Europe

It's graduation time, and everyone is sharing their best advice for graduates. So we decided to ask our editorial and senior staff here at Business Insider, "What do you wish someone had told you at graduation?" Our colleagues had a lot to say, from how important it is to take care of your finances to not worrying about the first five years after graduation (you read that correctly: the first five years aren't all that important, according to SAI Senior Editor Jay Yarow). But advice is all relative. As Politics Reporter Walter Hickey says, "Ignore all the advice. Statistics insist."Alyson Shontell, Senior Reporter, SAI "Join a startup when you graduate run by seasoned, smart founders. In an ideal world, you'll pick one that will grow far bigger than it is when you join it. Either way, you will get tremendous experience and get to try your hand at a number of different roles, which can help you decide what you actually want to do with your life. And if the company grows, your career can grow with it." Steve Kovach, SAI Editor "My advice is to not settle. There's a good chance your first job will be something you hate. If that's the case, don't stop looking until you land somewhere you can see yourself working for several years." Alex Davies, Transportation Reporter "Leave the country for at least a year. Chances are you can find a job in Europe, South America, or Asia teaching English. You'll have a good time, and won't have to worry about a career for a year. When you come back you will seem more interesting to everyone, including potential employers. It's not like you'll be missing out on a booming economy, either, and none of the people in my graduating class who left the country for a year had more trouble than usual finding a job upon their return." See the rest of the story at Business Insider Please follow War Room on Twitter and Facebook.

Now that the 2012-13 Premier League season is over, it’s time to grade the performances this season by the Premier League managers. Like a regular school report card, if a manager receives a grade worse than a C-, then that manager should be sacked. Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United: Alex Ferguson’s last campaign was a resounding success. The outgoing boss strangled the Premier League from the first month of the season, steering a steady ship while his title rivals flailed in the midst of controversy and rumor. The league season was a perfect showcase of Ferguson’s drive and control – and the burning desire that spurred him on his whole career. Sir Alex deserves credit for the coup of signing Robin van Persie that all but won the league, and tightening up United’s defense after the turn of the year. Ferguson will be disappointed with his final exit from Europe, but there was no better time for him to retire. His departure was handled with poise and punctuated with power. Simply the best. Ever. A Roberto Mancini, Manchester City: Sort of like Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid, Mancini wore out his welcome among the players at the club. On the field, City were a grave disappointment, too often playing sluggish football devoid of real cohesion or energy. Mancini himself burned far too many bridges – both with players and the board, while his penitent for sending messages through the press was not appreciated by the club hierarchy. With his departure, more tears will be shed by supporters than people inside the club. That isn’t to say what Mancini did for City is minimized, and he’ll always have a special place at the club, but it was time for him to go. D Rafael Benitez, Chelsea: On the field, Rafa Benitez’s reign at Chelsea was mediocre. He did achieve the goals – mainly, Champions League qualification and a trophy – that were set out for him when he took the job, but Benitez’s Chelsea wilted from the league title race, were poor in big games – two domestic cup semi-final losses – and Benitez failed to install any clear strategy or direction into the team. But this marriage was never about on-field performance. Of course, some of the abuse Benitez took at Stamford Bridge was excessive and mean, but an apology from Benitez for what he said about the club’s fans when he was at Liverpool would have cooled temperatures. The apology never came, and it was obvious that Chelsea was just a stepping-stone job for Benitez, to get his name back in the managerial pinwheel. Fans will never accept a manager cut out more for their CV than the club. Benitez was also incredibly self-promoting – taking all the credit for the team’s successes, and not taking any responsibility for the team’s failures, underlined by the rant at Middlesbrough when Benitez blamed the fans, the owner, his agents, the board, the players, the spirits, the universe, and the galaxy for all his problems at Chelsea. He may very well have been fired even if he was not, “The Interim One”. C Arsene Wenger, Arsenal: Not good enough. It simply isn’t good enough, year after year after year, for Arsenal to embarrassingly exit cup competitions, not bring home silverware, and strain harder and harder to finish in the Champions League places. Yes, the Gunners pulled out fourth place in the end this year, but if results had gone differently on the final day and Arsenal had finished fifth, would Wenger still have his job? The loyalty and respect Arsenal are showing to a legend is commendable, but their lack of action is not. New direction is needed to lift the club to its previous heights. Whether Wenger is able to oversee those efforts is an entirely fair question to ask. C- Andre Villas-Boas, Tottenham Hotspur: It was clear this season just how much AVB learned from his fiasco tenure at Chelsea. Villas-Boas wasn’t as aloof, high-strung, or arrogant as he was last season, and was infinitely more relaxed – courtesy, in part, to a healthier working environment at White Hart Lane. Ma

