Ukrainians dressed in Nazi SS uniform trudge through trenches and fire model rifles in a reconstruction of a key battle against the Soviets during World War II. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Tag Archives: Ukraine
Project Ukrainian Barbie: Is the Farce Over?
In case you’d forgotten about Ukraine’s real life Barbie, she’s reemerged in the media. Just recently, a pretty Ukrainian lady that turned herself into a life-size doll shared her ideas about life and spirituality in a video entitled “Space Barbie”, produced by VICE. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
Brutal rape draws outrage over culture of corruption, impunity in Ukraine
It was an ordinary summer evening for 29-year-old Irina Krashkova, a single mother in this quiet farming town. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
US leads 'dirty dozen' of spam traffickers, Sophos study says
Sophos has selected its “dirty dozen” of countries that relay spam for the second quarter of 2013, and the U.S. has taken the top spot.
With a population of more than 300 million people that makes up a large portion of the world’s online traffic, Sophos security evangelist, Paul Ducklin, said it is no surprise that the U.S. is the leader.
“Remember that the Dirty Dozen doesn’t tell us from where the spam originates,” he said. “It tells us how spam gets relayed from the crooks to their potential victims.”
Belarus has risen up to take the second spot, with Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Argentina and making their debut as France, Peru, and South Korea drop from the list.
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld
Amateur astronomer discovers comet C/2013 N4 (Borisov) during a star party
Ukrainian amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov discovered a brand new comet on July 8 near the bright star Capella in the constellation Auriga. The comet was confirmed and officially christened C/2013 N4 (Borisov) on July 13. At the time of discovery, Borisov was attending the Russian-Ukrainian “Southern Night” star party in Crimea, Ukraine. He nabbed the comet – his first – using an 8-inch (20-cm) f/1.5 wide field telescope of his own design equipped with a CCD camera. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
An Injection Of Rule Of Law For Ukrainian Business? Oligarch's Lawsuit Could Help Improve The Culture Of Business Dealings In The Post Soviet Space
The last decade has been a difficult one for Ukraine. After the brief, hopeful days of its Orange revolution in 2004 and 2005, the country first saw the Orange leaders disappoint expectations and then self-destruct in a bitter feud. Ultimately, national affairs slid backwards into gridlock, authoritarianism and questionable government practices. Still, the potential signing of an association agreement with the EU in late 2013 could provide some hope. Can the rule of law and Western-style democracy take hold there? Oddly enough, a court case in England might provide some of the answer. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
Countries mull Antarctic marine sanctuary plans
Countries that regulate fishing in the Antarctic are meeting in an effort to break an impasse over proposals to create marine sanctuaries off the continent’s coast.
The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, which brings together 24 countries and the European Union, meets Monday and Tuesday in the German port city of Bremerhaven.
Countries including Russia, Ukraine and China balked last year at a plan put forward by the U.S. and New Zealand to protect the Ross Sea, considered one of the world’s most pristine. There is also disagreement over an Australian-European plan for a sanctuary covering a number of areas of the Southern Ocean in the eastern hemisphere..
Deputy German agriculture minister Peter Bleser urged delegates to “take this opportunity” to advance marine protection.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Passport issue leaves Mass. mom, newly-adopted daughter stuck in Ukraine for nearly a month
A Massachusetts woman is stuck in the Ukraine after traveling there to bring home her newly adopted daughter.
Christine Caswell McCarron says she’s been in Kiev for three weeks while waiting for a passport for her 11-year-old daughter. She says the Ukrainian government has decided to print new passports, leading to the delay.
McCarron says she’s bonded with a number of other American families who are stuck for the same reason.
U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch tells the Boston Herald he’s pushing the State Department to help the Dedham woman get home.
McCarron and her husband finalized the adoption of their new daughter, Kristina, last month. The family says it met Kristina last year through a cultural exchange program for orphans and had her visit at Christmas.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Looming Dangers Arise in Secret Underground Cigarette Trade
By Jacob Roche, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Between 2006 and 2012, illegal smuggling of this product grew by more than 15%. The trade is largely run by organized crime. Government policy can be blamed for at least part of the problem.
Am I talking about cocaine? Marijuana? No, just the humble cigarette.
A recent report from research group KPMG, and commissioned by Philip Morris , revealed that while total consumption of cigarettes in Europe has fallen in recent years, the illegal contraband and counterfeit trade has grown from 8.3% of total consumption to 11.1%. The report suggests that the high profitability and low risk of penalties attracts organized crime, which can use the trade as a cash cow to fund far more objectionable activities. An ad from British American Tobacco goes as far as to suggest that the trade could even be indirectly funding terrorism.
