[NEWS] Three link about transnational economic integration: Eurozone, TPP, NAFTA

• Paul Taylor at politico.eu describes the sort of integration that the Eurozone needs to function better, integration that may actually now come about after the French election.
• Bloomberg View’s editors wish the Trans-Pacific Partnership continued success, even after Trump’s United States withdrew.
• Aaron Hutchins at MacLean’s explores the huge, and largely negative, consequences for Canada if Trump ends NAFTA (and US-Canada free trade, too).

[URBAN NOTE] Four notes on changing cities from Germany, from Frankfurt to Hamburg to Berlin

• Bloomberg’s Steven Arons and Gavin Finch observe that Brexit may let Frankfurt emerge as a truly global financial centre.
• Der Spiegel‘s Alexander Smoltczyk describes how north German port Hamburg is starting to inch towards a bigger global role.
• Deutsche Welle reports on how, after the G20 meeting, far-left and anarchist groups in Berlin are facing a crackdown.
• Global News shares Joseph Nasr’s Reuters article reporting on the incomprehension of Arab refugees in Hamburg at that city’s G20 rioters. Why are they doing it?

[BLOG] Some Monday links

• Centauri Dreams looks at odd binary AR Scorpii.
• Crooked Timber examines connections between demographic change and religiosity in the United States.
• A Fistful of Euros reports on the IMF response to the Eurozone bailouts.
• Joe. My. God. notes the outrage of families of survivors of American military dead at Trump’s treatment of the Khan family.
• The LRB Blog calls for England to secede.
• Out There interviews Tabitha Boyajian about KIC 8462852.
• The Planetary Society Blog features Marc Rayman’s explanation of Dawn’s remaining at Ceres.
• Peter Rukavina notes a book exploring the lost Quaker settlement of New London, on the north shore of Prince Edward Island.
• Strange Maps looks at the cartographic imprint of Spain on the streets of Barcelona.
• Torontoist notes that tickets for the Toronto Islands ferry can now be bought from smartphone apps.
• Window on Eurasia suggests Russia is running out of money to sustain its economy, looks at Russian propensity of emigration, and notes that rising unemployment is contributing to internal migration.

[NEWS] Some Wednesday links

• Bloomberg notes Ireland’s huge unexpected recent reported growth, looks at the deindustrialization of Israel, observes Deutsche Bank’s need to search for wealth abroad, looks at the demographic imperatives that may keep healthy Japanese working until they are 80, notes the slipping ANC grip on Pretoria and looks at the rise of anti-Muslim Pauline Hanson in Australia, and predicts Brexit could kill the London property boom.
• Bloomberg View calls for calm in the South China Sea.
• CBC notes some idiot YouTube adventurers who filmed themselves doing stupid, even criminal, things in different American national parks.
• The Globe and Mail reports on the plans for a test tidal turbine in the Bat of Fundy by 2017.
• MacLean’s looks at the heckling of a gay musician in Halifax and reports on the civil war in South Sudan.
• The New York Times looks at the new xenophobia in the east English town of Boston.
• Open Democracy notes that talk of a working class revolt behind Brexit excludes non-whites, and reports on alienation on the streets of Wales.
• Wired looks at how some cash-strapped American towns are tearing up roads they cannot afford to maintain.

[BLOG] Some Sunday links

• Beyond the Beyond references Vincent Cerf’s concern about the fragility of new media.
• Crooked Timber considers the politics inherent in monetary unions.
• The Dragon’s Gaze notes a paper suggesting Alpha Centauri A is quite evolved.
• Discover‘s Dead Things wonders if Georgia is the birthplace of wine.
• Joe. My. God. notes the claim of a Florida public employee that the rainbow flag creates a hostile work environment.
• Language Hat looks at records of ancient Greek music.
• The LRB Blog considers the politics of hate in the United Kingdom.
• Marginal Revolution wonders which European financial centres would win at the expense of London.
• The Power and the Money’s Noel Maurer suggests the United Kingdom should merge with Canada.
• Registan notes domestic terrorism in Kazakhstan.
• Torontoist looks at queer people who opt not to celebrate Pride with the crowds.
• Towleroad looks at a Thai gym for trans men.
• The Volokh Conspiracy makes the case for sports boycotts.
• Window on Eurasia notes the fragility of the post-Soviet order, in Ukraine and in Russia.

[NEWS] Some Tuesday links

• The BBC notes an attack on a vegan restaurant in Tbilisi by meat-eating nationalists.
• Bloomberg notes a slur by a German populist against a non-white soccer player, reports on Sweden’s economic boom, Looks at rail investment in India, and notes Southeast Asia is beating out China as a destination for Japanese investment.
• Bloomberg View looks at reform in Tunisia’s Islamist movement and notes the lack of private foreign investment in Greece.
• The CBC notes anti-gentrification sentiment in the Montréal neighbourhood of St. Henri, resulting in the looting of a gourmet grocery store.
• MacLean’s interviews Sebastian Junger on his theory that PTSD is rooted in the problems of modern individualism.
• The National Post looks at an anthropologist’s discovery of ancient hobo graffiti.
• Open Democracy notes the Europeanization of Estonia’s Russophones.
• The Toronto Star contrasts the responses of the NDP and the Conservatives to their election defeats, and notes how older Chinese couples are now using fertility treatments to have their second child.

