Hard Numbers: Sweden blames Beyoncé, Boris found to have misled parliament, EU threatens Google, Nigeria releases the Naira, forced displacements hit new high
0.2 The pop superstar who once sang about “Bills, Bills, Bills” is now blamed for bumping up inflation in … Sweden. Analysts say Beyoncé’s decision to launch her world tour in Stockholm in May created a scramble for hotels that drove up prices, adding 0.2 points to inflation.” Next up? “The Boss” is playing in Gothenburg for three nights later this month – Pay Me My Money Down indeed...
90: In a blistering report released Thursday, a cross-party committee in the UK’s House of Commons found that former PM Boris Johnson lied to parliament over the “partygate” scandal. The committee said it would have recommended a 20-day ban from the chamber, but upped that to 90 days after Johnson further breached parliamentary rules by leaking the report last Friday and tried to intimidate MPs on the committee before quitting politics in a huff.
10: The EU, the world’s strictest regulator of tech companies, has charged Google with violating antitrust laws in a case that could eventually lead to fines of 10% of the tech giant’s annual revenues or force a local breakup. At issue is Google’s dominance in online advertising – it is a key player both in placing ads and collecting data to target ads – which the EU says allows the company to squeeze out rivals and publishers.
36: Nigeria’s Central Bank allowed the official value of the naira to plummet by 36% on Wednesday, abandoning a costly and confusing defense of the currency that had long suppressed investment in Africa’s largest economy. The move was a bold stroke by newly elected president Bola Tinubu, who has pledged to shore up the country’s fiscal stability and boost foreign investment.
110 million: The number of people displaced from their homes by war, persecution, or economic desperation around the globe has reached a new high of 110 million, according to the UN. That's up by nearly 20 million since 2021, driven in particular by the war in Ukraine – which led to the fastest refugee movements since World War II – as well as fresh conflict in Sudan.