World News

The social function of communities

by Prof. JosAnn Cutajar A community consists of a group of individuals or families that share certain values, interests, services, institutions, and/or geographical proximity. Fellin (2001) defines ‘community’ as a…

Read More Here

The canary leaves the coal mine

In early 1882, Holborn Circus in central London came alight with a burst of electricity generated by a newly-built facility nearby. The Holborn Viaduct power station became the world’s first…

Read More Here

EC forecasts challenging Winter for Europe, but light at end of the tunnel

by Keith Zahra The European Commission is forecasting a challenging winter but sees light at the end of the tunnel as the vaccination process gathers pace. In its Winter 2021…

Read More Here

Stronger trade enforcement rules enacted

by Keith Zahra Robust new trade enforcement rules have entered into force to further strengthen the EU’s toolbox in defending its interests. With the update of the EU’s Trade Enforcement…

Read More Here

MEPs call for better regulation of social media

by Keith Zahra MEPs have called for democratic oversight of tech giants to safeguard freedom of expression. View and Download your free edition of CD Pro here:

Read More Here

Greek banking reform takes hazy turn

by Lisa Jucca via Reuters Greece’s reform of its hard-hit financial sector is taking a hazy turn. On the eve of a big recapitalisation of Piraeus Bank, the head of…

Read More Here

Russian retail IPO offers crowded bet on misery

by Dasha Afanasieva via Reuters A stagnant economy, sanctions and low oil prices are the standard risk factors that Russian companies hoping to go public tend to flag to investors.…

Read More Here

Vivendi’s $40 billion music spinoff is Bolloré shuffle

by Liam Proud via Reuters The only surprising thing about Vincent Bolloré’s plan to spin off a chunk of Universal Music is that he didn’t think of it sooner. The…

Read More Here

Myanmar on the brink

Hours before the Burmese parliament was set to certify the results of the general election held in November, the country’s powerful armed forces seized control of government and declared a…

Read More Here

Commission to consult on environmental crime

by Keith Zahra The Commission has launched a public consultation on environmental crime, as parts of its efforts to review EU rules on the subject. The results of this public…

Read More Here

Shared scooters jump into a profitable future

by Karen Kwok via Reuters Electric scooters are not kids’ toys anymore. The pandemic has helped turn two-wheeled transportation into an essential part of urban traffic. More cities are also…

Read More Here

Housing in Malta – The Cultural Goals vs. Institutionalised Means Conundrum

by Dr. Maria Brown The current housing situation in Malta needs to be contextualised in a mainstreamed culture where home ownership is considered as the ideal tenure status (Parliamentary Secretariat…

Read More Here

The calm during the storm

The invocation of Article 50 by the UK opened the door to a whirlwind that has blown past two British Prime Ministers, two EU Commissions, two UK elections, an EU…

Read More Here

Commission launches a public consultation on the digital levy

by Keith Zahra The European Commission has launched a public consultation on a new digital levy. This initiative aims to ensure fair taxation in the digital economy, while at the…

Read More Here

A great deal of expectation

After years of hard-nosed negotiations, false starts and inconclusive talks, the post-Brexit deal announced by the UK and the EU on December 24th felt nothing short of a Christmas miracle.…

Read More Here

Portugal sets out Presidency’s priorities

by Keith Zahra Portugal has taken over the Presidency of the European Council for the fourth time from January 2021. View and Download your free edition of CD Pro here:

Read More Here

A rocky road to the White House

As a young boy, Joe Biden used to say he wanted to become President of the United States when he grew up. Sure enough, he announced his first presidential bid…

Read More Here

EU conferred more powers to protect its trade interests

by Keith Zahra The European Parliament has approved the strengthening of the so-called enforcement regulation, which allows the EU to protect its trade interests against partners acting illegally. View and…

Read More Here

Commission sets out key actions to beat Covid-19

by Keith Zahra The EU executive set out a number of actions needed to step up the fight against the pandemic. View and Download your free edition of CD Pro…

