🌎 SBF under detention

Good morning, Quartz readers!

Here’s what you need to know

Sam Bankman-Fried has been detained in the Bahamas. The arrest was made at the request of the US government, a day before the disgraced crypto entrepreneur was due to testify before the House of Representatives (see more below).

Twitter’s Trust and Safety Council no longer exists. An email signed as “Twitter,” sent to members of the body, said the company didn’t deem the council to be “the best structure” to provide external advice.

The FBI recorded a decrease in hate crimes in 2021. But rather than crime falling, it’s the reports from police forces that have decreased.

Amgen is buying Horizon Therapeutics. The US pharmaceutical giant will purchase Ireland-based Horizon for $27.8 billion in one of the biggest healthcare buyouts this year.

Supporters of Brazil’s outgoing president Jair Bolsonaro stormed police headquarters. The attack took place in Brasilia, the country’s capital, on the day officials certified Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s election victory.

Japan and the Netherlands will join US chip sanctions against China. The two countries have agreed to limit the export of advanced semiconductor machinery to China, Bloomberg reports.

What to watch for

Today (Dec. 13), the US House Committee on Financial Services had intended to hear Sam Bankman-Fried’s testimony on the collapse of FTX, the crypto exchange he founded. But his arrest has thrown a wrench into those plans.

For weeks, SBF’s participation in the hearing had been in doubt—he even missed the deadline to RSVP. He finally confirmed his attendance on Friday (Dec. 9), but anticipated that a lack of access to personal and professional data would limit what he’d be able to say.

SBF’s was not the only testimony the committee was expecting to hear. FTX’s new CEO, John Jay Ray III, was also listed as a panelist. Ray, tasked with a complex restructuring, has described the FTX debacle as one of the worst he’s seen in his career as he seeks to recover some money for customers and investors. No doubt he’d have liked to level a few questions at SBF himself.

Twitter keeps squawking up the Apple tree

As Twitter Blue plans its relaunch, Elon Musk is making Apple users pay for his fight with the tech giant. iOS users will have to dole out $11 per month for the controversial subscription service, while web and Android users can get it for $8 per month.

Apple spent a whopping $48 million on Twitter ads in the first quarter of 2022, accounting for more than 4% of total revenue for the period. That made Apple a top advertiser on Twitter that Musk can’t really afford to lose. At the end of November, Musk claimed Apple had “mostly stopped” its Twitter ads but on Dec. 4, the self-appointed chief twit said the iPhone-maker had “fully resumed” advertising on Twitter.

A breakthrough in nuclear fusion energy

Scientists in California may have reached a turning point when it comes to creating energy from nuclear fusion. In a recent experiment using this method, 2.1 megajoules of input produced 2.5 megajoules of output, accounting for a 120% net energy gain.

The shift from net-negative energy generation to net-positive is a result that has eluded scientists for decades. While the excess energy generated isn’t much—underscoring that it could take decades more before nuclear fusion begins to fuel power plants—it comes at the convergence of the climate and fuel crises, and offers hope for an alternative, clean energy source.

✦ Love stories like these? Help keep our content free and accessible to all by becoming a Quartz member today. We’ve got 50% off for you.

Quartz’s most popular

💄 Indian airlines go with quirky grooming rules to match global peers

🏆 The Banshees of Inisherin is leading Golden Globes nominations

🌍 The US-Africa Leaders Summit should redefine how the US views Africa

💵 Why Janet Yellen’s signature on US paper currency is so notable

🌧 Xi Jinping’s visit to Saudi Arabia is bad news for the Kremlin

📱 5 US states are banning TikTok from government phones

Surprising discoveries

An 11,000-year-old carving, possibly the earliest to tell a story, depicts a guy taking matters into his own hands. And by “matters” we mean penis.

Disney is bringing back a character after nearly 100 years. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is getting a new animated short.

Wave-like clouds formed over Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains. The 🌊🌊🌊 shape was due to what’s called Kelvin-Helmholtz instability.  

Scientists made an adhesive breakthrough. So-called cellular glue could help in regenerating damaged organs and tissues.

Fur seals have nails. Don’t flip out, but they’ve been there all along, emerging mid-flipper.

Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, sky surfboards, and waterproof nail polish to [email protected]. Reader support makes Quartz available to all—become a member. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Elizabeth Souder, Ananya Bhattacharya, Aurora Almendral, Sofia Lotto Persio, Julia Malleck, and Morgan Haefner.