Consumers and businesses in the Asia Pacific region can now apply for bitcoin-linked Mastercard credit, debit, and prepaid cards. The card giant partnered with cryptocurrency service providers Amber, Bitkub, and CoinJar to enable customers to pay for regular purchases with BTC. On the backend, cryptocurrency in the user’s account is instantly converted into fiat currency to allow the payment. https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/mastercard-launches-bitcoin-payment-cards-in-asia-pacific

Legislation including the Civil Code, Tax Code, Budgetary Code, Criminal Code, and Administrative Code, must be amended for the establishment of the digital ruble. Alexey Minaev, deputy director of the development department of the digital economy of the Ministry of Economy, said: “At the very least, it must be said that it will be possible to pay with a digital ruble, unlike conventional digital currencies.”
The Central Bank of Russia, which announced that 12 banks would be involved in the pilot trial and a roadmap will be developed following the results of the trial. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/russia-begin-digital-ruble-platform-164308593.html

Wheat climbed from Minneapolis to Paris after a Russian official suggested the country could raise grain-export taxes if prices surged, adding to concerns about an already tight global market. Russia could revise the formula behind its floating grain-export tax if there is a significant increase in global prices, Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev said at a government meeting Wednesday. The tax has been in place since mid-year in an effort to slow sales abroad and cool domestic food inflation. Russia also plans to set a grain-export quota again in the first half of next year, he said. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-10/wheat-jumps-as-russia-tax-comments-add-fuel-to-a-jittery-market

The London Metal Exchange is considering whether it should sometimes block traders from withdrawing inventory from its warehouses, in order to guard against running out of metal entirely. Such a move would mark a significant shift in philosophy for the 144-year-old LME, which has long trumpeted its role as a “market of last resort” -- into which producers can deliver unwanted metal in times of glut, and to which consumers can turn for supplies in times of scarcity. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/copper-chaos-lme-mulls-rules-193313183.html

Wheat prices climbed above $8 a bushel for the first time in nearly nine years, with demand for the commodity going strong and supplies expected to end the 2021-2022 marketing year at their lowest in more than a decade. “Global demand remains robust at record, or near-record, levels, with foreign buyers aggressively purchasing wheat supplies during the past several weeks,” https://www.barrons.com/articles/higher-wheat-prices-lead-to-rising-bread-costs-51636626601

The Kremlin said on Friday that Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko had not consulted Moscow before raising the possibility of cutting natural gas flows to Europe, and that Russia was a reliable exporter that fulfilled its obligations. https://news.yahoo.com/kremlin-says-lukashenko-did-not-104429136.html

USA - Supply chain issues are starting to hit the Midwest and part of the problem with getting goods where they need to go is the lack of qualified truck drivers. Right now, Bob Costello, the Chief Economist for the American Trucking Association, tells 6 News that there’s a shortage of nearly 80,000 drivers. He says the industry needs to recruit one million new drivers over the next nine years to replace retiring drivers. https://www.wowt.com/2021/11/05/supply-chain-issues-stemming-truck-driver-shortage/

The world’s largest meat supplier JBS S.A. (Brazil) is finding that a shortage of workers are affecting operations in every developed nation, limiting production increases and raising costs. The issue is more acute in the U.S. though it also impacts operations in Europe, Canada and Australia, with a lack of direct and indirect workers, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-11/top-meat-firm-jbs-says-labor-woes-hurting-business-across-globe

Canada - The Toronto Transit Commission has confirmed that the personal information of tens of thousands of employees may have been compromised as a result of a ransomware attack on its systems last month. The TTC, which operates Toronto’s bus, subway, streetcar and paratransit systems, said the compromised data includes the names, addresses and Social Insurance Numbers of 25,000 past and present employees. https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/10/toronto-cyberattack-employee-data/

Corn prices in China have pushed to multi-month highs despite the advancing harvest after wet weather slowed crop collection just as record energy prices pushed up grain drying and logistics costs, analysts and traders said. "Rains and snow delayed sales of the new crop to market in Liaoning (province), the northwestern and northern regions, while logistics at ports in Liaoning were suspended due to the bad weather," https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/china-corn-prices-rise-as-bad-weather-delays-crop-shipments-2021-11-12

USA- The FBI email system had reportedly suffered a hack on Saturday morning amid several reports of messages sent from the agency's email infrastructure purporting to be a warning from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) about a cyberattack. "While the emails are indeed being sent from infrastructure that is owned by the FBI/DHS (the LEEP portal), our research shows that these emails *are* fake." Some social media users reported receiving the strangely worded email, which refers to "a sophisticated chain attack" and references "the extortion gang TheDarkOverlord." https://a.msn.com/01/en-us/AAQEYTJ?ocid=winp-st

