UKRAINE GETS FIRST MAJOR JAPANESE INVESTMENT.

Japan’s Mitsui Corporation and associates have signed an agreement to modernize Ukraine’s Kremenchug oil-processing plant at a cost of 20 billion yen (about $180 million). The project, credited by the Japanese state, represents the largest Japanese investment in Ukraine to date. (Western agencies, October 31. See Monitor, October 31, on a surge of Japanese investment in Central Asia)

Georgia Returns German Cultural Valuables.