The United States requires the EU of the speedy coordination of the package of sanctions against Russia. Europeans do not agree The United States and the EU cannot agree on a coordinated package of tough sanctions in the event of a Russian military operation in Ukraine, Bloomberg found out .

Former McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook, who was fired in 2019 over a relationship with an employee, has agreed to return more than $100 million paid to him as severance pay to the company. According to the WSJ, the ex-CEO of the network returned the shares of the company and cash, which is currently valued at more than $105 million. They were paid to him after Easterbrook was fired in November 2019, when he admitted having a relationship with a subordinate on mutual consent.

The Central Bank wants to ban investments in cryptocurrencies in Russia, Reuters writes , citing sources. The agency explains that the regulator sees risks to financial stability in the growing number of cryptocurrency transactions. The Central Bank is discussing a possible ban on cryptocurrencies with experts and market participants, the interlocutors of the agency said.

The TikTok application decided to change its algorithms - now the user should no longer be shown videos with the same content in the recommendations, which will avoid harm to health, writes WSJ. On Thursday, TikTok said it was testing ways to avoid sharing too much content on a particular topic (like extreme dieting, depression, or breakup) with individual users to protect their mental well-being.

The US stock market on Thursday, after a rally on Wednesday, continued to respond with a slight increase in the Fed's decision to move to curb inflation and raise rates. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 150 points after the opening of trading and approached a historical high, the S&P 500 rose within 0.2%, but the Nasdaq 100 fell 0.7%. Tech companies lagged behind sectors that, in previous cycles, have benefited from Fed tightening, notes CNBC .

The State Duma at a meeting on December 16 adopted in the first reading a bill on QR codes in public places. These include venues for public events, cultural institutions, catering and retail facilities. The bill was supported by 329 deputies, 87 voted against. It follows from the text that visiting catering establishments, non-food stores, public events and cultural institutions will be possible only with a QR code about vaccination or covid, as well as with a medical tap.

On December 16, the First Court of Appeal upheld the arrest of former journalist Ivan Safronov. Safronov will remain in the SIZO until at least January 7, 2022. The court session was traditionally held behind closed doors - the judge, at the request of the prosecution, closed the session due to the presence of state secrets in the case. It is unclear why the court rejected the defense's motion.

The Bank of England raised its benchmark interest rate to 0.25% for the first time since the start of the pandemic, despite the threat of the spread of the omicron strain of coronavirus, writes Bloomberg. Eight out of nine members of the regulator's committee were in favor of raising the rate by 15 bp. on monetary policy. This is the first such decision among G7 central banks. Shortly after, the pound strengthened against the dollar to 1.336 from 1.326.

In matters of ESG (from the English Environmental, Social and Corporate - the environment, social and corporate governance) the environmental agenda came to the fore: both the authorities and companies voiced the goals of carbon neutrality. But two other aspects are no less important - social responsibility and corporate administration. And if the latter seems to be an internal affair of companies, then the social agenda, especially during the crisis, becomes critical for the whole society.

The Central Bank of Turkey has lowered the interest rate on weekly repo auctions (short-term loan secured by securities) from 15% to 14%. The rest of the rates remained unchanged. The repo rate is considered one of the key indicators that affects the value of the national currency and inflation. Since September, the Turkish Central Bank has reduced the rate by 500 basis points, from 19% per annum.

Chinese creditors began filing claims against Evergrande for non-payment long before the developer defaulted on dollar obligations. In total, they have already accumulated $ 13 billion, and the plaintiffs are counting on priority over foreign debt holders. Chinese courts have accepted 367 lawsuits against Evergrande totaling 84 billion yuan ($13.2 billion), the Financial Times reported , citing official documents.

On December 23, the Moscow City Court will begin to consider on the merits the claim of the city prosecutor's office on the liquidation of the human rights center "Memorial" (recognized in Russia as an NGO-foreign agent). to Interfax This was reported by lawyer Mikhail Biryukov. Earlier, the Supreme Court announced a break until December 28 in the process of liquidating the human rights organization "International Memorial" (also included in the register of NGOs-foreign agents).

WHO may approve the Russian Sputnik V vaccine in the first quarter of 2022, TASS reported , citing an interview with RT by the head of the European Bureau of the organization, Hans Kluge. “I share the optimism of Russian President Vladimir Putin that WHO will soon include Sputnik V in the list of drugs recommended for emergency use (Emergency Use Listing, EUL), in October of this year, the relevant documents were signed by the RDIF,” the agency quotes.

An inFOM operational survey commissioned by the Central Bank recorded a sharp increase in inflation expectations of the population for 2022 in December. The indicator updated the maximum of February 2016, reaching 14.8%. Growth compared to November amounted to 1.3 percentage points. The assessment of inflation observed by Russians also increased - from 16.2% to 17.7%. Last month, inflation expectations fell slightly - by 0.1 percentage points, to 13.5%.

Online forum platform Reddit, famous for coordinating armchair investors' attacks on Wall Street and the phenomenon of "meme" stocks, has filed a confidential application with the SEC for an IPO, writes The Wall Street Journal. It has been known since September that Reddit is preparing for its initial public offering. The IPO promises to be large: during the latest investment round of $700 million, the company was valued at $10 billion. No details have been revealed yet.