<ul class="summary-list"><li>The Spanish government has officially approved a new <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/digital-nomad-visa-tax-rules-for-traveling-working-remotely-internationally-2023-1">digital nomad visa</a> for remote workers. </li><li>In order to qualify, you need a university degree or three years of professional experience.</li></ul><p>After over a year of anticipation, Spain has officially launched a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/digital-nomad-visa-tax-rules-for-traveling-working-remotely-internationally-2023-1">digital nomad visa</a> allowing remote workers to live and work in the country for up to five years. </p><p>The visa, bundled within a new <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spain-startup-law-to-bolster-4-billion-ecosystem-2022-9">startup law aiming to help the country's burgeoning tech scene</a>, was passed by the Spanish parliament in November and received final approval from congress in late December. </p><p>Here's who can apply, according to requirements recently published in Spain's <a href="https://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-2022-21739" target="_blank" rel="noopener">official state gazette</a> and <a href="https://extranjeros.inclusion.gob.es/UnidadGrandesEmpresas/es/requisitos/teletrabajadores/index.htm?fbclid=IwAR3UO_Sf8nb3jDWTe6J1TepAbTwJCfbAOhVSbWilf9ee5DcA6bL1K0Dc7jc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">federal immigration agency</a>:</p><ul><li>You must be a citizen of a country outside the European Union.</li><li>You must be employed by a non-Spanish company (or companies, for freelancers) for at least three months prior to your application. The company must be at least a year old. </li><li>Provide documentation showing your job can be completed remotely.</li><li>Have a university degree or three years of professional experience. </li><li>Make at least 200% of Spain's monthly minimum wage of €1,260 (which currently calculates to around $32,445 a year). </li><li>Any additional income made within Spain cannot exceed 20% of your total salary.</li><li>Have no criminal record in the past 5 years, both in Spain and your home country. </li><li>You must have health insurance. </li></ul><p>It's important to note that while Spain's income requirement for digital nomads is currently set to 200% of the national minimum wage, the government has until March 31 to modify the visa's salary requirements. </p><p>Spain is set to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/spain-raise-minimum-wage-by-8-pm-sanchez-says-2023-01-31/#:~:text=The%20move%2C%20which%20comes%20after,of%20its%20four%2Dyear%20term." target="_blank" rel="noopener">raise the national minimum wage</a> by 8% this year to 12 monthly installments of €1,260, which would make the visa's income requirements €2,520 a month. </p><p>If you meet all the above requirements, you can apply at your local consulate or embassy — just be sure to have all those documents in hand. </p><h2><strong>How Spain's visa for remote workers compares to Portugal's digital nomad visa:</strong></h2><p><strong></strong></p><div type="image" title="digital nomad" height="800" width="1066" msid="97667548" hostid="261"></div><p>Spain's digital nomad visa is very similar to its neighbor Portugal's, which was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/portugal-launches-digital-nomad-visa-2700-month-income-requirement-2022-10">released back in November</a>. Both Spain and Portugal's digital nomad visas can be renewed for up to five years. </p><p>With its favorable climate and proximity to major European hubs, it's no wonder why the Iberian peninsula is becoming a digital nomad hotspot. An attractive benefit of both programs is that recipients can travel visa-free throughout the Schengen Area, a region containing 26 European Union member countries where travelers can move freely without dealing with border control. </p><p>The major difference between the two visas is that Portugal has a slightly higher minimum income requirement (for now). </p><p>In order to qualify for Portugal's digital nomad visa, remote workers must make at least four times its minimum wage to apply. Portugal raised its monthly <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/portugal-reaches-51-private-sector-wage-hike-deal-2023-2022-10-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">minimum wage</a> to €760 in January, bringing the income requirement to €3,040, or $3,257.40 a month — a little over $500 more than Spain's.</p><p>Radim Rezek, CEO and co-founder of <a href="https://www.flatio.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Flatio</a>, a housing platform for monthly stays that targets digital nomads in Europe, told Insider that Portugal is "much more developed" in terms of attracting remote workers and tech entrepreneurs to its shores, something that Spain has sought to imitate.</p><p>"There is a little tension between them, so they kind of compete — but in a good way of course," he said. </p><h2><strong>Some local workers fear the digital nomad wave will raise the already high cost of living</strong></h2><p>While proponents of digital-nomad visas say the programs can <a href="https://hbr.org/2022/05/how-digital-nomad-visas-can-boost-local-economies?ab=hero-subleft-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">boost local economies</a>, some critics worry that the influx of foreign remote workers will raise housing prices in areas that are already struggling with inflation. </p><p>From <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22999722/mexico-city-pandemic-remote-work-gentrification" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mexico City</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/puerto-rico-posters-call-crypto-investors-logan-paul-brock-pierce-colonizers-2022-2">Puerto Rico</a> to <a href="https://time.com/6072062/barcelona-tourism-residents-covid/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Barcelona</a>, many local workers have voiced concern that the influx of international remote workers since the pandemic has done more harm than good. </p><p>Spain's Startup Act and digital nomad visa saw support from both sides of the political spectrum. Nadia Calviño, the country's economic affairs minister, called the bill's approval <a href="https://www.businessinsider.es/esperada-ley-startup-enfila-votacion-clave-congreso-1150277" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"one of the most enjoyable moments I've experienced in the Parliament." </a></p><p>"It's a law that will allow Spain to be at the forefront in the push and promotion of talent in this rapidly growing digital economy," she added. </p>

Spain launched its long-awaited 'digital nomad visa' &mdash; here's who qualifies and how to apply

