Here are some news stories that I am reading now.

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BIRD FLU

H5N1 - Avian Influenza in Ukraine for the Third Time in June in Sumy. In December 2005 it showed up in Kherson.

And now it is the Crimea. Really bad news for the chicken farmers. Russia has banned all imports of Ukrainian chicken. Domestic chicken consumption is way down.


Kazakhstan and EU banned poultry imports from Ukraine as the infection expands

Ukraine: sales of chickens and eggs banned in 7 areas of Kherson Oblast

Ukriane has started serial manufacture of bird flu vaccine

EU beef consumption is increasing in 2006, mainly because of higher veal consumption in Italy and France, as a replacement for chicken because of consumer scare for Avian Influenza (AI)

From: EU Livestock Update: Cattle Slaughter & Swine Numbers Up

"When the domestic market in a country like that [Ukraine] is down sharply [because of confirmed cases of bird flu], you can't sell the local fresh product [and] it is very difficult to sell the imported frozen product -- consumers just shy away," he said

From: Bird flu fails to hit U.S. appetite

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JEWISH

A UK Couple Helps Ukrainian Orphans is an old news story from June 2005, but somehow I missed it. There is a private Jewish orphanage in Odessa called Tikva Children’s Home. It sounds like an Intranat. Any British citizen who is interested in helping out, it sounds like Sydney & Rose Faber have a charity for this orphanage. You can call or email them at 020 8209 0656 or sydney@sfaber.com

Vandals Strike Jewish Orphanage, Home of Its Director. It is located in Zhitomir.

And here is an old article. I find it interesting for historical reasons. An elderly Jewish person in Ukraine had to survive so much.

Jewish Welfare Needs

The age structure and history of Ukrainian Jewry is testament to the enormous need for welfare services for the disproportionately large sector of the Jewish population that is elderly.

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Contemporary Jewish octogenarians in Ukraine have lived through revolution, civil war, Stalinism (collectivization and state-induced famine, forced closure of small businesses, political terror), distortion and suppression of Jewish life, Nazi occupation of the entire country accompanied by the slaughter of 1.85 million local Jews, accusations of economic crimes in the 1960s, the emigration of younger and more vital family members beginning in the late 1970s, state-sponsored antisemitism throughout the 70-year Soviet era, and post-Soviet economic upheaval. Most elderly Jews live alone, their families destroyed during World War II and the Katastrofa or separated by emigration. Many reside in poorly maintained urban apartment buildings, some without elevator service, or in village bungalows, often without indoor plumbing or central heating.

From: JEWISH LIFE IN UKRAINE AT THE DAWN OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY: PART TWO