🥚 Golden Eggshells
Underneath the shine, scrambled savings for everyone.
Good morning!
Turkey has just passed a law to repay the savers of its collapsed investment funds, and the queue is long. Some 456K people had money in the 131 funds the market regulator wound up in mid-September, the day after the Istanbul crash. More than 85 people are in custody, the regulator's chairman has been sacked, and the authorities are now very busy cleaning up a mess they spent ten months not looking at. At the centre sits Tera, an Istanbul broker whose funds promised to beat inflation running above 30%.
Locals call it Fonzi, from fon, Turkish for fund. The trick is old and needs no genius. A manager buys a share nobody trades. The price rises, the return looks superb, new savers pour in, and their money buys more of the same share. The fund is its own customer and its own price tag. One Tera vehicle reportedly posted 15,000%. The economist J.K. Galbraith had a word for this kind of wealth: the bezzle, money that exists until somebody checks. Emre Tezmen, Tera's founder and the son of a 1990s minister, called his firm the Goldman Sachs of Turkey and kept a private jet and a Bentley to match. Nobody checked.
That is unfair to the people who did. Exchange inspectors flagged the trades to their bosses. A former official of the financial-crime unit denounced Tera and was detained twice, for market manipulation. Mehmet Simsek, the ex-investment banker the regime sends to reassure foreign investors, warned traders that the market was not a playground. The finance minister was right. It was a private club. The AKP's vice-chair, a former family minister, stands accused of selling her fund stakes just before the crash for a profit of 1.3B lira, about €23M. The deputy finance minister resigned once his son-in-law turned up in the case. The opposition claims nearly 60 of the ruling party's MPs or their relatives had money in the funds.
Erdogan has promised to rid the market of "greedy parasites". He said it in front of his own MPs, which at least saves the prosecutors a trip. Tera's managers even stopped paying out on their money market fund, the product people buy precisely so as never to hear about the stock market. In 2008, when one of its American cousins fell below $1 a share, Washington guaranteed the whole industry within three days. Turkey caps the rescue at 1M lira per saver, about €18K, for now. In a country where cash loses nearly a quarter of its value every year, those savers did the only sensible thing. They chose the most boring product in the shop. It was the one with the trapdoor.
A Free Lunch is looking for a business partner or advertising agency to monetize its ads. Contact us!
🗞️ Top Story
- 🇫🇷 Bank Job. Crédit Mutuel Arkéa 🇫🇷 confirms a cyberattack that stole several million euros, though the bank insists no clients were impacted and operations remain stable. (Ouest-France)
- 🇩🇪 Room for Doubt. Hubert Aiwanger, Bavaria’s deputy leader and head of the Free Voters party, was found dead in his Berlin hotel room, with police investigating the cause and ruling out foul play for now. (Le Monde)
- 🇬🇷 Withdrawn Symptoms. Varoufakis, famous for limiting Greeks to €60 daily withdrawals in 2015, now sees his own party's bank account abruptly locked by a Brussels bank. (Spiegel)
- 🇩🇰 Grant Theft Auto. Around 10,000 Danish students and high schoolers marched in Copenhagen as 30,000 more staged walkouts nationwide, protesting government plans to cut public education aid. (Le Monde)
- 🇪🇺 Heat Account. Christine Lagarde warns that climate change will drive up economic costs in Europe and urges urgent investment in adaptation before her ECB exit. (Le Figaro)
- 🇺🇸 The Art of the Stall. Democrats promise sweeping change after their congressional victory, but Trump's power to block legislation means their plans may remain mostly theoretical. (BBC)
- 🇺🇸 Friends with Benefits. The Republican loss in the midterms puts the US-Israel partnership under the microscope, with Trump abruptly distancing himself from $3.8B in annual aid. (Ouest-France)
- 🇺🇸 Yes We Consensus. Barack Obama hails the 2026 midterm results as a call for unity, urging Democrats to focus on practical solutions instead of partisan drama. (Le Figaro)
