Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The US agriculture secretary travels to China. Sonny Perdue’s trip marks the return of US beef exports to China after a 13-year ban due to concerns over mad cow disease. The US will also begin importing cooked Chinese chicken as part of a trade deal inked last month.
China’s powerful surveillance law goes into effect. The measure, passed by the National People’s Congress after unusually brief deliberations, gives authorities new, largely unspecified powers to investigate foreign and domestic people and institutions. It also expands authorities’ ability to search premises and seize property.
Investors in big US banks hope for a nice windfall. The Federal Reserve will report on the second and final round of stress tests designed to ensure banks could keep lending even in a severe recession. It’s expected to give passing grades, clearing the way for banks to put their excess capital to use, including through dividend and buyback plans.
While you were sleeping
A police helicopter attacked Venezuela’s Supreme Court. The attackers strafed the building and lobbed grenades at it. Political opponents of Nicolas Maduro, the nation’s increasingly authoritarian president, resent the court for strengthening his grip on power in a series of rulings. But some speculated the attack was staged to justify more repression by Maduro’s forces.
China National Petroleum suspended sales of fuel to North Korea. The state-owned oil company said it was a business decision made over concerns it would not get paid. The rogue nation relies heavily on China for gasoline and diesel. In recent months fuel prices have risen sharply in North Korea, suggesting a tightening supply.
The “Petya” ransomware attack reached Australia. A Cadbury chocolate factory in Tasmania became the first business Down Under to report being hit by the malware, which forced a halt in production. The attack started in Ukraine and spread to Europe, the US, and elsewhere yesterday. Infected computers show a message demanding a bitcoin payment worth $300.
Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook has 2 billion users. The number of people who use the social network each month is roughly equivalent to the population of the US, Mexico, Japan, and China combined. The only other platforms above a billion are YouTube (1.5 billion) and Facebook’s own WhatsApp and Messenger apps.
Quartz obsession interlude
Ilaria Maria Sala on China’s mistreatment of jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo. “A voice so free and capable of such sharp analysis should have been cherished by a developing country that, after becoming in the shortest imaginable time the second-largest economy in the world, has been trying to increase its ‘soft power’ and improve its image among people both near and far.” Read more here.
Markets haiku
Painful tech spasm / When Google stubs its big toe / All the world winces
Matters of debate
Amazon is desperately trying to beat the “wheel of retailing.” The Whole Foods deal is an attempt to disrupt the cyclical trap of incumbents toppled by low-priced competitors.
SpaceX has proved its critics wrong. It’s hard to argue against an accelerating launch tempo and diversified client list.
Wealth managers are the driving force behind global inequality. Massive tax-dodging couldn’t happen without expert advice.
Surprising discoveries
“Thing” is now a thing in the Oxford English Dictionary. The reference to a “genuine or established phenomenon or practice” was first used in The West Wing.
Norwegians raised $10,000 to save a phallic rock formation. Cracks suggest the protruding tourist attraction was recently vandalized.
A woman threw coins into a jet engine “for luck.” The Shanghai flight was evacuated and delayed for hours while technicians checked the engines.
Mumbai has the world’s second-largest collection of Art Deco buildings. But almost no one notices—not even the residents of the buildings themselves.
Warren Buffett has been paying income taxes since he was 14. Recently released returns show how the mega-billionaire began amassing wealth.
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