Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The Lunar New Year holidays begin in China. The Year of the Pig technically begins on Feb. 5, but people will get a week off starting today. Many visit family, many travel, and many go shopping. Retailers, including ones in Japan bracing for Chinese tourists, worry they won’t spend as freely as in years past.
GM slashes thousands of white-collar jobs. Ahead of its earnings report Wednesday, the automaker is expected to lay off at least 4,000 salaried workers in North America. It’s part of a massive restructuring designed to help the company prepare for a future of autonomous vehicles and electric cars.
European nations are set to recognize Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s interim president. The UK, France, Germany, and others warned on Jan. 26 they would make the move if the current president, Nicolás Maduro, failed to call fresh elections within eight days. The US and Canada recognized Guaidó last month.
Alphabet reports its fourth-quarter earnings. Investors hope the company that has amassed a fortune from Google ad products will share more details on its other lines of business, which include the cloud, self-driving cars, and the Play Store.
Over the weekend
Virginia’s governor did some remarkable backtracking. A day after apologizing for appearing in a racist 1984 photo—showing one person wearing black face and another in a Ku Klux Klan robe—Democrat Ralph Northam said that upon further reflection he did not believe he was in it, and said he would not resign.
Russia pulled out of a landmark nuclear arms control treaty. The move came on Saturday, a day after the US did the same. Signed in 1987, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty banned the use of short- and medium-range nuclear missiles by both countries. The US and its NATO allies had accused Russia of violating it.
More Democrats announced their presidential bids. Tulsi Gabbard, a congresswoman representing Hawaii, criticized politicians “thinking up new wars to wage” in a speech in Oahu. That followed New Jersey senator Cory Booker entering the race on Friday, the first day of Black History Month.
Nissan scrapped plans to build the new X-Trail model in Britain. The carmaker warned that while it made the decision for “business reasons,” uncertainty over Britain’s departure from the EU on March 29 was making it difficult to plan for the future. It will now build the vehicle solely in Japan.
Quartz obsession interlude
Rosie Spinks on the man who started the celery wellness craze. “But it’s not celery in its roughage-filled stalk form that has been showing up in your Instagram feed in the past few months—it’s glasses of celery juice, a pale green potion that’s the latest buzzy wellness elixir, credited with treating a slew of ailments. From its humble beginnings as a vegetable that is 95% water, celery has climbed the ranks of aspirational vegetables with staggering speed.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Join the conversation with the new Quartz app!
Being a progressive NFL fan presents moral dilemmas. For starters, players do real damage to their brains as they play for our entertainment.
The free market kills digital journalism. Social media and search giants drain the advertising pool that supports journalism.
Children benefit from boredom. It spurs creativity and self-sufficiency.
Surprising discoveries
A German grenade from World War I was found in a shipment of potatoes from France. Hong Kong police detonated the antique explosive device at an industrial park outside the snack company it was shipped to.
In Utqiaġvik, the northernmost US town, the sun dawned after two months of complete winter darkness. Residents are looking forward to a few months of daylight sunshine followed by night darkness—before the summer brings 24-hour daylight.
British foodies have discovered a sustainable, local meat: grey squirrel. As an invasive species that threatens red squirrels, the animal is culled anyhow, and chefs are using its meat in pancakes, croquettes, and lasagne.
Thousands of baby flamingos are getting a taste of city life. Some 3,000 chicks have been airlifted to Pretoria, Cape Town, and other locations as a drought threatens their breeding ground in South Africa.
Uzbekistan universities will resume teaching political science this year. It was removed from the curriculum in 2015 after the government deemed it a pseudoscience.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, squirrel recipes, and political science textbooks 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 Steve Mollman and Indrani Sen.