Read More Here

CDE Viewpoint – Honesty is the only policy

by Jesmond Saliba Our wonderful era of boundless information is accompanied by an equal potential for misinformation. The miracle of powerful knowledge-sharing that launched humanity into the third millennium has…

Read More Here

Even with a vaccine, we need to adjust our mindset to playing the COVID-19 long game

Australia - Incredibly, a whole year has passed since the first emergence of COVID-19. What looked like a temporary inconvenience at first is turning into a permanent fixture that might…

Read More Here

CorporateDispatchPRO eJournal – A year in review, a year to preview

The word ‘disruption’ was spoken with quasi-glorification in thought-leadership circles until disruption hit in a very real way in 2020. In fact, the world beyond the pandemic is being propelled…

Read More Here

Stoking embers in Ethiopia

by Tonio Galea A year ago, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace after formally ending a two-decade conflict with neighbouring Eritrea. Some weeks ago,…

Read More Here

Eurozone facing doubledip recession

by Keith Zahra The euro zone is on track for its first double-dip recession in nearly a decade, according to a Reuters poll of economists which points to a more…

Read More Here

New mechanism to fight barriers to trade in the EU

by Keith Zahra The European Commission has launched a new complaints system for reporting market access barriers and breaches of Trade and Sustainable Development commitments in the EU’s trade agreements…

Read More Here

Education – The panacea to a technology enabled future

by Isabelle Micallef Bonello The pandemic has accentuated the need for digitalisation in all spheres of society and economy. From home schooling to teleworking to interacting with our older family…

Read More Here

Britain’s Brexit dilemma outlasts its architect

by Peter Thal Larsen Britain’s dilemma over Brexit will outlast its architect’s grip on power. Dominic Cummings, who masterminded the campaign to leave the European Union, will step down as…

Read More Here

America makes up its mind

Georgia and North Carolina were the last states to be called in the US Presidential race, ten days after the election. Democratic nominee Joe Biden won 306 Electoral Votes in…

Read More Here

Education for a changing society

by Dr. Michelle Attard Tonna It is often said that that education shapes social change, but it is also true that social change shapes education. In many ways, education is…

Read More Here

Education without end

by Jesmond Saliba Industry 4.0 is still a realm in the making, but restless keynoters are already heralding the coming of Industry 5.0. Economies will change, societies will adapt, and…

Read More Here

The CDPro journal – Education after the pandemic and digital disruption

The shortcomings of one generation are often blamed on education, but the hopefulness in a new generation are, similarly, pinned on education. https://issuu.com/corporatedispatch/docs/cdp_issue_14?fr=sMzYyZjIxMzUxNzU Since the creation of nationhood, the education…

Read More Here

Cathay is still overweight after layoffs

by Sharon Lam via Reuters Breakingviews Cathay Pacific’s layoffs may not be the last. Hong Kong’s beleaguered airline is cutting around 8,500 jobs, or 24% of the group’s headcount, and…

Read More Here

Stored carbon could morph into investment gold

by George Hay via Reuters Breakingviews If wind and solar power are zero-carbon energy’s golden boys, carbon capture is its problem child. Climate activists often see the process of removing…

Read More Here

Analysis – Kamala Harris breaks barriers as America’s next vice president

Kamala Harris made history on Saturday with her election as Joe Biden’s vice president, becoming the first woman, first Black American and first Asian American to win the second highest…

Read More Here

Google exhausts search for antitrust tolerance

by Jennifer Saba and Gina Chon via Reuters Breakingviews Google has met its Microsoft moment. The U.S. Justice Department is suing the Alphabet-owned unit, slamming its dominance in online search.…

Read More Here

EP adopts proposals to regulate Artificial Intelligence

The European Parliament has adopted proposals on how the EU can best regulate Artificial Intelligence (AI) in order to boost innovation, ethical standards, and trust in technology. View and Download…

Read More Here

Half of Human Trafficking Victims trafficked in their own State

Nearly half of the human trafficking victims in the European Union are EU citizens (49%), and one third (34 %) of the victims were trafficked within their own EU Member…

Read More Here

EU invests a further €144.5 million in world-class supercomputers for researchers and businesses

