Chairman of the Central Election Commission of Georgia Giorgi Kalandarishvili announced the results of Saturday’s parliamentary elections.
According to him, data from 3100 polling stations out of the total number of 3111 has been processed.
He said that the ruling Georgian Dream party won the elections with 54.08% support of the voters. It was followed by four parties that broke the 5% (passing threshold): “Coalition for Change” – 10.92%, ‘United National Movement’ – 10.12%, ‘Strong Georgia’ – 8.72% and ‘For Georgia’ – 7.76%.
The Swedish government has decided to provide a new humanitarian aid package of SEK110 million ($10.4 million) to Ukraine, which will be used to meet increased needs ahead of the winter period, the Swedish government website said Sunday.
“Russia has targeted civilian infrastructure and deprived Ukraine of much of its heat and electricity supply. Of course, the colder it gets, the more serious the consequences. Therefore, a significant part of the population is experiencing difficulties in heating their homes and cooking. That is why the government has decided to allocate 110 million crowns to a number of humanitarian organizations in Ukraine,” said Benjamin Dusa, Minister of Foreign Development and Foreign Trade.
The humanitarian package is distributed among four organizations. The Ukrainian Red Cross received SEK50 million; the support focuses on, among other things, guaranteed access to heat and electricity, distribution of food, hygiene products, medicines and water. UNHCR received SEK20 million; Sweden will contribute to help internally displaced persons prepare and protect themselves before and during the coming winter. UNDP received SEK30 million for demining. UNFPA will receive SEK10 million to address women’s sexual and reproductive health needs, prevent sexual and gender-based violence and support survivors of violence.
Earlier, on October 17, the Nordic and Baltic countries presented a new support package to Ukraine to repair damaged and replace destroyed energy systems with new ones before winter. Sweden’s contribution amounted to SEK320 million ($30 million).
“This support package is important to support the Ukrainian energy sector and help keep Ukrainian society functioning and Ukrainian homes warm,” Dusa said.
According to the government, Sweden has previously allocated a total of SEK57.4 billion ($5.4 billion) in support for Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022: humanitarian, military and financial support, as well as support for reconstruction and reform work. Including the new support packages, Sweden’s total contribution will amount to more than SEK57.8 billion.
Including in 2024 alone, the Swedish government has decided to allocate a total of SEK1.8 billion for additional support for the Ukrainian energy sector. After two aid packages in October, this amount exceeded SEK2.2bn (over $210m).
Ukrainian athlete and high jumper Yaroslava Maguchikh has been officially recognized as the best athlete in Europe in 2024. She received her award at the Golden Tracks ceremony held in Skopje (North Macedonia), reports Suspilne Sport.
It is noted that in the 2024 season, Maguchikh set a new world record in the discipline – 2.10 meters, and added to it her debut Olympic gold, the title of European champion and the third consecutive Diamond League title.
The top three in the women’s category also included runners Femke Bohl of the Netherlands and Great Britain’s Keeley Hodgkinson.
“This was the most successful season for me. Many dreams came true: a world record and Olympic gold for Ukraine,” Maguchikh said during the ceremony.
Based on the results of her historic season, Maguchikh is also in the running for the world’s best athlete in non-running disciplines: World Athletics will announce the three finalists in early November.
On October 27, Ukraine switches to winter time.
“At exactly 4:00 a.m., the clock hands have to make one circle back. Modern electronic devices will do this automatically, while mechanical clocks need to be set manually. Thus, it will show 3.00,” the Government online telegram channel said.
As reported, on July 16, the Verkhovna Rada adopted Bill No. 4201 to cancel the transition from winter to summer time in Ukraine from 2025, but it has not been signed by the President of Ukraine.
The first plant of the defense concern Rheinmetall is already operating in Ukraine, and the second is on the way, Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger told TSN.
“The first plant is already in operation. The Ukrainian defense industry is our partner. We now have a production facility and a service facility,” Papperger said, adding that the first Lynx advanced infantry fighting vehicle in Ukraine will be launched at the end of the year.
“At the moment we are servicing infantry fighting vehicles, but also main battle tanks. So this is a very productive joint venture,” said the Rheinmetall director. He added that the company owns 51% of the shares in this enterprise.
Papperger noted that Rheinmetall is on the way to building a powder plant and an ammunition plant in Ukraine. “We also want to establish production of air defense systems so that you can defend yourselves,” he said.
As of October 25, farmers in all regions of Ukraine have harvested 63.7 million tons of new crops from 18.1 million hectares, up from 62.2 million tons from 17.7 million hectares a week earlier.
As reported by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food on Friday, 45.1 million tons (42.8 million tons) of grains and pulses, 18.6 million tons (18 million tons) of oilseeds and 8.3 million tons (6.5 million tons) of sugar beets have already been harvested.
The Ministry specified that the harvest of wheat has been completed, with 22.3 million tons harvested from 4.9 million hectares at a yield of 42.4 c/ha, barley – 5.5 million tons from 1.4 million hectares at a yield of 39.2 c/ha, peas – 465.3 million tons from 212.2 thousand hectares at a yield of 21.9 c/ha, and rapeseed – 3.5 million tons from 1.3 million hectares at a yield of 27.3 c/ha.
Corn harvesting continues with 15.4 million tons (13.2 thousand tons a week earlier) from 2.7 million hectares (67% of the plan), buckwheat – 126.9 thousand tons (124.8 thousand tons) from 87.5 thousand hectares (98%), millet – 159.5 thousand tons (158.9 thousand tons) from 85.1 thousand hectares (92%).
The oilseeds harvest is nearing completion in Ukraine. In particular, 5.6 mln tonnes of soybeans have been harvested (5.2 mln tonnes a week earlier) from 2.5 mln hectares (93%), and 9.5 mln tonnes of sunflower from 4.6 mln hectares (94%).
At the same time, the leaders in grain harvesting are farmers in Odesa region who threshed 4.4 mln ha, Poltava region – 4 mln tons, and Vinnytsia region – 3.3 mln tons. In terms of yields, the leaders are farmers in Khmelnytsky region with 68.3 c/ha, Ternopil region – 64.9 c/ha, and Chernihiv region – 63.5 c/ha.
