Weekend Papers Summary
NEW YORK TIMES
-President Biden met with Poland’s president as he wrapped up a visit to Europe intended to bolster unity over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His trip came even as there were indications that Moscow might be scaling back its military ambitions.
-A Russian general’s statement suggested that Moscow was moving away from its goal of taking Kyiv. At least three explosions were heard in central Lviv.
-President Biden told the Polish president that the U.S.’s commitment to NATO is “a sacred obligation.” He will speak later in Warsaw. After meeting with Ukraine refugees, Biden calls Putin ‘a butcher.’
-Vladimir Putin didn’t mention Ukraine in a speech on Friday. Instead, he discussed a personal obsession: “cancel culture.”
-A Minnesota man is released after being held by Russian troops for 10 days.
-Democrats have urged Justice Thomas to recuse himself in Capitol Riot cases. His wife Virginia Thomas’s texts, pressing the Trump White House to overturn the 2020 election, raise questions about her husband’s role in related cases.
-This week’s Senate hearings underscored the fragility of a bipartisan alliance that seeks to reduce the impact of America’s vast prison complex.
-Officials decided another vaccine shot might save thousands of lives if a new Covid wave hits before the fall. The FDA could authorize the boosters next week.
-Mayor Eric Adams is facing a backlash over a vaccine exemption for athletes in New York City.
-A few years ago, Hollywood argued over whether movies on streaming services even counted as films. Now, one is poised to win the Oscars’ top prize.
-Retirement investments that are fine in tax-sheltered accounts can generate big headaches without that protection. Vanguard’s target date funds are a case in point.
-The war in Ukraine has driven up prices across the Middle East and North Africa ahead of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month characterized by of daytime fasting and nighttime feasting.
THE FINANCIAL TIMES
-Ukrainian President The war in Ukraine has driven up prices across the Middle East and North Africa ahead of the Muslim holy month of daytime fasting and nighttime feasting.
-Russia said it was refocusing its month-long military offensive in Ukraine on the country’s eastern Donbas region, in comments that suggested Moscow could scale back attacks in other parts of the country.
-When Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene appeared on conservative radio show Voice of Rural America this week, she launched a full-throated defense of Vladimir Putin and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “You see, Ukraine just kept poking the bear, and poking the bear, which is Russia, and Russia invaded,” the Georgia congresswoman said. “There is no win for Ukraine here. Russia is being successful in their invasion.”
-“The Russian invasion of Ukraine has put an end to the globalisation we have experienced over the last three decades,” Larry Fink, chief executive of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, wrote in his annual letter to shareholders this week. “A large-scale reorientation of supply chains will inherently be inflationary,” he added.
-Associates of the imprisoned Russian anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny are publicly promoting the case that a mystery superyacht held by Italian authorities in Massa Carrara is probably Putin’s. In a video this week, activists from Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation alleged that most of the Scheherazade crew were Russian and that several were employed by the country’s Federal Protection Service, which is responsible for Putin’s security.
-The Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal spoke to Nestlé chief executive Mark Schneider last week, and then took to Twitter.
“Talked to Nestlé CEO Mr Mark Schneider about the side effect[s] of staying in Russian market,” Denys Shmyhal tweeted. “Unfortunately, he shows no understanding. Paying taxes to the budget of a terrorist country means killing defenseless children [and] mothers. Hope that Nestlé will change its mind soon.”
-The contrast between the Red Army’s victorious campaign across Ukraine in 1943 and President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of 2022 could not be starker. Harking back to the Soviet Union’s triumphs during WW2, the Russian president has played up the fraternal ties between the two Slavic peoples and the historic symmetry of a Russian army “liberating” the Ukrainian people from the supposed grip of neo-Nazis.
- As Moscow continues its bombardment of Ukraine, dividing friends and family on either side of the border, tensions are fraying in the traditionally close-knit post-Soviet émigré communities beyond Russia.
- Chinese property developers’ issuance of dollar debt has come to a near standstill as the escalating Evergrande crisis severs other real estate companies’ access to global capital markets.
-The US is finalizing a plan to supply the EU with up to 15B additional m3 of LNG by the end of 2022.
