Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The US gives Japan a big Christmas present. In the largest return of US-occupied land since 1972, the military will hand over 9,909 acres (4,010 ha) of the Northern Training Ground in Okinawa to the Japanese government. In exchange, Japan is building helipads nearby for the use of US armed forces. Japanese activists have long fought to remove American military bases from Okinawa altogether.
The UN weighs in on Israeli settlements. The UN Security Council will vote on a draft resolution calling for Israel to stop settlement-building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The US will most likely use its veto, as it always has in the past to protect Israel—but abstaining would be a pointed parting shot by Barack Obama, who’s had a tense relationship with Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
The US Commerce Department releases data. The economy is expected to have expanded at a 3.3% annualized rate in the third quarter. Analysts anticipate a decline in durable goods orders for November, and an increase in Americans’ spending for the month. An improved economic outlook could encourage the Fed to boost interest rates again next year.
While you were sleeping
The Russians who hacked the DNC also hacked the Ukrainian military. A computer security firm found the same type of malware was also used to locate the position of Ukrainian artillery (paywall) after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. It adds further weight to the CIA’s view that the “Fancy Bears” hacker group that undermined the US electoral process was working for the Russian government.
German special forces hunted for the Berlin truck terrorist. On Thursday morning they raided a refugee home in North Rhine-Westphalia where the Tunisian suspect has lived. Anis Amri, now the focus of a Europe-wide manhunt, is also reported to have stayed at the home of an ISIL supporter, who himself was arrested this month.
Ikea reached a $50 million settlement over its deadly dressers. The Swedish furniture retailer had been sued by three US families whose toddlers were crushed to death when its MALM dressers fell onto them. Ikea recalled eight million MALMs in the US in June and 21 million other models of chests and dressers.
Japan approved a record-high defense budget. Shinzo Abe’s administration allocated 5.1 trillion yen ($42.5 billion) for the year starting April 2016, marking the fifth straight year of increased defense spending. The budget for the coast guard rose 12%, amid growing tensions with China over the disputed Senkaku islands.
Uber’s self-driving experiment in San Francisco stalled. The California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the registration of Uber’s 16 semi-autonomous cars, meaning it has to remove them from the roads. The move, prompted by Uber’s refusal to obtain permits designating the cars as test vehicles, follows a generally rocky rollout.
Quartz obsession interlude
Aimee Groth on Zappos’ “Holacracy” fail. “As it turns out, eliminating ‘the human element’ doesn’t make it go away. Worse, it leads to an undercurrent of resentment. At Zappos, dissatisfaction with Holacracy played a role in nearly a third of the company walking out the door in 2015. That same year, Zappos dropped off of Fortune’s ‘Best Companies to Work for list’ for the first time in years.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
The Federal Reserve has China in a bind. Chinese monetary policy is caught in what economists call the “impossible trinity.”
Ambition and marriage don’t mix. In families where someone has a big job, all of the career ambition gets allocated to one person.
Latkes shouldn’t be Hanukkah’s “it” food. The potato pancake’s ubiquity leaves no room for more innovative holiday dishes.
Surprising discoveries
40% of American millennials live with their parents. It’s the highest share of young adults living at home since 1940.
Cape Town is using drones to warn beachgoers about sharks. South Africa has the third-highest number of shark attacks in the world, after the US and Australia.
Illegal gold-mining is more profitable than drug smuggling in Latin America. Colombia’s gold smugglers make almost twice as much as its drug cartels.
The oldest gorilla in the US is 60 today. Colo was born in Columbus Zoo in Ohio—she’s still there—and is a grandmother of 16.
Turkey’s Star Wars rip-off was almost lost to history. Cetin Inanc’s The Man Who Saves the World lifts footage from the George Lucas film to tell the story of two Turkish space adventurers.
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