There’s a black market for everything
But why are people buying illegal cigarettes? Restrictions differ from country to country, but on the whole, cigarettes are legal and can easily be purchased. The trouble is that, because taxes and regulations vary so widely between countries, the price for consumers varies as well. A pack of Marlboros costs 6.69 euros in Sweden, and 13.18 euros in next-door Norway. In Ukraine, they sell for just 1.31 euros.
The differential makes it easy for smugglers to buy large quantities in cheap countries, bring them into more expensive countries, and sell them at some in-between price to profit. These large quantities are available in part because the large cigarette companies overproduce in cheaper countries. Ukrainian authorities estimate that the world’s four leading tobacco companies — Philip Morris, Japan Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco, and British American Tobacco — produced about 130 billion cigarettes in the country in 2008, 30% more than the local market consumed or legally exported. The rest simply disappeared into the black market, making Ukraine one of the top sources of non-counterfeit black market cigarettes.
What’s the impact?
Apart from the whole “funding organized crime” thing, the trade has a negative impact on both countries and cigarette manufacturers. It is estimated that governments around the world lost $40 billion to $50 billion in tax revenue in 2006, and that’s just from lost cigarette taxes — the losses are higher if you factor in things like unpaid income taxes from the money smugglers make.
As for manufacturers, there are two problems they face. The first should be obvious: If any of them are knowingly involved in undeclared overproduction, they may be criminally liable. Even if they aren’t knowingly involved, government authorities are likely to decide that manufactures are at least partially responsible for cleaning up the mess. The report by KPMG, for example, was only commissioned by Philip Morris as part of a 2004 legal settlement with European regulators.
The other problem is that not all illegal cigarettes are legitimate ones being smuggled. Many are simply counterfeits, dressed up to look like a real pack of Marlboros or
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
NY authorities deal Russian mob a losing hand
It’s a case teaming with colorful characters: a reputed Russian mob boss once accused in an Olympic scandal, a wealthy art world impresario who hung out with Leonardo DiCaprio and a woman named Molly Bloom who gained a celebrity following by hosting them at high-stakes poker games.
U.S. authorities allege all had roles in a sprawling scheme by two related Russian-American organized crime enterprises. Prosecutors say in recent years the operations laundered at least $100 million in illegal gambling proceeds through hundreds of bank accounts and shell companies in Cyprus and the United States.
The sprawling case against more than 30 defendants, announced this week by federal prosecutors in Manhattan, illustrates the insatiable appetite for sports betting around the globe — and the enormous potential for illicit profits. The steep rise in wealth among the upper class in the former Soviet Union has driven that potential to new heights, said Mark Galeotti, a Russian organized crime expert at New York University.
“We’re seeing higher-rolling businessmen involved in these types of cases,” Galeotti said. The high rollers’ bookies are left with the problem “of trying to figure out what to do with suitcases full of cash, and that leads to the money laundering,” he added.
The tentacles of the scheme reached into Trump Tower, the high rise on Fifth Avenue where prosecutors say a U.S. ringleader was living in an apartment one floor below Donald Trump‘s own place. There, he oversaw a network of Internet sites that formed “the world’s largest sports book” that catered “almost exclusively to oligarchs living in the Ukraine and the Russian Federation,” prosecutors said.
On one of the thousands of conversations intercepted on the defendants’ cellphones, the leader could be heard warning a customer who owed money that “he should be careful, lest he be tortured or found underground,” a prosecutor said.
The ring paid Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov — already under indictment in a separate U.S. case accusing him of bribing Olympic figure skating judges at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City — $20 million in gambling proceeds in a two-month period alone, court papers said. In another transaction in late 2010, the same man wired $3 million from a Cyprus bank account to another account in the United States, the papers said.
The new indictment naming Tokhtakhounov called him a “vor” — a term roughly translated to “thief-in-law” and comparable to a Mafia godfather. His role,
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/national/~3/smrAIW68DyM/
Poland's treasury minister fired over gas deal
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk has fired the treasury minister, saying his oversight of state run companies was insufficient.
Tusk said Friday Mikolaj Budzanowski would be replaced by a lower-ranking Cabinet member, Wlodzimierz Karpinski, at the helm of the Treasury Ministry.
He said there had been an insufficient exchange of information between the treasury minister and the state-owned companies he was supposed to oversee.
Budzanowski was recently criticized for his lack of knowledge about a deal that state gas giant PGNiG had signed with Russia’s Gazprom for a prospective new pipeline bypassing Ukraine.
Earlier, Budzanowski was criticized for ignoring the mounting financial problems of the state airline, LOT, and a breach of standards by the management of the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/K5voJUqwATY/
Russian mob ran illegal poker games for celebrities, feds say
Nearly three dozen people were charged on Tuesday in what investigators said was a Russian organized crime operation that included illegal, high-stakes poker games for the rich and famous and threats of violence to make sure customers paid their debts.
