Brexit Deal, SoCal Fires, M&M's, The Crown, City v United, College Cup  

Caracal Business Insider | Daily
December 8, 2017
Curation and commentary from Marc A. Ross

Caracal Business Insider: Global Business News at the Intersection of Politics + Policy + Profits.

Reporting from Alexandria, Virginia

GEOECONOMICS

FT: UK reaches historic Brexit divorce deal

Bloomberg: Brexit breakthrough struck as path cleared for tough trade talks

WSJ: UK, EU reach an agreement on Brexit divorce terms

NYT: Britain and EU clear way for Brexit talks to proceed

LAT: Britain, European Union make a Brexit breakthrough

The Times: Deal agreed in Brexit talks as Theresa May ‘guarantees’ no hard border for Ireland

Overcoming months of deadlock, Britain and the European Union cleared the way today to begin negotiations on trade relations after Britain’s departure, scheduled for March 2019.

Brexit breakthrough seal shows give and take: Some key points https://goo.gl/jfMEZz

The Politico 28 Class of 2018: The ranking of the 28 people who are shaping, shaking and stirring Europe. https://goo.gl/UJ29Cn

Putin to launch giant $27 billion LNG project in the Arctic: AFP reports,  in the snow-covered plains of the Arctic as Russia hopes to surpass Qatar to become the world's biggest exporter of the chilled fuel.In temperatures of around minus 16 degrees Fahrenheit, the Russian president was scheduled to oversee the first gas shipment being loaded onto an icebreaking tanker from an LNG plant in the port of Sabetta on the Yamal Peninsula above the Arctic Circle.

Argentine judge orders arrest of former president Kirchner: AFP reports, an Argentine judge on Thursday ordered the arrest of former president Cristina Kirchner for allegedly covering up Iranian involvement in a 1994 bombing at a Buenos Aires Jewish center that left 85 people dead.

Indonesia set to ink trade deal with Chile by year-end: Nikkei reports, President Widodo embraces openness, shifting the country away from protectionism.

Taiwan has statues of him everywhere. Now many want Chiang Kai-shek's image removed: LAT reports, across Taiwan, his image and name are everywhere — on statues and street signs and at a lavish memorial hall in the capital. Chiang Kai-shek was long heralded as a national hero who worked to unify China and fought both the Japanese and the communists. But now many Taiwanese view Chiang as a despot.

China-Maldives trade pact catches India off guard: Nikkei reports, the deal was rushed through island nation's legislature under cover of darkness.

AMERICAN POLITICS

Democrats’ move against Franken seen as a moral and political calculation: WP reports, the forced resignation of Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) was the Democrats’ strongest declaration yet that they — unlike the Republicans — are willing to sacrifice their own in the interest of staking out the high ground. But some say that may not be enough to overcome the deeper dynamics that drive the electorate and could make voters even more disillusioned.

WP: Rep. Franks (R-AZ), who asked aides to be surrogate mothers, to resign

Morgan Stanley fires former Democratic congressman Harold Ford Jr. for alleged misconduct.

The House and Senate passed a two-week stopgap spending bill.

‘It was like a war zone’: Fears grow as winds propel wildfires across Southern California: WP reports, the fires forced a wave of new evacuations and shut down major roadways, leaving scenes of apocalyptic destruction in their path.

QOTD: "Every day firefighters in Los Angeles receive a brush burning index report that indicates the fire danger. If it's 165 or higher, that's extreme. The number for Thursday is 296, the highest it has ever been." -- Los Angeles Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas

Wildfires have burned more than 100,000 acres in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties.

How big is 100,000 acres? This is just under the size of the Caribbean island of Barbados or nearly 7 times larger than New York City's Manhattan Island.

The US share of global GDP: In 1970, the US accounted for 36.4% of the world’s economic output, according to the World Bank. In 2016, that figure was down to 24.6%.

However, the United States of America with its collection of united states is an economic powerhouse: US state economies that are comparable in size to nation states:

California and the United Kingdom

New York City and Canada

Florida and Indonesia

Los Angeles and Australia

Ohio and Saudi Arabia

New Jersey and Argentina

Massachusetts and Poland

South Carolina and Vietnam

ENTERPRISE

The Recode 100: The people in tech, business, and media who mattered in 2017. https://goo.gl/rjNyq7

Lyft and self-driving car company nuTonomy begin autonomous rideshare pilot in Boston.

