CDPRO

Credit markets will withstand Evergrande shocks

by Neil Unmack via Reuters Breakingviews Is China Evergrande another Lehman Brothers moment? Not at all, according to the $40 trillion global corporate debt market. International credit investors have good…

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UK trucker shortage tows inflation in its wake

by Ed Cropley via Reuters Breakingviews One way to stop a run on a bank is to drive a lorry-load of cash up to the front door and unload it…

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Ewropej: Freedom of expression ‘crucial in the EU’, Casa says

Member of the European Parliament David Casa has promised to work to ensure freedom of expression in Malta and the European Parliament. In view of the recent fake websites as…

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Ewropej: Polluters must bear the cost of their environmental footprint, Cyrus Engerer says

Polluters must bear the cost of their environmental footprint, Member of the European Parliament Cyrus Engerer said. He added that this was a European Union principle. The European Court of…

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CorporateDispatch PRO – The Journal – October Edition

Angela Merkel, a powerful advocate for international cooperation, has been the de facto EU leader for the past decade. She was a driving force which strengthened the Union and whose…

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Where is Afghanistan?

Google searches for Afghanistan exploded by ten times in August as foreign affairs made a rare foray into mainstream news across the globe. The Taliban stunned the world with its…

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A break from tourism

by Jesmond Saliba In just one year, global tourism dropped by 70 per cent, sending figures back to what they were 30 years ago. One of the first actions by…

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A place for the community

by Dr. Julian Zarb A fifth of the world’s population travelled for tourism purposes in 2019. That year, the United Nations World Trade Organisation estimated a record total international expenditure…

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Travelling with Covid-19

The International Air Transport Association declared 2020 as the worst-ever year for aviation globally. Operators are estimated to have lost $85 billion collectively, registering an unprecedented net profit margin of…

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Ewropej: Member states may not always fully respect fundamental rights in migration, MEP says

“There is some good reason to believe that Member States might not fully respect fundamental rights when it comes to migrants, Member of the European Parliament Birgit Sippel said. The…

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Ewropej: The EU still feels far away and complicated

The EU still feels far away and complicated for citizens, companies, and even for political parties and government sometimes, MEP Abir Al-Sahlani said. The Renew MEP said that she wishes…

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Pfizer makes good on Covid M&A capacity

by Jennifer Saba via Reuters Breakingviews Pfizer is taking its Covid-19 vaccine cash bounty and putting it to use. The U.S. drugmaker, valued at $273 billion at Friday’s market close,…

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Xiaomi is primed to scale Mount Microchip

by Sharon Lam & Robyn Mak via Reuters Breakingviews Xiaomi’s wiring is nearly ready to include microchips. The $82 billion Chinese company shipped 53 million smartphones in the second quarter,…

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Maersk’s green ships have first-mover disadvantage

by Ed Cropely via Reuters Breakingviews A.P. Moller-Maersk’s laudable environmental haste could land the Danish shipping giant with a first-mover disadvantage. The $53 billion firm is splurging $1.4 billion on…

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The world’s Olympian moment

In July 2011, Japan announced its bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games. Ten years later, the sporting events should have been a proud memory for the city of Tokyo;…

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Going for universal gold

by Jesmond Saliba The world looked a different place when sports events were suddenly banned at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Ironically, though, the fight against the virus became…

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New tracks for sport

by Kevin Azzopardi KEVIN AZZOPARDI Half a century ago, sport was generally considered a leisure activity pursued mainly for socialisation and recreation. Things have changed drastically since then, and virtually…

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The state of play

Canada’s Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau actively promoted ice hockey as the country’s national sport in the 1970s and 1980s. His emphasis was more than a simple acknowledgement of a popular…

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EU report shows positive developments in Member States

by Keith Zahra The European Commission has published the second EU-wide Report on the Rule of Law. The 2021 report looks at the new developments since last September, deepening the…

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Oil producers do themselves a favour

by George Hay via Reuters Breakingviews Saudi Arabia has wised up. The de facto leader of the 13-strong Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, plus 10 allies including Russia who…

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Ewropej: We can overcome the challenges our country faces together

“There was a lot on my agenda during the past week as Parliament held the Plenary Session in Strasbourg,” MEP David Casa told this journal. Speaking ahead a meeting of…

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Commission seeks public feedback on websites and apps

by Keith Zahra The EU has launched a public consultation on the review of the Web Accessibility Directive. Since 23 June 2021, all public sector websites and mobile apps in…

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UBS’s Ralph Hamers is a CEO in search of a problem

by Liam Proud via Reuters Breakingviews New bank chief executives often inherit messes. Credit Suisse’s Thomas Gottstein took over after a spying scandal, while Citigroup’s Jane Fraser and HSBC’s, Noel…

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Ewropej: We must keep working to ensure the financing of Malta’s transport and energy projects

Member of the European Parliament Josianne Cutajar, in a plenary meeting in Strasbourg earlier this month, said that geographic seclusion from the European continent makes it important for Malta to…

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Commission adopts new EU Forest Strategy

by Keith Zahra The European Commission has adopted a New EU Forest Strategy for 2030, a flagship initiative of the European Green Deal that builds on the EU Biodiversity Strategy…

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Intel might spend $30 bln to slim down

by Robert Cyran via Reuters Breakingviews Intel may buy chip manufacturer GlobalFoundries for $30 billion, says a Wall Street Journal report. That seems logical in light of Intel’s production problems,…

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New rules seek safe and compliant products on the EU market

by Keith Zahra The EU Market Surveillance and Compliance Regulation came into force in July 2021. The new rules aim to ensure that products placed on the EU market comply…

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A new pitch to the world

The world convened in the diameter stretching from Cornwall to Brussels in June. Not the entire world; quite a small part of it, actually. But the back-to-back meetings of the…