Federal authorities in New York City weren’t naming names but said the poker players included pro athletes, Hollywood celebrities and Wall Street executives. None of them were charged.
The money-laundering investigation led to arrests Tuesday in New York, Los Angeles, Miami and elsewhere around the country. There also were FBI raids at a $6 million apartment in Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue and a prestigious Madison Avenue art gallery owned by two of the defendants.
George Venizelos, head of the New York FBI office, said the charges against 34 individuals “demonstrate the scope and reach of Russian organized crime.”
He added: “The defendants are alleged to have handled untold millions in illegal wagers placed by millionaires and billionaires, laundered millions, and in some cases are themselves multimillionaires. Crime pays only until you are arrested and prosecuted.”
New York Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said proceeds from the high-stakes illegal poker games and online gambling were allegedly funneled to organized crime overseas.
Among those named in an indictment filed in federal court was a wealthy Russian fugitive, Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov. He was already under indictment in a separate U.S. case accusing him of bribing Olympic figure skating judges at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
In a two-month period beginning in late 2011, the money-laundering ring paid Tokhtakhounov $20 million in illegal proceeds, the indictment said.
Along with the illegal poker games, the ring operated “an international gambling business that catered to oligarchs residing in the former Soviet Union and throughout the world,” the indictment said.
Prosecutors alleged proceeds were laundered through shell companies in Cyprus and in the United States by a criminal enterprise with strong ties to Russia and Ukraine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Harris Fischman told a U.S. magistrate judge in Manhattan that Vadim Trincher, 52, directed much of the international racketeering enterprise from his $5 million apartment at Trump Tower.
“From his apartment he oversaw what must have been the world’s largest sports book,” Fischman said in a successful argument to have Trincher held for trial without bail. “He catered to millionaires and billionaires.”
Trincher’s apartment is located directly below one owned by Donald Trump, authorities said.
Fischman said FBI agents found $75,000 in cash and $2 million in chips from a Las Vegas casino in Trincher’s apartment after he was arrested at 6 a.m. He appeared in court in a white t-shirt and jeans.
Fischman said the government had a strong case against Trincher in part because of recorded conversations between Trincher and his customers captured for several months through a court-approved wiretap.
On one of those calls, Trincher could be heard warning a customer who owed money that “he should be careful, lest he be tortured or found underground,” Fischman said. He said the government was in the process of seizing Trincher’s apartment.
Trincher’s attorney, Michael Fineman, said his client was
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/national/~3/D5oVIsAJdQU/
Ukraine urged to end rampant police abuse
Amnesty International says rampant beatings and torture at the hands of police go unpunished in Ukraine and it is urging the government to set up an independent body to investigate.
The London-based watchdog says that out of some 115,000 complaints filed last year over police treatment, only 1.5 percent were investigated and only 320 criminal cases were filed.
Amnesty International said that since prosecutors work in tandem with the police, they cannot be trusted to objectively investigate cases of police abuse and they regularly cover up the crimes of their police colleagues.
The watchdog cited the case of Oleksandr Popov, an auto mechanic who says police took him to a forest and beat, choked and electrocuted him for hours trying to extract a confession. Prosecutors refused to file charges.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/P4znCX_xiQM/
Statement by NSC Spokesperson Caitlin Hayden on Ukraine
The United States is encouraged by President Yanukovych’s decision to pardon former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko and former Environment Minister Heorhiy Filipchuk. This is an important step toward addressing concerns about democracy and the rule of law in Ukraine, however much more remains to be done. We urge Ukrainian authorities to end all politically motivated prosecutions, undertake comprehensive judicial reform to ensure such selective justice does not recur, and fully implement the OSCE recommendations made after the 2012 parliamentary elections. The United States strongly supports the aspirations of the Ukrainian people for a democratic, prosperous, and European future, which can only be realized through continued democratic reform and adherence to the rule of law. We remain dedicated to strengthening our bilateral relationship on the basis of our shared transatlantic values.
Source: White House Press Office
Ukraine's President Sets Political Prisoner Free to Please The West
European leaders, concerned over the anti-democratic course Ukraine has taken, received good news on Sunday: Ukraine’s president Victor Yanukovych pardoned Yuriy Lutsenko, an ally of the imprisoned opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
Ukraine: Jailed former interior minister pardoned
Ukraine‘s president on Sunday pardoned a former interior minister and a close ally of imprisoned former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, moving toward fulfilling a key demand on Kiev’s path to integrate closer with the European Union.
President Viktor Yanukovych signed a decree to pardon Yuri Lutsenko, 48, who is serving a four-year sentence on charges of abuse of office and embezzlement. Lutsenko’s health has deteriorated since his arrest in early 2010, his supporters and doctors said.
The move came after the presidential commission on pardons recommended it to Yanukovych.
