Українська національна валюта впродовж двох останніх торгових сесій на міжбанківському валютному ринку відіграла більшу частину втрат останніх тижнів. Станом на 12:00 за Києвом торги відбувалися на рівні близько 26 гривень 32 копійок за долар. Це майже на 20 копійок менше за рівень, що фіксувався 20 червня. Ще впродовж торгів у середу вийшли кілька продавців зі значними для ринку обсягами валюти, вказує профільний сайт «Мінфін». Переважання пропозиції над попитом тривало і на початку торгів 21 червня. Також на користь гривні грає період бюджетних розрахунків у тих компаній, які ще не повністю завершили податкові виплати за червень. Також читайте: Курс долара: що буде з гривнею перед сезоном відпусток Котирування на рівні 26 гривень 50 копійок за долар є найвищими за останні три місяці. 29 березня Національний банк України встановив курс гривні до долара США на рівні понад 26 гривень 50 копійок за одиницю американської валюти. Офіційний курс на 30 березня становив 26 гривень 54 копійки за долар. Після цього національна валюта міцнішала до рівня близько 26 гривень за долар. …
World Giraffe Day Brings Attention to Their Declining Numbers
June 21st is World Giraffe Day, celebrating the iconic long-necked African animal. But giraffe populations have been decreasing at a rapid pace, and researchers warn they could become extinct in the near future. In northern Kenya, a conservation program is working to protect the native reticulated giraffe, known for its distinctive striped patterns. VOA’s Deborah Block has more. …
Lawmakers Grill Commerce Secretary Over Escalating Trade Battles
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross faced tough questions during a Senate hearing Wednesday on the Trump administration’s tariff proposals and actions. Senators on both sides of the aisle criticized the administration’s rollout of proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. VOA’s Elizabeth Cherneff has more on the fallout from Washington. …
China: ‘Capricious’ Trade Tactics Will Hurt US Workers
China’s commerce ministry on Thursday accused the United States of being “capricious” over bilateral trade issues and warned that the interests of U.S. workers and farmers ultimately will be hurt by Washington’s penchant for brandishing “big sticks.” Previous trade negotiations with the United States had been constructive, but because the U.S. government is being unpredictable and challenging, Beijing has had to respond in a strong manner, commerce ministry spokesman Gao Feng said in a regular briefing in Beijing. President Donald Trump threatened Monday to hit $200 billion of Chinese imports with 10 percent tariffs if Beijing retaliates against his previous announcement to target $50 billion in imports. The United States has alleged that China is stealing U.S. intellectual property, a charge denied by Beijing. Washington’s accusations of forced tech transfers are a distortion of reality, and China is fully prepared to respond with “quantitative” and “qualitative” tools if the U.S. releases a new list of tariffs, Gao said. Markets worried “It is deeply regrettable that the U.S. has been capricious, escalated the tensions, and provoked a trade war,” he said. “The U.S. is accustomed to holding ‘big sticks’ for negotiations, but this approach does not apply to China.” Financial markets are worried about an open trade conflict between the world’s two biggest economies after three rounds of high-level talks since early May failed to reach a compromise on U.S. complaints over Chinese practices and a $375 billion trade deficit with China. A Sino-U.S. trade war could disrupt global supply chains …
Live Animals, Meat, Ivory, Wood Seized in Trafficking Stings
Thousands of live animals along with tons of meat, ivory, pangolin scales and timber were seized in a monthlong global crackdown on the illegal wildlife trade that Interpol said exposed the international reach of traffickers. The live animals recovered in the stings included turtles in Malaysia and parrots in Mexico. Canada intercepted 18 tons of eel meat arriving from Asia. Those arrested included two flight attendants in Los Angeles and a man in Israel whose house was raided after he posted a hunting photograph on social media. Operation Thunderstorm, involving 92 countries, yielded seizures worth millions of dollars during May, Interpol said Wednesday. “The results are spectacular,” said Sheldon Jordan, Canada’s director general of wildlife enforcement. Acknowledging the magnitude of the problem, Jordan said global wildlife crime is worth about $150 billion annually and is fourth in value among illegal global trades behind drugs, counterfeiting and human trafficking. Criminal syndicates that smuggle flora and fauna often take advantage of porous borders and corrupt officials, transporting illicit cargo at an industrial scale. The Thunderstorm swoop included the confiscation of 8 tons of pangolin scales, half of which was found by Vietnamese authorities on a ship from Africa. Africa’s four species of pangolins are under increasing pressure from poachers because of the decimation of the four species in Asia, where pangolin scales are used in traditional medicine. A total of 43 tons of contraband meat – including bear, elephant, crocodile, whale and zebra – 1.3 tons of elephant ivory, 27,000 reptiles, about …