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Ewropej: European Health Union must revolve around patients’ needs

“It is time for a European Health Union that revolves around patients’ needs,” Member of the European Parliament Cyrus Engerer said. “The [Covid-19] pandemic was an eyeopener for all and…

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Ewropej: Long way to go to break gender stereotypes in the business community

There is a long way to go to break gender stereotypes in the business community, MEP Josianne Cutajar told CDpro. The Socialists and Democrats MEP is shadow rapporteur to the…

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Cultivating an economy of wellbeing

In the past two decades, there were various attempts to create new metrics that determine tangible ways how to translate macro-economic wellbeing into an improved quality of life. While the…

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Not so quiet on the eastern front

Founded in response to unease with the USSR, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation has gone through years of wilderness since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.…

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Seven nations and China

The group of seven summit in June was refreshingly dull. Leaders were careful to project a sense of stability to the world while playing to their domestic audiences with a…

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North Sea oil IPOs had best take the plunge soon

by George Hay via Reuters Breakingviews North Sea oil companies hoping to float should strip off and take the plunge. Sam Laidlaw, formerly boss of UK utility Centrica (CNA.L), is…

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Bike sharing shifts into a more manageable gear

by Pete Sweeney via Reuters Breakingviews Bike-sharing companies are back in the saddle after a brutal wipe-out. Survivors are now pedalling their way onto public markets in a fresh test…

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Ray-Ban maker may finally live up to merger vision

by Lisa Jucca via Reuters Breakingviews EssilorLuxottica (ESLX.PA) may finally live up to its merger vision. The Paris-listed company on Friday ended the power-sharing pact underpinning the 2018 union that…

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The Tobacco Products Directive: Five years on

The European Commission published its first report on the Tobacco Products Directive, five years after it became applicable in 2016. Following the introduction of this Directive, the EU has witnessed…

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More thorough checks for firearm licences from next year

The Commission has introduced new rules on the systematic exchange of information between member states on refusals to grant authorisations to own a firearm. An estimated 30,000 refusals are issued…

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Eating for your genes

From low-fat to low-carb and from ketogenic to paleolithic, there was no shortage of experimental diets in recent decades. Nutrition experts leveraged food science and human biology to develop healthier…

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Holding the field

Most of the world’s food comes from the ground. Whether raw or infinitely processed, agricultural products are, by far, the largest source of nutrition. But as countries become richer and…

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The sweet and sour of hunger action

With World War II still raging, in 1943, governments from over 40 countries convened to fight another cross-border threat: hunger. Within two years, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) was…

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Crime shouldn’t pay: Why fighting money laundering matters

Among the most pervasive threats to the international economy over the past century, money laundering – or the act by which criminals seek to clean illegally-made gains – has rapidly…

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Inglorious food

by Jesmond Saliba Since at least classical antiquity, civilizations have been longing for an abundance of food. The symbol of the cornucopia was handed down from Greek god to French…

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Shooting the messenger

One night in a turbulent week, news outlets reporting from Gaza City were tipped off about an imminent air assault. The target was their offices. The Al-Jalaa tower housed eight…

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EU to discuss EEA states’ financial contribution for 2021-2027

The Council has adopted a decision authorising the opening of negotiations with Iceland, the Principality of Liechtenstein and the Kingdom of Norway for an agreement on the future financial contribution…

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EU Digital COVID Certificate: EP and Council reach agreement on Commission proposal

The European Parliament and the Council on the Regulation have reached a political agreement governing the EU Digital COVID Certificate. This means that the certificate (previously called the Digital Green…

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The Maltese need to be protected from their own government’

Maltese and Gozitan families need to be protected from their own government, since the Labour government is protecting criminals, MEP David Casa said. He was speaking after the European Parliament…

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Ewropej: Human rights approach needed regarding cannabis legislation

“The war on drugs has failed and a human rights approach is needed on the matter,” Maltese MEP Cyrus Engerer said. The Labour Party MEP was speaking after his office…

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Vega: The first world-class supercomputer in the EU

by Keith Zahra The European Commission together with the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking has launched the operation of the Vega Supercomputer in Maribor, Slovenia. This marks the launch of…

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The first Biden season

These days, far fewer headlines quote the American president than the world had gotten used to in the last four years. To no one’s surprise, Joe Biden has kept a…

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Crossing the Brexit minefield

As spray paint sprawls across public walls and store shutters in Belfast, pronouncing the death of the Good Friday Agreement, the worst fears of the Brexit pact are coming back…

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Vaccination of the fittest

By mid-April, countries around the world administered almost 900 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines. Just a year earlier, confirmed cases of the new disease had risen to one million globally.…

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One hundred & counting

by Jesmond Saliba This year started on the doorstep of change. Historic developments towards the end of 2020 meant that events that had become part of our lives, whether for…

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Ewropej: David Casa pledges to continue to fight ‘those defrauding Malta’

MEP David Casa has pledged to continue the fight against those defrauding the people of Malta and Gozo. “It has never been more important to ensure that the European Parliament…

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EU launches €100 million fund to support vaccination in Africa

by Keith Zahra The EU has formally launched a €100 million humanitarian initiative in support of the COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in Africa. As announced by the President of the European…

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Ewropej: ‘Green Deal should keep in mind island’s challenges in transport and connectivity’

The European Green Deal should go hand in hand with measures that reduce the gap regions face in transport and connectivity, MEP Josianne Cutajar said. The role islands can play…

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Consultation about electoral rights of mobile EU citizens

by Keith Zahra The European Commission has launched a public consultation on the electoral rights of mobile EU citizens, as part of the follow-up of the 2020 Citizenship Report. The…

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