Soybean futures rose about 2% on Friday, led by soaring soymeal futures tied to technical buying, brisk demand for the high-protein feed ingredient and logistical hurdles, traders said. "The feeling is, we are going to see the Chinese trying to feed more soybean meal and less corn, with the corn tighter than meal," "The ethanol guys have these massive margins, so they are running hot and bidding up to buy all the corn they can," https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/grains-soybeans-climb-as-soymeal-surges-u.s.-wheat-nears-9-year-top-2021-11-12

USA - Inflation hits highest mark in 31 years. The federal government reported that inflation has surged over the past 12 months as the U.S. economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. The consumer price index increased by 0.9% in October, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said, leaving prices 6.2% higher than a year earlier. It's the largest 12-month increase since 1990. https://a.msn.com/00/en-us/AAQEWHj?ocid=winp-st

Iraq - 447 families who were forced from their land in Nineveh by IS and then returned to it after the jihadists' defeat were forced to leave again between June and July this year because of the drought.
"Nearly all, if not all, the families were displaced due to inability to feed their cattle," the IOM said. In 2020, 927,000 tonnes of wheat were harvested in Nineveh, making it a "self-sufficient" province. https://www.ibtimes.com/drought-forces-iraqi-farmers-leave-their-land-3337388

US - Farmers have no other choice than to search for used tractors, equipment, and parts at auction houses because the strike at Deere is inhibiting their ability to source new parts or tractors. Thanks to the Deere strike and supply chain woes, secondary farm equipment markets are seeing an abundance of demand that is driving up prices. Some farmers cannot source parts or find suitable tractors for the next season, which may affect their plantings. https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/used-tractor-prices-skyrocket-amid-deere-strike

An extreme snowstorm is wreaking havoc across north-eastern China, as record-breaking blizzards sweep across the region. Meteorologists studying the snowstorm claim it was an extremely random and sudden extreme weather event. This marks the highest recorded snowfall since 1905. Large parts of Inner Mongolia have also been cut off. Officials in northwest China have responded by ramping up coal imports and maximising energy production capacity. https://www.express.co.uk/news/weather/1520396/China-snowstorm-blizzard-freak-weather-extreme-Mongolia-Liaoning-latest-news-vn

The actors responsible for selling these credentials range from newcomers to the most prolific network access brokers. These actors have obtained these credentials by leveraging well-known vulnerabilities in remote access solutions. The logistics industry is constantly targeted, and the ramifications of a cyberattack can have a crippling ripple effect on the global economy. At a time when this sector is struggling to keep things operating, a successful attack could bring this industry to a screeching halt. https://intel471.com/blog/shipping-companies-ransomware-credentials

Supply woes from Brazil to Vietnam sent coffee prices to a seven-year high with poor weather, shipping snarls and soaring fertilizer costs threatening to curb supply. Arabica futures for March delivery rose as much as 4.8% to $2.235 a pound in New York, the highest for a most-active contract since October 2014. https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/food-entertainment/grocery/coffee-prices-hit-highest-in-seven-years-on-global-supply-threats/87708624

About a 10th of the world already doesn't have enough to eat. The fertiliser crisis means major staple crops -- corn, rice and wheat -- are in further jeopardy, sending the Bloomberg Grains Spot Subindex up about 4% in the past month. With fertilizer markets now seeing unprecedented supply shocks and record prices, it means even more food inflation across the world. "Farmers could pass the higher cost of fertilisers on to consumers in the form of lower crop production and the subsequent higher food prices," https://www.independent.ie/business/farming/agri-business/agri-food/fertiliser-crisis-means-higher-prices-for-every-plate-of-food-41052408.html

Based on the framework of Ethereum, Israel has begun development of its own digital shekel. The Bank of Israel has trialled a central bank digital currency (CBDC) and has taken a firm step towards the future of a cashless society and complete elimination of the need for traditional banking with a digital currency. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/israel-starts-development-digital-shekel-164817788.html

Cybercriminals are targeting Alibaba Elastic Computing Service (ECS) instances, disabling certain security features to further their cryptomining goals. Alibaba ECS has an auto-scaling feature, so that the service will automatically expand the availability of computing resources depending on demand. This gives cryptominers unlimited resources and could result in bill shock for the victim. https://threatpost.com/cybercriminals-alibaba-cloud-cryptomining-malware/176348/