Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The revival of TPP talks. The US pulled out of the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, but officials from 11 nations will meet in Japan to discuss how to move forward.
The first arrests in the US’s 2016 election probe. The FBI’s investigation into Russian meddling in the last presidential election could bear its first public fruit. A grand jury assembled by FBI special counsel Robert Mueller’s office approved charges against individuals on Friday; they could be taken into custody Monday.
Iceland gets a leftist new government. The country’s youthful Left-Green Movement is likely to form a government Monday after winning the votes for a narrow majority in parliament.
Over the weekend
The Spanish government sacked Catalonia’s leaders. Over 140 people were dismissed early Saturday morning as part of Spain’s direct takeover, and a vote has been scheduled for December 21 to replace the elected officials who were removed. In Barcelona, hundreds of thousands marched for a unified Spain.
Whitefish’s $300 million Puerto Rico contract was cancelled. The Puerto Rico Power Authority cancelled a contract to rebuild the island’s energy grid at governor Ricardo Rossello’s urging. Whitefish’s ties to the Trump administration and the contract terms raised concerns about the deal.
An explosion killed at least 27 people in Mogadishu. Two car bombs exploded on Saturday, just outside the Nasa Hablod Two Hotel—two weeks after Somalia was hit with its deadliest car bomb attack in history. Al-Shabab, the local branch of Al Qaeda, has claimed responsibility.
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos surpassed Bill Gates as world’s richest human. The Amazon CEO saw his wealth surge $10 billion to $90 billion after his company turned in a rosy earnings report on Friday.
Quartz obsession interlude
Jenny Anderson on girls’ test-taking anxiety. In OECD countries, “girls had much higher levels of schoolwork- and test-related anxiety than boys,” she writes, which could ultimately be keeping them out of math and science fields. Read more here.
Matters of debate
Underwater gates will save New York. A non-profit wants the city to put a series of massive underwater gates in New York Harbor, echoing the work of Amsterdam and UK governments, to prevent flooding.
Daylight savings time is massively disruptive. It’s only an hour, but it could make you cranky, and even dangerous.
A millionaire’s tax isn’t the answer. Eliminate loopholes, rather than raising tax rates, will really hit (paywall) America’s richest.
Surprising discoveries
Scientists think they saw the first “interstellar comet” from beyond our solar system. Astronomers have waited decades to see the object they have dubbed A/2017 U1. Asteroids or comets that move around between stars and occasionally visit our own solar system have only been theorized about in the past.
Kazakhstan may soon become Qazaqstan. The country’s president signed a decree swapping its 42-letter Cyrillic alphabet to a 32-letter Latin alphabet, to be fully implemented by 2025.
The tea infusing-business had its own Juicero. Teforia, a $1,000 Internet-of-things device that brews loose leaf tea, had its price slashed to $199 after the company went belly up on Friday.
China could turn its western desert into “California.” Chinese scientists hope to build a 1,000 km (621 mile) tunnel to divert a Tibetan river into an arid region in Xinjiang, turning it into an agricultural mecca.
Martin Luther mailed it, not nailed it. The German monk behind the Protestant Reformation likely never nailed his 95 theses to a Church door, historians believe. Instead, he mailed them to a Catholic archbishop.
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