The agreement aims to help the EU reduce its dependence on natural gas from Russia, with the bloc racing to curb Russian imports by two-thirds this year. LNG deliveries from the US would go towards a goal, set by the EU this month, of replacing 50B m3 of gas currently supplied by Russia with alternative supplies. In 2021, the US supplied Europe with 22B m3 according to EU data.
THE NEW YORK POST
-Vladimir Putin is “a butcher,” President Biden said Saturday, after he made an emotional trip to visit Ukrainian refugees at Warsaw’s PGE Narodowy Stadium. “He’s a butcher,” Biden told a reporter who asked what he thought of Putin after speaking with just a few of the 3.7M Ukrainians who have fled the Russian invasion.
-If the GOP retakes control of Congress, Hunter Biden will be hauled before the House of Representatives and forced to reveal the identity of “the big guy” and address other unanswered questions about the contents of his infamous laptop, Republicans said. “We will subpoena Hunter Biden,” said House GOP conference chair Elise Stefanik bluntly in an interview with The Post.
-The Amazon-MGM merger gained approval from the Federal Trade Commission without fanfare or a fight last week — and antitrust advocates are blaming New York Sen. Chuck Schumer.
Barron’s Weekend Summary: As the critical acclaim builds, the business of streaming is facing tough questions. With the exception of Netflix, no one is making money in streaming today
Cover Story:
-Streaming giant Netflix is nominated for 27 Oscars, more than any other studio, while AppleTV+ has six nominations and Amazon Studios has four. Numerous other nods came for films that made their debut simultaneously in theaters and streaming platforms from Walt Disney and Warner Bros. As the critical acclaim builds, the business of streaming is facing tough questions. With the exception of Netflix, no one is making money in streaming today. Instead, the industry remains in a land-grab phase, with companies throwing tens of billions of dollars into original series and movies, marketing, and promotions in an effort to win subscribers.
Tech Trader:
To understand why the White House is so anxious about the Russian cyber threat, it’s important to revisit a 2017 hacking incident that never got enough attention. NotPetya, as it was known, was malware used by Russian military hackers to attack Ukraine, but its impact went far beyond the intended target. The malware was uploaded as an update to commonly used Ukrainian tax-preparation software and spread rapidly from there. The U.S. estimated damages of some $10 billion to multinational companies. In 2019, FedEx CEO Fred Smith called NotPetya “the largest single attack by a state-sponsored entity in the history of the world.” And it could happen again.
The Trader:
Tesla has been on an absolute tear, rising for eight consecutive days, its longest winning streak since January 2021. The stock gained 32% over that span, putting it over $1,000 and its market cap above $1T for the first time since January 2022. The streak ended Friday, when Tesla fell 0.3%, closing the week at $1,010.64.
It was an epic run, but one that’s not easy to explain. Such moves don’t tend to happen in other ultra-large-cap stocks. The largest eight-day gain in either Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet, or Amazon since the start of 2021 was a 19% gain in Amazon stock, which also happened this month.
-With government bonds on pace for their worst year since 1949, investors are looking for other places to put their money—and they may have settled on stocks. In recent weeks, stock and bond prices have stopped moving in the same direction, as they had been early in 2022. Instead, when bond prices have gained, as they did after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, stock prices fell, observes Capital Economics market economist Thomas Mathews. Now that investors appear to have accepted a long, drawn-out conflict—but one that won’t have as much of an economic impact as feared—bond prices are dropping and stocks are rallying.
-Rising rates are typically good for banks. They often mean banks can charge more for loans and earn a higher net-interest margin, the difference between the rates at which they borrow and lend. As interest rates rise, that means bank earnings should get a boost. The Federal Reserve typically starts a hiking cycle when there’s still a lot of runway for economic growth, so investors usually don’t need to worry about an imminent recession, which would make new loans riskier and default rates on old loans rise.
-Rising rates are typically good for banks. They often mean banks can charge more for loans and earn a higher net-interest margin, the difference between the rates at which they borrow and lend. As interest rates rise, that means bank earnings should get a boost. The Federal Reserve typically starts a hiking cycle when there’s still a lot of runway for economic growth, so investors usually don’t need to worry about an imminent recession, which would make new loans riskier and default rates on old loans rise.
