Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Donald Trump visits Xi Jinping. As an ascendant China seeks superpower status, America’s allies in Asia are watching nervously whether Trump, unlike his predecessor Barack Obama, will accommodate Xi’s ambitions (paywall).
21st Century Fox reports earnings. The quarterly update gives investors an opportunity to hear more about the media conglomerate’s reported plans to sell most of the company to Disney.
Ex-Yahoo boss Marissa Mayer testifies about hacking. After refusing to testify voluntarily, Mayer was subpoenaed by the US Senate Commerce Committee to answer questions about corporate data breaches, in particular the massive hack at Yahoo that compromised billions of accounts. Current and former Equifax execs will get a grilling, too. The hearing starts at 10am ET.
While you were sleeping
Democrats swept elections in Virginia and New Jersey. In the first crucial test of the party’s prospects after last year’s presidential election loss, Democratic candidates for governor won in both states; the loss for Trump-backed Republican Ed Gillespie in Virginia is seen as a rebuke of the president. Also in Virginia, Danica Roem became the first openly transgender person elected to a state legislature.
Fog foiled Trump’s DMZ trip. The president backtracked on an earlier decision not to visit the Demilitarized Zone, and attempted a surprise trip there by helicopter that was prevented by bad weather. Trump later delivered a blistering attack on North Korea in a speech in South Korea’s legislature.
Deutsche Bank could replace workers with robots. The German lender has already cut 4,000 out of a planned 9,000 jobs as part of CEO’s John Cryan’s restructuring plan. He hinted that many more layoffs are coming, pointing out that rivals operate effectively with half as many employees as Deutsche. AI and other technologies (paywall) could replace error-prone humans, he said.
Asian shoppers ❤️ Hermès 👜. The maker of exclusive Birkin and Kelly bags posted a 11% rise in revenue in the third quarter, as sales grew across all regions. Bag buyers in mainland China (paywall), in particular, created “favorable winds” for the French brand.
Tencent’s online publishing arm made its dazzling debut. China Literature, which is similar to Amazon’s Kindle e-book unit, soared as much as 100% on its first day of trading in Hong Kong. Private equity firm Carlyle holds a minority stake in the company, which raised over $1 billion in its IPO.
Quartz obsession interlude
Jason Karaian updates Quartz’s Christmas Creep Calculator™. “Christmas creep is particularly pronounced in Britain, which lacks a traditional starting point for the holiday season, like advent markets in continental Europe or Thanksgiving in the US. Based on current trends, our algorithms suggest that, eventually, crass commercialism will overcome seasonal sense, and around 2120 the Christmas shopping season will start in July.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Punishing Big Tech is good for innovation. European competition law is crucial to protect startup founders from monopoly abuses by companies like Google.
The iPhone X user experience is a mess. The intuitive home button has been replaced by a thumb-wiggling nightmare.
The Disney-Fox talks are all about defeating Netflix. Even a behemoth like Disney finds it hard to compete with Netflix’s breadth of content.
Surprising discoveries
Not everyone is getting upgraded to 240-character tweets. Users who tweet in some Asian languages are still restricted to the old 140-character limit.
A soprano hit a note never sung before at the Met. Audrey Luna of the Metropolitan Opera in New York sings the A above high C (paywall) for a split second in Thomas Adès’ new opera, The Exterminating Angel.
New Zealand’s First Cat had its political career cut short. Prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s cat Paddles—which had opposable thumbs—was hit by a car in Auckland.
Sheep can recognize human faces in photos. Researchers found they could pick out Barack Obama, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Emma Watson.
Saudi Arabia’s newest jail has a 4.5-star rating on TripAdvisor. Members of the Saudi elite arrested last weekend are being held at the Ritz in Riyadh.
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