations between the two countries' foreign ministries and agricultural cooperation were signed.

While in Belarus, Mr. Chavez visited the Military Academy, the Stalin Line WWII memorial and a filling station in Minsk, and laid flowers at the monument on Victory Square.

The Venezuelan president set out on a two-week world tour on July 19. Apart from the Belarus and Russia visits, his itinerary also includes stops in Qatar, Iran, Vietnam and Mali. //BelaPAN

25 July 2006
Belarus signs contract to resume potash fertilizer supplies to China

Belarus has signed a contract for the supply of potash fertilizers to China, First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko said while speaking to the heads of Belarus' diplomatic missions in Minsk on July 25.

According to official information sources, the vice premier insisted that the contract carried terms acceptable to Belarus, and that the target for the export of potash fertilizers in 2006 would be met.

Sources at the Belarusian State Petrochemical Concern (Belneftekhim) and the Belarusian Potash Company (BPC) refused to comment to BelaPAN on Tuesday.

On June 1, Mr. Semashko reported to Aleksandr Lukashenko that the export of potash fertilizers had fallen by 25 percent year-on-year in the first four months of 2006.

The decrease largely occurred because China, the world's second largest importer of potash fertilizers, has bought nothing from the BPC this year, as Belarus wanted the price to increase from $165 to $205 for a ton, whereas China suggested reducing it by $20.

According to Mr. Semashko, other countries in Southeast Asia bought and continue to buy Belarusian potash fertilizers at $217 to $235. "I guess even after the $40 increase, when the price of Belarusian potash fertilizers amounts to $205 per ton for the Chinese consumers, they will all the same have the lowest price as the largest buyers," he said.

Mr. Semashko noted that the export of potash fertilizers totaled some 7 million tons in both 2004 and 2005, but earnings rose from $751 million to $1,014 million. Exports to China reportedly rose 40.3 percent to 1,284,900 tons, or by 95 percent to $263.3 million in terms of value. The Belarusian government projected that exports to China would increase to two million tons in 2006.

According to the Ministry of Statistics and Analysis, the output of potash fertilizers in the first five months of 2006 totaled 1,665,500 tons, a 25.4-percent year-on-year decrease. May's output was 211,000 tons, 49.1 percent less than in May 2005.

In June, RUP PO Belaruskaly, Belarus' state-owned potash fertilizer giant in Soligorsk, Minsk region, had to stop the operation of all the four mines for a week because of having filled its storage facilities to full capacity.

24 July 2006
Venezuela's Chavez arrives on first official visit in Belarus

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has arrived on the first official visit in Belarus at the invitation of President Alexander Lukashenko. No official functions are scheduled for the first day of the visit, as bilateral talks will begin Monday.

This will be the first time that Lukashenko and Chavez meet each other in person.

"The Presidents will discuss key international problems, bilateral cooperation, and expansion of bilateral contacts in the format of the UN and the Movement of Non-Aligned countries," Lukashenko’s press service said.

Both Presidents have identical positions on many aspects of international situation.

They have spoken many a time in favor of creating a multipolar world and have openly criticized U.S. activity in the international arena.

Trade relations will be high on the agenda of their talks.

Belarussian-Venezuelan trade stood at 15.5 million U.S. dollars last year, and exports of potassium fertilizers from Belarus made up a sizable share in it. Imports from Venezuela did not exceed a mere 20,000 U.S. dollars and mostly consisted of automobile spare parts and equipment.

The itinerary of Chavez’s visit includes trips to a number of historic and cultural sites and a tour of a defense university.

The sides also plan signing a range of bilateral agreements during the visit. The Belarussian Foreign Ministry said in a laconic commentary they are aimed at "establishing full-scale cooperation."

A Venezuelan delegation led by Hugo Chavez’s brother, Adan Chavez Friaz who is Venezuela’s ambassador to Cuba, made a trip to Belarus at the end of June. Chavez Frias said then the forthcoming visit had much political significance.

Chavez arrived in Belarus after a summit of the countries making up South America’s Common Market (MERCOSUR). //Itar-Tass