Features:
-AT&T is in the process of spinning off its WarnerMedia business in a combination with Discovery Inc., which executives have said would allow AT&T to refocus attention on core telecommunications efforts. The company expects the deal to close in April, and executives declared plans for a stock dividend to its investors for April 5 at the close of business. AT&T explained in a Friday release that those who own AT&T shares as of the end of trading April 5 will be able to receive shares of WarnerMedia SpinCo representing 100% of AT&T’s interest in the business.
-Despite the recent surge in bond yields, some alternative investments provide much better yields with varying degrees of safety. They include Treasury savings bonds, multi-year guaranteed annuities from insurers, and—for investors willing to take on more risk—interval funds that invest in credit instruments. The bonds serve to balance the stocks in your portfolio. Treasury Series I Savings Bonds. For the truly risk-averse, these bonds are government-guaranteed and as safe as they come. They currently pay 7.12% because their rates are tied to inflation.
-Even though the Internal Revenue Service is auditing fewer taxpayers these days, you still don’t want to put a target on your back. Among those more likely to get audited: Small-business owners with lots of cash; landlords who persistently claim losses on rental properties; wealthy people who try complex tax maneuvers; and working-class taxpayers who claim the earned-income tax credit.
European Trader:
-Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused commodities prices to leap more than 40%, with nickel’s rise exceeding as much as 100% in recent weeks. Anglo derives the bulk of its earnings from platinum group metals, or PGMs, which accounted for 34% of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or Ebitda, in 2021, followed by iron ore, copper, diamonds, and nickel. Anglo has no operations or offices in Russia or Ukraine. Anglo shares have risen 31% in 2022, surpassing Rio Tinto but trailing Vale. Christopher LaFemina, an analyst at Jefferies, says Anglo’s stock could rise 16.1%, to £43, partly because commodities are likely to outperform even through a period of potential stagflation.
Emerging Markets:
There was some good news. Southeast Asia, a dynamic growth belt that sprawls from Malaysia to the Philippines, is ditching pandemic restrictions at last, promising an economic rebound for 650 million or so citizens. Australian tourists returned to the Indonesian paradise of Bali, Vietnam dropped quarantine for foreign visitors, and Singapore greenlighted large gatherings—among other developments from the past few weeks. “Except for China, the whole region is just living with Covid,” says Rahul Chadha, chief investment officer for Asia at Mirae Asset Global Investments.
-The U.S. Treasury sanctioned Sberbank chief executive Herman Gref, adding him to a long list of Russian oligarchs placed in the penalty box after the invasion of Ukraine.
The 58-year-old head of Russia’s biggest financial institution had been one of the few prominent business leaders in the country to remain unsanctioned.
Commodities:
Fertilizer is derived from potash, phosphate, and natural gas. Russia and Belarus produce more than a third of global potash, and dominate in natural gas. Belarus’ potash exports were strangled by prewar Western sanctions; Russia cut its own off on March 4. Potash fertilizer prices have soared by three-quarters in 2022. Prices of urea, one of two main nitrogen fertilizers distilled from gas, have risen 60% in a month. Shares of Saskatoon, Canada’s Nutrien , the Western Hemisphere’s top fertilizer maker, have climbed 37%. The Energy Select Sector SPDR exchange-traded fund, a proxy for Big Oil, is up only 13%. Nutrien has two major competitors on the North American continent: Mosaic and CF Industries Holdings
Streetwise:
US oil refiners are once again making good money, but investors aren’t quite piling into the shares. The profit boom could last through the end of the decade, helped by a price mishap that won’t be easy to fix: the giant premium Europe must pay for natural gas. Two key things to know about natural gas are that it plays a bigger role in the production of gasoline and other fuels than many investors realize, and it’s a colossal pain to transport.
In a Less-Globalized World, Be Careful Where You Park Your Plane
Western firms will likely lose almost all of the $10 billion worth of planes they own in Russia
There may be no better illustration of globalization’s retreat than investors getting burned for owing planes in the wrong place.
This week, Moscow claimed that almost 800 commercial aircraft have already been re-registered from Bermuda and Ireland into its own aeronautical records—implying it has appropriated them—in response to the European Union requiring lessors to terminate contracts with Russian airlines by March 28. Western lessors have repatriated only 78 of their jets in Russia, officials said. Roughly 480—worth around $10 billion—are stuck there, according to research firm Ishka.
