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Giant FTC trial of Facebook dismemberment begins

2 minutes to read
facebook lawsuit

Trial of Facebook

A federal judge has ruled that the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) can file a lawsuit against the Facebook owner, Writes The Guardian. 

Mark Zuckerberg, the owner of Meta — which also owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — has appealed to the court for the second time to dismiss the trade commission’s antitrust complaint. Judge James Boasberg has now ruled that the FTC’s review action must be upheld.

The FTC is asking the court to declare that the owner of Facebook has been in a monopoly position for years, and is abusing its position, which would cause an obligation for the company to sell its Instagram and WhatsApp apps.

The Guardian has noted that this is one of the largest legal proceedings the US government has launched in recent decades against any technology company.

The commerce committee initially sued Facebook during the Trump administration, and its complaint was rejected by the court last June. The complaint was amended in August and added further details to the charge that the company giant has made it impossible for its rivals to acquire it. Meta’s platforms are used by 2.8 billion people worldwide every day.

A company spokesperson for Meta said that he was confident the company would win in court. It was also added that “the current decision narrows the FTC’s scope by rejecting allegations about our platform policies. It also acknowledges that the trade committee is facing a “big task” to support its position on two acquisitions approved years ago,”.

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Egypt: New hosts of the 2036 Olympics?

3 minutes to read
Egypt is building a new capital city

As previously reported, Egypt is building a new capital city, and now it has also signed up to be the new hosts of the 2036 Olympics.

Just in case you haven’t read our previous article, here is a catch up:

Construction of Egypt’s new administrative capital began in the sands of the Sahara, 45 kilometres (25 miles) from Cairo, in 2015. The new city is not yet anonymous and the application for the name has not yet been completed. The first eight quarters with a population of two and a half million were completed by early November 2021, and in December, government offices, embassies and ministries began moving from Cairo to their new location.

According to the plans, the New Administrative Capital will be the place of the best – the themed districts will be powered by a huge solar park, the lampposts will give a wifi signal next to the light, a modern railway will connect the town and its new airport with the old capital. In the middle of the new city there will be a public park called the “Green River” the size of six Central Parks. In addition to the 20 skyscrapers of the business district, a world record building, 1 km high, is planned to make the settlement truly imposing.

Egypt’s largest mosque and largest Christian church is already standing here. The new presidential palace, which is eight times the size of the White House in the United States, has also been completed.

The intention to apply was made public by the Arab country’s sports minister, the insidethegames.biz page, which is familiar with the five-ring cases, reported.

Egypt to be new hosts of the 2036 Olympics

Speaking to Sky News Arabia, Asraf Sobhi said Egypt would be standing for the host officer with a formal request to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). He added that a comprehensive feasibility study – which carefully considers the technical, logistical and financial aspects – is currently being worked on, but work is already underway in the new administrative capital, for the multimillion-dollar sports complex, which will include a 90,000-seat stadium, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, several tennis courts and an indoor hall.

IOC President Thomas Bach has previously said he wants the Olympics to reach Africa and is determined to ensure that African nations can apply for the Games, as it is the only inhabited continent that has not yet hosted an Olympics. The sports minister said the African National Olympic Committees association supports his country’s ambition.

IN ADDITION TO EGYPT, INDIA, RUSSIA, SPAIN, TURKEY, GERMANY AND UKRAINE HAVE SO FAR EXPRESSED INTEREST IN HOSTING THE 2036 GAMES.

Next summer’s Olympics will be hosted in Paris in 2024, Los Angeles four years later and Brisbane in 2032.

New hosts of the 2036 Olympics
Modern Cairo

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The fate of 2022 could be determined by the battle of two global giants United states and China.

2 minutes to read
the two super power flags

Strained relations between the United States and China over Taiwan could be one of the biggest challenges in Asia in 2022, CNBC writes.

One reason, according to the head of longview global advisors, is that Beijing treats every single American manifestation in Taiwan as if it were harming its interests.

An expert directly compared the relationship between the two great powers United States and China to the conditions of The Cold War.

United States and China
United States and China

This was only made worse by the National Defense Authorization Act passed late last year (2021) which set aside, among other things, $7.1 billion for the Pacific deterrent. They also adopted a congressional declaration expressing U.S. support for Taiwan. China considers the island, which has had its own self-government for decades, as part of its own territory and its often stated goal is to unify the country.

In the midst of the rivalry between Washington and Beijing, the most difficult situation will be those Asian countries that seek to balance the two major powers. The big question from this point of view is what the scales of this year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing will look like. The United States has already indicated that it will boycott the event at a diplomatic level, meaning that its athletes will be present, but no one will represent Washington in an official capacity. It is not yet clear whether other countries can follow the example of the United States, but the Chinese advance in recent years has infuriated several countries in the region.

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CAN CAPITAL MARKETS SAVE THE EARTH FROM THE CLIMATE CATASTROPHE?

4 minutes to read
green sustainable environment

In the vast majority, capital markets have not yet taken into account the risks of climate catastrophe, and only 14 percent of the experts surveyed believe that the risks are integrated into prices. The rise of green portfolios is also slowed by regulatory inconsistencies. However, the catalyst for change could be the recently concluded COP26 conference and government green programmes, according to recent research by KPMG.

What Research was Carried Out?

KPMG, CREATE-Research and the CAIA Association compiled a global survey entitled “Can capital markets save the planet?” based on interviews with almost 100 managers of investment firms and pension funds that manage $34.5 trillion.

What Were The Research Findings?

The research found that while capital markets attract a lot of capital, they cannot effectively price in the risks of climate change due to political, regulatory contradictions and insufficiently transparent financial impacts – and only 14 percent of those surveyed believe otherwise. For alternative investments, this figure is 11 per cent and for bonds it is only 8 per cent..

It is important to note that pricing climate risks is more clearly visible within the energy sector than it is noticeable in projects that are more capital intensive. This is because market access takes a long time.

Does Anything Affect The Research?

The biggest obstacle seems to be that, due to the nature of climate research, the impact of climate change on GDP is difficult to predict. The fundamental reason for this is that there is no similar historical history or experience of how our economic and financial systems can or will respond to these effects. The problem is compounded by the fact that governments and authorities that are supposed to support reducing CARBON emissions often do not move on a ‘trajectory’.

“For the time being, real action is well behind the definitions, so the potential and risks of climate change remain difficult to price

– Gergő Wieder, senior manager at KPMG.

To date, no country has introduced rules that adequately integrate environmental and social costs into companies’ financial reports, especially in a way that supports the pricing of climate risks. For this reason, the financing of market-based incentives and technologies to reduce CO2 emissions is progressing slowly. Development is also hampered by the lack of uniform pricing of emission quotas, which continue to play an important role in addressing the effects of climate change.

A Green Ray Of Hope

However, two events could be a turning point in this area. One is the green turnaround of the world’s major economies, which includes, among other things, the adoption of clean energy standards, the mandatory reporting of the carbon footprint for stock market companies, and the review of pension fund investments on the basis of ESG (environmental, social and governance) aspects. The other is the COP26 conference organised by the UNITED NATIONS.

What Changes Are Likely To Happen to avoid a climate catastrophe?

84 per cent of those surveyed said the Glasgow meeting would be followed by more coordinated intergovernmental measures and capital markets were preparing for expected progress in the three key areas – output pricing, alternative energy production and mandatory reporting.

When asked whether capital markets would start pricing in climate risks at a higher rate, 42 percent of respondents said yes, while 30 percent said they might, while 28 percent did not believe. More than 60 percent of respondents expect a shift towards pricing climate risks in all asset classes over the next three years.

The Drawback

The research notes that it requires huge, coordinated political efforts and support to steer trillions of dollars of investment towards carbon-reducing technologies. Some respondents fear that, in the absence of concerted action, current political trends will continue to allow risks to recover in the global financial system, at which point the ‘Minsky moment’ may occur – i.e. the price of securities may suddenly collapse as a result of a panic.

GDP = gross domestic product:

Gross domestic product (GDP) is a measurement that seeks to capture a country’s economic output. Countries with larger GDPs will have a greater amount of goods and services generated within them, and will generally have a higher standard of living.- www.investopedia.com

climate catastrophe
CLIMATE CATASTROPHE

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Coinbase Futures? A huge move forward for the platform

3 minutes to read

Coinbase has already registered with NFA to be able to offer Coinbase futures products

Is Coinbase now aiming for new markets?

On September 15th 2021, as stated on the NFA’s (the National Futures Association) own website, the application – whose status is still set as ‘pending’ – was made under the name “Coinbase Global Inc.”.

This is proof in and of itself that the exchange has aspirations to be able to go further than only offering simple spot trading and also wants to now be a part of the lucrative business of derivative trading.

Coinbase announced on Twitter on September 16 that “this is the next step in expanding our offerings and offering futures and derivatives on our platforms.  Objective: Further growth of the crypt economy.

What is Derivative Trading?

Most usually, derivative contracts would come in the form of futures and options contracts:

Futures allow people to buy and sell contracts at a predetermined price, for example, Bitcoin (or other cryptocurrencies) at a set time in the future; Option contracts work similarly, in the way that traders will buy or sell at a predetermined price, only here they can sell at any time, so long as it is before or when the contract expires and no later than that. Perpetual contracts — otherwise known as non-expiring futures — are yet another popular form of trading.

Why Did Coinbase Register With The NFA?

In the United States, there is a law stating that if a company wishes to sell to individuals, registration must be made with the official federal regulator known as CFTC (the Commodity Futures Trading Commission) which controls regulation in both commodities and all derivatives. Although the registration process is delegated to the NFA, meaning that any entity that wishes to be recognised by CFTC must first be an NFA member.

Coinbase futures
Cryptocurrency Versus the Derivative Market

In the more traditional financial markets, as well as in cryptocurrency, derivative trading is big business. Crypto derivatives markets are dwarfed by the size of spot markets.  Binance futures are up 3-1 in spot-to-spot searches. Inequality is even greater than the FTX. Coinbase has so far only watched as these competitors have created a market for crypto derivatives to the worth of nearly $150 billion, according to data found on CoinGecko.

After a lawsuit threat was given from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) where they stated one would be filed if USDC’s plans for a loan product went ahead, Coinbase is hoping for a much smoother transition than theirs into the world of futures and derivatives contracts.

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EGYPT IS BUILDING A NEW CAPITAL DISTRICT

6 minutes to read

Why does Egypt build a new capital district, and is this a good thing for their economy?

Why was a new Egyptian capital needed?

The explanation of this $40 billion project’s necessity is the simplest part of the whole thing, more space for an ever-growing population.

For the past decade, the country and its facilities had been at the mercy of a rapid average annual population growth of around 1.5 million people. The majority of these numbers are more densely spread across the upper part of the country and the immediate vicinity of the Nile. In 2020 the population exceeded 100 million and it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect potential numbers of 128 million to be reached by 2030. 

In short, the increasingly crowded metropolis capital and its infrastructure will not be suitable for the number of millions of people predicted for 2030.

Other new cities had been built over the last 50 years, with 22 new ones being erected between 1977 and 2000. Although these are still being developed and standards are being kept to this day, it had unfortunately been found that these cities weren’t the answer to the problem. Therefore the cities were not completely fit for purpose with the number of people that had relocated to these places at the time were far below expected projections.

With confidence in the ‘suitability to needs’ of this build, it is planned to be able to accommodate SIX AND A HALF MILLION PEOPLE!

So, what will it look like?

Multiple themed districts, powered by a gargantuan solar park. Lampposts that emit WiFi signals for the inhabitants to use at will, as well as a modernized railway connecting the new build and its airport to Cairo.

All this already seems spectacular but there’s more, keeping in line with generally accepted ecological standards ‘The Green River’ – a public park placed in the city’s centre – is set to cover the equivalent of six Central Parks. In juxtaposition with this, the Business District is to break world records with its largest building reaching 1km high, add this to the 20 planned skyscrapers and that truly is an imposing image to imagine.

More about the new city itself:

The building of this new, more administrative capital started in the Sahara desert back in 2015, shortly after being first announced on March 23th of that year – the construction had been placed 45 Kilometers (25 miles) from Cairo, the already existing capital city.

As far as what can be found, no name has yet been given, nor applied for and because of this, it has been commonly referred to as ‘The New Administrative Capital’.

The first true stage of completion was set for the first part of November ’21, which meant it was ready for its first 2.5million inhabitants – a massive undertaking.

In the following month, after more preparations were made, government offices, ministries and embassies began their change of location from Cairo and so began the true legacy of this newfound administration capital.

Both Egypt’s largest mosque and its largest Christian church are already standing, as is the new presidential palace – this building alone surpasses the size of the United States‘ White House, eightfold.

So, will the build be a help or hindrance to the Egyptian Economy?

It is hard to say good or bad exactly as anything said now would be nothing but a vague prediction.

Let’s look at some key points and you can decide for yourself.

As we previously mentioned, ministries and officials are now well underway with the move over to the new city and all governmental duties will now be directed from the capital.

On top of this, from what we know, we can say that construction brings multiple topics to the surface:

The Army’s key role, the elite’s separation, how important the relationship with China is, as well as the new statehood;

  • Continued population growth will be greatly boosted as none of the 6.5Million places will be offered to the poorer of the community and Cairo’s overcrowding will be much less with the more affluent making the move over.
  • Administrative Capital for Urban Development – an Egyptian military-owned company is overseeing the entire project. Guardianship of the economy and the country as a whole, not just the borders, has always been a part of the military’s calling.
  • External relations have been exercised, using credit from China to boost available funding. As well as the fact that the implementation of plans is being shared with the China State Construction Engineering Corporation
  • The size of the buildings in the New Administrative Capital, inspired by ancient Egyptian architecture, makes the new settlement a symbol of power, meaning the historic capital, Cairo, will become more of a tourist attraction, filled with the poorer side of the locals.

Is the population issue a regional theme? A look outside this Egyptian city.

In Africa and the Middle East, the design or construction of futuristic cities began in several places. In 2017, Saudi Arabia announced a plan for an ultra-modern line-city in the desert called Neom, where there will be no roads and cars, artificial intelligence will run the infrastructure of the ecologically fully sustainable city. Similarly, Senegal (Diamniadio), Nigeria (Eko Atlantic) and Kenya (Konza Technopolis) are planning new metropolises.

This seems strangely megalomaniacal in a region where the average annual GDP growth per capita has been just over 1.5 per cent over the last thirty years. However, as populous grows, by more than 80 per cent in North Africa and the Middle East – from 254 million to 465 million, the result of 30 years in the region is 200 million more people and two and a half times as many economies – there is a basis for seemingly incredible plans, there is something, and some people, to build cities for.

So what do you think of the Egyptians’ Administrative Capital? Do its projected uses make it vastly better than the other new structures put up before it? Or will it once again leave the locals scratching their heads for more solutions to the population crisis? And what about the regional outlook?

NEW CAPITAL DISTRICT

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