Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The UK parliament votes on Theresa May’s Brexit deal. The embattled prime minister is expected to face a heavy defeat, potentially setting up a no-deal divorce from the EU. If voted down, May will have three days to come up with an alternate plan.
A possible bail decision on Carlos Ghosn. Depending on the ruling in Tokyo, France may decide to replace him as Renault’s CEO (subscription). Ghosn, who has been indicted for financial misconduct, was removed as Nissan’s chairman after his arrest in November.
Travel disruptions in Europe. More than 400 Lufthansa flights (subscription) will be cancelled with security staff at eight German airports planning to walk out on the job as their union pushes for higher wages.
The US Senate decides whether to block plans to lift sanctions on three Russian companies. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer is forcing the vote (subscription) after the Treasury Department decided in December to remove sanctions on companies linked to oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
Google employees launch a social-media protest against workplace harassment. Workers will use Twitter and Instagram to publish a storm of posts protesting contract clauses that take away employees’ right to sue their employers.
New York’s governor unveils his plan for marijuana legalization. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal could make the state the 11th in the US to legalize recreational cannabis, but it’ll likely include a provision allowing local governments to continue a prohibition on weed sales.
While you were sleeping
Trump sent a letter to Kim Jong Un. CNN reported that the correspondence was hand delivered to the North Korean leader over the weekend, as the two countries negotiate the details of a second summit. North Korea’s former spy chief Kim Yong Chol could visit Washington as early as this week to finalize the details of the meeting.
Canada warned its citizens about traveling to China. The government advised Canadians to exercise caution due to the risk of “arbitrary enforcement” of laws amid a diplomatic feud after Canadian authorities arrested Huawei’s chief financial officer in December. In a trial yesterday, China sentenced Canadian national Robert Lloyd Schellenberg to death on drug-smuggling charges.
US Republican Steve King was blocked from committee assignments over his comments about white supremacy. His fellow House Republicans rebuked the representative, who will not be given committee assignments for the next two years, after he lamented that white supremacy and white nationalism have become offensive terms.
A cotton seed sprouted on the Moon. According to Chinese state media, this is the first time a seed has sprouted on Earth’s closest celestial neighbor. China sent the seeds of various plants on its Chang’e-4 spacecraft, which touched down on the Moon’s far side about two weeks ago.
Trump welcomed the NCAA college-football champions with a fast-food feast. The spread—which the president paid for amid the government shutdown—for the Clemson Tigers at the White House featured “great American food” from McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, Arby’s, and Domino’s.
Quartz obsession interlude
Squirrels are superpowered rodents hiding in plain sight. They’re the top cause of power outages in America, and bird feeders 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 high risk of skin cancer.
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.
The world is choking on digital pollution. Society learned to manage the waste produced by the Industrial Revolution and must do the same with the internet today.
Surprising discoveries
Earth’s magnetic pole is on the move. It has swerved toward Siberia and away from Canada, which could affect navigation worldwide.
A Delta passenger flew with 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 in California with a vape pen delivered via robot. 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 more than a century after 650 South African Boers immigrated to Argentina.
Walmart won’t let you drink wine from a Pringles can while driving an electric-shopping cart. A Texas woman was banned after her three-hour joyride.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, vape pens, 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 by Alice Truong and edited by Isabella Steger.