It must be a strong year if more than one draft eligible prospects are having good years in the men's league in Europe. Next to Aleksander Barkov is the highest rated Swedish player, Elias Lindholm. He isn't the biggest or grittiest prospect but he brings an extremely strong all-round game with a dash of flash and dynamic play. Lindholm's main weapon is his hockey sense. He has great anticipation skills which makes him extremely dangerous both offensively and defensively. He can create turnovers by reading the passes then immediately turning them into scoring chances. A Datsyuk-lite maybe? Primarily a playmaker, he showed he also has decent scoring abilities by posting 11 goals and 19 assists in 48 games in the Swedish Elite League. He has also had strong showings in international tournaments. This season, he won a silver medal during the World Junior Championships and was a nominee for the Rookie of the Year award in Sweden. The previously ranked prospects are either extremely dynamic or have great strength/size combo to them. Lindholm has neither but uses his head extremely well with strong agility and some nifty hands. He is a prospect that will be good at everything outside of extremely physical assignments. While he may not be as talked about as Drouin or Barkov, he has the potential to be better NHL players than all of them. A very underrated player and someone that is worth keeping an eye on for the next few years. Introducing our 2013 NHL #5 Draft Prospect - Elias Lindholm ELIAS LINDHOLM Center / Brynas (Sweden) Height: 6-0 Weight: 181 GP G A P +/- PIM 2012/13 - Brynas 48 11 19 30 1 2 Projection: #1 two-way playmaking centerman. 40-50 assist player (70-80 points). #1 PP and #1PK leader. Strengths: Extremely smart; can create creative plays and create turnovers Agile, quick and smooth Strong offensive instincts with good hands and strong vision Plays as key centerman for both the PP and PK Weaknesses: Only has average size and strength Quotes: Future Considerations While Lindholm does not possess elite speed, he is very agile, being able to twist and turn in and out of traffic. He's got very good balance, which will help him make up for any physical shortcomings when it comes to protecting the puck and battling along the boards. He already protects the puck extremely well, has got great hands, can handle the puck at a high speed and in tough traffic and controls the play even when tightly checked along the boards. Lindholm can play an up-tempo give-and-go style of play down low to make use of his linemates to create opportunities. He sees the ice extremely well, and is extremely smart. He uses that intelligence to read the play exceptionally well. Not the heaviest of shots, he shoots ‘smart’, making the right decisions when to shoot. Prospect Jersey (What Would They Look Like In a Wild Jersey?): Video Evidence: Elias Lindholm Highlights (via DumbassShello) Special thanks to HFBoards, Future Considerations, The Hockey Writers, TSN, OHLProspeccts and The Scouting Report

A week of disturbances in Sweden's capital has tested the Scandinavian nation's reputation for tolerance, reports Colin Freeman LIKE the millions of other ordinary Swedes whom he now sees himself as one of, Mohammed Abbas fears his dream society is now under threat. When he first arrived in Stockholm as refugee from Iran in 1994, the vast Husby council estate where he settled was a mixture of locals and foreigners, a melting pot for what was supposed to be a harmonious, multi-racial paradise. Two decades on, though, "white flight" has left only one in five of Husby's flats occupied by ethnic Swedes, and many of their immigrant replacements do not seem to share his view that a new life in Sweden is a dream come true. Last week, the neighbourhood erupted into rioting, sparking some of the fiercest urban unrest that Sweden has seen in decades, and a new debate about the success of racial integration. "In the old days, the neighbourhood was more Swedish and life felt like a dream, but now there are just too many foreigners, and a new generation that has grown up here with just their own culture," he said, gesturing towards the hooded youths milling around in Husby's pedestrianised shopping precinct. "Also, in Sweden you cannot hit your children to discipline them, and this is a problem for foreign parents. The kids can feel they can cause whatever trouble they want, and the police don't even arrest any of them most of the time." This weekend, after six consecutive nights of rioting, Mr Mohammed was not the only one questioning the Swedish social model's preference for the carrot over the stick. Many Swedes were left asking why a country that prides itself on a generous welfare state, liberal social attitudes and a welcoming attitude towards immigrants should ever have race riots in the first place. The disturbances erupted in Husby last weekend, after police shot dead an elderly Iraqi man brandishing a machete inside his house. Angered at what they saw as police heavyhandedness, youths torched