All Trought about politic at Ukraine

WASHINGTON -- The pitched drama over bonuses for bailed-out executives will be revived on Capitol Hill Wednesday as a government watchdog explains how some executives nearly brought down the financial system -- then pocketed millions.

Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for the $700 billion financial rescue program, will answer questions about a new report outlining the official missteps that led to massive bonus payments for executives at insurer American International Group Inc.

In a report released Tuesday, Barofsky wrote that the Treasury Department did not understand AIG's byzantine pay structures when it gave the firm billions in aid last fall. The government has committed a total of more than $180 billion to wind down the New York-based insurance and financial services conglomerate, and now owns about 80 percent of the company.

AIG's bonuses sparked a political firestorm earlier this year when it was revealed that the government could not legally ... Read more »

The battle over health care reform has only just begun. 

After an overhaul package that was months in the making cleared a major hurdle Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi now must grapple with stiff Republican opposition and warring factions among Democrats as they try to bring an acceptable bill to the floor. 

The Senate Finance Committee voted 14-9 to send its version of reform legislation to the Senate floor, becoming the last of five panels to act on legislation and marking the biggest advance so far toward health care reform. 

But President Obama previewed the tough road ahead, even as he hailed the vote as a "critical milestone" late Tuesday and pledged to "get this done." 

"We have a lot of difficult work ahead of us. There's still significant details and disagreements to be worked ou ... Read more »

The report issued by the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Atomic Inspection on the cause of the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric plant accident is chock full of senseless data designed to divert attention away from the core issues. In plain English, the report’s findings read as follows:

Following repairs, an unbalanced GA-2 turbine unit was labeled as “satisfactory” and installed at the plant in March. The GA-2 unit reached the maximum allowable level of vibration from the moment it began operation, with the vibrations increasing fourfold by August. For this reason, an effort was made not to use the GA-2 unit at all. But a fire at the Bratsk hydroelectric plant on the evening of Aug. 16 prompted dispatchers to increase demand on the Sayano-Shushenskaya facility.

The GA-2 unit was brought on line at 11:05 p.m. and operated for exactly nine hours and nine minutes before the disaster occurred. During those hours, the GA-2 lost power three times ... Read more »

There are three surnames of the lawmakers of the Verkhovna Rada in the case corruption of minors in “Artek”.

Lawmaker from the BYUT Grygoriy Omelchenko, who made addresses because of the corruption of minors in “Artek”, said this to “Ukrainska Pravda ”.

“There are surnames of three lawmakers. I made requests on September 7 and September 12. The last one was with new evidences, there were three surnames of the lawmakers and a priest”, he said.

He also said that the psychological examination was carried out and testimonies of children were checked at a polygraph detector. “Experts recognized that children tell truth concerning conditions of the crime against them”, said G. Omelchenko.

“The forensic medical examination was carried out and it showed that children have been raped during three years” ... Read more »

Artist Tony Matelli is on show for the second year running in Moscow at the Gary Tatintsian Gallery with his exhibition “The Idiot.”

Those who remember the previous installation, “Survival,” may be disappointed. Most people remember “Survival” for “Old Enemy, New Victim,” a sculpture that consisted of two skinny monkeys attacking a much larger variety of their kind in what looked like a fight to the death.

“In ‘Survival,’ every item was shocking. Now visitors look at the installation and wonder where the exhibition is. They ask if it was called off,” gallery director Victoria Pukemova said.

Looking around “The Idiot,” you could think it was just a couple of boxes, a small flame and some plants.

Matelli is known for his attention to details. A sculpture of a topless women that stood in the Tatintsian gallery has fooled many a visitor into thinking it ... Read more »

A Delaware first-grader who was facing 45 days in an alternative school as punishment for taking his favorite camping utensil to school can return to class after the school board made a hasty change granting him a reprieve.

The seven-member Christina School Board voted unanimously Tuesday to reduce the punishment for kindergartners and first-graders who take weapons to school or commit violent offenses to a suspension ranging from three to five days.

