Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Samsung’s vice chairman is sentenced. Jay Y. Lee has been detained for a year over charges of embezzlement, and bribery of political officials (including South Korea’s former president, Park Geun-hye). The appeals court could uphold a lower court’s sentence of five years, reduce it, suspend it, or overrule the conviction.
The mood in US markets. Janet Yellen’s farewell, rising wages, and the Federal Reserve’s inflation expectations have left markets skittish. The Dow tumbled 2.5% on Friday, its worst day since Brexit. Keep one eye on Wells Fargo; late Friday, the Fed announced sanctions that the company said could reduce its profit by up to $400 million this year.
Uber and Waymo head to court. A San Francisco jury will decide whether Uber stole trade secrets when it hired Anthony Levandowski, a top engineer from Google-owned Waymo who allegedly treated himself to a parting gift of 14,000 internal files. Waymo wants at least $1 billion in damages, but will have to prove trade secrets were stolen and used by Uber for “unjust enrichment.”
Cape Town hosts a massive mining conference. The Investing in African Mining Indaba, which runs through Thursday, is expected to draw thousands of attendees from 45 countries. It kicks off as Cape Town deals with a severe drought. On Feb. 1, the city introduced water restrictions that limit individual use to 50 liters (13 gallons) per day.
Over the weekend
An Amtrak train collided with a freight train in South Carolina. On Sunday morning, an Amtrak train headed from New York City to Miami derailed after colliding with a stationary CSX freight train, killing two people and injuring more than 100. At a press conference, South Carolina governor Henry McMaster said the Amtrak was “on the wrong track.”
A gunman injured six people in Italy. Police arrested a man suspected of opening fire Saturday on African migrants in the town of Macerata. The man reportedly started shooting from his vehicle; he was wearing an Italian flag, shouting “Viva l’Italia!,” and making a fascist salute. Authorities believe the rampage was racially motivated.
A Russian plane was shot down in Syria. The Sukhoi-25 ground-attack aircraft was shot down Saturday in a rebel-held part of Idlib. On social media, the jihadist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham alliance claimed responsibility. Monitoring groups say the region had seen dozens of Russian air strikes in the previous 24 hours.
Egypt enlisted Israel’s help to combat jihadists. Israeli drones, helicopters, and jets hammered extremists in North Sinai for more than two years in a covert campaign newly revealed by the New York Times (paywall). Though Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi signed off on the 100-plus airstrikes, state media portrays Israel as antagonists, and enemies of Palestinians.
Yellen’s not mad—she’s just disappointed. “I would have liked to serve an additional term and I did make that clear, so I will say I was disappointed not to be reappointed,” the recently departed Fed chief said in a PBS NewsHour interview. This week, Yellen joins the Brookings Institution to continue her economic studies; her successor, Jerome Powell, is sworn in on Monday.
Quartz obsession interlude
Heather Timmons on the risks of dismissing the FBI/Russia memo. “For the country and its people, the system that apportions specific powers among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches stands as a guarantee of the rule of law and a bulwark against authoritarian rule. When the intended balance is disturbed by one branch failing to follow the law or even longstanding standard protocol, the very idea of a representative democracy is threatened.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
The driverless revolution will be delayed. Driverless-vehicle technology is progressing, but not at the speed we were led to believe.
Social media is enabling feminist groupthink. The #MeToo movement needs more room for nuance and dissent.
The secret to brilliance lies in being utterly useless. Questioning self-evident truths just for the sake of it can lead to practical applications.
Surprising discoveries
Sea otters need more calories per day than gorillas. But blue whales are the kings (and queens) of calorie intake, consuming 3 million daily.
Amazon patented a way to tell Alexa to ignore “Alexa.” The company uses “acoustic fingerprinting technology” to help its voice assistant discern between a commercial and a command.
Trump’s tax plan may spur divorces. In 2019, a 76-year-old deduction for alimony payments will be eliminated. Lawyers are advising clients to get their divorces in now.
Apple Music could pass Spotify this summer. Apple’s US subscribers have been growing (paywall) about 5% monthly, compared with 2% for Spotify.
There was no “wardrobe malfunction” before Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake. Virtually no US media outlets used the phrase before the duo’s infamous 2004 Super Bowl performance.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, divorce filings, and blue whale diets to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day or download our apps for iPhone and Android