The Goldman prodigy behind Silicon Valley's glorious city of the future

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/american-airlines">American Airlines</a> announced major changes to its international strategy on Wednesday.</li><li>Among other changes, the airline will cancel 19 routes, scale down its international operation from its Los Angeles hub, and double down on alliances with other <keyword id="44023" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="airlines">airlines</keyword> based in Seattle and London.</li><li>The airline will also slow down the return of some routes, waiting until summer 2021 as demand remains low due to the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/coronavirus">coronavirus pandemic</a>.</li></ul><p><keyword id="88011" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="american-airlines">American Airlines</keyword> announced big updates to its long-haul international network on Wednesday, reflecting the rapidly changing business environment during the <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> pandemic — and previewing the effects it will have for years to come.</p><p>"<keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword> has forced us to reevaluate our network," Vasu Raja, American's head of route and network planning, said in a press release. "American will have a significantly smaller international network in the year ahead, but we are using this opportunity to hit reset and create a network using the strength of our strategic hubs that we can build and grow upon and be profitable on in this new environment."</p><p>The changes, which last through 2021, come as international travel demand remains low and travel restrictions remain in place around much of the world.</p><p>Even as countries and travelers adjust to life during the pandemic, American does not expect international travel to fully return for at least a few years. The airline said its long-haul capacity in summer 2021 — normally a peak travel period — will be 25% lower than in 2019. This July, it's down 80% from last year.</p><p>Here are the biggest changes American is making.</p><h2>19 international routes are gone for good</h2><p>As part of the reconfiguration, American announced that it would cut 19 international routes — permanently.</p><p>The full list of cut routes is below:</p><table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; height: 420px;" border="1"><tbody><tr style="height: 21px;"><th style="width: 50%; height: 21px;">Origin</th><th style="width: 49.8615%; height: 21px;">Destination</th></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 50%; height: 21px;">Charlotte-Douglas</td><td style="width: 49.8615%; height: 21px;">Barcelona</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 50%; height: 21px;">Charlotte-Douglas</td><td style="width: 49.8615%; height: 21px;">Rome</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 50%; height: 21px;">Charlotte-Douglas</td><td style="width: 49.8615%; height: 21px;">Paris</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 50%; height: 21px;">Dallas-Fort Worth</td><td style="width: 49.8615%; height: 21px;">Munich</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 50%; height: 21px;">Los Angeles</td><td style="width: 49.8615%; height: 21px;">Hong Kong</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 50%; height: 21px;">Los Angeles</td><td style="width: 49.8615%; height: 21px;">Buenos Aires</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 50%; height: 21px;">Los Angeles</td><td style="width: 49.8615%; height: 21px;">Sao Paolo</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 50%; height: 21px;">Los Angeles</td><td style="width: 49.8615%; height: 21px;">Beijing</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 50%; height: 21px;">Los Angeles</td><td style="width: 49.8615%; height: 21px;">Shanghai</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 50%; height: 21px;">Miami</td><td style="width: 49.8615%; height: 21px;">Brasilia</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 50%; height: 21px;">Miami</td><td style="width: 49.8615%; height: 21px;">Milan</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 50%; height: 21px;">Chicago</td><td style="width: 49.8615%; height: 21px;">Budapest</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 50%; height: 21px;">Chicago</td><td style="width: 49.8615%; height: 21px;">Krakow</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 50%; height: 21px;">Chicago</td><td style="width: 49.8615%; height: 21px;">Prague</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 50%; height: 21px;">Chicago</td><td style="width: 49.8615%; height: 21px;">Venice</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 50%; height: 21px;">Philadelphia</td><td style="width: 49.8615%; height: 21px;">Berlin</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 50%; height: 21px;">Philadelphia</td><td style="width: 49.8615%; height: 21px;">Budapest</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 50%; height: 21px;">Philadelphia</td><td style="width: 49.8615%; height: 21px;">Casablanca</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 50%; height: 21px;">Philadelphia</td><td style="width: 49.8615%; height: 21px;">Dubrovnik</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Some of the routes — including flights from Chicago to Budapest, Hungary, Krakow, Poland, and Prague, Czech Republic — had been announced put on sale, but were not scheduled to begin until later this year.</p><p>Another — Philadelphia to Casablanca, Morocco — would have been American's long-awaited first direct service to the African continent. The airline planned to gain a foothold in the Africa market by partnering with Morocco's Royal Air Maroc airline to codeshare on onward flights from Casablanca.</p><p>The route between Los Angeles and Shanghai, China — one of five Los Angeles routes to be cut — will only be cancelled if regulators approve the airline's plans to fly to Shanghai from Seattle instead.</p><p>"American has spent the past few years right-sizing its international network, discontinuing underperforming routes while adding leisure destinations like Dubrovnik and Prague," Brian Znotins, American's vice president of network planning, said in the release. "Now, as demand has significantly diminished due to COVID-19, we have to be nimble, creating the network that our customers desire."</p><h2>Pulling back from Los Angeles</h2><p>Although Los Angeles International Airport has served as American's trans-Pacific gateway for years, the airline is set to all but abandon it for that purpose.</p><p>All but four international destinations will be scrapped from Los Angeles. Sydney, Australia, and Tokyo's Haneda airport in Japan will remain as will a seasonal flight to Auckland, New Zealand. American will also fly from Los Angeles to London Heathrow.</p><p>The airline planes to continue using Los Angeles as a domestic hub, instead, Znotins told <a href="https://thepointsguy.com/news/american-airlines-long-haul-plans-lax-seattle-dfw/?utm_source=milesfeed.com&amp;utm_medium=link&amp;utm_campaign=MilesFeed.comFeed.com">The Points Guy</a> in an interview.</p><h2>A focus on partner hubs in Seattle and London</h2><p>In 2019, American was gearing up for big things. The airline had announced five major new international routes out of its smaller domestic hubs, taking advantage of demand for routes with no international connections, and expanding its reach throughout the US and globally.</p><p>But that was when times were good.</p><p>As demand stays low and the airline is left cutting costs while trying to reorient around demand, capacity, and expenses, American is preparing to retract and consolidate, taking advantage of partnerships.</p><p>Earlier this year, American announced a new partnership and alliance agreement with <keyword id="584506" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Alaska-Airlines">Alaska Airlines</keyword>, as well as plans to grow its international routes out of Seattle. The idea was that American and Alaska could codeshare on some flights, so that Alaska's strong domestic presence in Seattle could feed into American's international flights.</p><p>At the time, American also announced two new international destinations from Seattle: Bangalore, India, and London Heathrow. On Wednesday, it announced a third, pending government approval: Shanghai.</p><p>Additionally, the airline said it plans to focus on restoring its service to London from each of its hubs before focusing on other destinations in Europe, Africa, and parts of Asia and the Middle East. From there, passengers can connect onwards on partner British Airways. American expects to be flying its full schedule to London Heathrow by summer 2021.</p><p>"For American, every new partnership means future growth opportunities for our airline," Raja said in the press release. "We're going to rely on our hubs' greatest strengths with our existing international network, and further integrate into our partners' hubs to provide connectivity that's been untapped in the past."</p><h2>A postponed return for international destinations</h2><p>International flights form other American hubs will return between winter 2020 and summer 2021, the airline said. The full list of scheduled returns is below:</p><table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; height: 903px;" border="1"><tbody><tr style="height: 21px;"><th style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Origin</th><th style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Destination</th><th style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Schedule change</th></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Charlotte-Douglas</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Frankfurt</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes summer 2021</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Charlotte-Douglas</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">London </td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes winter 2020</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Charlotte-Douglas</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Munich </td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes winter 2020</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Chicago</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Barcelona </td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes summer 2021</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Chicago</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Dublin </td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes summer 2021</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Chicago</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Paris</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes summer 2021</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Dallas-Fort Worth</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Beijing</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes summer 2021</td></tr><tr style="height: 20px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 20px;">Dallas-Fort Worth</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 20px;">Buenos Aires</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 20px;">Service resumes winter 2020</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Dallas-Fort Worth</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Lima</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes winter 2020</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Dallas-Fort Worth</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Sao Paulo</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes winter 2020</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Dallas-Fort Worth</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Rome</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes summer 2021</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Dallas-Fort Worth</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Santiago</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes summer 2021</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Dallas-Fort Worth</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Tel Aviv</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service launches winter 2021</td></tr><tr style="height: 43px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 43px;">Los Angeles</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 43px;">Auckland</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 43px;">Service launches winter 2021</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Los Angeles</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">London Heathrow</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes winter 2020</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Los Angeles</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Sydney</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes summer 2021</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">New York-JFK</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Paris</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes winter 2020</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">New York-JFK</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Barcelona</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes summer 2021</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">New York-JFK</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Buenos Aires</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes winter 2020</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">New York-JFK</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Rio de Janeiro</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes winter 2021</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">New York-JFK</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Sao Paulo</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes winter 2020</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">New York-JFK</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Madrid</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes summer 2021</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">New York-JFK</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Milan</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes summer 2021</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Miami</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Paris</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes summer 2021</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Miami</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Rio de Janeiro</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes winter 2020</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Miami</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Sao Paulo</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes Aug. 6, 2020</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Miami</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Madrid</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes summer 2021</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Miami</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Santiago</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes Aug. 5, 2020</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Philadelphia </td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Amsterdam</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes winter 2020</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Philadelphia</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Dublin</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes winter 2020</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Philadelphia</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">London Heathrow</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes winter 2020</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Philadelphia</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Manchester</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes summer 2021</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Philadelphia</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Madrid</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes winter 2020</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Philadelphia</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Paris</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes summer 2021</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Philadelphia</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Rome</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes summer 2021</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Philadelphia</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Zurich</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes summer 2021</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Phoenix</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">London Heathrow</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes winter 2020</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Raleigh</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">London Heathrow</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service resumes winter 2020</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Seattle</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Bangalore</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service launches winter 2021</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Seattle</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">London Heathrow</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">Service launches summer 2021</td></tr><tr style="height: 21px;"><td style="width: 27.7008%; height: 21px;">Seattle</td><td style="width: 22.9917%; height: 21px;">Shanghai</td><td style="width: 49.169%; height: 21px;">New service subject to government approval</td></tr></tbody></table>

American Airlines will shrink and rebuild its international network through 2021 as the airline reels from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic

