1.   A controversial referendum last week that would have legalized some abortions was only narrowly defeated.

2.   Residents of Bexar County, Texas, will vote on the controversial referendum on the same day the Spurs will open the season and raise their championship banner.

3.   Prices for basic products have grown sharply in Belarus since last fall, when Lukashenko won a controversial constitutional referendum that gave him wide-ranging powers.

4.   Belarusian voters cast ballots Sunday in a controversial referendum that has riven this impoverished nation, pitting hard-line President Alexander Lukashenko against his foes in parliament.

5.   Belarusian voters decided Sunday whether to grant their hard-line president sweeping new powers in a controversial referendum boycotted by his opposition and slammed as unfair by observers.

6.   Hoping to defuse a bitter dispute that has strengthened his opposition, President Alexander Lukashenko agreed Saturday to postpone a controversial referendum on expanding his powers.

7.   Hoping to defuse a bitter dispute that has strengthened his opposition, President Alexander Lukashenko agreed Saturday to the postponement of a controversial referendum on expanding his powers.

8.   Lukashenko, in turn, agreed that a controversial referendum he has been trumpeting to expand his already vast powers will be non-binding.

9.   Lukashenko held a controversial referendum last fall that extended his term and gave him enormous powers.

10.   President Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday he would cancel a parliamentary runoff election set for the fall and would press on with a controversial referendum on extending his powers.