In Madrid, law enforcers arrested 5 members of the criminal network, which was engaged in the illegal export of cultural property from Ukraine, during the arrest were seized 11 gold items worth more than €60 million, reports the National police of Spain.
“Operatives arrested five people, thus eliminating the criminal network engaged in the illegal export of cultural property from Ukraine. The seized items – gold jewelry of great historical and economic value – were stolen, illegally exported and were to be sold in Madrid,” reads the report published on the website of the Spanish police on Monday.
The investigation was reportedly carried out with the participation of the attachés for internal affairs of Bulgaria, Ukraine, Albania, Northern Macedonia and Cyprus, as well as the International Cooperation Division.
The investigation found that the criminals, in order to conceal the origin of the jewelry, accompanied them with documents in Ukrainian, English and Spanish, which confirmed their belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
At the same time, the defendants transferred ownership and the right to dispose of them to the main suspect in the case, an Orthodox priest who lives in Madrid.
Investigators first seized the gold belt with rams’ heads from the main suspect in 2021, when the priest tried to sell it privately to a businessman in Madrid.
Thanks to cooperation with the Security Service of Ukraine, the Spanish police established that the jewelry, which was placed as exhibits at an exhibition held in a museum in Kiev between 2009 and 2013, fell into the hands of the priest, who in collusion with a second person of the same nationality and with the help of third parties forged documents confirming the origin of cultural property and accreditation of its owner.
As a result of the investigation, it was found that the jewelry was illegally exported from Ukraine until May 2016.
It is noted that all seized items belong to the Greco-Scythian culture VIII-IV centuries BC, at the moment they are under study in the National Archaeological Museum and the Spanish Institute of cultural heritage.
Law enforcers are continuing their investigation.
In early October, IMC Agro Holding completed sowing of winter wheat for the 2024 harvest on 20.3 thou hectares, the company’s press service reported on Facebook.
According to the report, the warm and dry weather in September allowed IMC to sow all the planned areas with winter wheat, and the precipitation in the second decade of October helped to get friendly winter shoots.
In addition, at the end of the second decade of October, the agroholding completed threshing sunflower on an area of 32.1 thou hectares, harvesting 92.7 thou tons with an average yield of 2.9 tons/ha.
At the same time, the yield on the land in the north of Chernihiv region, which was not cultivated last year due to the occupation and the subsequent need to inspect for explosive devices, amounted to 2.2 tons/ha. On the rest of the IMC areas in Chernihiv, Sumy and Poltava regions, the sunflower yield amounted to 3.3 tons/ha.
“As for the sunflower harvest, its average yield is not a record for IMC, given the above-mentioned objective reasons, but nevertheless, the total yield and quality of sunflower give hope for its successful sale for processing,” said Oleksandr Verzhykhovsky, Chief Operating Officer of IMC.
As reported, in the 2023 season, IMC obtained a record average winter wheat yield of 7.1 tons/ha, which was the highest result in the 25 years of the agricultural holding’s operation. The company allocated 33.3 thou hectares for the crop, from which it harvested 236 thou tons of grain.
“IMC specializes in growing grains, oilseeds and milk production in Ukraine. It cultivates about 123.3 thousand hectares of land in Poltava, Chernihiv and Sumy regions. It has storage capacities of 554 thousand tons of grains and oilseeds.
In January-March 2023, IMC Agro Holding posted a net loss of $4.10 million, down 2.6 times year-on-year, largely due to higher logistics and distribution costs. The holding’s revenue increased by 11% to $41.96 million, of which exports accounted for $35.03 million. IMC’s gross profit grew 3.9 times to $8.60 million due to lower costs. Due to a twofold increase in logistics and distribution costs (up to $9.40 million), the company recorded an operating loss of $2.85 million, which is twice as good as in the first quarter of 2022.
Accrued insurance premiums under international insurance contracts “Green Card”, concluded by member companies of the Motor (Transport) Insurance Bureau of Ukraine (MTSBU), in January-September 2023 increased by 37.97% compared to the same period of 2022 – up to UAH 4.008 billion.
According to the MTSBU website, the number of concluded “Green Card” contracts for this period increased by 3.48% – up to 1.247 million.
At the same time, the amount of indemnities paid on claims increased 2.4 times – up to EUR33.088 mln, while the number of paid claims – 2.1 times, up to 10.742 thousand.