 <p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shopping/travel/hotels" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong></strong></a></p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shopping/travel/hotels" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5e839ada14f18f7b1231e2b5-2400/best hotels in berlin 4x3.png" alt="Best Hotels in Berlin 4x3" /><p class="source"><span>The Mandala Hotel; Hotel nhow Berlin; Alyssa Powell/Business Insider</span></p></strong></a><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>Home to important history, a rich collection of museums, and a legendary club scene, Berlin is one of Europe's most fascinating capitals.</strong></li><li><strong>Hundreds of hotels are available at every price point, including major international and German hospitality brands, independent boutique stays, five-star luxury towers, and quirky, budget-friendly properties.</strong></li><li><strong>Entry-level rooms at our top picks start as low as $87 per night, rising to $320 for fancier digs. Our favorite hotels were selected based on our experience staying at local properties, as well as reviews and rankings from trusted traveler sites, and are centrally located in neighborhoods ripe for exploration.</strong></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shopping/travel/hotels" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Read all Business Insider hotel reviews here.</a></li></ul><p><em>A note from your Insider Reviews travel editor: Coronavirus has interrupted travel on a global scale </em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-hotel-airbnb-cancellation-change-policies" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>forcing travelers to cancel and reassess plans</em></a><em> in the coming weeks and months. We understand that right now is a challenging time to plan travel. But when this time passes and things return to normal, we know you'll be eager to explore the world again.</em></p><p><em>Whenever that happens for you, and we know it will, we hope our travel content helps you make informed, useful, and inspiring choices on the best places and hotels to book. So whether you use our reviews now, bookmark them for the future, or simply need an escape from the news, we'll continue to share the world with you. In the meantime, we encourage all travelers to stay safe, follow guidelines from the CDC website, and take precautions.</em></p><p>In the 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Berlin has undergone an amazing transformation, simultaneously embracing and reinventing its complicated past to emerge as one of Europe's most vibrant, captivating cities.</p><p>World War II- and Soviet-era buildings have been refashioned into cool contemporary art spaces and stylish nightclubs, while striking new museums rise all around the booming capital. </p><p>As the capital has changed, so too has its hotel scene. Historic 19th-century buildings, mid-century office towers, even former factories and bathhouses have been turned into chic boutique stays. Across the city, you'll find everything from trendy, affordable mini-chains to small, personable independent hotels, and big-name international luxury brands. </p><p>Although Berlin is a major cultural capital, hotel rates are remarkably affordable and you can score a centrally located, five-star room for as little as $150 a night. Prices aren't tied to a particular season, although you can expect to pay more during the popular Christmas market time or big events like the Berlinale Film Festival in February. </p><h2>Traveling elsewhere? Read our list of the best hotels in other popular cities:</h2><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-hotels-new-york-city" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The best hotels in New York City</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-hotels-san-francisco" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The best hotels in San Francisco</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/luxury-hotels-las-vegas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The best hotels in Las Vegas</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-hotels-los-angeles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The best hotels in Los Angeles</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-hotels-chicago" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The best hotels in Chicago</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-hotels-palm-springs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The best hotels in Palm Springs</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-hotels-miami" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The best hotels in Miami</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-hotels-washington-dc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The best hotels in Washington, DC</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-hotels-barcelona" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The best hotels in Barcelona</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-hotels-key-west" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The best hotels in Key West</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-hotels-maui" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The best hotels in Maui</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-hotels-san-diego">The best hotels in San Diego</a></li></ul><p>The city's major tourist sites are clustered around the Brandenburg Gate and Tiergarten park, where East and West Berlin were once divided, and it's here's where you'll find the biggest concentration of chains and luxury hotels. Potsdamer Platz is another bustling hotel hub, and West Berlin's Charlottenburg district, especially around the Berlin Zoo, is home to many deluxe properties, including historic hotels that survived the Second World War. </p><p>For an authentic experience, consider an outlying neighborhood with a lively local bar and restaurant scene and less-frequented museums and attractions. Many cool, independent hotels have popped up in East Berlin, or in the West, in the gallery-filled area of Tiergarten (not to be confused with the park), or on the southern edges of Charlottenburg.</p><p>In addition to my own personal experience at every hotel, and being mindful of budget ranging from $87 to $320 per night, all selections are rated three-star or higher, with ideal locations, and based on feedback shared on trusted traveler sites such as <a href="https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=8092&amp;awinaffid=257137&amp;p=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tripadvisor.com%2F&amp;clickref=1585467363208a8qar0vyh%7Cxid:fr1585467397038jdh" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">Trip Advisor</a> and <a href="https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=6776&amp;awinaffid=257137&amp;p=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booking.com%2Findex.en-gb.html%3Flabel%3Dgen173nr-1BCAEoggI46AdIM1gEaKcCiAEBmAEJuAEHyAEM2AEB6AEBiAIBqAIDuALe--3zBcACAQ%3Bsid%3Daa37617f285310a3e4899f2ab43f877c%3Bkeep_landing%3D1%26sb_price_type%3Dtotal%26&amp;clickref=1585467363208a1q02cy85%7Cxid:fr1585467397039aec" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener sponsored">Booking.com</a>. I also looked for key amenities and characteristics such as historic design, cutting-edge architecture, killer bar scenes, and other perks guests love.</p><h2>Here are the best hotels in Berlin, sorted by price from low to high:</h2><p><a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/join/ci/insider-picks">Subscribe to our newsletter.</a><br /><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.parsintl.com/publication/business-insider/">You can purchase syndication rights to this story here.</a><br /><br />Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shopping">Insider Reviews</a> team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners. We frequently receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising sales team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at reviews@businessinsider.com.</p>