New Credit Rating Speaks of Vietnam’s Complicated Makeover
A decent rating from Fitch this month has Vietnam riding high on the small victory, despite some of the less favorable economic trends connected to this first-of-its-kind rating. The state monopoly Vietnam Electricity, or EVN, clinched a “BB” score June 6 from Fitch Ratings, which until then had never officially assessed the credit of a non-financial company owned by the Hanoi government. That prompted a cross-section of officials in the southeast Asian country to gush about the promise in store for one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. “This positive rating enables EVN to issue international bonds, diversify our financing sources, and reassure domestic and foreign institutional investors,” said Dinh Quang Tri, the acting CEO of EVN. “We are now on a stronger footing to deliver more reliable electricity to Vietnam.” The ebullience, however, is tempered by two questions: Will this be enough for investors to trust EVN? And how much should government become involved in business? Renewable energy EVN underscores the mixed sentiments that analysts express about Vietnam, a communist country transitioning to capitalism. The fact that the government runs EVN contributed to Fitch’s confidence in its report card. “We believe the company can secure adequate funding in light of its position as an entity closely linked to the sovereign,” it said in a media release. Yet businesses want even more promises from the government. Vietnam has spent years courting investment in renewable power, for example, but with limited success. That is in part because businesses that generate wind, solar, …
European Business Lobby Presses China to Stop Dragging Feet on Reform
As the United States and China teeter on the brink of an all out trade war and tit-for-tat tariffs loom, a European businesses lobby is urging Beijing to stop dragging its feet on reforms and using unfair trade policies to pamper Chinese companies. Each year, foreign trade groups in China roll out a laundry list of concerns about market access, regulatory hurdles and other policies that tilt the playing field in the world’s second largest economy. This year, for the first time ever, the European Chamber of Commerce’s annual survey of the business climate found that 61 percent of its 532 company members saw their Chinese counterparts as equally or more innovative. Increased spending on research and development, targeted acquisitions of foreign high-tech firms and growing demand for innovative products from consumers were helping driving that shift, the chamber said. The high response is significant. Policies linked to innovation and competition are a key part of the intensifying US — China trade debate and concerns of foreign companies operating here. European Chamber President Mats Harborn said that as Chinese companies become stronger and more competitive, it is time for Beijing to “remove the training wheels.” “It’s time for China to lift or reduce the pampering of its own enterprises and expose them to even more open and fair competition for them to develop into the champions that China wants them to be,” Harborn said. Currently, Chinese companies account for 115 of the Fortune 500 list of global …
Нова девальвація: долар штурмує позначку 26 гривень 50 копійок
На міжбанківському валютному ринку 20 червня триває зростання котирувань американського долара. Як повідомляє профільний сайт «Мінфін», який відстежує перебіг торгів, надлишок ліквідності в банківській системі «створює додаткові ресурси для спекулятивних атак на гривню». «На ранок середи коррахунки банків перевищують рівень в 55,8 мільярда гривень, що створило суттєвий навіс над валютним ринком і загрожує продовженням зростання котирувань протягом сесії», – писали фахівці перед початком торгів. «Торги по долару розпочалися зі зростання попиту на валюту, що призвело до зростання котирувань. Продавці не поспішають продавати валюту, вичікуючи максимальних котирувань. Нацбанк вийшов з продажами долара в «анонімному» форматі. За нашими даними – продає за ціною від 26,50 гривень і закрив (угод – ред.) уже не менш як на 10 мільйонів доларів», – повідомило видання про перебіг сесії на міжбанківському ринку. Також читайте: Курс долара: що буде з гривнею перед сезоном відпусток Котирування на рівні 26 гривень 50 копійок за долар є найвищими за останні три місяці. 29 березня Національний банк України встановив курс гривні до долара США на рівні понад 26 гривень 50 копійок за одиницю американської валюти. Офіційний курс на 30 березня становив 26 гривень 54 копійки за долар. Після цього національна валюта міцнішала до рівня близько 26 гривень за долар. …
