Quartz Daily Brief—Big bank penalties, French prostitution, unpaid internships, rap lyrics
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What to watch for today
The future of euro zone inflation. Don’t expect the European Central Bank to cut interest rates again after it surprised analysts by doing so last month. But markets will be watching for the bank’s first inflation forecast to look as far ahead as 2015, and an upward revision to euro-zone growth forecasts.
British lives get better. A pledge to improve living standards will be front and center of UK chancellor George Osborne’s Autumn Statement today, so the income-tax threshold could rise. Also on the agenda are a capital gains tax on property sales and an expected upgrade in growth projections.
An uptick in the US’s economic output. Forecasters are expecting GDP growth to be marked up slightly to 2.9%—some are saying as much as 3.1%—compared to last month’s first estimate of 2.8%.
Banksy hits the auction block. The second Banksy piece to be auctioned in the US, Flower Girl goes under the hammer in Beverly Hills and is expected to fetch up to $300,000. The silhouette of a girl looking at a plant topped by a security camera was first painted on the wall of a Hollywood gas station in 2008.
While you were sleeping
Banks learned the cost of rate-rigging. The European Commission dished out a record €1.7 billion ($2.3 billion) fine to eight financial institutions for manipulating euro and yen interbank lending rates. Barclays and UBS dodged some €3.3 billion in fines by whistle-blowing on other banks.
Oil producers took a gamble. The OPEC cartel agreed to keep its crude oil production target unchanged at 30 million barrels a day, even though Libya, Iran and Iraq plan to increase output, which could depress prices. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, seemed unworried by an Iranian threat to trigger a price war (paywall).
Prostitution may get pricier in France. Although soliciting for sex is no longer a punishable offense, anyone caught paying for it could face fines of up to €1,500 ($2,030) after the lower house of the French parliament voted for a reform. The senate has yet to approve the law; it will vote in early 2014.
The biggest thing on the seas. The hull of the largest floating facility ever built—technically not a ship, as it has to be towed—was launched in South Korea. Shell will use the 600,000 Prelude, longer than the Empire State Building is tall, as a gas-production platform off the Australian coast from 2017.
Quartz obsession interlude
Lily Kuo and Gang Yang on the genius tricks Beijing drivers use to get a license plate. “Since 2011, the plates have been awarded in a lottery system that people joke is more difficult to win than the country’s actual lottery. It was put in place as cars poured on to Beijing’s roads, causing traffic jams and choking fumes—they more than doubled (link in Chinese) in 10 years, to 5.2 million in 2012. Last month, Beijing announced it would make things even tougher, by cutting the number of new license plates it issues to drivers by over a third to further battle congestion and pollution. Starting next year officials will make things tougher still…” Read more here.
Matters of debate
The Iranian nuclear deal doesn’t solve much. Here are six reasons why we shouldn’t relax just yet.
Young people need unpaid internships. Forcing employers to pay interns will make it even harder for inexperienced workers to find jobs.
For the next decade the moon will be back at the center of the space race. For a bunch of reasons, including: It’s a lot closer than Mars.
Surprising discoveries
How the NSA finds “co-travelers.” The US spy agency tracks the movements of phones all over the world from one cell tower to the next to identify people who might be with a known suspect.
Iceland’s police shot someone dead for the first time ever this week. And then they said sorry.
How much Spotify pays artists per song. It’s really not very much.
Which countries shop hardest at Christmas. Brits and Aussies increase their spending the most during the holiday season—and drink more, too. The US? Way down the league table.
Rappers love Twitter. It gets more mentions in lyrics than other social media.
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