Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The EU votes to curb the use of palm oil… The proposed legislation is part of an attempt to discourage deforestation in Southeast Asia. Together, Indonesia and Malaysia produce nearly 90% of the world’s palm oil, nicknamed “green gold” by the industry.
… And discusses removing eight jurisdictions from its tax haven blacklist. A proposal calls for delisting Macau, Grenada, Barbados, Mongolia, Tunisia, Panama, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates after those places changed their tax policies as requested. It’s expected to be adopted next week in a meeting of EU finance ministers.
Indonesian Christians try to block their deportation from the US. Attorneys for 51 immigrants who say they fled religious persecution will appear in a Boston federal court in an attempt to counteract an expulsion order from US officials. Some have been in the United States for 20 years and have had children there.
While you were sleeping
The US Senate advanced a bill to renew a controversial surveillance program. The National Security Agency program allows for warrantless surveillance of foreigners abroad via services like email and texting, and incidentally scoops up Americans’ communications. A bipartisan group sought more privacy safeguards, but the bill now looks set to become law.
Japan’s machinery orders rose to their highest level in a decade. Core orders grew 5.7% in November from the previous month, versus a drop of 1.4% projected by economists. To spur economic growth the government has been trying to get companies to spend their massive cash piles—judging by this key gauge of capital expenditure, they are.
China said it doesn’t need Taipei’s permission to open new air routes. It launched one earlier this month close to two island groups controlled by Taiwan, which complained it wasn’t informed of the plan. Beijing disputed that but said today that Taipei’s agreement isn’t required in any case. China insists Taiwan is a wayward province, not an independent nation.
Hong Kong sentenced a democracy activist to jail for contempt. Joshua Wong will serve three months for his leading role in keeping a road blocked with a protestors’ camp in the 2014 Umbrella Movement rallies, despite a court order to clear out. Wong has already served part of a six-month sentence for another case related to the demonstrations.
Quartz obsession interlude
Joon Ian Wong on the rise and fall of a Korean crypto exchange. “Bithumb’s struggles to scale its operations mirror the problems facing exchanges around the world. Often set up by founders without a background in developing serious financial platforms, cryptocurrency exchanges are struggling to build systems that can withstand the rapidly growing demand for access to the crypto markets.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Hawaii’s nuclear missile false alarm was a failure of design. A lack of fail-safes and a confusing user interface led almost inevitably to disaster.
TV advertising and retail are headed for a perfect storm of failure. The combination of e-commerce and cord-cutting spells disaster for two interdependent industries.
Social causes can reduce employee turnover. Fulfilling a desire to volunteer helps job satisfaction, especially when it draws on expertise and competition.
Surprising discoveries
Fanta was created specifically for Nazi Germany. With American imports drying up, a German bottler improvised with a new soda recipe based on apple shavings and whey.
The hunt is on for deadly blowfish sold accidentally in Japan. A city sent out emergency alerts, but has only found three of the five packets of fugu sold by a supermarket.
NASA engineers thought female astronauts would want makeup in space. The cosmetic kit prototype they designed was never used.
Hong Kong’s Cantopop owes a debt to Dolores O’Riordan. The late Cranberries singer inspired Faye Wong to cover “Dreams” in 1994, which sparked a movement of its own.
A man who held in a sneeze ruptured the back of his throat. The patient proved generations of mothers right and was hospitalized for seven days.
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