НБУ вирішив ліквідувати ще один банк
Національний банк вирішив відкликати банківську ліцензію та ліквідувати банк «Юнісон». Як повідомила 19 червня прес-служба НБУ, ліквідувати установу запропонував Фонд гарантування вкладів фізичних осіб. У квітні 2016 року банк «Юнісон» віднесли до категорії неплатоспроможних. У НБУ зауважили, що банк «Юнісон» став другим банком (після банку «ТК Кредит»), виведеним з ринку через непрозорість структури власності. Регулятор неодноразово попереджав, що банки, які не приведуть свою структуру власності у відповідність до вимог щодо її прозорості, виводитимуться з ринку. Читайте також: НБУ створив відкритий реєстр керівників українських банків Станом на квітень 2016 року акціонерами банку «Юнісон» були 11 компаній, зареєстрованих у Республіці Кіпр, жодна з яких не володіла часткою 10% або більше статутного капіталу банку. У кожній компанії був один кінцевий бенефіціарний власник – фізична особа. …
Іран відкинув план Росії та Саудівської Аравії щодо збільшення видобутку нафти
Іран відкинув запропонований Росією та Саудівською Аравією план збільшення видобутку нафти. Дві провідні нафтовидобувні країни запропонували обговорити цей план на найближчому саміті Організації країн-експортерів нафти (ОПЕК) 22 червня, а наступного дня узгодити спільні дії між членами ОПЕК і тими країнами, які не входять до картеля, як Росія. «Я не вірю, що на цій зустрічі ми можемо досягти згоди», – заявив міністр нафтової промисловості Ірану Біджан Зангане 19 червня після прибуття до Відня, де розташований головний офіс ОПЕК. Він звинуватив президента США Дональда Трампа в тому, що запровадження санкцій проти Венесуели та Ірану, спричинило зниження виробництва та підвищення цін. «І зараз він (Трамп – ред.) сподівається, що ОПЕК дещо змінить. Це несправедливо. ОПЕК – це незалежна організація, а не така, яка отримує інструкції від президента Трампа. ОПЕК не є частиною міністерства енергетики Сполучених Штатів», – відзначив Зангане. Москва та Ер-Ріяд пропонують повернути на ринок більшу частину з обсягу 1,8 мільйона барелів на день, щодо якого ОПЕК та інші великі виробники погодились на скорочення у 2016 році. Останнім часом Сполучені Штати, Китай та інші великі споживачі нафти закликали ОПЕК вдатися до таких дій. Іран узгодив свою опозицію збільшенню постачання нафти разом із трьома іншими впливовими членами ОПЕК – Іраком, Алжиром та Венесуелою. …
Recycling Rubbish into Revenue, Plan Brings Hope to Women in Jordan
Sameera Al Salam folds a discarded piece of newspaper into a long strip then loops it round her finger to form a tight circle, the first stage of making the upcycled handbags, trays and bowls the Syrian refugee hopes will help her earn a living. Al Salam, 55, was a hairdresser with a passion for “art and making things” before she fled her war-torn homeland for Irbid in northern Jordan with her family in 2012. Now she has two teenagers and a husband left paralyzed by a stroke to support in a country where she has no automatic legal right to work, and they are three months behind on their rent. “We were living a really happy life. I had a garden where I grew everything,” Al Salam told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “We had to leave because of the airstrikes. We were always trying to put things in front of the door to protect the children. Whenever I remember, it breaks my heart.” Like most of the more than 655,000 Syrian refugees living in Jordan — and many Jordanians — poverty, debt and unemployment dominate the family’s existence. Al Salam hopes her involvement in a new rubbish collection and recycling plan that aims to alleviate the poverty of both refugees and locals and bring the two communities closer will help turn things around. The project, managed by charity Action Against Hunger, employs 1,200 people to collect and sort waste from the streets and provides temporary work permits to refugees …
Cities Face Dramatic Rise in Heat, Flood Risks by 2050, Researchers Say