- 🇧🇴 Flight Risk. Bolivia’s top judge Romer Saucedo flees the country after an arrest warrant for alleged drug trafficking, claiming he is the target of political persecution. (Le Figaro)
- 🇰🇷 Mine the Gap. Seoul expands its anti-piracy unit’s reach to waters near the Strait of Hormuz, hoping to safeguard trade without getting dragged into anyone else’s war. (Le Monde)
- 🇭🇰 Locked In. Joshua Wong, a leading face of Hong Kong’s 2019 protests, is sentenced to 10 additional years for seeking foreign support, making freedom a distant prospect. (Le Figaro)
- 🇮🇱 Doubt and Order. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly alleges foreign interference in Israel’s election, despite electoral authorities confirming the results and rivals accusing him of undermining trust to cling to power. (Ouest-France)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Private Eyes. The UK government is weighing restrictions on smart glasses after warnings that the devices are being used for covert filming, especially targeting women. (The Guardian)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 Stay of Position. Samuel Alito confirms he will remain on the Supreme Court regardless of the election outcome, closing the door on a surprise Trump appointment. (Bloomberg)
- 🇺🇸 Blue Meteor. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis compares the Republican Party’s midterm losses to a meteor strike, predicting a long recovery for the GOP. (Bloomberg)
- 🇺🇸 Paging Congress. A wave of doctors and nurses flipped Republican seats for the Democrats in the midterms, making health policy a prescription for political change. (New York Times)
🏛️ Economy
- 🇪🇺 Hot Potato. As batteries in common electronics trigger fires during recycling, Europe's waste sector is left holding the financial risk everyone else passes along. (Les Echos)
- 🇪🇺 French Exit. As the pushes for new members, France's referendum rule threatens to derail enlargement plans for Ukraine, Moldova, Montenegro, and Albania. (Les Echos)
- 🇪🇺 Rate Race. Eurozone inflation hit 4% in October, double the ECB's target, as rising energy costs fuel talk of another interest rate hike. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇷🇺 Grain Drain. Wheat prices jumped after Russian consultancy IKAR slashed its export outlook for 2026-27, stoking fears of tighter global supplies. (Bloomberg)
- 🇺🇸 Deficit of Doubt. The trade deficit dipped to $105B in September but stayed near record highs, defying Trump's tariffs and his promises of a turnaround. (New York Times)
- 🇧🇷 Rate Expectations. Brazil's central bank paused its rate-cutting streak, holding the Selic at 13.75% as inflation stays stubbornly above target and spending fears grow. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇨🇳 Copperfield. Chinese buyers are chasing scarce spot copper as Shanghai premiums hit $285 per ton, making the metal disappear faster than supply can keep up. (Bloomberg)
- 🇧🇩 Stitch in Time. After five days of mass protests, Bangladesh’s government and textile industry agree to raise garment workers’ minimum wage starting in January, with details due in December. (Le Monde)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Rise and Grind. The Bank of England prepares to lift its benchmark rate to 4%, meaning more expensive mortgages for many and a little relief for savers. (BBC)
- 🇬🇧 Track and Idle. More than half of Transport for Wales' £200M taxpayer-funded tram-trains have sat unused for three years, with full service now delayed until 2027. The only thing moving fast is the timeline for excuses. (BBC)
- 🇬🇧 Budget Blank. Marks & Spencer CEO Stuart Machin calls Labour’s first budget “a whole lot of nothing” and warns the retailer faces a £10M hike in business rates. (The Guardian)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 Hearing Aid. The White House delays its panel hearing for Fed Governor Lisa Cook to Dec. 14, stretching the inquiry over her alleged false mortgage statements even further. (CNBC)
🏢 Real Estate
- 🇬🇧 Watt Now. Drax’s owner signs a £20B deal to turn Britain’s dirtiest power station into the nation’s largest AI datacentre, because progress needs electricity. (The Guardian)
