Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Stricter EU finance regulations take effect. A complicated thicket of new rules will force financial firms to disclose more detailed information about their trades. Major banks and asset managers have already spent an estimated $2.1 billion to comply with the measures, which aim to increase transparency and strengthen investor protection.
Dalit protests continue in India. Leaders of the downtrodden community—stuck at the bottom of the nation’s caste hierarchy—have called for further demonstrations after a young man was killed during a clash with right-wing Hindu activists. Protests yesterday resulted in widespread disruptions in Mumbai.
The Fed releases minutes from its December meeting. They could show outgoing chair Janet Yellen being more frank about her views on the US economy and the need for further hikes, analysts believe. Following the meeting the US central bank raised interest rates.
While you were sleeping
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered the reopening of a border hotline with South Korea… The long-closed line would be used for talks potentially leading to a formal dialog about sending a North Korean delegation to next month’s Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea. Trump’s UN envoy, Nikki Haley, dismissed the value of such talks.
…and Donald Trump bragged about his nuclear button. After North Korea’s Kim warned he has a nuclear button on his desk, Trump tweeted that he also has one, ”but it is a much bigger & more powerful one… and my Button works.” US senator Ed Markey argued the tweet “borders on presidential malpractice.”
The US blocked China’s Ant Financial from buying MoneyGram. Authorities rejected the $1.2 billion deal over national security concerns. Ant Financial is owned partly by Jack Ma, who is executive chairman of internet conglomerate Alibaba Group and frequently appears with top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party.
Vice Media suspended two senior execs following sexual harassment allegations. It placed on leave president Andrew Creighton and chief digital officer Mike Germano following an expose by the New York Times (paywall), which reported that more than 20 employees experienced or witnessed misconduct.
Quartz obsession interlude
Marc Bain on why the world’s largest clothing maker isn’t betting on automation. “Hong Kong’s Crystal Group makes clothes for many of the world’s clothing giants, including H&M, Gap, Fast Retailing (owner of Uniqlo), and L Brands (owner of Victoria’s Secret)… while robots in use in other industries can work easily with stiff materials, such as sheets of metal or plastic, they can’t yet can’t work with soft, flexible fabrics that stretch and distort during sewing.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Niche online communities are back. Our desire for community will lead us to abandon bigger social networks like Facebook.
Xi Jinping is making China great again. An expansionist China is gaining more global influence as the United States does the opposite.
Iceland found a simple way to eliminate the gender pay gap. As of Jan. 1, it’s illegal to pay men more than women to do the same work.
Surprising discoveries
China’s space lab is crashing to Earth, but probably won’t hit you. The Tiangong-1 is expected to re-enter the atmosphere in March, with surviving fragments landing who knows where.
It’s so frigid in the US that sharks are freezing to death. They’re victims of the “arctic outbreak” that’s shattering cold records across North America.
A taxi passenger tried to skip out on a three-country fare. On New Year’s Eve an inebriated man took a cab from Copenhagen to Oslo, where he left without paying what he owed—about $2,200.
One city in China has more electric buses than all of America’s biggest cities have buses. Shenzhen recently completed its transition to an all-electric fleet.
Half of Puerto Rico still doesn’t have power—over 100 days after Hurricane Maria. Some residents could go a total of eight months without it.
Last year was the most foul-mouthed in corporate earnings call history. A search for expletives in transcripts revealed a big spike as executives try to stay relatable.
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