In just 30 years, cities around the world will face dramatically higher risks from extreme heat, coastal flooding, power blackouts and food and water shortages unless climate-changing emissions are curbed, urban researchers warned Tuesday. Today, for instance, over 200 million people in 350 cities face stifling heat where average daily peak temperatures hit 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) for three months of the year, according to a study released by C40 Cities, a network of major world cities pushing climate action. But by 2050, more than 1.6 billion people in 970 cities will face those conditions, researchers predicted. The number of people who are both in poverty and battling brutal heat — usually without air conditioning — will rise tenfold, they said. “This is a wake-up call,” said Kevin Austin, deputy executive director of C40 Cities, at an international meeting in the South African city of Cape Town on adapting to climate change. “The magnitude of people affected by heat will be (much) greater than today if we continue to increase greenhouse gases at this rate.” But cities can take action to directly curb the risks, besides working to cut emissions, he said. In Seoul, for example, a major elevated thoroughfare through the center of the city has been removed, opening up access to the river and lowering urban heat in the area by at least half a degree Celsius, he said. South Korea’s capital also has planted more than 16 million trees and created shaded cooling centers for …
China Calls Trump Threat of More Tariffs ‘Blackmail’
China calls President Donald Trump’s threat to slap more tariffs on Chinese exports to the U.S. “extreme pressure and blackmail” and threatens to retaliate. Beijing reacted Tuesday to Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on another $200 billion of Chinese goods “if China refuses to change its practices.” “China apparently has no intention of changing its unfair practices related to the acquisition of American intellectual property and technology,” a presidential statement said late Monday. “Rather than altering those practices, it is now threatening United States companies, workers, and farmers who have done nothing wrong.” The president has ordered Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to identify a list of $200 billion in additional Chinese goods subject to a 10 percent tariff — a move that would bring on another round of Chinese penalties on American products. Trump has already ordered 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese products. Those penalties are scheduled to take effect next month and will likely be followed by Chinese countermeasures. The U.S. has long accused China of stealing U.S. technology secrets, requiring U.S. firms to share intellectual property as a condition for doing business in joint ventures in China. China denies such theft and accuses Washington of “deviating from the consensus reached by both parties.” The Director of White House National Trade Council, Peter Navarro, told reporters Tuesday the White House has given China every opportunity to change its “aggressive behavior.” Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a summit last year at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. But …
As DRC Grapples With Ebola, Guinea Keeps Up Its Guard
Just after a morning rain, Gourma Mamadou was shopping in this capital city’s crowded, open-air Kaloum market. The young man said he was well aware of the current Ebola outbreak simmering some 4,000 kilometers to the southeast in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the World Health Organization reports it has killed 28 people since April. The outbreak may be relatively far away, but fear of Ebola is not. Madamou said most of the Guineans he knows don’t mention Ebola, as if just speaking the word would invoke its terrible wrath. The virus ravaged Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone from 2014 into 2016, leaving 11,000 people dead, including 2,500 in his country. People “are watching carefully,” the young shopper said, suggesting that frequent hand-washing and other hygienic precautions grew more commonplace with the Ebola experience. “Sometimes, it’s hard. That disease is so viral, but since it’s been eradicated, we don’t want it back in Guinea.” Some good also grew out of Guinea’s exposure to the virus: more information. Late in the West African outbreak, almost 6,000 people in Guinea were vaccinated with an experimental therapeutic, V920. A December 2016 report in The Lancet medical journal said the inoculations bolstered the interim finding that the vaccine “offers substantial protection.” That same vaccine, not yet licensed in any country, is now being used in the DRC’s northwestern region. Pharmaceutical company Merck sent roughly 8,600 doses to Equateur province. Dr. Sakoba Keita, who oversaw Guinea’s Ebola response and directs the country’s National …
Trump’s Tariffs: What They Are and How They Would Work
