The 27 cities with the best quality of life in the world

• Lianna Brinded
 

• 21h
• 665,951

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Mercer, one of the world's largest HR consultancy firms, releases its "Quality of Living Index" annually, which looks at cities that provide the best quality of life.

It's a way of helping multinational companies compensate employees fairly when placing them on international assignments, according to Mercer.

Looking at 450 cities across the world, Mercer takes into account the following metrics to judge which cities made the list for the best quality of life:

• Political and social environment (political stability, crime, law enforcement).
• Economic environment (currency-exchange regulations, banking services).
• Socio-cultural environment (media availability and censorship, limitations on personal freedom).
• Medical and health considerations (medical supplies and services, infectious diseases, sewage, waste disposal, air pollution).
• Schools and education (standards and availability of international schools).
• Public services and transportation (electricity, water, public transportation, traffic congestion).
• Recreation (restaurants, theatres, cinemas, sports, and leisure).
• Consumer goods (availability of food/daily consumption items, cars).
• Housing (rental housing, household appliances, furniture, maintenance services).
• Natural environment (climate, record of natural disasters).

Mercer made a list of 230 countries, and Business Insider took a look at the top 27 in the world. And no, New York and London did not make the cut.

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27. Adelaide, Australia —The city is not only South Australia's main government and commercial centre; it also is key destination for beaches and outdoor activities, providing a good balance to life.

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26. Singapore, Singapore —The island nation is one of the richest in the world and has super-low crime rates, high education, and high quality of living.

Shutterstock / Vincent St. Thomas

25 (joint). Nuremberg, Germany — The second-largest city in Bavaria is one of Germany's historical epicentres with growing nightlife and picturesque views.

WikiCommons/de:Benutzer:Stern

25 (joint). Stuttgart, Germany — As one the country's manufacturing hubs, Stuttgart has high employment levels and a healthy economic backdrop.

Reuters

Bearded people line up to create the world's longest beard chain in the southern German city of Stuttgart.

23. Montreal, Canada — This city is one of five Canadian cities that made the overall rankings. The French-speaking city has established itself as a centre of commerce, finance, and technology.

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22 (joint). Perth, Australia — Australia has some of the highest quality of living worldwide. The Western Australian city is home to some of the country's most beautiful beaches, and its inner region has a low unemployment rate of 4.3%.

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'mi no 5' by artist Wendi Zhang is seen at Sculpture By The Sea at Cottesloe Beach on March 6, 2015 in Perth, Australia.

22 (joint). Brussels, Belgium —The political centre of Europe is considered incredibly clean and is filled with museums, national parks, and high-end restaurants.

Stephane Mignon/Flickr

20 (joint). Stockholm, Sweden — The capital is considered one of the best places in the world for a good quality of living due to its balance of work, life, safety, and environmental issues.

Benoît Derrier, Wikipedia

20 (joint). Luxembourg — The tiny European country, which borders Belgium, France, and Germany, is incredibly wealthy and violent crime is very low. Some of the wealthiest people in the world bank in the picturesque city-state because of its secretive finance laws.

REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

18. Hamburg, Germany — The major port city in northern Germany is the second largest of its kind in the country. It has become a centre for media and industry and is home to the world's second oldest bank: Berenberg Bank.

REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer

17. Ottawa, Canada — This city is considered the most educated in Canada with its wealth of postsecondary, research, and cultural institutions. It also has low unemployment and is considered a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Rick Ligthelm/Flickr

16 (joint). Melbourne, Australia — The coastal capital is considered one of the best places in the world for education, healthcare, research, and development. Its thriving tourism and entertainment sectors also keep the city wealthy.

Flickr/jonathanpoh

16 (joint). Toronto, Canada — Home to the iconic CN Tower, Toronto is Canada's financial capital. It is also home to some of Canada's five largest banks and hosts the Toronto Film Festival every year.

Christine Wagner, Flickr

14. Bern, Switzerland — The city is considered by Mercer to be the second safest in the world. It's rich in agriculture as well as traditional industry, and also has a low unemployment rate at 3.3%, making the region attractive to live in. Its growing tech sector is also drawing in new talent.

Wikicommons

13. Berlin, Germany — The country's capital is counted as having an excellent mix of quality of life — with good employment opportunities, a high standard of housing, good personal safety, and tonnes of recreational activities.

Sean Pavone / Shutterstock

12. Wellington, New Zealand — The Kiwi city is high up on the list and has sublime weather. It is the country's political centre and is the second most populous area in New Zealand.

