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Tim Cook sent an email to officials this morning addressing the Russian invasion of Ukraine, explaining Apple’s response to the past two weeks. The email also tells employees that Apple will compare the donations they make to certain humanitarian funds, two to one, and will do so retroactively for donations made on February 25.

A copy of this email was received from On the edgeand you can read it in full below (except for Apple’s edited internal email address):

I wanted to take a moment to deal with the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.

I know that I am speaking on behalf of everyone at Apple, expressing our concern for all those affected by the violence. With each new image of families fleeing their homes and courageous citizens fighting for their lives, we see how important it is for people around the world to unite to continue the cause of peace.

Apple is donating humanitarian aid and providing assistance for the unfolding refugee crisis. We also work with partners to decide what else we can do. I know that many of you are also eager to find ways to support, and we want to help increase the impact of your donations. As of today, Apple will match your 2: 1 donations to eligible organizations, and we will do so retroactively for donations to these organizations on February 25th. Please visit the Employment Portal to learn more.

We work to support our teams in Ukraine and throughout the region. In Ukraine, we keep in touch with every employee, helping them and their families in every way possible. For members of our Ukrainian team outside the country who may need support, please contact [email redacted]. And for any employee who needs support, please visit the People website for available resources.

As a company, we are taking additional action. We have paused all product sales in Russia. Last week we stopped all exports in our sales channel in the country. Apple Pay and other services are limited. RT News and Sputnik News are no longer available for download from the App Store outside of Russia. And we have deactivated both traffic and live incidents on Apple Maps in Ukraine as a safety measure and precautionary measure for Ukrainian citizens.

We will continue to assess the situation and keep in touch with the relevant governments on the actions we are taking.

This moment calls for unity, calls for courage and reminds us that we must never lose sight of the humanity we all share. In these difficult times, I take comfort in knowing that we are united in our commitment to each other, to our consumers, and to be a force for good in the world.

As Cook emphasized in his email (and as Apple mentioned in public statements), Apple has taken various actions in the region. On Tuesday, he announced he was suspending sales of his products in Russia. In addition, the sharing of Apple Maps data in Ukraine and the use of Apple Pay in Russia is limited.

Cook also mentioned that Apple is in contact with “every employee” based in Ukraine and working to help them and their families. Internally, some officials discussed the removal of their families from Ukraine.

NEW YORK, March 1 – On Tuesday, the euro reached its lowest level against the US dollar since June 2020, and the Russian ruble depreciated in volatile trade as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine intensified and oil prices rose .

The US dollar index, which measures greenbacks against a basket of currencies, jumped and rose 0.6% as investors flocked to safe bets.

Investors were puzzled by recent events in Ukraine. Russia has warned Kyiv residents to leave their homes, and Russian commanders have changed tactics to step up bombing of Ukrainian cities. Read more

Brent oil futures closed at their highest since August 2014 amid fears of energy shortages. The global agreement on the release of crude reserves has failed to allay concerns about disruptions in supplies from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Read more

“The likelihood of global oil shock in the 1970s is growing, and investors are moving to safe havens as quickly as possible,” said Carl Chamotte, chief market strategist at Cambridge Global Payments in Toronto. “The euro is at the forefront here, most exposed to energy shock, with the euro falling as oil and gas prices soar,” he said.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the largest attack on a European country since World War II and has led to Western sanctions, including cutting off some Russian banks from the SWIFT financial network and limiting Moscow’s ability to deploy $ 630 billion in foreign reserves. .

The euro last fell 0.8% during the day to $ 1.1130 after falling to its lowest level since June 2020. The euro also fell 0.9% against the Japanese yen.

Morgan Stanley analysts said on Tuesday that they were closing trade recommendations for a long euro against the US dollar, yen, pound and Brazilian real and were “neutral on the euro as a whole”.

“Investors who have assets in Russia that will be increasingly difficult to sell due to growing capital controls and sanctions may consider hedging options. “Currencies that are highly correlated with the risk of rubles can be considered as such an option, such as the currencies in the CEE area and potentially the euro,” they wrote.

“We will potentially seek to re-enter these positions and reaffirm our thesis on the euro in the future if conditions justify it, but for now we believe it is best to limit risk and preserve capital when clearer ones emerge. topics.

The Russian ruble weakened by 1.34% against the greenback to 110.04 per dollar, according to Refinitiv.

The dollar fell 0.1% against the yen asylum.

Earlier, the Swiss franc reached its highest level since 2015 against the euro.

The demand deposits of the Swiss National Bank were slightly changed in February, suggesting that the central bank may have given up its attempts to slow the appreciation of the franc.

Bitcoin rose about 2.3%.

============================================= === ======

Prices of currency offers at 16:00 (21:00 GMT)

Additional reports by Rodrigo Campos in New York and Elizabeth Hawcroft in London; Edited by Kirsten Donovan, Will Dunham, Gareth Jones and Jonathan Oatis

Our standards: ‘ principles of trust.