Is this what a trade war looks like? The Trump administration and China’s leadership have threatened to impose tariffs on $50 billion of each other’s goods. Trump has proposed imposing duties on $400 billion more if China doesn’t further open its markets to U.S. companies and reduce its trade surplus with the United States. China, in turn, says it will retaliate. In recent years, tariffs had been losing favor as a tool of national trade policy. They were largely a relic of 19th and early 20th centuries that most experts viewed as mutually harmful to all nations involved. But President Donald Trump has restored tariffs to a prominent place in his self-described America First approach. Trump enraged U.S. allies Canada, Mexico and the European Union earlier this month by slapping tariffs on their steel and aluminum shipments to the United States. The tariffs have been in place on most other countries since March. Trump has also asked the U.S. Commerce Department to look into imposing tariffs on imported cars, trucks and auto parts, arguing that they pose a threat to U.S. national security. Here is a look at what tariffs are, how they work, how they’ve been used in the past and what to expect now. Are we in a trade war? Economists have no set definition of a trade war. But with the world’s two largest economies aggressively threatening each other with punishing tariffs, such a war appears perilously close. All told, the White House has threatened to hit …
Dreaming of Farming Empire, Kazakhs Seek Management Tips from Genghis Khan
Kazakhstan is taking management lessons from warrior-emperor Genghis Khan as it seeks to conquer neighboring countries’ food markets, Deputy Agriculture Minister Arman Yevniyev said Tuesday. The Central Asian nation, whose territory was once part of the Mongol Empire, wants to more than double exports of foodstuffs and other agricultural products over the next five years, Yevniyev told a government meeting. He said meat production was a particularly promising area that could generate up to $2.6 billion in annual export revenue and presented his ministry’s plans to overhaul the industry’s management and subsidy system. “Genghis Khan can be considered the founder of project management,” he said unexpectedly, livening up the meeting which was broadcast online. Yevniyev then recalled the organizational structure of the Mongol army, divided into three wings and units of tens, hundreds, thousands and tens of thousands. “Using this approach, Genghis Khan conquered half of the world with his army,” he said. “We will conquer [markets] with meat and other agricultural products.” According to Yevniyev’s presentation, the biggest potential markets for Kazakh meat are China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and Russia — which are, coincidentally, the directions of the medieval Mongol conquest. Breeding livestock was the main occupation of the ancestors of today’s Kazakhs — when they were not busy shooting arrows from horseback at opposing armies. Yevniyev said this nomadic heritage was another competitive advantage. Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev urged caution with the use of bellicose metaphors. “You’ve mentioned Genghis Khan — I hope we do not scare …
Kenya Seeks to Boost Girls’ Education by Providing Free Sanitary Products
Menstruation often means missing school for many girls in parts of Africa. But should the state provide sanitary products to girls who cannot afford them to prevent them from falling behind in their studies? That question continues to stir debate in several East African countries but especially in Kenya, where President Uhuru Kenyatta last year signed the Basic Education Amendment Act requiring the government to provide free sanitary towels to schoolgirls. A 2016 U.N. report estimated that one in 10 girls in Sub-Saharan Africa misses school during her menstrual cycle due to an inability to access affordable sanitary products. After two years of debate, Kenya’s parliament voted overwhelmingly last year in favor of a measure that advocates say lifts that barrier to education. In June of 2017, President Kenyatta signed the amendment into law. Sanitary towels handed out This May, Gender Affairs Cabinet Secretary Margaret Kobia cleared the way for the distribution of one million sanitary towels to girls in Kenya’s Makueni and Kitui counties. The government said it targeted more than 200,000 schoolgirls for distribution as part of a pilot program. Through funds provided by the government and channeled to the county governments, the new law is set to benefit girls in all of Kenya’s 47 counties. The government allocated $4.6 million to the gender department ministry to buy the towels. Femme International Rachel Ouko is the Nairobi program coordinator for Femme International, a non-profit organization that provides menstrual cups and reusable, washable pads to underprivileged girls in Kenya …
