"What we've seen is a rise of fast fashion consumers more interested in how they represent themselves in social media ... Arcadia, especially TopShop, haven't been able to keep up with those changes."

Those are the words of Amna Khan, senior lecturer in consumer behavior and retailing at Manchester Metropolitan University.

UK high street giant Arcadia stands on the brink of administration in what would possibly be COVID-19's biggest retail casualty so far. Management at the firm behind such famous stores as TopShop, Miss Selfridge and Dorothy Perkins are said to be working on several "contingency options" to secure the future of its brands. 

Boss Philip Green has reportedly turned down a $67 million lifeline offer from rival sportswear retailer Frasers, controlled by Mike Ashley. Arcadia trades from more than 500 stores and employs more than 13,000 staff. Even before the pandemic, it had been hit by competition from nimble online fashion portals such as Boohoo and Pretty Little Thing. 

Read on to hear more from Khan about what exactly has gone wrong for this giant of British retail.

France's attempts to get tough with big tech still appear to be sticking, with officials confirming that no progress has been made with some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley over its new "Tech for Good Call" directive. The plans to normalize tax policy and practices ahead of the post-COVID-19 recovery have been met with a cool response from Amazon and others.

Will Europe's ski slopes be open this winter holiday season? Not if German Chancellor Angela Merkel has her way. After the Bundestag voted last week to close all German ski resorts until the new year in a bid to contain the virus, pressure is on for a pan-European deal that could force all destinations across member states to close for the crucial Christmas period. Austria and Switzerland, however, are so far holding fast on their "open for business" policy, but for how much longer? 

Spain, which perhaps has the economy in Europe worst-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, will debate a new budget this week. It's backing big rises in both tax and public spending to kick-start growth and has in place dispersal plans for the emergency cash it's getting from the EU's recovery fund. But plans, controversially approved by Catalan separatists, still need approval from congress.

And will the second wave of coronavirus infections in Europe be enough to persuade OPEC + to turn on the production taps in 2021? The cartel of oil-producing nations is meeting this week to decide policy for the new year as the ongoing lockdown continues to subdue demand for fuel.

As economists debate the post-COVID-19 reconstruction, there's a stark warning about the need to put the environment front and center in the debate from the Institute for Economics and Peace, which claims that water politics will play a critical role in the developing world in particular. Watch below to find out more. 

Happy reading 

Louise Greenwood

Digital news producer 

One of the UK's biggest retail chains, Arcadia, is expected to announce imminently that it is entering administration – putting 13,000 jobs at risk. The group run by the flamboyant business mogul Philip Green, which owns some of the most famous names on the British high street, has been seeking emergency funding to fend off bankruptcy after sales collapsed during the COVID-19 lockdown. A sell-off of some of its more successful brands is now expected as part of the administration process, ahead of meeting claims by creditors.

Spain is set to pass a new budget that will increase both tax and public spending to tackle its COVID-19 hit economy. The left-leaning coalition of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says it also intends to use all of the $170 billion in emergency cash it is receiving from the European Union as part of the coronavirus recovery fund over the next six years. The money is to be dispersed through a series of grants and loans. The budget, which requires the backing of congress, will go to the vote later this week. Spain, the EU economy worst hit by the pandemic, is expected to run a budget deficit of more than 12 percent of GDP this year.

Germany-backed EU talks are continuing to agree a coordinated policy on the opening of ski resorts over the Christmas holiday season. Last week, the Bundestag agreed on the closure of German resorts until Jan 10. Chancellor Angela Merkel is now seeking a deal to mothball all of Europe's top ski resorts until the new year, in an effort to contain the further spread of the virus. While Italy and France have both indicated their support, Austria and Switzerland (which is not an EU member) both currently plan to keep the pistes open. 

French officials say tech giants including Amazon and Apple, have so far not signed up to a new government initiative on normalizing tax policy and market principles. The directive named  "Tech for Good Call" aims to set down a uniform standard of practice for tech firms in the post-COVID-19 world, with a commitment to fair taxation, privacy for individuals and the curbing of the dissemination of hate speech and harmful material. The initiative, while not legally binding, is expected to figure highly in France's future negotiations with tech firms.

