Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Mike Pompeo appears before Davos. The US secretary of state will speak via video link at 10am EST in a “special session” with WEF president Børge Brende. Brazil’s new populist president Jair Bolsonaro is also scheduled to address the meeting today. Sign up for Quartz’s free Davos Daily Brief to follow along with our journalists on the ground.
Shinzo Abe meets with Vladimir Putin. The Japanese president arrived in Russia yesterday for talks today about the fate of four disputed islands off the northern coast of Hokkaido. Known as the Southern Kurils (Russia) or Northern Territories (Japan), the islands were claimed by the Soviet Union in the final days of World War II. The dispute has prevented the countries from signing a post-war peace treaty.
Germany and France seal a deal. As Brexit continues to implode, France and Germany are formalizing their place at the center of the European Union with a new treaty that promises common positions and joint statements on major issues facing the EU and NATO.
The US gets a home sales report. December home sales figures from the National Association of Realtors are expected to be down from November, which saw the largest year-over-year drop in seven years. Rising mortgage costs and home prices have hampered sales.
The 2019 Oscar nominations are unveiled. Actors Kumail Nanjiani and Tracee Ellis Ross will announce the names at an event that will be live-streamed starting at 8:20am ET. The awards ceremony, set for Feb. 24, still doesn’t have a host after a controversy over old tweets forced actor Kevin Hart to drop out.
While you were sleeping
Rudy Giuliani backtracked from his Russia comments. Trump’s lawyer surprised many on Sunday when he said that the president’s discussions on a Moscow real estate project continued through most of 2016, contrary to Trump’s assertion that he had no business dealings with Russia during his campaign. Giuliani now maintains his comments were hypothetical and not based on actual conversations with the president.
China-US tensions heated up over Huawei. China demanded the US drop its request to extradite Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou from Canada, where she was arrested in transit in Vancouver on Dec. 1. Meanwhile, more than 100 scholars and former envoys urged (paywall) China’s Xi Jinping to release Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who were detained after Wanzhou’s arrest.
A Japanese court rejected Carlos Ghosn’s bail request, again. The ousted Nissan chairman, who is facing charges of financial misconduct for misreporting his income, had offered to surrender his passport and pay for his own monitoring, but a Tokyo court denied his application. Ghosn has been in custody since his November arrest.
Drones took a bite out of easyJet’s bottom line. Drone sightings that caused London’s Gatwick airport to ground flights over the busy holiday season cost the budget airline £15 million ($19 million), an executive said. The news follows competitor Ryanair slashing its profit forecast last week, blaming low fares.
US airports were hit by TSA absences. As the partial government shutdown enters its fifth week, the Transportation Security Administration reported that 10% of airport security screeners did not show up to work over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. Many cited financial hardship as a reason—they are among the federal employees being asked to work without pay.
Quartz obsession interlude
Before it was a gathering place for the global elite, Davos, Switzerland was a haven for TB patients. The Alpine resort town first became famous in the 19th century for its restorative properties, which inspired authors like Thomas Mann, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Arthur Conan Doyle. Read more about it in the Quartz Obsession.
Matters of debate
Join the conversation with the new Quartz app!
Criticizing Oxfam’s poverty methodology misses the point. Arguing over how the advocacy group calculates wealth distracts from the issues it raises about income inequality.
Innovation can’t happen without empathy. Creative solutions come from understanding people’s need and struggles.
You don’t need a digital detox. In fact, giving up your devices could have unintended negative consequences.
Surprising discoveries
Urban frogs are more attractive. They adapt to the noise of city life with more complex mating calls, and females apparently like it.
Canadian stocks are high on pot. The S&P/TSX Composite Index has had its best start to a year since 1980, mainly on the strength of cannabis stocks.
A new shark species has a video game-inspired name. The prehistoric “Galagadon” is named for having teeth that resemble the spaceships in the Japanese-US game Galaga.
A hitman’s GPS watch connected him to a mob murder. Mark “Iceman” Fellows was found guilty of the killing after his Garmin watch showed him planning an escape route.
Striped lizards want you to look at their tails. Bright stripes cause “motion dazzle,” deflecting attacks from a lizard’s body to its more expendable tail.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, dazzling lizards, and 1980s-inspired animal species 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 Adam Rasmi and edited by Jackie Bischof.