The best Hotels in Berlin

<p><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c642d5b342cca3a10427b02-2400/ap18067815154414.jpg" border="0" alt="California high speed rail train capitol sacramento" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli" data-mce-caption="A full-scale mock-up of a high-speed train is displayed at the California Capitol in Sacramento"><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli</span></p><p class="caption">A full-scale mock-up of a high-speed train is displayed at the California Capitol in Sacramento</p></img></div><p></p></div></div></strong></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>American trains are too expensive to build - and run like antiques compared to the rest of the world.&#xa0;</strong></li><li><strong>Cost overruns and a lack of political will power mean Americans will be sitting in highway gridlock for the foreseeable future.&#xa0;</strong></li><li><strong>California's slashing of its ambitious plan to link San Francisco and Los Angeles is the latest example of the US falling behind.&#xa0;</strong></li></ul><p>In his State of state address on Tuesday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-latest-california-governor-no-la-sf-high-speed-train-2019-2"> drastic cutback to the state's ambitious high-speed rail plans.</a></p><p>Instead of stretching the roughly 380 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles, the new plan will focus instead on a main corridor from Bakersfield and Merced in California's central valley - well away from the state's major population centers.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/4fa18417eab8ea8e6900000d-400/california-high-speed-rail.jpg" border="0" alt="california high speed rail " data-mce-source="WikiMedia Commons" data-link="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cahsr_map.svg"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cahsr_map.svg">WikiMedia Commons</a></span></p><p class="caption">The originally planned route.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>"Let's level about the high-speed rail," Newsom said. "Let's be real, the current project as planned would cost too much and, respectfully, take too long. Right now, there simply isn't a path to get from Sacramento to San Diego, let alone from San Francisco to L.A. I wish there were."<p><em><strong>Read more: </strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-latest-california-governor-no-la-sf-high-speed-train-2019-2">California governor: No LA-SF high-speed train</a></em></p><p>Originally announced by Newsom's predecessor a $33 billion train connecting California's two largest cities could have been one of the country's most ambitious infrastructure projects in history.</p><p>But once again, outrageous costs - as high as $77 billion by March 2018 - have turned America's chance at competing on the world <keyword id="34991" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="transportation">transportation</keyword> stage into yet another political boondoggle.</p><h2><strong>It's not about distance</strong></h2><p>Yes, the US is vast, but the population is anything but uniform.</p><p>The Northeast Corridor, while more dense than California's proposed high speed rail route, is also plagued with cost overruns and poor service. The Acela, for example, the US' only attempt at high-speed rail, has an average speed of 87 miles per hour.</p><p>As early as the beginning of the 20th century, American trains were flying well over 100 mph on routes connecting Chicago, Los Angeles, the Northeast and more. Now, trains outside the Northeast Corridor are limited to 79 miles per hour, and must pass dozens of at-grade road crossings that add dangerous risks</p><p>What's more, the main line between Washington D.C. and Boston is the only electrified portion of the track (not including some sparse portions of commuter railroads) in the United States. True high-speed rail will never be powered by diesel locomotives, and in the rest of the world, it isn't.</p><p>Modern trains have done the same to air travel market share in places like between Paris and Lyon, and Tokyo and Osaka, <a href="https://slate.com/business/2019/02/high-speed-rail-in-california-and-the-green-new-deal-it-could-work-in-america-but-were-screwing-it-up.html"><span>Henry Grabar points out in Slate. </span></a></p><h2><strong>It all comes down to cost</strong></h2><p>Take Spain's AVE,<span>&#xa0; </span>which connected Madrid and Barcelona less than a decade ago. The 386-mile route was built for 9 billion euros ($10.16 billion), or <a href="https://twitter.com/MarketUrbanism/status/1095484519782719488"><span>roughly 14.4 million euro per kilometer. </span></a>Phase one of California's route was set to cost $77 billion, or roughly $92 million per kilometer.</p><p>And it's far from the only example of inflated construction costs.</p><p>Take New York's East Side Access project, a 3.5-mile-long tunnel extension designed to bring commuter trains from the Long Island suburbs into Grand Central Terminal, the country's largest train station.</p><p>As the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/nyregion/new-york-subway-construction-costs.html"><span>New York Times reported in 2017</span></a>, the project has ballooned to $12 billion, or $3.5 billion per new mile of track - a cost overrun that puts other expensive New York projects, like the Second Avenue Subway or the 7 line subway extension, to shame. For reference, however, let's remember those were also well above average, at $2.5 billion and $1.5 billion per mile each.</p><p>"What Newsom said [on Tuesday] wasn't news, it was news that he said it out loud," Nadia Naik, of the grassroots group Californians Advocating Responsible Rail Design, said. "For Californians, it's really sad. We knew California could be a model, and that if we screwed this up people would point and say we shouldn't do that. All the fears have come to pass."</p><p>The comparison's don't have to stop at Europe, the easiest place for American rail advocates to point. Even<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bullet-train-africa-morocco-casablanca-tangier-2019-1"><span> Morocco has built high-speed rail</span></a> to connect its capital of Tangier with Rabat and Casablanca, a major business hub. What's more, it was constructed for just $2 billion.</p><p>It's time for the US to reign in costs and catch up with the rest of the world.</p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Trying to put impact of LA-SF high-speed rail into perspective<br><br>A decade ago Madrid-Barcelona was busiest air route in Europe. Now high speed rail covers the 400-mi distance in 2.5hrs &amp; 5 million people ride the train annually<br><br>Combined population of LA/SF is 10x Madrid/Barcelona</br></br></br></br></p>- Peter Flax  (@Pflax1) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1095420039686057984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2019</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-roadster-what-fans-should-know-electric-vehicles-cars-2019-2">Everything you need to know about Tesla's new Roadster</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/XKRiWpfs-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

California just drastically cut its plan for high speed rail -&#160;and it's the latest example of the US failing to do what the rest of the world has already figured out

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5631ec5bdd0895b8058b45fc-2933-2200/gareth%20(14).jpg" alt="Gareth Skyscanner" data-mce-source="Skyscanner" /><p class="source"><span>Skyscanner</span></p><p class="caption">Skyscanner CEO Gareth Williams.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Skyscanner has raised £128 million for its online travel site ahead of a potential stock market listing next year.</p><p>The 14-year-old company - based in Edinburgh, a <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/heres-why-edinburgh-is-well-placed-to-create-more-tech-unicorns-2016-1" target="_blank">fast emerging tech hub</a> that is also home to <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/fanduel-scottish-startup-thats-been-taking-us-fantasy-sports-fans-by-storm-2015-11" target="_blank">fantasy sports giant FanDuel</a> - has been slow to raise money, relying instead on its own self-generated revenues, thought to be <a href="http://www.skyscanner.net/press-releases/move-flights-travel-drives-skyscanner-s-global-growth" target="_blank">around £100 million</a> per year.</p><p>Prior to today, Skyscanner had taken a small amount of venture funding (less than £5 million) from Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) and Silicon Valley heavyweight, Sequoia, which backed many of the world's biggest technology companies in their early days, including Apple and Google.</p><p>Today Skyscanner employs between 700 and 800 people, is available in 30 languages, and has offices around the world. But if the company wants to carry on growing and fend off competition from the likes of Kayak, Expedia, and Google then it's likely that it will need more capital at its disposal.</p><p>Gareth Williams, Skyscanner CEO and cofounder, said in a statmement: "Skyscanner has enjoyed high double-digit growth rates for some years now, and has been profitable since 2009.</p><p>"This success is thanks to our 1,200 direct partner relationships, the trust of the 50 million travellers who use us every month, our technology and the dedication of our teams to deliver the best experience for travellers possible. This financing round and our recent new hires allow us to build fantastic further tools for travellers.</p><p>"I'd like to thank SEP and Sequoia for their belief in us and also welcome our new investors to the team. We have so much more to do together - it's an exciting time."</p><p>Skyscanner received the funding from an eclectic cohort of new investors. The five new backers include:</p><ol><li>Artemis: a global fund manager that manages more than £22 billion ($33 billion) across a range of funds.</li><li>Baillie Gifford: an independent investment manager based in Edinburgh, investing globally on behalf of its clients.</li><li>Khazanah Nasional Berhad: the strategic investment fund of the Government of Malaysia, which has access to markets across the Asia Pacific region.</li><li>Vitruvian Partners: a European investor with a track record of backing fast-growing businesses with deep expertise in online marketplaces.</li><li>Yahoo! Japan: a venture partner in Skyscanner Japan already. Its investment further strengthens this relationship.</li></ol><p>Business Insider met with Skyscanner, Sequoia, and Scottish Equity Partners at the end of last year when Skyscanner opened an office at WeWork coworking space in London's Moorgate. However, none of the parties gave too much away, despite our probing.</p><p>Scottish Equity Partners investor Stuart Paterson said: "I think the aim now is an IPO [initial public offering] in 2017. That's what the company is planning for."</p><p>Former <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/" target="_blank" title="" data-skimwords-id="1974447" data-skimlinks-editor="0" data-skimwords-word="amazon" data-group-id="0" data-skim-creative="300001" data-skim-product="1974447" data-skim-node-id="468:Atthetime,formerAmaz_1">Amazon</a> exec Bryan Dove, now head of Skyscanner's new London engineering hub and SVP of engineering at Skyscanner, said: "If you look at the metrics, Skyscanner has been consistently growing from a revenue perspective and an EBITA [earnings before interest, taxes, and amortisation]. I know there are some rumours out there, we certainly don't comment on rumours. From a company perspective, we continue to be focused on our users and our products."</p><p>Sequoia chairman Sir Michael Moritz said: "We've invested in search related businesses in America for a long time and we've invested in travel businesses so it was fairly natural that Skyscanner hit our radar screen a few years ago." He added that he <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/sequoia-capital-chairman-michael-moritz-people-underestimate-china-especially-in-europe-2015-11" target="_blank">respects the fact it is one of the few western tech companies to expand to China</a>.</p><p>Beyond China (Shenzhen), Skyscanner also has offices in Barcelona, Beijing, Budapest, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Miami, Singapore, and Sofia.</p><p>Skyscanner, founded in 2003 by <span>Williams, Bonamy Grimes and Barry Smith,</span> was advised throughout the investment process by Goldman Sachs and Numis Securities, who acted jointly as financial advisers, brokers and bookrunners in connection with the investment.</p><p><span>The <keyword id="6354868" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="UK">UK</keyword> has produced 17 other billion dollar startups, or 'unicorns,' in the last few years, compared to more than 140 worldwide, according to research from investment bank GP Bullhound. </span></p><p><span>Other UK unicorns include the likes of restaurant food delivery service Deliveroo and money transfer service TransferWise. </span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/playstation-vr-headset-video-2015-12">PlayStation's virtual reality device looks incredible</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="U2bTNodjo3PGWdekHZGoCCJk7NpqyxgZ" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'U2bTNodjo3PGWdekHZGoCCJk7NpqyxgZ',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

