Soccer clubs spent a total of more than $1.6 billion on player transfers in January, according to the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA)
According to the report, there were 4,387 international transfers in men’s soccer in January 2023. This is a record high since the launch of the transfer monitoring system in 2010.
Total club spending on transfer fees also set a new record, with $1.57 billion spent in January, about $230 million more than the previous record January window in 2018.
Leading the way are English clubs, who spent $898.6 million, 57.3 percent of total spending worldwide in January, followed by France ($131.9 million) by a considerable distance.
Ukrainians receive $85 mln worth of transfers through PrivatBank, Western Union from UN WFP
KYIV. June 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainians have received more than 600,000 transfers worth $85 million through the state-owned PrivatBank (Kyiv) and the Western Union international payment system from the UN World Food Program (WFP), the bank’s press service reported on Wednesday.
According to the report, 95% of transfers were received online to a PrivatBank card.
The press service recalled that in May, the UN WFF began disbursing cash assistance to internally displaced persons in Ukraine through Western Union. The amount of assistance is UAH 2,220 per person and up to UAH 6,660 per family.
According to the statistics of the National Bank of Ukraine, as of April 1, 2022, PrivatBank ranked first (UAH 592.38 billion) among 69 banks operating in the country in terms of total assets.
Rescue equipment worth $50 million was handed over to Ukrainian law enforcement officers by the American side, other aid packages are expected to be handed over in the near future, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said.
Proud to strengthen our partnership with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and Minister Monastyrsky to support Ukraine’s law enforcement with $50 million in life-saving equipment. More is on the way,” Brink said on Twitter on Monday.
The ambassador also noted that the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, the National Guard and the National Police of Ukraine, which are part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, “have displayed true heroism in the most dire conditions.”
The European Union has transferred the first EUR300 million to Ukraine from a EUR1.2 billion macro-financial assistance package, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Twitter on Friday.
“Putin’s war exerts brutal military and economic pressure on the brave people of Ukraine. Europe stands firmly by their side. Today we disbursed EUR300 million in emergency Macro-Financial Assistance to Ukraine. This is the first payment of a EUR1.2 billion package. So more will come,” she said.
As reported, the decision to provide macro-financial assistance was made by the European Parliament and the European Council on February 24, 2022 and agreed by the European Commission on March 1.
The assistance is divided into two equal tranches: the first is provided without any conditions, and the second after Kyiv fulfills a number of agreements with the EU.
The international systems Western Union, MoneyGram, Ria Money Transfer, INTEL EXPRESS and TransferGo have canceled fees for transfers to Ukraine, the press service of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) said on Thursday.
According to the announcement, Ria has activated its global donation network for the Save the Children organization to help Ukrainian children who have been affected by the war in Ukraine and their families.
In addition, the INTELEXPRESS international money transfer system can make instant and free transfers to special accounts to raise funds to support the Ukrainian army and humanitarian aid to Ukrainians.
At the same time, the global payment network Euronet, which has an extensive system of ATMs in the world, has abolished fees for its services for the citizens of Ukraine.
In addition, the Polish instant payment system Blik has created a special page for raising funds to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The funds will be transferred to the NBU account opened in the state-owned bank – Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego.
INTEL EXPRESS, MONEYGRAM, RIA MONEY TRANSFER, TRANSFERGO, TRANSFERS, UKRAINE, WESTERN UNION
Synevo, part of Sweden’s Medicover holding, has handed over the COVID-19 diagnostic equipment using PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) tests – the most reliable method for diagnosing this coronavirus disease, to the Public Health Center, Synevo Development Director Mykola Butenko said at a video press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.
The equipment made by Swiss Roche will allow increasing the speed and the number of COVID-19 tests and will significantly increase the accuracy of test results, removing human element from the process.
The analyzer’s capacities are 96 tests per hour. Different types of biomaterial (blood, saliva, cerebrospinal fluid and others) can be tested.
The equipment has already been delivered by Synevo to the virology reference laboratory of the Public Health Center in Kyiv, which will perform COVID-19 testing.
“In Ukraine, because of the high cost of equipment, this initial stage is usually tested manually by laboratory staff. This limits the speed and number of tests performed. Using the new analyzer will minimize the human factor. As a result, we will significantly increase the number of tests performed and eliminate the risk of human error,” Butenko said.
The use of new equipment will increase the safety of the laboratory staff, since the apparatus performs the process of RNA extraction from the biomaterial automatically, therefore, the laboratory staff will no longer have to contact samples of potentially infected biomaterial.
To launch the analyzer, representatives of Roche Diagnostics in Ukraine will be involved in the startup of the equipment, as well as in special training for employees of the Public Health Center’s laboratory how to use the equipment.
The PCR method directly detects DNA or virus RNA in the biomaterial, therefore this method is the most reliable in the world for the diagnosis of COVID-19.
