The largest databases of scientific articles Scopus and Web of Science announced that they will close access to Russian and Belarusian scientific organizations when their contracts expire. This is stated in the relevant statement.

This means that legal access to the largest full-text collections of articles published by Elsevier, Springer/Nature, IOP Publishers and others, as well as to Web of Science and Scopus abstract databases, will soon be terminated in Russia and Belarus.

The document also states that the works of Russian and Belarusian authors will continue to replenish the world databases of scientific articles.

“Editorial decisions should not depend on the origin of an article, including nationality, ethnicity, political opinion, race or religion,” one of the principles of the Publication Ethics Committee was quoted in a statement.

According to RAS Vice President Alexei Khokhlov, the ban on the use of global scientific databases is a serious challenge for domestic scientists, since Russia accounts for only 2.5 percent of the world's scientific output. In other words, 97.5 percent of the information will become inaccessible to representatives of the Russian scientific community.

“On the territory of Russia, legal access to the largest full-text collections of articles by Elsevier, Springer/Nature, IOP Publishers and others, as well as to Web of Science and Scopus abstract databases, will soon be terminated,” Academician Khokhlov wrote in his Telegram channel.

The Vice President of the Russian Academy of Sciences also expressed confidence that Russia's adequate response to the challenge of Western scientists would not be long in coming.

Nice, so they still want to use articles for their economy, but won't provide access to knowledge. Pure fascists tactics.

Since April 1, the price threshold for gas and electricity has been sharply raised in the UK - by 54 percent at once. The decision was made back in February, but it came into force only now, as the regulator updates the price threshold twice a year: for April-September and for October-March. Suppliers cannot exceed this figure.

Thus, the cost of the British on energy will increase by an average of 700 pounds per year and amount to about two thousand. Because of this, annual inflation in February reached a record high for 30 years in Britain - 6.2 percent.

A survey conducted by the National Statistical Service shows that the country's residents have to seriously reduce spending: more than half of respondents said they save on non-essential goods, 34 percent on gas or electricity, 31 percent on food and essential goods. need.

Tajik President Rahmon called 2022 "the most difficult year for mankind"

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon called 2022 "the most difficult year for mankind" and urged citizens to stock up on food for two years.

According to him, the population of the country should use every favorable spring day in order to complete the sowing campaign in time, lay the foundation for a rich harvest, and always remember that every family needs to stock up on food for two years. The people have become convinced of the benefits of this in recent years, especially in the last two years of the spread of the coronavirus, the national leader noted.

“We should already be thinking today that it is necessary to take all measures so that our children and members of our families, and indeed all the inhabitants of the country, do not face any difficulties and do not suffer from food shortages or rising food prices, especially in the upcoming autumn-​winter period. According to the analysis, humanity today is in the most sensitive and difficult period of its more than a century of history. According to experts, the consequences of this extremely sensitive period of crisis are unpredictable and long-term," Rahmon said, addressing the nation.

He believes that 2022 will be the most difficult year for humanity in all respects and, above all, in terms of ensuring food security.

“In this regard, I want to emphasize once again that every family should think about how to provide for themselves, produce as many products as possible and stock up on the necessary food for two years,” the president urged the citizens of Tajikistan.

Do you still love capitalism or starting to doubt it?

In a small corner of south-east England, vast glasshouses stand empty, the soaring cost of energy preventing their owner from using heat to grow cucumbers for the British market.

Elsewhere in the country growers have also failed to plant peppers, aubergines and tomatoes after a surge in natural gas prices late last year was exacerbated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, making the crops economically unviable.

While last year it cost about 25 pence to produce a cucumber in Britain, that has now doubled and is set to hit 70 pence when higher energy prices fully kick in, trade body British Growers says.

Regular sized cucumbers were selling for as little as 43 pence at Britain's biggest supermarket chains on Tuesday.

"Gas prices being so sky high, it's a worrying time," grower Tony Montalbano told Reuters, while standing in an empty glasshouse at Roydon in the Lea Valley where for 54 years three generations of his family have farmed cucumbers.

"All the years of us working hard to get to where we are, and then one year it could just all finish," he said.

Last year he paid 40-50 pence a therm for natural gas. Last week it was 2.25 pounds a therm, having briefly hit a record 8 pounds in the wake of Russia's invasion.

Fertiliser prices have tripled versus last year, while the cost of carbon dioxide - used both to aid growing and in packaging - and hard-to-attain labour have also shot up.

"We are now in an unprecedented situation where the cost increases have far outstripped a grower's ability to do anything about them," said Jack Ward, head of British Growers.

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/cucumber-crisis-surging-energy-prices-leave-british-glasshouses-empty-2022-03-31/

Apple has closed a loophole that had allowed some Russians to continue using its mobile payments service despite the ongoing economic sanctions against Russia. According to Reuters, the company told the country's largest lender on Thursday it would no longer support Russia's homegrown Mir payments system through Apple Pay.

"Apple has informed NSPK it is suspending support for Mir cards in the Apple Pay payment service," the National Card Payment System said Friday. "Starting from March 24th, users cannot add new Mir cards to the service. Apple will stop all operations of previously added cards over the next few days."

Google took similar action last week as well. According to a separate report from The Wall Street Journal, the company paused a pilot that had allowed Russians to connect their Mir cards to Google Pay. "Google Pay is pausing payments-related services in Russia as a result of payment services disruption out of our control," a Google spokesperson told the outlet.

https://www.engadget.com/apple-pay-google-pay-mir-loophole-closed-191434174.html

Reality is totally different, actually Google and Apple first assured local clients that Mir will work and improved its support since western cards left.

But after direct order from government they had been forced to inform local users that they have some unknown technical difficulties :-) Yes, to local smartphone users they told totally different thing!

India is preparing to move to start paying for Russian gas in rubles.

According to The Economic Times, the Central Bank of Russia and the Reserve Bank of India, in the face of sanctions against the Russian Federation, “already create the necessary regulatory framework and mechanism for mutual settlements in the Russian currency.”

In addition, as reported by Bloomberg, India is already considering a proposal from Russia to use the Russian alternative to SWIFT in bilateral trade - the Financial Message Transfer System (SPFS) - for settlements in national currencies. In accordance with the proposed scheme, it is planned to place rubles on an account in an Indian bank, then convert them into rupees, and vice versa.