Breaking: EU Fines ‘Hello Kitty’

The parent company of the ‘Hello Kitty’conglomerate was fined $7 million by the EU’s antitrust commission for resticting sales of the fab feline‘s merchandise in different countries within the European bloc for the last 11 years.

More:

“Hello Kitty’s Parent Company Fined $6.9 Million by E.U.,” Geneva Abdul, New York Times

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Uber is a Taxi Company

The European Court of Justice has ruled that Uber is a taxi company, not a digital information system, as the ride-hailing mobile app giant maintained. Down the road, that may mean drivers, who Uber claims are “contractors,”  will have more rights as employees.

More:

“Uber Is a Taxi Service, the E.C.J. Rules, in Major Setback for Firm,” Liz Alderman, New York Times

“Uber suffers setback as EU rules that it’s a transport service, not a digital company,” Sam Meredith and Arjun Kharpal, CNBC

“Europe’s top court just said Uber isn’t a tech company — it’s a cab company,” Zeeshan Aleem, Vox

“Uber is finally getting called on its biggest bluffs,” Alison Griswold, Quartz

“Could Europe’s Uber ruling affect the future of the gig economy?” Hamza Shaban, Washington Post

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Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

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EU to UK: GTFO!

After an ill-advised referendum last Thursday, British citizens woke up horrified to learn they had voted to exit from the European Union. United Kingdom politicians are hemming, hawing, stalling for time, and even calling for a do-over vote. EU members aren’t having it. Their message to the UK: Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.

It’s going to be a messy divorce, really ugly. Expect a custody battle over Scotland, Gibraltar, and Northern Ireland. And the UK can forget about being a Norwegian-style “friend with benefits.”

More (NSFW):

Brexit: Reading the Tea Leaves

With Thursday’s referendum looming, it looks like even money that the UK may leave the European Union. Even the tragic murder of Labour MP Jo Cox by a pro-Brexit assassin hasn’t changed that. There’s much at stake, but British nationalism and xenophobia are running high, and it can be hard for those not directly involved in finance or trade to discern the benefits of EU membership and the high costs of Brexit.

And your normal British bloke just doesn’t feel very European. He might like bit of pastry and a cuppa for brekkie, but he can’t even butter a crescent-shaped croissant. The UK’s Tesco supermarkets finally gave up and stopped baking traditional curved croissants and straightened them out for the native-born. Can those even be called “croissants,” “cornettos”, or “cuernos”? Shudder. Could this be a sign of impending Brexit?

More:

“British Retailer’s Straight Croissants Leave Some Bent Out of Shape,” Dan Bilefsky, New York Times

“In a twist: Tesco’s decision to stop selling curved croissants sparks debate,” Damien Gayle, The Guardian

Straightened-Out Croissants and the Decline of Civilization,” Adam Gopniok, The New Yorker

“French mock Tesco over decision to only sell straight croissants because customers cannot spread jam properly,” Caroline Mortimer, The Independent

Refugees

Thousands of desperate Syrians are fleeing their war-torn homeland for Europe, and Europeans react with grief or fear or shame or sympathy. But while their governments may be slow to help the new arrivals, families and churches are not:

“Germans Open Their Homes To Refugee Roommates,” Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, NPR News

“Why Austrians are opening their homes to refugees,” Maddy French, Aljazeera

“Activist convoy picks up migrants,” BBC News

“Amid unabated refugees crisis, pope calls on parishes to take in families,” Anthony Faiola and Michael Birnbaum, Washington Post

“Migrant crisis: the volunteers stepping in to help,” Joel Gunter, BBC News

“Finnish PM offers his home to asylum seekers,” Umut Uras, Aljazeera

“Bayern Munich donate $1.1 million to help refugees,” Tom McGowan, CNN

“Pope: Vatican will shelter 2 families fleeing war, hunger,” Frances D’Emilio, Associated Press

“Chile mulls plan to take in Syrian refugees,” Reuters via Jerusalem Post

“IOC sets up $2m fund for refugee crisis,” Aljazeera

“City of Sanctuary: Bristol rallies to help refugees as aid network swells,” Alexandra Topping, The Guardian

“Icelandic generosity could potentially help thousands of Syrian refugees,” Justin Wm. Moyer, Washington Post

“Munich mayor: I don’t think about numbers, only refugees’ safety,” Emma Graham-Harrison, The Guardian

“Google donates €1 million to help refugees in need,” Mark Wilson, BetaNews

“No ‘upper limit’ on number of refugees Ireland will take,” Sarah Bardon, Irish Times

“Australia ready to take more refugees from Syria, Tony Abbott says,” Sydney Morning Herald

“Some Israelis want to take in Syrian refugees. Netanyahu says no.” Ruth Eglash, Washingtton Post

“Syrian refugees challenge us to be better,” Tim Rogers, Fusion

EU Food Imports from China

“Many Germans only realized how much of the food on their plates is harvested and produced in China when thousands of schoolchildren in eastern Germany were afflicted with diarrhea and vomiting two weeks ago in an epidemic thought to have been triggered by Chinese strawberries contaminated with norovirus..”

“…by last Friday, 262 reports on Chinese products had been received in Brussels for 2012 alone. They included noodles infested with maggots, shrimp contaminated with antibiotics, foul-smelling peanuts and candied fruit with an excessively high sulfur content (see graphic).”