Spain will send 500,000 doses of monkeypox vaccine to African countries, European media reported on Tuesday, citing the country’s Health Ministry.
The agency noted that this is about 20% of the total stock of such vaccines in the country.
In addition, the Spanish Ministry of Health called on all EU members to donate 20% of their stocks.
“It makes no sense to stockpile vaccines where there is no problem,” the Spanish ministry said.
On August 14, the WHO declared a public health emergency in connection with the spread of monkeypox in a number of countries.
Monkeypox is a rare infectious disease most common in remote areas of Central and West Africa. Its symptoms include nausea, fever, rash, itching, and muscle pain. In mild cases, the disease usually resolves on its own and lasts from 14 to 21 days.
Earlier, the Experts Club Information and Analytical Center released a video with a detailed explanation of the origin of the disease and the prospects for its spread – https://youtu.be/YXYU6KcQTcQ?si=wEj2TQc3MPHGx0QY
Svyato-Varvarinskaya Enrichment Plant (SVEP), a part of Metinvest Group and part of Metinvest Pokrovskugol, has produced 1.5 million tons of coal concentrate since the beginning of this year.
According to Metinvest Pokrovskugol, despite the war, the team is meeting all its targets. Since the beginning of the year, the plant has produced 1.5 million tons of high-quality concentrate.
In addition, the company remains among the world’s leading concentrators and the best in terms of efficiency amid the worst of the crisis.
As reported earlier, ZFP enriches raw coking coal produced by Ukraine’s largest coking coal producer, Pokrovske Mine Administration (Donetsk Oblast). Production did not stop during the war.
Earlier, it was planned to mine 5.352 million tons of coal in 2024, of which 2.802 million tons of coal concentrate would be produced.
“Metinvest has established Metinvest Pokrovskugol, which manages the enterprises of the Pokrovsk Coal Group (Pokrovskoye). The company includes, among others, Pokrovskoye Mine Administration and ZZFV.
Svyato-Varvarinskaya Enrichment Plant is a premium coal concentrate producer in Ukraine. Its production capacity is about 8 million tons of raw coking coal per year with the ability to enrich five different classes of coal. Pokrovskoye coal is processed by the coal mining unit.
On August 27, the Poltava Oblast Police Department rejected the offer of Guardian Insurance Company and announced its intention to enter into a contract with Ukrainian Fire Insurance Company (both based in Kyiv) for compulsory motor third party liability insurance (MTPL) and voluntary motor third party liability insurance (hull insurance).
According to a posting in the Prozorro electronic public procurement system, the company’s price offer amounted to UAH 1.886 million with the same expected cost of the services.
The price offer of Guardian Insurance Company was UAH 1.345 million.
UPSK PrJSC was registered in 1993. It specializes, in particular, in insurance of motor vehicles, financial risks, tourists, property, cargo and luggage.
Astarta Agro-Industrial Holding, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, started sugar beet processing at a plant in Vinnytsia region on August 24, with a total of five plants of the agricultural group operating this season, the press service of the agricultural holding reported on its Facebook page.
According to the report, two plants in Poltava region are scheduled to be launched at the end of the week, and two more in September.
“The season has started successfully. The first plant is now online and operating at full capacity. We will soon start shipping the first batches of high-quality sugar to Ukrainian consumers. In general, our investments in the sugar segment were aimed at improving the energy efficiency of the plants. We also focused on improving staff motivation and product quality,” said Igor Rylyk, Director of Agricultural Processing at Astarta.
At the same time, the agricultural enterprises of the agro-industrial holding, which are the main suppliers of raw materials for Astarta’s sugar factories, continue harvesting sugar beet, the total area of which this year is 38 thousand hectares.
Currently, the holding’s plants are working on their own raw materials, and starting from September 1, sugar beet will be supplied for processing by farms with which Astarta cooperates on a regular basis, the agricultural holding said.
In 2023, Astarta Agricultural Holding grew 39 thousand tons of sugar beet, which is 20% more than a year earlier, thanks to a record yield of 58 tons/ha against 56 tons/ha in 2022, the company’s annual report said on Wednesday evening.
According to the agricultural holding, the record high sugar beet harvest extended the processing period until the end of January 2024. In total, the sugar production campaign in 2023 lasted 130 days, compared to 111 days a year earlier.
“In the 2023-2024 marketing year, Astarta increased sugar production by 34% year-on-year to 377 thousand tons. At the same time, the volume of sugar beet processing in 2023 increased by 37% compared to the same period last year and reached 2.7 million tons. The market share remained unchanged at 21% in 2023.
In 2023, Astarta, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, reduced its net profit by 5.0% to EUR 61.9 million, and its EBITDA decreased by 6.1% to EUR 145.77 million, while revenue increased by 21.3% to EUR 618.93 million.
Insurance company “PZU Ukraine” (Kiev) in January-June 2024 settled under contracts of voluntary insurance of motor vehicles (CASCO) 2,2 thousand events, which is 14% more than in the same period a year earlier, the company reports.
The total amount of payments under this type of insurance is UAH 100.7 mln, which is 23% more than in the first half of last year. At the same time, 105 applications have been accepted under CASCO contracts for events that occurred abroad, the amount of payments for events abroad is almost UAH 6 mln. The largest payment for this period under such contract amounted to UAH 1.313 mln. 53% of CASCO cases have been settled within 7 days.
