Here’s what you need to know to start your day.
Good morning.
Here’s what you need to know:
• The Walt Disney Company reached a roughly $52 billion deal to buy most of 21st Century Fox, the media conglomerate controlled by Rupert Murdoch, in a once unthinkable deal that — if approved by regulators — promises to reshape Hollywood, the tech industry and the competitive world of streaming.
Disney now has enough muscle to battle Netflix, Apple, Amazon and Facebook in the fast-growing realm of online video. Here what Disney gets in the deal.
And Mr. Murdoch, 86, must now divide up a lifetime of spoils. He moved quickly to reassure investors. “Are we retreating? Absolutely not,” he said. “We are pivoting at a pivotal moment.”
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• The F. C. voted to dismantle so-called net neutrality rules, which have prohibited U. S. internet service providers from blocking websites or charging for higher quality delivery.
It’s the biggest victory in Ajit Pai’s eventful 11-month tenure as the agency’s chairman.
For a preview of life without net neutrality, an Op-Ed contributor suggests looking to China, where the internet comes with surveillance and censorship. “Net neutrality is called the First Amendment of the internet for a good reason,” he writes.
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• President Moon Jae-in promised a “new start” in South Korea’s relations with China as he met President Xi Jinping for a détente that many hope will lead to stepped-up diplomatic efforts on disarming North Korea.
But “Mr. Moon appears to have fallen short of pleasing Beijing” on South Korea’s nettling embrace of Thaad, the U. S. antimissile system, our correspondent says.
The visit was also marred by the beating of a South Korean photojournalist by Chinese security guards. South Korea demanded a formal apology.
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• China, stung by Australia’s laws against foreign interference, summoned the country’s ambassador in Beijing .
Our bureau chief in Sydney looks at why the debate over where Australia stands with China has grown so heated.
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• A field survey of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh found that at least 6,700 members of the Muslim minority, including 730 children below the age of 5, met violent deaths in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in the month after the country’s military cracked down on their villages.
The medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières said that nearly 70 percent of the victims it had tallied died of gunshot and that 9 percent were burned in their homes.
The ravaged part of Rakhine has been shut off from most international relief agencies and journalists. But our reporter in Geneva heard reports of paralyzing fear and deprivation via an International Red Cross official.
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• “For years, he was my monster.”
Salma Hayek, the Hollywood actress, broke her silence about Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced movie mogul who tormented her over her film “Frida.”
And Russell Simmons, the rap kingpin and co-founder of the Def Jam record label, was accused of rape by three women.
The Times Magazine put together a collection of essays and art that takes on the complicated conversation about women and power in the workplace .
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• Generational shift at The New York Times: A. G. Sulzberger, 37, will take over as publisher from his father, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., on Jan. 1. “I am an unapologetic champion for this institution and its journalistic mission,” the younger Mr. Sulzberger said.
• The World Trade Organization ended a three-day conference empty-handed and in discord. Members have some “real soul searching” to do, the W. T. O. director said.
• This was the year tech giants realized that running powerful online platforms brings real-world responsibility, our columnist writes . “The big mystery of 2018 and beyond is what, exactly, that responsibility will look like.”
• Tech tips: Our personal tech section fielded lots of questions this year. Here are five of the most compelling, fully answered.
• U. S. stocks were flat. Here’s a snapshot of global markets.
• The death of a Chinese celebrity daredevil exemplifies the internet’s obsession with danger. [ The New York Times]
• Theresa May arrived at an E. U. summit in Brussels trying to work past a parliamentary defeat that could weaken her hand in Brexit negotiations. [ Reuters]
• Indonesia’s Constitutional Court narrowly voted not to ban sex outside marriage, a blow to increasingly influential conservative Islamic groups. [ The New York Times]
• Casualties from land mines and similar booby-trap explosives increased for the second consecutive year in 2016, the highest level since a ban on such weapons in 1999. [ The New York Times]
• A requiem for Cambodia. “Bangsokol,” one of the first symphonic works to reckon with the Khmer Rouge era, opens in New York today. [ The New York Times]
• A giant, waddling predator? A 57-million-year-old fossilized penguin found in New Zealand stands 5 feet 7 inches and has a long bill. “Probably they speared their prey,” a scientist said. [ The New York Times]
Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life.
• For the wine drinker in the family: five wine books to give this holiday season.
• Here’s how you can score a seat at that new restaurant — the smart and easy way.
• Recipe of the day: End the week with a comforting plate of baked giant shells and ricotta .
• Traverse the haiku bar trail. Matsuyama, Japan, is honoring its 19th-century poet, Masaoka Shiki, who coined the term haiku, with a range of sake-fortified celebrations.
• In memoriam: Bruce Bowen, 80, the director of the classic ’60s surfing documentary “The Endless Summer,” which portrayed two young men hunting for the perfect wave in Senegal, Ghana, South Africa, Australia, Tahiti, New Zealand and Hawaii.
• Finally, remember the BBC dad? The dancing hot dog? Despite appearances, there were actual moments of pure joy online this year. We caught up with a few of 2017’s viral stars.
The Times once noted that it may sound “ as wrong as the Twelve Commandments,” but the original version of the U. S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights had a dozen amendments, not 10.
What happened to the two that got away? It’s a worthy question on this date, the anniversary of the passage of the Bill of Rights back in 1791.
One was originally the first amendment on the list. It had nothing to do with freedom of speech or religion, but instead proposed that a limit to the number of people each congressional district should have.
