Trump’s Syria withdrawal announcement shocks allies
Donald Trump has ordered US troops to leave Syria, declaring victory over Islamic State. The surprise move drew criticism from senators in Trump’s own Republican party and from the UK government, who said IS had not been defeated. Reported by the BBC, CNN, Guardian, Sky News and Wall Street Journal.
Court rejects bid to continue Ghosn detention
A Tokyo court rejected a request from prosecutors to extend the detention of Carlos Ghosn. That means the former Nissan chairman (and current Renault CEO) could theoretically be freed on bail before Christmas. Ghosn and Greg Kelly, a member of Nissan’s board, were arrested over financial and tax irregularities. Both men have denied the allegations. Reported by the Financial Times, Nikkei Asian Review and Reuters.
Estonia makes first Danske Bank arrests
Estonian authorities have arrested 10 former employees of Danske Bank as part of the inquiry into what is thought to be Europe’s largest money laundering scandal, allegedly involving €200bn in suspect funds. All 10 are Estonian citizens. Reported by Bloomberg, City AM, and the Financial Times.
EU’s no deal plans
The European Commission outlined several temporary measures to keep travel, trade and financial services links functioning in case of a no deal Brexit. Reported by the BBC, DW and Reuters.
Italy & EU reach budget deal
The European Commission and the Italian government have ended their two month dispute over Italy’s budget, with Rome agreeing to follow EU deficit rules. Reported by CNBC, the Financial Times and New York Times.
Becker at top of “Top 100” economic decision-makers list
Norbert Becker, an independent company director, Alain Kinsch, head of the consultancy EY in Luxembourg, and Caroline Mart, a journalist at RTL, were named respectively the first, second and third most influential people in Luxembourg’s economy during the Paperjam “Top 100” ceremony on Wednesday evening. Details on the Delano site.
Fed hikes interest rates
The Federal Reserve, the US central bank, raised its benchmark interest rate (by 0.25%, to the 2.25%-2.5% range) and signalled more hikes were ahead, despite Donald Trump’s objections. Reported by the BBC, DW, Financial Times and Reuters.
GSK to break up and start joint venture with Pfizer
One of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, GlaxoSmithKline, said it would split itself in two and merge its consumer health business with rival drugmaker Pfizer. Reported by CNBC, the Financial Times and NBC News.
More Facebook privacy revelations
Facebook gave more access to private user data than previously disclosed, according to the New York Times. Facebook let Microsoft secretly see users’ friends, let Netflix and Spotify scan private messages, Amazon acquire users’ email address and Yahoo see friends’ posts, among other privileges. Additional reporting by Reuters and
Techcrunch. Last week Facebook admitted that app developers had been able to access photos that users had uploaded but not published.
Make parking pricier, not transport free: columnist
Luxembourg received a huge amount of positive international press attention earlier this month with the new coalition government’s promise to make all public transport in the country free. But Bloomberg columnist Leonid Bershidsky was less impressed. He cited a similar city-level schemes in Tallinn, Estonia, which did not reduce traffic congestion, and programmes in Belgium and France that became or were expected to become unaffordable. In other words, he argued, few places could replicate Luxembourg’s subsidies and they won’t be that effective. Bershidsky floated the “understandably unpopular” idea of dramatically raising parking fees.
Winter looks
GQ likes these 12 “mock-neck sweaters”.