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11. Amsterdam, Netherlands — It is one of the financial centres of Europe and also famous for its high standard of living. The cosmopolitan city combines modern and urban life with relaxed attitudes toward recreation and leisure.

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10. Sydney, Australia — The city represents 7% of the country's economy, with finance and financial services the largest employer with 22% of all workers. The natural environment, weather, and growing cultural scene boosts Sydney up the list.

AP Photo/Rick Rycroft

9. Copenhagen, Denmark — The city was recently dubbed one of the happiest places to live on earth, and it's not hard to see why. Originally a fishing village, Copenhagen has grown into a city with strong urban and cultural development and is famed for its work-life balance.

REUTERS/Bob Strong

8. Geneva, Switzerland — The city is seen a the global centre for diplomacy and is home to some of the richest people in the world. It's incredibly safe and its population is highly educated.

REUTERS/Frederic Lucas

7. Frankfurt, Germany — The commerce-centric city is home to some of the world's most famous trade shows, including the Frankfurt Motor Show.

Reuters

6. Dusseldorf, Germany — The city in western Germany is known for its fashion industry and art scene and nearly tops the list with its good balance of Mercer's 10 analytical measures.

Alen Djuderija Photography/ Flickr

5. Vancouver, Canada — The city is among Canada's densest, most ethnically diverse cities, with 52% of its population having a first language that is not English.

REUTERS/Andy Clark

4. Munich, Germany — Munich is Germany's powerhouse and regularly near the top of Mercer's list for having the best quality of life.

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3. Auckland, New Zealand — The city is based around two large harbours and nearly tops the list again with its well-balanced economy, idyllic environment, and high levels of personal safety.

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2. Zurich, Switzerland — The city is known as the country's economic and cultural hub, which regularly tops not just Mercer's list, but others as well for being one of the best places to live in the world.

REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

1. Vienna, Austria — This city tops the rankings for the seventh consecutive time. East of the Danube River, Vienna is the seventh-largest city by population within city limits in the European Union and is rich in culture.

REUTERS/Heinz-Peter Bader

SEE ALSO: These are the 19 happiest cities in Europe, according to the people who live there

Burberry just laid bare how awful the luxury market is right now

• Oscar Williams-Grut
 
•  

• 7h
• 1,042

BurberryBurberry's Spring/Summer 2015 campaign featuring Jourdan Dunn and Naomi Campbell.

Burberry announced a big overhaul of its business on Wednesday in an effort to try and "outperform" the struggling luxury market.

The iconic British luxury brand is cutting £100 million ($144 million) of annualised costs by "reducing complexity, simplifying processes and eliminating duplication." At the same time, it will invest £10 million ($14.4 million) this year and £25 million ($36.1 million) each year after that in "retail, digital and enhancing critical capabilities."

Burberry announced the changes as it laid bare just how bad the luxury market is in its full-year results. The figures show:

• Revenue down 1% to £2.5 billion ($3.6 billion);
• Comparable sales down 1%;
• Pre-tax profit down 7% to £415.6 million ($600 million);
• Performance related pay down £65 million ($93.8 million) as the business missed its targets.

Burberry says the figures "reflected a difficult period for the luxury sector as a whole as demand slowed in many markets for both cyclical and structural reasons."

The luxury market has been growing around 7% a year since 2010, mainly due to demand from Chinese consumers, but this is expected to slow to "low single-digit percentage" per year, Burberry says. Sales fell by 9% in Hong Kong, which accounts for 9% of Burberry's global sales revenue.

It's not just Burberry that is struggling. Globally, luxury sales are slowing, in part reflecting the slowing growth of China's economy but also a huge anti-corruption and anti-extravagance campaign led by President Xi Jinping that has led to a decline in "gifting."

Bain & Company's 2014 China Luxury Market Study, which was released at the beginning of last year, showed that China's luxury-goods industry accounted for 29% of the global market.

Burberry warns the market is likely to "remain subdued" and says profits for the year ahead are set "to be towards the bottom of the range of analysts' expectations" — never something investors want to hear.

CEO and chief creative Christopher Bailey says in the statement:

While we expect the challenging environment for the luxury sector to continue in the near term, we are firmly committed to making the changes needed to drive Burberry's future outperformance, underpinned by strong brand and business fundamentals.

We continue to see significant opportunities ahead of us and have put ambitious plans in place to increase future revenue, enhance productivity and create a more efficient organisation. In addition, the capital allocation framework announced today prioritises the investment needs of the business and regular dividend payments to our shareholders, while balancing capital efficiency and flexibility.