Ireland’s AerCap has the most jets in Russia, 145 in service, analytics company IBA said. In relative terms, though, U.S.-based Fortress Transportation and Infrastructure Investors tops the list with 23% of its portfolio affected by the war. The stocks are down 17% and 16%, respectively, this year. Investors also own 67 Russian planes through asset-backed securities managed by the likes of Carlyle and Castlelake. Senior notes in some Russian-heavy ABS have traded as low as 70 cents in the dollar, Ishka analysts said.
Aircraft owners are often insured against physical damage, wars and confiscations. Fitch Ratings said Monday that insurers—most of them belonging to Lloyd’s of London—could foot almost all of the bill, with 30% to 40% covered in turn by reinsurers. It expects the impact to be manageable.
So why aren’t investors buying the dip in lessor shares and ABS? Perhaps because the aircraft-finance ecosystem is unprepared for years of legal battles. Despite emerging in the 1970s, the aircraft-leasing model didn’t take off until the 1990s, eventually expanding to include half of the world’s fleet. Lessors have grown up in an era of globalized aviation and geopolitical calm, in which treaties like the 2001 Cape Town Convention regarding movable property gave them a false sense of security.
Common sense suggests that Moscow has broken the rules by refusing to return planes. However, Russian officials are offering to pay the leases or even buy the jets; it is the Western firms that aren’t allowed by their governments to accept payments from Russia. So the legal situation is unclear and may depend on factors like the timing of insurance cancellations or even who operates the jets: Claiming nationalization could be easier with a state-owned airline like Aeroflot, some lessors said.
Part of the solution, banks and insurers hope, is that a sizable part of the lost assets could one day be recovered. They will probably be disappointed.
A jet’s worth is tied to the integrity of the technical records allowing operators and financiers to determine its airworthiness. Tracking back gaps in records often costs about $3 million a plane, New York University professor David Yu estimates, and stepping outside the scrutiny of Western regulators will make the entire fleet suspect. Also, Russian aircraft will need to be cannibalized for parts, and bankruptcy procedures show that this takes years and tens of millions of dollars to reverse. Being operated even for a while in such circumstances could mark planes down close to scrap value.
This mess may ultimately lead to higher insurance premiums and lower aircraft values. The broader lesson is that international law may be no match for rising geopolitical risks. Adding to the complications, Western investors are exposed to Russia through their financing of Chinese lessors, which own 75 Russian jets, Cirium data shows. Not to mention that foreign leasing firms have 806 jets worth $20 billion in China itself, so would have an even bigger problem if that country gets entangled in the sanctions against Russia.
Even assets that can fly can’t always keep above the fray of a fragmenting world.
The Fed Bets on a ‘Soft Landing,’ but Recession Risk Looms
Central bankers have been clear that they will do what it takes to control inflation. They are betting on a soft landing, but a bumpy one is possible.
Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, emphasized this week that the central bank he leads could succeed in its quest to tame rapid inflation without causing unemployment to rise or setting off a recession. But he also acknowledged that such a benign outcome was not certain.
“The historical record provides some grounds for optimism,” Mr. Powell said.
That “some” is worth noting: While there may be hope, there is also reason to worry, given the Fed’s track record when it is in inflation-fighting mode.
The Fed has at times managed to raise interest rates to cool down demand and weaken inflation without meaningfully harming the economy — Mr. Powell highlighted examples in 1965, 1984 and 1994. But those instances came amid much lower inflation, and without the ongoing shocks of a global pandemic and a war in Ukraine.
The part Fed officials avoid saying out loud is that the central bank’s tools work by slowing down the economy, and weakening growth always comes with a risk of overdoing it. And while the Fed ushered in its first rate increase this month, some economists — and at least one Fed official — think it was too slow to start taking its foot off the gas. Some warn that the delay increases the chance it might have to overcorrect.
The Fed has touched off recessions with past rate increases: It happened in the early 1980s, when Paul Volcker raised rates in a campaign to bring down very rapid inflation and sent unemployment rocketing painfully higher in the process.
