Boeing suspends 737 Max production

The aircraft maker Boeing will temporarily stop manufacturing its 737 Max jets in January. The entire fleet of 737 Max planes has been grounded for 9 months following a pair of crashes that killed 346 people. The suspension has cost Boeing around $9bn so far. The firm hopes to receive authorisation for the 737 Max to return to service in 2020. Boeing said it will keep the 12,000 production line employees on its payroll. Sources: CNBC, Deutsche Welle, Financial Times, Reuters and Seattle Times.

Goldman alternative investment group

The investment bank Goldman Sachs will start a Blackstone-style alternative investment unit in January. Sources: Financial Times, Institutional Investor and Reuters.

UBS wealth management shakeup

The Swiss bank UBS will reportedly restructure its ultra high net worth investor unit to focus more on family offices. Sources: Bloomberg, Citywire Selector and Financial Times.

Bloomberg fined over false Vinci report

France’s financial regulator fined the Bloomberg news service €5m for publishing material from a fake press release during the trading day. Sources: AFP, Financial Times and Reuters.

Emmanuel Macron’s ‘Mr Pensions’ quits

The French president’s pensions reform chief, Jean-Paul Delevoye, resigned over previously undisclosed private sector work. France faces its 13th day of mass strikes against the reforms with a trade union march through Paris planned today. Sources: Financial Times, France 24 and The Guardian.

Twitch sued for 180bn roubles ($2.82bn)

A Moscow court temporarily blocked English Premiere League matches being shown in Russia on Twitch, a streaming service owned by Amazon, after the Russian media group Rambler sued Twitch for allegedly showing pirated broadcasts of EPL matches. Twitch calls the case “unfounded”. Sources: BBC, Meduza and Reuters.

Hallmark says sorry for pulling TV adverts

The Hallmark Channel, an American pay TV station, has apologised and reversed its decision to remove adverts by Zola, a wedding planning website, that featured a same-sex couple kissing. Sources: BBC, The Hollywood Reporter and New York Times.

Beirut protests continue

Lebanon’s president delayed appointing a new prime minister after security forces clashed with anti-government groups for the second night. Sources: AFP, Associated Press and Reuters.

Migration from Turkey jumps

More than 70,000 migrants entered the EU from Turkey between January and mid-December, an increase of 46% over the same period last year. Source: Die Welt (in English via Deutsche Welle). More: The Guardian.

Estonian minister makes Finnish PM “cashier” jibe

Estonia’s president, Kersti Kaljulaid, has apologised after the country’s interior minister, Mart Helme, referred to the Finnish prime minister, Sanna Marin, as a “sales girl”. Marin worked as a cashier before studying at university and entering politics. She was named the world’s youngest PM earlier this month. Sources: BBC, Financial Times, The Guardian and YLE.

Agenda

Tuesday 17 December, 7:30pm: Palestinian-Syrian pianist Aeham Ahmad gives a “concert for peace and hope” in Limpertsberg. Wednesday 18 December, 7pm-8:30pm: Practice a second language with a small group of learners at the Café des langues in Esch-Alzette. Thursday 19 December, 12:30pm-1:30pm: Yoga at the Luxembourg National Library. Tuesday 14 January, 6:30pm: Network with internet infrastructure professionals at Lu-Cix’s new year get-together. Before 31 January 2020: Women of Irish heritage can enter to be a Luxembourg Rose.

Here are 11 science & technology stories you may have missed

Astronomy: Today the European Space Agency will launch the first spacecraft that will study the atmosphere and other characteristics of aliens plants, per Nature. Space: Spire, a Luxembourg-based startup, successfully launched a pair of microsatellites that will use reflections from GPS signals to improve forecasts for hurricanes and other extreme weather, per Science magazine. Space: Nasa captured pictures of debris being ejected from an asteroid, which raises safety questions about future asteroid mining projects, per MIT Technology Review. Astronomy: Avi Loeb of Harvard University told Nautilus that he doesn’t mind the criticism of his theory that ‘Oumuamua could be an alien creation and he reckons that as our observational technology improves, we’ll probably notice a lot more strange things flying through space. Medicine: An initial study found that a molecule called PJ34 caused pancreatic cancer cells to self-destruct, per No Camels. Health: “Poop transplants can help prematurely old mice live longer” writes Science magazine. Biology: A recent study concludes that domesticating animals does not necessarily change their behavior or physical characteristics, per The Scientist. Biology: Only five species go through menopause: humans, Orcas and 4 other types of whales, per The Cut. Psychology: In recent experiments “students who took notes by hand did better” on conceptual tests than student a who took notes on a laptop, per the BBC. Privacy: Apple’s latest iPhone appears to track user locations even if location services are set to disabled, although it is unclear if the data is collected by an external server, per Techcrunch. Physics: A randomised controlled trial found that tapping beer cans did not prevent beer foam spray when opened, per MIT Technology Review and The Register.

Losing more than weight

This GQ writer says losing 50 pounds (22.7kg) “didn’t fix all my problems overnight” but he does feel healthier. 

Today’s breakfast briefing was written by Aaron Grunwald