Quartz Daily Brief—US shutdown averted, Hong Kong protesters released, Baidu’s Uber investment, robot spy fish
Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Argentina’s latest attempt to become creditworthy. The country is hoping “holdout” creditors will accept an expiring offer to swap or cash in $6.7 billion in debt (paywall) maturing next year. That would give Argentina leeway to issue debt on the international market, which it hasn’t done since its 2001 default.
Italy is on strike. Unionists and older workers are protesting cuts to employee protections (paywall). Public transport, administration offices, medical services, and schools will be closed across the country until 11:30am ET.
A barrage of terrible holiday fashion. Several countries are due to host their renditions of ”Ugly Christmas Sweater Day,” honoring the most visually displeasing garments to ever to come off a loom.
While you were sleeping
The US averted a government shutdown by a few hours. The House passed a $1.1 trillion “cromnibus” spending bill after president Barack Obama and vice president Joe Biden called lawmakers to ensure their support. Some Democrats were outraged by provisions that loosened restrictions on Wall Street, using language that was drafted nearly word-for-word by Citibank.
The global oil glut is set to grow. The International Energy Agency cut its forecast for 2015 oil demand for the fourth time in five months, as falling prices hurt the economies of big energy producers like Russia. But prices haven’t fallen enough to crimp supply from North American shale, so production will continue to run well ahead of demand, the IEA said.
Hong Kong police released 247 protestors. All of the activists detained during Thursday’s demolition of the city’s main pro-democracy encampment have been released, but police reserved the right to prosecute them at a later date. Student leader Joshua Wong said his Scholarism group has no plans for further civil disobedience.
Baidu bought into Uber. The Chinese search giant will invest cash and assets worth up to $600 million in return for a minority stake in the on-demand car service, which is currently expanding in China. In addition to the financing, Uber will get some much-needed expertise from a local partner as it faces widespread regulatory challenges around the world.
Jack Ma became the richest man in Asia. The founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba took the title from Li Ka-shing, a Hong Kong property tycoon, as Alibaba’s stock climbed. Ma is worth $28.6 billion according to Bloomberg, and Alibaba has a market capitalization of $259 billion.
China bought one of Australia’s biggest builders. State-owned construction firm CCCI will pay A$1.15 billion ($950 million) for John Holland, a major building and engineering company. The countries signed a free-trade agreement last month and Australia is planning a multibillion-dollar infrastructure building program.
Korea Air’s chairman threw his “nut rage” daughter under the bus. “As the chairman of Korean Air and the father of a daughter, I deeply apologize for her foolish behavior,” said Cho Yang-ho (paywall). Cho Hyun-ah resigned earlier this week after an incident involving in-flight macadamia nuts.
Quartz obsession interlude
Heather Timmons and Lily Kuo on whether Hong Kong’ protests actually mattered. “Despite the passionate participation, the international attention, and outpouring of creativity and ingenuity, the protest site at Admiralty looks this morning very much as it did the morning of Sep. 26, the day students kicked off the demonstrations. The protesters themselves have largely returned to work or school. And yet, there are many ways that the protests have irrefutably changed Hong Kong.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Progress ended in 1971. Everything that defines the modern world was developed in the short span after World War II.
America needs to be more like Disneyland: Invest in infrastructure and happiness.
Beijing’s secret weapon is boredom. It knows not to engage with foes like the Hong Kong protesters directly.
London should secede from England. It has an economy the size of Sweden (paywall) and unemployment is under 3%.
Brits need to spend more time in the pub. It’s the only way to stop them dying out (pubs, that is).
Surprising discoveries
The US Navy has developed a spy fish. The 100lb (45kg) robot looks like a tuna but could be used to sneak into enemy territory.
NFL players are using untested stem cell treatments. They could end up growing body parts where they don’t belong.
Enormous tourists are invading New York City. Humpback whale sightings off the coast of Queens have tripled.
Spotify has a white supremacy problem. The music streaming site has been slow to remove racist anthems.
Greenpeace is in trouble in Peru. A climate change publicity stunt may have permanently scarred an ancient monument.
Click here for more surprising discoveries on Quartz.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, spy fish, and pub-crawl routes to [email protected]. You can follow us on Twitter here for updates throughout the day.