“There is no guarantee that there will be a recession, but you have high inflation, and if you’re serious about bringing it down quickly, you have to hike a lot,” said Roberto Perli, the head of global policy at Piper Sandler, an investment bank, and a former Fed economist. “The economy doesn’t like that. I think the risk is substantial.”
It is no surprise that it can be difficult to cool down inflation while sustaining an economic expansion. Higher borrowing costs trickle through the economy by slowing the housing market, discouraging big purchases and prompting companies to cut expansion plans and hire fewer workers. That broad pullback weakens the labor market and slows wage growth, helping inflation to moderate. But the chain reaction plays out gradually, and its results can be seen only with a delay, so it is easy to lay on the brakes too hard.
Fed officials are hoping that today’s strong economy will help them avoid a rough landing. They point to the fact that labor markets are booming and consumer demand is solid, so lifting rates and tempering voracious buying might help supply to catch up and chill the economy without giving it freezer burn. Mr. Powell has argued that with so many open jobs per unemployed worker, the Fed might be able to slow down the labor market a bit without pushing the unemployment rate up.
Loretta J. Mester, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, said the Fed was not at a point where it had to decide between fighting inflation or pummeling growth.
“Given where the economy is now, and where the risks are, to my mind the major economic challenge is inflation,” Ms. Mester told reporters on a call Wednesday. “I don’t see it as being a trade-off at this point.”
James Bullard, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, said in an interview that he thought the fact that the central bank had credibility as an inflation fighter — and was raising rates to defend that credibility — could allow it to adjust policy in a way that allowed demand to moderate without causing major economic disruptions.
In the 1980s, when Mr. Volcker was the Fed chair, the central bank had to convince the world that it was prepared to wrestle inflation under control after more than a decade of rapid price gains.
“Do whatever it takes — I guess that’s the mantra of the day. I do think inflation is our No. 1 concern,” Mr. Bullard said. “I don’t think, however, that it is a Volcker-like situation.”
Near-term consumer and market inflation expectations have shot higher over the past year as inflation has hit a 40-year high and continued to accelerate, but longer-term price growth expectations have nudged only slightly higher.
If consumers and businesses anticipated rapid price increases year after year, that would be a troubling sign. Such expectations could become self-fulfilling if companies felt comfortable raising prices and consumers accepted those higher costs but asked for bigger paychecks to cover their rising expenses.
But after a year of rapid inflation, it is no guarantee that longer-term inflation expectations will stay in check. Keeping them under control is a big part of why the Fed is getting moving now even as a war in Ukraine stokes uncertainty. The central bank raised rates a quarter point this month and projected a series of interest rate increases to come.
While officials would usually look past a temporary pop in oil prices, like the one the conflict has spurred, concerns about expectations mean they do not have that luxury this time.
“The risk is rising that an extended period of high inflation could push longer-term expectations uncomfortably higher,” Mr. Powell said this week.
Mr. Powell signaled that the Fed might raise interest rates by half a percentage point in May and imminently begin to shrink its balance sheet of bond holdings, policies that would remove help from the U.S. economy much more rapidly than in the last economic expansion.
Some officials, including Mr. Bullard, have urged moving quickly, arguing that monetary policy is still at an emergency setting and out of line with a very strong economy.
But investors think the Fed will need to reverse course after a series of rapid rate increases. Market pricing suggests — and some researchers think — that the Fed will raise rates notably this year and early next, only to reverse some of those moves as the economy slows markedly.
“Our base case has the Fed reversing quickly enough to avoid a full-blown recession,” Krishna Guha, the head of global policy at Evercore ISI, wrote in a recent analysis. “But the probability of pulling this off is not particularly high.”
So why would the Fed put the economy at risk? Neil Shearing, the group chief economist at Capital Economics, wrote that the central bank was following the “stitch in time saves nine” approach to monetary policy.
Raising interest rates now to reduce inflation gives the central bank a shot at stabilizing the economy without having to enact an even more painful policy down the road. If the Fed dallies, and higher inflation becomes a more lasting feature of the economy, it will be even harder to stamp out.
“Delaying rate hikes due to fears about the economic spillovers from the war in Ukraine would risk inflation becoming more entrenched,” Mr. Shearing wrote in a note to clients. “Meaning more policy tightening is ultimately needed to squeeze it out of the system, and making a recession at some point in the future even more likely.”