cars and buildings and stoned police and firefighters. Police were then forced to draft in extra manpower from outside Stockholm as the trouble spread to other immigrant-dominated suburbs of the capital and towns such as Orebro in central Sweden, where 25 masked youths set fire to a school on Friday night. Up too in smoke has gone the notion that egalitarian Sweden, which has largely avoided the global recession, might be immune from the social problems blighting less affluent parts of Europe. Sweden's centre-right prime minister, Frederik Reinfeldt, blamed "hooligans" but also talked sympathatically of the difficult "transition period between different cultures". Meanwhile politicians from the Swedish Left, which ruled the country for most of the post-war period, blamed the trouble on social spending cuts introduced by Mr Reinfeldt, whose Moderate Party vowed to trim - though not slash - the welfare budget when he took office in 2006. But amid the soulsearching last week, perhaps the most telling comment was the one from Kjell Lindgren, the spokesman for Stockholm Police. "We don't know why they are doing this," he said, when asked for a cause for the riots. "There is no answer to it." Certainly, wandering around Husby last week, it was hard at first glance to see quite what the problem was. Built in the 1970s as part of the "Million Programme" that aimed to give affordable housing for all Swedes, the estate is one of dozens on Stockholm's outskirts that now house mainly immigrant populations, including large numbers from Somalia, Eritrea, Afghanistan and Iraq. However, comparisons to the Paris "banlieus", or indeed riot-hit Tottenham or Salford, are limited. Between the rows of clean-looking housing blocks are well-tended flowerbeds and neatly- kept public gardens, and in the shopping precinct, where an ornamental fountain still bubbles away, there are bars, shops, and a smart cafe-bakery that would not look too out of place in an IKEA cat

Gloom, despair, and agony. Shareholders of at least three health-care stocks experienced one or more of these feelings over the past few days. Here are three of the most horrendous health-care stocks of the week. Friendly fireShares of biotech Aveo Pharmaceuticals dropped 10% this week. A decision by the company's partner, Astellas Pharma, caused the damage. Astellas told Aveo that it wouldn't pursue European approval for kidney drug tivozanib and would not fund any further studies for the drug in renal cancer. The two companies partnered in 2011 to jointly market tivozanib.  This marked yet another setback for Aveo. An advisory committee with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration voted 13-1 against recommending approval for tivozanib earlier in May. Before that point, FDA staff stated that the drug didn't improve survival rates for patients compared to currently approved drug Nexavar, which is marketed by Bayer AG and Onyx Pharmaceuticals.  Swiss messAmag Pharmaceuticals shares fell around 12% this week. The company announced that its partner Takeda was recalling a batch of anemia drug Rienso after a Swiss patient who took the drug died. Several other patients taking Rienso suffered from adverse reactions after taking the drug. The problems appear to be related to only one batch sold in Switzerland. Rienso received approval for sale in the country last August. Amag and Takeda are investigating the batch and collecting data on the adverse reactions. Takeda markets Rienso in Europe and in Canada under the brand name Feraheme. Amag sells Feraheme in the United States. The company reported 2012 sales of $58.3 million for the drug, up 12% from the prior year. Dilution solutionIronwood Pharmaceuticals this week ran into one of the most common dilemmas for biotech companies. It needed to raise cash, but doing so caused shares to fall -- by around 11% in this case. The company announced a secondary offering of 10.5 million shares at a price of $13 per share. With around 108 million shares outstanding currently, that reflects dilution of almost 10%. Ironwood's goal in raising more money is to help fund the launch of Linzess and further the company's pipeline development. Linzess, which treats irritable bowel syndrome with constipation or chronic idiopathic constipation, first hit the market in late 2012. Ironwood partners with Forest Labs in the commercialization of the drug. Forest Labs reported Linzess sales of $4.5 million during the first quarter. That's a drop from the $19.2 million recorded in the fourth quarter of 2012. However, a large portion of those sales stemmed from initial stocking of the drug. Worst of the worstWhich of this week's horrendous stocks looks to be the worst? I'd have to go with Aveo right now. The outlook for tivozanib doesn't appear too bright -- at least for renal cancer. Amag's recall woes probably will be short-lived. The same is true for Ironwood's share pullback related to the secondary offering. Gloom, despair, and agony could just be temporary for at least two of these stocks. While you can certainly make huge gains in biotech and pharmaceuticals, the best investing approach is to choose great companies and stick with them for the long term. The Motley Fool's free report "3 Stocks That Will Help You Retire Rich" names stocks that could help you build long-term wealth and retire well, along with some winning wealth-building strategies that every investor should be aware of. Click here now to keep reading.