- 🇻🇳 Room With a View. Hanoi’s iconic Metropole hotel turns 125, reminding guests that history checks in nightly and never truly checks out. (Le Monde)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Toxic Commons. Parliament’s asbestos tally climbs to 1,650 items as MPs debate whether to spend up to £40B fixing the crumbling estate or keep rolling the dice with public health. (BBC)
- 🇬🇧 Home Advantage. Phoebe Waller-Bridge gifts a London flat to the Writers’ Block scheme, giving new writers more than just a foot in the door. (The Guardian)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 Cold Listings. Zillow reported a 3% dip in monthly users, with soaring mortgage rates chilling both home sales and digital foot traffic. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇺🇸 Rate Escape. mortgage rates have fallen for the third week in a row, but homebuyers are still backing away from the market in droves. (CNBC)
🔗 On-chain
- 🇪🇸 Chain Reaction. Bit2Me STX has secured regulatory approval from Spain's CNMV to launch a blockchain-based stock exchange, bringing traditional equities to the distributed ledger. (Elreferente)
- 🇺🇸 Chain Reaction. Blockchain analytics giant Chainalysis 🇺🇸 revealed a cyberattack that exposed user data, showing even anti-money laundering firms are not immune to digital threats. (Il Sole 24 Ore)
- 🇨🇳 Token Gesture. Binance 🇨🇳 releases its initial report on the $6.3B cyberattack, claiming users were shielded from losses and most stolen assets are already recovered. (Startupcafe)
💱 Listed Markets
- 🇪🇺 Rare Opportunity. Solvay 🇧🇪 secures a long-term rare earths supply deal with Australia's Viridis, aiming to reduce Europe's dependence on Chinese magnets and materials. (Financial Times)
- 🇺🇸 Memory Lane Closed. Qualcomm 🇺🇸 stock tumbled 7% when its earnings outlook disappointed, blaming a memory chip shortage for slowing smartphone sales and revenue misses. (CNBC)
- 🇺🇸 Ghosted. Snap shares plunged over 10% after missing third-quarter revenue targets, as advertisers cut back and daily user growth disappointed Wall Street. (CNBC)
- 🇺🇸 Truth Hurts. Shares of Trump Media hit a record low after Democrats took Congress, shrinking Donald Trump’s $4B paper fortune to just $600M. (Washington Post)
- 🇺🇸 Cloud Control. Oracle 🇺🇸 has scrapped its $7B AI chip leasing deal with Tencent 🇨🇳 after Trump administration pressure, showing just how political tech supply chains have become. (Financial Times)
- 🇺🇸 Citation Needed. Accenture 🇺🇸 is accused of publishing an AI report riddled with fake references and invented case studies, prompting questions about whether the consultancy fell for its own AI hallucinations. (Financial Times)
- 🇺🇸 Surge Pricing. Uber 🇺🇸 beat overall revenue expectations, but both its ride-hailing and delivery units failed to hit Wall Street targets, leaving investors with mixed feelings. (CNBC)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 Glow Up. E.l.f. Beauty 🇺🇸 reported a 51% surge in quarterly sales to $520.8M and lifted its full-year outlook, outshining Wall Street’s expectations. (CNBC)
- 🇺🇸 Table Turned. Wayfair 🇺🇸 posts a $62M profit for the quarter as booming sales reverse last year's $99M loss, proving the furniture is not the only thing flipping. (Wall Street Journal)
🛎️ Big Deals (M&A)
- Hg 🇬🇧 and Anthropic 🇺🇸 are investing in a planned unnamed AI company focused on implementing Claude for European businesses.
- TYLS Conseil 🇫🇷 brings in Andera Partners 🇫🇷 as a financial partner through a sponsorless financing transaction, while its accounting partners retain nearly all of the capital.
- PAI Partners 🇫🇷 has agreed to acquire skincare brand Elemis 🇬🇧 from L’Occitane 🇱🇺, with completion expected in Q1 2027 subject to regulatory approvals.
- Greentech Alliance 🇩🇪 has agreed to acquire Intermobility 🇫🇷, a transport and mobility network.
- Fernand Huts 🇧🇪 increases his stake in Qrf 🇧🇪 from under 10% to more than 15%.
- SatPort Infrastructure 🇸🇪 acquired Speedcast 🇺🇸's ground stations unit for $300M.
- Pactic 🇷🇴 acquires Romanian fulfillment provider QeOPS 🇷🇴, adding 18,000 sq. m. of logistics capacity and operations serving 40 companies.
- TrollWall AI 🇸🇰 acquires elv.ai 🇸🇰, a comment moderation software company.
- Salesforce 🇺🇸 has announced plans to acquire AI-powered contact-center software company Cresta 🇺🇸 for a reported $2.7B, subject to standard closing conditions.
- Salesforce 🇺🇸 has agreed to acquire defense technology startup Rune Technologies 🇺🇸 for $375M in cash and stock.
