Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Apple reveals how far iPhone sales have fallen. In the wake of a Jan. 2 profit warning from CEO Tim Cook, who blamed sluggish smartphone sales in China for a rare earnings miss, analysts expect revenues of $84 billion, down significantly from the previous year.
The UK parliament votes on Brexit amendments. Lawmakers hope to have a bigger say over the direction of Brexit, with proposals that include instructing the government to rule out a no-deal departure, and postponing the March 29 deadline for exiting the European Union.
Italy seeks a European ruling on a Dutch migrant-rescue boat. Rome wants the European human-rights court to rule on (paywall) whether the Netherlands must deal with the people on board a Dutch-flagged vessel stranded off Sicily. The Netherlands has refused to take the 47 people, saying it needs to distinguish between economic migrants and refugees.
Trump advisor Roger Stone is arraigned in DC. Stone, a key figure in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, will face seven charges of lying to Congress, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering.
While you were sleeping
The US formally requested to extradite Huawei’s CFO from Canada… The Canadian justice department confirmed that its American counterpart had officially sought the extradition of Meng Wanzhou, who was arrested in December in Vancouver. Earlier, US prosecutors indicted the world’s biggest telecom-equipment maker for stealing tech from T-Mobile US, and evading US sanctions against Iran.
…And Huawei was dealt another blow in Australia. Telecoms provider TPG, which was due to launch Australia’s fourth mobile network, said it would suspend plans to do so following a ban by Canberra last year on the use of Huawei equipment in 5G networks. Huawei had been the main supplier of equipment for TPG’s 5G rollout.
Apple acknowledged a FaceTime security breach in its iPhones. The 9to5Mac blog first reported the flaw, which allows callers to eavesdrop on a recipient even if the person doesn’t pick up if both are using iOS version 12.1. Apple said it would release an update to address the issue later this week.
Veteran US Democrats announced plans to set up a pro-Israel group. A new group called (paywall) the Democratic Majority for Israel seeks to counter growing skepticism from the American left toward the Jewish state, while Republican support for it surges.
The White House slapped sanctions on Venezuela’s state-owned oil company. The new restrictions will block $7 billion in payments to Petróleos de Venezuela unless Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro hands over control to self-declared interim president Juan Guaidó.
Quartz obsession interlude
The human liver is vastly underrated. Despite all our attempts to ruin it—booze, fad diets, and general malnutrition—the liver has a regenerative healing factor that just won’t quit. Unlike the heart or the lungs, there’s no machine that can replace it. Read our latest Quartz Obsession to learn about the famously resilient organ.
Quartz Membership
The Earth’s water crisis is already dire. We don’t have nearly as much useable H2O as we think, and more than 700 million people already lack access to clean water. Quartz’s breakdown of our planet’s looming shortage shows how our most critical resource is drying up, where the scarcity could cause wars, and how we could bail ourselves out of trouble.
Matters of debate
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America doesn’t need a centrist candidate. Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz would just split the vote and help Donald Trump.
“Rise and grind” is an Instagrammable lie. “Hustle culture” and “toil glamour” is a millennial-inspired spin on the soul-crushing burnout of the modern-day rat race.
Women act more like men when they have to ask women for money. They seem to adjust their ask when they’re facing a man with power.
Surprising discoveries
UAE’s gender equality awards were swept by men. The presenters of the Gender Balance Index awards were all men, too.
The 19th century Kingdom of Hayti was the Wakanda of the Western hemisphere. The northern part of Haiti, briefly ruled by a former enslaved man, aspired to be a haven from racism.
“Korean age” is on its way out. The unique way that Koreans calculate age—which adds one year to a person’s standard age—could be phased out in official government use.
Joshua Tree National Park may take hundreds of years to recover. During the US government shutdown, people cut down trees and made illegal campfires in the understaffed California park.
Japan is working on flushable adult diapers. It could help reduce the burden on caregivers in the world’s most aged society.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, flushable diapers, and your real age 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 Isabella Steger and edited by Tripti Lahiri.