[NEWS] Some Wednesday links

• Bloomberg notes Twitter will stop counting photos and links against its 140-character limit, reports on the challenges of the new Taiwanese president, and reports on Japan’s efforts to boost its workforce.
• Bloomberg View argues European banks just aren’t good at investment banking, suggests austerity worked for Latvia, and argues an IMF suggestion of a debt holiday for Greece is impolitic.
• CBC notes J.K. Rowling’s defense of Donald Trump.
• Via The Dragon’s Gaze, I found this Eurekalert post noting a search for Earth-like worlds around highly evolved stars, like the red giants that our sun will evolve into.
• Gizmodo reports on how Sweden is moving the city of Kiruna to safer ground, and describes Amazon’s interest in opening more physical bookstores.
• The Inter Press Service wonders what will happen to Brazil now.
• The National Post notes the mysteries surrounding a secret American military spaceplane.
• Open Democracy looks at the human rights consequences of Mexico’s long-running drug war.
• TVO considers the impact of a long NDP leadership campaign on the party.

[NEWS] Some Wednesday links

• Bloomberg looks at the restarting of northern Alberta oil, looks at the deterioration in Sino-Taiwanese relations, reports on how Norway is using oil money to buffer its economic shocks, and suggests low ECB rates might contribute to a property boom in Germany.
• Bloomberg View notes the idea of a third party in the US, one on the right to counter Trump, will go nowhere.
• The CBC notes the settlement of a residential school case in Newfoundland and Labrador and predicts a terrible fire season.
• The Globe and Mail‘ Kate Taylor considers Canadian content rules in the 21st century.
• The Inter Press Service notes that planned Kenyan closures of Somali refugee camps will have terrible results.
• National Geographic looks at the scourge that is Pablo Escobar’s herd of hippos in Colombia.
• The National Post notes VIA Rail’s existential need for more funding and reports on Jean Chrétien’s support of decriminalizing marijuana.
• Open Democracy looks at controversies over Victory Day in Georgia, and notes the general impoverishment of Venezuela.
• Vice looks at new, accurate dinosaur toys, feathers and all.
• Wired explains why Israel alone of America’s clients can customize F-35s.

[BLOG] Some Friday links

• blogTO notes how Ryerson University has launched an incubator for the local music scene.
• Crooked Timber notes the high minimum wage in Australia.
• Dangerous Minds shares a video of Keith Haring getting arrested from 1982.
• The Dragon’s Gaze reports on a study of hot Neptunes.
• The Dragon’s Tales notes that a search of WISE data did not produce Planet Nine.
• Joe. My. God. notes that Beyoncé has produced merchandise calling for her own boycott, to the anger of her detractors.
• Languages of the World wonders how anyone could argue that Yiddish comes from Turkey, never mind argue so badly.
• Marginal Revolution’s Tyler Cowen is pessimistic about Greece.
• Neuroskeptic notes a new brain study tracing human thought.
• The Power and the Money’s Noel Maurer looks at how Republicans are coming to accept Trump.
• Towleroad notes that Timothy Conigrave’s Holding the Man is set to be adapted for the movies.
• Window on Eurasia notes Chernobyl’s impact on the Soviet Union, considers which Russian federal subjects might be next for merger, and notes Russia’s acceptance of a Chinese railroad built with international gauge on its territory.

[LINK] “London Could Lose Its Euro Trading If U.K. Leaves EU”

Bloomberg View’s Mark Gilbert notes that Brexit could endanger the City of London’s role as a critical financial centre for the Eurozone, especially if Eurozone integration proceeds apace. Paris and Frankfurt could be big winners.

It’s not the first time political and economic differences with the rest of Europe have threatened to diminish the City’s standing. Back in 1991, the talk was all about an artificial currency called the European currency unit, the forerunner of the euro, which was starting to gain traction in fixed-income and derivatives markets. So the Bank of England did a clever thing; It issued 2.75 billion Ecu of 10-year bonds at an interest rate of 9.125 percent (yes , back in the olden days government bonds had yields close to double digits rather than below zero).

It was the biggest security available in the currency, cementing London’s role as the center for Ecu trading and paving the way for it to be the dominant market for the euro (even though Britain wasn’t joining the common currency, much of the technical work about its introduction was done by the Bank of England prior to the ECB coming into existence). If Britain hadn’t been in the EU, though, that trick might have been a lot harder to pull off.

If Europe’s “coalition of the willing” is successful in introducing a Tobin Tax on securities trading, London may benefit, although the 10 countries still trying to introduce the levy have failed so far to reach an agreement. But if the EU succeeds in building a capital markets union, creating a seamless cross-border arena for small- and medium-sized enterprises to raise money by selling equities and bonds rather than relying on bank financing, then it’s hard to see how London could attract that market away from either Paris or Frankfurt.

Rather than remaining concentrated in London, Brexit may mean European trading splinters across several cities. Germany’s Deutsche Boerse is in the midst of trying to merge with London Stock Exchange Group; the combined entity would be the biggest equities exchange in Europe, so it’s not hard to envisage euro-denominated stock trading migrating to Frankfurt. It would also have the world’s largest clearing house for swaps, which could also spur more of that business to move to Frankfurt.

The biggest manager of new corporate bonds in Europe, meantime, is HSBC, a bank that’s already flirted with moving its headquarters out of London and which has said it might move 1,000 bankers to Paris if the EU splits. If you combine HSBC’s 35 billion euros of corporate bond underwriting with third-placed BNP Paribas’s 25 billion euros and fifth-placed Societe Generale’s 21 billion euros, you can just about see how almost a fifth of company fundraising could end up in France. And if a post-crisis market for complicated derivatives ever comes into vogue, the mathematical/engineering bent of much of the top-tier talent at French investment banks may well steer that renaissance.