American economist Arthur Laffer has been appointed as an adviser to Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko, according to a statement on the ministry's website.
Laffer will advise Jaresko on tax reform in Ukraine.
"This will allow for creation of a transparent, efficient tax system that will encourage investment, economic growth, and creation of jobs," the statement says.
Laffer is a Yale graduate and also received a PhD from Stanford University. He was an adviser to U.S. President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
He is an author of the Laffer Curve, an economic term for a possible representation of the relationship between rates of taxation and hypothetical government revenue.
Ukrainian Natalia Buksa won the Youth World Chess Championship held in Russia.
Buksa won eight matches, had four ties and lost one match. All in all, the 19-year old champion gained 10 points out of 13 possible. Buksa got ahead of Russian Alina Bivol, who came second, trailing by just half a point.
Here's a Savchenko update from our news desk:
A Russian court on September 15 ruled that Ukrainian helicopter pilot Nadia Savchenko must stay in a Russian jail for at least another six months as her trial continues.
Savchenko, already in pre-trial detention since June 2014, faces up to 25 years in prison for what Russian authorities allege was participation in the 2014 killing of two Russian war correspondents in eastern Ukraine.
Savchenko, who denies the charges, says she was captured by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine who illegally transferred across the border into Russia.
She has spent more than 80 days on hunger strike to protest her detention.
Savchenko appeared in court on September 15 in the town of Donetsk, in Russia's southern Rostov Oblast, near the border with eastern Ukraine for a second preliminary hearing after her lawyers' request for the trial to be moved to Moscow was denied.
The court on September 15 rejected calls to release Savchenko during the trial on the basis of her diplomatic immunity as a Ukrainian delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
(AFP, rapsinews.ru, Interfax)
Twenty-five Kyiv police officers have been fired or quit their job since July 24, the official launch of the newly reformed police force, the Ukrainian Interior Minister said during his visit today to Kherson.
“You have to understand that it looks very prestigious -- new uniforms and cars, but in reality it’s hard every day work,” he said.
At the same time, Ukrainian media earlier reported that 82 percent of Kyiv citizens trust the new police force and 69 percent expect that safety levels in the city will increase thanks to it.
The Ukrainian parliament has approved a draft law, which states that “temporary Russian occupation of Crimea” began on February 20, 2014.
Earlier, Ukrainian law recognized March 27, 2014, as the date of annexation, because a special UN resolution was signed on that day.
“This creates legal uncertainty and is politically wrong. The erroneous date of the beginning of temporary occupation has negative consequences for us. Factual seizing of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea’s parliament happened on February 26, and Russian armed forces violated the border crossing on February 20,” explained Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin.