Images of the Year:

Most Read on the Terminal (Last 8 Hours):
Nomura Sorry for VIX Note Crash That Burned Retail Investors (Bloomberg)
Volatility Inc: Inside Wall Street’s $8 Billion Time Bomb (Bloomberg)

Merkel Gets a Deal: More than four months after her election victory, Chancellor Angela Merkel finally has a coalition partner for her fourth term. After negotiating through the night, Merkel renewed her pact with the Social Democrats who’ve backed her since 2013. The deal just needs the endorsement of the SPD’s 464,000 members and the chancellor will be back in business, according to Bloomberg Balance of Power. Merkel Ends Deadlock in Coalition Deal With Social Democrats (Bloomberg)

Endgame for Zuma: South African President Jacob Zuma is negotiating the terms of the end of his scandal-ridden administration today with Cyril Ramaphosa, who replaced him as head of the ruling African National Congress in December. Since then, the rand has been the world’s best performing currency, and business confidence in Africa’s most industrialized economy has surged to its highest level since October 2015. Zuma Exit Appears Step Closer as ANC Holds Transition Talks (Bloomberg)

Merci Paris: Trump was so inspired by last year’s Bastille Day celebration in Paris, which he attended as a guest of French President Emmanuel Macron, that he has asked Pentagon to pursue plans for a military parade. Trump’s Marching Orders to Pentagon: Plan a Military Parade (Washington Post)

No one understands the five boros of New York City better than Mitchell Moss. We Can Thank New York City for Trump: Only a Town That Celebrates Loudmouth Mayors and Tabloid Gossip Could’ve Created the Donald (Zocalo magazine)

Kim Jong Un’s sister, the vice director of the Workers’ Party Propaganda and Agitation Department, will be the first member of the Kim dynasty who has visited South Korea. Kim Jong Un’s Sister Joins North Korean Olympic Delegation (CNN)

Brotopia Update: The Financial Times calls the new book by Bloomberg’s Emily Chang “an accurate yet astounding picture” of the tech industry and says it offers “an important examination of why the technology industry is so dominated by men — and why women are pushing back.” Read why Emily wrote the book here.

OUT AND ABOUT – Pool report via Politico’s New York Playbook: Bloomberg Businessweek hosted a book launch on Tuesday night to celebrate the publication of ‘Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys’ Club of Silicon Valley’ by Emily Chang, host of Bloomberg Technology, at Gramercy Terrace at the Gramercy Park Hotel. In Brotopia, Chang seeks to understand-and end-the staggering gender inequality in the tech industry, by addressing how we got here and how can we foster real change.” Pic of Emily, Businessweek editor Joel Weber and Stephanie Frerich, the editor of Brotopia http://bit.ly/2GVXw0m

Tweets of the Day:

@MikeBloomberg: This exhibition in Trafalgar Square honors the Londoners who fought for gender equality & acts as a reminder that there is still more work to do. @Bloomberg is honored to join our cultural partners in this celebration. http://mikebloom.bg/2BbpVz3 #BehindEveryGreatCity

@MikeBloomberg: Markets don’t lie. As technology advances and renewable plants spread, the cleanest forms of energy are becoming the cheapest forms of energy to move us @BeyondCoal.

@elonmusk: View from SpaceX Launch Control. Apparently there is a car in orbit around Earth.