The European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking, which pools European resources to buy and deploy world-class supercomputers and technologies, co-signed a contract worth €144.5 million to acquire the LUMI supercomputer. View and Download…

Read More Here

EU issues first social bond under SURE instrument

The European Commission has issued a €17 billion inaugural social bond under the EU SURE instrument to help protect jobs and keep people in work. The issuing consisted of two…

Read More Here

A vote for the world

The stage of the American election is as big as the world. Every nation follows the US Presidential change-of-season every four years with interest. In 2020, things have gone up…

Read More Here

The bumpy countdown to November

The American Presidential election funnel is fairly straightforward. Parties field multiple candidates into the fight-fest more commonly known as the Primaries whittling down their number until the last one standing…

Read More Here

Trump, Biden, or else

Suburbs across America are dotted with blue-and-red yard signs, but not all of them are shout-outs to Joe Biden or Donald Trump. Or even Kamala Harris and Mike Pence. The…

Read More Here

The swingest of them all

The US Presidential contest is a competition for counties– the local units of government that make up an American state. The results in a handful of counties can determine which…

Read More Here

The sum of parts is greater than the whole

Donald J. Trump registered the biggest defeat of any winning presidential candidate in US history. If that statement needs reading twice, it is because of the peculiarity of the American…

Read More Here

The Disunited States of America

Joe Biden has been leading the national and toss-up state polls for a steady seven months now. But when your adversary is the Republican Party in the unpredictable form of…

Read More Here

Pope says free market, ‘trickle-down’ policies fail society

The COVID-19 pandemic was the latest crisis to prove that market forces alone and “trickle-down” economic policies had failed to produce the social benefits their proponents claim. View and Download…

Read More Here

Italy Payments Deal Trades Value for State Power

The Italian state has planted its investment flag in another important industry. Local payments group Nexi’s all-share deal to buy state-controlled Sia will create a 15 billion euro domestic champion…

Read More Here

Big Oil’s Green Rush Needn’t Inflate a Big Bubble

Big Oil has some big numbers to back its renewable energy ambitions. France’s Total is now aiming for 35 gigawatts of wind and solar capacity by 2025, following BP’s recently…

Read More Here

UK Housing Crisis Needs a Well-Aimed Bazooka

The UK housing market could do with a well-aimed bazooka. Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to help 2 million Britons buy their first home, he declared in a speech on…

Read More Here

EU Assesses Reforms in Western Balkans and Turkey

The European has published in-depth assessments of fundamental reforms taking place in the West Balkans and Turkey while presenting clearer and more precise recommendations and guidance on the next steps…

Read More Here

Plastic Packaging Waste: EU Needs to Boost Recycling to Achieve Ambitions

There is a significant risk that the EU will not meet its plastic packaging recycling targets for 2025 and 2030, according to a review by the European Court of Auditors…

Read More Here

CorporateDispatch PRO Edition 13

Download your free edition of our journal today. The cover story this issue ponders economic advice from an unlikely leader: the head of the Roman Catholic church. Pope Francis is…

Read More Here

MEPs Defend Rule of Law

Rule of law deficiencies in Member States mean EU funds may be used to undermine European values and in such a context, MEPs are demanding new tools to tackle the…

Read More Here

Germany Turns 30

Futuristic architecture, a colourful subculture, eclectic cuisine, an intense party scene – Berlin is truly one of the open capitals of the world. Walking though the vibrant streets today is…

Read More Here

MDB Strengthens Economic Presence to Support Business Regeneration

The Malta Development Bank (MDB) has over the past few months established and maintained a strong presence in the Maltese economy by providing the necessary support to businesses during these…

Read More Here

Chain Proaction

Some of the most enduring scenes of the coronavirus pandemic involve people battling it out over rolls of toilet paper. The images from supermarkets around the world provided plenty of…

Read More Here

Who’s fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, and why does it matter?

Fierce fighting has broken out between Azerbaijan and its ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, a new and dangerous eruption of a decades-old conflict. View and Download your free edition of…

Read More Here