VILNIUS ABOLISHES SECURITIES PROTECTION SERVICE.

Oppositionleader Vytautas Landsbergis denounced a Lithuanian governmentdecision to close the regime’s securities protection service,a step he said would open the securities market in Lithuania toall kinds of fraud, BNS reported July 10. Lithuanian governmentofficials countered that the protection service’s functions werebeing performed by other agencies and that there was no dangerof fraud or bank failures in Lithuania.

Belarus Official: Russian Withdrawal Leaves a "Mess"Behind.