US Patent and Trademark Office Issues 10-Millionth Patent
The 10 millionth patent has been issued in the United States, almost 228 years after President George Washington signed the first one. The United States Patent and Trademark Office issued the newest patent Tuesday to the Raytheon Company, a defense contractor. Raytheon received the patent based on an invention by Joseph Marron, who works for the firm as an optical engineer. Marron created a system, known as LADAR, which improves laser detection and ranging. Patent officials say it has applications in areas that include autonomous vehicles, medical imaging devices, military defense systems and space and undersea exploration. Raytheon says the concept involves delivering real time data from a laser radar. “Innovation has been the lifeblood of this country since its founding,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement issued by the patent office. “Our patent system’s importance to the daily lives of every American has never been greater. Given the rapid pace of change, we know that it will not take another 228 years to achieve the next 10-million-patent milestone,” he added. The real deal “The issuance of patent 10 million is an exceptional milestone,” PTO spokesman Paul Fucito told VOA. “It is a timely and relevant opportunity to promote the importance of innovation, the ubiquity of intellectual property, and the history of America’s patent system.” For his part, Marron said in a statement the 10 millionth patent is “equivalent to a guy who buys a lottery ticket every month.” He added, “Eventually, it hits.” Back in March, at …
Nick Hague Dreamed of the Stars as a Boy, Now He’s Heading to Space
As a boy growing up in Kansas, Nick Hague looked up at the stars and wanted to explore the unknown. In October, his dream will come true when he blasts off on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station. Before rocketing into space from Kazakhstan on Expedition 57 for his six-month tour, the 42-year-old father has undergone extensive training in everything from spacewalks to robotics to Russian and the psychology of sharing small spaces. Preparation was “a 2-1/2-year mission on the home front,” Hague said from inside a replica of the space station at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. An engineer and colonel in the U.S. Air Force, Hague was one of eight selected in 2013 for NASA’s astronaut candidate training program. He is one of 42 active astronauts eligible for a flight assignment. Hague said he found his love of space early: “Growing up as a little boy, staring up the night sky and wanting to just explore the unknown and figure out what’s out there and go find new things.” In the Air Force, Hague worked as an engineer on satellites and aircraft. Then he attended test pilot school at Edwards Air Force Base, and realized his dream might be within reach. Training was intense. After receiving instructions on how to use equipment during a spacewalk, Hague once donned his space suit for 6-1/2 hours of underwater simulation at the neutral buoyancy laboratory in Houston, which mimics zero gravity in …
Russia to Slam Retaliatory Tariffs on US Imports
Russia has announced retaliatory measures in response to the U.S. move to impose tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum. Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin said a statement on Tuesday Moscow has decided to apply retaliatory measures in line with the World Trade Organization’s rules to compensate for damage incurred by the U.S. tariffs. Oreshkin said that additional tariffs will be applied to a range of U.S. imports, but he declined to immediately name them. He added that the tariffs will be applied to the U.S. goods that have domestic equivalents to avoid hurting the national economy. The European Union, India, China and Russia all have applied to the WTO to challenge the tariffs that took effect March 23. Washington argued they were for national security reasons. …
OPEC Oil Ministers Gather to Discuss Production Increase
