EVENT

Vitali Klitschko wins again

Ukrainian WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (39-3, 37 KOs), who won a 12-round unanimous decision against previously unbeaten WBC No. 6 world-ranked American challenger Kevin Johnson (22-1, 9 KOs), spoke highly of Johnson’s professional level. UNIAN quotes him as saying: “He is an unusual boxer. Ho moves very well and is a hard target to hit. I’m a bit disappointed because I wanted to finish the bout with a knockout, but I’m also glad I won all the twelve rounds.” Klitschko, Sr. once again confirmed his readiness to fight the British David Haye who recently defeated the Russian WAB heavyweight champion Nikolai Valuev. “I’m ready and I’ll be glad to fight him next year,” said Vitali Klitschko.

Four Ukrainian cities confirmed as co-hosts of Euro 2012

Kyiv, Donetsk, Lviv, and Kharkiv have ultimately won the right to host 2012 European soccer championship matches. The final game will be held in the capital of Ukraine. Announcing this decision of the UEFA Executive Committee last Friday, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko of Ukraine said she hoped that after this decision President Viktor Yushchenko would revoke his veto on funding Euro 2012. “I strongly believe that after this victory of Ukraine the president will revoke his veto on the Euro 2012 funding law. What we should do now is pave all the ways for Ukraine to get ready for Euro 2012 rather than organize a financial famine,” she said. The premier also emphasized that the championship funding law does provide for a resource that has nothing to do with emission. “It is just a political mess thatdiscredited a very good and high-quality law which is supposed to ensure funding 2012 at the expense of National Bank revenues which, under the Law on the National Bank, are, at the same time, budgetary revenues. And taking into account the large-scale refunding of commercial banks, the National Bank has earned this kind of profit worth far more than 15 billion hryvnias,” Tymoshenko said in conclusion.

“St. Nicholas will not forget about you”

For the first time in its history, the pan-Ukrainian charity project “Nicholas will not forget about you,” which was founded nine years ago by the Lviv Academy of Ukrainian Youth, will take place in Donetsk. Since 2001 the geography of project has extended on an annual basis. In the previous years the initiative spread to the Crimea, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, and Luhansk. This year needy children from Donetsk will also receive gifts from Nicholas.

One of the objectives of the event is to offer an opportunity to all those willing to become a philanthropist, thus drawing public attention to the importance of charitable activities. In Donetsk, preparation and managing the event involves the public youth organization Poshtovkh, the all-Ukrainian volunteer project “Do good, Ukraine!” and the Active Youth Block and the Regional Initiative Foundation.

The organizers began collecting gifts in early December. The Donetsk event will consist of three projects. The first one will be greeting children from poor and large families. As the coordinator of the initiative group for Donetsk, Valerii Dubov plans to cover about 300 low-income families with children aged 4 to 15, the list of which will be provided by the Office for Youth and Family of the Donetsk City Council. This will involve over a hundred volunteers. Gift packages will contain sweets, a soft toy, a book, a children’s magazine, and a set of stationery.

The second and third projects will deal with children from orphanages. “Bring Holidays to Kids!” is the name of an initiative to be held on December 19. It will include a concert by a group of volunteers in three orphanages in Donetsk. In addition to gifts, the guests will show to the children a festive presentation and chat with them about St. Nicholas and compassion. The third project is called “A Stroll with St. Nicholas,” and it provides an opportunity for orphans to visit the cinema, ice rink, and other entertainment facilities.