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What to watch for today
A possible bail decision on Carlos Ghosn. Depending on the ruling in Tokyo, France may decide to replace him as Renault’s CEO (subscription).
The UK parliament votes on a Brexit deal. Embattled prime minister Theresa May faces a challenging vote that may very well go against her (subscription), potentially setting up a no-deal divorce from the EU. That would be a nightmare scenario for investors, who are already anticipating a severely weakened British economy.
Google employees press the tech industry on workplace harassment. Workers will use Twitter and Instagram to publish a storm of posts protesting contract clauses that take away employees’ rights to sue their employers. The social media protest will run for nine hours, with first-hand accounts and interviews from tech workers who are affected by harassment, assault, and employers’ legal leverage.
Kumbh Mela begins. India’s massive religious pilgrimage is expected to draw more than 15 million people—including a million foreigners. The Hindu ritual, which lasts for more than 40 days, will see exhaustive preparations by the government, which has promised to improve lodging, security, transit, and public restrooms.
While you were sleeping
Donald Trump denied being a Russian agent. The US president called the new allegations—stemming from reports by the New York Times and the Washington Post—a “big fat hoax” during a media scrum. The rebuttal followed days of vitriol from Trump, who spent the fourth weekend of the US government’s partial shutdown tweeting insults at the media, Democrats, the FBI, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
Gdańsk mayor Paweł Adamowicz died from stab wounds. The beloved liberal politician did not survive injuries from an attack during Poland’s biggest annual charity event. The suspect is in custody and no motive has been cited, though many pointed to Poland’s heated political climate.
Tidal is under investigation in Norway. Officials are looking into allegations that Jay-Z’s streaming music service is artificially boosting (subscription) the play counts of artists including Beyoncé and Kanye West. The company has previously been accused of faking subscriber numbers and missing royalty payments to record labels.
Volkswagen will build e-cars in Tennessee. The carmaker announced that its first all-electric-vehicle factory in North America will be based in Chattanooga. Production is slated to start in 2022, which could generate an estimated 1,000 jobs.
Citigroup reported mixed fourth-quarter earnings. Although the bank fell short on its overall revenue estimates, down 2% year-over-year (subscription), healthy growth in earnings lifted the company’s stock. Like other big corporations, Citigroup is expecting turbulence in 2019 from the uneasy global economy.
Quartz obsession interlude
Squirrels are superpowered rodents hiding in plain sight. They’re the top cause of power outages in America, and feeders of birds are all too aware of their persistence. But even though we live in such close proximity, it turns out we hardly know squirrels—a driver of strife in the cosmos, according to Norse mythology—at all. Read more here.
Quartz Membership
Alibaba’s next step. The Chinese e-commerce giant is best known for its online shopping business, but that’s only the beginning. It’s rapidly moving into businesses that may, at first, seem disparate, but they all have a key thing in common: They are at the intersection of people and businesses. And where those two things cross, there’s data. Sign up here to read our user guide with a 30-day free trial.
Matters of debate
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The need for sunscreen is dangerously overblown. Sunlight can have positive health effects, especially for people who aren’t at a high risk of skin cancer.
OnePlus is crushing Apple’s iPhone dream in India. It may have to start building phones in India if it wants to compete.
The gig economy isn’t significantly changing the US economy. Contractors use companies like Uber as a stop-gap, rather than a substitute for a full-time job.
Surprising discoveries
Earth’s magnetic pole is on the move. New data shows it has swerved toward Siberia and away from Canada, which could affect navigation worldwide.
A Delta passenger was able to carry a gun from the US to Japan. The security failure took place as thousands of US airport security workers have gone unpaid during the government shutdown.
Police defused a gas station standoff with a robot vape pen delivery. The armed suspect, who had doused the station with gasoline, was demanding a nicotine fix.
A rare Afrikaans dialect is making an unlikely comeback in Patagonia. It has survived for more than 100 years after South African Boers emigrated to Argentina.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, squirrel facts, and unnecessary sunscreen to hi@qz.com. Join the next chapter of Quartz by downloading our app and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was written and edited by Adam Pasick and McKinley Noble.