Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Theresa May reshuffles her cabinet. The UK prime minister will shake up her top team today and tomorrow, with education secretary Justine Greening and party chairman Patrick McLoughlin thought to be vulnerable. David Davis, responsible for steering the UK out of the EU, is expected to continue in his role.
French president Emmanuel Macron meets with China’s top leaders. On a three-day visit starting today, he’s the first European leader to visit since last year’s Communist Party congress, when Chinese leader Xi Jinping consolidated his power. The countries are expected to sign trade deals and discuss increased cooperation as the UK and US recede from the international stage.
CES 2018 begins.
The world’s largest consumer electronics show
, with preview events in advance of
Tuesday’s
official kick-off. Expect robots, voice assistants, and cars galore.
Over the weekend
The Golden Globes marked a night of firsts. Aziz Ansari became the first Asian to win for best actor in a TV comedy (Master of None), while Sterling K. Brown is the first African-American to win best actor in a TV drama (This Is Us). Oprah Winfrey won the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement, the first black woman so honored, while many actresses wore black in protest of sexual harassment.
Malaysia’s opposition coalition named Mahathir Mohamad as its prime ministerial candidate. The 92-year-old former leader will take on prime minister Najib Razak, who is mired in a corruption scandal. For Anwar Ibrahim, a popular opposition figure now in jail, a Mahathir win could lead to a royal pardon and the chance to take over as prime minister.
Trump said he’s ready to talk to Kim Jong-un. The US president said he would “absolutely” talk to the North Korean leader, with preconditions. As for the breakthrough meeting to be held tomorrow by the two Koreas, he offered, “If something can come out of those talks, that would be a great thing for all of humanity.”
An Iranian oil tanker collided with a Hong Kong freight ship off China’s coast. Over 30 crew members are missing and the burning ship, which was carrying about 1 million barrels of light crude, has spilled oil into the East China Sea, about 300 km (186 miles) from the coast of Shanghai. The vessel was en route from Iran’s Kharg Island to Daesan in South Korea.
Moscow is meddling in Mexico’s election. The Russian government is trying to stir up division in the country ahead of its July presidential election, US National security advisor H.R. McMaster said in a speech last month that just came to light.
Apple shareholders pushed for addiction research. Activist investor Jana Partners and pension fund the California State Teachers’ Retirement System are demanding the company study the impact of its technology on mental health. Together they control about $2 billion of Apple shares (paywall).
Quartz obsession interlude
Karen Hao on the secret lives of students who mine cryptocurrency in their dorm rooms. “Mark was a sophomore at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when he began mining cryptocurrencies more or less by accident… By March 2017, he was running seven computers, mining ether around the clock from his dorm room.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Arbitrary deadlines are the enemy of creativity. Creative work operates not on “clock time” but on “event time,” meaning it requires as much time as needed to organically get the job done.
“Shitpost” is the word that best describes the internet in 2017. It’s defined as the “posting of worthless or irrelevant online content intended to derail a conversation or to provoke others.”
Trump is too sick to lead. The US president possesses evident mental impairments that make him a danger to his country, a leading psychiatrist warns.
Surprising discoveries
A cave painting in Kashmir likely depicts a supernova. The rock art is about 5,000 years old.
There’s a battle over Charles Manson’s remains. Three competing parties claim the rights to the cult leader’s body and possessions, including one man who says he’s Manson’s son.
The hottest place on Earth this weekend was a suburb of Sydney. In Penrith the temperature soared to 47.3°C (117°F).
Low-income communities in the US are too poor to support churches. Pastors are struggling to keep the doors open.
Caffeine’s ills are overblown. Lifelong coffee drinkers are less likely to have Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, and Parkinson’s diseases, among other benefits.
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