Uber is selling a 51% stake in its car-rental unit in Singapore to public-transport operator ComfortDelGro for $218 million.

Ford will build electric cars in Mexico, shifting its plan: NYT reports, the move will take advantage of lower costs and clear the way for a new Michigan plant to make driverless vehicles instead, which Ford said would mean even more jobs.

M&M's will air one 30-second spot in the first quarter of the Super Bowl.

Entrepreneurs are betting on a billion-dollar future for hemp: Thanks to new laws, hemp food products have the opportunity to become big business; now, two nonexperts hope to create a new category. https://goo.gl/NuegJy

Bravo has teamed with on-demand food delivery service Postmates to bring meals from former contestants to your door.

How failure is a part of MailChimp’s DNA https://goo.gl/vt1Nvk

Twitter looks for cracks in China’s Great Wall: Caixin reports, the social networking giant sells ads to Chinese customers aiming for global audience

Globe + Mail: Toronto passes strict Airbnb rules aimed at preserving long-term rental supply

Death of retail? 2017 was all about the empire of luxury e-tail: Farfetch, the other big name, is an online marketplace for 500 independent luxury boutiques and 200 brands as well as the owner of the bricks-and-mortar store Browns in London. The stakes are high. https://goo.gl/o7d273

TRENDS

Four career lessons learned from 14 months of improv classes https://goo.gl/bbiMmG

Page not found: A brief history of the 404 Errorhttps://goo.gl/nxbmng

How to read financial news https://goo.gl/SHfvBo

CULTURE

I am booked this weekend: The Crown, Netflix’s drama about the life of Queen Elizabeth II, returns today for its second season.

Jerry Garcia once said the Grateful Dead was like licorice: “Not everybody likes licorice, but the people who like licorice really like licorice.”

COTD: The economic power of cities compared to nations

Sorry, Canada—your entire economy would fit inside Tokyo.

Were it a nation, Tokyo would rank as the 15th largest economy in the world.

Los Angeles’ $928 billion GDP is bit smaller than Australia’s, with $1.1 trillion.

The $810 billion economy of Shanghai outranks that of the Philippines, with $744 billion.

Paris, with $819 billion in GDP, has a bigger economy than South Africa, $726 billion.

SPORT

NBA to open a training center in Mexico: AFP reports, the  National Basketball Association is opening an elite training center in Mexico City for men and women players from around Latin America, the league said Thursday. In a joint announcement with the Mexican Basketball Federation and Mexico's Commission for Physical Culture and Sport, the NBA said NBA Academy Latin America, the league's seventh elite training center worldwide, would open in the coming months.

Top soccer matches this weekend:

Friday
NCAA College Cup Semis: Standford v Akron @ 600pm ET + North Carolina v Indiana @ 845pm ET

Saturday
MLS Cup Finals = Toronto v Seattle Sounders FC @ 400pm ET

Sunday
Manchester United v Manchester City @ 1130am ET

NCAA College Cup Finals @ 100pm ET

Wembley to host more Euro 2020 games, replacing Brussels: AP reports, UEFA has picked London to replace Brussels as a host city for the 2020 European Championship, giving Wembley Stadium an additional four games on top of the semifinals and final. Brussels has been dropped from the 13-nation hosting plan because of delays starting to build the Eurostadium project. UEFA also picked Rome to host the opening game of the 24-team tournament.

FT: Manchester City and the ‘Disneyfication’ of footballhttps://goo.gl/tUzNA1

Ronaldo wins fifth Ballon d'Or award: AFP reports, Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo won a record-equalling fifth Ballon d'Or award for the year's best player.

US Gymnastics ex-doctor gets 60 years in prison: WSJ reports, the former doctor for the US women’s gymnastics team was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison on child pornography counts, an effective life term that prosecutors requested to reflect admitted decades of sexual abuse against dozens of young girls, ranging from family friends to decorated Olympic athletes.