Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
A “day of rage” in India. That’s what opposition parties are calling the nationwide protests today against prime minister Narendra Modi’s controversial move to ban 500- and 1,000-rupee notes, wiping out 86% of the country’s cash in circulation overnight.
A day of (yet more) shopping in the US. Cyber Monday, the online promotions extravaganza, is expected to net about $3.3 billion in sales, up 9.4% from last year, as an estimated 122 million Americans go online to look for bargains. But it might not exceed Black Friday, which broke records, and forecasts, with $3.34 billion.
Cubans begin a week of mourning for Fidel Castro. The man who ruled Cuba with an iron fist for almost half a century died on Friday night local time and has already been cremated. Whilst hundreds of Cubans in Miami took to the streets to celebrate his death, people in Cuba will gather in Revolution Square in Havana on Monday for a two-day ceremony and the chance to see the late leader’s ashes on display.
Over the weekend
World leaders reacted to Fidel Castro’s death. Condolences varied greatly in tone. Canada’s Justin Trudeau and India’s Narendra Modi called Castro a friend and mourned his loss, while other leaders, like Barack Obama, were more circumspect, and US president-elect Donald Trump launched a full-on tirade against his dictatorship.
Thousands of civilians fled the bombing in Aleppo. Syrian government forces and their allies captured the rebel-held eastern part of the city after a weekend of air strikes. The UNHCR said there were 250,000 people in need of help in eastern Aleppo and food supplies were gone.
François Fillon trounced Alain Juppé. Fillon won 67% of the vote in the primary to become Les Républicains’ French presidential candidate. He will go up against a Socialist and the Front National’s Marine Le Pen in the election next April. Fillon will be a much more difficult rival for Le Pen than Juppé—like her, he is against gay marriage and immigration, and a fan of Vladimir Putin.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign joined the push for a vote recount. Her campaign lawyer said that though Clinton would join the recount effort begun by Green Party candidate Jill Stein, the campaign’s own investigation had found no evidence of tampering in the US election. Trump lashed out on Twitter, tweeting (with no evidence) that he’d have won the popular vote too “if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.”
Samsung’s investors pushed for a split. US activist hedge fund Elliott Management has proposed that the South Korean electronics giant split itself into two to boost shareholder value, according to the Seoul Economic Daily. Samsung is due to respond tomorrow.
Quartz obsession interlude
Lynsey Chutel on why Africa is not conflicted about Fidel Castro’s legacy. “In Castro, African activists found a leader willing to share flaming rhetoric as well as practical guidance to freedom at a time when Africans had few political allies. Those liberation leaders became the founding fathers of modern Africa, and they never forgot Cuba’s help.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Small farms are key in the fight against climate change. The Paris agreement cannot afford to deny the impact of family-owned farms.
Fidel Castro’s policies are unimportant. The fact that he was a dictator morally overshadows whatever good he did.
Donald Trump’s plan to revive the US coal industry is doomed. One chart explains why.
Surprising discoveries
Einstein may have been wrong about the speed of light being constant. Physicists are floating a new theory that it changed in the early universe.
Scientists found evidence of water 1,000 km (620 miles) underground. An imperfection in a diamond was their clue.
The teen who climbed the World Trade Center is at it again. Justin Casquejo, who was busted at 16 for illegally scaling the then-unfinished building, is posting photos and videos of his latest high-risk stunts.
Alphabet executive chairman Eric Schmidt failed a Google interview question. Then again, the company’s famous brainteasers never were very useful for identifying talent.
Urine is more than a waste product. For doctors, it’s the most useful bodily excretion.
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