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Dutch TTF gas futures rose to over 96 euros per megawatt hour on October 4, 2021. Dutch TTF gas prices are seen as a Europe-wide natural gas benchmark. Gas prices have been rising to record highs across Europe as the continent is experiencing a gas supply shortage. This has also directly affected electricity prices as gas is a major contributor to EU power production, it being the second largest source for electricity generation in 2020.
Among the reasons for Europe's soaring gas prices are reduced gas shipments from Russia as the country is looking to restock depleted storage volumes at home. With Europe slowly climbing out of the pandemic-induced economic low, growing power demand puts an additional strain on gas suppliers. Meanwhile lower wind activity in the past few months has reduced wind power generation, which is the third largest power source in the European Union. As a result EU monthly wholesale electricity prices have climbed significantly over the summer.
How many users does Facebook have?
With roughly 2.89 billion monthly active users as of the second quarter of 2021, Facebook is the biggest social network worldwide. In the third quarter of 2012, the number of active Facebook users surpassed one billion, making it the first social network ever to do so. Active users are those who have logged into Facebook during the past 30 days. During the first quarter of 2021, the company stated that 3.51 billion people were using at least one of the company's core products (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, or Messenger) each month.
Facebook’s beginnings
Founded in 2004, Facebook is currently the biggest social networking service based on global reach and total active users. Launched by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg and some of his contemporaries, the service was initially only available to Harvard students but soon expanded to regional universities, the Ivy League and further colleges before opening up to high school students and global users aged 13 or over. As of April 2021, India ranks first in terms of Facebook user base size.
How Facebook works
Facebook users must register before using the social network and are free to create a personal profile in order to interact with other users which they can add as friends. Furthermore, Facebook users may join user groups based on workplace, college or school and can also categorize their Facebook contacts into lists. Users can post status updates or other content, and message each other. Facebook users can also interact with a wide selection of applications including social games or other Facebook-owned services like photo-sharing app Instagram.
Facebook on mobile
As of April 2021, most Facebook users access the social platform almost exclusively via mobile devices. The availability of Facebook on mobile has enabled the company to lay an early claim to mobile-first online markets such as India. Facebook also publishes apps based on original Facebook features such as Facebook Messenger. The wide range of Facebook-related apps ensure that the company is one of the most popular app publishers worldwide based on downloads.
As of October 1, 2021, there were over 1,330 drugs and vaccines in development targeting the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). American companies ImmunoPrecise Antibodies and Pfizer, and UK-based GlaxoSmithKline were ranked second among companies worldwide each with 10 drugs/vaccines in development targeting COVID-19.
The statistic depicts the market share of computer operating systems in the United States from January 2012 to September 2021. In September 2021, 57.35 percent of desktop PCs, tablets and consoles were operated by Windows.
Operating systems – additional information
An operating system (OS) is the most important software that runs on a computer. Operating systems enable the computer software to interact with the computer hardware. They further constitute a runtime environment for every other program on the computer. As is shown by the statistic at hand, Windows 10 has been the most popular operating system. Like its previous versions, Windows 10 was developed by Microsoft, one of the largest software makers worldwide.
Operating systems for mobile devices have become a significant category over the past few years. Tablet shipments overtook desktops and laptops in 2013 and although tablet shipments has come down after peaking in 2014, they still remain at high levels since. Mobile operating systems are run on smartphones, tablet computers and other mobile devices. Android and iOS are the two biggest players in this market. iOS is exclusively distributed for Apple hardware, whereas Android is designed under open-source principles, meaning that it may be operated on a much wider range of devices. On the global smartphone operating system market, Android has been the unquestioned market leader since 2011. Moreover, during the last quarter 2012, Android overtook iOS in the global tablet market.
In August 2021, the public debt of the United States was around 28.43 trillion U.S. dollars, around 1.7 trillion more than a year earlier, when it was around 26.73 trillion U.S. dollars. The U.S. public debt has become one of the most prominent political issues in the States in recent years, with debate over how to handle it causing political turmoil between Democrats and Republicans.
The public debt
The public debt of the United States has risen quickly since 2000, more than quadrupling until 2020. The public debt is the total outstanding debt that is owed by the federal government. This figure is comprised of debt owed to the public (for example, through bonds) and intragovernmental debt (debt owed to various governmental departments), such as Social Security.