- TWG Global 🇺🇸 explored a sale of $70B AUM insurer Delaware Life 🇺🇸 after coming under federal investigation.
- Eldridge Industries 🇺🇸 is preparing a securities swap to acquire Lukoil 🇷🇺’s international assets at a potential $22B valuation.
- CVR Energy 🇺🇸 has agreed to acquire two fuel-making plants and related marketing assets from Marathon Petroleum 🇺🇸 for $4.2B. Trafigura 🇸🇬 will purchase $800M of CVR stock.
- KSL Capital Partners 🇺🇸 is exploring a $100M sale of Marram Montauk 🇺🇸, a hotel.
- Kraft Heinz 🇺🇸 has agreed to sell its North American coffee business to One Rock Capital Partners 🇺🇸 for $650M, while retaining a 30% minority stake. Closing is expected in mid-2027.
- The Andersons 🇺🇸 has agreed to acquire Harvestone Low Carbon Partners 🇺🇸 from Energy Capital Partners 🇺🇸 for $915M.
- Empower Brands 🇺🇸 makes an unsolicited $1.6B all-cash bid to acquire Helen of Troy 🇺🇸.
- Meta 🇺🇸 has acquired AI coding startup Conductor 🇺🇸.
- CVS Health 🇺🇸 plans to split into two publicly traded companies by the first half of 2028, separating its pharmacy business from insurer Aetna 🇺🇸 and pharmacy benefit manager Caremark 🇺🇸.
- Brookfield 🇨🇦 and Qatar Investment Authority 🇶🇦 have agreed to invest $3.35B in a data center project with Drax Group 🇬🇧.
- Foodtastic 🇨🇦 launched a $700M hostile bid to acquire MTY Food Group 🇨🇦 at a 33% premium after two previous offers were rejected.
- JD.com 🇨🇳 has received EU approval for its $2.5B acquisition of German electronics retailer Ceconomy 🇩🇪.
- China’s National Development and Reform Commission 🇨🇳 blocks SoftBank 🇯🇵’s $5.4B acquisition of ABB 🇨🇭’s robotics division, after scrutinizing Chinese supply chains, data transfers and intellectual property.
- Jio Platforms 🇮🇳 held talks with Comcast 🇺🇸 and Charter Communications 🇺🇸 to license its wireless broadband technology in exchange for equity.
- Goodman 🇦🇺 and Digital Realty 🇺🇸 have purchased stakes in NextDC 🇦🇺, sending its shares up 43%.
- Turkey Wealth Fund (TWF) 🇹🇷 will acquire a 35% stake in EV maker Togg 🇹🇷 from Vestel 🇹🇷 and Anadolu Group 🇹🇷 at a $900M valuation.
- Emaar Properties 🇦🇪 is considering fully buying out listed construction arm Emaar Development 🇦🇪, valued at $15B.
- XRG 🇦🇪 will acquire Shell 🇬🇧’s stake in an Australian LNG project for $1.45B.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- BC Partners Credit 🇬🇧 withdraws support for LIV Golf 🇺🇸's proposed LIV 2.0 after a potential $300M financing fails to move forward, leaving the league set to wind down.
🇺🇸 United States
- Fort Point Capital 🇺🇸 has completed a recapitalization of Gulf Pride Paving 🇺🇸, a paving and civil construction company.
