German Greens back Baerbock...
Germany’s Green party named Annalena Baerbock as its candidate for federal chancellor in September’s elections. Baerbock, aged 40, has been an MP since 2013 and co-chair of the party since 2018. She has been credited with helping widen the party’s appeal. The German Greens are currently polling in a close second place, with around 20%-23% of the projected vote, just behind the CDU/CSU, with 27%-31%. Sources: CNBC, DW, Financial Times, The Guardian and New York Times.
... and German conservatives back Laschet
After lengthy party talks, the CDU/CSU alliance named Armin Laschet as its candidate to replace Angela Merkel. Laschet is premier of Germany’s largest state, North Rhine-Westphalia, and CDU party chair. He beat out Markus Söder, the CSU premier of its second largest state, Bavaria. Sources: AFP, BBC, Bloomberg, DW and The Guardian.
EU considers changing contract rules after Blackrock deal
The European Commission is reportedly reviewing conflict-of-interest requirements after the EU ombudsman criticised the awarding of a consulting contract to Blackrock last year. Blackrock--the world’s largest asset manager and a major shareholder of oil and financial sector shares--was hired to help draft green banking rules. Sources: The Guardian and Reuters.
UK gov orders review of Nvidia’s Arm takeover
London started an inquiry into Nvidia’s planned $40bn purchase of Arm, citing national security concerns. Nvidia is a Silicon Valley-based chipmaker; Cambridge-based Arm designs semiconductors. Sources: BBC, CNBC, Financial Times and The Guardian.
Amazon picks rockets for satellite launches
United Launch Alliance (and not Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin) won a contract from Amazon to launch the first 9 of its planned 3,236 satellites for a broadband internet network. Sources: Ars Technica, Bloomberg, CNBC and Geekwire.
Facebook to take on Clubhouse
Competition in the audio-based social network space heated up with Facebook’s announcement that it would introduce “Live Audio Rooms” and “Soundbites”. Sources: BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC and Financial Times.
IBM posts positive revenue growth
Tech giant IBM recorded its first quarterly revenue growth since 2018. Sources: Bloomberg, CNBC and Reuters.
IBM Luxembourg layoffs
IBM and the LCGB trade union have agreed on a redundancy plan for 38 Luxembourg employees. Source: Paperjam.
Robert Schuman Hospitals board shakeup
Directors at the Robert Schuman Hospitals group voted to prevent board members from serving on the boards of both its operating unit and its charitable foundation at the same time. Jean-Louis Schiltz, who had chaired both, will now only lead the Robert Schuman Hospitals Foundation, while Georges Heirendt was named new chair of Hôpitaux Robert Schuman SA. The move follows allegations of vaccination queue jumping. Sources: Delano, Paperjam and RTL.
Latest Luxembourg covid-19 update
Out of 1,609 PCR tests conducted on 18 April, 30 Luxembourg residents tested positive. That is a rate of 4.79 per 100,000 inhabitants (compared to 4.63 on 11 April). There were 116 covid-19 patients in hospital (compared to 128), including 37 in intensive care (compared to 29). The reproduction rate was 0.92, below the target threshold of 1.00 (compared to 0.96). One person died due to the coronavirus on Sunday, bringing the national total to 786. A cumulative 164,091 vaccine doses have been administered, including 45,973 people who have received a second jab. Sources: Delano, health ministry and Paperjam.
Luxtram traffic has doubled
The number of weekly tram passengers roughly doubled since it started running to the central train station, and officials hope the figure will double again when the extension to the Lycée technique in Bonnevoie opens in September 2022. Sources: Delano and Paperjam.
Navalny in prison infirmary
A lawyer for the jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said he was moved to a prison hospital. Navalny has been on a hunger strike over his treatment for 3 weeks. Sources: Bloomberg, NPR, Reuters and RTE.
Russia expels Czech diplomats
Moscow ordered 20 Czech diplomats to leave Russia, as retaliation for Prague naming 18 Russian diplomats (who are allegedly intelligence agents) persona non grata. Sources: BBC, DW, The Guardian and Reuters.
McDonald’s to feature BTS menu (but not in Luxembourg)
K-pop megaband BTS will create a ‘celebrity meal’ for McDonald’s, although it will not be available at the fast food chain’s restaurants in western Europe. Sources: CNBC, CNN, McDonald’s on Twitter and Reuters.
Watch 500 year old design unfold
It’s not new, but Unilad’s Facebook page (among other sites) has a strangely mesmerising video of a father and son building a Leonardo Da Vinci bridge, which is made without using nails or screws based on Da Vinci’s 1502 parabolic arch design, with regular pieces of wood.
Today’s breakfast briefing was written by Aaron Grunwald