Ukraine delays Tymoshenko tax invasion trial
The court in the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine on Monday put off until July 31 the hearings in embezzlement and tax evasion case due to Jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s poor health, local media reported Monday.
“The court has ruled it impossible to hear the case in Tymoshenko’s absence,” Judge Kostyantyn Sadovsky was quoted by Interfax-Ukraine news-agency as saying.
Tymoshenko, who is obtaining treatment in Kharkiv hospital, was unable to appear in the court due to severe back pains, Sadovsky said.
According to state prosecutors, Tymoshenko has squandered an estimated 405 million U.S. dollars and evaded tax worth more than 87,000 dollars in the 1990s, when she was the president of United Energy Systems of Ukraine.
Tymoshenko, who is serving a seven-year jail term, was sentenced last October on a separate abuse-of-office charge.
The Kharkiv court and the Ukrainian Supreme Court, which is engaged in abuse-of-office charge, have postponed both trials several times due to Tymoshenko’ s inability to attend hearings.
OPEC oil prices rebound above 100 U.S. dollar mark
Weekly average oil prices of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) increased for the third consecutive week to 102.07 U.S. dollars per barrel last week, the Vienna-based cartel said Monday.
This is the first time since early June for the OPEC oil prices to rebound above the 100 U.S. dollar mark.
Analysts believe the recent uptick in prices were mainly due to concerns caused by geopolitical factors in Iran and Syria.
Given the weak economic situation in the U.S. and Europe, in addition to a feared slowdown in China’s economic growth, there seemed to be little else behind the rise in crude oil prices.
Figures released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration last week showed crude oil consumption rose y 0.3 percent, while reserves fell by 809,000 barrels.
However, other economic figures in the U.S., including the number of new industrial orders, initial claims for unemployment, consumer confidence index, and construction permits remained dismal.
A relatively strong U.S. dollar against the euro also helped suppress international oil prices.
Oil prices are expected to rise slightly, if at all, in the future, with geopolitical issues and the global economic situation continuing to affect supply and demand.
Students and Professors in Chile Call for New Demonstrations
The student movement and the teachers union in Chile have called for a new calendar of demonstrations in defense of a system of free public education.
As a central proposal of the National Assembly of Teachers College this weekend a call for a national strike emerged for August 28, focused on the need for a universal teaching career to be a contribution to the quality of education.
However, the first action for mobilization by teachers will be held on Friday August 10 with a mass delivery to national and regional authorities of a document containing proposals agreed to by 700 schools.
Then the union will join a demonstration on Tuesday Aug. 14, designed by the so-called nurseries here in opposition to a government decree amending the working conditions of the sector.
Likewise, the Confederation of Students of Chile (CONFECH) stated that they are planning activities in universities on August 4 in honor of Manuel Gutierrez, the teenager who was shot dead by a policeman during a demonstration last year.
CONFECH also announced that it is bringing together about thirty university student federations, that will also join the national mobilization of August 8 organized by the secondary students against profit in education.
The CONFECH strongly criticized the refusal of the House of Representatives of a report of evidence of profit in education, in parliament session last Friday.