🧳 Private Markets & VC
- 🇵🇱 Warehouse of Cards. Shein will invest €500M to expand its Polish logistics hub, aiming to dodge new EU parcel taxes and cement its European presence. (Le Figaro)
- 🇺🇸 App and Away. Waymo will end its exclusive partnership with Uber in Austin and Atlanta starting January 2028, letting riders book robotaxis directly through Waymo’s own app for the first time in those cities. (TechCrunch)
- 🇺🇸 Finding Nemo. ChatGPT’s web search volume has reached one-fifth of Google’s, according to OpenAI, making Microsoft’s Bing look even smaller in comparison. (Webrazzi)
Fundraising
- Fal 🇺🇸 (AI): $1.3B (Bessemer Venture Partners)
- Shield AI 🇺🇸 (Defense): More than $1B
- Hark 🇺🇸 (AI): $700M (Nvidia, AMD, Qualcomm)
- Nooks 🇺🇸 (AI): $500M (General Catalyst)
- Applied Compute 🇺🇸 (AI): $350M (Elad Gill, Kleiner Perkins, Lux Capital, Hanabi Capital, NVIDIA, Blackstone, Shopify Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, Diffusion, Definition, Timeless, Layer Global, Neo, Abstract, Nova, Quantum Light, First Harmonic, Swish)
- Laza Medical 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): Up to $160M (GE HealthCare, Unorthodox Ventures, PA MedTech, AMED)
- Sentra 🇮🇱 (Cybersecurity): $150M (Capital One Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Zeev Ventures, Standard Investments, Munich Re Ventures, Key1 Capital)
- Traversal (AI): $120M (Kleiner Perkins, Redpoint, Khosla Ventures)
- Pliant 🇩🇪 (Fintech): $80M (Seaya Nova, Speedinvest, Illuminate Financial, Motive Partners, Molten Ventures)
- Titan OS 🇪🇸 (Adtech): $46M (BlackRock, Highland Europe, Mangrove Capital Partners)
- Corridian 🇺🇸 (Defense): $38M (Harpoon)
- Supa 🇬🇧 (Proptech): £21M (2150, OpenOcean, KOMPAS VC, Actia Capital Partners, HEARTFELT)
- bit.bio 🇬🇧 (Biotech): $25M (M&G Investments, Jonathan Milner)
- Biograil 🇩🇰 (Biotech): €20M (Verve Ventures, Megatrend Invest, HTGF)
- Brava 🇮🇱 (Cybersecurity): $15M (Pitango, F2)
- Guava (AI): $12.5M (Acrew Capital)
- Journify 🇺🇸 (Advertising): $12M (Al Mada Ventures)
- LO:TECH 🇬🇧 (Crypto): $12M (MMC)
- Syncere 🇺🇸 (Robotics): $11M (a16z Speedrun)
- Wormsensing 🇫🇷 (Industrial): €9.5M (Orano Venture Fund, Fonds Régional Avenir Industrie Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, French Tech Seed, CEA Investissement, KBC Focus Fund, Innovacom)
- ALLOX 🇪🇸 (Biotech): €9.4M (Asabys, CDTI, ICF)
- Finpilot 🇺🇸 (AI): $10M (Lobby Capital, Madrona)
- Phaze 🇺🇸 (AI): $8.75M (a16z, Indie, NextView, Makers, Lerer Hippeau)
- GALLIUM DEFENSE 🇫🇷 (Defense): €7.1M
- e2e 🇵🇱 (AI): $8M (CredoVentures, KAYA, Point Nine Capital)
- Aformic 🇺🇸 (Robotics): $6.95M (Veteran Ventures Capital)
- Archiboost AI 🇬🇷 (Proptech): $6.2M (Marathon Venture Capital, Hanabi Capital, RXR Arden Digital Ventures, Perceptive Ventures, Valley Capital Partners, Scott Belsky)
- Shackleton AI 🇺🇸 (Construction): $5M (Battery Ventures, Brick & Mortar Ventures, Trust Ventures, Correlation Ventures, Motivate Partners, Thayer Investment Partners, Act One Ventures, Brainstorm Ventures, Silence VC)
- Cowboy 🇺🇸 (AI): $5M (Nebular, Compound, Semantic Ventures, Anagram, Shine Ventures, Uncommon Projects, Farnaz Azmoodeh, Mats Olsen, Aashay Sanghvi, Kevin Kwok, James Smits, Ian Lapham)
- Mindmax 🇬🇧 (AI): £2.5M
- Unnamed startup 🇸🇪 (AI): $3.1M
- PaperFoam 🇳🇱 (Packaging): €2M (Invest International)
- Crediflow AI 🇬🇧 (Fintech): €1.8M (NPIF II - PXN Equity Finance, PXN Ventures)
- Juritas 🇮🇪 (Legaltech): €1.4M (Passion Capital, Blackwood, Araya Ventures, Baseline, Angel Invest, byFounders Angel Collective)
- Seamoretech 🇵🇹 (CleanTech): €1.1M (Rypples, 7Seas Capital, Crédito Agrícola, Faber, CORBITES)
- JawBuddy 🇩🇪 (HealthTech): €818k (HALBZEIT, Dr. Siegfried Marquardt, Dr. Guido Sigron)
- Oghma 🇮🇪 (AI): €500,000 (Caesar)
Fund Watch
- StepStone 🇺🇸: $7.4B (5th private equity secondaries fund)
- Creandum 🇸🇪: $750M (Fund VIII, early-stage VC fund, closed)
- Spark Capital 🇮🇳: $174M (2nd late-stage private equity fund)
- Entourage 🇬🇧: €100M (2nd venture capital fund, closed in two weeks)
- Robin Capital 🇩🇪: €15M (2nd early-stage venture fund, closed)
- Evertrue Capital 🇬🇧: $17M (debut fund for early-stage UK and European tech and AI startups)
- Vest Ventures 🇷🇴: €1M (investment across four startups, planned over six months)
- Sequoia Capital 🇺🇸: London office closure (exiting Europe and refocusing on Silicon Valley)
🔔IPO
- Dronamics 🇧🇬 (Drones): going public on Nasdaq through a SPAC merger at an approximately $500M valuation.
