25 talking points for better conversation at cocktails based on what I found interesting this week.
Global Street Smarts
1. Robb Report drops a list of the top 50 best bars in North America for 2022:
Here's the top 10:
1. Attaboy - New York
2. Handshake Speakeasy - Mexico City
3. Licorería Limantour - Mexico City
4. Katana Kitten - New York
5. Kumiko - Chicago
6. Café La Trova - Miami
7. Baltra Bar - Mexico City
8. Dante - New York
9. Thunderbolt - Los Angeles
10. Civil Liberties - Toronto
Complete Robb Report list here.
2. Ukraine can only fire 5,000 to 6,000 artillery rounds per day.
3. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky will participate in this year's G7 summit.
5. The Scottish government plans to hold a second independence referendum in October next year, according to its constitution secretary.
5. France has had 15 constitutions since the revolution in 1789.
6. Canada and Denmark finally settled the essentially good-natured "whiskey war" fought for decades with weapons such as flags and bottles of alcohol over a tiny, barren, and uninhabited outcrop in the Arctic. The two sides formally announced a deal to split Hans Island and create the first land border between Canada and Europe.
7. Australia + NATO: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is considering whether to attend the NATO summit in Madrid on June 29-30 as part of a show of support from Asia Pacific partners, including leaders from Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand.
8. India will spend $30 billion to overhaul its tech industry and build up a chip supply chain to ensure it is not "held hostage" to foreign providers, the country's top diplomat to Taiwan told Nikkei Asia in an interview. India aims to produce 85,000 highly qualified engineers in 10 years.
9. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced he joined Donald Trump's social network, Truth Social.
10. GOP 2024 presidential primary: The PredictIt political futures market now has Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) as the frontrunner to win the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
11. Trump 2024: Several people close to Trump recently told NBC News that they had been asked informally to hold July 4 as a date for a possible announcement for his 2024 presidential campaign.
12. QOTW #1: "Older people go on the internet for a couple of things. For the younger generation, the internet is 'the things.'" -- Payton Iheme, head of public policy for dating app Bumble, explains to the New York Times how different generations use technology
13. QOTW #2: + "Even when adjusting for inflation, gas prices are at levels rarely seen in the last 50 years." -- New York Times' Ella Koeze and Clifford Krauss
14. QOTW #3: "I refuse to believe Matt Damon was wrong about investing advice." -- Aaron Levie, CEO @ Box
15. Lego to build a new $1 billion factory in Virginia: The 1.7 million-square-foot plant is planned for Chesterfield County, south of Richmond.
16. Lime is testing out a new shared electric motorbike in California.
17. Google Maps now estimates toll charges for your journey.
18. Coca-Cola + Jack Daniel's to start selling Jack and Coke canned cocktails.
19. Ferrari will make almost half its models fully electric by 2030: The Italian luxury carmaker will launch its first electric-only vehicle in 2025.
20. In New York, only 8 percent of workers are in the office five days a week, according to the latest Partnership for New York City survey. Currently, 38 percent of New York office workers are at their desks on any given weekday.
21. Sean 'Diddy' Combs to receive lifetime honor at BET Awards.
22. George Washington University will retire its "Colonials" moniker, a name intended to honor its namesake but has long been criticized as a term that glorifies colonialism.
23. Apple announces 10-year deal to stream all Major League Soccer games. MLS has become the most prominent American league to have an all-digital, global agreement.
24. According to Deloitte, England's top 20 soccer clubs generated €5.1bn in the 2019-20 season, some €3bn more than Serie A. Just a decade earlier, that gap was roughly €1bn.
25. FIFA 2026 World Cup host cities:
Vancouver
Seattle
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Guadalajara
Kansas City
Dallas
Atlanta
Houston
Monterrey
Mexico City
Toronto
Boston
Philadelphia
Miami
New York City
-Marc
