Lukashenko for Libya

The president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, is to go to Libya next week for a meeting with Colonel Gadaffi.

Belarus state television says that the two men plan to forge new ties between their countries, and that Belarus intends to open an embassy in Tripoli in the near future.

Correspondents say Mr Lukanshenko -- whose style of government has often been described abroad as authoritarian -- is keen to establish links with other countries shunned by the West.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service