Skyscanner just raised &#163;128 million and became one of the most valuable startups in Britain

<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5878b021f10a9a2a768b51d0-1200/rtx2x166.jpg" alt="Police officers patrol at Puerta del Sol square ahead of New Year's celebrations in central Madrid, Spain, December 31, 2016." /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Susana Vera</span></p><p class="caption">Police officers patrol at Puerta del Sol square ahead of New Year's celebrations in central Madrid, Spain, December 31, 2016.</p><p>While geographically distant from the battlegrounds of Iraq and Syria, Spain has still become a focal point for terrorism-related activity because of its history and position between North Africa and Western Europe.</p><p>In the years since the devastating 2004 train attacks in Madrid - the deadliest attack in Europe so far this century - Spain has intensified efforts to uncover, monitor, and disrupt terrorist activity and plots - though such networks have been resilient.</p><p>Terrorism is not new in Spain. Starting in 1961, the ETA, a Basque separatist movement, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ETA_attacks" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">launched hundreds</a> of attacks around the country, killing more than 800 civilians and security personnel. (The ETA announced <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/eta-spain-basque-2011-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the end</a> of its armed campaign in 2011.)</p><p>But prior to the March 2004 train bombings, carried out by Al Qaeda, Spanish authorities gave little attention to Islamist terrorism.</p><p>Imad Eddin Barakat, one of the founders of Al Qaeda in Spain, was able to see off fighters bound for Bosnia or Chechnya from the capital's Barajas airport, <a href="http://elpais.com/elpais/2017/06/05/inenglish/1496668582_639298.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">according</a> to El Pais. And he was able to greet wounded fighters in Madrid when they returned, shepherding them to state-run hospitals for treatment.</p><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59359b05b74af4aa328b61d7-2000/ap17155245820293.jpg" alt="Spain Madrid Atocha train bombing Al Qaeda terrorism" /><p class="source"><span>(AP Photo/Paul White, File)</span></p><p class="caption">Rescue workers cover up bodies alongside a bomb-damaged passenger train following a number of explosions in Madrid, Spain, killing 191 people and wounding more than 500 in Spain's worst terrorist attack ever, March 11, 2004.</p><p>Since then, Spanish security forces have <a href="http://elpais.com/elpais/2017/06/05/inenglish/1496668582_639298.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">led the continent</a> in their anti-terrorism efforts. They have made more than 700 arrests, and dozens of convictions have yielded 120 prisoners and no attacks since March 2004.</p><p>This record has been secured in part by proactive measures as well as domestic factors. <a href="http://elpais.com/elpais/2017/06/05/inenglish/1496668582_639298.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Hundreds of agents</a> from the country's Civil Guard, National Police, and National Intelligence Center cull social-media networks, investigate domestic activity, recruit informants, and research ISIS and other groups like it.</p><p><span>In comparison to other European countries, in Spain, "The Muslim community and the level of radicalization are not the same, xenophobia has not taken hold, and the risk is proportionate to the number of combatants who have traveled to Syria or Iraq," a police chief <a href="http://elpais.com/elpais/2017/06/05/inenglish/1496668582_639298.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">told</a> El Pais. "In our case there are very few."</span></p><p><span></span></p><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59359a58b74af4063e8b59d7-688/ap17013451323734.jpg" alt="AP_17013451323734" /><p class="source"><span>(Spanish Interior Ministry, via AP)</span></p><p class="caption">Spanish Guardia Civil officers in front of a house during a terrorist operation in Ceuta, Spain, January 13, 2017.</p><p><span>Another analyst <a href="http://elpais.com/elpais/2017/06/05/inenglish/1496668582_639298.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">attributed</a> it to a variety of factors as well. </span></p><p><span>"Here we don't have ghettos as they do in France. The integration of the Muslim population is greater, and there is an incipient second generation." (Though members of this second generation with extremist leanings may <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/isis-white-whale-is-spain" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">find it easier</a> to obscure their activities.)</span></p><p><span>At present, police in Spain are monitoring over 1,000 people, while courts there are investigating 259 people, and 500 phones are being tapped, <a href="http://elpais.com/elpais/2017/06/05/inenglish/1496668582_639298.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">according</a> to information seen by El Pais.</span></p><p><span>But terrorism and related activities continue to be thwarted in Spain, particularly recruiting and logistical support. </span>The North African exclaves of Melilla and Ceuta are a locus for this activity.</p><p>When six suspects were arrested in Ceuta in early 2015, the country's interior ministry <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/isis-white-whale-is-spain" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said</a> they were "<span>prepared physically as well as mentally for jihad."</span></p><p>Melilla is only 12 square kilometers in size but has five security agencies operating within it, including Morocco's General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance and Israel's Mossad (though some Spanish officials regard the Moroccans <a href="http://elpais.com/elpais/2017/06/05/inenglish/1496668582_639298.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">warily</a>).</p><p><span>"Between people from Morocco and Melilla, including targets and associates, we have 400 people on the radar, although that's not to say that they are all potential terrorists," one Civil Guard officer <a href="http://elpais.com/elpais/2017/06/05/inenglish/1496668582_639298.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">told</a> El Pais.</span></p><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/532344d65afbd30f2b8b4570-800/morocco-spain-break-up-militant-cell-sending-fighters-abroad.jpg" alt="Masked Spanish National Police officers detain a man suspected to be a member of an Islamist militant cell in Melilla March 14, 2014. REUTERS/Jesus Blasco de Avellaneda" /><p class="source"><span>Thomson Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Masked Spanish National Police officers detain a man suspected to be a member of an Islamist militant cell in Melilla, March 14, 2014.</p><p><span>In Ceuta, where <a href="http://elpais.com/elpais/2017/06/05/inenglish/1496668582_639298.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">600 people</a> of interest are located, the challenges of monitoring suspects on the country's fringes comes to the fore. </span></p><p><span>"They take a lot of security measures and when they cross the border we lose track of them," one officer told El Pais. That the North African exclaves are frequently the site of mass border-crossing attempts by migrants no doubt complicates the task.</span></p><p><span></span><span>In total, <a href="http://elpais.com/elpais/2017/06/05/inenglish/1496668582_639298.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">150 people</a> have traveled from Ceuta and Melilla, as well as Spain's two largest cities, Madrid and Barcelona, to fight in Syria. While the conditions and locations of the exclaves makes Islamist activity more likely, officials have downplayed the likelihood of attacks.</span></p><p><span></span></p><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/58ff3f0a0ba0b888008b5d13-2200/rts13sx7.jpg" alt="Spain police Barcelona raid Islamist ISIS suspect Belgium" /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Albert Gea</span></p><p class="caption">Spanish police lead a suspect from an apartment building during a sweeping operation at some 12 locations against Islamist militants in which eight people were arrested in Barcelona, April 25, 2017.</p><p><span>Barcelona and Madrid, however, present target-rich environments. </span></p><p><span>The Catalan capital has a long history of radical Islamism. </span></p><p><span>Between 1996 and 2013, <a href="http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/wps/portal/rielcano_en/contenido?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/elcano/elcano_in/zonas_in/international+terrorism/commentary-reinares-garciacalvo-catalonia-and-the-evolution-of-jihadist-terrorism-in-spain" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">nearly 29%</a> of people sentenced for jihadist-related terrorism offenses were arrested in the Barcelona province.</span></p><p><span>Madrid has also been on high alert over the last few years in response to attacks elsewhere in Europe.