Whole Europe must unite its efforts and act boldly in order to solve the problem of safe transportation and shipment or Ukrainian grain, Prime Minister of Italy Mario Draghi has said.
“We must do everything possible to not let the situation become dramatic… To avoid… a serious crisis, we must ensure safe transportation of grain. This must not cause a global disaster. For this we must focus on how to organize grain transportation through the Black Sea. Russia, unfortunately, does not make advances. We must fight against this problem bravely and boldly, just like President Zelensky. And we, the Europeans, must act together,” Draghi said during a press conference following a meeting of the leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany, Italy, and Romania in Kyiv on Thursday.
He added that there is some time to solve this problem as “the harvest will be ready mainly in September.”
The incidence of coronavirus in the world over the past week continued to decline, while mortality increased by 4%, follows from the weekly epidemiological bulletin of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Between June 6 and 12, the incidence of coronavirus decreased in all regions except the Eastern Mediterranean region, where the incidence increased by 58%, America (by 13%) and Southeast Asia (by 33%). The largest decline in cases was seen in the Western Pacific and Europe, at 8%.
In just a week, more than 3.2 million cases of COVID-19 were detected worldwide. Coronavirus deaths have decreased or remained unchanged in all regions except the Western Pacific, where deaths rose by 17%, and the Americas (21%). Mortality fell the most in the Eastern Mediterranean (by 35%). In general, more than 8.7 thousand deaths caused by COVID-19 were recorded worldwide during the week.
Over the entire period of the pandemic, about 535 million cases of coronavirus infection and more than 6.3 million deaths from the consequences of the disease have been detected in the world.
Elon Musk and his companies Tesla Inc. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) filed a $258 billion lawsuit in connection with their promotion of the Dogecoin cryptocurrency, reports Bloomberg.
The plaintiff – Keith Johnson – alleges that Musk and his companies created a fraudulent scheme to inflate the value of Dogecoin.
“Defendants falsely claimed that the Dogecoin cryptocurrency is a prudent investment even though it has no value at all,” the lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court says.
Johnson, who claims he “lost money because of the crypto pyramid created by the defendants,” expects his lawsuit to become a class action, with other people who have also lost money trading Dogecoin since April 2019 joining him.
In addition to damages, he demands that the court prohibit Musk and his companies from promoting Dogecoin.
The cryptocurrency, created in 2013 in honor of the Internet meme Doge with a Shiba Inu dog, is trading on Thursday at $0.057, since the beginning of this year its rate has fallen by 67%. Last year, the value of Dogecoin rose to $0.74.
Musk has previously stated that Tesla and SpaceX will sell their merchandise for Dogecoin. In January, he suggested that McDonald’s start accepting the cryptocurrency, tweeting that he would “eat the Happy Meal on TV if McDonald’s accepts Dogecoin.”
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that he had met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to discuss support for Ukraine and assistance.
“Friends! I met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. We talked about the support of Ukraine by European partners and the necessary assistance. Weapons, economic, financial assistance and more powerful and more effective sanctions against the Russian aggressor. And also – support by the European community for Ukraine’s candidacy for EU membership,” – wrote Klitschko on Facebook.
He emphasized the importance of the fact that world leaders visit Ukraine and see for themselves the consequences of the barbaric actions of the Russian Federation.
“International partners must understand that appeasing the aggressor will only whet his appetites. And the war will spread to the EU countries. Therefore, Ukraine, which has taken the blow of imperial evil and is heroically defending itself, needs help today and now!” the mayor added.
According to the published video, boxer Wladimir Klitschko was also present at the meeting.
The European Commission will recommend to the European Council that Ukraine and Moldova be granted EU candidate status with further “homework” to be done.
Interfax-Ukraine was informed about this on Thursday in Brussels by a source close to the negotiation process and acquainted with the draft document. “To recommend granting candidate status to Ukraine on the understanding that the next steps will be taken (grant candidate status under the understanding that follows steps are taking),” the agency’s interlocutor quoted the draft document as saying.
Next, he said, is a list of “homework” that Ukraine will have to complete before official negotiations begin. Among them – ensuring the rule of law, the fight against corruption, oligarchs, money laundering. According to the source, this work should be done by Ukraine in any case, since for full membership in the EU it must meet the criteria of Article 49 of the Treaty. “Such a wording will allow countries that are still hesitating to be “taken on board,” the source explained the position of the European Commission. In addition, he also believes that Kyiv will need a significant amount of time to meet the necessary criteria.
With regard to Moldova, the list of “homework” is even longer than for Ukraine. With regard to Georgia, the EC recommends that candidate status be granted only after doing “homework”.
These recommendations have yet to be approved by the EU leaders at the summit, which will be held June 23-24 in Brussels.
The official announcement of the conclusions is scheduled for this Friday, June 17th.
CANDIDATE, EU MEMBERSHIP, EUROPEAN COMMISSION, EUROPEAN COUNCIL, MOLDOVA, STATUS, UKRAINE
Scania Ukraine opened a new Scania Brovary service station with a total area of 1,110 sq.m. near the Brovarskaya ring road at the intersection of the M95 and H07 highways, the distribution company’s press service reported.
“By the decision to open a new service station in the Kiev region, we want to confirm our commitment to the Ukrainian market. We are aware of all the risks for our investments, but we want to be closer to our customers, whose activities are important for the Ukrainian society, especially in the current conditions,” the press quotes – the service of the General Director of Scania Ukraine LLC Hokan Jyde in a message on the website on Thursday.
The station includes service boxes, warehouse and office premises. At the same time, 8 trucks can be serviced in it, there is also a large spare parts warehouse.
As reported, the new station became the 12th in the company’s service network.
Oleksandr Titskiy, Director of Dealer Network and Dealer Development in Ukraine, noted that taking into account the location of the station (where the main routes run from north to west and south), the company sees a huge need for the provision of services for the repair and maintenance of trucks not only in this part of the region, therefore, in the future, the center can be significantly expanded, and will provide a greater range of services for carriers.
The opening of the station was attended by Swedish Ambassador to Ukraine Tobias Tyberg, who noted that Sweden supports Ukraine with defense equipment, humanitarian aid, provides financial support, and continues to work with Ukraine on reforms in local self-government, energy independence, and environmental protection.
“Today ScaniaGroup is opening a new facility near Kyiv. Scania trucks will help Ukraine restore what Russia is destroying. Nothing can break the resilience of Ukrainians,” the ambassador tweeted.
The distribution company with foreign investments “Scania Ukraine” has been operating on the Ukrainian market since 1998 (before that, there was a representative office in 1993). In 2020, the company’s revenue decreased by 6% compared to 2019 – to UAH 1 billion 651 million, net profit decreased by 22.7% – to UAH 42.4 million.
According to Scania Ukraine (mid-last year), since 1997, it has paid EUR97.8 million in taxes to the Ukrainian treasury and has invested more than EUR38.8 million in the opening of service stations, new jobs, equipment and employee training.
In 2020, the company occupied 27.4% of the Ukrainian market for trucks manufactured in Europe. Its income amounted to UAH 1.65 billion, net profit UAH 42.4 million.
As reported, at present, out of 12 Scania service centers (including the new one), 10 are working, only the stations in Kharkov and Kramatorsk are closed.
A few days ago, the company reopened its distribution site in Bucha.