- Oracle 🇺🇸 (Software): raised $9.9B in a share sale priced at an 11% discount.
- ElevenLabs 🇺🇸 (AI): may pursue a IPO in 2028.
- Genneia 🇦🇷 (Energy): paused plans for a US IPO amid market turmoil.
- Kunlunxin 🇨🇳 (Semiconductors): may delay its $2B Hong Kong IPO to next year.
- Mahanadi Coalfields 🇮🇳 (Coal): seeking to raise $1B at a $10B valuation an India IPO.
🧳 Debt
- Cinven 🇬🇧: seeking $1.7B in bank debt to finance its $2.9B acquisition of Theramex.
- AXA 🇫🇷: raised €750M in subordinated Tier 2 bonds maturing in 2057.
- Iqony 🇩🇪: banks pulled its $615M loan refinancing.
- Partners Group 🇨🇭: banks pulled the loan financing its acquisition of Aroma-Zone.
- Meta 🇺🇸: raised $15B in a dollar bond sale.
- Morgan Stanley 🇺🇸: kicked off a $2.3B debt deal to finance Baldwin Insurance Group’s $7.7B acquisition.
- Indonesia 🇮🇩: launched a three-part dollar Sukuk offering.
- PIF 🇸🇦: raised $3B from Italy’s export credit agency 🇮🇹.
🇺🇸 United States
- SkyREM 🇺🇸: secured a $150M credit facility for industrial acquisitions.
❌ Failures
- Holidu 🇩🇪: the vacation-rental platform is cutting 60 jobs, or nearly 8% of its workforce, after several acquisitions.
- Squarespace 🇺🇸: the website platform is laying off about 300 employees, or 19% of its global workforce, amid restructuring.
- Sound Point Capital 🇺🇸: avoided a fraud by rejecting Radiant World’s deal after it refused to verify invoices with customers.
- LIV Golf 🇺🇸: faces liquidation after BC Partners withdrew a rescue plan worth up to $300M.
- Ueno Bank 🇵🇾: regulators seized control of the digital lender over solvency problems.
- David Jones 🇦🇺: Australia’s oldest department store chain entered voluntary administration, putting 6,000 jobs at risk.
- Canva 🇦🇺: the design software company is cutting 22% of its workforce, or 1,271 jobs, amid slowing growth.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- Virgin Media O2 🇬🇧: the telecoms company is cutting thousands of jobs to tackle its £22bn debt and save £300M by 2029.
🎯 For a Few More Minutes…
- 🇬🇧 Platform 9¾ Open. Hundreds of Harry Potter fans lined up for hours on Oxford Street as London’s massive new flagship Potter shop welcomed its first magical shoppers. (Die Zeit)
- 🇬🇷 Call of Duty. The Nokia 1100, the world’s best-selling phone with 250M units, can still make calls in Greece thanks to surviving 2G networks, at least for now. (Startupper)
- 🇺🇸 Phantom Menace. The "SMS of Death" bug allows attackers to crash Android phones remotely with a hidden message, forcing Google to rush out patches while many users remain exposed. (Italian)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 White Lines Crossed. Cocaine has overtaken heroin as the leading cause of drug deaths in England and Wales, with 1,233 fatalities in 2025, as purity and availability soar. (BBC)
