Fighting Plagiarism

"
KYIV, April 29 /UKRINFORM/. Law enforcement bodies in Mykolayiv region caught a plagiarist who managed to gain on... the Constitution.

The enterprise young man issued allegedly own work "Scientific-Practical Comments to the Constitution of Ukraine" of 1,000 copies and succeeded in selling it at UAH 150,000.

The book was in demand.

However, a team of authors of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine, who issued in 2003 a book "Constitution of Ukraine: Scientific-Practical Comments," saw in the work by 20-year old author something, which was very familiar to them.

The scientific-legal expert examination proved identity of the texts of two works.

A criminal case was instituted, the violator of the copyright will face a fine or, at the worst, imprisonment for the term from two to five years."

Dead but Voting

"A Regions lawmaker, Mykola Lisin, 1964, crashed his Lamborghini at 270 km/h killing himself late Apr. 17 night.

He was reported by the police to be driving under the influence of alcohol. His woman companion escaped death miraculously, being taken to hospital with multiple injuries.However, on Apr. 21, Lisin was registered as having voted in the Ukrainian parliament.

"

UEFA's Tax Exemption

"KYIV, April 21 /UKRINFORM/. The Verkhovna Rada has passed a government bill to exempt UEFA from profit tax and VAT based on its activity in Ukraine."

This is a typical requirement of UEFA/FIFA when they 'allow' a country to host a championship.

Who Benefits from this?

From BG Capital

"The Ukrainian government has introduced a new resolution that requires imports of fresh, chilled, and frozen poultry as well as other meat products and by-products to be licensed through the Agriculture Ministry.

Dmytro Ushenko: Poultry imports accounted for 14% of total domestic poultry consumption in 2010 (2009: 19%) and create top-down pressure on domestic prices as imports are some 34% cheaper than domestically produced poultry. The licensing, if maintained into the MT, should gradually deter imports through higher customs transaction costs, potentially easing MHP’s (MHPC LI) task of crowding out importers from the domestic market once the company introduces new capacities (in 2013)."

Kyiv Post and Press Freedom

The strike at Kyiv Post is interesting - can the owner of a newspaper ask the editor not to publish an article and fire him if he doesn't honor the request? And would a smart businessman, who has a diverse set of businesses, not know that at some point the newspaper would publish things that could harm other part of his business?

In fact, given that many magazines and newspapers are part of big financial groups one can only wonder why not more editors get fired.

Economic Literacy Needed

"KYIV, April 18 /UKRINFORM/. A survey conducted by Research & Branding Group on March 20-31 has shown that 57% of respondents are afraid of a new economic crisis due to an accident at the Fukushima-1 Nuclear Power Plant in Japan."

The Real Cost of Euro 2012 - Ex Ante versus Post

"Initially, the planned volumes of financing were as follows: allocations from the national budget would be UAH 12.7 bn, from local budgets – UAH 4.7 bn and extra-budgetary sources (i.e. private investments) – UAH 101.2 bn. Later, the entire Targeted Program of Preparations and cost estimates were repeatedly revised.

In the newest version of financing of the country’s preparations for Euro 2012, the government’s proposal is much more impressive – UAH 68 bn in allocations from the national budget and UAH 7.2 bn from local budgets. Moreover, the planned financing from “other sources” was reduced to UAH 72.7 bn. However, while the real expenditures of the state for the period 2008-2010 are known and amount to UAH 18.3 bn (including local budgets), it is virtually impossible to calculate how much private investors actually contributed. In total, the Ukrainian government announced its plans of spending UAH 147.8 bn from all sources over the period 2008-2012."

The Incomes of Ukrainian Ministers

"Among the members of the Cabinet of Ministers, Vice Premier and Infrastructure Minister Borys Kolesnikov received the highest income, which amounted to Hr 164.5 million."

The President's Income Declaration

From Ukrinform:

"KYIV, April 11 /UKRINFORM/. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has submitted his income declaration.

The document, which was posted on the official website of the head of state, indicates that the president's total income in 2010 amounted to UAH 920,268 (UAH 7.96 / USD 1).

Dividends, interest, and royalties totaled UAH 544,588, while his salary was UAH 375,680.

Yanukovych spent UAH 112,030 on property maintenance.

The head of state owns a 1.77-hectare land plot, a 619.6-square-meter house, a 239.4-square-meter apartment, and two 20- and 19.9-square-meter garages. According to the declaration, Yanukovych owns no cars.

The president owns shares worth UAH 2,772 and a bank deposit of UAH 1,063,892.

The president's wife, Lyudmila Yanukovych, earned UAH 18,443 last year.

She owns a land plot of 0.7 hectares and a 303.8-square-meter apartment. In addition, she also has a bank deposit of UAH 184,160."

Agriculture in Chernobyl Affected Areas

Ukrinform reports:"KYIV, April 7 /UKRINFORM/. Renaissance Capital and a group of investors announced plans to invest money in agriculture of Ivankiv district, Kyiv region.

The local lands have not been cultivated for 20 years because of their proximity to the Chornobyl zone. The project also involves one of the major agro-industrial holdings - Sintal Agriculture."