EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn has called for a change of course for the EU on Turkey’s accession to join the bloc, after president Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Turks living in Germany not to vote for the county’s two ruling parties in the upcoming September elections. Source: Euobserver
Spain has discreetly hired ferries to be moored in the Port of Barcelona as temporary housing for possibly thousands of police specially deployed to keep order in rebel Catalonia and help suppress an illegal independence referendum. Source bloomberg
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund hit $1 trillion for the first time on Tuesday, driven higher by climbing stock markets and a weaker U.S. dollar. Source: Bloomberg
Finland, a first-rate place in which to be a mother, has registered the lowest number of newborns in nearly 150 years. The birth rate has been falling steadily since the start of the decade, and there’s little to suggest a reversal in the trend. Source: Bloomberg
