Kabir Chibber

The prince of a Bronze Age civilization was murdered 3,846 years ago in what is possibly the earliest recorded political murder.

UFC 232 was supposed to take place in Las Vegas this Saturday (Dec. 29). But one of the headliners, Jon Jones, had some banned substances show up in one of his samples (paywall), which is troubling as he has a history of failed drug tests. Nevada authorities would not approve him to fight without further tests.

Japan keeps on getting smaller.

The first trailer for Jordan Peele’s new film, Us, was released yesterday (Dec. 25).

The newest Banksy is what looks like a child sticking its tongue out to catch snowflakes—until it’s revealed that the flakes are ashes from a dumpster fire on the next wall.

A musician had an operation in South Africa to remove most of a brain tumor—and played the guitar while it was happening.

The Brexit endgame is upon us. And it has been chaos.

The palace of Versailles is closing tomorrow (Dec. 22) as yet another weekend of gilets jaunes protests commence.

There was an argument made a couple of years ago that bitcoin, with its self-regulating blockchain that is independent from the modern financial system, would be an asset that offers protection in times of turmoil. As bitcoin doubled in value in 2016, one analyst told CNBC claimed that it had similar characteristics to the ultimate safe haven—gold. Both have an “extremely limited supply and a relatively inert state,” he said.

It’s a race that has no end and triumphs can be fleeting. The contest for the world’s most valuable publicly traded company. In 2018, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft ran head to head once again, with an unfashionable winner emerging amid a year of stock-market gyrations. Here’s how it unfolded:

“I have experimental evidence that time travel is not possible,” the late Stephen Hawking once said. “I gave a party for time-travelers, but I didn’t send out the invitations until after the party. I sat there a long time, but no one came.” Time-travelers were also invited to his funeral. It’s unclear whether any showed up.

Stocks are not doing well at the moment—and the forecast remains cloudy. Though if you’re an investor in Tesla, you’re used to this.

US stocks are on track their worst December since the Great Depression. Financial stocks are already in a bear market. The central bank for central banks thinks it’s only going to get worse.

French president Emmanuel Macron capitulated to weeks of violent protest by the gilets jaunes and gave in on several policies, including increasing the minimum wage next year. His speech scored as many viewers as France’s win in the World Cup.

José Mourinho is out, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is in.

José Mourinho, the Manchester United manager, has been fired after presiding over the soccer club’s worst start in 28 years.

Private equity (PE) is booming.

—Dec. 6, 2018—

Just as Europe’s finest carmakers are gearing up to challenge Tesla in electric cars, Tesla is about to bring its mass-market Model 3 right to their doorsteps. As it only has one factory in Fremont, California at the moment, there’s only one way for Elon Musk to send his cars over.

We at Quartz have been writing about Formula E since its debut in 2014 when the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, the governing body for auto racing, decided to create an electric-car racing championship. After that first race, I wrote:

After years of having the electric-car market to himself, Elon Musk has competition just as he’s starting to come to grips with the trauma of mass-producing cars. GM has the Chevy Bolt, though how well that’s doing is anyone’s guess. Volkswagen is fully committed to electrification as it emerges from the diesel scandal. And Toyota plans to offer electric versions of each of its models by 2025.

Luka Modric, the Croatian soccer player for Real Madrid, is now the best in the world.

It’s a pretty intuitive question. “Why don’t electric cars have solar roof[s?]” asked one person in the “No Stupid Questions” area of Reddit. “Wouldn’t it make sense to have a self sustaining charging capabilities.” There are similar questions on Quora and elsewhere.

As the longest bull market in US stocks history shows signs of wavering, it’s upending Wall Street’s traditional hierarchy of pay.