Welcome to Aposto Digest in English!
We are excited to share our first issue with you. As our selection of publications keeps growing, this publication is going to share highlights from the English-language Aposto publications every week. Curated by the editors at Aposto, the issues will feature the best articles from our media service from business to technology, travel to literature, philosophy to wine...
We hope you enjoy your reading!
Aposto Team
Aposto Europe delivers your daily briefing on markets, politics, business, tech and more - all under 5 minutes. Don't miss out on what's happening in the world.
• The United Arab Emirates appointed the head of state oil giant Abu Dhabi National Oil Company to lead the COP28 climate talks in Dubai later this year. Climate activists and NGOs reacted to the appointment saying there is a clear conflict of interest between Sultan al-Jaber’s role in one of the largest oil companies in the world, and his position at COP28. "This appointment goes beyond putting the fox in charge of the henhouse," said Teresa Anderson, global lead on climate justice at ActionAid.
• 43 former Twitter workers in the UK have accused the social media company of subjecting them to "unlawful, unfair and completely unacceptable" treatment during a "sham" redundancy process. The law firm representing the workers said Twitter's downsizing procedure under Elon Musk broke UK's unemployment law by treating affected employees as having already been dismissed before consulting and immediately suspending them from internal company systems.
• French industrial production bounced back at a stronger-than-expected pace in November as operations returned to normal after a labor strike in refineries, figures from INSEE revealed on Tuesday. Industrial output climbed 2.0% from the prior month, following a downwardly revised drop of 2.5% in October and beating a forecast of a 0.8% rise.
- On a related note: Industrial production in Spain fell by 0.4% month-on-month in November, data from INE showed on Tuesday. Adjusted for seasonal and calendar effects, output rose by 2.5% from the same period a year prior.
Aposto Tech gathers the best articles on technology at Aposto, curated by our editors.
How and why: Internet held 'captive' by governments
We often think of the Internet as a tool to find answers to all of our questions, but the Internet is much less free than most of us realise. The main reason for this is that governments want to utilise the power, or rather the 'powerlessness' of the internet to control societies.
It is impossible to find a government in the world that does not censor the Internet; however, the extent of this censorship varies depending on the government and the period in which it is imposed. In addition to governments regularly imposing extreme levels of censorship, some countries may impose more intense censorship in the event of extraordinary events that have a major impact on society, such as the temporary restriction of access to social media platforms such as Twitter, YouTube and Instagram during the recent explosion in Istanbul, Turkey in November.
Aposto Finance gathers the best articles on finance at Aposto, curated by our editors. Topics include micro and macro economic developments, market reports and more.
COVID and the Chinese Social Contract
BERLIN – In October, the Communist Party of China convened its 20th National Congress, primarily to confirm President Xi Jinping’s hold over the country’s leadership. Everything went according to his plan: the CPC’s top governing body, the Standing Committee, is now staffed only by his most devoted henchmen. With Xi having secured a third term as general secretary – and thus as president – one man now has absolute power in China for the first time since the days of Mao Zedong.
Circular Economy 101 writes about circular economy, a model of production and consumption of sharing, renting, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling existing materials and products for as long as possible.
What do future business models offer?
Studies in the field of circular economy have become an increasingly widespread point of focus for governments, legislative institutions, the private sector and academia, especially in recent years. Circular economy is being addressed from different perspectives as people try to integrate it into daily and professional life. In this way, reducing the use of resources, designing the most efficient processes, preventing waste generation and reducing greenhouse gas emissions are of course among the primary goals.
Aposto Business presents the best articles on business at Aposto, curated by our editors. Topics include micro-mobility, future of work, energy, green economy, consumer products, marketing and more.
Breaking the siege: 'Women leaders' to 'leaders'
While discussing writing about subjects 'We can't talk about at work', I realised it was time to share with our readers what I know about the problems I see, and what I know (as I research it every day) about development.
I could not postpone writing on this subject while building my career at the very centre of the quadrilateral of 'woman', 'young person', 'leader' and 'entrepreneur'. There are only a handful of people around me who are ambitious enough to be young, women, leader and/or entrepreneurs in the business world. I see the same determination, excitement and perseverance in the eyes of people in these positions, if it is a fair positioning. Is it because of the difficulties brought about by external factors that the number of these people seems so low to me, or is it because I see the number of these people numerically 'less' than it should be because two acrobats cannot dance on the same rope? Or is it because the majority of the tables I sit at are under siege by men? Or is there gender equality in business life, but it is not visible enough because of the psychological impositions and central influences around us? I will answer these questions in this article.