To try and overcome this Burberry is planning to encourage loyalty to its brand through a strong social media and e-commerce presence and investing in training for retail staff.

Burberry shares are down almost 4% after 30 minutes trade in London:Investing.com

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John McAfee's mysterious new company is the hottest stock in America right now

• Bob Bryan
 
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• 13h
• 40,383
 
• 12

John McAfeeJohn McAfee.

Shares of the small tech company MGT Capital Investments were up more than 37% on Tuesday at $4.08 per share.

With over 108 million shares traded, it was the most active stock, ahead of Bank of America.

Tuesday was another day in a stream of strong upward moves for the stock after the company announced on May 9 that it was naming John McAfee, founder of antivirus firm McAfee Security, as CEO and re-branding the firm John McAfee Global Technologies Inc.

The surge followed the McAfee announcement, which included a sudden shift in the business from online gaming to cybersecurity.

MGT acquired D-Vasive, a company that produces software that protects cellphones, on May 9. Before the shift, the company focused on online games such as slots simulator SlotChamp and had a 10% stake in daily fantasy site DraftDay.com.

The firm had no holdings regarding cybersecurity before the acquisition, according to its most recent annual filing.

Here's what we know about the abrupt pivot so far:

• September 8, 2015: MGT sells all but 11% of its stake in DraftDay.com, according toits annual report.
• April 14: After delaying its annual report from March 31, MGT files its report, saying it has $359,000 in cash on hand. Additionally, it describes its business as "principally engaged in the business of acquiring, developing and monetizing assets in the online and mobile gaming space as well as the social casino industry." The report does say that following the sale of DraftDay, the firm is "considering all methods to create value for shareholders, including potential mergers, spin-offs, distributions and other strategic actions."
• May 3: Michael Brauser, of Grander Holdings, acquires 1,337,668 shares of MGT Technologies, 6.4% of the company at the time of filing. Brauser has been sued numerous times for fraud involving small, publicly listed firms, though some of those allegations have been dismissed.
  
  The most recent was dismissed in September 2015, for the company IDI Inc. Brauser was also CEO of an email-marketing company, Naviant, which was acquired and eventually sued by credit agency Equifax after the firm accused the shareholder sellers of fraud. The case settled in arbitration for a payout to Equifax of $15.2 million.
• May 6: MGT Chairman Joshua Silverman steps down from his position. Silverman's Cayman Island-based Iroquois Capital owns 9.4% of the firm, according to a filing on May 9. According to that filing, Silverman and his firm no longer have any representation on the board.
• May 9: McAfee is named chairman and CEO, and the company buys Wyoming-based cybersecurity firm D-Vasive for $300,000 in cash and 4,760,000 in shares of MGT. The stock jumps 60% for the day.
• May 16: MGT files to delay its 10Q report because the firm needs "additional time to work with its auditors and legal counsel to prepare and finalize the Form 10-Q."

Business Insider contacted McAfee, who said he was approached by MGT Technologies in 2015 regarding a possible investment in some of McAfee's cybersecurity ventures.

The offer to come on as CEO and pivot the company from gaming to cybersecurity was made by representatives of MGT just over a month ago, according to McAfee.

When asked if he knew of Brauser's investment or legal troubles McAfee said "I knew nothing about that." He added that "If people think the cybersecurity focus is a scam, then just look at my background."

Brauser was not immediately available for comment.

Based on the closing price of May 6, the last trading day before the announcement of McAfee's involvement, the stock is now up more than 1,000% in a week. Though, to be fair, the company is still small, with a market cap just over $150 million; it started from only $0.36 per share as of Friday's close. 

Google Finance

SEE ALSO: McAfee named CEO of small tech company, stock goes nuts

Valeant's thinking about shedding some assets

• Linette Lopez
 
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• 18h
• 895

Getty/Jonathan Alcorn

Valeant Pharmaceuticals is thinking about selling some of its skin and cancer drugs in order to pay down some of its over $30 billion debt pile, according to Manuel Baigorri, Ed Hammond and Cynthia Koons at Bloomberg.

What's up for grabs? Obagi, a dermatology company Valeant acquired in 2013, and Provenge, a prostate cancer treatment.

Bloomberg reports that the sales could raise $1 billion for the company.

Valeant started to unravel in October, when allegations of malfeasance from a short seller combined with government scrutiny over its pricing practices to drag the stock down. The company was also forced to make some embarrassing revelations about a secret pharmacy called Philidor that was selling Valeant drugs almost exclusively.

