For a US visa, you will have to provide fingerprints of all fingers
The United States is tightening its visa regime. According to the State Department, as of December 31, applicants for a US visa will have to provide fingerprints of all fingers. Currently, only two fingerprints are required - the index fingers of the right and left hands. The new measure applies to citizens of all countries that have visa relations with the US.
Meanwhile, the US began fingerprinting foreigners entering the country in December 2003. This innovation was driven by security concerns after the well-known tragic events in New York and Washington. After that, the processing time for US visas increased to one and a half months.
Currently, a visa can be obtained in about a month on average, depending on its category. According to the US Embassy in Moscow, the switch to fingerprinting all fingers will not increase visa processing time, as the procedure is already well established and essentially nothing will change. The visa fee will not increase either. The consular fee will remain $100. The list of required documents will also remain the same.
Netherlands legalized about 20 thousand refugees
As of today, as part of a large-scale refugee amnesty in the Netherlands, the Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service has selected 20,100 refugees who have been offered legalization in the country.
About 16 thousand 'lucky ones' have agreed to this offer and have abandoned ongoing procedures related to obtaining refugee status. It also emerged that 2,700 refugees did not qualify for the large-scale issuance of residence permits in the Netherlands, mainly due to criminal records. About 1,800 of them must leave the country. //RUS.nl
Experts calculated purchasing power
In terms of purchasing power, Ukraine ranks second-to-last in Europe. Moldova is at the bottom of the list of 40 countries. These data were published by the Nuremberg Institute for Market Research.
On average, each Ukrainian citizen has €1,487 at their disposal per year. At the same time, Ukrainians can take comfort in the fact that they are leaders in terms of purchasing power growth. This indicator reached 26%.
The most money in wallets is held by the Swiss and residents of Liechtenstein. They share first place. On average, each citizen in these countries has €27,521 per year, which is almost €10,000 more than in Germany. In second place is Luxembourg with €27,395 per citizen. //Deutsche Welle
Britons have the worst state pension in the EU
The worst state pension in the European Union is paid to Britons. It amounts to only 30.8% of the average salary, according to a study by financial company Aon Consulting, as reported by The Daily Mail. Slightly better is the situation in Ireland, where this figure is 32.5%, and Estonia, where it is 32.9%.
The newspaper writes that a quarter of British pensioners have to save on basic needs. In addition, the retirement age for Britons is above the European average at 62.6 years instead of 61. The basic pension in the UK is £87.2 per week (about $800 per month).
The best country for state pensioners is Greece, where the pension is 95.7% of the average salary. It is followed by Luxembourg and the Netherlands with 88.3% and 81.9% respectively.
On average, the state pension in the European Union is about 60% of earnings. Among the four largest European economies, only Italy has a pension-to-salary ratio above the European average. //Lenta.ru
Detroit turned out to be the most criminal city in the US
According to a study by the publishing group Congressional Quarterly Inc., Detroit, Michigan, is the most dangerous and crime-ridden city in the US, the Associated Press reports.
The study is based on FBI statistics on crime rates in 378 US cities with populations over 75,000. The authors compared the number of murders, rapes, robberies, aggravated assaults, burglaries, and car thefts per capita.
In the top ten most dangerous cities for 2007, Detroit displaced St. Louis, Missouri, from the top spot. Flint, also in Michigan, came in third, followed by Oakland, California, in fourth, and Camden, New Jersey, in fifth. Next are Birmingham, Alabama; North Charleston, South Carolina; Memphis, Tennessee; and another California city, Richmond. Cleveland, Ohio, rounds out the top ten.
Based on FBI statistics, researchers concluded that the safest US city is Mission Viejo, California. The top five least crime-ridden also include two cities in New York state: Clarkstown and Amherst in second and fourth places, as well as Brick Township, New Jersey, in third, and Sugar Land, Texas, in fifth.
The company has been compiling an annual crime ranking of cities for the 14th time. Meanwhile, some organizations have expressed outrage over the publication of such studies. In particular, a press release on the FBI's website states that the authors fail to take into account various factors affecting crime rates in a particular region. 'Therefore, the ranking leads to a simplified and/or incomplete analysis that often creates a misleading impression that negatively affects citizens,' the agency's comment says. In turn, the American Society of Criminology issued a statement calling such studies an 'irresponsible misuse' of crime statistics. //Lenta.ru