In a week when Portugal was demoted to the amber list leaving thousands of British holidaymakers in limbo, the UK recorded zero COVID deaths for the first time in 453 days, the RICS’ COO resigned, Donald Trump’s communication platform was permanently shut down just a month after its launch and a former GB Olympic silver medal winning gymnast won a dancing TV programme dressed as a car wash, The Weekly has again done its upmost to condense the news from the last seven days into five short quiz questions to brighten your Sunday morning.

Questions

1. It was announced on Friday that the UK had signed a post-Brexit trade deal with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. The agreement is said to be a major boost for trade between the four non-EU nations, which is already worth £21.6bn. On this day forty-six years ago (6 June 1975), a referendum was held on whether the UK should be part of the European Economic Community (EEC). What percentage of British voters backed the UK’s place in the EEC, which later became the European Union?

2. This coming Friday (and continuing over the weekend), world leaders will come to Carbis Bay in Cornwall for a meeting of the G7 countries plus a few special guests (Australia, India, South Africa and South Korea). It is not the first time the world leaders have met on the beach. The last G7 summit in 2019 was held in the French seaside town of Biarritz. One of the main topics of discussion at this year’s summit will, naturally, be the coronavirus pandemic, and how the world’s poorer countries can be helped with their vaccination programme. Climate change will also be at the forefront of the discussions, with the summit also being run in an environmentally friendly way, including the serving of local foods. Cornwall’s most famous food is, of course, the Cornish pasty, which generates around £300m worth of trade for the Cornish economy. How many Cornish pasties are made each year?

3. On Friday, the men’s 2020 European football championships begin, with Italy taking on Turkey in Rome. The festival of football is being played across Europe and will see the continent’s 23 best teams (plus Scotland!) battle it out to see who will be crowned champions. It is the first time since 1958 that England, Scotland and Wales will all play in the same major tournament together. Usually the tournament is held in just one or two countries. This year, however, the matches will be played in eleven different countries. Can you name them all?

4. According to Savills’ French Cross Border Investment report which was released this week, French investors showed growing appetite for global real estate during 2020, investing €14bn (£12bn), up 13% on 2019. Their favourite market remained Germany, with €2.9bn invested there last year, up 14% on 2019. Italy was the second-strongest country for French investment, seeing €2.2bn invested, up 27% year on year, followed by the UK, with €2bn, up 71% on 2019 and up 95% on the five-year average. In comparison with many other European countries UK property pricing remains highly attractive, with prime yields for London City and West End offices standing at 4.00% and 3.50% respectively. To prove the point, what are prime office yields in Paris and Berlin?

5. Today marks the 77th anniversary of Operation Overlord (D-Day), when Allied forces landed in Normandy to help liberate Europe from German forces and turn the course of World War II. The 6 June 1944 operation was the largest seaborne invasion in history, involving land, sea and air forces. Nearly 160,000 troops took part, primarily including those from the United States, United Kingdom and Canada but also including Australian, Belgian, Czech, Dutch, French, Greek, New Zealand, Norwegian, Rhodesian and Polish ground and air support. The anniversary of the landmark day usually draws thousands of visitors to Normandy, but for a second consecutive year, the celebrations have been scaled back because of the coronavirus pandemic. Whilst the heroes of that day will never be forgotten, do you know what the 'D' in D-Day actually stands for?

Enjoy your Sunday

The Weekly

Answers

1. 67%.
2. 120 million.
3. England, Russia, Azerbaijan, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Romania, Hungary, Denmark, Scotland and Spain.
4. 2.75% (Paris) and 2.60% (Berlin) according to Savills' latest report.
5. It doesn’t actually stand for anything. Unlike V-E Day (“Victory in Europe”), the “D” in D-Day isn’t short for “departure” or “decision.” As early as World War I, the U.S. military used the term D-Day to designate the launch date of a mission. One reason was to keep the actual date out of the hands of spies; another was to serve as a placeholder until an actual date was chosen.