The oil ministers of the OPEC cartel were gathering Tuesday to discuss this week whether to increase production of crude and help limit a rise in global energy prices. The officials were arriving in Vienna ahead of the official meeting Friday, when they will also confer with Russia, a non-OPEC country that since late 2016 has cooperated with the cartel to limit production. Analysts expect the group to discuss an increase in production of about 1 million barrels a day, ending the output cut agreed on in 2016. The cut has since then pushed up the price of crude oil by about 50 percent. The U.S. benchmark in May hit its highest level in three and half years, at $72.35 a barrel. Upon arriving, the energy minister of the United Arab Emirates, Suhail al-Mazrouei, said: “It’s going to be hopefully a good meeting. We look forward to having this gathering with OPEC and non-OPEC.” The 14 countries in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries make more money with higher prices, but are mindful of the fact that more expensive crude can encourage a shift to renewable resources and hurt demand. “Consumers as well as businesses will be hoping that this week’s OPEC meeting succeeds in keeping a lid on prices, and in so doing calling a halt to a period which has seen a steady rise in fuel costs,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets U.K. The rise in the …
«Дніпроазот» на невизначений час зупинив роботу через дорожнечу газу
На Дніпропетровщині на невизначений час зупинив роботу потужний хімічний завод АТ «Дніпроазот» у Кам’янському. Інформацію про це Радіо Свобода у вівторок підтвердили на підприємстві. За інформацією голови правління підприємства Сергія Сідорова, завод, який упродовж 80 років був провідним постачальником мінеральних добрив і виробником дезінфектантів для питної води в Україні, був вимушений зупинити роботу через здорожчання природного газу, який є сировиною для виробництва і складає близько 80% у вартості продукції підприємства. Як розповів Сергій Сідоров, упродовж двох місяців підприємство здійснювало капітальний ремонт і модернізацію своїх агрегатів, але в червні не змогло запуститись. «Для виробництва аміаку потрібен газ, у собівартості він складає понад 80%. Але через ціну на газ у нас економічна ситуація не дозволяє включити агрегати, тому правлінням було ухвалене рішення про те, що ми йдемо в простій. Підприємство зупинене повністю, все відключене», – повідомив керівник «Дніпроазоту» і розповів про наслідки. «Ми не випускаємо продукцію для аграріїв, це перше. По-друге, ми не випускаємо продукцію таку, як хлор, гіпохлорид, соляну кислоту, соду каустичну. Ми є єдиним виробником хлору в Україні, відповідно наші споживачі не отримають хлору, а це в першу чергу водоканали. І соціальна проблема для міста: ми друге містоутворююче підприємство Кам’янського, відповідно до бюджету не надійдуть певні кошти, плюс ми є учасниками всіх соціальних програм в місті та наше підприємство опалює своєю ТЕС третину міста», – розповів Радіо Свобода керівник підприємства. За його словами, підприємство сподівається на створення урядової робочої групи задля вирішення проблеми. У випадку подальшого простою Україна може втратити завод з чотирьохтисячним колективом, вважає керівник. «Без втручання уряду підприємству …
Ultra-Secure Lab in Gabon Equipped for Ebola Studies
At a research facility in Gabon, one isolated building stands behind an electrified fence, under round-the-clock scrutiny by video cameras. The locked-down P4 lab is built to handle the world’s most dangerous viruses, including Ebola. “Only four people, three researchers and a technician, are authorized to go inside the P4,” said virologist Illich Mombo, who is in charge of the lab, one of only two in all of Africa that is authorized to handle deadly Ebola, Marburg and Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever viruses. The other is in Johannesburg. The P4 was put up 800 metres (half a mile) distant from older buildings of the Franceville International Centre for Medical Research (CIRMF), in large grounds on the outskirts of Franceville, the chief city in the southeastern Haut-Ogooue province. Filming the ultra-high-security lab or even taking photos is banned and the handful of people allowed inside have security badges. Backup power plants ensure an uninterruptable electricity supply. “Even the air that we breathe is filtered,” Mombo explains. When he goes into the P4 lab to work on a sample of suspect virus such as Ebola — which has claimed 28 lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during an outbreak in the past six weeks — Mombo wears a head-to-foot biohazard suit. The special clothing is destroyed as soon as he has finished. Draconian measures are in force to prevent any risk of contamination, with potentially disastrous effects. ‘Teams on alert’ Once a suspect virus has been “inactivated” — a technique that stops the …
Russia’s Record-Breaking $15 Billion World Cup Price Tag: What Does It Buy?
The World Cup in Russia is the most expensive ever – with the official price tag around $15 billion. The result: several huge new stadiums, railroads and upgraded airports, plus the chance to reboot Russia’s global image. So, will the tournament represent a good value for Russians? As Henry Ridgwell reports from Moscow, the government appears to have used the World Cup to bury some bad economic news. …