Body recovered from Sala plane wreckage
Authorities have recovered a body from the wrecked plane carrying the Cardiff City football player Emiliano Sala. The Piper Malibu plane flying him from Nantes in France to Cardiff crashed in the Channel on 21 January. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch did not say if they had found Sala or the pilot David Ibbotson. Reported by the BBC, CNN and Guardian.
Luxembourg’s productive workers
The grand duchy had the second “highest rate of labour productivity, effectively economic output per hour of work, of any advanced economy in 2017”, as the Irish Times put it, according to the OECD. The top three were Ireland ($99.50), Luxembourg ($98.50) and Norway ($83.10).
Chinese green bonds
The grand duchy is actively promoting the Luxembourg Green Exchange, the world’s only platform for environmentally friendly debt securities, in China. “We expect there will be a lot of Chinese companies and banks to list their green bonds in Luxembourg,” Pierre Gramegna, the DP finance minister, told the South China Morning Post.
China entering big fund index
Chinese bonds will be added to the $54trn Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Index, used for running passive funds, starting in April, reported Funds Europe, Reuters and the South China Morning Post. After 20 months, the Chinese yuan will be the tracker’s fourth largest currency.
Rail merger blocked
The European Commission has blocked a merger of the rail businesses of Alstrom and Siemens on anti-trust grounds. The French and German firms make trains and signals systems, and say they face increased competition from China’s CRRC. But Margrethe Vestager, the European competition commissioner, said the merger would create a monopoly in Europe. Reported by the AFP, BBC and CNBC.
British business “infuriated” by lack of trade deal progress
The UK government told business leaders in a confidential meeting that it will not finalise trade deals with many non-EU countries before the 29 March Brexit date, according to the Financial Times. The admission, said the newspaper, “infuriated many executives taking part in a briefing”. Officials did not provide a definitive list of which countries had or had not agreed to trade arrangements to replace EU accords.
Brexit quote of the week
“I’ve been wondering what that special place in hell looks like for those who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely.” So said Donald Tusk, president of the European Council after speaking with Ireland’s prime minister on Wedensday. Reported by DW, France 24 and the Guardian.
Apple settles back tax bill with Paris
Apple agreed to pay roughly €500m in back taxes to France, reported the Register and Reuters. That strengthens the French proposal for an EU-wide tax on tech giants’ turnover. For more on the digital tax proposal, check out the current edition of Delano magazine.
Trump names critic to head development bank
Donald Trump has nominated David Malpass to lead the World Bank. Malpass, currently a US treasury undersecretary, has been an outspoken critic of both the World Bank and IMF. Reported by DW, Politico and USA Today.
Climate change
The world is in the middle of the warmest decade on record and the planet could warm by 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, breaching global climate change goals, by 2023. That’s according to a Met Office report covered by the Financial Times, Independent and Guardian.
Macedonia, now North Macedonia, inks Nato accession agreement
Nato has signed an accord with North Macedonia paving the way for the Balkan country to join the defence bloc. The deal has to be ratified by all 29 current Nato members. Reported by the AFP, BBC and Reuters.
Mini-military drones
US Army soldiers will soon be equipped with pocket-sized “personal-reconnaissance drones”, according to Business Insider.
Corduroy shirts
It looks like corduroy shirts are going to be “in” this spring. At least according to GQ.
Today’s breakfast briefing was written by Aaron Grunwald