Good morning, Quartz readers!
Here’s what you need to know
An Israeli air strike on a refugee camp in Gaza killed dozens. Israel’s ground operations in Gaza continue, and Hamas says it will release some foreign hostages soon.
WeWork is reportedly planning to file for bankruptcy. According to The Wall Street Journal, the once-hot office space company is heading in the Chapter 11 direction as early as next week.
Real estate stocks didn’t have a great day. Zillow and others felt the effects of a Missouri case against the US National Association of Realtors, in which a jury found real estate agents guilty of working together to keep commissions high.
US wages were up a bit in the last quarter. That’s great news for workers, but it’s tricky for the Fed’s inflation-fighting strategy.
Help us decide what’s next for Quartz members. Love the Daily Brief but not yet a subscriber to our paid membership? Would you take our three-minute survey to help us improve?
X is worth less than half of what Elon put into it
New employee compensation plans at the social media platform formerly known as Twitter offer restricted stock units at $45 a share. Do a little math, and that makes the company’s valuation less than half of Elon Musk’s $44 billion price tag when he purchased it one short year ago.
And what a year it’s been. Web traffic and advertising revenue are both way down, and banks involved with financing the purchase have been revaluing their holdings. Are X employees getting the short end of the stick?
Quotable: Seafood in the balance
“As for the remarks of the US Ambassador to Japan, it needs to be pointed out that the duty of diplomats is to deepen friendship between countries, rather than smear other countries and sow discords.” —Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin’s response during an Oct. 31 press conference
Japan has been having trouble finding buyers for its seafood exports since it began releasing treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant in late August. Despite regulators giving the fish a safety stamp of approval, China won’t budge, and that’s a big hit to Japan’s economy. China took 100,000 tons of scallops off Japan’s hands last year (it’s not all for consumption—much of the scallops are shelled in China before being exported to the US).
The US military, though, is entering into a “long-term contract” with fisheries and co-ops in Japan, according to US ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel. The seafood will feed soldiers stationed in Japan and aboard vessels, in an attempt to “wear out China’s economic coercion.” Since the contract won’t be much help to Japan economically, and since the wastewater release could take up to 40 years… Ananya Bhattacharya wonders what everyone’s long-term plans actually are.
Want to go to Thailand?
Thailand sure hopes you do, and if you’re a citizen of India or Taiwan, it just got a little easier to do so. Thailand is scrapping visas for those two countries for a six-month period—between Nov. 10 of this year and May 10, 2024, in hopes that wide open doors will give its economy a big boost.
1 million: Tourists Thailand already expected from India—the world’s most populous country—before the requirements were dropped
$57: Former visa fee Indian passport holders had to pay upon arrival, now dropped
30%: Uptick in hotel and flight bookings since the announcement of the drop in requirements for Indian and Taiwanese tourists, according to the Thai tourism minister
4: Countries Thailand now accepts, visa-free (China and Kazakhstan have the free pass until Feb. 29, 2024)
Quartz’s most popular
😕 Consumers are the losers in the UAW deals with Ford, GM, and Stellantis, an auto expert argues
🚀 How Amazon became the first tech giant in space
🇹🇭 Why so many Hamas hostages are from Thailand
🥶 Researchers analyzed 700-plus songs known to give people chills. Here’s the playlist
🤔 6 workplace aggressions you might not recognize as bullying but are
Surprising discoveries
Your next guide dog could be a robot. We think Binghamton University’s accessibility innovation looks more like some sort of cricket, but that’s probably beside the point.
Taylor Swift is now among the music billionaires. Bloomberg says it’s official—and unlike others in the relatively small category, she’s done it entirely through music.
Dippin’ Dots are still out there. And the treat’s new owner is bullish on the future for the ice cream of the… future.
Glass is not a slow-moving liquid. Old glass windows are only thicker at the bottom because of how they were made.
Saudi Arabia is the only bidder for the 2034 FIFA men’s World Cup. It’s been a weird process with a weird result.
Did you know we have two premium weekend emails, too? One gives you analysis on the week’s news, and one provides the best reads from Quartz and elsewhere to get your week started right. You can get those by becoming a member—and take 20% off!
Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, good robots, and very good robots to talk@qz.com. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Susan Howson.