Some unlikely clubs are in and big names are out but the battle for places in next season's competition continuesAlmost all the usual suspects will be there but next season's Champions League could feature some fascinating new or nearly forgotten faces. There will also be a couple of notable absences from the starting line-up, most obviously Internazionale, the 2010 winners, who will be exiled from Europe after finishing ninth in Serie A, far behind the top four of Juventus, Napoli, Milan and Fiorentina. The final will be held in Lisbon's Stadium of Light but the local team, Sporting Lisbon, cannot even dream of reaching it as they, too, have failed to qualify for continental competition.Sporting's decline owes much to the financial turmoil gripping the club and the country. But Portugal could still provide one of the fairytale stories of next season, as Paços de Ferreira finished third in the Primeira Liga, behind Porto and Benfica, and if they navigate through the qualifying round, where potential opponents include Arsenal, Schalke and Fenerbahce, they could become the most unlikely side ever to reach the Champions League group stages.Paços de Ferreira is a district of Porto with a population of around 8,500. Their average home attendance this season was about 1,500, less than a third of the capacity of their ground, which does not meet Uefa criteria so will not be used if the team reach the group stages. That means Paços will probably ask to be put up by nearby Boavista or Braga. Getting to the position where they have to seek such favours would be a glorious achievement for a team that finished 10th in the Primeira Liga last year and whose manager, Paulo Fonseca, had declared that the primary target of the latest campaign was to avoid relegation. It remains to be seen how many of the players who helped surpass expectations so spectacularly will be around to try to do the same again next season, as rich admirers are circling, with the 22-year-old playmaker Josué attracting particular interest.Fierce fighting continues in some places to earn the right to join Paços in the Champions League qualifying rounds. While newcomers such as the Hungarian champions, Gyor, and the League of Ireland winners, Sligo Rovers, have secured spots in earlier stages, Real Sociedad and Valencia have two matches left to determine which of them will become the fourth Spanish entrant into the Champions League. Sociedad have been one of the most entertaining sides of the season under Philippe Montanier, but face the more gruelling run-in, with matches against Real Madrid and relegation-threatened Deportivo de La Coruña. Valencia, level on points with Sociedad, play Granada and Sevilla.The most intriguing battle is in France, where three teams go intoSunday's last round of matches with a chance of taking the country's third Champions League spot, behind Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille. Lyon are the favourites as a home win over Rennes will secure a place they missed this season after being regulars in the knockout stages for most of the past decade.Just behind them, however, are their regional rivals Saint Etienne, who, in the event of Lyon drawing, would take third place with a win at Lille, who, in turn, would leapfrog both if they win and Lyon lose. If Lille progressed it would cap a remarkable turnaround for Salomon Kalou, the former Chelsea forward who endured a woeful start to the season before finding his form and leading the club's charge into contention. A far more interesting revival, however, is that of Saint Etienne, who could be about to return to Europe's elite after three decades most marked by failure and farce.Saint Etienne were France's dominant club in the 1960s and 70s, and came within an inch of beating Bayern Munich in the 1976 European Cup final. Since then they have spent most of the time in the shadows of Lyon, just as the manager, the 46-year-old Christophe Galtier, has spent most of his career in the shadow of Alain Perrin