Instacart Lowers Its Own Valuation From $39B to $24B
Delivery company Instacart said Thursday that it will slash its valuation by nearly 40 percent as tech stocks continue to feel turbulence in the public markets.
The cut, first reported by Bloomberg, brings Instacart’s valuation to $24 billion, down from the $39 billion price tag the company minted last year.
The move comes as tech stocks in general have been hammered by the public markets. Rising interest rates, inflation concerns and geopolitical issues have all contributed to a roller coaster for tech stocks.
Instacart saw a boom in business at the onset of the pandemic, as customers turned to grocery delivery to avoid leaving home. The company was also considered a candidate to go public soon, but IPO activity so far this year has been pretty quiet.
Founded in 2012, Instacart raised nearly $3 billion in funding as a private company.
It became a unicorn somewhere around 2015, with its valuation jumping from around $400 million in 2014 to more than $2 billion with a $220 million Series C in January 2015.
Since then, its valuation climbed to nearly $40 billion, before Thursday. Valuations were up across the board, but Instacart lowering its own valuation—an uncommon move by a company—follows valuations of publicly traded companies falling and more shares of startups selling for lower prices on the secondary markets.
Utility tool
Dubai is pumping water into its IPO desert. The floatation of utility Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) promises to be the largest local listing in 15 years. That said, the $34 billion price tag looks quite cheap, reflecting the emirate’s wider stock-market ambitions.
DEWA’s bosses and bankers are under pressure to ensure that the initial public offering is a roaring success. The deal is the opening move in a campaign to persuade more companies to list in Dubai. The emirate missed out on the IPO party enjoyed last year by rivals Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, which together raised more than $7 billion from investors. After a four-year listing hiatus, the government hopes to sell stakes in nine more state-owned companies, including its flag-carrying airline, Emirates.
Ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum is therefore enticing investors with a juicy opening course. DEWA is selling a 6.5% stake at 2.25 dirhams to 2.48 dirhams per share. At the top end of the range, and after adding $7.5 billion of net debt, the company will have an enterprise value of $41 billion. That’s less than 11 times this year’s expected EBITDA, assuming DEWA’s growth sticks on last year’s trajectory. By contrast, European and Gulf water and energy providers like Snam, Elia, National Grid, United Utilities, Tabreed and Qatar Fuel trade on an average 13 times multiple.
Arguably, the Dubai firm is in a stronger position. DEWA benefits from the large number of foreigners living on its patch, most of them with pockets deep enough to pay a premium for utility services. Its adjusted EBITDA margin in 2021 was a juicy 51%, compared to 25% at UK power utility National Grid. Demand for its services may even jump if Western sanctions against Russia prompt an influx of wealthy Muscovites. Even without that potential boost, DEWA’s 5% dividend yield looks attractive against the 3.6% average of other European or regional utilities.
Of course, offloading a chunk of DEWA at a knock-down price is a short-term miss for the government. However, if the plan works, the longer-term prize will be worth far more.
The Russian crew aboard Putin’s suspected superyacht have abandoned their jobs on the $700 million boat
The Russian crew aboard a $700 million yacht named Scheherazade with potential links to President Putin have abandoned their jobs aboard the ship, as first reported by The New York Times.
Allegedly, due to obligations and personal conflicts related to the ongoing Russian war, all employees vacated their posts. Following the departure of all the Russian crew members, a British crew has stepped in instead.
The ship's captain, Guy, who is also British, previously denied to The New York Times that the Scheherazade was owned by Putin and alleged that the Russian president had never been aboard the ship.
The ship has not been legally seized by Italian or European Union authorities, but is under scrutiny. Officials will not make further comments until the conclusion of an investigation by the Italian authorities, according to The New York Times.
Superyacht under scrutiny
The Scheherazade is currently docked at the Marina di Carrara in Italy, and does not have a publicly identified owner. Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the 459 foot superyacht was manned by at least 20 crew members which included approximately 10 Russian officers, since the fall of 2020.
