Shooting motive mystery, high-stakes rocket launch, teardrop cocktails
Good morning, Quartz readers!
Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
A high-stakes rocket launch to the ISS. A Cygnus spacecraft built by Orbital ATK, flying on an Atlas rocket built by United Launch Alliance, will ferry food, water, and scientific equipment to the International Space Station at 5:55pm ET (10:55pm GMT). Two recent ISS resupply attempts by private companies—one by Orbital, and another by SpaceX—ended in spectacular explosions. (You can watch the launch here.)
Xi Jinping visits South Africa. The Chinese president joins 52 leaders at a China-Africa forum in Johannesburg. Ahead of the trip, Xi signed $6.5 billion in deals with South African president Jacob Zuma.
OPEC tries to lift oil prices. Members of the oil cartel meet in Vienna to determine target prices and production numbers. Discord seems likely after Russia, Iran, and Iraq rejected Saudi Arabia’s surprise proposal for a round of oil production cuts.
Union protests in South Korea. After a demonstration involving 60,000 people turned violent last month, the country’s biggest labor group will hold another protest on Saturday. The group wants to do away with proposed reforms that would make it easier to fire workers.
Greece votes on a new budget. Parliament is expected for vote on a 2016 budget on Saturday, the first put forward by the island country’s new coalition government, which includes Alexis Tsipras’ Syriza party and the right-wing Greek Independents.
While you were sleeping
Authorities couldn’t find a motive for the San Bernardino mass shooting. The FBI is treating its investigation as a counter-terrorism probe, due to the recent travel to Pakistan and extensive arsenal held by Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik. But officials have declined to declare the shooting that killed 14 people a terrorist attack.
Mario Draghi’s latest magic trick: making the euro levitate. Nobody moves markets like the European Central Bank president, whose underwhelming stimulus measures prompted a huge rise in the euro and a sharp decline in equity markets.
The US indicted new suspects in its FIFA corruption case. A 92-count indictment named 16 additional people in a probe of corruption and bribery within the global soccer association. Two members of FIFA’s executive committee were among those indicted, and were arrested in a pre-dawn raid at the organization’s Zurich headquarters.
Uber thinks it’s bigger than General Motors. Bloomberg reports that the global ride-hailing behemoth is seeking another $2.1 billion in a funding round that could increase the firm’s valuation to $62.5 billion. That means Uber’s market cap would exceed GM, among other blue-chip names.
The US military opened all combat jobs to women. Defense secretary Ashton Carter said women would be able to serve in the military with no exceptions, overriding objections from some military officials.
Russia put a Turkish pipeline on hold. The $12 billion project is a casualty of worsening relations between the two countries, with Moscow imposing sanctions after Turkey shot down a Russian jet last month. Turkey is the second-largest consumer of Russian gas, after Germany.
Quartz markets haiku
Quartz obsession interlude
Dan Frommer on whether to blame Marissa Mayer for Yahoo’s decline. “Yahoo still has a massive audience, yet its products—where Mayer’s talents were specifically supposed to shine—just aren’t that much better than they were before. Yahoo has not become Google. Is that Mayer’s fault? It is hard to simply say no.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
ISIL is a revolt of young Muslims against their parents. It’s the Islamization of radicalism, not the other way around.
2015 is just like 1177 BC. The Greek economy is in shambles, and rebellions have rocked Libya, Syria, and Egypt.
Babies, crock pots and toilets have no business being connected to the internet. The hyperconnected future looks bleak.
Surprising discoveries
Climate change has one very cute winner. It means more hiding places for Alaska’s fluffy snowshoe hare.
Two artists are making cocktail bitters from human tears. Use them to make a martini with extra sadness.
US marijuana growers are using $6 billion a year in electricity. That’s 1% of the country’s total usage.
A nonprofit that supports whistleblowers has its own whistleblowers. The group is accused of firing employees who support unionization .
China’s “The Force Awakens” poster downplayed non-white characters. Chewbacca also didn’t make the cut.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, snowshoe hares, and analog crockpots to [email protected]. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day.