MCDONALDS’ BELARUS FESTIVITY MARRED.

Minsk police yesterday used truncheons to disperse a crowd of up to 4,000, many of them students, attracted by the opening of McDonalds’ first fast-food restaurant in Belarus. The company, which intends to open two additional restaurants there, had prepared an elaborate festivity as Belarus became the 100th country or territory in which McDonalds does business. Also yesterday, the police arrested approximately 10 students from a large group protesting against President Aleksandr Lukashenko on International Human Rights Day. (Western agencies, December 10)

Georgia Virtually Abolishes Capital Punishment.