Top five stories you may have missed
Financial firms fork out in Luxembourg hunt for staff
Luxembourg's teeming financial industry is forking out big salaries to new hires, recruitment specialists said, as companies are struggling to attract enough talent to sustain the country's boom-time growing pains.
An early-career accountant can now land a salary of around €75,000 a year, an increase of 20% or more since 2019, said Sinéad O'Donnell, co-founder of Luxembourg's DO Recruitment Advisors. A person with a few years more experience can expect an even better pay, she said.
Pegasus firm NSO booked most sales through Luxembourg
Spyware maker NSO Group booked most of its sales over the past two years in Luxembourg, financial filings showed, offering yet another clue that the Grand Duchy functions as an important business hub for the Israeli firm, which has been tied to numerous human rights abuses.
Q Cyber Technologies - a Luxembourg entity of NSO, which is infamous for its Pegasus software - collected just below $170 million from the "sale and distribution of computer equipment and services" in 2021, according to annual accounts in the Luxembourg business register. The number is more than half of total NSO Group revenues in the year, or in previous years.
Tough fate for African student refugees from Ukraine
Dozens of Africans fleeing the war in Ukraine are struggling to receive legal protection in Luxembourg, where protracted and complex procedures often lead them to try their luck elsewhere in Europe.
Soufiane Bouirig - a 24 year-old Moroccan dentistry student from Ukraine - sought shelter in Luxembourg right after the start of the war, thinking it would be easy to get around here because he speaks French.
But the Grand Duchy denied him the temporary protection status that the EU provides to war refugees, and he has now moved to Portugal where he did get the status, and is about to start work as a dentist's assistant.
Runaway Intelsat craft headed toward SES satellite
A hurtling mass of metal and electronics may come between Luxembourg rivals SES and Intelsat, two satellite operators that are already clashing in court even as they discuss a merger that media say they are planning.
Intelsat two weeks ago lost control of its 2,000 kg Galaxy 15 satellite, which broadcasts television signals across the United States, the company informed the US communications regulator last week.
Fines hit more than 400 entities in shell company crackdown
Luxembourg has issued fines against more than 400 companies and other entities accused of violating a 2019 law designed to stamp out shell companies that could be used to launder money, the government said on Monday.
Police is searching properties across the country in their summer crackdown to check compliance with the country's business registry, Justice Minister Sam Tanson and Internal Security Minister Henri Kox said in response to questions from lawmakers, and has so far issued fines to 437 entities.
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