According to the company’s data for 6 months of the current year under contracts of compulsory insurance of motor third party liability of vehicle owners (MTPL) the company settled 5,324 thousand events for the total amount of UAH 156,220 mln. At the same time, 474 insurance cases were considered under the system of direct settlement and payments in the amount of UAH 13.9 mln were made. Through Telegram-bot PZU on KASKO and MTPL contracts 4,811 appeals were accepted.
As for “Green Card” contracts in the period January-June 2024 502 insurance cases were settled for the total amount of UAH 78,7 mln. The largest payment under such contract for the specified period is UAH 2,740 mln.
PZU Ukraine is a part of one of the largest insurance groups of Central and Eastern Europe – PZU Group (which includes the parent company of PJSC IC PZU Ukraine – PZU S.A.).
The national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, will raise thorny issues like Taiwan and Russia with only months left before a new administration takes office.
Making another heavy push to work with China in the waning months of the Biden administration, Jake Sullivan arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for talks aimed at showing that the United States and China can manage their differences.
The U.S. national security adviser began his fifth meeting in less than 18 months with China’s top foreign policy official, Wang Yi, as the Biden administration seeks to reinforce its strategy on China despite uncertainty over the future of American foreign policy.
There is much to talk about — but probably little on which they will agree.
Mr. Sullivan plans to discuss working with China on limiting the spread of fentanyl and expanding high-level military contacts. He will also stress the United States’ position on Taiwan and its concerns about China’s support of Russia.
China indicated it would raise its own objections during the talks — including over America’s support for Taiwan, the island democracy Beijing claims, and U.S. controls on exports of technology to China.
Beijing wants the United States to ease its pressure on China, in the hope that it would set the tone for smoother relations with the next U.S. administration, analysts said.
“China’s priority is to maintain the stability of China-U.S. relations in the last several months of Biden’s presidency,” said Zhao Minghao, an expert on U.S.-China relations at Fudan University in Shanghai.
The prospect of a potential meeting between President Biden and China’s leader, Xi Jinping, before Mr. Biden’s term ends, is likely to come up. (It was unclear if Mr. Sullivan would meet with Mr. Xi during his three-day visit.)
Here are some of the issues Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Wang are expected to broach:
Taiwan and Ukraine
Perhaps the biggest flash points in relations between China and the United States are Russia’s war in Ukraine and China’s increasing aggression toward Taiwan.
Mr. Sullivan is likely to urge China to reduce its support to Russia, which the United States and NATO say has helped sustain Russia’s war effort, now in its third year. China buys huge quantities of Russian oil and supplies Russia with dual-use technology that can be applied to the battlefield, U.S. officials say.
Beijing is unlikely to turn its back on Moscow, its only major-power partner in counterbalancing the United States.
Chinese officials will seek to criticize U.S. support for Taiwan, which Mr. Xi has threatened to take by force, if necessary. Beijing accuses Washington of promoting “Taiwan independence” by supplying the island with arms and allowing for exchanges between American and Taiwanese officials.
China said in a statement on Sunday that the United States needed to do more to repair relations. “The United States has kept containing and suppressing China,” a foreign ministry statement said. The relationship, it said, is “still at a critical juncture of being stabilized.”
Taiwan was “the first and foremost red line that must not be crossed,” the statement read.
Technology Controls
Mr. Sullivan has championed the Biden administration’s export controls designed to prevent China from getting its hands on advanced American semiconductors, or microchips, that can be used to develop weapons or computing power that could threaten U.S. national security.
That has frustrated China, which has struggled to catch up with the United States in designing advanced chips despite investing billions of dollars in research. Beijing says the export controls are aimed at stunting China’s rightful development.
The restrictions, which were first introduced in October 2022, have had far-reaching consequences by forcing countries to shift, or consider shifting, some production of semiconductors out of Asia back to North America and Europe.
It is unclear what the long-term implications of U.S. export controls will be. China has seized on the restrictions to redouble efforts to become more technologically self-sufficient. Brokers have also used proxies to smuggle banned chips into China.
Will Xi and Biden Meet Again?
Mr. Sullivan’s visit could lay the groundwork for one last summit between Mr. Xi and Mr. Biden. Discussions between Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Wang were key to organizing last November’s meeting.
Though he will only serve one term, and one that was disrupted by the Covid pandemic, Mr. Biden could be the first president not to travel to China since President Carter.
Mr. Biden has visited China before, when he was vice president in 2011, a trip remembered for his stop at a local Beijing restaurant for noodles and dumplings. If a state visit is not possible, Mr. Xi and Mr. Biden could potentially meet at the APEC summit in Peru in November.
Of course, China may not be interested in Mr. Biden’s lame duck presidency and could be focused on how best to approach the next administration. Writing in Foreign Affairs magazine this month, the Chinese international relations scholars Wang Jisi, Hu Ran and Zhao Jianwei said Beijing sees little difference between a Trump or Harris administration; they will both be driven by domestic pressure to be tough on China.
“Beijing is preparing itself for the outcome of the U.S. elections with great caution and limited hope,” they wrote.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/27/world/asia/sullivan-biden-china-xi.html