Submitted by Mark J. Grant, author of Out of the Box, "It's the lure of easy money. It has a very strong appeal." -Glenn Frey, Smuggler's Blues Investors borrowed $384.4 billion in April, a 1.3% gain from the previous month and a 29% rise from the same month last year. This is an all-time record for margin debt and it exceeds the previous high mark set in June 2007. Some may see this as an increased sign of investor confidence but I am not one of them. To me this is a giant red warning flag blowing in the financial breeze indicating the leveraging of dumb money making very risky bets. "Every swindle is driven by a desire for easy money; it's the one thing the swindler and the swindled have in common." -Mitchell Zuckoff Substances based upon some sort of white powder are quite dangerous. They can overcome your good sense and then they it can be quite difficult to extricate yourself from them. The Great Depression was caused, in large part, by massive leverage utilized in the equity markets. This was the white powder of 1929. It took a decade and a World War before America was able to loosen the grip of the stuff. The white powder of 2008/2009 was easy money provided by the American banks. It wasn't the subprime mortgages that caused the problem but the leverage that was used to buy them and then various securities that were appended to them. It took the coordinated efforts of the world's central banks to stop the carnage. Money for nothing, money from nothing and checks for free. Chicks were still expensive but at least we could afford them once again. "I came to a stark realization: chronic surpluses could be almost as destabilizing as chronic deficits." -Alan Greenspan The economies of Europe are in recession by any definition that you would like to use. America is sputtering and barely above the red line. Japan is now on steroids and the recent volatility in their equity and bond markets is astounding if not scary. All over the globe the white powder is being dispensed once again but this time there is far more of it than ever in history. It is being made by the central banks and so people think it is sanitized but let me tell you; there is no such thing! We are once again in the crack house of substance abuse! In each age the gods of the marketplace show up once more. The packaging may be different but the powder is the same. Each dealer uses the same line, "Nothing addictive here." "With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch, They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch; They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings; So we worshipped the Gods of the Market who promised these beautiful things." -Rudyard Kipling

After taking you on a trip through Europe, today it’s time to get global once again as I give you the much awaited World roundup for April 2013. Who made the worldwide headlines in April? Hints: two Japanese and one German… A little bit like Iron Man 3 unleashing its power into virtually all countries in the world in the same period, the 4th generation Toyota RAV4, after an 8 year-wait, is now making waves instantaneously in every corner of the globe: it is #2 in Taiwan with 5.1% share, #3 in Puerto Rico, up 16 spots on March to #4 in Norway, up to #6 in New Zealand, up 219% on April 2012 to #8 in Ukraine, up 117% to #10 in Russia, up 38% to #11 in Canada, up 41% to #15 in Australia, up 8 ranks to #16 in Poland and up 22% to #17 in the US… Talk about a multi-pronged attack! Nissan Leaf The biggest single event this month is arguably the 2nd place of the Nissan Leaf  in Norway with 3.3% share, by far the model’s best ranking anywhere in the world, and no less than its fourth consecutive record month in Norway, after ranking #4 with 2.8% in March, #5 at 2.5% in February and #9 in January. In fact, Norway is the only country in the world where the Nissan Leaf has managed to break into the monthly Top 10! Audi A3 Another big single event is the arrival for the very first time of the Audi A3 among the Top 10 best-sellers in Europe at #9 this month, thanks to very strong showings in Germany (#4), the UK (#10) and Switzerland (#8). As an aside, nother landmark for Audi in Aprid is the Q3 breaking into any monthly Top 10 for the first time and it happened in Austria (#8) - note also that the Q3 makes its first appearance in the Chinese ranking at #107 as local production has now started. Renault Duster Along with the RAV4 and the Q3, another SUV making headlines worldwide is the Franco-Romanian Renault Duster. It lodges a third month (in the last 4) within the Russian Top 5 and stays within the Indian Top 10 for the 2nd consecutive month. Launched in January, it is already up to #12 in Ireland with almost 2% of the market, while on a Romanian note the Dacia Dokker is up to #5 in Romania and #3 in Bulgaria. Great Wall Voleex C10 Quick