Quartz Daily Brief—Sony releases “The Interview,” Russia’s junk warning, Australian terror arrest, peak delivery reached

Good morning, Quartz readers!

What to watch for today

Japan’s new cabinet take their seats. Snap elections earlier this month saw prime minster Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party win 325 out of 475 seats. Today the new cabinet will be inaugurated, giving Abe a supermajority in the country’s lower house.

Turkey decides its rates. The country’s central bank announces whether or not it will cut borrowing costs (paywall). The Turkish lira hit a record low last week, and the bank needs to balance its drop against the threat of further inflation.

Fresh Ukraine peace talks. The trilateral Ukraine Contact Group (Ukraine, the Russian Federation, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) meets in Belarus today, one day after Ukraine’s parliament voted—to Russia’s anger—to annul its “non-aligned” status and begin taking steps towards joining NATO.

Handcuffs for Heather Cho? Prosecutors will argue for an arrest warrant for the former vice president of Korean Air and daughter of the company’s chairman, after she forced a plane to delay take-off when a flight attendant served her nuts in a bag and not on a plate.

While you were sleeping

The US’s GDP revision boosts nearly everything. The price of oil rose to a near-two week high after the US announced its economy grew at an annualized 5% in the third quarter. The dollar and stocks in Asia also jumped on the news.

“The Interview” will get its Christmas release. Sony Pictures will release the North Korea-themed comedy on Christmas Day after all, with at least one US theater chain confirming it will screen the film. That’s an about-face from the studio’s earlier stance following a major hack and threats of violence.

Australian police arrested a man on terrorism charges. Police in Sydney said the man was in possession of documents naming potential government targets.

UPS and FedEx reached their delivery limit. The freight companies have held some retailers to volume limits (paywall) after a last-minute surge in online shopping threatened to overwhelm air express deliveries. Last year millions of packages missed their Christmas deadline when last-minute online shoppers overloaded shippers.

Standard & Poor’s threatened Russia with junk status. The ratings agency put the country on a watch list, saying there is “at least a 50% chance” that Russia’s sovereign credit rating will be lowered to junk within 90 days. That would mean Russia was no longer classified as investment grade for the first time in a decade.

Ireland defended Microsoft in a cloud computing test. The Irish government moved to protect the American IT giant (paywall) after a search warrant was issued in the US for data stored on its servers in Ireland. The tussle could have far-reaching implications for privacy and cloud computing.

Quartz obsession interlude

Jake Flanagin on the US’s new Cuba strategy. “The reopening of diplomatic channels between Washington and Havana reflects some of the better aspects of Obama’s foreign policy (which is by no means perfect). Namely, its nuance. The State Department of 2014 does not operate in the realm of outdated geopolitical absolutes as some of its predecessors. ‘Communist = bad, capitalist = good’ no longer applies. And, in any case, Cold War color-coding, strategies of ‘containment’ and ‘rollback,’ just as often bolstered anti-democratic regimes as it undermined them.” Read more here.

Matters of debate

2014 was the year of nervousness and instability. Between the Ukrainian revolution, the crash of MH17, the Islamic State, and Ebola, these past 12 months have been unsettling.

Europe’s problem isn’t deflation. The continent needs to fix its tight labor policies.

Putin doesn’t need to send tanks to destabilize Ukraine. The West’s failure to agree on a bailout package will do that for him.

PowerPoint is ruining the US justice system. In what world do animated slideshows and pictures of defendants labeled “GUILTY” make any sense?

Surprising discoveries

Using gadgets ruins the quality, not just quantity, of your sleep. Using a tablet before bed disrupts REM sleep.

3D printed pasta is coming to a dish near you. And made-to-order custom pasta isn’t far behind.

Alibaba has over 7,000 people spotting fakes. It spent over $160 million in the past two years weeding out copycat goods.

Electricity can cure arthritis. Scientists made a pacemaker-like implant that works better than traditional medicine.

Barack Obama is a “science geek.” His science adviser called him the most scientifically aware president since Thomas Jefferson.

Here’s a remarkable picture of the sun. It’s our most detailed view yet of our home star.

Please note there will be no Daily Brief tomorrow (Dec. 25). Happy Holidays!

Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, science geeks, and terrible PowerPoint presentations to [email protected]. You can follow us on Twitter here for updates throughout the day.