Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
The European Parliament votes on a free-trade deal with Canada. Its international trade committee will decide whether to approve (paywall) the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, which EU officials see as a model for similar pacts in the future—including with the UK after Brexit.
The 2017 Oscar nominations are announced. La La Land, Manchester by the Sea, and Lion are among the films picking up hype. Last year, no people of color received nominations for top awards, so the pressure is on to acknowledge films with large African-American casts like Moonlight, Hidden Figures, and Fences.
Pokemon Go launches in South Korea. Niantic’s augmented reality game can finally be played in South Korea, after an explosive summer launch in the US, Japan, and elsewhere. Its release was held up by strict national security laws that withhold access to mapping data.
While you were sleeping
Rex Tillerson gained a clear path to become US secretary of state. A foreign relations committee approved the former ExxonMobil CEO, voting 11-10 along party lines, paving the way for confirmation by the Republican-controlled Senate. Democrats accused Marco Rubio, who had reservations about Tillerson and held a tie-breaking vote, of caving in to party pressure.
Samsung Electronics reported its best quarter in three years. Operating profit rose by 50% overall from a year ago. It was up by 77% at the company’s memory chips division and by 12% at its mobile unit, despite the costly recalls (and eventual discontinuation) of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone.
Mark Zuckerberg’s philanthropic organization bought an AI startup. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative announced it’s buying Meta, whose product sifts through millions of research papers to find ones most important to health care professionals. The plan is to accelerate scientific progress by improving the product and making it free to researchers.
Trump withdrew the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The new US president made good on his promise to pull out of predecessor Obama’s signature Asia trade policy proposal. Trump also signed orders to block funding to foreign organizations that promote abortion, and froze hiring for some federal workers.
Quartz obsession interlude
Jason Karaian and David Yanofsky on how the global elite get to Davos. “Amid a populist upheaval and growing anti-establishment fervor, the gathering of the global elite in Davos this year was expected to be a more sober, soul-searching affair. But judging from helicopter traffic into the posh Swiss ski resort last week, Davos bigwigs aren’t in a mood to skimp. An analysis by Quartz identified just one fewer helicopter operation in Davos during the World Economic Forum in 2017 than the year before.” Read more here.
Matters of debate
Hiring for “cultural fit” kills diversity. Recruiters tend to choose people whose backgrounds mirror their own.
High-school civics courses are due for an overhaul. Media and politics have changed dramatically—so should the way we teach kids to exercise citizenship.
If you don’t trust your employees to work remotely, you shouldn’t have hired them. The freedom to work whenever and wherever naturally weeds out bad actors.
Surprising discoveries
The year’s best children’s book is about a Brooklyn graffiti artist. Radiant Child, a book about late artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, won the Randolph Caldecott Medal.
The new US White House press secretary is in a five-year feud with Dippin’ Dots. Sean Spicer really doesn’t like the colorful balls of ice cream.
Belgium’s parliament serves free booze. Since the 1990s, the country has offered alcoholic beverages to members of parliament to keep them in their seats during sessions.
Ants have a trick to find their way home, backwards. Since ants depend on visual cues to navigate, they turn around and peek to avoid getting lost.
Napping in public is a sign of diligence in Japan. Inemuri, translated as “sleeping on duty” or “sleeping while present,” means that you have worked yourself to exhaustion (paywall).
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, spare helicopters, and free booze to hi@qz.com. You can follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day or download our apps for iPhone and Android.