[JURIST] Nikolai Lozovik, Secretary for the Belarus Central Election Commission [official website], announced Tuesday that the third-term inauguration of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko [official website; BBC profile] will be delayed. Lukashenko's landslide reelection earlier this month triggered claims of widespread fraud and prompted massive street protests [BBC report] along with scathing criticism [report, PDF] from the European Union and the United States [White House press conference]. Lozovik gave no explanation for the postponement, simply stating that the Lukashenko administration will be setting a new date. Reuters has more.

Meanwhile Belarus rights activists said Tuesday that 20 out of some 400 protestors held in jail in Minsk had gone on a hunger strike to protest the conditions of their detention. A spokesman said they were in the fifth day of their action against overcrowding and deprivation of water and packages. AP has more.