The teenager, known for tracking Elon Musk’s plane, has begun tracking the flight paths of Russian oligarchs as they move more closely after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In a new Twitter account set up over the weekend, 19-year-old Jack Sweeney of Florida has already amassed nearly 162,000 followers as the teenager tracks the private jets of at least 21 Russian billionaires and tycoons.

According to the new @RuOligarchJets account, private planes and helicopters of Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea Football Club, take off and land in various destinations, including Moscow, Baku, St. Kitts and Nevis and Dubai on Monday.

In addition to tracking flight movements, Sweeney monitors other measures, including fuel consumption and costs.

According to @RuOligarchJets, Abramovich’s Jet LX-RAY, which landed in Baku, had a flight time of 2 hours and 27 minutes, uses 3767 kg of jet fuel, which costs $ 6369 and consumes 13 tons of CO₂ emissions.

Other oligarchs followed by Sweeney include steel tycoon Alexander Abramov. According to Sweeney’s tracking, Abramov’s planes and helicopters took off and landed in locations around the world, including London, the Seychelles, Antigua and Barbuda and Abu Dhabi.

Speaking to NBC, the 19-year-old student from the University of Central Florida said: “It was just crazy. I just decided that some people would be interested. I just didn’t think all kinds of people would be. “

Sweeney, who studies information technology, added: “Before that, I didn’t even know there were any [influential] oligarchs like that. They probably have decent power from what I can tell. “

Howard Stoffer, a professor of international affairs and a specialist in Russia at the University of New Haven, told NBC that these oligarchs “are glamorous to Russia.”

“They have to be disclosed and they have to pay any price that a country can derive from them… Take them [airplane] queue number. “Tell the governments that these are the people, this is where they are, and let them do what they think is right,” he added.

Along with Russian billionaires, Sweeney also began tracking the routes of planes and planes owned by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He launched @PutinJet last week, but added a disclaimer, saying“But don’t expect this to be too accurate, there are a dozen VIP Russian planes and ADS-B [Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast] the coverage is not great in Russia. “

In addition to the Russian president and tycoons, Sweeney has created at least 16 other automated Twitter accounts that track the flights of the rich and famous, including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and rapper Drake.

“They’re either really prominent people, or they’re just really interesting,” Sweeney said recently, referring to the people she’s following.

SEC officials do not know the whereabouts of Satish Kumbhani, the founder of the crypto trading platform BitConnect, who last week defrauded investors with $ 2.4 billion in a Ponzi scheme. This puts the SEC in a lot of trouble, as they have to serve the 36-year-old entrepreneur with his court documents. In a statement Monday, the SEC said it had no address for Kumbhani, an Indian citizen, and suspected he may have fled to another country.

The justice ministry has accused Kumbhani of a number of crimes, including conspiracy to commit fraud, conspiracy to manipulate the prices of goods and conspiracy to commit international money laundering.

“Kumbhani’s whereabouts remain unknown and the Commission is unable to say when its efforts to locate him will be successful, if at all,” the SEC said in a statement.

To gain some time, the SEC is asking the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to extend it by 90 days. As BitConnect is an unincorporated entity and not an official corporation, all court documents must be served on Kumbhani himself.

Founded for the first time in 2016, BitConnect has garnered a lot of attention on social media with its “Lending Program”, which allowed users to borrow their bitcoins in exchange for the appropriate cryptocurrency Bitconnect. The program says it can guarantee a return by using investors’ money to trade the volatility of cryptocurrency markets. ”

Under this program, Cumbhani and his accomplices advertised BitConnect’s alleged proprietary technology, known as BitConnect Trading Bot and Folatility Software, as capable of generating significant profits and guaranteed returns by using investors’ money to trade instability. cryptocurrency exchange markets. However, according to the indictment, BitConnect acted as a Ponzi scheme, paying earlier BitConnect investors with money from later investors, the DOJ’s Public Affairs Office said.

After years of cryptocurrency’s existence, U.S. government officials are battling fraud and cryptocurrency fraud at an ever-increasing rate. Last year, the Ministry of Justice set up a national cryptocurrency enforcement team to handle complex cryptocurrencies, and recently appointed a veteran cybersecurity prosecutor as its director.

BitConnect is just one of many cryptocurrency schemes that law enforcement has maintained in recent months. The founders of BitMex, a cryptocurrency exchange, circumvented anti-laundering laws in the United States and were sentenced to pay $ 20 million in fines. Earlier this month, Justice Department Ilya Liechtenstein and Heather Morgan, two entrepreneurs allegedly tried to launder more than 25,000 bitcoins stolen by Bitfinex hacking in 2016.

Bitcoin rose nearly 18 percent on Monday, pushing the cryptocurrency close to $ 45,000 on Tuesday after the United States and its allies imposed new rounds of sanctions on Russia for invading its neighbor and after Ukraine raised millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin BTCUSD,
+ 0.92%
it last traded at around $ 44,203, up 2.7% in the last 24 hours, according to CoinDesk.