Former CEO Michael Pearson said that 2016 would be the year that Valeant would focus on reducing debt, but through all the chaos of Valeant's scandal — its delayed annual and quarterly reports, its ousted CEO, its several beatings from Washington — that promise got lost in the uncertainty.

Now it seems new CEO Joe Papa will keep that promise. Hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman who sits on Valeant's board and has been involved with the company since 2014, said that the company would not sell Bausch & Lomb, a core consumer business. So it seems they've found another way to raise money.

It is worth noting that Philidor pushed a lot of skin drugs for Valeant, so maybe they're just not worth as much to the company anymore. In fact, Bill Ackman suggested selling that part of the business ages ago, according to a bunch of e-mails leaked in a government document dump earlier this month.

SEE ALSO: Bill Ackman's plan to fix Valeant is doomed

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The Japanese economy is growing again

• David Scutt, Business Insider Australia

• 8h
• 700

Junko Kimura/Getty Images

The Japanese economy returned to growth in the first quarter of 2016, expanding by 0.4%, according to the preliminary GDP estimate released by the Japanese government.

The increase, well above the 0.1% gain forecast, saw the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) accelerate to 1.7%, again well ahead of the 0.2% level expected.

It marked the fastest annual growth rate seen since the same corresponding quarter in 2015, helped by the extra day in the quarter thanks to 2016 being a leap year.

Taking some of the gloss off the headline result, the economic contraction in the prior quarter was revised up, falling 0.4% from the 0.3% figure reported previously.

In essence, the quarterly expansion in this quarter offset the decline of the previous quarter. 

At least it’s heading in the right direction.

Business Insider Australia

According to the Japanese Cabinet Office, domestic demand contributed 0.2 percentage points (ppts) to growth, a contribution that was matched by external demand which also added 0.2 ppts thanks primarily to a 0.6% lift in exports.

From a domestic standpoint, private consumption, underpinned by household spending, grew by 0.5%, helping to offset declines in housing and business investment of 0.8% and 1.4% respectively.

Public demand — or government expenditure — was also strong, gaining 0.6%. 

The Japanese government will release the second estimate for Q1 GDP on June 8. Given it captures more hard data for the quarter, rather than estimates, it is prone to substantial revisions.

Read the original article on Business Insider Australia. Copyright 2016. Follow Business Insider Australia on Twitter.

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STOCKS SLIDE: Here's what you need to know

• Akin Oyedele
 
•  

• 18h
• 1,109

Reuters

Stocks closed lower on Tuesday, briefly taking the S&P 500 back into negative territory year-to-date.

Oil made new highs for the year, and Brent crude — the international benchmark — came with 50 cents of $50 per barrel.

First, the scoreboard:

• Dow: 17,529.98, -180.73, (-1.02%)
• S&P 500: 2,047.21, -19.45, (-0.94%)
• Nasdaq: 4,715.73, -59.73, (-1.25%)

US Economy

In Fedspeak, Atlanta Fed president Dennis Lockart and San Francisco Fed president John Williams both said they would not rule out a June interest-rate hike. 

Lockhart noted that markets may be more pessimistic about the number of times the Fed will hike rates this year than he is. The Fed Fund Futures market is pricing less than a 50% chance of a rate hike through the end of this year. 

All of the economic data released Tuesday beat expectations. 

The consumer price index (CPI) rose more than expected in April, and recorded its biggest jump since February 2013. 

The gauge of inflation rose 0.4% month-on-month and 1.1% year-on-year. Core CPI, which strips volatile food and energy costs, rose 0.2% month-on-month and 2.1% year-on-year, as expected.  

Rising gas prices accounted for much of the spike in headline CPI; the gas index rose 8.1%. 

"Higher energy prices over the past couple of months are starting to push overall inflation higher, and pass-through from energy to other prices will put upward pressure on core inflation in the months ahead," said PNC chief economist Stuart Hoffman.

Housing starts rose 6.6% to 1.172 million in April, while building permits rose 3.6% to 1.116 million.

What was encouraging about the report was a spike in Midwest activity, which contributed to much of last month's rise in housing starts, according to Quicken Loans Vice President Bill Banfield. The rise in building permits signals that momentum is building in new home construction, he said. 

But a downward trend may be starting in the Northeast and West, where starts dropped 3.5% and 2.5% month-on-month respectively, according to Trulia chief economist Ralph McLaughlin. 

Industrial production climbed 0.7% last month after a 0.9% decline. Capacity utilization slipped to 75.4% from 75.8%. 

