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BELARUS IS 62ND AND UKRAINE 70TH IN UN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT RANKING. Belarus ranks 62nd and Ukraine 70th on a list of 177 countries assessed with regard to their Human Development Index in the United Nations "Human Development Report 2004," Belarusian and Ukrainian news agencies reported on 16 July. The Human Development Index is a composite indicator that measures a country's achievements in three aspects of human development: longevity, knowledge, and standard of living. Longevity is measured by life expectancy at birth; knowledge is measured by a combination of the adult literacy rate and education enrollment; and standard of living is measured by gross domestic product per capita. JM

OUR UKRAINE WARNS AGAINST PROVOCATION BY NATIONALIST GROUP... The Our Ukraine bloc led by presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko has demanded that President Leonid Kuchma, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, and leaders of law enforcement bodies prevent the staging of what they termed a potentially dangerous and provocative action by the Ukrainian National Assembly (UNA), an extremist nationalist group, Interfax reported on 15 July, quoting Our Ukraine activists Mykola Katerynchuk and Volodymyr Bondarenko. Katerynchuk and Bondarenko told journalists that the UNA is going to hold a congress and a march with flaming torches in Kyiv on 16 July, during which its activists will shout "anti-Semitic and anti-Russian slogans" and express "pseudo-support for Yushchenko." The Our Ukraine leader recently sent a letter to Kuchma warning that the presidential campaign has activated "forces that profess fascism and ethnic and racial intolerance." According to Yushchenko, "central television channels popularize the activities of radical, pro-fascist structures" which, the Our Ukraine leader added, are financed by top-level officials. JM

...AS GROUP LEADER VOWS TO STRUGGLE FOR 'HONEST AND PURE' GOVERNMENT. UNA leader Eduard Kovalenko told Hromadske Radio on 15 July that the UNA congress and march planned for 16 July has been rescheduled for 31 July, the "Ukrayinska pravda" website (http://www2.pravda.com.ua/) reported. "After the conclusion of the congress, we will march with flaming torches to the Castle Hill," Kovalenko said. "There we will set on fire [a symbol] of wealth as a sign of the beginning of the UNA's national-patriotic fight for honest and pure government, for establishing Ukrainians in power," he added. Kovalenko did not say whether this action will be connected to Yushchenko's presidential bid. "[The UNA action] is necessary to nourish the media image of Yushchenko as a man supported by fascists, " Our Ukraine activist Bondarenko commented on 15 July. JM

ANOTHER FORMER UKRAINIAN PREMIER REGISTERED AS PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL. The Central Election Commission on 15 July registered Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs head Anatoliy Kinakh, prime minister from May 2001 to November 2002, as the 10th candidate for the 31 October presidential election (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 14 July 2004), Ukrainian news agencies reported. Kinakh is the second former prime minister running for the post of president, along with Our Ukraine leader Yushchenko, who was prime minister from December 1999 to April 2001. JM

OSCE TO SEND LARGE MONITORING GROUP FOR UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will dispatch 650 people to observe the fall presidential election in Ukraine, Interfax reported on 16 July, quoting OSCE Project Coordinator in Ukraine David Nicholas. Nicholas said the overwhelming majority of monitors will arrive in Ukraine on the eve of election day, while 50 observers will work in Ukraine during the entire election campaign. JM

NUMBER OF UNPROFITABLE UKRAINIAN COMPANIES DECREASES. The State Statistics Committee made known on 15 July that the share of loss-making companies in January-May 2004 was 36.8 percent, with their losses totaling 6.6 billion hryvnyas ($1.2 billion), Interfax reported. The share of unprofitable enterprises in the same period of 2003 was 42.3 percent, and the losses amounted to $7.6 billion hryvnyas. JM