Some of the ship’s employees were identified as FSO—or Federal Guard Service— personnel, who are tasked with protecting the Russian President, according to a YouTube video posted by two activists, investigative journalist Maria Pevchikh and the anti-corruption activist Georgy Alburov, on Monday. The yacht itself is enormous, and contains two helipads, a spa, three saunas, a swimming pool, and other luxury amenities.
Luxury yachts like the Scheherazade are being seized all over Europe, with countries like Italy and France impounding the nautical status symbols as a part of sanctions against Russia, following its invasion of Ukraine. France has seized several Russian yachts worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and Germany has also impounded multiple luxury Russian yachts, with one notable seizure being valued at nearly $600 million. Italy has also seized Russian yachts valued at over $500 million.
In Italy, France, and Germany, $1 billion in Russian boats have been taken from sanctioned individuals so far.
Sanctions hitting yachts, jets, and mansions.
While Putin is being widely criticized as a “war criminal,” and facing mounting public backlash, he is not alone in facing social and financial consequences.
The sanctions imposed against Russia are meant not only to hurt the Russian president, but his inner circle of oligarchs as well. The private jets, mansions, and yachts that are seized by worldwide governments are considered frozen assets but could ultimately lead to financial gains for Ukraine.
In a bipartisan bill called the “Yachts for Ukraine Act,” the authorities would be permitted to seize the assets of Russian elites valued over $5 million and sell them to provide humanitarian support, weapons and refugee assistance to Ukraine.
When Is Ramadan 2022? First Sighting Of Crescent Moon Will Begin Annual Fast And Set Up A ‘Pink Moon’
When is Ramadan 2022? Ramadan will this year begin on Saturday, April 2, 2022. and will finish on Sunday, May 1, 2022.
However, these dates are not confirmed. The exact dates Ramadan, the auspicious month-long festival of the Muslim calendar, are tied to the movements of the Moon.
So the start and end of Ramadan is something you can actually watch happening.
All you have to do is stand outside and look to the west at dusk on Saturday, April 2, 2022 and you’ll see —if you have keen eyes, a low horizon and perhaps a pair of binoculars or a small telescope—the appearance of a 2.4% Crescent Moon just 1.5 days after being a New Moon.
It’s this first sighting of the “Youngest Moon”—or the “Ramadan Moon,” if you will—that signifies the end of the month of Islamic month of Shaban and the beginning of the month of Ramadan, the fasting month.
During Ramadan up to 1.8 billion Muslims across our planet will fast between sunrise and sunset.
The holy month of Ramadan has no fixed dates. It’s due to start and end on the dates mentioned, but that does rely on a successful observation by clerics of that super-slim Crescent Moon.
Technically it’s all about the first sighting of the Crescent Moon over Mecca in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Muhammad.
A New Moon is precisely between the Earth and the Sun so it’s invisible. As the Moon moves away from the Sun it becomes just about visible as a slim crescent a little above the western horizon after dusk, though it takes at least 15 hours after the instance of New Moon to become visible at all.
The next full Moon—the full “Pink Moon”—will occur on Sunday, April 16, 2022. It will be the first full Moon of spring 2022 in the northern hemisphere and it will signify the middle of Ramadan. But when will Ramadan 2022 finish?
That will happen on Sunday, May 1, 2022, when Ramadan finishes with the three-day feasting festival of Eid al-Fitr (the “festival of breaking the fast”).
However, Eid al-Fitr will only begin with the sighting of a New Moon—called the “Shawwal Moon”—likely on either Sunday, May 1, 2022 or Tuesday, May 2, 2022.
That’s because on Sunday, May 1, 2022 the Crescent Moon will only be 0.7% illuminated and 0.9 days old, which could prove impossible to see. The next evening it will be 3.4%-lit and 1.8 days old, so a little bigger, brighter and higher in the sky.
The Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar based on the phases of our satellite. Many of the world’s major religions use the lunar cycle to determine the dates of at least some of their festivals; Chinese New Year is also referred to as Lunar New Year and is also dictated by the Moon’s orbit of Earth.
The lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon’s phases, though the lunar month lasts 29.5 days.
A lunar year lasts 354.3 days, so it all gets all out of whack with the solar calendar, where a year—the time it takes for the Earth to orbit once around the sun—lasts 365.25 days.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.