The European Union created the euro in order to unite as many member states as possible under one currency. However, according to research by Franz Buscha, Professor of Economics at Westminster Business School, the currency union has done the complete opposite and this is only being exacerbated by the turmoil in Catalonia.
Catalonia’s regional government asked the European Union to intervene in its dispute with the central government in Spain, in order to avoid a “traumatic” split. Catalan president Carles Puigdemont claimed that the independence referendum held on Oct. 1, in which 90% of the 2.3 million ballots were cast in favor of breaking away from Spain, is “valid and binding.” Ballot boxes were seized by police during the vote, some polling stations were forcibly closed beforehand, and generally the conditions for an accurate count of citizens’ preferences were lacking.
A gunman identified as Stephen Paddock killed 58 people and injured more than 515 others by firing from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada towards the Route 91 Harvest country music festival.
The US ranks a dismal 34th place for life expectancy in the World Economic Forum’s highly-anticipated Global Competitiveness Report. However, people living in major financial centers in Europe and Asia, such as Hong Kong or Switzerland, can expect to live longer.
Hurtling towards a “hard Brexit,” Britain is likely to leave the European Union in March 2019 without tariff-free access to the bloc’s single market. And it looks like the UK is going to lose a lot if that happens, according to a study by global law firm Baker McKenzie and economic consultancy Oxford Economics.
Spanish politicians are among the least trusted compared to their counterparts in other wealthy countries, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report. And judging by the Spanish government’s treatment of voters in the Catalonia independence referendum, it’s no surprise.
The ballot papers for Catalonia’s independence referendum contain just one question: “Do you want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic?”—and people can only answer “Yes” or “No.” But it’s getting ugly for Catalans who are trying to vote in today’s (Oct. 1) ”illegal” and “evil” independence referendum.
Catalonia’s regional parliament kicked off its latest campaign for independence on Sept. 13, despite the Spanish government declaring plans for an Oct. 1 referendum “illegal and undemocratic.“
Europe’s biggest airline, Ryanair, is facing enforcement action from the the Civil Aviation Authority, Britain’s aviation regulator, for ”persistently misleading” (pdf) passengers about their compensation rights following the cancellation of around 20,000 flights.
The nightmare for Europe’s biggest budget airline, Ryanair, and its passengers just got worse. It just cancelled another 18,000 flights, on top of the 2,000 announced last week.
Companies under pressure (paywall) to close the gender pay gap might want to look to Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce. The head of one of the world’s largest companies, with a market cap of $66 billion, just ranked second on a top 10 list of “Global Champions of Women in Business” compiled by the Financial Times and HERoes, a workplace diversity advocacy group.
Singapore is the best place to live in the world as an expat, according to HSBC’s 10th annual “Expat Explorer: Broadening Perspectives” survey.
Britain isn’t leaving the European Union for another 18 months, but expats are starting to freak out about what’s going to happen to the UK economy—and its political stability.
A wealthy sheikh from Oman paid £25 million ($34 million) to buy two flats so his family, friends, and staff could live next to luxury department store Harrods in London’s Knightsbridge neighborhood.
There’s a lot of fanfare about Theresa May’s big Brexit speech today. In Florence, the British prime minister is going to spell out how she can help Brexit work more “smoothly,” namely by pitching a two-year transitional deal that takes effect after the UK officially leaves the EU in March 2019. The proposal is said to include payments worth €20-40 billion ($24-48 billion), which is tiny compared to what Britain actually owes, during that two-year period. The transition would allow a permanent trade deal between the bloc and the UK to be ironed out, the thinking goes.
Thin celebrities are partly responsible for inventing a new term: ”skinny shaming.”
Ryanair, Europe’s biggest budget airline, canceled 40 to 50 flights every day for the next six weeks because the carrier didn’t properly schedule time off for its pilots. A recent change to the way it organizes vacations left the airline with a backlog of staff that needed to take a holiday, leading to a shortage of pilots.
Twitter battles tend to descend into a dumpster fire of insults. But when a duel emerged between two of Britain’s most prestigious museums, it wasn’t just entertaining, it was educational.
Updated at 3:00pm in London
Britain’s prime minister Theresa May has made it clear, since she took over from her predecessor in July last year, that she would take the UK out of the European Union single market so the country can have full control over immigration. This is called a “hard Brexit” as it essentially means quitting the union without a deal in place on issues like the movement of people or trade. But the president of the European Commission thinks that by the time Britain leaves the EU on Mar. 29, 2019, a “hard Brexit” is unlikely.
Britain’s chancellor threw a lifeline to the financial services sector last night (Sept. 13) in a speech that suggests that the industry could get special treatment after Brexit. It’s a big deal for the City, after all, dozens of banks and businesses have been vocal about how they are looking to relocate or expand operations in Europe and US, to counteract a “hard Brexit.”
The security breach at Equifax, one of the three largest credit bureaus in the US, compromised sensitive and private details of 143 million customers, which accounts for 44% of the US population. Details include Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and driver’s license numbers. British people are also affected too, with nearly 50% of the UK population estimated to be affected by the hack.
One of the most important bills related to Britain’s exit from the European Union just cleared a crucial test in the UK parliament, allowing it to proceed on its journey to final passage. The EU (Withdrawal) Bill, previously referred to as the “Great Repeal Bill,” is meant to serve as a linchpin keeping some order during the chaos of Brexit, scheduled for Mar. 29, 2019.
There are two huge things happening that could make the road to Brexit even more chaotic than it already is.
