International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan intends to open an office in Ukraine to investigate crimes committed during the war waged by Russia against Ukraine.
He announced this on Tuesday in The Hague at a press conference. “We can’t fly in and out. In the next few weeks we will be working on opening an office in Kyiv. We have already seen it, we have very good cooperation with the Prosecutor General. I think this is very important,” the ICC prosecutor said.
He recalled that on May 17, the largest number of experts, employees of the Office and specialists from the Netherlands was sent to Ukraine in the history of the existence of the Office of the ICC Prosecutor. “I hope that we can work with the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, providing support to Ukraine, which has the initial responsibility to conduct an independent investigation against the perpetrators,” Khan added.
The prosecutor also noted that in addition to the six countries that are members of the Joint Investigation Team (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia, Ukraine), there are 13 other states that “conduct structural investigations, and I welcome this.” “We have to go deeper, use technology, artificial intelligence, Clouds, use different tools not only to put judges with reliable cases, but that we can provide irrefutable evidence to national authorities so that they can use their legislation. We cannot tolerate the crimes that we see in Ukraine,” Khan stressed.
Prices for goods imported into Germany jumped 31.7% in April, a record pace since the 1974 oil crisis, according to the country’s Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).
In particular, the cost of energy imports soared 2.5 times (157.4%) in annual terms, including natural gas increased in price four times, oil – almost 1.8 times (77.5%). Excluding energy carriers, import prices increased by 27.6%.
Among other categories of goods, the most impressive growth was recorded by prices for fertilizers and nitrogen (by 2.9 times), aluminum (by 1.8 times), iron, steel and ferroalloys (by 1.6 times). Imported plastic rose in price by 27.7%, machinery – by 7.9%, cars and auto parts – by 5.7%.
The cost of foreign purchases of food products increased by 20.7%, including coffee – by 68.6%, cereals – by 55.8%.
Compared to March, prices for imported goods increased by 1.8%.
On Monday, the Cabinet of Ministers registered in the Verkhovna Rada draft law No. 7418 amending the Tax Code and other laws on the return of all customs duties and VAT on imported goods, including cars.
According to the draft law registered in Parliament on the revision of certain tax benefits, it is proposed to abolish the customs-free import of cars.
The document also proposes to resume taxation, which was abolished by law No. 2142, for goods imported by single tax payers of the first or third group, since on average the budget loses about UAH 3 billion in import duties on this benefit per month, as well as for enterprises that do not pay import duties – budget losses here average UAH 0.5 billion in import duties.
As for the abolition of preferential auto imports, the government notes that over 119,000 cars were imported during the period of this rule, and budget losses amount to UAH 13 billion, according to the explanatory note to the bill. At the same time, there are not isolated cases of importing premium cars.
At the same time, the bill proposes to exempt those who acquire ownership of electric vehicles from paying the fee for compulsory state insurance.
As noted in the explanatory note, the amount of customs benefits for registered imports of phones amounted to UAH 270 million, clothing and footwear – over UAH 850 million.
601 enterprises have completed relocation from areas where hostilities continue under the state relocation program, 390 of them have already resumed work at new sites in the western regions of Ukraine, the Ministry of Economy reported.
“Another 87 enterprises are at different stages of transportation. Soon another 151 enterprises will move, which are currently on the routes or draw up the necessary documents,” the information on the ministry’s website says.
According to it, the most popular areas for relocation of enterprises are Zakarpattia, Lviv and Chernivtsi. The business also finds new places to locate its facilities in Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, Vinnitsa and other regions.
The movement of equipment is carried out by the facilities of Ukrzaliznytsya, Ukrposhta or by its own resources (with compensation), reminds the Ministry of Economy.
As reported, the program to move Ukrainian production from the zone of active hostilities started in mid-March. According to the head of the parliamentary committee on finance, tax and customs policy of Ukraine, Danila Getmantsev, as of March 27, 1,120 applications were received under the evacuation program, of which 368 were transferred for transportation. By this date, the number of displaced enterprises under the evacuation program has reached 89, of which 47 have already resumed work in a new location.
The Ministry of Economy then updated the data as of April 5: the number of applications for relocation increased to 1424, relocated enterprises – up to 178, resumed work – up to 67.
According to the Ministry of Economy, as of May 12, the number of displaced enterprises increased by 510, a
The German Ministry of Health has decided to cancel anti-COVID restrictions for travelers to the country from June 1, the order will be valid until the end of August, the Tagesschau portal reports.
“Due to the decrease in the number of people infected with coronavirus, Germany from June 1 suspends the requirement from travelers for a digital covid certificate upon entry until the end of August,” the newspaper writes.
According to the portal, tourists during this period will not need any documents confirming vaccination, a negative test result or a coronavirus.
At the same time, travelers arriving in Germany from countries with common new strains of COVID 19 will have to undergo a 14-day quarantine even if they are vaccinated or have a certificate of illness.
Meanwhile, the head of the German Ministry of Health, Karl Lauterbach, stressed that so far no country has been identified as a zone with virus variants.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky had a telephone conversation with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.
“Informed about the situation on the frontline. We expect further defense support from our partners. Raised the issue of fuel supply. Ways to prevent the food crisis were discussed. We have to unblock Ukraine’s ports together,” Zelensky said on Twitter on Friday.