update on the most successful Chinese models overseas: the Great Wall Voleex C10 is up to a best-ever #2 in Bulgaria, the Geely CK maintains itself at #2 year-to-date in Ukraine, the Chery MVM315 (aka Fulwin 2) is up to #4 in Iran and the DongFeng S30 celebrates its 5th consecutive month within the Venezuelan Top 5. Opel Mokka Among recent launches, the Opel Mokka is already the brand’s best-seller in Switzerland both this month (#15) and year-to-date (#23) ahead of the Astra, it is up to #29 in Germany but up to a fantastic #8 in the German private sales ranking, always a good indication of future success. The Renault Captur is up to #22 in France and #63 in Spain, the Mercedes CLA is up to #61 at home in Germany but does better in Spain where it already ranks #58… Peugeot 207 Compact Weird development in Argentina where two decade-old models with a bit of makeup took command of the sales charts: the Peugeot 207 Compact (in fact a 206+) and the Renault Clio Mio (in fact a 1998 Clio). Tesla Model S In other news, after 6 consecutive months of Toyota Aqua domination the Toyota Prius is back in charge in Japan, thanks to an official sales update by Tesla we learn that the Tesla Model S is the best-selling plug-in vehicle in the USA so far 2013 ahead of the Prius and Volt, the Hyundai i30 breaks into the US Top 10 for the first time thanks to the addition of the GT hatchback version (called i30 elsewhere)… Honda Amaze … the Honda CR-V is up to a record 4th place in China, the Fiat 500 reaches a best-ever 8th position in the UK, the Suzuki Ertiga is back to a fantastic 2nd place in Indonesia for the second time in the last 3 months and the Honda Amaze is already #13 in India. Hyundai Maxcruz Finally, have you met the Hyundai Maxcruz? In South Korea, the Santa Fe

The Dutch MEP Marietje Schaake has a fantastic, must-read essay on the problem with "cyber-war." She lays out the case for securing the Internet (and the world of people and systems that rely on it) through fixing vulnerabilities and making computers and networks as secure and robust as possible, rather than relying on weaknesses in security as vectors for attacking adversaries. Mass surveillance, mass censorship, tracking and tracing systems, as well as hacking tools and vulnerabilities can be used to harm people as well as our own security in Europe. Though overregulation of the internet should never be a goal in and of itself, regulation of this dark sector is much needed to align our values and interests in a digital and hyper-connected world. There are many European examples. FinFisher software, made by UK’s Gamma Group was used in Egypt while the EU condemned human rights violations by the Mubarak regime. Its spread to 25 countries is a reminder that proliferation of digital arms is inevitable. Vupen is perhaps best labelled as an anti-security company in France that sells software vulnerabilities to governments, police forces and others who want to use them to build (malicious) software that allows infiltrating in people’s or government’s computers. It is unclear which governments are operating on this unregulated market, but it is clear that the risk of creating a Pandora’s box is huge if nothing is done to regulate this trade by adopting reporting obligations. US government has stated that American made, lawful intercept technologies, have come back as a boomerang when they were used against US interests by actors in third countries. Other companies, such as Area Spa from Italy designed a monitoring centre, and had people on the ground in Syria helping the Assad government succeed in anti-democratic or even criminal behaviour by helping the crackdown against peaceful dissidents and demonstrators. It's just not good policy to make the people who are supposed to be securing our computers dependent on insecurity in computers to achieve that end. In defense of digital freedom (via Techdirt)

Are you looking for a way to ease your baby’s transition in to night time sleep? Playing a lullaby CD is a great way to soothe them and get them to fall asleep quickly. And studies have also shown babies who listen to music have better cognitive development – so what are you waiting for?? This award winning, lullaby CD called Dreamland will broaden their little musical horizons as it contains lullabies from around the world. Songs on the CD are from Africa, Europe, North America, South America and Asia. $14.98 at Amazon.