Henley & Partners has released the results of the Passport Index for the third quarter of 2022.
Japan ranks first in the Index for the number of visa-free (or visa-on-arrival) destinations open to that country’s passport holders, with 193. Singapore and South Korea came in second with 192 visa-free destinations.
Member states of the European Union dominate the top ten of the rankings — Germany and Spain are joint 3rd with access to 190 visa-free destinations.
The Ukrainian passport has moved from 34th to 35th place in the Henley Passport Index due to changes in the positions of other countries.
Russian passport holders are in 50th place in the ranking with visa-free access to 119 countries of the world
<<< July 21, 2022 Feed >>>
The survey, conducted between July 8 and 15 of nearly 300 investors with $800 billion in assets under management, showed a “appalling level of investor pessimism,” surpassing that of the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2008 global financial crisis.
Investors increased free margin to more than 6%, the highest since October 2001, while equity positions fell to levels last seen since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.
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Norwegian chess player Magnus Carlsen refused to participate in the match for the world chess crown with Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi.
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The court terminated the criminal case of Yuri Khovansky due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, according to the head of the «Agora» Pavel Chikov.
Khovansky has been on trial since 2021 under an article justifying terrorism for a song about Nord-Ost, performed, according to investigators, in 2012. He spent 7 months in a pre-trial detention center, and was later released home with a ban on certain actions. In July, his article was softened.
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River transport of goods in Germany has been halved due to abnormal heat that has led to the fact that the water level in the rivers has dropped, so barges are only allowed to load half, according to the n-tv portal.
At the same time, the demand for river transport is only growing: ships carry coal, the demand for which has increased due to the fact that Germany, amid the energy crisis, is increasingly switching to coal-fired power plants.
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The European Union approved the seventh package of sanctions against the Russian Federation. It, as expected, included a ban on the import of Russian gold. This was announced on Twitter by the Permanent Representative of Lithuania to the EU Arnoldas Pranckevičius.
In addition, the new measures will affect export controls and the assets of Sberbank, which are going to be frozen. In addition, the sanctions list will include more than 50 citizens and companies, including politicians, military, businessmen and propaganda participants.
The procedure for approving new sanctions will be completed on Thursday morning. They will enter into force on the same day following their publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
The previous EU sanctions package was announced in early June
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The number of innovative companies in Russia over four years — from 2018 to 2021 (inclusive) — fell by 22% — from 18.8 thousand to 14.6 thousand. The demand for innovations comes mainly from raw materials companies: every second of them cooperates with design and engineering organizations, every third — with scientific institutions.
A survey conducted by the Higher School of Economics showed that 39% of companies complain that the difficulty of hiring competent personnel hinders the use of new technologies, and 25% say that the technological level of their organization is so low that there is simply nowhere to introduce hi-tech.
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More than 30% of Ukrainians have lost their jobs, said Tymofiy Mylovanov, president of the Kyiv School of Economics, during a briefing. He also noted that while there are no exact figures on the percentage of GDP decline. Only at the end of the year, the State Statistics Service, perhaps, will provide some data.
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The Simonovsky Court of Moscow found Novye Vremya LLC, the founder of The New Times magazine, and its editor-in-chief Yevgenia Albats guilty of disseminating «fake» information.
The court imposed a fine on the founder — twice 300 thousand rubles each (with a maximum fine of half a million rubles). Yevgenia Albats was fined 70 thousand rubles (with the upper limit of 200 thousand rubles).
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Russian grandmaster Sergey Karyakin changed his mind about creating an alternative FIDE chess federation. According to the athlete, who was disqualified by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) from competitions for six months, he failed to establish a sports organization on his own. He also said that he announced plans to create «in a fit of resentment» after the suspension
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Mining power consumption has grown by 63% in a year. The share of renewable energy used to mine bitcoin was 59.5%, up 6% from a year earlier. Network efficiency increased by 46% compared to last year’s data, network hashrate (Bitcoin mining difficulty) increased by 137% over the year. In total, mining accounts for 0.086% of total carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. Bitcoin mining consumes 0.15% of the world’s electricity.
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As Kommersant found out, the Ministry of Agriculture offered large Russian agricultural companies to finance 20% of the cost of import substitution of the production software they need. At the same time, the developer companies will remain the copyright holders of the solutions.
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The Russian government ordered to allocate more than 6.9 billion rubles to the Ministry of Industry and Trade in 2022. for the restoration of at least seven aircraft in 2022-2023. The subsidies will be provided in the form of a property contribution to the state corporation Rostec, followed by a contribution to the capital of the United Aircraft Corporation.
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Gazprom has resumed gas supplies to Germany via the Nord Stream, which has been stopped for repairs since July 11. So far, the pipeline is operating at about 30% capacity, the head of the German Federal Network Agency said.
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Net profit of Tesla Inc. in April-June 2022 increased to $2.3 billion compared to $1.1 billion in the same period of the previous year. Earnings per share rose to $1.95 from $1.02.
