Minsk  - The spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians in the former Soviet republic Belarus on Friday asked state officials to tighten access to the internet, citing a moral threat to the country's youth.

"The state should control internet content," said Metropolitan Filaret, head of the Orthodox Christian church in Belarus. "I sincerely hope that the government will not leave the problem of open access to dirty resources alone," he said.

Minsk  - Thousands marched against Belarus' authoritarian regime on Wednesday, as opposition groups held rare public gatherings throughout the former Soviet republic.

More than 4,000 demonstrators gathered in the capital Minsk, some carrying the flag of the European Union, banners proclaiming "Independence!" and the banned red-white-red flag of 1918 Belarus.

The marches came on a semi-official Belarusian holiday known as Will Day that marks the short-lived independent Belarusian republic formed in 1918, and destroyed by invading Soviet troops months later.

Minsk  - Belarusian police on Wednesday deported a pair of foreign pro-democracy activists, as opposition groups held rare public gatherings throughout the former Soviet republic.

Plain-clothes KGB agents meeting an train arriving in the Belarusian capital Minsk from Moscow initially detained three members of the Russian pro-democracy Oborony (Defence) youth group.

The cops later charged and placed on a return train to the Russian capital two of the activists, Oborony leader Oleg Kozlovsky and associate Aleksander Savelev, said Andrei Kim, a Oborony spokesman.

Minsk - Belarusian officials on Tuesday called on Brussels to revoke a travel ban imposed on President Aleksander Lukashenko, and to reconsider a stalled plan to build gas pipelines connecting Russian producers with the West.

"The time has come to remove these barriers, which prevent the development of normal relations between Belarus and the European Union, said Andrei Popov, spokesman for Belarus' Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Minsk - Belarusian police on Wednesday raided the home of an anti-nuclear activist protesting government plans to build an atomic power plant nearby.

Uniformed and plain-clothes police entered the residence of Nikolia Ulesevich, in the outlying Ostrovensky district of Grodno province.

Ulasevich in recent months had led a campaign to prevent the construction of a nuclear power station in the Ostrovensky district, citing environmental and health concerns.

Berlin  - The poor human rights record in Belarus stands in the way of closer ties to the EU, was the assessment given Friday by the German human rights envoy Guenther Nooke following a visit to the region.

"There are positive changes, but things are advancing very slowly," Nooke said after several days of meetings with the government of Belarus, opposition leaders and human rights organisations.