</span></p><p><span>In December, authorities in northern Spain <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/islamist-terrorist-truckers-are-targeting-spain" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">apprehended</a> suspect believed to be plotting a Christmastime truck attack in the capital, similar to the deadly incidents in Nice, France, and Berlin.</span></p><p><span>ISIS, relatively new to the jihadi scene, has also presented challenges for Spanish authorities. </span></p><p><span>The terrorist group has seized on Spain's long history of Muslim presence, which stems from Umayyad caliphate's eighth-century expansion there and the efforts of European monarchs to recapture it over the next 700 years.</span></p><p><span>"Oh dear Al Andalus," a French member of the group <a href="http://theobjective.com/mensaje-del-estado-islamico-a-espana-oh-querida-al-andalus-pensaste-que-te-habiamos-olvidado/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said in a video</a> released in early 2016, using an Arabic name for Spanish territory. "You thought that we had forgotten you ... no!"</span></p><p><span>"No Muslim can forget Cordoba, Toledo or Xativa," he said in the video, which also featured him executing five prisoners. "Al Andalus, have patience ... you are not Spanish or Portuguese but Muslim."</span></p><p><span>A string of arrests over the last two years illustrates how ISIS' rise has come to color terrorism-related activity - recruitment as well as logistics - going on in Spain.</span></p><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5935a04679474c1c008b6be2-2400/rtr4i81e.jpg" alt="Spain terrorism police raid arrest" /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Jesus Blasco de Avellaneda</span></p><p class="caption">Masked Spanish police officers lead a detained woman in Melilla, December 16, 2014.</p><p><span>In early 2015, police <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/dismantled-jihadi-cell-plotted-attack-spanish-royal-family-314489" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">arrested</a> eight suspected members of a jihadi cell believe to be plotting attacks and recruiting for groups like ISIS. </span><span>In August 2015, police in Spain and Morocco <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-spain-morocco-islamicstate-idUSKCN0QU0JM20150825" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">arrested 14 people</a> suspected of planning attacks in those two countries and of sending fighters to join ISIS in the Middle East. </span></p><p><span>In February 2016, nationwide raids yielded <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/spain-dismantles-suspected-isis-cell-arrests-across-country-423942" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">seven arrests</a> in Spain, breaking up a suspected ISIS cell responsible for sending goods to support fighters in Iraq and Syria. In April 2016, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-spanish-police-arrest-couple-with-links-to-islamic-state-son-put-in-care-2016-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">police stopped</a> a couple linked to ISIS before they could go to Morocco with their son. In September, Spanish <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-arrests-idUSKCN11Y0MG" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">police arrested</a> several people accused of promoting ISIS and acting as go-betweens for the group in Europe.</span></p><p><span>That was followed by a flurry of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-spanish-police-arrest-two-moroccans-suspected-of-islamist-state-links-2016-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">arrests</a> in November, including four people in Ceuta suspected of <a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/spain-arrests-alleged-isis-recruitment-cell-which-targeted-children-1590733" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">trying to recruit</a> children for ISIS, and four people in mainland Spain <a href="https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/5854-spain-people-smugglers-may-have-brought-isis-members-to-europe" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">suspected</a> of running a people-smuggling network that could have brought ISIS members to Europe.</span></p><p><span>In April this year, Spanish police <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-spain-arrests-9-suspects-probes-ties-to-brussels-attacks-2017-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">arrested nine people</a> with possible ties to recent deadly attacks in France and Belgium. A day later, police arrested <a href="https://www.thelocal.es/20170426/two-jihadists-linked-to-islamic-state-arrested-in-spain" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">two men</a> suspected of recruiting for the terrorist group and of helping fighters travel back to Europe.</span></p><p><span></span></p><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5935a41879474c24008b6ba6-2400/rtx1pblf.jpg" alt="Spain Algeciras mosque Muslim" /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo</span></p><p class="caption">Kmal Cheddad, president of the Muslim community of the south of Algeciras, walks in his mosque in El Saladillo neighborhood of Algeciras town, southern Spain, August 23, 2015.</p><p>An early 2015 report also indicated that Spain had long been <a href="http://elpais.com/elpais/2015/02/02/inenglish/1422892172_955064.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a major finance hub</a> for terrorists in Syria and Iraq, using a network of businesses to transfer money. The network made use of the informal and hard-to-track hawala system, which facilitates transfers without physically moving the money.</p><p>At the time, the network of hawala dealers in Spain was also reportedly used to pay jihadists from the country who had gone to Syria. <span>"We hadn't seen anything like this since the Afghan War," an one intelligence agent <a href="http://elpais.com/elpais/2015/02/02/inenglish/1422892172_955064.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said</a> at the time. "Not only do they recruit fighters here but they are also receiving money from here."</span></p><p><span>In addition to finance, investigations in early 2016 linked shipping activity in Spain to groups supporting ISIS and other groups, like the Al Qaeda-affiliated Al Nusra. The groups were <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/the-forgotten-front-in-europes-isis-war" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mainly shipping</a> used clothes, but also weapons and other material, to Syria and Iraq under the guise of humanitarian aid. </span></p><p><span>It also marked <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/the-forgotten-front-in-europes-isis-war" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the first time</a> Spain-based groups were found to be involved in logistical support, rather than just recruitment.</span></p><p><span></span></p><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56b7b4582e5265b8008b5864-780/160207105110-spain-terror-arrest-exlarge-169.jpg" alt="spain terror" /><p class="source"><span>Spanish government</span></p><p><span>Muslim communities in Spain have not only praised authorities' efforts to disrupt terrorist activities, but they also called for more work to address underlying conditions that push people toward extremism - like <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/isis-white-whale-is-spain" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">poverty and insecurity</a> that push youths in Ceuta's heavily Muslim neighborhoods toward radicalization.</span></p><p><span>"The police are doing things well, with recruitment slowing down," Laarbi Mateis, the secretary of the Islamic Commission in Ceuta, <a href="http://elpais.com/elpais/2017/06/05/inenglish/1496668582_639298.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">told El Pais</a>. "But all of the efforts are related to security and not to education. We need social measures."</span></p><p><span>Though Spain has <a href="http://elpais.com/elpais/2017/06/05/inenglish/1496668582_639298.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">avoided deadly Islamist attacks</a> since the 2004 train bombings, authorities there admit the risk of another attack is high, but they're confident in their methods.</span></p><p><span>"We don't leave a single face without investigation," Dolores Delgado, public prosecutor coordinator for terrorism cases at the Spanish High Court, <a href="http://elpais.com/elpais/2017/06/05/inenglish/1496668582_639298.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">told El Pais</a>. "We could miss something, of course, but we're always very clear what we are looking for. I believe we are at the forefront."</span></p>               <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-secret-battle-us-marines-fighting-against-isis-2017-5">This is the inside account of the secret battle US Marines have been fighting against ISIS</a></h3>                                    Please enable Javascript to watch this video                    