Zachary Christie, 6, had faced 45 days in an alternative school for troublemakers after he took the utensil — a combination folding knife, fork and spoon — to school to eat lunch last month. Now, he could return Wednesday.

"I want to get him back as soon as possible. I want to put this behind him as soon as possible," said Debbie Christie, Zachary's mother. "But I also want him ... Read more »

Hundreds of people called on the authorities to find and punish the killers of journalists and human rights activists in Russia, rallying Wednesday to commemorate the third anniversary of the killing of Anna Politkovskaya.

“The authorities are incapable of solving such crimes,” former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said. “Even the most honest investigator cannot solve the crime because the government won’t let him.”

Prosecutors have said little about who might have ordered the contract-style killing on Oct. 7, 2006, while the suspected gunman is believed to be hiding in Europe. Three men accused of playing minor roles in the killing remain under investigation.

Since Politkovskaya’s death, at least seven journalists and human rights activists have been killed in Russia, including one who wrote for the same newspaper, Novaya Gazeta. “There is a political will ... Read more »

Maxim has contacts in the customs department as, it seems, do a lot of people.

Not long after Cherkizovsky Market was closed down, shops offering customs goods started appearing all over Moscow. All the brands you could desire and all at prices that made you wonder why anyone would ever pay more than 600 rubles ($20) for Adodas trainers, let alone Noke or Ribok.   

The shops’ names hinted that they were trading in confiscated customs goods, but it was just a way to get rid of goods leftover from the market, according to a charmingly in-depth investigation by Komsomolskaya Pravda, which tracked down the owner, a former Cherkizovsky trader, and asked him if they could sell dodgy tracksuits in his shops.

He said, “Yes, of course,” but only after threatening to burn down their shop if they dared to open a similar kind of operation. So, here we have a sel ... Read more »

Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko has invited foreign investors to come into Ukraine's market, describing it as one of the most modern markets in the world.

"Ukraine has one of the most modern markets not only in Europe, but also among the world markets, that is virtually unexplored by investors," Yuschenko said at a meeting with representatives of the Horizon Capital company in Kyiv on October 5.

In particular, Ukraine's farming sector is still in need of investments, the president said.

"This sector has unique possibilities from the point of view of production and reprocessing," he added.

The farming sector has been doing well in recent years, Yuschenko said. He noted that Ukraine harvested 45 million tonnes of grain this year, with Ukraine's export target for this year being 20-22 million tonnes.

Investments also need to be made in the Euro 2012 European Foo ... Read more »

Space issues are to be the focus of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's visit to Ukraine, Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko said during a meeting with the National Space Agency of Ukraine Chief Oleksandr Zinchenko in Kyiv on October 6.

In particular, the two states will focus on the cooperation on the Tsyklon (Cyclone)-4 project. The Brazilian president is to visit Ukraine in November 2009.

The Ukrainian president told journalists in New York in September that Ukraine's Tsyklon (Cyclone)-4 launch vehicle would first blast off from Brazil's Alcantara space center in 2010.

The Ukrainian leader said he had asked his Brazilian counterpart to help Ukraine's National Space Agency secure a $260-million loan from Brazil's National Bank for Economic and Social Development.

This money is needed to allow the Ukrainian National Space Agency to finish forming its char ... Read more »

Interior Minister of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko has said that statements about a return to the "bloody nineties" and contract murders with the use of guns in Ukraine are unreasonable.

"Any talk of the helplessness of policies, about chaos on the streets, about a return to the bloody nineties is without reason," the minister said at a press conference in Kyiv on Monday.

"It's not the fault of the police that there are citizens of Ukraine or non-Ukrainians who are ready to carry out a contract murder. Our task is to catch them, send them to pre-trial detention and then to prison. We are coping with this task and will cope in the future," Lutsenko said.

The minister also said that since the beginning of this year foreigners committed about 2,000 crimes, including 45 premeditated murders, 70 attacks, 133 robberies, 588 larcenies and 181 frauds.

During 2007-2009 the subdivisions ... Read more »