News as of September 18, 2006

[stepanstas]

Thanks for the reply in the other post. Its news, express your feelings.

President of Ukraine want bridging closer relations with NATO

Victor Yushchenko has told reporters those who claim Ukraine is not ready to join NATO are wrong and their statements inconsistent with national interests.

The President said he had harshly criticized Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych for his erroneous speech at yesterday▓s meeting in Brussels.

⌠I clearly understand that his tone had been formed on the basis of political positions within the coalition and the Regions Party faction. I admitthat some politicians in this party, perhaps, have a different vision of defense and security policies of the nation,■ he said, adding that Ukraine had long ago passed a law stipulating its EU and NATO accession. ⌠Thus I would like to say again that this is the basis for pushing our foreign policies forward in this issue.■

The Head of State urged the government and political forces involved in the formulation of Ukraine▓s foreign doctrine to adheretothe country'slaws. He also reiterated that our Euro-Atlantic aspirations formed the basics of the National Unity Pact.

⌠I accepted the prime minister▓s explanationthat his position and the position of his political force was firm as far as the implementation of the fundamentals of the Law on national security and Ukraine▓s integration into the EU and NATO, including full membership,■ he said. ⌠I am deeply convinced his arguments [┘] are faulty and inconsistent with national interests, and should be revised.■

Victor Yushchenko characterized Viktor Yanukovych▓s statement on EU membership as ⌠quite consistent.■ He said Ukraine was now developing an enhanced agreement with the European Union.

Source

Communists: No Presidency in Ukraine

Kiev, Sep 17 (Prensa Latina) The Ukrainian Communist Party will propose in Parliament abolishing the post of president for being ineffective, the partyЄs press service said Sunday.

Its leader, Petro Symonenko, noted they will propose eliminating the post of president as it does not correspond to the nationЄs centuries-long democratic traditions and has hampered state development.

Symonenko added the presidential form of government has proved to be fully ineffective and even harmful in the recent period of the nationЄs modern history, stressing that a parliamentary republic was the most appropriate option for Ukraine.

While praising contributions of the political reform undertaken in the post-Soviet Ukraine, he highlighted it gave the most voted parliamentarian faction the right to form governments, define policies and control government activities.

Communists have 21 slots in the 450-seat Congress and compose the anti-crisis coalition formed in June by governing and majority Party of Regions and the Socialist Party.

Source

Ukraine Industry Sees Gas Alternative

DONETSK, Ukraine ≈ Twelve times a day, the tap at the Donetskstal factory's blast furnace No. 2 opens and out plunges a river of fiery, molten metal.

The cast iron is part of the lifeblood of Ukraine's export-oriented economy and the first sign of success in this former Soviet republic's race to wean itself of its costly dependence on Russian natural gas.

This metal is produced using no natural gas, a first not only for Ukraine but also for much of the region. The furnace uses pulverized coal as fuel, a technology that was long ago adopted in the West and Asia but was largely ignored in a part of the world where few saw the point of investing 20 million-25 euros ($25 million-$32 million) to transform gas-guzzling furnaces into more energy-efficient beasts.

But last year, in what many perceived as political punishment for Ukraine's election of a pro-Western president, Moscow cut Ukraine off from the heavily subsidized gas supplies it had enjoyed since the Soviet collapse. Ukraine suddenly saw the price it pays for natural gas nearly double, and could be facing another 40 percent increase next year.

"I would say that we managed to do this right on time," said Borys Krykunov, technology director at Donetskstal-Metallurgical Factory, which had been using the technology for years, to varying degrees, but only this year managed to complete the full transition from natural gas in production.

The factory in Donetsk, about 730 kilometers (450 miles) southeast of Kiev, is one of several in Ukraine's industrial east, a region where smokestacks and coal mines dot the skyline and a change of wind brings a pungent smell.

"Today, many factories are starting to go down this path," Krykunov said.

Ukraine is one of the most inefficient energy users in the world, using almost as much natural gas as more advanced economies such as Germany and Britain. For every dollar's worth of industrial production, Ukraine consumes about 2 1/2 times as much energy as its neighbor Poland.

Gobbling up much of that natural gas is the metallurgical sector, which drives Ukraine's economy, accounting for almost 40 percent of all Ukrainian exports. Ukraine ranks first in the world in its use of open-hearth furnaces _ a dinosaur technology that requires huge amounts of gas _ in metal production. Forty percent of Ukraine's steel is produced using that method, compared to 3 percent in other steel-producing nations.

Article Continues on Site

Source

Ukraine: International Religious Freedom Report 2006

Released by the US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
This report is submitted to the Congress by the Department of State in compliance with Section 102(b) of the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998. The law provides that the secretary of state, with the assistance of the ambassador at large for international religious freedom, shall transmit to Congress "an Annual Report on International Religious Freedom supplementing the most recent Human Rights Reports by providing additional detailed information with respect to matters involving international religious freedom."

Ukraine: The 1996 constitution and the 1991 law on freedom of conscience provide for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right in practice; however, there were isolated problems at the local level due to local officials taking sides in disputes between religious organizations. Religious groups of all beliefs flourished; however, some local officials impeded attempts by minority and nontraditional religious groups to register and to buy or lease property.

Article Continues on site, Really Long

Source