Dutch banking giant ABN Amro says it plans to cut 2,500 jobs over the next four years as it scales back its investment banking division. The $840m cost-cutting plans, due to take effect from 2022, will shrink the overall headcount by 15 percent at the lender, which is still majority state-owned. Branch closures and an increased move to online banking have been outlined as ABN seeks to "future-proof" its operations and has warned that returns are unlikely to reach pre-pandemic rates for some time.

Turkey's economy has rebounded unexpectedly in the third quarter, with GDP up 15 percent compared with the previous three months. Loan growth is now running at its highest point since 2013 as the ruling AK party has responded to the COVID-19 crisis by cutting interest rates further and easing money supply. The policy has put more pressure on inflation, while figures just out from the country's statistical agency, Turkstat, show the trade deficit widened to 76 percent in the first 10 months of the year. 

The stock valuation of China's biggest electric car maker, NIO, has risen more than 1,200 percent – giving the company a market value of $73.1 billion. Third-quarter sales were up 146 percent year-on-year, according to NIO's latest earnings report. Market leader Tesla says it expects China to account for 40 percent of its global sales by 2022.

Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund is understood to be in talks with U.S. global investment firm KKR, over buying a stake in Italy's telecoms infrastructure. KKR acquired a 37.5 percent stake in the newly created FiberCop earlier this year, which is rolling out the "last-mile" national fiber network to homes in Italy. Any deal with the Gulf state is likely to be investigated by regulators and the Italian government, which can block unwanted bids in industries deemed to be of strategic importance.

OPEC+, the cartel of top oil-producing nations, is beginning two days of talks to decide whether to extend existing output cuts into the new year. The group, which includes the 13 OPEC members and 10 other oil-producing states, had been due to ease existing production cuts by 2 million barrels per day from January. With the second global coronavirus wave reducing world demand for fuel, the group is now considering extending the existing cuts, equivalent to about 8 percent of global demand, into early 2021, a position already backed by Saudi Arabia.

WATCH: Environmental concerns are certain to figure highly in negotiations on the post-COVID-19 future. Research just out from the Institute for Economics and Peace claims that more than a billion people may be forced from their homes within the next 30 years because of water shortages.

The UK's Arcadia is poised for administration, threatening to leave yawning holes of unoccupied space on high streets across the UK. Once a Goliath of fashion retail, its fall from grace has been swift and brutal. We asked Amna Khan, senior lecturer in consumer behavior and retailing at Manchester Metropolitan University about what has gone so badly wrong and how much the pandemic is to blame?

First of all, Arcadia been quite slow with responding to consumer changes, particularly the fast-moving changes in fashion. What we've seen is a rise of fast-fashion consumers more interested in how they represent themselves in social media, particularly platforms such as Instagram, where everything's become a lot more visual. But it's also moved a lot faster. And Arcadia, especially TopShop, hasn't been able to keep up with those changes. Another thing that we've seen is the rise of all the competitors who've done that a lot better than them. And the other issue is relevance. They're not as relevant as they once used to be to the consumer. And that's just change because they've not kept up with the change in fashion.

Is there anything it could potentially do to turn that around? 

I think that's quite difficult. They've not really invested in their online streams, whereas other competitors have and they've taken novel places in the consumer's mind now and captivate the consumers better than they have. So it would require a massive shift and change in their business models in the way they operate to be able to do that. Never say never, they could actually try to adopt that market. But it would be quite challenging. 

Alongside job losses within Arcadia, a collapse would have a huge effect on those smaller companies involved in the supply chain. 

When any organization has an issue such as this, the supply chain and other stakeholders are always normally affected by this, the employees will be affected. So, really, this is just a disappointing story. But we can see that many high street retailers similar to Arcadia were in this situation because they just haven't kept in touch with the consumer.

So do you think the companies could expect to go forward without an online presence? 

I think it's going to be really challenging. It depends what you're really offering online for consumers is now changed. It's a very hedonic space where consumers want experiential sort of experiences that are novel and different. If you look at the online platforms, they're functional. They're serving a purpose, whether that's quick fashion, whether that's fast fashion or whether that's convenience... So it will be very challenging. 

Meanwhile, the latest data from Eurostat confirm what many homeowners and renters in Europe know already. Housing costs continue to weigh on the purse strings as the single biggest outgoing in monthly expenditure. The figures date from last year – but with more of us forced to work from home during lockdown, household running costs show no sign of letting up in 2021