Demand for electricity and natural gas rose to a more normal level after unseasonably warm weather in March reduced the need for heating. That raised utility production by 5.8% month-on-month, the most since 2007.

Home Depot

Retail earnings are looking a lot different this week. After heavyweights like Gap and Macy's disappointed last week, we're finally getting some good results. 

Particularly from Home Depot, which crushed earnings expectations once again and raised its outlook for the year. The home-improvement retailer benefited from rising home prices and milder weather.

It earned $1.44 per share ($1.33 expected) and revenues of $22.76 billion ($22.32 billion expected.) Sales at stores open for at least one year jumped 7.4% in the US. 

And now for some evergreen bullish Home-Depot commentary, here's CFO Carol Tome (our emphasis):

Turning our attention to the full year, while US GDP forecast had pulled back slightly since we built our 2016 sales plan, we continue to see strength in the housing market, with home price appreciation, housing turnover and helpful formation trending where we thought they would. Sales in the first quarter exceeded our expectations, not just because of favorable weather, but because of higher demand for many of our core product categories.

The other bright spot in retail was TJ Maxx, which reported a better-than-expected quarter. 

The discount retailer reported earnings per share of $0.76 on revenues of $7.54 billion ($0.71 on $7.28 billion expected.)

TJX can help us understand what's hurting other retailers, as BI's Mallory Schlossberg wrote. According to Neil Saunders, CEO of consulting firm Conlumino, consumers believe that they're getting great value for money. That makes them spend even when they are a bit tight on cash. 

Saunders further said TJX offers genuine discounts that have been created with the customer in mind, not as an afterthought to clear clothes nobody's buying.

Of course, Amazon remains a huge threat to every retailer, and Saunders points this out. But he said the thrill of rushing to a store for a bargain before items sell out is something TJX has going for it. 

John McAfee

Not the man, but the company he's CEO of which was recently named after him. Its shares have soared 1,000% in a week.

John McAfee Global Technologies Inc. caught our attention as it was the most active stock on the market today.

BI's Bob Bryan looked into it, and wrote that the company has made an abrupt pivot from online gaming to cybersecurity.

It sold all but 11% of its stake in daily-fantasy site DraftDay.com last September. And then its delayed annual report filed in April showed it was considering potential mergers, spin-offs and other strategic options. 

The following month, Michael Brauser of Grander Holdings bought 1.2 million shares of the company. He's been sued multiple times for fraud involving small, public companies. 

And then earlier in May, its chairman stepped down before being replaced by McAfee, who bought the company for $300,000 in cash and 4.76 million shares of MGT.

Clearly, there's a lot going on with this company worth just over $150 million, whose shares changed hands at a volume higher than Bank of America's on Tuesday.

Stay tuned.

Additionally:

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The short seller who took down Valeant is now long the stock. He went on TV to explain why and ended up slamming a different stock

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Oil prices are at 2016 highs

• Henning Gloystein, Reuters

• 10h
• 739

Thomson ReutersAn oil pump jack can be seen in Cisco, Texas

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices were trading near 2016 highs on Wednesday, as supply disruptions and output cuts continued to tighten the market, although traders cautioned that high global crude inventories were still weighing on markets.

International Brent crude futures were trading at $49.31 per barrel at 0047 GMT, 3 cents above their last settlement, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were unchanged at $48.31 a barrel.

Both contracts remained near their 2016 highs of $49.75 and $48.76 per barrel, respectively, hit during intra-day trading the previous day.

"With oil continuing to suffer from supply disruptions... EIA inventory data will be key to price action. Any further decline in stockpiles could see oil's run higher continue," ANZ bank said.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is scheduled to release official storage data later on Wednesday.

"With wildfires shifting back towards oil sands operations, the risk of supply disruptions extending into June has increased substantially. Combined with further falls in exports from Nigeria, the physical market is particularly tight," ANZ added.

The oil industry is also keeping an eye on Venezuela, where economic and political turmoil is threatening oil production.

"Supply outages, when set alongside concerns over Venezuelan supply (due to insufficient funds to pay oil companies or spend on the maintenance of loading terminals), represents a significant amount of oil lost in the short-term, which in turn is reflected in firm time spreads at the front of the curve," BNP Paribas said.

Despite the disruptions, BNP Paribas said that there was still a large storage overhang that would have to be reduced before the market could swing back into balance.

The bank even said that global crude inventories were still edging up despite the supply disruptions, implying that there is still more oil being produced than consumed.

(Reporting by Henning Gloystein; Editing by Ed Davies)

Read the original article on Reuters. Copyright 2016. Follow Reuters on Twitter.

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