Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today and over the weekend
Japan officially recognizes bitcoin. New legislation that legitimizes digital currencies goes into effect Friday. However, the country’s financial regulator says bitcoin not a currency, leaving companies and bitcoin fans in the dark.
Elections in Ecuador and Serbia. Ecuador will elect a new president on Saturday as Rafael Correa leaves office. His successor will get a say in the fate of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, currently holed up in Ecuador’s London embassy. Serbia also has a presidential election on Saturday; prime minister Aleksandar Vucic is the favorite to win.
Stranded Malaysians return from North Korea. Nine Malaysians had been effectively held hostage in a diplomatic standoff between the countries, after the assassination of Kim Jong-un’s estranged brother in Kuala Lumpur. In exchange for their release, Malaysia agreed to release the body of Kim Jong-nam to North Korean authorities.
While you were sleeping
South Korea issued an arrest warrant for its impeached president. Park Geun-hye will be detained for up to 20 days as prosecutors investigate allegations of abuse of power, accepting bribes, and leaking information.
Jacob Zuma fired his finance minister and 14 others. Nine ministers and six deputy ministers were dismissed, including finance chief Pravin Gordhan, who was abruptly recalled from an overseas investor roadshow earlier this week. The South African president has accused Gordhan of blocking his policy initiatives.
North Carolina repealed its anti-trans bathroom law. The state’s Democratic governor struck a compromise with the Republican legislature to forestall the loss of billions of dollars in tourism and event revenue. Civil rights activists don’t like the replacement legislation, which bans cities and schools from implementing their own bathroom policies.
Two White House aides were named in a critical intelligence leak. The mid-level staffers gave classified documents to congressman Devin Nunes, a Trump ally who is also supposed to be running an investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, according to the New York Times.
Vladimir Putin said he’s ready to meet Donald Trump, if fate allows. The Russian president said he would shake hands with the US president if they both happen to be at an Arctic leaders’ summit in Finland. But he is willing to wait longer as conditions in the US “normalize and become more stable.”
Quartz obsession interlude
Christopher Groskopf and Dan Kopf on the geography of US wages: “As the Rust Belt stagnated, coastal metropolises thrived. As Appalachia sputtered, shale country boomed. As Southern manufacturing centers shut their doors, neighboring research hubs opened theirs.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Lyft might be more “woke” than Uber, but that’s a low bar. The smaller ride-hailing service has played a much savvier PR game.
Congress is about to learn that tax cuts are easy, but reform is hard. Reshaping the system requires bipartisanship, which is in short supply.
Ivanka Trump is more qualified than her husband. But she still got a lesser title in the White House.
Surprising discoveries
Madeira has the world’s ugliest statue of Cristiano Ronaldo. Its creator said it “was a matter of taste.”
Patients are going under the knife with their eyes open. Advancements in anesthetics makes it possible for surgical patients to stay awake.
A bulldozer theme park could solve the US construction worker shortage. Diggerland lets kids operate real backhoes.
Donald Trump’s tweets are being set ablaze by a robot. David Naveel’s contraption prints and burns every @realDonaldTrump message, then tweets him the evidence.
The governor of Maine pardoned a dog. Dakota the husky will no longer be euthanized for killing a smaller dog in 2016.
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