Photo by Ukrinform
Shehyni-Medyka crossing to close for a month
From September 25 to October 22, pedestrian traffic through the Shehyni–Medyka checkpoint in Lviv region will be suspended. Polish border guards say they need to carry out urgent modernization work at the crossing. Vehicle traffic will not be interrupted during this time. About 10,000 citizens pass through Shehyni daily.
Russians denied entry to Green Card lottery
The U.S. State Department has published the rules for the DV-2008 American visa lottery. This year, citizens of all post-Soviet states except Russians can participate in the lottery, which grants the right to permanent residence and work in the United States. American authorities explain this by the uneven distribution of migrants by ethnicity.
As we have already reported, registration for the lottery will take place from October 4 to December 3 exclusively via the Internet. Those wishing to participate in the program must register on a special website, and the registration form must include photographs of applicants.
Natives of some countries are not eligible to apply because more than 50,000 immigrants from those countries have come to the United States in the previous five years. Excluded from the 2008 lottery are Russia, Brazil, Great Britain, Vietnam, Haiti, Dominican Republic, India, Canada, China, Colombia, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, El Salvador, Philippines, South Korea, and Jamaica.
A lottery participant must be a native of a country eligible to participate. They must have a secondary school education or its equivalent, meaning successful completion of a 12-year course of primary and secondary education, or two years of work experience within the last five years in an occupation requiring at least two years of training or experience. Selected applicants will be notified by mail between May and July 2007 and will receive further instructions, including information on fees associated with immigration to the United States.
Full instructions for those wishing to participate in DV-2008 will be published in the next issue of "Zagranitsa".
Poland compensates for outflow of workers with prisoners
Polish prisoners can now work outside prisons, reports The Telegraph. The Polish government made this decision to fill a labor shortage caused by mass migration of Poles to Western European countries, particularly the United Kingdom.
Prison labor will be used to support sectors of the economy most affected by mass migration, such as construction, plumbing and underground utilities, and the electrical industry. In addition, prisoners are planned to be employed in the food service sector. They will also work as junior medical staff in hospitals and serve some social infrastructure facilities, such as nursing homes.
In any case, as the Polish government emphasizes, it is primarily about "menial work" that no one free is willing to take. For their work, inmates will receive a wage of $0.5 per hour. The money will go to the account of the penitentiary institutions, which will give part of the salary as pocket money, and the inmate will receive the main amount when released.
According to The Telegraph, since Poland joined the EU in 2004, more than 1.12 million people have left the country, most of whom went to work in the United Kingdom.
Baltic residents consider themselves well-off
Residents of the Baltic states assess their financial situation as good. Most of them do not have problems with cash after covering the most essential expenses.
This is stated in a consumer sentiment study conducted by ACNielsen. Although, as is known, in terms of GDP per capita, the Baltic states are not the richest countries in the world, and in the EU they are considered almost the poorest. This study, however, indicates the opposite.
Among countries where citizens have no leftover money after buying everything necessary, Portugal leads with 23% of such consumers. The United States is in second place worldwide with 22%. They are followed by the Netherlands (17%), the United Kingdom (17%), Canada (16%), and France (16%). In the Baltic states, only 12% of consumers complain about such a lack of funds, and in Russia even fewer - 5%, while the global average was 13%. Ukraine was not included in the ACNielsen study.
As for consumer preferences for "leftover" money, for example, 71% of Russians spend extra money on buying clothes, 54% on out-of-home entertainment, and 42% on technological novelties. When answering this question, each respondent could choose several preferred directions for spending extra money. The ACNielsen study was based on a survey of more than 20,000 consumers from 40 countries.
Spanish Catholics forced to pay taxes
The Council of Ministers of Spain approved a new model for financing the Catholic Church. According to the text of the adopted document, the Spanish Catholic Church loses annual state subsidies of €50 million.
From 2007, in addition to the abolition of state subsidies, the Catholic Church will face other innovations. The church will have to pay VAT (from 7 to 16%) on purchased real estate, and also provide the state with an annual report on expenses. To compensate for the inevitable decline in church income, Spanish citizens are given the opportunity to voluntarily give 0.7% of their taxes to the church. The previously established maximum for tax deductions in favor of the church was 0.52% of taxes.
It is worth noting that almost two-thirds of the Spanish Catholic Church's budget revenues come from voluntary donations. Of the €150 million the church spends annually, only €50 million came from the state budget.
China, preparing for the Olympics, begins fight against smoking
The Olympics in Beijing will be held under the slogan 'No smoking'. China, home to a third of the world's smokers, has decided to start fighting this bad habit. The country's prime minister explained that the smoking ban is at the top of the list of preparations for the Olympics.
The concept of a 'smoke-free Olympics' was first implemented during the games in Barcelona. To start, smoking will be banned in hospitals, public transport, and buildings where children are present. According to a recently released report from the country's Ministry of Health, 55% of passive smokers are women and children. One million people die annually from cigarette use here, and by 2050 this number is projected to grow to 3 million.