Your Evening Briefing
Your Evening Briefing
(Bloomberg) --
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will seek a general election on Dec. 12, setting up a national vote on his Brexit strategy. “It is our duty to end this nightmare,” he said in a letter appealing to lawmakers for support. The next steps, like all things Brexit, are complicated. We lay it all out here.
It’s down to the wire with Brexit: To keep up with the latest news, sign up for our daily newsletter, follow us on Twitter and subscribe to our podcast.
Here are today’s top stories
Even as the White House attempts to block witnesses and withhold documents, the impeachment investigation of U.S. President Donald Trump is accelerating rapidly. The explosive testimony of senior U.S. diplomat William Taylor helps fill in a picture of Trump using congressionally allocated military aid and an Oval Office visit to pressure Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 campaign. Until now, the investigation has taken place behind closed doors. Soon, Congress will hold open hearings. Polls already show support for the inquiry rising.
PG&E shut off power to more than half a million people across California in an attempt to keep power lines from igniting wildfires. A major blaze has already erupted.
Prince Turki Al-Faisal, a former Saudi intelligence chief and an influential royal family member, told U.S. lawmakers to get off their “high moralistic horses” and normalize relations with the kingdom. Lawmakers in both parties have been unified on punishing the nation since the murder and dismemberment last year of Washington Post columnist and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi.
United Airlines is known for operating planes, not designing them. But it’s new regional jet is a custom creation, featuring ten first class seats intended to attract a lucrative group of small city travelers.
If the U.S. economy manages to sustain its decade-long expansion into 2020, it will be because U.S. consumers didn’t lose their nerve despite all the talk of recession.
Space exploration is an expensive proposition. Eventually, it will have to pay off. In episode three of Giant Leap, a Bloomberg Originals video series, we look at how industry in orbit is a key to our future on Earth—and among the stars.
What’s Joe Weisenthal thinking about? The Bloomberg news director says Bitcoin is to electricity what alcohol is to grapes. Electricity is difficult to store at scale (battery technology being disappointing) and power dissipates over distribution lines. But when that same electricity is used for mining a cryptocurrency, Joe says it becomes something virtually immortal that can be stored and transported with great ease. People are still trying to wrap their heads around cryptocurrencies: some argue Bitcoin is digital gold while others say it’s currency. Some say it’s a commodity while others call it a “protocol.” But the answer is simple, according to Joe: Bitcoin is digital alcohol.
What you’ll need to know tomorrow
- There was a mysterious private jet flight from Israel to Saudi Arabia.
- Short-sellers laughed at Elon Musk. Who’s laughing now?
- Google was accused of creating a spy tool to quell worker dissent.
- U.S. senators think TikTok may be a national security threat.
- Investors are tiring of America's fracking revolution.
- After WeWork, investors may be done with profitless companies.
- Shape-shifters and hoverbikes steal the Tokyo Motor Show.
What you’ll want to read tonight in Businessweek
After years of downplaying Netflix’s negative effect on the cable business, media companies are going all-in on internet TV, spending billions of dollars to finance new apps and new shows. Disney+ is one of four services set to start in the coming 12 months, alongside Apple TV+, Comcast’s Peacock, and AT&T’s HBO Max. “The Streaming Wars,” as many have called this video arms race, are the talk of Hollywood and Wall Street. Nobody seems to have an exit strategy.
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