Europe’s | Common News Update

Jun222020 by adminNo Comments

Checkout.com triples valuation to $5.5 billion, making it one of Europe’s top fintechs

The logo for payments start-up Checkout.com.Checkout.comOnline payments start-up Checkout.com has raised $ 150 million in funding at a $ 5.5 billion valuation — nearly three times what it was worth when it last raised cash.Founded in 2012, the London-based company sells a software platform that makes it easier for businesses to process and take payments over the web. It competes with the likes of U.S. firm Stripe and Dutch processor Adyen.Checkout.com mostly flew under the radar until 2019, when it tapped external investors for the first time to raise a $ 230 million Series A round. That deal —reportedly agreed over "handshakes" rather than term sheets — gave the firm the coveted status of "unicorn," with a $ 2 billion valuation.Since then, the company has achieved impressive growth, incre

Jun152020 by adminNo Comments

Solar Orbiter: Europe’s Sun mission makes first close pass

Science

Media playback is unsupported on your device Europe's Solar Orbiter (SolO) probe makes its first close pass of the Sun on Monday, tracking by at a distance of just over 77 million km.SolO was launched in February and is on a mission to understand what drives our star's dynamic behaviour.The close pass, known as a perihelion, puts the probe between the orbits of Venus and Mercury.In the coming years, SolO will go nearer still, closing to within 43 million km of the Sun on occasions.As it stands today, only five other missions have dived deeper into the inner Solar System: Mariner 10, Helios 1 & 2, Messenger, and Parker Solar Probe.Earth orbits 149 million km (93 million miles) on average from the Sun.SolO is a European Space Agency (Esa) cr...

Apr222020 by adminNo Comments

Climate change: 2019 was Europe’s warmest year on record

Science

Europe is heating faster than the global average as new data indicates that last year was the warmest on record.While globally the year was the second warmest, a series of heatwaves helped push the region to a new high mark.Over the past five years, global temperatures were, on average, just over 1C warmer than at the end of the 19th century.In Europe, in the same period, temperatures were almost 2C warmer.According to the EU's Copernicus Climate Service, 11 of the 12 warmest years on record in Europe have occurred since 2000. The European State of the Climate 2019 shows that warm conditions and summer heatwaves saw drought in many parts of central Europe.While the UK sa...

Apr162020 by adminNo Comments

Europe’s Cheops telescope begins study of far-off worlds

Science

Europe's newest space telescope has begun ramping up its science operations.Cheops was launched in December to study and characterise planets outside our Solar System.And after a period of commissioning and testing, the orbiting observatory is now ready to fulfil its mission.Early targets for investigation include the so-called "Styrofoam world" Kelt-11b; the "lava planet" 55 Cancri-e; and the "evaporating planet" GJ-436b.Discovered in previous surveys of the sky, Cheops hopes to add to the knowledge of what these and hundreds of other far-flung objects are really like. The Swiss-led telescope will do this by watching for the tiny changes in light when a world passes in ...

Mar132020 by adminNo Comments

Europe’s share markets rise as global sell-off eases

Business

European stock indexes are recovering some ground after huge falls on Thursday.Markets have seen volatile trading as investors weigh the effect of the coronavirus against measures aimed at easing its economic impact.Share markets across the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan, Australia and India, have experienced major swings.It came after the Dow and S&P 500 in the US saw their biggest one-day declines since 1987.In recent days authorities around the world have announced emergency measures in an attempt to avoid recession.On Friday, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) prohibited short selling of a raft of shares in Italian and Spanish firms, after a request from authorities in those countries for the action, which is designed to protect that...