Debt in Politics
The debt issue has become a highly contentious topic within the U.S. government. Measures such as stimulus packages and tax cuts add to the public debt, although they can be used to curb large events, such as the Great Depression, the 2008 financial crisis, or the COVID-19 pandemic, which are detrimental to the U.S. economy.
Debate on raising the debt ceiling, or the amount of debt the federal government is allowed to have at any one time, was a leading topic in the government shutdown in October 2013. Despite plans from both Democrats and Republicans on how to lower the national debt, it is only expected to increase over the next decade.
As of October 6, 2021, the Chinese idol boy band under Tencent, R1SE, sold over three million copies of their first music album "Going To Powerfully Burst" across the mainstream digital music platforms in China, ranking the second bestseller. Taylor Swift and G-Dragon were the only foreign music artists who could claim a spot in the top album sales ranking of all time.
From September 27 to October 3, 2021, box office revenue for National Day movies in China was soaring. 'The Battle at Lake Changjin' - a Chinese war film - led China's box office revenue, generating around 254.4 million U.S. dollars box office revenue in one week. 'My parents, My country' ranked second, with 98 million U.S. dollars box office revenue absorbed.
How big is the Chinese cinema market?
With an annual box office revenue of about 9.15 billion U.S. dollars, China remained as the second in terms of global cinema market size in 2018, second only to the United States with box office revenues of then 11.08 billion U.S. dollars. The proliferation of China’s cinema market coincided with an extensive increase in per capita income. Going to the movies has become a regular part of Chinese leisure activities and consumption, especially among young people. To cope with the demands of an increasingly wealthy population, the number of cinema screens expanded more than ten times in the recent decade. 3D movie screens also enjoyed an explosive growth during 2007 and 2018. As of 2018, the number of 3D movie screens operated in China accounting for almost half of the global total.
The struggles of overseas movies
China’s film industry is under direct supervision of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT). To protect the local movie industry, only a limited number of foreign movies are allowed to screen in China each year. The quota was set at 34 movies in 2013. Owing to the restriction on foreign films, Hollywood movies are facing more intensive competition against the domestic films. As of March 2021, only one western film remained at the ten highest-grossing movies of all time in China. In fact, foreign movies accounted for less than 17 percent of overall ticket sales in China, showing a gradual decreasing trend over the recent years.
In July 2021, average weekly earnings in the United Kingdom grew by 7.1 percent when compared with the same month in 2020. Between April and July 2020, earning growth contracted continuously, with the sharpest fall in earnings occurring in June 2020, when year-on-year wage growth shrank by 1.5 percent.
As of September 2021, Annalena Baerbock from Bündnis 90/ Die Grünen had the most Instagram followers among top Bundestag election candidates in Germany, followed by Christian Lindner from the FDP. The German Bundestag elections took place on September 26, 2021. The ranking shows the number of Instagram followers of top Bundestag election candidates in Germany on their official accounts.
As of 2021, cash was the main payment method used in online retail in Morocco, Egypt, and Kenya, and Morocco, accounting for 74 percent, 60 percent, and 40 percent of the total, respectively. On the other hand, cash was not that prevalent in Nigeria, where 35 percent of e-commerce payments occurred by card, and 21 percent by bank transfer. In South Africa, most digital buyers used card-based payments (43 percent) and e-wallets (20 percent).
Cash is still the most popular
The majority of the transactions in Africa occur in cash. Most countries on the continent rely significantly on cash, which is frequently used also in informal economies. Since credit cards are still not common in Africa, other payment methods are usually preferred. The same applies to online retail. When purchasing online, customers often use cash-on-delivery payments. Despite country-specific differences, cash remains the leading payment method in Africa. Nevertheless, the use of mobile money has been growing significantly in recent years. In 2019, Africa was the leading region by number of mobile money accounts worldwide. This payment method represents a huge potential for digital payments in a continent where a limited share of the population owns a bank account.
African e-commerce
E-commerce in Africa has been rapidly expanding in recent years. This growth was due to several factors, including demographic trends as well as the increasingly higher levels of internet penetration. On the continent, online retail generates the highest revenues in Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya. Jumia, Konga, takealot.com, and Kilimall are among the leading online marketplaces, all local websites. Founded in Nigeria in 2012, Jumia was the most popular e-commerce platform by number of visitors. The number of online shoppers in Africa is expected to increase in the coming years to exceed 476 million by 2024.
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