The Week Unpeeled
The world did not end last week but the year did begin to wind down amid a bit of doomsday-style headlines with the fiscal cliff issue (or is it Merry Cliffmas, referenced in a few publications, this year?) unresolved and NRA press conference quotes going global. (“The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good buy with a gun” blared across The Times in London and beyond on Saturday.)
Elsewhere:
- Reports that Ben Affleck may be the Senate candidate to fill the spot most likely left vacant in Massachusetts following John Kerry’s nomination as Secretary of State;
- UBS agreed to pay approximately $1.5 billion in fines for key rate rigging that was called “routine” (coverage was anything but routine with financial papers devoting pages to the investigation findings that the corruption—“epic” said the FT—appeared to be widespread);
- The findings from an inquiry into the BBC scandal involving Jimmy Savile showed that decisions not to run an expose appeared to be more mismanagement than cover up;
- South Korea elected conservative Park Geun-hye as president;
- Instagram photoshopped its statements on “sharing” users photos but unclear whether the about face would convince Kim Kardashian not to take her snaps elsewhere; and
- NYSE Euronext was sold to upstart ICE for $8.2 billion, showing how technology is the name of the global trading game.
