Is Latin America a vision of Europe's fenced future?

Europeans should look at the hassles faced by other continents before they thoughtlessly toss out Schengen's decades of free movement.

I'm spending this weekend at Iguazu Falls, the mammoth waterfalls at the border of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. It's a truly spectacular sight, more powerful than Niagara and wider than Victoria (the falls, not the queen).

Perhaps even more interesting than visiting the falls has been exploring the three towns at the 'triple frontier', Foz do Iguacu, Puerto Iguazu and Ciudad del Este. It is essentially one large urban conurbation spanning three borders. I've taken to collecting visits to sites like this. It's my fourth triple border, after NL-BE-DE, CH-FR-DE and CH-LI-AU.

Carnival on the Ilha da Magia

For my tenth carnival, I went with the island of magic.

I’m in Florianopolis, Brazil this week, an island city in the Southeast part of the country well-known for its exuberant carnival celebrations the week before Lent.

It’s actually the tenth carnival I’ve been to. Over the past decade, sort of by accident, I started going to a new destination with a well-known carnival at the start of Lent every year. Last year I was in Venice, and in the years before that I was in Cologne, the Canaries, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Binche, Maastricht, Nice and New Orleans.

Please, Europeans, stop obsessing over the US election

"American exceptionalism itself has something of a Sunset Boulevard feel to it, a black comedy where a faded silent movie star believes she is still the most luminous presence on the screen."

Over my decade in Europe I've seen a lot of BBC correspondents come and go from their American postings. But none has seemed to grasp the real affliction facing America like Nick Bryant (quoted above).

His observations during this absolute farce of an election season have been particularly spot-on. And Europeans, who tend to be far more interested in American politics than they really should be, should give him a read.

Incredible - Europe has fallen behind America in providing roaming solutions

US mobile carriers now allow their customers to use data worldwide for free. Meanwhile, European carriers are still charging to roam within the EU. What's wrong with this picture?

When I first moved to Europe ten years ago, finding cell phone solutions while I was home visiting the US was a bi-annual challenge. 

I go home twice a year - often enough to need a US cell phone while I'm there, but not often enough to maintain a monthly plan. While travelling in Europe, I would buy local prepaid sim cards for extended visits. But in the US, there were hardly any prepaid cell phone options and those that existed charged outrageous rates.

San Francisco's view of Berlin

Berlin may be an emerging tech hub, but Silicon Valley seems unaware 

I’m in San Francisco this week, visiting my uncle and taking care of a few work meetings (potential freelancing clients). I haven’t been here in 12 years, so it’s been great to rediscover the city. 

I’ve also been visiting a lot of old friends from journalism school, all of whom are working in or around the tech sector. There are a lot of opportunities out here for tech-focused reporting or copy writing these days. Given that Berlin is considered an emerging tech powerhouse in Europe, I was curious to get their take on the scene there. But what I encountered was either a lack of knowledge or a dismissive attitude. For the tech people I’ve talked to, Berlin is either a non-entity or a nuisance. 

Will the Öresund become a symbol of European disintegration?

For the first time in six decades, Sweden has installed controls at its border with Denmark.

This morning, border checks took effect on the Öresund Bridge, which connects with countries of Sweden and Denmark. 30,000 people use this bridge to commute between the cities of Copenhagen and Malmo each day. For comparison, imagine New York and New Jersey setting up ID checks on the George Washington Bridge

The news might not seem particularly remarkable to British or American readers. After all, they have to go through a passport control to get to any other country, so why shouldn't Swedes or Danes?