Quartz Daily Brief—Korean hacks, Pakistani executions, Belgian frites attack, solo weddings
Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Greece tries for a president again. Parliament makes a second attempt to vote for a new president. If the government’s candidate, Stavros Dimas, doesn’t get enough votes this time or in the final round on Dec. 29, there’ll be a general election that will likely topple the government and could destabilize the euro zone.
US growth looks even better. The Commerce Department had already bumped up its third-quarter GDP growth estimate from 3.5% to 3.9%, yet economists are expecting that figure to get another lift to 4.3%. Cheap oil could certainly be a reason, though low-priced crude isn’t benefiting everyone equally.
Ukraine unveils its finances. To secure its next bailout payment from the IMF, the country needs to present a fiscally sound budget today (paywall). It will include a big increase in defense spending to ward off Russian predations.
Narendra Modi wins the favor of India’s Muslims. Election results in Jammu and Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state, are expected to give the prime minister’s predominantly Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party over 30 seats in the assembly—the most that the BJP has ever won there, which would give him more clout in talks with Pakistan.
Jack Ma cedes his crown. Real estate mogul Wang Jianlin will be keeping an eye on the IPO (paywall) of his flagship company, Dalian Wanda Commercial Properties. Assuming the shares jump 30% on their debut, Wang will take back Alibaba founder Jack Ma’s title of China’s richest man—a title Ma only seized in September (paywall).
While you were sleeping
Belgium’s prime minister got the frites. Charles Michel had an order of French fries hurled at him—along with a generous squirt of mayonnaise—by protestors disgruntled with the government’s austerity plans. Earlier this month, a national strike by several unions paralyzed the country’s transportation infrastructure.
North Korea’s internet went dark. While the US isn’t commenting, it’s a little suspicious that an entire country’s internet connection went down shortly after US president Barack Obama gave an end-of-year press conference in which he said there would be a “proportional” response to the hacking of Sony’s film studios.
South Korea’s nuclear power company was hacked. Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power said its 23 reactors are fine and the nuclear control system is ”totally independent and closed.” It says “non-critical” information was stolen. It’s yet to say who was responsible, but it isn’t pointing the finger at North Korea.
Pakistan ordered a wave of executions. Having only recently brought back the death penalty, Pakistan will impose it on roughly 500 convicted militants in the coming weeks. It’s in reaction to last week’s Peshawar massacre, in which 133 children were killed.
Alstom agreed to a record bribery fine. The French engineering company pleaded guilty to paying $75 million in bribes to win contracts worth $4 billion in countries including Indonesia, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. It will pay the US Justice Department $772 million, a record for foreign bribery offenses. Its UK unit is facing similar charges in Britain.
Quartz obsession interlude
Abu Zafar on how terrorists have subverted the real meaning of jihad. ”The term Jihad is often defined as a ‘fight,’ or a ‘holy war,’ but it actually means a struggle, not just against others but against desire, ambition and human aspirations to follow what is preached by Islam… In the post 9/11 era, the term Jihad has been twisted by the gangs that commit acts of terror in the name of Islam.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Facebook has set a terrible precedent. By blocking a page in Russia advertising an anti-corruption protest, Facebook marked the end of social-media-powered revolutions.
It’s nearly impossible to eat real food. You can’t eat out anymore without being subjected to meals that have been prepared in factories and pumped full of preservatives.
The Sony hack should be a security wake-up call. If a country can take down a movie studio for insulting its leader, it can threaten power grids, financial systems, and water supplies.
Turkey is sabotaging its future. President Erdogan’s recent education reforms—that say children should learn religious texts at a young age and an older version of Arabic—are a regression (paywall).
Saudi Arabia is changing—slowly. It may not be a revolution, but attitudes are becoming more progressive, at least in the capital.
Surprising discoveries
Who says it takes two to marry? ”Solo weddings” are now a thing in Japan.
UPS is busy. The company said it would ship 34 million packages on Dec. 22, a new record.
Your phone will one day detect cancer. Scientists have turned a phone’s camera sensor into a device that rivals a microscope.
Exercise changes your DNA. People who exercised one leg but not the other for three months had different gene expressions on each leg.
Anti-inflammatories can fight depression. One day in the near future, you could be taking aspirin if you’re feeling blue.
Good riddance to silly startup names. The new wave of companies have simple human names like Oscar, Alfred, Benny, Lulu, and Clara.
Click here for more surprising discoveries on Quartz.
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