MTSBU is the only association of insurers, which provides compulsory insurance of civil liability of owners of land vehicles for damage caused to third parties.
“Green Card” is a system of insurance coverage for victims of road traffic accidents regardless of the country of their residence and the country of vehicle registration. “Green Card” covers the territory of 45 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa.
According to the decision adopted by the General Assembly of the Council of the Bureau of the International Motor Insurance System “Green Card” in Luxembourg in May 2004, Ukraine has been a full member of this system since January 1, 2005.
A Falcon rocket has successfully launched another batch of 23 mini-satellites to replenish the orbital grouping of the Starlink global Internet coverage network, the SpaceX development company has announced.
“The launch of 23 Starlink satellites has been confirmed”, the company said in a statement.
The rocket was launched from the 40th launch complex at the US Space Force base at Cape Canaveral in Florida on Saturday at 22:17 US East Coast time (Sunday at 05:17 Kyiv time).
This is the 118th launch of Internet satellites since May 2019 as part of the Starlink project and the 49th since the beginning of this year. SpaceX has already launched more than 5.3 thousand such satellites into orbit. Some of them have failed or left the orbit. Almost 5 thousand vehicles remain in orbit in working condition.
As part of the launch, the first reusable stage of the launch vehicle, which was used for the fourth time, made a controlled vertical landing on the A Shortfall of Gravitas drone platform in the Atlantic after separation.
The company is now the largest satellite operator in the world. Starlink’s Internet network is available to users in 62 countries, including North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. According to the Pentagon, the US military is also actively using the services of these satellites.
In the future, SpaceX plans to deploy an orbital grouping of 12 thousand spacecraft (and later – 30 thousand) to create a full-scale network that will provide the world’s inhabitants with broadband Internet access anywhere in the world. The total investment in the project is estimated at $10 billion.
Ferrexpo, a mining company with assets in Ukraine, has appointed Stuart Brown, formerly of De Beers, as an independent non-executive director to its board of directors.
According to the company’s information on Monday, Brown took office on October 22.
Ferrexpo also reports that Graeme Dacomb, who has been a member of the board of directors since May 2020, will resign from the board at the end of this year. It is clarified that Dacomb is currently the chairman of the audit committee, and Brown will take over from January 1, 2024, which will provide the necessary time for an orderly transfer of functions. Brown is also appointed as a member of the Audit Committee upon his appointment to the Board of Directors.
The press release states that Brown is an experienced mining executive with extensive board-level experience. He previously held the positions of CFO and CEO at De Beers and its various subsidiaries. Most recently, he served as President and CEO of Mountain Region Diamonds Inc. listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and CEO of Firestone Diamonds Plc, formerly listed on the AIM of the London Stock Exchange.
It is also reported that after Brown’s appointment, the number of independent directors will increase to five, two of whom are women. After Dacombe’s resignation at the end of this year, the number of independent directors will be reduced to four.
Ferrexpo is an iron ore company with assets in Ukraine.
Ferrexpo owns a 100% stake in Yeristovo Mining, 99.9% in Bilanivsky GOK and 100% in Poltava Mining.
In the Kyiv region, 95 facilities are being repaired under the state program “Renovate Home”, including 63 projects that have been fully or partially completed, the press service of the Ministry of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine reports.
According to the release, condominiums in Kyiv region were the first to join the Restore Home program after its launch in November 2022. Most of the high-rise buildings are being renovated in Irpin – 87. Three houses are also being repaired in Bucha, two in Makariv and Gostomel, and one in Sofiyivska Borshchahivka.
“About 5,000 families have already participated in this initiative, which allows them to quickly repair their homes and return home. The total amount of grants to be received by condominiums in Kyiv region is UAH 280.5 million, of which UAH 116 million has already been paid by the Fund,” said Yehor Fareniuk, Director of the Energy Efficiency Fund.
Recently, the Energy Efficiency Fund has started implementing the main stage of the Restore Home Program. Now it covers the entire territory of Ukraine, except for the temporarily occupied territories and territories of active hostilities. As before, condominiums whose buildings were damaged as a result of hostilities can participate in the program. They can receive a grant from the Energy Efficiency Fund, which compensates 100% of the cost of works and materials, but it cannot exceed UAH 7.2 million.