Inside Spain's quiet fight on the frontline of Europe's war on terror

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55115ae96bb3f76962cb70b0-1200-924/germanwings-airbus-2.jpg" border="0" alt="Germanwings Airbus"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Ina Fassbender</span></p><p class="caption">Germanwings aircraft parked during a strike by pilots at Cologne airport in 2010.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>A <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/plane-flying-from-barcelona-to-dusseldorf-crashes-in-france-2015-3">Germanwings Airbus 320 carrying 144 passengers crashed in southern France</a> Tuesday morning as it was flying from Barcelona, Spain, to Düsseldorf, Germany. </p><p>Germanwings is a low-cost airline that is entirely owned by Lufthansa, Germany's flag carrier. </p><p>Based in Cologne, it was founded in 2002 as a subsidiary of another Lufthansa-owned airline, Eurowings. </p><p>Germanwings was set up as a direct competitor to Ryanair and easyJet, Europe's top budget airlines. The whole fleet is economy class only.</p><p>Germanwings has an excellent safety record, <a href="http://www.airlineratings.com/ratings/133/germanwings">a</a><a href="http://www.airlineratings.com/ratings/133/germanwings">ccording to AirlineRatings.com</a>, which gave the budget carrier 6 out of 7 stars on its website. <a href="http://www.aeroinside.com/incidents/airline/germanwings">According to aeroinside.com</a>, there have been several reports of a cracked windshield in the past, although this morning's crash is the first major incident for the Lufthansa subsidiary.</p><p>In 2012, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-09-19/lufthansa-to-combine-european-flights-into-low-cost-unit" target="_blank">Lufthansa announced it was combining all its short-haul flights under Germanwings</a>, except those from its Munich and Frankfurt hubs. The move was intended to save costs on domestic and short international flight, and at the same time allow Lufthansa to focus on intercontinental trips to North America and Asia. </p><p>The reorganization brought the Germanwings fleet up to <a href="http://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/airline/4U#al_profile_tab_fleet" target="_blank">83 active planes, most of them Airbus A319 and A320</a> jets. Germanwings flies to 117 different destinations in 31 countries.</p><p>Germanwings is known in Europe for its "blind-flight" promotions: <a href="https://www.germanwings.com/skysales/BlindBooking.aspx?culture=en-GB" target="_blank">costumers can buy discounted tickets to unknown destinations</a>, choosing their flights only from the departure airport and the type of trip they are looking for. Travelers can choose from clusters like "Shopping," "Party," or "Gay-friendly," and then the system will allocate tickets to the destinations accordingly. </p><p>Earlier this year, <a href="http://www.abendblatt.de/wirtschaft/article135005188/Neue-Billiglinie-Eurowings-soll-Germanwings-ersetzen.html" target="_blank">Lufthansa announced it was transferring all its Germanwings operations to its former parent company Eurowings</a> in another move intended to slash costs and restructure operations. </p><p>Last month, <a href="http://www.abendblatt.de/wirtschaft/article134956971/Lufthansa-Piloten-setzen-Streik-am-Donnerstag-fort.html" target="_blank">hundreds of flights from Munich, Frankfurt, and Berlin had to be cancelled due to a 36-hour walkout </a>over anticipated pension plans for 5,400 Lufthansa pilots and operators, including several Germanwings employees. </p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jurassic-park-recreation-legos-father-daughter-2015-3">This incredible 'Jurassic Park' short used $100,000 worth of Legos</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="hoYW8zdDp2aM7uG-zbI6o1xknNyKeVC1" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'hoYW8zdDp2aM7uG-zbI6o1xknNyKeVC1',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

Here's everything we know about Germanwings, the low-cost airline whose Airbus A320 crashed this morning