Tymoshenko is serving a seven-year prison sentence after being convicted in 2011 of abuse office.
The West has called both cases politically motivated. The European Union has warned that it will not sign a key cooperation agreement with Kiev until those two cases are resolved. Yanukovych also needs Western support as he tries to secure a $15 billion bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund.
The state prison service said that Lutsenko had been released. Lutsenko’s brother Sergei said he was on the way to pick him up from jail.
Lutsenko’s lawyer Valentyna Telychenko hailed the decision.
“It’s a very important signal that Ukraine still wants to fulfill Europe‘s demands aimed at correcting problems in the sphere of justice and elections,” Telychenko was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
Telychenko said that Tymoshenko should also be freed since she has been convicted of a non-violent crime and is also suffering from health problems.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Researchers log rise in anti-Semitic incidents
An annual Israeli report has logged a 30 percent rise in anti-Semitic incidents worldwide, linking the surge to Europe‘s economic troubles and a deadly attack on Jewish schoolchildren last year in France.
Tel Aviv University said Sunday that 686 attacks were recorded in 34 countries, ranging from physical violence to vandalism of synagogues and cemeteries, compared to 526 in 2011. The sharp increase followed a two-year decline.
It linked the March 2012 shooting at a Jewish school in Toulouse, where an extremist Muslim gunman killed four, to a series of copycat attacks, particularly in France, where physical assaults on Jews almost doubled.
In Greece, Hungary and Ukraine, economic difficulties favored the rise of extreme right-wing parties whose anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli rhetoric has apparently helped ignite attacks, it said.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Ultimate Fighting in Ukraine
Snowballs, parliament hijacking, eggs throwing, smoke bombs… What else Ukraine’s legislators have in their arsenal for conflict resolution? …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
Ukraine parliament session seized by ruling party
Ukrainian pro-government legislators are defying an opposition protest and have moved a parliament session out of the parliament hall to a nearby building.
Opposition leaders on Thursday called the move a “coup d’etat,” demanded an investigation and held a competing parliament session in the parliament building.
The move was likely to throw Ukrainian politics into further turmoil. Parliament had been virtually paralyzed for months since the October legislative election, which gave the party of President Viktor Yanukovych a majority. Opposition lawmakers have been paralyzing legislative work in protest of various government policies they consider to be undemocratic.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Say What!? Windows Phone Out-Ships iPhone in These Countries
By Chris Neiger, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
It appears that there are some countries, albeit just a handful, where Microsoft‘s Windows Phone is out-shipping iPhones. Where in the heck this is happening?
According to The New York Times, Windows Phone shipments are higher than Apple‘s iPhone in Argentina, India, Poland, Russia, South Africa and Ukraine. Earlier this week, Microsoft published a blog post that stated “Windows Phone has reached 10 percent market share in a number of countries, and according to IDC‘s latest report, has shipped more than BlackBerry in 26 markets and more than iPhone in seven.”
Source: Microsoft.
That seventh country actually turned out to be a collection of smaller regions, including Croatia, which IDC lumps all together, according to the Times.
Don’t go pop the cork yet
This is good news for Microsoft, considering it’s not easy to ship more phones than Apple. Part of the success for Windows Phones in these countries is due to the fact that many of the markets are Nokia‘s old stomping grounds and the company still has strong brand recognition in these areas.
One of the most interesting countries on the list of shipments is India, where experts estimate smartphone growth will hit 70% this year and where smartphones account for less than 10% of the mobile market. But investors should keep the fact that more Windows Phones shipped in India than iPhones in perspective. If we look at the current smartphone revenue share in India, Nokia only has 7.3%, and Samsung and Apple hold more than 54.4% combined.
Source: CNN.
Investors may remember Apple CEO Tim Cook’s words from the company’s latest earnings call where he said, “I love India, but I believe that Apple has some higher potential in the intermediate term in some other countries.” Apple has set its sights on China rather than India right now, which may be part of the reason why the Windows Phone made some headway this past quarter.
Apple and Samsung have a commanding lead, at least in revenue market share, so it could be a while before the Windows Phone starts doing some serious damage against Apple in India, if at all.
Small step for Microsoft, giant leap for Nokia
Windows Phone shipments may have surpassed iPhones in a few countries this past quarter, but investors will need to see a few things before they get too excited. First off, Microsoft and Nokia need to see several quarters where they out-ship iPhones in other countries, not just one quarter. Second, the actual sales numbers need to be compared, not just shipment numbers. And finally, the companies need to show investors that the Windows Phone can compete in the larger markets like Europe, the U.S., and China.
It’s good to see the Windows Phone making some headway in a few countries, considering Nokia’s future is banked on the platform, but positive shipment numbers in one quarter won’t be enough to sustain the company.
This latest shipment …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance