Ford and its ambitious partner Rivian Automotive have announced that they have abandoned the joint development of an electric car, writes The Wall Street Journal. Both will focus on the development of their own projects. The companies agreed on a partnership in April 2019. At that time, Ford, among other things, invested about $500 million in Rivian. It was assumed that the companies would jointly develop electric vehicles.

Hello! This week our top story is about how the rise of online streaming platforms has attracted regulation and censorship. We also look at why some top state-owned banks are creating special investment funds for officials , and whether tension between Russia and the West could be a result of an upcoming Putin-Biden summit .

Some 2,850 companies, including SPAC, have raised more than $600 billion in IPOs since January, estimate Bloomberg analysts . In the six weeks to 2022, the IPO market has already managed to break two records - in terms of the number of transactions and in terms of their volume. The previous maximum was recorded in 2007.

The Chinese regulator has fined a number of companies, including tech giants Alibaba and Baidu, for violating antitrust laws. The companies allegedly did not notify about 43 transactions that have been concluded since 2012. Each violator must pay 500,000 yuan ($78,000). This maximum fine is provided for under the Chinese Antimonopoly Law of 2008. According to Reuters, the earliest deal listed by the regulator dates back to 2012.

The head of the US Senate Foreign Policy Committee, Democrat Robert Menendez, has proposed introducing a clause on sanctions against Russia in the event of its invasion of Ukraine into the defense budget. The proposal to add sanctions against Nord Stream 2 to the defense budget (but without the conditions for intervention) was previously made by a group of Republican senators. The text of Menendez's amendment is published by Axios.

The European regulator EMA has approved the use of the oral drug Molnupiravir for the treatment of adults with coronavirus. The tablets were developed by the American companies Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and received the trade name Lagevrio. As detailed on the EMA website, the drug is approved for the treatment of adult patients at increased risk for severe COVID-19 who do not need supplemental oxygen support.

On the eve of winter, oil and gas prices beat records. How long does it last and what does it mean for the world and Russian economy? The world meets the winter of 2021 in anticipation of energy crisis. The forecast for oil prices of $ 120 by the spring of 2022 is turned from exotic into the mainstream, and the price of gas in Europe this week again exceeded $ 1000 per thousand cubic meters and so far fixed above this mark.