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c1288256bc3e34e704c6487-2400/lucahnprofile%202018%20-%20home%20noir.jpg" border="0" alt="Luca_HNprofile 2018   home noir" data-mce-source="Home Noir"><p class="source"><span>Home Noir</span></p><p class="caption">Luca Longobardi.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Luca Longobardi has had a crazy life. Eight years ago, he was working on Wall Street when he was wrongly accused of laundering money for the Italian mafia and was sent to a maximum-security Brazilian jail.</li><li>He was released after 30 days, and moved back to his home of Italy.</li><li>Next, he entered the world of food, starting with an Italian sandwich shop and most recently by launching fine dining London hotspots 108 Garage and <span style="color: #000000;">Southam Street.</span></li><li><span style="color: #000000;">Now, he's launching Home Noir, a private members' club powered by blockchain.</span></li><li><span style="color: #000000;">He told Business Insider he believes his life story would have been different had blockchain been around.</span></li></ul><p>"Catch me if you can" may seem like an unusual tattoo for a 49-year-old ex-Wall Street banker to have, but it makes sense when Luca Longobardi explains it.</p><p>Of his most noticeable ink, he told me: "I lose a lot of people as I run through my life, people who love me and who I love, friends, wife, girlfriend, whatever. It's tough to be after me because I think ahead of myself, and people just don't follow me."</p><p>And his life and career is certainly hard to keep track of.</p><p>Now the owner of fine dining hotspot <a href="http://www.108garage.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">108 Garage</a>, Italian-born Longobardi's story started when he left Naples in December 1991 at the age of 21 and moved to the US with only $500 (given to him by his mother), but with big ambitions of becoming a banker.</p><p>"My dream was to work on Wall Street," he said, <span style="color: #000000;">when we met at Shoreditch House back in October.</span></p><p>A misunderstanding with family friends left him without a place to stay when he landed in New York, and he started sleeping in Grand Central station.</p><p>"I moved to a hostel, then a hotel hall (the Waldorf Astoria), then back to Grand Central for almost two weeks," he said.</p><p><em><strong>Read more: </strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/george-clooney-rande-gerber-casamigos-mike-meldman-real-estate-tycoon-2018-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">George Clooney and Rande Gerber have a third partner in their $1 billion tequila company, and he happens to be a real estate tycoon</a></em></p><p>Longobardi had brought a bag full of dress shirts from Italy with him, with the goal of selling them to department stores, but he started to sell some of the samples outside of Grand Central to make money to survive.</p><p>"One day a man [aged] 70 or so passed my little bag with the shirt on top. He picks one up and says: "Where did you get these shirts?" The stranger told Longobardi he owned a store on Madison Avenue and gave him his business card.</p><p>It was 1992. The man's name was Fred Pressman, the owner of Barneys New York, and he agreed to let Luca arrange a meeting to show his buyers the shirts.</p><p>"After a few weeks I had my first orders at Barneys New York, and that's when I started my little business of dress shirts in New York," he said, adding that he went on to sell them to Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue.</p><p>"But in reality I wanted to work on Wall Street, that was my main purpose," he said - and another chance encounter eventually led him there.</p><p>During his time crashing on couches at the Waldorf Astoria, he was approached by a concierge named Ivan who eventually became a friend.&#xa0;</p><p>With Ivan's help, he found himself staying at a small apartment in the Bronx and working as a promoter in the party venue that was once home to Studio 54.</p><p>"He was [also a] big promoter in New York, he was running the parties and I would be at the door," he said.</p><h2>Becoming a Wolf of Wall Street</h2><p>One night in early 1994, he claims he met the "Wolf of Wall Street" himself Jordan Belfort at a party - and next thing he knew, says he was interviewing for a job at the Wall Street office of his company VTR Capital.</p><p>"It was a spinoff from [Stratton Oakmont], it was the legitimate business," he said. "I went there and they liked me and I got hired and started my career on Wall Street as a cold caller."</p><p>In 1998, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB888269552984415000" target="_blank" rel="noopener">VTR Capital was accused of defrauding investors</a> - though having worked there from 1994 to 1996, Longobardi had already moved on, and claims he wasn't aware of any fraudulent activity taking place during his time at the company.</p><p>In his book "Branded the Mafia's Banker," he writes: "<span>After a year and a few cocktail parties, where a few Stratton partners and even Jordan Belfort would appear, I started to wonder if VTR was a true new venture or merely a spin-off of Stratton Oakmont ... Even to this day I couldn't say exactly what was going on, for they seemed to have a finger in a million pies."</span></p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c128a82211ac64cd1049454-1202/lucaandpartnernyc1998.jpg" border="0" alt="LucaandPartner_NYC1998" data-mce-source="Luca Longobardi"><p class="source"><span>Luca Longobardi</span></p><p class="caption">Luca Longobardi (front) on Wall Street in 1998.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p>In July 1996, he became a junior broker for a more "institutional" bank, Ladenburg Thalmann, where he stayed until September 1999.</p><p>"I built my business then made an offer to buy the bank," he said. "The offer didn't go through, so I left that bank and built my own investment banking business, State Capital."</p><p>He opened global offices in Italy, Miami, New York, and Brazil - and also got married to Miss Brazil 1996 and went on to have two daughters.</p><p>But it all came crashing down in 2010 when Longobardi was arrested under the false suspicion of being a banker to the mafia, and spent 30 days in a maximum security prison in Brazil.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c13b49e56cdcf0f42104016-1200/luca%20family%20miami%20same%20year%20i%20was%20arrested.jpg" border="0" alt="Luca Family Miami same year I was arrested.JPG" data-mce-source="Luca Longobardi" data-mce-caption="Luca with his ex-wife and daughters the year he was arrested."><p class="source"><span>Luca Longobardi</span></p><p class="caption">Luca with his ex-wife and daughters the year he was arrested.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><h2>"The Mafia's Banker"</h2><p>Longobardi says he was wrongfully placed on Interpol's "Most Wanted" list due to a transaction from an Italian bank who invested in his venture capital fund - a bank which was later prosecuted in Italy for fraudulent bankruptcy, money laundering, and conspiracy.</p><p>Longobardi's surname was similar to that of an Italian mafia clan, and he was quickly accused of laundering money for the Italian mafia by the police, and was branded by the <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">international</keyword> media as "The Mafia's Banker."</p><p>"I was mistakenly prosecuted from Italian authorities, I was mistakenly placed on Interpol list, I was mistakenly arrested and detained by the US consulate in Brazil, I was mistakenly arrested, [and] spent 30 days in a maximum security prison in Brazil," he told BI.</p><p>Though he was eventually released and cleared of all charges after 30 days, he said he spent the time trying to understand the lives of his fellow inmates, and even identified a few, including a "kingpin" of Narco traffic and Pablo Escobar's private pilot.</p><p>"I got in as the mafia's banker, and earned their respect [through] the naming of it," he said. "People would invite me to sit at their table to eat."</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c16b810404f4d387c201614-1200/massimoluca12prison%20-%20from%20mafias%20banker%20film.jpg" border="0" alt="Massimo_Luca_12_Prison   from mafia's banker film" data-mce-source="Luca Longobardi" data-mce-caption="A still from the promo for &amp;quotBranded the Mafia's Banker.&quot;"><p class="source"><span>Luca Longobardi</span></p><p class="caption">A still from the promo for "Branded the Mafia's Banker."</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p>Once he was released, he told Business Insider he sued the prosecutors and the media who had branded him the "mafia's banker," and claims that he won.</p><p>However, the experience changed how people viewed him.</p><p>"In reality, it was all transactional relationships, and I decided that the banking world wasn't the place for me any more," he said. "My life completely changed from that time on."</p><h2>Finding his roots through food</h2><p>He went back to Italy and, in a change of pace, founded a small sandwich concept called Sfilatino.</p><p>"[The sandwiches were] packaged almost in an iPhone package, and the recipe was made by two Michelin-starred chefs," he said. "It was a Michelin sandwich sold at €6.50."</p><p>He added that he was born in an environment "where food was a big part of an Italian family.</p><p>"My father had a way of cooking and my mother had a different way, between what is traditional and what is modern," he said. "Going back to food makes you go back to that origin."</p><p>It didn't take long for the rest of the world to notice his sandwich concept, and he was asked by department store Selfridges in London to start a pop-up.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cheapest-michelin-star-lunch-new-york-city-2018-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">19 Michelin-starred New York City restaurants where you can get lunch for $50 or less</a></em></p><p>He got divorced and left his ex-wife and two daughters, now 13 and 17, in Italy, then launched the popup in Selfridges for six months before selling the business completely.</p><p>"I spent six months travelling throughout Italy in a small VW bus in order to understand the food culture," he said. "I completely discovered the simplicity of people and food ... I understood that that was my way to reconnect with who I was when I left Italy."</p><h2>A fine dining chef on Gumtree</h2><p>He wanted to launch a restaurant in London, and as <span style="color: #000000;">luck would have it, ended up finding his chef, Chris Denney, on classified ad site Gumtree.</span></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c128b614a82134f9a31156b-1200/108%20garage-jean%20cazals-luca%20with%20chef%20chris%20denney.jpg" border="0" alt="108 Garage Jean Cazals luca with chef Chris Denney" data-mce-source="Jean Cazals"><p class="source"><span>Jean Cazals</span></p><p class="caption">Chris Denney and Luca Longobardi at 108 Garage.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p>Denney had also come from a challenging background, having battled 25 years of cocaine addiction.</p><p>However, the duo managed to turn a garage in west London's Notting Hill into a fine dining restaurant in January 2017, and found themselves on a quick road to success.</p><p>"After not even one year, I found myself again going after the big goal, the big ambition, creating something which could be more impactful than just a little restaurant in Notting Hill, and being overrun by the success," Longobardi said. "In four months we were fully booked for [the next] six months and the most acclaimed restaurant in London."</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c128baf2ea7de4ee71ba6bf-1200/108%20garage%20food%20pic%20jean%20cazals.jpg" border="0" alt="108 garage food pic Jean Cazals" data-mce-source="Jean Cazals"><p class="source"><span>Jean Cazals</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p>108 Garage went on to win Tatler's Best Restaurant of the Year award in 2018, and was on the receiving end of glowing reviews from the likes of Giles Coren and Fay Maschler.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c128b0ea5ac614d273390ea-2400/108garage%20-%20.jpg" border="0" alt="108Garage   " data-mce-source="108 Garage"><p class="source"><span>108 Garage</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p><span style="color: #000000;">In October 2017, the Denney and Longbardi went on to open a second location, <a href="http://southamstreet.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Southam Street,</a> and are currently working on a book of life stories and recipes together.</span></p><p>This is hardly Longobardi's first time dabbling in the world of writing, either.</p><p>"I wrote a book in 2015 called 'Branded 'The Mafia's Banker,'''' he said. "At that time I received an offer to do a movie [based on the book], which I was not in the mood for - they wanted to actually make me the mafia's banker, which I was not, and I would just become a character for Hollywood. For no money in the world."</p><p>He did, however, create a trailer to promote the launch of his book - and it went on to win Best Trailer/Promo at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards.</p><h2>A private members' club for blockchain</h2><p>His most "ambitious and complex project," though, is <a href="http://www.homenoir.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Home Noir</a> - a predominantly digital private members' community centred around blockchain which also plans to open physical clubs in New York, London, Shanghai, Seoul, Paris, Berlin, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Barcelona, Beijing, and Moscow.</p><p>The company plans to be a hub for those in the blockchain industry through a digital platform, experiences, and spaces, but will also encourage innovation and investment.</p><p>"The cryptocurrency is just a way to power, monetise, and reward the community, and a way of paying for services or experiences with those tokens," Longobardi explained, adding that the tokens will be called Noir Tokens.</p><p>Home Noir's Members' Network will launch this year, and the company is currently looking for a location for its first physical members' club.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/onda-app-private-members-clubs-luca-del-bono-2018-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This new app gives access to hundreds of private members' clubs around the world for $120 a month</a></em></p><p>The fees for members are yet to be confirmed, but there will be the option of obtaining daily, weekly, or monthly passes or buying an annual membership.</p><p>"The proper approach to blockchain, although it's transactional, the whole philosophy brings transparency into a collaborative environment, where the more you give the more reward you get," Longobardi said.</p><p>"You're going to see a community of interest collaborating around topics, knowledge sharing, learning experiences, fun experiences, and everyone will give and get rewarded for their actions - so you enrich others and you enrich yourself."</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c13b4d40df1760f8625b996-1202/2015%20book%20cover.jpg" border="0" alt="2015 Book cover" data-mce-source="Luca Longobardi"><p class="source"><span>Luca Longobardi</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p>An early adopter of cryptocurrency - Longobardi even claims to have paid the lawyer who secured his release from jail using cash transferred from his digital wallet - he added that the inspiration for the project came from his own experience, and realising his life could have been very different if blockchain was there in 2010 when he was arrested.</p><p>"I live the inefficiency of a world without blockchain, and I live it in the hard way," he said. "On blockchain, the prosecutors would have seen that I was not laundering the money off anybody else, I was just accepting money according to a bank to bank transaction ... The Interpol would have [had] access to the blockchain and would have eventually seen that it was a mistake."</p><p>Despite the scope of the project, Home Noir doesn't mean Longobardi is stepping away from the food world he has become so successful in, however.</p><p>"I love food because it's a passion, I love the research part and I'll never stop travelling with my chef in Italy to discover stuff ... That's the relaxing part of my life. But I see myself completely dedicated to taking [Home Noir] and putting the flag in places around the world."</p><div>    <iframe src="//instagram.com/p/b3i45fpE7C/embed/" width="540" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true">    </iframe></div><div>    <iframe src="//instagram.com/p/9SoRd0pE4f/embed/" width="540" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true">    </iframe></div><div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/O0kr58fN5Hc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/7-science-backed-ways-happier-healthier-new-year-2016-12">7 science-backed ways to a happier and healthier 2019 that you can do the first week of the new year</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/W7Vy2qCk-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

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