Earnings before one-off factors was $2.27 per share, beating the median forecast of analysts polled by FactSet of $1.81 per share.
Tesla’s quarterly revenue rose to $16.9 billion from $12 billion a year earlier, with a consensus forecast of $16.5 billion.
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The U.S. Justice Department will ask Congress for permission to prosecute networks that circumvent anti-Russian sanctions as criminal organizations, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said at the Aspen Security Forum.
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Norway checks the goods that go, including to the Russian village of Barentsburg, for the presence of sanctioned goods, Andrei Chemerilo, Russia’s Consul General in the Svalbard archipelago, told RIA Novosti.
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Jewelry manufacturer and seller Sokolov in the first half of 2022 increased revenue by 26% year on year, to 13.3 billion rubles.
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The Bank of Japan left unchanged the main parameters of monetary policy following a two-day meeting that ended on Thursday.
The short-term interest rate on deposits of commercial banks with the Central Bank was left at minus 0.1% per annum, the target yield on ten-year government bonds is near zero, the regulator said in a statement.
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In June 2022, the volume of Japanese exports in June increased by 19.4% year-on-year, to a maximum of 7.224 trillion yen ($52.3 billion) since November 2021, the country’s Ministry of Finance said.
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Participants in the microfinance market are seeing a significant decrease in the amount of repayment of loans. In July, it reached 6.7 thousand rubles, the minimum value since the spring of 2020.
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The Finnish manufacturer of equipment for energy and shipbuilding Wartsila has completed its work on the Russian market. The company said in a statement that part of the Russian divisions was sold to local management, and the remaining share of the business was withdrawn from the Russian Federation.
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Tesla sold 75% of its Bitcoins. This is stated in the company’s report. At the same time, Tesla replenished its balance sheet with $963 million in cash. Previously, she was the second largest public owner of bitcoin.
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Authorities in the Chinese province of Henan took to the streets at night tanks to protect the local branch of the bank, which does not pay money to depositors. In April, residents of Henan and Anhui provinces were denied access to accounts. Residents staged massive protests demanding access to their savings.
$6 billion in bank deposit holders at Yuzhou Xinminsheng Village Bank, Shangcai Huimin County Bank, Zhecheng Huanghuai Community Bank and New Oriental Country Bank of Kaifeng in Henan Province and Guzhen Xinhuaihe Village Bank in neighboring Anhui Province were affected.
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Data centers in the UK can’t handle the record 40.3°C heatwave. Some Oracle equipment had to be shut down due to «off-season temperatures» and because some of the cooling infrastructure failed.
Google Cloud also said that a number of its products are «experiencing increased levels of errors, delays or unavailability of services» due to the heat. Representatives of the company noted that they are making every effort to turn the cooling back on.
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In Malawi, protests began against rising prices. Inflation in the country exceeds 23%. Police arrested dozens of protesters and fired tear gas.
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H&M will not hold a sale in Russia. Stores will open in August, goods will be sold at full price
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The UK will impose sanctions on the import of coal and oil from Russia, according to a notice to exporters distributed by the Kingdom’s Foreign Trade Ministry. The ban on oil imports from Russia will come into force on December 31, coal on August 10. In addition, today, July 21, a ban on the import of gold from Russia will come into force.
In 2021, the UK imported $267 million worth of Russian coal and coal products, $1.4 billion worth of crude oil, $3 billion worth of oil products, and $15 billion worth of gold. If a full embargo is imposed on these goods, it will affect 80% of all British imports from Russia, which amounted to $24.9 billion in 2021.
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Finnish ship navigation developer Wartsila has sold the Transas Navigator and Vartsila Vostok divisions to Russian management, and the office responsible for software development has been closed. Due to the termination of activities in Russia, the company wrote off €200 million
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The Swedish-Swiss company ABB, which specializes in the production of electrical and robotics, will leave the Russian market, according to a statement on the company’s website.
Most of the employees of the Russian division of ABB have been on vacation since March. The company promised to «do everything possible» to «support» them. About 750 people worked for ABB in Russia.
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The Moscow Ministry of Justice asks to liquidate the Russian representative office of the Jewish Agency in Russia, the process will begin on July 28.
The Agency «Sokhnut» was founded in 1929, it contributed to the repatriation of Jews to Palestinian lands, and after Israel gained independence — to the Israeli state.
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Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu presented the Gold Star medal to Yan Novikov, head of the Almaz-Antey Aerospace Defense Concern, for the creation of modern weapons, military and special equipment.
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U.S. holding company United Airlines Holdings Inc., the parent company of air carrier United Airlines, posted a net income of $329 million, or $1 per share, in the second quarter of 2022, compared to a net loss of $434 million, or $1.34 per share, for the same period last year.
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Finnish telecommunications equipment maker Nokia Corp increased its net profit in the second quarter of 2022 by 31%, revenue — by 11%, according to a press release from the company.
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