Good morning, here’s your Wednesday morning briefing to set you up for the day ahead. Look out for these three things happening around the world today.

Bannon speaks at BBC event despite Sturgeon backlash

Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s former White House Chief Strategist, will today speak at News Xchange, a two day conference co-hosted by the BBC and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

Bannon’s appearance at the event comes despite protest from Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who was also due to speak at the event. Sturgeon pulled out late last month, claiming that by allowing Bannon to speak at the event, the organisers were “legitimising or normalising far-right, racist views”.

According to Sturgeon, the BBC described Bannon as a “powerful and influential figure”, which it claimed justifies his presence at the event.

News Xchange will take place over the next two days in Edinburgh, Scotland. Bringing together business leaders, journalists, entrepreneurs and bloggers, the event explores “bright ideas, opportunities and challenges for the international news industry”.

Cisco Systems hopes for further revenue growth

Technology giant Cisco Systems will be hoping for a fourth consecutive quarter of revenue growth when he reports its fourth quarter earnings today.

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Cisco saw revenue climb to $12.8bn in Q3, a record for the company. However, analysts believe that the uncertainty caused by the ongoing trade war between the United States and China could see growth stall, as businesses begin to cut back on enterprise spending to counter any subsequent rising costs or lost revenue.

However, Cisco is still set for a good quarter. Analysts have predicted earnings of $0.72 a share, with revenues of around $12.8bn once again.

Cisco Systems will revenue its quarterly results via a conference call scheduled for 1:30pm PT (9:30pm London time).

May briefs cabinet on Brexit withdrawal agreement

According to reports, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Theresa May will today chair a special cabinet meeting to brief her team on the draft Brexit withdrawal bill, which has supposedly been agreed at a technical level by officials from both the UK and the European Union.

There were fears that the two parties would fail to come to an agreement over issues such as the Irish border, which threatened to lead to the UK departing the EU in March 2019 with no deal agreed, which could be disastrous for both sides.

May was reportedly set to meet with each minister individually last night ahead of today’s meeting.

Ambassadors from the 27 remaining EU nations will also meet today to discuss the progression made in Brexit negotiations over the past few days.


Yesterday’s highlights

Britain’s Post-Brexit technology might be at risk from inadequate education: Experts

Brexit threatens London’s status as data capital: Big Data LDN report

Christmas gifts for unicorn lovers 2018: Our guide to the perfect weird and wonderful presents