Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Boris Johnson finishes his first official India visit. The UK foreign minister heads to Kolkata for the last leg of his two-day trip, meeting with West Bengal’s chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Johnson wants to forge a free trade deal with India as his country leaves the European Union.
Theresa May talks business at Davos. The UK Prime Minister will outline her Brexit plans, and reportedly meet with Wall Street bosses who have threatened to ditch London as their European headquarters.
Gambia’s inauguration day standoff. Authoritarian leader Yahya Jammeh declared a state of emergency two days before his elected successor, Adama Barrow, was supposed to take office. Jammeh initially conceded the race but then abruptly reversed his position, and Gambia’s parliament voted to extend his term by another three months on Tuesday.
While you were sleeping
Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong avoided arrest in South Korea’s bribery scandal. A court denied prosecutors’ request to arrest Lee, ruling that there “appears to be no flight risk and no need to physically detain” the Samsung vice chairman. He still faces charges of bribery, embezzlement and perjury.
Investors underestimated Netflix yet again. The streaming video giant easily surpassed quarterly expectations, adding 1.93 million subscribers in the United States and 5.12 million internationally, thanks to original hits like “Stranger Things” and “Narcos.” Netflix plans to spend a whopping $6 billion on content in 2017, up $1 billion from last year.
US sued Oracle for gender and race discrimination. The Labor Department alleged that the software company paid its white, male workers more and unlawfully favored Indian applicants for product development and technical roles. Oracle denied the charges.
2016 was the hottest year on record… That makes three years in a row of record-setting temperatures, with last year averaging 1.2 °C (2.2 °F) hotter than in the late 1800s. Temperatures in 2017 are likely to dip due to the absence of the El Niño weather pattern, but will still be in the top five.
…And Goldman Sachs wasn’t too shabby either. The bank’s earnings more than tripled to $2.35 billion in the last quarter of 2016, easily topping expectations. The company’s trading operations benefited from the market rally following the US elections, which will also put a number of Goldman executives in senior White House positions.
Quartz obsession interlude
Ana Campoy on the US refugee problem: “The US has committed to protecting people facing persecution in their home country. President Barack Obama wasn’t very adept at handling the dramatic switch in the nature of illegal immigration into the US, which has largely happened under his watch. His policies have mostly focused on dissuading people from coming to the US, not figuring out whether they deserve protection.” Read more here.
Quartz haiku interlude
More Wall Street weirdness:
Goldman blows past estimates
and its shares still fall
Matters of debate
Mobile phones prove that US police lie. In the vast majority of cases they get away with it, even when there’s video evidence to prove them wrong.
The first step to save a good business: Cut the crap. That’s the advice Steve Jobs used to save not just Apple, but Nike too.
An Africa with open borders could be a nightmare. Although they were arbitrarily imposed, the continent’s divisions help contain diseases, terrorism, and xenophobia.
Surprising discoveries
The Mirai botnet began with a Minecraft rivalry. The malicious software that hijacks millions of connected devices was initially used to shut down the popular game’s servers.
A Finnish bear is holding his first art exhibition. Juuso paints with his fur and paws—and his abstract paintings are selling for up to €4,000 ($4,250).
Japan is standardizing its baffling array of high-tech toilet maneuvers. Tourists have long been shocked when their nether regions are sprayed with air and water.
The world’s second three-parent baby was born in Ukraine. The controversial technique is banned in the US and only available to mothers with genetic conditions in the UK.
China’s government posts hundreds of millions of fake social media comments every year. The aim is to distract the public from discussing real problems.
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